Halloween observed differently in South Korea

To the editor:
    Rain has finally come to the Sun Chang Valley. As the rice stalks ripened and the kernels dried in the sun, the weather stayed nice and sunny. Now the fall winds and rains are finally here. When you live away from the frenetic blather of Weather hype on a 24-hour basis, you begin to rely on a hunch about the sky’s temperament. It makes life a whole lot easier.     Halloween was relatively quiet, the idea of people going from house to house is not part of the cultural landscape here. People do visit but it is considered bad form to beg for food. Costumes and scary stories are also not linked to the day. Still it’s amazing what a marker and some oranges can do for creating a little bit of an atmosphere.
    Because of the geography of this place, the long period of civilization, and the varieties of trees wood products are prized. Tables here are low to the ground. So the Koreans have created heated floors for their homes. Yes, the Romans had them and so did many other cultures. But the Koreans have designed their homes around the concept of people sitting on the floor at a table. My ability to bend has been tested.
    It is nice to have the warmth of a heated floor and it is interesting that the hot water storage for my apartment is also what keeps the floor warmed. You find many such ideas in place here. More and more of their vehicles are going to the liquified natural gas format.
    In this community alone, there are four filling stations with the product. In talking with some colleagues, it has really made an visible improvement in the amount of clear space that they have overhead. Still, the use of coal in China has affected the quality of air here. For now though I will enjoy the rain as much as it is possible to enjoy a cold, wet day.