A true SUNday

What a perfect day – sunny, warm, and no work! That meant all play for us. Happy Mother’s Day too!!

We are starting to finally get some warm weather in Seattle – which is awesome. People start to perk up and some of that Seattle “nice ice” starts to meltaway (ok, that may not be true, but people certainly seem to be more happy and friendly when it’s sunny out).

Note: Click here if you don’t know what I’m referring to by Seattle nice ice. It’s an old article, but gives you a good idea of what this odd phenomenon is about.

Micah and I took advantage of the beautiful rays emitted by that shiny glowing orb in the sky – and had a picnic in the park.

Micah’s always happiest when it’s “take your shirt off” kind of weather

We dusted off our bikes, picked up a yummy bahn mi sandwich and spring rolls, and had ourselves some good eating, reading, and lounging time. It was perfect! We are hoping for this kind of weather from here on out!

First of May = sunny Seattle day

Wow…finally some sunny, warm-ish weather in Seattle.  With April being the second coldest month in Seattle history, I dare say we freakin’ deserve some good weather – at least give us something in the mid-50s!

Finally, Mother Nature delivered.  Sunday, the first day in May, brought out hoards of pasty-white Seattleites in desperate need of some vitamin D.  Micah and I include ourselves in this distinguished group, as our Hawaii tans are all bit a distant memory.

And what do you do on a sunny non-work day? 

• Wash cars:  Ooh…yikes.  It’s been at least a good five+ months since we last did this.  Our cars were filth.
• BBQ: One of Micah’s loves in live.  So we walked to the store, picked up some steaks, and fired up our little mini-Weber charcoal grill.
• Walk around the neighborhood: We did some exploring around our hood and actually stumbled upon a very small but cute picnic area that’s a part of Haller Lake.

We hope to add many activities to this list and repeat over and over again in the coming months!

Running hail fail

With all the gray, gloom, and rain around here the past few…months, it’s been a little challenging finding the motivation to go running outside.  Part of the reason I’m running at all is because of my new coaching “job.”

I happened to muster up the energy and motivation to go running the other day after I got home from work.  I’m talking, walk in the door, immediately change into workout clothes, grab my iPod and out the door.  I thought that was pretty darn good. 

Less than two miles into my run (of the five I was planning on), it started to HAIL!  I’m talking pelt you in the face, “ouch that hurts” sort of hail.  And it wasn’t letting up.  Not only was I drenched in just a couple of minutes, but the hail was so tremendous it was seriously hitting my eyeballs. 

I had the option of sticking it out and continue running, or head back home as the first part of my run was a two-mile loop…and I was nearing the end of the loop.

I debated, but in the end, the hail made the decision for me.  Off to home I went…soaked and with sore eyeballs.  Sigh.  Sun…any day now. 

Heading to a real winter wonderland

This time next week, Micah and I are going to be in…Alaska!  Yep, our neighbors to the northwest….and relatively new home to my sister, bro-in-law, and their daughter.  There, we will have endless views of snowy roads, snowy fields, snowy-moutains…and maybe even some snowy reindeer.

Neither of us have been to Alaska before, so it’ll be a great opportunity to check out the state and see if Isabella (my niece), can remember who I am.  I know Tera can get her to say “Aunty Lisa” and “Uncle Micah” now

We’ll fly into Anchorage and then stay with them in their house in Eagle River.  I checked out the weather today…and while it may be “sunny” – it’s gonna be freeeeeeeeezing. 

Today’s weather forecast from Google.  And it doesn’t appear to be much different for Christmas weekend when we’ll be there.

The funny thing is – it’ll be a lot warmer staying with Tera then in our current townhouse.  Our heating system is not working.  I have calls in to get it fixed, but for now…it’s ridiculously cold in our house.  Perhaps it’s time I consider getting one of these:

Snow is cool, ice is not

It snowed in Seattle (and surrounding areas) all day.  While pretty to look at, it caused HAVOC with Seattle drivers.  Luckily, I work from home.  My commute is about 10 seconds (walk from bedroom to office).  Micah, however, has to take the bus…which was significantly longer than his normal commute time…but still not too bad (he was able to come home early). 

One guy on the news this morning said he was on the bus for 12 hours last night (to go about 25 miles).  I hope he went to the bathroom before boarding that bus.  By evening time, the snow had turned to ice and there were accidents abound on every freeway/highway in every direction.  Oh, and it was freaking cold…and still remains that way this morning.

I-5 in Seattle…at only 4:30pm.  It got A LOT worse than this.

