Somehow I can't seem to stop saying whatnot. I'm not sure whether I just like the word or I simply can't be bothered to think of additional examples for whatever I'm talking about. Probably the latter.
Christmas time was an odd one for me. It was my first Christmas away from home, and in a foreign country, and consequently it didn't really feel like Christmas at all. I had a Christmas meal at an American missionaries open house buffet thing in Seoul, so I got a fix of some home-cooked food. Merry Christmas' were said, but it felt more like a get together than an actual Chrismas meal. Very nice of them to open their house like that, mainly to other displaced western English teachers like myself.
Korea itself doesn't celebrate Christmas on the whole. There is a growing amount of Christians in the country, and they celebrate of course, but mostly Korean's embrace the commercial and decorative side of the holiday. Shops, particularly in Seoul, have decorated their outsides lavishly and one of the bars I often go to in my little town has had a brightly lit Christmas tree standing in thr middle of it for a month. It's right in a perfect position for tipsy customers to fall over it, however I've never had the luck of seeing that. The large malls in Seoul decorated mainly with electronic decorations, not surprising really, and some of them were really great. A little church in my town also decorated the trees in it's front area and there were enough lit trees to give Trafalgar Square a run for it's money.
Still, there are some definite differences. Probably the biggest difference is music. Though there was a carol contest (with money prizes!) at school the songs were mainly pop Christmas hits and ballads. The singing wasn't all bad, but listening to 40 entires with only about 12 songs was rather repetitive.
The other thing is Christmas songs in shops and bars. They all seem to want to play them but mostly they were Korean covers. Koreans particularly like Feliz Navidad (a song I know but hardly love) and I heard it far too much. In a bar in Seoul my colleague and I got serenaded by three costumed people, probably from the local university, trying to raise some money. Feliz Navidad clearly didn't work with us so they tried The Beatles' Let it Be. It wasn't their night though. I did finally hear Last Christmas, but on Boxing Day so it doesn't count. I haven't heard any actual carols like God Rest You Merry Gentlemen and Silent Night. Ah well.
Christmas is over now, though the school and my little apartment are still decorated. Beginning tomorrow we have our winter holiday, for a week, and I'm highly excited. Here's hoping for some good stories to be telling! Happy New Year to one and all!
P.S. I've added some more photos to my 'South Korea' album, http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2042337&l=c3609&id=16105286 so check them out. Me in a santa hat is wonderfully festive. It's two pages, so click on the number 2 near the bottom to see the rest of the photos.
2006년 12월 28일 목요일
2006년 12월 20일 수요일
Weekend of disasters...
Well well, it was indeed a weekend of disasters. Not for me, but for some unfortunate Koreans.
After a night out in Seoul on Friday night I spent Saturday recuperating and getting myself ready for a party with the Korean teachers from my school. We went to the aparment of one of them, and had some proper home cooked food. Far too much of it, so I had a proper feed. They then took us out to a place that rented out karaoke rooms. John (a Scottish English teacher colleague of mine) and I belted out some classic Brit songs for the Korean's enjoyment. I Can't Get No Satisfation by the Rolling Stones went particularly well.
It had just begun to snow when we went inside, and by the time we came out the ground was covered and conditions were a little icy. A Korean colleague drove us to a bus stop so we could catch the bus back to the town we both live in, and the roads were definitely dodgy. She went really slowly, but we did see another car that was going far too fast crash into the back of a sensible slow driver who had pulled out into the next lane of the highway. Not too bad a crash but it left a pretty big bump in both cars. For some reason many Korean's put on their hazard lights during dodgy conditions. Whilst it may clue others up about that driver's lack of confidence it does mean that cars can't tell when people are indicating to turn. As well as the crash we saw we kept driving past pairs of cars on the side of the road with annoyed looking Korean's standing next to them shaking their heads. Luckily for us the bus driver was a pro, he must have driven in icy conditions a lot.
It has only snowed here twice, and only stayed around for a day or two, but I think we expect more in January. It's bitterly cold here now, especially at night, so I've begun wearing bigger hats and coats.
On Sunday I saw another disaster. The school next to my aparment has some out buildings (I think they're used for storage) and one of them caught fire. I watched from my balcony as interested people filled the streets and one man ran back and forth with a bucket trying to douse the flames. Eventually the fire deparment showed up, after the fire had almost burned itself out. It was fairly comical to see three fire engines and 25 guys turn up to deal with one small shed. I suppose they were worried it might spread to the school. No such luck for kids who didn't want to go in the next day. Maybe some had a test and it was attempted sabotage!
