Take That

Christmas has come around so quickly. It signals my five months in Korea. I have no complaints at all. Someone asked me what my biggest culture shock was. Theirs was when they headed to Canada and discovered ‘The Jerry Springer Show’ – I can empathise with her on this. However, I haven’t experienced a culture shock that has stuck in my mind so much that I feel I can express it to another person. Does this mean that I have settled in well and that not much fazes me? Or does it mean that it’s all one big culture shock and I’m still living within the bubble of the shock? Who knows? I don’t really care to be honest.

Anyway enough sappy shite. It’s a mere two days or so till Christmas starts and a further 24 hours later it will be finished. So why the hell do we all look forward to it for so long? Moving on…..

I’m more excited about the arrival of Manksi Pants from Himley Towers, Tooting Broadway, London. (I won’t divulge the postcode as there’s no need – if you’re cool enough to know where the ‘towers’ are, you’ll have been there already). He arrives at 8:05am on Sunday. Giovanna, Myself and Chris Utton are going to make the journey to the airport and surprise him with a professionally made banner. I say professional as we are all kindergarten teachers now and making things look fun and childlike is second nature to us – and if you know Manksi Pants then you will know that he’s ‘fun and child like’.

Then the fun will begin. Not much planned yet. Just see what happens and where the day will take us, but I’m hoping to get MP some good food, drink and then whisk him off to a Norae-bang to stretch his vocal cords to some Take That.

To Be Continued……………………..

Excuse me, can I have some Mango Chutney?

The picture has no relation to the writing below - just another image of something Korean. A flashback to my birthday, and a quick drink in South Korea's hooters.

My Canadian neighbour, Riley, took me to an Indian restaurant on Wednesday evening. To put it ever so simply, it was lovely. We had samosas, Naan bread and three meat dishes. It wasn't too spicy though, which was a shame as I was kind of hoping to sweat a little bit. The meal lasted just under an hour. It was a pretty event less hour of decent eating. One thing that did come up was the response I got from what I thought was a straight forward and fairly acceptable request.
We had polished off the three meat dishes, and I mean we were like three licking dogs working our way round the saucy dishes. We had some left over Naan. So I got the waiters attention with a simple nod. Over he came. I asked "Can I have some Mango Chutney?" I got the smelliest look I have ever had from anyone. It was as if I had asked him If he minded that I washed my feet in his mouth. Then he said "No".
It was an Indian restaurant run by a team of Indian men - but no Mango Chutney. So I decided that MC must be an English insertion to the whole Indian dining experience. For those of you who have been to India - Could you please clear this up for me. Do they have Mango Chutney in India???

Writing for the sake of writing

Apologies if my blogging pace is too much for the faint hearted. I just am so bored at the moment that all I can conjure up in my horrible life is a few words on this pitiful web-space. OK, I'm clearly exercising some of my built up wit. As fun and enjoyable that my job is the one thing I do lack is a good old wit battle with (change to Aussie accent) 'the little blighter's'. I'm used to vegging in front of Rick's wide-screen TV, with himself and Manksi and a constant flow of anecdotes to keep us from turning into the cast of Jeremy Kyle (AKA Rick).
On a slightly alternate tangent, I discovered two rather interesting facts today. The first being simply interesting and the second has a smidge of humor to it, which is likely to make you forget the first. Here we go.
OK, so a lot of my kids speak in the following sequence. "Hockey Spelling is what?" This clearly should be organised like this "What is the spelling of Hockey" (kind of) - I realised today that because the Korean language is, literally, backwards the kids use their structure when using our English.
I said the second would be slightly more entertaining - so, one of my older kids has a very funny electronic sounding American voice. Most would liken it to our good friend Stephen Hawkin. Well today I discovered why. For weeks now I just thought that it was his style. I just thought that he spoke slowly and very rigidly to make sure he sounded clear and precise. But, during today's exchange of vocabulary he pulled out a little hand-held computer and typed in a word and pressed enter, and out come what can only be described as a carbon-copy of his voice. I literally spat out my Aloe Vera juice!! I couldn't believe what I was hearing. He clearly sits at home types in words, sentences and paragraphs and then just recites them to himself in this horrific electro voice.!!!! I'll be doing my best to convert him into a Hugh Grant sounding gentlemen.
I fear this poor chap is going to grow up with a terrifyingly peculiar, but somewhat unique, language sound.

