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...