These are dangerous times....
After a night out in Seoul on Friday night I spent Saturday recuperating and getting myself ready for a party with the Korean teachers from my school. We went to the aparment of one of them, and had some proper home cooked food. Far too much of it, so I had a proper feed. They then took us out to a place that rented out karaoke rooms. John (a Scottish English teacher colleague of mine) and I belted out some classic Brit songs for the Korean's enjoyment. I Can't Get No Satisfation by the Rolling Stones went particularly well.
It had just begun to snow when we went inside, and by the time we came out the ground was covered and conditions were a little icy. A Korean colleague drove us to a bus stop so we could catch the bus back to the town we both live in, and the roads were definitely dodgy. She went really slowly, but we did see another car that was going far too fast crash into the back of a sensible slow driver who had pulled out into the next lane of the highway. Not too bad a crash but it left a pretty big bump in both cars. For some reason many Korean's put on their hazard lights during dodgy conditions. Whilst it may clue others up about that driver's lack of confidence it does mean that cars can't tell when people are indicating to turn. As well as the crash we saw we kept driving past pairs of cars on the side of the road with annoyed looking Korean's standing next to them shaking their heads. Luckily for us the bus driver was a pro, he must have driven in icy conditions a lot.
It has only snowed here twice, and only stayed around for a day or two, but I think we expect more in January. It's bitterly cold here now, especially at night, so I've begun wearing bigger hats and coats.
On Sunday I saw another disaster. The school next to my aparment has some out buildings (I think they're used for storage) and one of them caught fire. I watched from my balcony as interested people filled the streets and one man ran back and forth with a bucket trying to douse the flames. Eventually the fire deparment showed up, after the fire had almost burned itself out. It was fairly comical to see three fire engines and 25 guys turn up to deal with one small shed. I suppose they were worried it might spread to the school. No such luck for kids who didn't want to go in the next day. Maybe some had a test and it was attempted sabotage!
These are dangerous times....
2006년 12월 15일 금요일
My photos on the web.
Not really a blog this one.
I just thought I'd say you can see photos of my trip so far through a network website thing called Facebook. You don't have to sign up, just go to one of these addresses:
South Korean photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2042337&l=c3609&id=16105286
My classroom, school, and town:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045093&l=1f748&id=16105286
Visa trip to Japan photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2042340&l=160bc&id=16105286
If you want to know what the photo is of, scroll to the bottom of it and I might have added an explanatory note.
Hope everyone's enjoying the Christmas spirit!
I just thought I'd say you can see photos of my trip so far through a network website thing called Facebook. You don't have to sign up, just go to one of these addresses:
South Korean photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2042337&l=c3609&id=16105286
My classroom, school, and town:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045093&l=1f748&id=16105286
Visa trip to Japan photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2042340&l=160bc&id=16105286
If you want to know what the photo is of, scroll to the bottom of it and I might have added an explanatory note.
Hope everyone's enjoying the Christmas spirit!
2006년 12월 11일 월요일
Teaching.
I've realised I haven't actually written anything about the actual work I'm doing here, so I'll try to remedy that.
I teach English to young kids, from 5 to 13 years old. I have about 5 classes a day, each lasting 50 minutes. So it sounds like a day should be really short but I often have long breaks, so I generally work from 9.30am till 6pm. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have six classes because I only teach the really young 5-year olds on those days (they are a handful and a half).
Teaching itself isn't too hard. The kids work from a variety of textbooks and as a teacher I just get them to do all the exercises and hopefully learn the english. With the young kids it's mainly vocabulary, and the older kids are more about the elementary rules of grammar.
Whilst teaching itself isn't too hard, controlling the classes can be, especially the 6 and 7 year olds. Not being able to speak Korean means I can't really reason with them to be quiet, so I just end up shouting a lot of the time. They have a sticker reward system going on at school here, so I can use that to control a little, but it often falls flat on its face.
The books teach American English, which is a little hard to come to terms with, so I often have to check in them to see what phrases I'm meant to be teaching.Two of my6 older classes are learning aboutthe planets in different textbooks, and the accompanying tapes pronounce them in different ways, so I'm incredibly confused about whose learnt how to say Uranus the amusing way.
