How to Survive Winter in Korea

It is officially wintertime in Korea for the next foreseeable future and the winters here can be nothing less than miserable. For most of us, staying in bed all day long, binge watching CSI episodes on cable TV (the only English show that ever seems to play here) is the only way we can make it through the worst season of them all. Well, no more, friends! We’ve got a few tips and tricks that will help you finally want to crawl out of bed and attempt to be a real human being this winter in South Korea.

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We first covered all of these in our most recent vlog on our YouTube Channel, so if you haven’t already, head on over and subscribe and maybe even give this video a watch. For those of you too lazy frozen from winter’s icy grip to watch a video, we have made some pretty neat-o gifs from that video and a quick write up covering all the information about how to survive winter in South Korea.

–     HOW TO SURVIVE WINTER IN KOREA VLOG     –

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1. Make Mulled Wine

Is there anything better than mulled wine during the wintertime? We would wager that the answer is no, there is not. Winter has a way of soaking into your bones and the only thing that is one hundred percent guaranteed to warm you up is a bit of spiced and mulled wine. Plus there is the added benefit of being a bit wine tipsy and therefore not caring whether you have frostbite from your drafty apartment or not. Making it is super easy, just add as much spices (cinnamon, brown sugar, cloves, nutmeg) to taste as well as squeezed orange and the zest with a touch of lemon juice. Slowly heat and make sure you never boil it as you don’t want to burn off the alcohol. Strain and enjoy!

 

2. Roll Around on the Floor

 

Korean heating used to be so strange and foreign to us. Where’s the central heating?! What do you mean people lay on their floors for warmth, isn’t that a bit… dirty? Fast forward four years and here I am, rolling around on the floor in absolute ecstasy. Cold toes? NO MORE! Too poor to afford furniture? Who cares, Imma sit on the floor anyway! The floor is lined with pipes or tubing which are heated and then they transfer heat into the room by radiation. Typically these types of heating systems are more energy efficient than central heat as no air gets lost in ducts and people with allergies aren’t bothered by air stirred up by vents blowing air into the room. There has never been a better reason to clean your floors!

3. Delivery Food

 

It’s winter, and let’s face it, none of us want to ever leave our warm homes even to venture out to buy groceries. So why do it? Let’s all just carb load and get fat together until it finally ends and spring arrives! Korea has an amazing food delivery system, Yogiyo, an app which allows you to browse different restaurants that deliver in your area and order them without ever having to have human interaction! What could possibly be better for us shut ins?

4. Bubble Wrap

 

Yeah, okay, we look like we make have gone off our rocker a bit in this one, or perhaps the mulled wine finally got to us, but I promise there is a good reason for the bubble wrap. If you happen to get stuck in an older apartment in Korea, the windows are likely single paned and drafty. Instead of cranking up your ondol heating to molten lava, head to the store and grab a roll of bubble wrap. In the wintertime, these can be found in most stores. Application is super simple, too. First, wash your windows with some bleach water and with them still wet, lay down the bubble wrap. Trim and done.

 

5. Decorate for Christmas

 

How can anyone honestly survive winter without putting up a tree and some lights? Unless you are a Scrooge and hate all things magical, this is a necessity for getting through the depths of winter. Korea has recently been upping its game on Christmas and you can now find more Christmas decorations than ever before at Emart and Lotte Mart. However, if you prefer to be cheap and don’t care if your tree looks like a Charlie Brown Christmas twig, then Daiso, the Korean dollar store, is our suggestion.

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Is there anything we missed? What do you do to make it through Korea’s wintertime? Let us know in the comments below!