Ice, Glass and Rivers

Sometimes learning Japanese is so much easier than learning English for instance.
I recently learned this word and it is so easy to remember because of the cool simple Kanji meaning.

Japanese: 氷河
Reading: hyouga
Meaning: glacier
Kanji: ice + river


Now if a Japanese has to learn the word 'glacier', how the hell is he going to remember it? It's almost random, the only thing he might hang on to is that it sounds somewhat like glass...but if he does that he might end up falsly remembering the word glacier is some kind of glass...
I admit, at first Kanji was an enemy, but I am getting to befriend it more and more as I study.

Good Kanji!