Goodbye Korea, Hello... urmm... unemployment.

So, it's been a while since my last blog, and (prompted by my mother, thanks dear) I've decided to do a final one before I leave Korea. A sort of round up of my time here and all that lovely stuff.


My last month was a blast, and I was busy busy busy. I took another trip to Everland Theme Park, but this time with my friends not my school. Good times, though we ended the night watching England lose in the RWC Final. Not so good. The bar I was in had a good helping of South Africans too, which didn't help console me. On the upside though, we got to the final when no-one thought we would, so pats on the back all round boys. Chin up, as they say.


My last day at school was our Halloween activity day. In the morning we had to dress up in a costume and take our Kindergarten kids around town trick or treating. It was actually rather fun, as all their parents came out and followed us around giving our sweets and taking lots of photos. I was dressed as Harry Potter (I wanted something English), and my other foreign co-workers were the Devil, a pirate, and Wonder Woman. We made quite a motley crew.


(For more photos from Halloween check out this album - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2090046&l=8fbaf&id=16105286 )


I then went to Japan, and I've just got back for a few final days in Korea before John and I embark on our Trans Siberian adventure home. Japan really deserves it's own blog, but who knows when I'll get around to that.


My time in Korea has been exceptionally fun. Before I left a geezer told me to enjoy it and don't worry about making it "the best year of my life". I agreed. Especially because calling something the best year lessens the importance of other things you've done in life. Every experience is important, just in different ways. Plus, it would suggest it's all downhill from here. I suppose "the best year of my life so far" would be better, but I still don't approve. Anyway, I took his advice and have indeed enjoyed it.


I've made lots of good friends in and around Munsan and I've discovered I'm mildly good at teaching small kids English. School has been a whirlwind some days and a bore others. The kids are crazy and I wouldn't have them any other way. My favourites have definitely been my kindergarten kids. Always full of energy and very loud (mainly in Korean, though I tried hard with English) and incredibly unpredictable. I've been jumped on, laughed at, ignored, run away from, jokingly attacked, and vomited on, but it's been good fun. Sometimes hagwon (private after-school) teaching gets put down, especially with the youngest kids. Some call it babysitting, but I really believe I made some progress, with certain kids anyway. My five year old class came to me (and my Korean co-teacher) not knowing any English at all, but now they can count to 20, name colours, name close to one hundred picture cards, say what food they like and what they're wearing. It's a start anyway.


Korea is an interesting country. It's economically sound, with impressive car, mobile phone, and television industries. The people are welcoming and generous, even if they do get a little shocked and stare at westerners in small towns. We do stand out an awful lot though. Japanese people dye their hair a lot more, but the majority of Koreans stick with their nature-given dark brown. Dying often just turns it orange. So anyone with different coloured hair is an easy spot. I've been said "Hello" to so many times walking around town I've lost count. I just came from a supermarket and outside three high school girls giggled away as they said hello and asked me where I was from. Every day, I think, it happens. I don't mind, except early in the morning when I haven't had any caffiene.


I've fallen in love with Korean food, including instant spicy noodles, pancaked sausage on a stick, anything else on a stick, dumplings, DIY barbecue pork (galbi), and the old favourite - kimchi. If you haven't yet heard me talk about kimchi look it up on Wikipedia or something. Phil tells me it is available at a local Korean store in London, so those of in Hendon might well get a chance to try some at a Korean style food thing when I'm back. Maybe.


I also adore one of the great Korean entertainments - private karaoke (noraebang). These singing rooms have a become a staple on nights out, especially in Munsan. We sing some absolute classics and my friend Vicky and I always rock the shop with our rendition of Under The Sea (from the Disney film The Little Mermaid). Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, Every Me and Every You by Placebo, Anarchy in the UK by the Sex Pistols, and of course any Brit pop like Oasis and Blur, are also great favorites.


Highlights of my year include Pentaport Rock Festival, the trip to Busan, any night out in Seoul, and getting to know my newest friends. I've been around to witness some historic stuff between the two Koreas, long may it continue. All in all, it's been ace. And there you have it.


If you care for photos, I've got many Japan trip albums on Facebook, but if you're not on that addictive network you can look at them through these links. There are far too many photos, but that's what you get with digital cameras isn't it!


Tokyo 1 - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2091827&l=3c58e&id=16105286
Tokyo 2 - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2092267&l=436d8&id=16105286
Tokyo 3 - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2092272&l=50514&id=16105286
Himeji Castle - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2092279&l=c8f80&id=16105286
Kyoto - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2092298&l=8822a&id=16105286
Nara - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2092300&l=44d5f&id=16105286
Mt. Fuji - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2093463&l=5f53e&id=16105286

Busan, new people, and ranting.

Well, the summer is nearly over and it's been quite a while since my last blog. All is ticking along quite nicely in Munsan and I've been joined by a new teacher called Felicity (and jolly nice she is too). Here's a pic of Flick and myself enjoying a ten pound bottle of Chilean red, the first good wine I'd tasted in months. I'm far too cheap normally.

We just experienced the Korean thanksgiving festival Chuseok. It's the time of the rice harvest in Korea and it's traditional to celebrate by visiting your ancestral home and giving practical gifts. This means large traffic queues as everyone leaves Seoul (no ancestral homes there apparently) and supermarkets stocked with rather odd gift boxes. As with Christmas, Spam is one, as it tuna, olive oil, and toothpaste. The strange thing is it isn't cheaper to buy ten tins of tuna like that, in fact it might be more expensive, but as it comes in a box people hand over the dosh like nobody's business. I got a gift set from school of coffee, they know me so well. It's good because I love coffee, but at the same time I drink coffee out of the machine at school and then don't drink it at home in the evening. So I'm not sure I'll ever use it. But it will be useful for the Transiberian train.

For those who care the Spam box would set you back 20 of your British pounds, the smaller tuna box 11 pounds and the larger box 16 pounds.

We got 3 days off (plus a weekend, so 5 days of holiday) for Chuseok, so we headed down to Busan to enjoy the city and meet up with some friends we made at Pentaport festival. The trip was excellent, though getting down there was a bit of a chore. We found out the KTX train (one of the fastest in the world, based on the French TGV system) is fully booked months in advance for Chuseok, so we missed out on that. Instead we had to take a bus.

On the day we toddled off to pre-buy bus tickets we went to a travel agents in Seoul first to order our Russian visas. The girl who served us was from Busan and she told us trips on the roads are stupidly long and it would take us at least 9 hours by bus. At least! She was jolly polite and made the trip yearly, so we trusted her judgement. We went and got the tickets anyway, as we had no other option, but had to make some serious preparations before bording the bus the next week. We stocked up on food, made sure our various MP3 players were fully charged, and I ripped out a couple of Super Sudokus from a book. I'd noticed the buses were sans-toilette, so we also made a concious effort to stop drinking water an hour beforehand and use the toilet as much as possible pre-bording.

In the end we put in all that effort for nothing. Well, not nothing, but not the 9 hours travel lady had said (or the 13 hours a Korean colleague had predicted.) The first half of the main road from Seoul to Busan has an inside bus lane, so whilst traffic queued we zoomed along. The bus stopped twice at service stations for ten minutes, so the toilet wasn't a problem either. Finally, the bus terminal turned out to be right at the northern tip of Busan, but still thankfully on the subway line, so there was no inner city traffic to deal with. The estimated time buses normally (on non-holiday days) take to Busan is five and a half hours. We made it in.... five and a half hours. The moral - never trust travel agent ladies, no matter how polite they are.

This photo is of the friends I went with from the north. L-R John, Ben, Mick, Flick, me. I nicked this photo from Flick, so I hope she doesn't mind!

