You know it's cold when...

...you can see your breath INSIDE the school.

After teaching in Shanghai for two winters, I've grown accustomed to the schools not having indoor heating. In the coldest months, Shanghai hovered around 0C. No classrooms were heated, the halls were uncovered and my students and I played a game called "Guess how many layers of clothes Sara is wearing today." It was usually around 5 including a jacket.

Since Korea is so much further north than Shanghai, I figured the schools would have to be heated. In fact, I distinctly remember teachers telling me that the schools are heated. Those teachers and I are no longer on speaking terms.

Today, it was -7C when I left my house. I shivered all the way to school. When I finally arrived at school, I ran to the office expecting the teachers to have finally turned on the heat (the downstairs office has had heat for the past 2 weeks). There was no heat. I sat at my desk and waited. Still no heat. Maybe they just hadn't turned it on yet, it was only 8:15am. 9:22am rolled around and still no heat. Finally, 5 minutes before I was about to leave to teach my first class of the day, a blast of cold air shot at me. They had finally turned on the heat and I was leaving to go to an unheated classroom. Life is so unfair.