Worst summer ever! It’s been such a hot summer and we’ve been unable to do so many things we want to because of the heat and the humidity. Although I’m used to hot weather in Australia, Australian homes usually have air conditioners that cool down the whole house but Korean homes tend to just have air con in one room so most of the house can still be so hot. Also… no swimming culture. The heat has made me a bit sick lately, and sleep deprived as it’s too hot to sleep well. Hugh has been dealing with the heat by laying still while naked.

We do get warning messages on our phones about the heat, as well as other times there is any slight danger, like too much rain or fog. At first these messages would freak me out. Is North Korea invading??? But usually it’s nothing much.

Save

I’m sure many people know who Josh and Ollie are, from the Korean Englishman YouTube channel, and if you don’t, I’m sure you’ve stumbled across one of their insanely popular videos at some point. Hugh’s good friend Joel is also in some of their videos and contacted Hugh because they wanted to film on a farm. Oh, we have a farm! So we headed back to the countryside so the boys could film in Hugh’s village. We will have a video of some of the behind the scenes stuff up later, once their farm videos come out. But for now, here is a sneak peek.

We complain more about the heat also. I wanted to point out that it’s almost impossible to keep air con on constantly in Korea. Hugh was telling me that there is an outdated law from the 1970’s where electricity bills double and then triple for people, but businesses are exempt. So Korean homes can be very hot in the summer because people try to rely on fans rather than constant air con. It has been way more uncomfortable than in Australia.

In this video we also talked about the yellow dust pollution and how it affects Hugh more. I do have a theory why: Hugh’s father used to be a smoker so Hugh grew up around a lot more cigarette smoke than me so maybe that’s why, because his throat and lungs have already been compromised, even though Hugh is not a smoker himself. In comparison, I have had very little exposure to smoke my whole life.

We also attend Cory and Marie’s wedding. It was a lovely wedding, and even in the heat, we had so much fun.

Some moments from my day yesterday! It’s been hard to keep up with this channel because we’ve been so busy since our move, but I think I will do these types of videos once a week, where I just choose one day a week to film small moments like this and present it without commentary – but I’m happy to answer any questions in the comment section on YouTube. I also want to do some just talking/answering question videos too, so I may answer some questions in videos.

Martina comes to visit her old stuff! Simon and Martina (Eat Your Kimchi) were in Korea for a few days and Martina came to visit our apartment (Simon was sick unfortunately). A lot of our furniture is from their old apartment and their studio. It has been such a big help to us to already have this furniture and not having to buy it all once we moved to Seoul. We are really lucky to have them as friends. We actually talked about when we first met in Sydney years ago, and how far we’ve come.

Going back to the countryside was a bit strange. There were things that were comfortable, but other things that were weird. Also not really having a purpose because its not our home anymore leaves a weird feeling of not knowing what to do.

Rainy season has started! There is no way to not get soaked during this time. Luckily it’s not every day, just a more days of torrential rain during this time.

I saw a quote that was something like “Marriage is asking each other what you want to eat until you die” haha. Hugh is sneaky as he always gets in first and asks me what we should eat so I can suggest 10 things that he can say no to. Although I can be a pickier eater, he is pickier when choosing what we should eat because he takes his food so seriously.

As I’ve mentioned before, Hugh’s sister is back from her working holiday in Australia. It’s normal for women to live with their parents until they get married in Korea. Hugh’s sister gets married in a few months so he only has a little bit more time to torment her at home, but he is making the most of it.

All the bugs are back now that it’s getting warmer. I hate it! They are just so annoying. I swear that Korean flies and spiders and bugs are just way more annoying than Australian ones.

There are so many spiders right now! Korea is different to Australia because of the seasons. Australia’s climate is mild so I feel like the numbers of spiders don’t dramatically change through the year. In Korea, when it’s summer there is a spider BOOM. There were thousands on the bridge. I’m guessing it’s this mad rush for them now because they all disappear in winter.

What has been interesting is that I have developed more of an aversion to spiders. I’m not scared of them, I’m just annoyed at their numbers. Mr Gwon’s phobia of them has lessoned a lot. He says Korean spiders aren’t as scary as Australian ones. If you are scared of spiders you simply can’t live where we are right now. He has had to just deal with it. Personally I would rather have 1 huge spider in the corner of the room, rather than millions of little spiders EVERYWHERE.

What about you guys?

How to hide the inevitable sweat marks in Korean summer: wear clothing that makes it look like it’s supposed to be there.

I’m finding the Korean summer worse than the Australian summer because of the humidity. Also it’s not easy to go swimming here, so there isn’t any really good ways to cool off. There is a lot less air conditioning as well. Especially out in the countryside.

At least the state of my hair has been amusing to Mr Gwon.