I just had an incident with some 6 year olds, one was standing oin a chair cleaning the whiteboard and another pulled it out from under her. Crying ensued. There's a lot of bashing and falling over, but most of the time they seem to bounce, so there's not too much crying for me to have to deal with, maybe one every two days.
So teaching is doable. The breaks give me time to catch up on emails and maybe do some fun worksheets for the kids. Also, as it's Christmas, we've been asked to decorate our classrooms, so I'm busy with paper chains (homemade is always the best in my opinion).
Well, this has been rather a long blog. Congratulations to anyone who actually made it this far! Don't fret though, it's over now.... or is it?
Yes. It is.
I teach English to young kids, from 5 to 13 years old. I have about 5 classes a day, each lasting 50 minutes. So it sounds like a day should be really short but I often have long breaks, so I generally work from 9.30am till 6pm. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have six classes because I only teach the really young 5-year olds on those days (they are a handful and a half).
Teaching itself isn't too hard. The kids work from a variety of textbooks and as a teacher I just get them to do all the exercises and hopefully learn the english. With the young kids it's mainly vocabulary, and the older kids are more about the elementary rules of grammar.
Whilst teaching itself isn't too hard, controlling the classes can be, especially the 6 and 7 year olds. Not being able to speak Korean means I can't really reason with them to be quiet, so I just end up shouting a lot of the time. They have a sticker reward system going on at school here, so I can use that to control a little, but it often falls flat on its face.
The books teach American English, which is a little hard to come to terms with, so I often have to check in them to see what phrases I'm meant to be teaching.Two of my6 older classes are learning aboutthe planets in different textbooks, and the accompanying tapes pronounce them in different ways, so I'm incredibly confused about whose learnt how to say Uranus the amusing way.
I just had an incident with some 6 year olds, one was standing oin a chair cleaning the whiteboard and another pulled it out from under her. Crying ensued. There's a lot of bashing and falling over, but most of the time they seem to bounce, so there's not too much crying for me to have to deal with, maybe one every two days.
So teaching is doable. The breaks give me time to catch up on emails and maybe do some fun worksheets for the kids. Also, as it's Christmas, we've been asked to decorate our classrooms, so I'm busy with paper chains (homemade is always the best in my opinion).
Well, this has been rather a long blog. Congratulations to anyone who actually made it this far! Don't fret though, it's over now.... or is it?
Yes. It is.
2006년 12월 6일 수요일
Korean showers.
Now, I don't mean to be picky, but the showers here are really beggining to p*ss me off. My bathroom is a sort of wet room, well, there's a drain grate in the middle that all the water goes out through and no cubicle for the shower, so they must be going with the whole wet room thing. But the shower is attached to the wall above the sink, so unless you're one of those circus contortionists the only way to use it is to hold it in one hand. I keep dropping it, accidently putting it faceup in the sink so that water flies everywhere (including all over my towel), and I inevitably end up getting shampoo in my eye, something I haven't done much since I was about twelve!
Also, not having a bath, and not having much of a possibility of being able to have a bath in the next year, is rather annoying. If I were a bit older I'd be able to complain about the cold getting to my bones and needing a nice Radox filled bath. But I'm not, so I won't... yet.
It is definitely getting cold though, but it's still fairly dry, so I don't mind too much. I've brought out the hat and scarf, but I'm leaving the mittens until I absolutely have to. That way I'll appreciate their warmth more. Or so the theory goes anyway.
Also, not having a bath, and not having much of a possibility of being able to have a bath in the next year, is rather annoying. If I were a bit older I'd be able to complain about the cold getting to my bones and needing a nice Radox filled bath. But I'm not, so I won't... yet.
It is definitely getting cold though, but it's still fairly dry, so I don't mind too much. I've brought out the hat and scarf, but I'm leaving the mittens until I absolutely have to. That way I'll appreciate their warmth more. Or so the theory goes anyway.
2006년 11월 29일 수요일
Walkies...
Last weekend I was very good to my body. I ate some proper food and I went for two walks!