Busan was lots of fun, and it's definitely where I'd choose to live next if I ever came back to Korea. It's a city but it's so relaxed compared to Seoul. It's on the coast, so you can party on the beach, go swimming, or just sit and watch the sunrise after a long night out. We went to many places, met many people, and drank many beers. Our hostel was located in an apartment block. I think the owner had simply bought an apartment and put in some bunk beds. She lived 5 floors above (smart lady) so there was no curfew and no hassle. Excellent stuff. We didn't do too many touristy things as we became mildly nocturnal, but no-one cared. It's strange, when I live in a country I tend to forget to do tourist things. I suppose I just don't think of myself as a tourist here.

(Busan is the 3rd largest container port in the world. Not surprising really for a peninsula country whose only land border is with North Korea.)

Coming home was more of a chore, as people began flouting convention and using bus lanes for normal cars. The traffic coming into Seoul was considerably jammed We booked the same bus one of our friends was already on and got the 3.50 from Busan, which should have got into Seoul around half past nine. We hadn't really thought it through, but that didn't leave much time for lateness and getting to Seoul station to catch the last trian home at 10.45. We failed, considerably. We got into Seoul at 11, with a travel time of seven hours and ten minutes. Slightly closer to the predicted nine than I would have liked. In the end we had to take the subway an hour and a quarter north to Ilsan, a city half an hour from Munsan by road, and then a taxi. I eventually stumbled into bed at half past one with the exiting promise of 6 hours sleep before starting work again. The next day was, I must admit, something of a sleepy blur.

Well, that blog was more about the bus than Busan. But nevermind.

Friends they come, friends they go.

August and September have been a jolly happy time for me because I was visited by some rather special guests. Phil and Elle, my friends since early childhood, decided (I'm not sure how) to spend some hard earnt money (well, some earnt money) coming out to Korea and seeing the sights. They had a whole crossover thing worked out as Phil was busy with his band in the studio in August and Elle had to get back to start her masters course in September, but I eventually understood once it had been explained a few times.


Elle came first and we managed to meet at Seoul station without too much difficulty and no mobile phones. It was ace, just like before mobile technology took over our lives. I remember the old days when someone would say "Yes, I'll be at this place at that time", and they would stick to it. None of those phone calls whilst your waiting at Hendon Central apologising but saying they'll be twenty minutes late. That's all well and good that you've called me, but I'm still standing here, waiting, looking like a tosser. Just because you can phone and apologise doesn't make it alright to be late without a good reason. And no, doing your hair is not an excuse boys and girls. Ok, rant over.


Of course I'm not talking about anyone specifically here. Simply my general generation. We're all guilty of abusing mobile communications at some point.


Elle spent a happy two weeks hanging out at my apartment, coming into school to observe the madness of my students (her words, not mine), and navigating the important sights of Seoul. Eventually Phil turned up and the two of them took off to Daecheon to enjoy the beach and seafood delights. Well, Phil enjoyed the seafood, I think Elle was a bit iffy when it came to octopus. Before Elle left we had a great night out at club night in Seoul and stayed down there to shove Elle on an aiport-bound bus and show new teacher/arrival Felicty a few sights and sounds of Seoul. Mainly Starbucks and a greek restaurant, but I think she got the picture.


Phil stayed for the next two weeks and did the same things Elle had. In fact he made her write him a list he could copy, lazy boy. We hung out, went out in Seoul, and went noraebanging (singing karoake in private rooms) a number of times. Phil's rendition of Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" (the Titanic theme tune) bought a tear to my eye, though perhaps for the wrong reasons. We also made it to the Under-17s World Cup Final (the ticket for which included the 3rd place match before hand). 2 games, Seoul World Cup Stadium, five pounds. Cheap as chips. And a couple of fun matches, especially the final penaty shoot-out to decided the wholee thing. Much easier to watch those when neither country is yours. Congrats went out to Nigeria, who beat Spain to lift the cup, and Germany who beat Ghana to come in 3rd.

I loved having Phil and Elle, and now that they've gone I only have one and a half month's left before I finish my contract and travel around Japan and Russia. It's getting exciting.....



Oh, additionally, enjoy this. It's a photo of my 6 year old class with the homage to big bird we made by drawing around and cutting out our hands. My hand is Big Bird's hand as theirs were too small. Lovely stuff.

In the summer time...

... when it's bloody hot!

Well, the rainy season has finished here and it's getting hot hot hot. I've never been so glad to have air conditioning! The bugs had a bit of a field day with me at the rock festival I recently attended but they have subsided a bit. I do have to run around my apartment every now and again squishing mosquitoes. It's quite hard actually - the minute I get close to getting one it zooms off. Very frustrating.

I got a new haircut to go with the weather. The guy at the place had limited English though so it's slightly shorter than I would normally allow (not able to quite tie it back yet) but never mind. I'll survive. I quite like it really. He bobbed and ducked around me like an artist producing a new piece. He also did some weird Japanese style thing, involving sliding the scissors down taught hair without actually cutting, that thinned it out then eventually declared the style's name was "Grated Bob". Makes me sound a bit like cheese. Maybe it was Graded and I misheard. Well, either way, there it is. It was quite a nice chain called International Designers (the 'International' made me hope they'd have some experience with westerners, unlike the last place - Butty Hair Shop). In the end a cut and dry only cost me 15,000 won, which is about 8 pounds. Not too shabby really, I'm sure the same thing would have cost me 50 pounds in London.

The rock festival I went to was lots of fun. I met loads of westerners, saw some good bands and had a good time. Highlights included the Chemical Brothers, Muse, a Korean ska band called Copy Machine, and Ocean Colour Scene. We also saw a New Zealand band dating back to the '60s called Human Instinct and the next day we met and sat and had a drink with the lead guy. He sings whilst playing the drums standing up. Impressive in itself but he also ran around the stage and jumped over things like a man half his age. He did own up to some battle scars the next day - but from his performance you'd never know he got hurt doing it.

The campsite was tiny, and rather than big fields it was in a sort of park with walking paths, trees, and many a water-draining ditch for drunk festival goers to fall into. I managed not to. Hoorah! It was strange being in such a small site compared to Glastonbury, Reading, and V. Never a problem finding our tents, especially once my Scottish friends had hung up a giant Scot flag between two nearby trees (my idea, why do I suggest these things). It was rather a Celtic festival one way and another - so many Scots and Irish folkies. Don't despair though, England was well represented too.

The weather was hot for the first two days (despite lots of sun-tan cream we all got a little sunburn). It rained a little on the Sunday but John and I were well prepared with sexy raincoats. We decided to up the sexiness with some green duct tape and it worked a treat. We had initially bought the tape to patch up our cheap tents if it started to rain (see previous blog rant) but, you know, fashion always comes before personal comfort. Of course it stopped raining almost as soon as we finished the final touches. Always the way isn't it? (I'm not the one with the Rampant Lion flag.)

The best part of the festival was, strangely enough, the food. Why English festivals consist mainly of greasy noodles, hamburgers, and chips is beyond me. Here we were treated to lots of stuff on sticks, bangers and mash, steak sandwiches, Indian curry and barbecue, traditional Korean fast food, and lots more. We were also able to get cheapish beer (well, the same price as in a local bar) thanks, I would imagine, to the festival being part subsidised by the Korean government. It was great not to have any of the ridiculous booze and food price-jacking I'm used to at festivals.

All in all a good time. I'm very happy to have seen the Chemical Brothers now, the animations for their set were mesmerising. Muse were great yet again, if a little tired from coming straight from a Japanese rock festival in Fuji.

Here's one last photo to tickle your fancy. I like it because it looks rather cool when opened up fully (if you click on it, which I think you can on Blogger). Check out the guy's arms and the purple light. Totally trippy dude....

P.S. Please excuse the poor layout - Blogger just isn't doiung what I tell it to. I though we were meant to be the masters and computers were meant to be our slaves, not vice versa!

Well then, it's not really raining or pouring... much.

