Wednesday, last week, it snowed. It wasn't one of those stupid late winter snows that, within geologic nanoseconds heralds the chirruping of birds but a far more dire... insulting snow. Before that snow it had been warm. The entire city, for a period of two days had shucked winter coats and was walking breezily around in heavy sweaters. I looked out my window Tuesday night, around 2am to see snow falling. I thought, in a sort of uninhibited zeal, "What the fuck?"

Outside of Seoul, of course, it snowed something absurd; like 25 meters (not really). Here, we got maybe 8 inches which busily melted the following morning. Drain pipes flowed with nearly summer monsoon torrents, cars parked along the street got a washing that even a man with two cans of wax and a power wash couldn't accomplish. And then the sun set on the snow that had been shoveled out of the way. Thursday morning? I rocketed across a patch of black ice nearly an inch thick on my way to work. And Friday, too. Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and back again, a week later there was still ice and piles of really grimy snow in the small alleyways here, that never see the sun at all.

Last Friday another cold front blew in from China, which provides Korea with a long linguistic heritage and more bad weather than you can imagine. This weekend was stupifyingly cold for mid-March. But the last snowfall did it's trick and plants are beginning to do... something. I've gone through two rolls of toilet paper blowing my nose incessently. On the subway this evening instead of browsing the lively lingere ads, my attention was drawn to the Allegre allergy ad. Some guy holding what I think I'm about to purchase: 239 rolls of toilet paper was sighing in relief as the pharmacist handed him a little box of tablets. Allergies and spring, cold weather and coats; sure. Fine. Whatever. Combining all four has to be some kind of 9th pit of hell.