On Saturday we went to a city called Ilsan, which is about halfway between here and Seoul. This is the city with easy to get to cinemas, so it is quickly becomiong a favourite of mine. They are very into exercise there, and all the local pakrs have bits of gym equipment in them that anyone can use for free! In the middle of the city there is a woody sort of park thing, which is pretty much just a massive hill they propbably couldn't actually build anything on. So we walked through there for an hour or two. Strange place. We went in an odd way I think, so that we climbed up a small path in the middle of the woods without seeing anyone, then we came to an open clearing with loads of bench pressing equipment and dozens of people milling about. Then we suddenly got onto another small path and wandered off into the woods again. Up the top it is a long ridgeway and we saw a fair few people there. I even saw a hospital patient who'd climbed up the hill and had a few tubes dangling from somewhere. She gave us a nod and a "hello" and seemed very excited to have seen Westerners. We later walked pastt he National Cancer Centre of Korea so Ithink she must have come form there, as she had a hat on and no discernable hair. Very impressive, I only just made it up and I'm techinically healthy.
So anyhoo, that walk was fun, and afterwards we went to the movies, so I was very happy. Got to see The Departed again, and excellent film. Scorsese's back on track, we'll just ignore the whole Gangs of New York/Aviator fiasco.
On Sunday we went to Seoul and climbed up through another "bang in the middle of the city" hill-park thing. This time I had to use steps, not a path, so it was a tad dull. But the view was great and it gave me a real feeling of how big the city is, and it's massive! It just goes on and on and out all the way to the mountains that hem the city in all around. It was one of those hazy days that aren't actually warm, but when you walk up a hill you want to take off all the stuff you'd bundled up with. So I had scarves and hats and all sorts hanging off me.
So I gave my body a good workout, then I ate some pasta we'd managed to find in a department store supermarket. Pasta! Yay!
On Saturday we went to a city called Ilsan, which is about halfway between here and Seoul. This is the city with easy to get to cinemas, so it is quickly becomiong a favourite of mine. They are very into exercise there, and all the local pakrs have bits of gym equipment in them that anyone can use for free! In the middle of the city there is a woody sort of park thing, which is pretty much just a massive hill they propbably couldn't actually build anything on. So we walked through there for an hour or two. Strange place. We went in an odd way I think, so that we climbed up a small path in the middle of the woods without seeing anyone, then we came to an open clearing with loads of bench pressing equipment and dozens of people milling about. Then we suddenly got onto another small path and wandered off into the woods again. Up the top it is a long ridgeway and we saw a fair few people there. I even saw a hospital patient who'd climbed up the hill and had a few tubes dangling from somewhere. She gave us a nod and a "hello" and seemed very excited to have seen Westerners. We later walked pastt he National Cancer Centre of Korea so Ithink she must have come form there, as she had a hat on and no discernable hair. Very impressive, I only just made it up and I'm techinically healthy.
So anyhoo, that walk was fun, and afterwards we went to the movies, so I was very happy. Got to see The Departed again, and excellent film. Scorsese's back on track, we'll just ignore the whole Gangs of New York/Aviator fiasco.
On Sunday we went to Seoul and climbed up through another "bang in the middle of the city" hill-park thing. This time I had to use steps, not a path, so it was a tad dull. But the view was great and it gave me a real feeling of how big the city is, and it's massive! It just goes on and on and out all the way to the mountains that hem the city in all around. It was one of those hazy days that aren't actually warm, but when you walk up a hill you want to take off all the stuff you'd bundled up with. So I had scarves and hats and all sorts hanging off me.
So I gave my body a good workout, then I ate some pasta we'd managed to find in a department store supermarket. Pasta! Yay!
2006년 11월 21일 화요일
Tea issues...
Who'd have thought it, but I'm having trouble finding good black tea. In Asia! There's tons of green tea but not so much of the black stuff. I brought some Enlgish Breakfast with me, but I was kinda in a rush when I got it and so accidently got the loose variety. I do have a teapot but who can be bothered to make a pot of tea everymorning? I'm a bag lady (tea, I mean).
All I can find is Lipton Yellow Label, and as anyone who's breakfasted at a cheap American motel knows, it's really pants.
So boo to no tea in Asia! Boo with knobs on!
All I can find is Lipton Yellow Label, and as anyone who's breakfasted at a cheap American motel knows, it's really pants.
So boo to no tea in Asia! Boo with knobs on!
2006년 11월 18일 토요일
I've managed to find some cinemas! I'm saved!