According to a possibly-misled source the rainy season ends today. I'm sure that doesn't mean a total end to rain, but if that was it for any kind of "monsoon season" I think I got off pretty lucky. Granted, we had some major downpours and it was a lot heavier than we normally get in England, but overall it's been rather dry. Maybe all the rain in India, Bangladesh and Gloucestershire has meant an unusually dry season here. If so then sorry to the good people of the west country. Your flood has been my sunny day.

At the moment it's a little grey and drizzly but I'm hoping that will pass over tongiht, because tomorrow we head off to a rock festival called Pentaport. My bosses have kindly changed things here and there so that we can being our holiday tomorrow so we get to go early and set up camp. It does mean coming back next Friday to teach 3 (yes three) classes in the morning then toddling off home again. Rather pointless, but there it is.

This will probably be my least prepared festival ever. If it does rain I'm sure to get wet. As it won't be cold here, we were uber-cheap when buying tents. We spent a grand total of 10 pounds on each, and they are those wonderfully fun pop-up tents. Easy up, tricky down should be their motto really. Each tent only has one layer, and we noticed one or two seam-problems when putting up one as a test. So if it does rain I might have a few leakage worries. We've laid our hands on some duct tape, so hopefully that should help any big holes. We shall see.

Speaking of duct tape, buying it was a perfect example of over-pricing named brands. At a big store in Seoul we found proper Duct Tape on sale for 8000 won (about 4 pounds and 50 pence). I convinced John not to be rash and that we would find it cheaper somewhere in Munsan. Fortunately for my honour, we did. We found a green varity for just 900 won (50 pence). 8000 <-> 900. It's criminal what some people can charge. I'm not even sure what to call it, I've got a sneaky suspicion duct tape is just what everyone calls it because that's the brand they know. Rather like Hoovers. Answers on a postcard please.

For the fest we did manage to get some folding chairs and I've got a big English flag and some emergency Snickers, so I think I'll manage. Festival delights will include Damien Rice, The Chemical Brothers, and (for the second time in Korea) Muse. Oh, and I think there's a karaoke stage, Koreans just can't live without it. Good times will be had.

So here's looking forward to my holdiay (the first since mid-February.) I really do need it now, and I'm sure once it's over I'll complain it wasn't long enough. I think I might be a bit justified though, 6 days really isn't all that long. Hopefully I'll finally get to the DMZ during that time. Or maybe I'll be too busy sleeping...

It's raining, it's pouring.

The rainy season has official started here. Granted, we're not doing as badly as a lot of the rest of the world but the rain can be pretty insane. Over the weekend it rained constantly, only stopping every now and then as if to give people false hope that it might clear up. Saturday night in particular was crazy with thunderstorms lashing my town and lightning striking all around. The thunder was shaking my windows and giving my apartment block quite a jiggle.

It's only the start though. July is said to be wet wet wet, and then I've been told August will be hot hot hot. I thought the 29 and 30 degrees we were getting in June was it but it's going to get worse. So they say. Ah well, weird weather is one of the exciting perks of world travel. At least the summer rain here is warm.

Apart from the rain the country seems to be gettign on quite well. I'm beginning to feel slightly like I've worked here forever and I've forgotten what holidays are like. Thankfully I get a holiday in 3 1/2 weeks, and it won't be a moment too soon. We're off to a rock festival to enjoy some muddy relaxation and I'm certain it's going to be a blast.

The summer blockbuster season is keeping me happy at the box office. Not always totally satisfied (Shrek 3 was the first film I've ever called 'too short'), but happy. We've had most of the trilogies, and Hot Fuzz finally came along. I was pleasantly surprised by Transformers which, for a Michael Bay film (he of Armageddon and Pearl Harbor fame-shame) was actually rather enjoyable. I found out later that many of the 'bots were voiced by the original guys from the eighties cartoon series, a great extra touch. I've still got Harry Potter 5, Die Hard 4, and the Simpsons to look forward to in the next few months. Releasing films simultaneously worldwide is a great step forward, may it last. Next year we Brits will have to wait a little for some blockbusters as money grabbing execs won't bring them out during Euro 2008 or even the Olympics. Some people...

The only other thing I can think to speak of is the fun I had last night watching an advert on tv. It was for, wait for it, Spam! I almost wet myself from laughing. The ad had a hansome Korean guy using Spam in all sorts of exciting culinary ways. Spam canopes. Spam wrapped around rice. Fried Spam, grilled Spam, Spam on a stick. I've discovered it's an extended version of one you can see on YouTube. It's a short one but you can jump on my laughter train (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6ez9Ca0ANk).

I can't stop grinning about Spam now. Hehehe. No, I think I'm gonna have to stop typing and go an chuckle somewhere...

Mozzie's and drinks.

Well, things are going surprisingly well in my little world. Summer has hit well and trully and I've become jolly grateful I've got airconditioning in my classroom. The temperature guage has it at 29 centigrade when I get in in the morning, and the lowest I've managed to get it is 25, so it's still stuffy. My body's getting used to it though, I think.

With the warm weather have come many a "wee beastie" as my Scottish colleague would call them. I've managed to keep most out of my flat, but I've had a few bites and to me that always means summer has properly started. I dunno what it is about my blood or scent or what but bugs just love me. I'm currently dealing with at least 5 mosquito-esque bites and a large spider bite on my arm. Don't get too concerned though, I manage to get through this every year. At camp in America I had 3 spider bites at once and my wrist was double it's normal size, but the nurse didn't seem at all worried so it's fine. Unfortunately there aren't any exciting compensations like Spiderman got....

I made it to a football game a few weekends ago and saw Holland beat Korea (only narrowly though). I was most excited when Kuyt came on as a sub as he was the only Dutch football player I could name off the top of my head that was actually there. Van Persie's injured and Man U's goalie-guy (a-ha, Van Der Mar, just remembered!) wasn't around. The game was alright, but it was the stadium that really impressed me. Despite so much concrete it's rather magnificent, especially at night. During the national anthem of Korea a giant flag magically flew up a stand at one end of the pitch. It waved and jiggled from side to side and then, at the song's conclusion, vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Wonderful things they do with technology here. Also, and I'm not sure whether it was done on purpose, there did seem a bit of a slight with the anthems. Disregarding the giant flag (it is their stadium after all) the Korean's got a woman to sing the Dutch song, rather feebly, and then a strong operatic bass man to sing the Korean song. Lovely way to say "We're real men and you're a bunch of girls," I thought. Didn't help SK in the end, they lost.


A word on drinking here, for those interested. The most popular alcoholic beverage is Soju, a clear rice liquor that tastes somewhat like sweet vodka. It's pronounced So-jew (I think the Koreans say it with a fairly short "o", but I tend to say it slightly more home counties-esque) It's not too bad, but at 20% it has a bit of a kick. It is drunk in shots, not sipped, and that accounts for a fair amount of drunk men and women wandering the streets of my little town. They drink as they eat (being in a bar and not ordering food is rather bad manners here, but at 6 pounds for an unwanted snack I generally break their rules) and it's a polite custom to refill one another's glasses. John and I once got conned into paying a fiver for some dried and charcoal heated small fish that came with mayonaisse. We didn't ask for it, it just turned up like a free snack (popcorn or little hoola hoop type-things are generally given free in bars), so we assumed it was free. When we went to pay for the bottle of beer we'd each had we got a nasty shock. That's one place we won't be going to again.

So anyway, because it's drunk in shots while eating a lot of soju gets drunk and jolly quickly too. There are also some rice wines here but I tried one a few months ago and really didn't like it at all, so I've yet to try another. They do have beer, including Cass Hite and OB, all of which taste exactly the same. It's rather fizzy beer and not great, but Hite also produces an "export" beer called Max Prime (yup, what a name eh?) so I tend to stick to that where possible. Euorpean and other good beers can be bought but they are comparitively expensive. Since I've been here I've treated myself to two glasses of Hoegarden (twice the price of a normal beer here) and a bottle of Kingfisher (3x normal beer) because curry without Indian beer just ain't right. I get by though, but I'm really desiring a pint of Budvar. The wine here is also expensive and not too special, so that is something I don't get much of either. Boo-hoo.

