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. 
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.