Yesterday I went to a nearby city called Ilsan. It's much bigger than my lil' town and has lots of shops and department stores. With the help of a kindly westerner (also an English teacher) that Jo and I accosted on the street we located two department stores that had cinemas on their top floors. That seems to be the way they do it here, which is a real bugger because it means cinemas are almost always impossible to spot, even if you're standing right in front of the building they're in. Locals just seem to know they are there. But no matter, the important thing is that they ARE there.
Western films are never dubbed here, only subtitled, which is fantastic. Also, Korea is only about a month behind the releases in the UK, which means I should be able to catch Casino Royale soon (fingers crossed). Yesterday I saw The Prestige and, though the ending is somewhat long and spelt out so much even a monkey could understand it, it's not half bad. It's directed by the guy who did Memento and Batman Begins and has a great turn from the delicious Christian Bale. If you like drama, plot twists and magic then see it. But be warned, don't go if you're only going to see Scarlett Johansson, her part is really small and though her English accent was good the character was fairly dull and transparent
It was great to go to the cinema, it had been a few weeks and I was starting to feel withdrawal symptoms. The place we went to also had fairly good popcorn, so that's another addiction I don't have to stop!
Good news all round I thought, and well worth waffling about.
Western films are never dubbed here, only subtitled, which is fantastic. Also, Korea is only about a month behind the releases in the UK, which means I should be able to catch Casino Royale soon (fingers crossed). Yesterday I saw The Prestige and, though the ending is somewhat long and spelt out so much even a monkey could understand it, it's not half bad. It's directed by the guy who did Memento and Batman Begins and has a great turn from the delicious Christian Bale. If you like drama, plot twists and magic then see it. But be warned, don't go if you're only going to see Scarlett Johansson, her part is really small and though her English accent was good the character was fairly dull and transparent
It was great to go to the cinema, it had been a few weeks and I was starting to feel withdrawal symptoms. The place we went to also had fairly good popcorn, so that's another addiction I don't have to stop!
Good news all round I thought, and well worth waffling about.
2006년 11월 13일 월요일
I feel like I'm in the U.S. Army...
I was provided with a TV by my school, very nice of them, but unfortunately it only has 2 english language channels. Better than none, however one is an asian channel called Arirang that seems to only show cultural programs about various asian countries. I'd had my fill of that channel after watching an hour long show about dolls and puppets and how they differ in China, Korea, and Japan (I need to recharge my batteries somehow).
The other channel is an American Forces Network channel called Pacific Prime. It has alright shows on occasion (although the American version of The Office is shown on the one night I work late so I don't get to see it) but it doesn't have regular advertsd. Instead it has pro-army adverts, notices about events happening on bases, and warnings and reminders about stuff like cold weather, the amount of paperwork required if your going to marry a "host nation national", and the dangers of stress. After a while you begin to think you're actually in the army.
That feeling was doubled this weekend because Jo and I explored the section in Seoul where most of the American's from the local base go shopping. Lots of western clothes (though we failed at trying to find good tea) and lots of westerners walking around. American accents a-plenty.
Americans are definately the predominant westerners over here. The army is the main reason, but also there aren't many English English teachers, they're mostly Yanks and Canadians (if they're Canadians why don't we call it Canadia?) So Jo and I are fairly outnumbered, I might come home with more Americanisms than after my year living in the States!
The other channel is an American Forces Network channel called Pacific Prime. It has alright shows on occasion (although the American version of The Office is shown on the one night I work late so I don't get to see it) but it doesn't have regular advertsd. Instead it has pro-army adverts, notices about events happening on bases, and warnings and reminders about stuff like cold weather, the amount of paperwork required if your going to marry a "host nation national", and the dangers of stress. After a while you begin to think you're actually in the army.
That feeling was doubled this weekend because Jo and I explored the section in Seoul where most of the American's from the local base go shopping. Lots of western clothes (though we failed at trying to find good tea) and lots of westerners walking around. American accents a-plenty.
Americans are definately the predominant westerners over here. The army is the main reason, but also there aren't many English English teachers, they're mostly Yanks and Canadians (if they're Canadians why don't we call it Canadia?) So Jo and I are fairly outnumbered, I might come home with more Americanisms than after my year living in the States!
2006년 11월 9일 목요일
Visa run to Japan.
So, I just got back from going to Japan with me mate Jo to get our visas. It was a pretty quick trip, just two days and one night, but I got to explore a nice little city in the western part of Japan called Fukuoka. We got to the embassy ok, but then I had to have a photo done in their little booth. Luckily it had instructions in English, but they were a bit odd and just before the picture got taken it said "Ready? Here we go!" in such a weird voice that my picture came out ridiculously grinny from the laughing I was unable to control.