For your own knowledge the Korean for cheers is "kum-beh" (beh sounds like bay) and it is said in rather an excited "hoo-ray" sort of manner. Aside from that drinking manners include special rules for pouring drinks. The most confusing for me is when to poor for others, when to hold your glass, and how many hands to do it all with. I once offended a guy by using two hands when pouring him a beer. Apparently that was an uber-polite way of doing it, and by that time he considered me a friend. Fairly soon after that someone else I was with used two hands to serve me! Very confusing, so I stick to being uber-polite. If I'm going to be wrong I'd at least like to be consistently wrong. If you see what I mean. As well as hands there are other social rules to deal with. Read this and decide for yourself if you could manage to remember and put into practice these rules (remember, you'll probably have had a few drinks alreasdy when you have to do it).

• When drinking in a group, pour for those of higher position or age first, then in descending order.
• When someone of higher position pours you a drink, it is considered proper to turn away from that person when you then drink it.
• While drinking together, others may pour drinks for you to drink, and you should accept these offers.
• It is not good to be too assertive in encouraging someone else to drink what you would like to pour for them.
• As it is considered rude to refuse to drink altogether, people who do not ordinarily drink alcohol should say "Please pour me just a little," and allow a glass to be poured for you. If the other person continues to encourage you to drink, it is at this point you should tell them that you do not ordinarily drink alcohol, which will not come off as being rude.

It's not easy...

I've been making myself do a few extra touristy things recently, like wandering around streets selling "authentic" stuff, and going to the odd museum. Last weekend we went to the War Memorial Museum and it was very good. They have big arrows that show you the best way to go around and it means you circle the floors moving up and up. At first there was too much information to take in but as we kept going I began to understand more and more about the war. The front line changed dramatically quite a few times and only a city called Busan, on the south-east coast, managed to escape being occupied by the North Koreans at all. When the war began the readiness of the North's army far outweighed that of the South. In fact, the South had few ships, no aircraft, and very little in the way of big guns and even actual man-power. If it hadn't been for the UN the South would never have been able to fight back as an official army. That's right, I said the UN. It wasn't just the Yanks, as I'd always tended to assume, but an alliance made up of a dozen countries. Britain sent 63,000 troops alongside the USA's 480,000 and others. 37,000 Americans dies, 1100 Brits died. Sounds sadly familiar doesn't it.

The museum was informative, and outside we got to look at some planes, tanks and rockets, which is always fun. It was rather strange watching little kids playing on tanks, because they'll be recruited to do mandatory national service when they get older and be in an army that is technically still at war. My town has a large SK army base nearby, and soldiers are always seen in and around town. It's not uncommon for our school to be buzzed once or twice a day by a fleet of helicopter gunships. At first I was excited by this, but it has now become a mundane interruption to classes. What that says about my life here I don't know!

The other exciting thing recently was watching part of a Korean movie being made in town. As John and I walked home from school we noticed a crowd of teenage girls taking pictures with their phones and getting autographs. We then watched them film part of a scene, something to do with a girl with an eyepatch and a policeman's uniform dragging some boy along a street. It was being filmed right next to a pizza shop we go to, and they almost prevented us from going and getting pizza! They didn't though, and you never know we might be in the far background! It's not very exciting, but if you want you can see a short video I took with my camera on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rpLGmJT7B8

Well, that was a long blog wasn't it. Stay tuned for some more ramblings coming your way soon!

Oh, here's one more photo. I like messing around with setting on my camera and this one is courtesy of "Night time". Enjoy.

Wet football and haircuts.

It's been quite a while since my last blog, partly because I've been very busy at work, and partly because nothing overly exciting had happened.

A few weekends ago some friends and I went to what is called "Club Day" at one of the university districts in Seoul. A ten pound ticket got you into a dozen clubs in the area and a free drink, so we wandered around from place to place. Most weren't my cup of tea but there were one or two rock clubs. A surreal moment came when one establishment we went into was full of fairly goot salsa dancers. We even got told to move off the dancefloor (well, the space in the middle where tables had been moved from) to make way for the dancers. Wel left quickly, feeling rather intimidated and lacking in talent. The night was good, although by the time we got home the sun had risen to an improper height. Ah well....

For my birthday I went with some mates to go shopping, catch a movie, and have a curry. The movie (Spiderman 3) was terrible, the curry was brilliant. John and I shared a set menu thingy and we got barbecued chicken, lamb, prawns, and some great curries, including an interesting cheese concoction. Excellent stuff. The waiters all spoke really good Enlgish, but they did tend to hover and refill water glasses after every sip (very Mauel form Fawlty Towers - esque). I once managed to get down to having only 1/3 left before a sudden replenish, and we all felt that was quite an achievement.

Last weekend we went to see what has become my footbal team in action. It rained on us, a lot, and I was mightily envious of the fans with Suwon Bluewings raincoats. Maybe next time... The game itself was alright. Suwon had dozens of shots on goal, but only managed to get one in (off a powerful free kick), so even though we won 1-0 all the Brits were dissapointed by the playing. "No finishes", was the consensus. Hopefully I'm going to go and see Korea play Holland in a friendly in a few months, so maybe we'll see some better finishing there.

After the game we had to get a bus to the local station and I've never been so cramped in my life. Ok, maybe once on a fishing boat/ferry to an island in Thailand, but not much. Loads of people outside the stadium got on and the bus was full. We moved off and I had no sooner found a teeny bit of space for my bag than we stopped and the driver opened the doors for yet more passengers! It was ridiculous. I toppled a few times, but not completely over, my falls were saved by some well positioned Korean teenagers. They didn't seem particularly impressed though.

On Sunday it was finally time for a hair lop. John went first, and seeing his ponytail go was quite a shock. He'd been growing it for a year and a half and he's still getting used to life without it. He'll survive. At the barbershop he went to he got to pick his new cut from a book. They also had the ten choices up on a wall, each with a umber. It was rather like ordeirng a meal at McDonalds or a take-away. He looks jolly different now and somehow very Russian.

I also got my haircut, but as the was no menu to order from I used hand signals. There were so many hairdressers in Seoul I wouldn't decide which to use. Everntually I went with the closest to my house, support local business and all that, and some of you might be amused to know that it is called the "Butty Hair Shop". Yes, I got my hair cut at Butty's, and jolly proud of it I am too. Sunday was also a shopping day and I bought some straighteners, so I am now sporting a straight bob kind of thing. I'm sure I'll get pictures of it at some point.

Yesterday was Teacher's Day (Children's day and Parents' day were earlier this month) but there were surprisingly few gifts. A bit of cake mainly. Some of my kids did go wild and decorate my whiteboard, which was nice of them. I was forced to stand outside waiting for 10 minutes while this was finished, but as they were writing in English I didn't see it as wasting class time!

The next few weeks will include lots of work, a few days and nights out, and hopfully the purchase of tickets to a rock festival in July. Fingers crossed.

Oh, and by the way, I wasn't kidding. Don't see Spiderman 3. It sucks.

Everland Theme Park

Well, it's been quite fun here really. On Saturday we were taken on a bus with a load of our young kids to a Korean theme park called Everland, given a free ticket, and told to go off and have fun. I didn't have to look after kids at all! Oh, and I got to meet Harry Potter and his mate Hermione (they were rather stiff we me though).









The theme park itself isn't too shabby. We went on a few big roller coasters and enjoyed being unconventional at one of the water rides. You know the ones, those big circular things 8 of you sit in as they shoot down an artificial "jungle" river. Most parks just let you get wet, that is the idea after all, but here they had covers to put over you so that up to your neck was protected. We rebelled though and pulled ours down. Halfway round I found out that the covers are just for show - the water can come up through the bottom of them. I spent the next few hours wandering around with a jolly soggy right leg, but it was such a nice day I didn't really mind.