This morning, the roads remain icy and Seattle-ites are encouraged to stay home if they can.  So, Micah gets a snow day!  I get…a regular day.  :-) 

The weather should improve by Thanksgiving, which we hope is true.  Micah’s mom flies in Wednesday night from Hawaii, and his sister and her boyfriend come in Thursday morning. 

“Summer is like hell”

That’s what we were told by a Korean friend WAYYYYY back during the mind-numbing freezing winter months.  My reaction then, “Good…it’s too freakin’ cold.”

Let’s fast forward to now.  It’s hot.  It’s humid.  It’s sweltering.  It’s broiling.  It’s stuffy.  Yes, I often think – our Korean friend was absolutely right.

“Lucky” for those of us who live in Daegu, Korea – this city boasts the HOTTEST summer weather.  I think it has something to do with the geography or topography.  However, most of Korea is freaking hot…but Daegu tends to be at least 4 to 5 degrees hotter.

The past few weeks have been consistently in the 90s (Fahrenheit) and add in a few extra points for humidity – and some days you are topping 100F.  And it pretty much stays that way for the entire day.  The lows around here are in the upper 70s or low 80s. 

It was 11:30pm the other night…and still in the upper 80s. 

So needless to say, I’ve been a little lazy about updating my blog – well because I’m conserving my energy in this ridiculous heat.  It’s so hot that we haven’t left the comfort of our air-conditioned apartment – and that means I don’t have much to blog about.  Hot, oppressive weather makes for a lazy-blogging Lisa.

The Snowy Day – part II

Ok – it’s well into March and it is snowing (a good 4 inches I’d say)!!!  For some of you (in parts of the world I’d really rather not live), that might be normal.  For Daegu, Korea – that’s not.  The last time it snowed was in early January…yes, that time and now…this time.  Apparently the really cold winter and two snow days this year are highly unusual – lucky us 🙂

The last time it snowed, it was one day of snow, but weeks of icy sidewalks and dirty piles of snow.  Hopefully, with somewhat warmer temperatures than early January, the snow will melt gracefully…right into spring time.

In unrelated news, I guess it’s election week at my school.  So in good political fashion, the 6th graders at my school are campaigning…hard.  Every morning, the candidates – and their faithful supporters – rally around outside with their signs (some serious effort went into these signs) and their chants (I have no idea what they are saying).  Even the snow can’t stop these future leaders of Korea. 🙂

The snowy day

So I’m a little late with this post.  It actually snowed here in Daegu exactly one week ago.  And it snowed a lot.  (Relatively speaking of course.  Apparently Seoul got WAY more snow than us.)

Micah and I just finished up a one week English Winter Camp at Daegu Hwa-dong Elementary School.  Neither of us teach there, but that’s how winter camps work.  Native English Teachers get assigned to random schools around the city.  I was fortunate and only had to teach this one week of winter camp (I also did three days at my own school, but I don’t get paid extra for that).  Micah has another week to go at some other school across the city. 

We didn’t quite know what to expect with the camps, but the week went smoothly and it was fun.  There were eight Native Teachers assigned to this one elementary school.  Each day we had a different grade to teach.  The theme of this school’s camp was learning English through children’s books.  So we each had to pick two children’s books and create grade-appropriate lessons to go with the books.

I chose The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats.  The very first day, as soon as I started talking about The Snowy Day – it started to snow! Perfect timing.  🙂

During the breaks, the kids went out and played in the snow (since it doesn’t snow here often, the kids had to take advantage.  Plus, it was nearly all melted the next day).  And how nice of my 3rd grade students to bring me back a present. “Here teacher, this is for you.” 🙂

Thank you Felicia

We made it!!  We landed in Hawaii earlier today (our bags successfully made the weight limit) – and we landed in windy, cloudy Honolulu – thanks to Ms. Tropical Depression Felicia. 

Fortunately, Felicia will pass in the next day or two and she was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm to its current depressed state. 

But it’s ok…Micah and I are both so tired, that a little bit of chilling time is a good thing.  Normally, we’d try and sleep on the flight – but thanks to a rambunctious (to put it nicely) toddler, we had the joy of constant seat kicking and blood curdling screaming. 

We head to Maui on Thursday – and it should be back to normal temps and sunny skies. 

Scrabblemania

With the handful of sunny Seattle days we have experienced, and the handful to come – Scrabble has become my summer must-have.  I’ve busted out my travel version numerous times and have found it to be an excellent way to spend time outside in the nice weather with friends – and a game virtually anyone can play.  Fortunately, we have a pretty nice rooftop deck, making it a perfect place to nerd it up!  Who’s in???