Fukuoka isn't too big a city but the various maps it had sucked so we got a little lost trying to find a tourist information place and then our hotel. We managed eventually though and then hit a few bars, one really fun onw that was tiny (only held about 30 people) and run by some young Japanese dudes. It was one of the bartenders' birthdays, so lots of wa-haying. The city had a large western shopping centre (although i couldn't afford anything, Japan is expensive!) and a really nice park and lake. Wandering round that yesterday was great but it was sooo hot, definitely above 20 degrees, in November!
I got my visa ok, another for the little collection I've got going on in my passport, and flew back. So now I'm working properly at school and I'm settling in properly at home. It's still pretty bare but I've been thinking about a furniture movement that might make it slightly more exciting. I've also got the hang of my rice cooker and managed to make some nice stuff that I just had cold for lunch.
I went to Seoul last weekend and as it only costs 80p each way I'm going again this weekend. It's massive, so it'll take me a while to explore fully...
Fukuoka isn't too big a city but the various maps it had sucked so we got a little lost trying to find a tourist information place and then our hotel. We managed eventually though and then hit a few bars, one really fun onw that was tiny (only held about 30 people) and run by some young Japanese dudes. It was one of the bartenders' birthdays, so lots of wa-haying. The city had a large western shopping centre (although i couldn't afford anything, Japan is expensive!) and a really nice park and lake. Wandering round that yesterday was great but it was sooo hot, definitely above 20 degrees, in November!
I got my visa ok, another for the little collection I've got going on in my passport, and flew back. So now I'm working properly at school and I'm settling in properly at home. It's still pretty bare but I've been thinking about a furniture movement that might make it slightly more exciting. I've also got the hang of my rice cooker and managed to make some nice stuff that I just had cold for lunch.
I went to Seoul last weekend and as it only costs 80p each way I'm going again this weekend. It's massive, so it'll take me a while to explore fully...
2006년 11월 2일 목요일
South Korea Arrived!
Right, well, I made it to Korea alright. The flight was fine, although none of those amazing personal tv screens, but rather tv monitors spread around the cabin. It felt rather like being on a coach. Got to watch Cars and Pirates of the Carribean 2 though, so not the worst movies in the world.
Korea is fab. I've got an apartment (all to myself). That's right. For the first time ever I'm living alone. I live in the same building as an American teacher at my school, so that's jolly nice. They've given me lots of stuff including a TV! I can only get two English channels (although I suppose that's better than none) and I've a sneaking suspision I'm going to be spending most of my TV time watching the Armed Forces Network that is here for the American bases. Instead of regular adverts it has pro-Army recruitment ad's, info about restaurants and stuff on the bases, and warnings from various Generals about snowy weather, cultural differences and safety. Many American TV shows, but some I kinda like, so that's ok.
I'm still acclimatising and trying to get over the jet lag, but it's not easy. For those of you that care to know Korea is 9 hours ahead of the UK, so I've just realised that while writing this at 4pm it is 7am there!
Anyway, I've done some teaching and it generally seems to go alright. I'm taking over from a teacher that left so the kids already seem a little clued up on most things.
Righty, I'll post again when I have something more interesting to report. I'm going to Seoul on Sunday so might have some impressions after that...
Korea is fab. I've got an apartment (all to myself). That's right. For the first time ever I'm living alone. I live in the same building as an American teacher at my school, so that's jolly nice. They've given me lots of stuff including a TV! I can only get two English channels (although I suppose that's better than none) and I've a sneaking suspision I'm going to be spending most of my TV time watching the Armed Forces Network that is here for the American bases. Instead of regular adverts it has pro-Army recruitment ad's, info about restaurants and stuff on the bases, and warnings from various Generals about snowy weather, cultural differences and safety. Many American TV shows, but some I kinda like, so that's ok.
I'm still acclimatising and trying to get over the jet lag, but it's not easy. For those of you that care to know Korea is 9 hours ahead of the UK, so I've just realised that while writing this at 4pm it is 7am there!
Anyway, I've done some teaching and it generally seems to go alright. I'm taking over from a teacher that left so the kids already seem a little clued up on most things.
Righty, I'll post again when I have something more interesting to report. I'm going to Seoul on Sunday so might have some impressions after that...
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