We had a surreal time in Europeland (which was mainly Holland). The flowers were nice, but the tulips were all planted in the shadow of a sort of parthenon wannabe which screwed with my mind geographically. The place did look good though, despite the weirdness, and it also had a food area which was a major plus. I got to kick back at some ourdoor dining and enjoy an afternoon wheat beer (my favourite!) As we sat a train that ran around the flower area went by every few minutes and once or twice a group of our kids was on board. Most kids managed not to notice us, but the teachers did and we gave them waves of our beer glasses. Rather mean I suppose.

As we wandered around Holland we were accosted by our top director lady and whisked off for a photo session with some appropriately cute looking children in front of some tulips. There were group photos, pair photos, individual photos. I tell you, this microcosm fame is rather tough sometimes, I can see what Brad and Angelina complain about. What with the constant shouting of my name, the photo shoots, and always being asked to give people my signature (well, spell my name on the board) it is a form of celebrity. Haha.







The rest of the park was fun. They've got quite a good zoo area, with a new monkey bit. I particularly enjoyed the "Orangutan Sky Walk", where I got to see a fine old boy make his way halfway across before stopping for a widdle and a sit down. It's tough getting to work when you're a monkey, we descendents just haven't a clue. As the photo shows there was a goodish amount of blossom around and it really gave the whole place an oriental feeling. Jolly nice in other words. John got to armwrestle one of the orange guys, and he seemed to be winning for a bit there, but in the end I think the monkey had him.



Other exciting animals were some polar bears (though their place look too small for such magnificent and scarily big things) white and regular tigers (ditto small enclosures) and the usual birds and reptiles. I did enjoy seeing some babies in an over cutesy "baby animals" area. And cutesy it was - we saw some lions and tiger cubs having a nap in a cradle, I mean really! It was interesting to see baby parrots, which they had in three sections to show the difference in growth during their first month out of the shell. The smallest looked gross, in fact no age had a fluffy factor going on, but it was visually impressive. My favourite was the penguins, who I've always had a bit of a soft spot for. I spent more minutes than I'll happily admit to amusing myself by doing an imaginary dialogue between two who were standing on a jump-off kinda platform thingamajig.








[For the purposes of this performance the penguin at the back will be played by Gerald and the penguin at the front we be played by Norman.]

Gerald: "Look mate, are you going or what?"


Norman: "Just gimme a minute, this is a delicate operation!"


Gerald: "Delicate my arse, just jump already!"


Norman: "Alright, alright, no need to get you flippers in a twist."


... and so on....




A good time was had, and the weather has turned really nice now, so you people in England can no longer makes me jealous with stories of barbecues and such. Let's hope it stays nice for many a weeek.


P.S. Harry and Hermione were made of Lego - in case you were wondering.

Easter? Was it really?

That's not totally fair I suppose. I did know it was Easter, but only because we had a special activity afternoon at school. However, unlike some other mainly Western festivals like Valentine's Day and Christmas, Easter wasn't to be seen in the shops around town. Let's face it, the lack of gift options (after chocolate is exhausted) means that commercially it is a bit of a non event. Surprising though, I'd have thought the chocolate would have been a big deal. But no. Not an egg in sight. Korea doesn't have the same Pagan beginnings as Europe, so the whole spring thing isn't quite the same.

I did completely miss Pancake Day though, and thus forgot about Lent and my annual health-kick oriented self-denial of chocolate, crisps and fizzy drinks. Whoops. Maybe I'll do that another month...

Easter weekend I was aware of, however. Mum sent me some Cadbury's Mini-Eggs (the greatest seasonal food ever). Then on Good Friday I spent four hours helping kids make bunny ears. I'd prepared loads of pink card, bunnies = pink on this kind of occasion I think, but completely underestimated the loathing boys have of it. I understand their problem, pastel pink isn't my fave either, but I was hoping the bunny-ness would change their minds. It didn't. So I spent some time running around finding blue card and making gender specific cards. Really, does no one here care that they're falling into the definitions society imposes on them. Well, no, I don't suppose eight years olds do.

It was fun though, as I have a little radio gismo that lets me play my mp3 player through my classroom stereo. So we listened to the Beatles and the Kinks all afternoon and then I got my Korean colleagues enjoying KT Tunstall as we cleaned up. Rather good the kids English isn't perfect yet though, I'm not sure a song about a guy who gets it on with a transvestite is quite the right thing to play to pre-teens (see the Kinks' magnificent Lola).

Anyway, it was an easy afternoon and the chocolate was great. Thanks Mum. Maybe next year I'll be in a country that warns me about Pancake Day...

DVD bangs.

Recently I've discovered a wonderful thing.

As some of you might know, I'm something of a film fan. When I decided to leave my London life and toil in South Korea for a year I knew jolly well that I would probably be without good films for most of the time, and I wasn't even sure I would be provided with a TV. Thankfully I was, and I get Sky which gives me a few good films every now and again and BBC World and BBC Entertainment (yes, that's right, I still get to watch House Invaders whilst I eat my breakfast, though it used to be better - Bargain Hunt).

I can also satisfy my film lusts by trekking into Seoul, or the nearest big Seoul "satellite city" Ilsan. All Western films are shown in their original language with Korean subtitles, so there's never any faffing at the box office with dubbing questions. The only problem with that is if a film ever has multiple languages and English subtitles they get over run by the Korean ones and you can't see 'em. So I haven't seen Babel, I knew the subtitles would be a whitewash. Cinemas only cost 7 or 8 thousand won (about 4 pounds) and popcorn is cheap, so it's not a bad thing to do often.

Still, like I said, I've recently discovered a wonderful thing. They are called DVD bangs. I recall reading about them in Lonely Planet, but I hadn't ever seen one so I thought it was one of those Lonely Planet myths (like some bars they describe as warm and cozy being as socially cold as the grave). No offense to LP, it's hard to stay up to date in printed books. One day it'll all be electronic and there won't be a problem. Good news for trees, bad news for paper manufacturers and wholesalers. Oh, whoops, I seem to have wandered off the point...

A DVD bang is an establishment full of small rooms with either big TVs or projectors. You choose a film like you would in a rental shop, pay 5000 won each (2 pounds fifty), then they throw it in a DVD player, show you to a little room, and you kick back on a sofa and enjoy! They don't give a hoot about food or drink you take in so you can have a little picnic or a few beers with your film. It is an odd sensation, but the minute I stepped into my first room I knew I'd love it. The rooms feel like nine months ago a cinema and a living room mated and that is what resulted. (Hmm.. I wonder what the gestation period for a living room or cinema is, and come to that which one would be the carrier?) The ones we've found in Munsan have projectors and massive screens, even though they aren't much bigger than a small bathroom. It doesn't feel too close or hurt your eyes though, well, no more than a cinema does. One day I'll take a photo. Until then you'll have to take my word for it - they rock.

John and I were wondering if they would take off at home, but I think the possibility of being a bit seedy (dark room, sofas, 2 uninterrupted hours) is a bit much. Pity... it would be a great opportunity to watch on a large screen any film you missed at the cinema that really deserves a big scale showing.

Go Bluewings!

Well, I've just about recovered from the St Patrick's day weekend. It wasn't particularly Irish but I had good fun with it. On Saturday John and I went to meet a guy we had originally met at the Muse gig. He took us to see his local team, Suwon, play football. It was rather impressive as the team plays in the Suwon World Cup Stadium, one of many built for the 2002 tournament. Korea still seems to be beaming about the event, and I see quite a lot of merchandise both on sale and being worn and carried about.

The game was quite good, with Suwon having the lion's share of shots at the goal and finally winning with a late goal. The stadium was nowhere near full but it was busy. At one end a sea of blue supporters banged drums and chanted throughout the entire match. Really, they didn't stop, it was pretty impressive. Suwon beat a team from the other end of the country (5 hours away by train) called Busan I-Park. The poor team had only managed a dozen supporters in one stand, but they had drums too and tried to give the blue army a run for their money... they failed.

It's a bit weird here because quite a lot of the premiership (or K-League as it's called) teams are sponsored by corporations and include them in their title. Busan I-Park, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i, and Suwon Samsung Bluewings all use corporate names to keep afloat. I think they need to though, as despite football's popularity Korean's seem more interested in European club football than domestic. I'm hoping to go and see Korea play Uruguay in a friendly next weekend, so maybe more supporters will come to that.

I've decided I like Korean stadiums though. You're allowed to bring in any food and drink you like, and they sell beer inside at not too much of an unreasonable price (about 1 pound 30 for a smallish can). Also, rather than the British tradition of greasy food at half time we were offered a pot of noodles (they do that very well here, none of that Pot Noodle nonsense) or a roll of sushi. The sushi was fab, but sitting in a football stadium eating it with chopsticks was somewhat surreal. Not a burger in sight!

So the football was good fun and, after getting a little lost coming out of the stadium, we managed to go out to some bars in Seoul to celebrate the Irish way. Unfortunately a pint of Guinness here costs 6 pounds, so I didn't feel Irish enough to shell out on one.

Recently we were in Seoul and I saw an idea I'd heard about but never seen put into practice. One of the city's cathedrals was having building work and the front was covered in scaffolding (sound familiar?). Over the scaffolding they had erected a massive photo of the front of the building to cover up the ugly construction work. It didn't hide it completely, but it was quite fun to see.

After a fun weekend it's back to school, which is alright but I am a little ill. Violent coughing fits come in bursts, but as long as I keep drinking water they pass quickly. I must be getting though 4 litres a day! It's not too bad, except when I'm right in the middle of showing some flashcards and eliciting words, "Good! Table! Now, what's thi- klhmph klhmph klhmph klhphm klhmph..." Hopefully I'll be ok in a day or two...

P.S. Kid update - the wee ones are beginning to understand their new names, or at least they understand who I'm talking to. However saying them is taking time. Philip is putting in a lot of effort but keeps saying "Pilip". The letter F has no comparable letter in the Korean language so when they start learning English all F's are P's. 'Sopa', 'Pootball', 'Pinished teacher!' R's also manifest themselves as L's for the same reason. Thus 'frog' becomes 'plog'. Really, it's not just a stereotype used in films for a cheap laugh. Oh well, they learn the proper pronunciations eventually, and I've learnt to understand them in the meantime.

Nearly St Paddy's day...

Well well. Not too much has been happening this week in my little world. Last week I went and saw Muse at Jamsil Gymnasium in the Olympic Park circa 1988. They were bloody awesome, though we did miss the first twenty minutes. We rushed to Seoul when work finished and got to the gig just after Muse came on. At an entrance and could hear them playing but were agonisingly told we had to enter from an upper floor. The bouncer told us to follow some Korean girl he'd told the way to. We did, but instead of leading us into the gymnasium she took us all the way round the Olympic Stadium. As you can imagine it was rather large. It was snowing as well, which didn't help. Eventually we started running when we realised she had no clue where she was going and we made it to the gig. I must say it's been a while and I was genuinely surprised my Korean gin-laden body managed the lap. Olympic Stadium's are pretty big you know...

I spent the next day doing 7 hours of teaching off about 3 hours of bad sleep. Not fun. I won't be trying that again for while.

School is plodding along quite well. I now teach 3 classes of small kids for an hour a day each, consecutively, in the morning. It can be rather trying, but I really have learnt a little more patience than I had when I first arrived. As some of you might have read I've named one class after some of my choir friends. I had called one Helen but I've had to change is as another kids in her year has that English name already. She is now Jessie (Elle's middle name). Sorry Aitch. So here's a quick update on how they're doing.

The brightest in the class is probably Chris and he also tends to be the loudest when speaking English. Peter is quiet but knows the answers to most things, although today he decided everything was called a table - I hold up a picture of a door, window, TV, sofa: "Table! Table! Table!". David is bright but mischievous, Philip is mischievous but not quite so bright. Korea reflecting England much? Haha. Fiona bullies whichever boy she sits next to, and is a serial crayon-hogger. Susie is good at speaking and gives me big waves in the corridors. Cathy's good at saying hello to Teddy, but is amusingly troublesome. Jessie is the funniest. She manages to speak but always has this amazed and slightly scared look on her face. It's as if she can't believe words like 'hello' and 'yellow' are flying out of her mouth.

I've never taught a class from the start of their English education before and it's actually really interesting to watch them progress and see which ones pick it up, which ones won't speak but know it, and which are just crazy. They are still in what I would describe as their "cute" stage but the demons are starting to come though. They like attacking me, today using hand puppets they made in their Korean teacher's class. We really shouldn't give them weapons.

I had the excitement of being in a market in Seoul at the weekend and spotting a Union Jack mug. Normally the mugs I've seen like that aren't particularly stylish, but I loved that ones shape, so I forked out a whopping 2 pounds on it. I particularly like the way it's got two massive Union Jacks (yes, yes, picky people, I know it's technically not a Jack unless it's flying on a ship, cut me some slack) on the side and yet it says England down the middle of them. Apparently we've cut off Scotland Ireland and Wales, but have kept the Scottish and Irish parts in the flag. I suppose it would stop us form being confused with the Red Cross. It's great to have at work though, I'm really and truly flying the flag now.

So everything toddles along. I'm off to do some grocery shopping soon. It may amuse you to know that the Sugar Puff-like cereal I eat most mornings, of which I've run out, is called Jolly Pong. Yes, I too never thought I'd eat something called Jolly Pong. Or at least I never thought I'd eat it and live to write about it.

Happy St Paddy's Day to all you mildly Irish people!

All change!

Well, it's all a bit of a faff here. We've just started the new school year (in March, jolly confusing, they change with the Lunar New Year here). The school's directors have been stressing greatly over the new school timetable and for the last few days we've being doing classes somewhat off the cuff. I just sort of sit in my classroom and assume that some students will turn up soonish. They generally do, and the female director comes along and checks they are all there. She's rather scary for the kids, and when told to shut up they don't hesitate, but she's a sweetie to me.

We've got a schedule up now for this week, though I've been told it will be changing. Luckily they've accommodated my and John's need to go to see Muse in Seoul on Wednesday, so we're getting earlier classes! Hoo-rah!

In the elementary part of school each grade has ability classes. They are classed using two numbers, the first of which is the grade while the second is their ability. The higher the second number the cleverer the class. I teach classes including 1-4, 1-5, 2-4, 4-5, and 5-4, so it would seem I've been trusted with some of the cleverest students. Which is a compliment.

The hardest thing about the new timetable is that some of the classes have changed. Kids have been switched around depending on how well they did all year and in an end of year test. Some classes are the same but some of mine are a mix of up to 3 old classes, so finding out which books they were all on and where they were and then deciding where to begin again can be a little trying.

Everyone else is flapping and faffing though, and the more other people flap the more chilled out I tend to become, so I'm happily cruising through this week.

The exciting thing is that I became the proud owner of a new class of five year olds, and I was given the joyous task of naming them. I knew I'd been wanting to name some kids after people back home so here was a perfect opportunity. I had seven to name, as the helper and I already chose to call the Spiderman obsessed boy Peter (as in Peter Parker, Spiderman's alter-ego, for thos of you not in the know). He is really obseesed though, he even comes to school dressed as Spiderman, with movie-merchandise boots 'n all.

I toyed with using my family's names, but I thought that might be a bit too weird. I'm teaching them using a book called 'Teddy's Train', in which the language is taught through the adentures of a teddy called, surprisingly, Teddy. Trying to get kid with my degree-holding parents and brothers' names to say "Hello Teddy!" and wave just seemed too laughable. Also one of the teachers at school is called Jenny, and there are already quite a lot of Tom students, so it would have got a bit confusing.

In the end I opted for some of my friends names. I went with people from choir with the hope that the grouping will help me remember their names faster. Some couldn't be used, unfortunately. Ellie is already the name of a teacher here and I though Eleanor would be two long. Two syllables tends to work best with young-uns. Also Joanna couldn't be used as that's my name here. Well, when they can remember it, it is. Another few names were steered clear of because I already had kids with those names or something jolly similar (sorry Anna, Rosie, Paula, and Charlie). Anyway, after a quick think I went with easy to say names from the sopranos, altos and tenors. So congratulations Catherine (shortened to Cathy), Susie, Philip, David, Helen, Fiona, and Chris. You all have a small protege being groomed in the Enlgish language by yours truly.

With the help of a teddy called Teddy.

Lunar New Year

This weekend I enjoyed the splendour of one day off work thanks to the lunar new year. Unfortunately 2 of the three national holidays fell at the weekend, but one day is better than nothing.

After doing a bit of research I decided the actual New Years day, Sunday, was the best day to go to Seoul if I wanted to see some colorful displays. So on Sunday morning my buddy and I set off. The train was surprisingly crowded. Lunar New Year is a family oriented holiday, with the main 'business' consisting of younger adults and children performing deep bows to their elders, and then getting money in return. [Note to my parents - I think this is a ritual the Ridd household could do with including, for spiritual succor of course.] But once the bowing was over with I suppose there was nothing to do at home, so Koreans go and visit other people they wish to pay respects to.

Lunar New Year didn't have quite the build up or big lavish parades I was expecting. The main difference around my little town was an increase in food shopping activity and the appearance of many gift sets. Traditionally Koreans give gifts of meat or fish, and so the more practical gift sets tend to include tinned tuna, dried fish, or meat of some kind. My favorite by far was the Spam gift set, though I can't see this taking off in the UK. Great to see though, especially for a Monty Python fan such as myself.

Once we arrived in Seoul my buddy and I toddled off to the National Folk Museum, located within the grounds of Gyeongbokgung Palace. The palace itself was alright, but nothing particularly special I'm afraid to say. You can't really blame the palace or the Koreans though. It has rather a troubled history, including being burnt down few times, enduring years of neglect, and being torn down so that Japanese invaders could erect a government building for Korea's Governer-General. When they occupied the country the Japanese took very few pictures before they tore the ancient buildings down, so modern historians have a hard time of trying to reconstruct representations fo the old palace. I didn't get to see the gardens and lakes though, so maybe a second look will reveal some beauties.

The palace was made better by the Korean adults and children running around in traditional Korean dress, Hanbok, who gave it an 'oriental' kind of feel. Hanbok looks rather like a large tent on the women, and the men wear large parachute trousers and tunics. It may not be particularly flattering but they use bright colours so the clothing is exciting none the less.

During the afternoon we enjoyed a performance at the Folk Museum of what was described as fusion music. 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' played on traditional Korean instruments (including lap zithers called Gayageum, wooden flutes called Juggeum, and odd string things which I think are called Haegeum) is an odd sensation but not entirely unpleasant. The big drums were the best part, but unfortunately they were only allowed to get really loud and riotus once.

The museum also hosted a variety of traditional craft tents, at which children could try out activities like kite making, flute making, and mask painting. All for a small fee of about 2 or 3 pounds. The kites weren't particularly big and were simple wood and paper affairs, but some of the Korean blokes managed to get them really high in the sky, even above the roof of the three story museum. Jolly impressive. The palace's surroundings were also impressive as they included many striking hills and mini-mountains.

After the museum we went to one of the cities big malls to visit a bookstore called Bandi and Lundi's which has a great English section (classics 20% off, thank you very much) and we caught a film. Flags of our Fathers. I've seen better war films but I've also seen many worse. The mall was packed full of teenage Koreans out to spend the money they'd been given that morning. They all looked rather pleased with the world.

Later we went to a few bars with the assumption that the college aged kids would be out spending their money, but not many joined us. Maybe they were allowed out for the afternoon then herded back home for an evening meal. Still, they can't really complain. Aftyer all, they were just given a wad of cash for simply bowing. [Hint hint Mum and Dad...]

Korean 6 year olds with talent?

Last weekend I was denied my Saturday (again) in order to participate and watch a talent show featuring the kids from my kindergarten classes (6 and 7 year olds). I was asked to welcome people at the beginning and to compare a faux beauty pageant.

Mostly it was ok, the kids were quite good with theirs lines, even though some needed a bit of a prod in the right direction. The only problem was the insistance on using radio mikes. They "miked" (can that really be a word?) me up for the first thing I did, and I stood on stage with the kid I was welcoming everyone with. I said my first line and - you've guessed it - nothing. Faulty mike. So, rather than let me use the regular-on-a-wire microphone I grabbed I was forced to stand on stage whilst some geezer rushed on to change the microphone and it's transmitter, which involved undoings of jackets and many an embarrassed look towards the audience. I managed to make a joke out of it though, so not all bad. One of my colleagues caught it all on my video camera, so I can replay the cringiness again and again, joy.

The insistance on trying to use radio mikes continued for quite a while before they realised it wasn't happening and thankfully switched to oldfashioned microphones. Technology is not all good by any stretch.

This week is plodding along. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, and we're doing some activities at school (any excuse to not teach seems to be the sentiment here). The weekend brings the excitement of Lunar New Year, and a day off work! I hope to enjoy some festivities, so maybe I'll get some good photos.

Last weekend.

Unfortunately I was required to spend Saturday at a teacher training thingy in Seoul. It was incredibly dull, full of people talking about different series of teahing books (a lot of sales pitches disguised as teahcing method lectures) and I didn't really listen much. I wouldn't have minded if it hadn't meant getting up at 7 am. That may not sound too bad to you but it's over an hour earlier than I get up to go to work!

Getting up that early, and catching the 8 o'clock train, only had one advantage: I got to see the sun rise. And it was good. As we sped south it rose on my left hand side over the cold and barren landscape of northern South Korea. The area is hilly, with a few big mountains in the distance, and I expect it is used extensively for crops in warmer weather, but at the moment it is rather bleak. Running alongside the train tracks there are many small allotments, and they are also squashed into small patches of ground in towns and cities. Street sellers and market stalls tend to sell a lot of this small production stuff.

The landscape has two main features other than the hills; electricity pylons and large congregations of blocks of flats. I hope, in warmer weather, to travel more around the country and see some of it's beauty, but for now my Korean world is dominated by man made objects. Not surprising, perhaps, as South Korea is the 19th most densly populated country in the world (480 people per square kilometre). Most of the countries that are higher on that list are tiny ones like the Vatican, Gibraltar, Macau, Bermuda and Monaco. The only large countries that have a higher population density are Taiwan and Bangladesh. All of this is to say that South Korea is a crowded country, so it's not suprising there are so many blocks of flats and infrastructure objects.

[Geek that I am I actually find the list of high population densities quite interesting, for example the population desity of the UK is almost exactly the same as that of Jamaica. All this thanks to Wikipedia.com. I love that site for facts and figure.]

Anyway, despite the industrialism I still think it's beautiful, but then again a great sunrise can probably make anything look beautiful to me.

Food etiquette.

(This is a long one, but I was bored during a two-hour break at work. Sorry.)

There seems to be a strange fascination here with food. It is polite to continually offer food around workplaces and homes. Though this is kind and, in a busy school environment often sought after, it does tend to give a foreign visitor the impression they are being fattened up for something.

Such was the case when I first arrived in the country. Being of a rather large frame I couldn't believe they truly thought I was malnourished. Instead I began to assume they thought I required lots of food to sustain myself and I would faint without it.

I have now realised, through my own experiences and some outside reading, that they are simply being polite. To show concern for someone else's welfare by concentrating on whether they eat enough food dates back to time when most Koreans were so poor they could often not afford enough rice to eat breakfast everyday. So by inquiring in fairly intrusive detail after my food habits, and constantly feeding me, they are simply showing care and concern for my welfare.

One of the traditional morning greetings in Korea used to be "Have you eaten rice today?" It is a practice that has sadly fallen out of favour in modern Korea (I think it has rather an adorable ring to it). I hadn't experienced that polite inquiry until a few days ago. I was in the middle of wolfing down some lunch in the school cafeteria (well, school shed really) during my horribly short lunch break. The school's male director (we also have a female one) was eating and, using one of my colleagues as a translator, he asked me whether or not I had eaten breakfast that morning.

I was bang in the middle of enjoying a mouthful of rice and gimchi, and my Western sensibilities led me to assume he was asking because he thought I was stuffing my face and being a bit piggy. To tell the truth I was rather stunned and only managed to reply with a confused "Yeah". The minute I left I recalled what I'd read about polite food-welfare enquiry, and felt like a right Charlie.

I can now only hope he asks again some day so I can reply in a more courteous way. It is just one of a number of Korean manners that are tripping me up. But, being of a clumsy disposition anyway, it's not too much of a break from the norm.

------- In other news in snowed a little bit here, but it is now too cold for it. The wind has picked up and is really biting. I've taken to walking the mile and a half home from school with a friend of mine, rather than sit in a crowded bus. It doesn't make much difference time-wise, and it gets me out in the fresh air. Always good. I really want it to snow again though, as we haven't had much and it makes the world look so pretty.

(I've only just discovered how to put photos on here, so expect a few more!)

Wow, I found tea. But it's damn expensive.

I recently went on a trip to Seoul to have a wander around a few of the markets and I had a joyous time in one. Namdaemun market is a lot like other Asian markets; loud, full of odd smells, and ridiculously crowded. I enjoy almost all of it, except for one section that appears to exist only to sell roasted pigs trotters and cows feet (hooves, whatever you call them). Walking past them is rather gross and I expect in summer the accompanying smell will be really quite bad.

Namdaemun has an underground market where, in the past, my friend and I discovered alcohol stores that sell western liquors at reasonable prices. This time we explored a little deeper and I found English tea! It is highly expensive, at 5 squid for 25 bags, but it's good to know it's there as a safety net. My dear sweet mother is helping me out by sending me some every now and then in the post (which works out much cheaper), but I'm so happy to know I can go and grab some if that supply runs out.

I also found chocolate in that market - Cadburys! Granted, it was made in Australia, not Birmingham, but it tastes authentic.

So another good day, although all I bought was a bar of chocolate. I didn't indulge in many of my consumeristic impulses. Wow, I must be growing.

We went to see the new Leonardo DiCaprio film, Blood Diamond, which I would recommend to those not too squimish. It's not as good as Hotel Rwanda in terms of dealing with African nation atrocities, but it's worth a look. Just don't expect Leo's accent to be consistent, because it's not.
Another week of school has just begun, and so far it's going well. Let's just hope the young kids I have this afternoon don't spoil it.

I'm a millionaire!

That is to say, I've got 1.8 million won.

My employers set me up with a bank account at the end of last month, and so I've had this month's pay check put in (last month's was in cash). It's a surreal but great feeling to check your balance and see over a million in there. Not at all like the student days. This must be what Bill Gates feels like. Almost.

Still, a million doesn't actually go that far when you consider a crappy cup of coffee costs 3000. I'm just about getting used to paying what seem like big amounts but it's taking time.

I'm managing to save a lot, which was a major reason for coming here, as the cost of living isn't too high. I don't pay rent, only bills, and they aren't too much. The main thing is heating because it's jolly cold here, but as I live on the top floor I do get some benefit when the people below me turn theirs on. Still, it is costly in winter.

So the money situation is hunky dory. I do have another cold though, which sucks, but never mind. I'm sure I'll get over it... eventually.

I've definitely settled in now.

I've been here over two months now, and wowee it goes fast soemtimes. Although at other times it kind of feels like the batteries on the Earth's clock are losing power and times is ticking slower.

My Korean is coming along. I've been learning the alphabet and I can almost read the signs on stores and labels. Well, I can slowly work out how they would be pronounced. My "Hello" and "Goodbye" (same word - ahnyonghaseyo) has been perfected to a t, and my "Thank you", is also good. They don't seem to use thank you here very much though, it seems to be reserved for special occasions when they really mean it. So everytime I leave a shop and say thank you they find it mildly odd, instead they always say goodbye. I'm trying to adjust my manners.

I think, given a few more months, I'll be able to read words a lot faster, which will be good for trying to work out what film or program is going to be on telly next. I forked out 30 quid for Sky, as just having that one US military channel was driving me nuts, so I get some good movie channels now. Woo-hoo.

I'm getting quite into Korean food here. I don't eat in Korean restaurants much, as the language barrier is still a bit of a problem in such a small town as mine, but I eat Korean food at school everyday. You get a bowl of rice and a bowl of some kind of soup, and then you sit at a round table with lots of additional dishes in the middle. You then pick from the bowls bit by bit as you work your way though the rice and soup. My chopstick skills have come in extremely useful and everyone at school seemed very impressed that I could use them when I first came. And some of you mocked me! All those years of cooking stirfry's and eating them with chopsticks at home have really paid off.

The food is good. The main thing they love here is called gimchi (or kimchi, depending on how they choose to spell it). It's a vegetable of some sort, mostly chinese leaf cabbage, that has been soaked in a red pepper spicy concoction. It sort of pickles it, but in a very spicy way, and they spend early November making loads of this stuff so that it lasts them through the barren winter. The spices here are definitely hot, but I like them. Unlike spices from places like India, which hit the back of your mouth and your throat, Korean spices hit the top of your mouth and your nose. This seems to suit me better than Indian spice, and I can manage most food, even when my colleagues warn me that it's hot (another way to impress them). Korean cooking also includes tofu, green vegetables and, unsurpringly for a country that is 70% surrounded by the sea, lots of fish. I still steer clear of big fish, as big bones freak me out somewhat, but the little dried ones aren't too bad. Good for the brain.

So I'm learning the language, I'm liking the food, and I'm getting used to the manners. I think it's fair to say I've settled in.

New Year, new schedule.

Well then, so it is now 2007. I had a good New Years Eve, which I won't bore people with.
I'm back at school after a winter holiday, of all of 6 days, two of which were a weekend so they don't count. I believe I have another holiday in February though, so that is something to look forward to. I got to see Casino Royale during the holiday, so I'm a happy bunny. Not the best but certainly better than the most recent Brosnan-fronted offerings we've been getting. Mildly stupid ending though, which was annoying.

At school we now have a different schedule, something to do with some other schools having a long winter holiday. Or something. I don't really understand the hows and whys, but I do understand having to get up an hour earlier, which I now do. Have to. Oh dear, but it makes it seem a bit more like a real job I suppose. And it means I'm doing 9-5 now, rather than 10-6. So I get out earlier and that can only be a good thing.

It also means I teach my older classes in the morning. It's a good change because they were always too tired to work properly after a long day at their regular schools. Wonderland is an after school program for the older kids and gettign them to do work was often something of a struggle. But now more! I just had two older classes and they worked jolly hard. Hoo-rah. Hopefully it also means my young brats will be a tad more tired int he afternoon and maybe not quite so demonic.

Well well, enough of my intricate yet unexciting (unexciting?) details. I hope everyone else's new year went well and that the end of the holidays don't hurt too much. At least for most of you it'll be a relief for your livers.