Fun-filled-weekend

Picture One: Kids Herald School kids working their magic on stage.

It all started off with our very large Christmas show. I had to work on Saturday. It was the schools annual show. I had been nominated at the last moment to be the MC. At first I was a little stressed at the thought of having to present the show in front of hundreds of eagerly waiting Korean parents, but I settled into a fit of excitement about it and took it as yet another experience to tick off my list.
So Saturday morning arrived and soon passed without too many hitches. The show went smoothly as can be imagined. We were then invited to a teachers meal at a very nice, and expensive, Chinese restaurant. Dinner started at around 5pm. Everyone was there. The owners of the schools, the buildings, chairmen, executives, the lot. Speeches were made and thanks were given. Then it was my turn to speak, again without much notice, I was thrust up to the plinth and was asked to serenade an onlooking crowd of largely non-English speaking Koreans. I opened with a light hearted joke - "Only about 10% of you will understand what I'm going to say, so would everyone else please just smile and nod when I do" this of course wasn't understood by the 90%, which is what made it funny. Kind of. Anyway my speech ended and then I was asked to walked around the head table and offer them a shot of this vile Chinese spirit. It was vile beyond all vileness. It was a thick transparent liquid that tasted like moldy cheese, onions and a twist of earth. I was challenged by one old Korean man to drink a shot with our arms linked. He then proceeded to put my, what I thought was empty, glass on my head. The remaining dribble of vile substance then worked its way through my hair, down my forehead and into my nervously waiting right eye. The sting was reminiscent of when I got champagne in my eye at my Mothers wedding. Although this time I had around 30 people (Korean) starring at me. However, they were all smiling and nodding so my communication was clearly effective. I made my way, embarrassingly, to the restroom and bathed my eye in purified water.
Sunday arrived and Giovanna and I took ourselves to Insadong for some Christmas shopping. A nice chilly day in a very culture packed area of town north of Han River.

Picture Two - I kindly received three flower gifts from kids parents. How Nice!!!

Pictures Three, Four and Five - Shots from Insadong.

Bye

I had an emotional Friday. Rachel finally departed and said he goodbyes. She even bought me a pack of very nice biscuits, which I’m eating with chilled milk as we speak. The biscuits are pretty basic but have this moorish melt in the mouth sensation that makes you dive in for one more – as I have just done (to the expense on the letters b an n on my keyboard as they now have a collection of friends called Crumbs. Anyway I have strayed away from my purpose. Yesterday, I got emotional for another reason other than Rachel’s departure. My favourite student of all time, Leah, dramatically, shockingly and rather hastily left the school. The principal announced this to me about 3 minutes before my lesson with her. She’s 9 years old and is VERY good at all aspects of English. She’s so sweet and kind and funny. I had to take a moment in the boys bathroom before starting the lesson, I could feel myself welling up.

I’ve realised that you get attached to these kids. You see them everyday and you get to know their personalities very well. Out of the 50 or so kids that I’m responsible for, maybe 10 of them will have an affect on you, and Leah was certainly one of them……. And she has gone. Good Luck Leah.

Leah is the girl in glasses in this pic…..

3-2-1, all change!!!

A photo of Giovanna and I…… Welcome Gio!!!!

Wow, the last few days have been mind boggling (another dramatisation for you). In no particular order! (I would have liked to put them into some kind numerical, alphabetical or momentous order, but I haven't got the brain power at this precise moment in time). So, my very good friend from London, she goes under the name of Giovanna Utichi, has arrived in Korea. She has begun her year contract in the same fashion as I did some 3 ¾ months ago. Her arrival was pretty much identical to mine in the sense that she was dropped off at her apartment then voluntarily dragged (frown) straight out for 12 hours of drinking initiation.

Also David Teacher has finished his time at school. David and I lived within the same block and had many BBQ’s together and he was a good friend for eating, chatting football and generally having a laugh at the expense of our crazy lives in Korea. So he has moved on and Anthony started, officially, today. So a new friend I presume.

Furthermore, Rachel Teacher has moved on. Rachel is one of the Korean, English speaking, teachers at the school. She was great (still is) but she’s leaving to give birth to her unborn baby. Good luck Rachel.

So Silvia Teacher started this week as well. So it’s all change change change on the social and work fronts. Just makes for slightly more interesting days at work and an added, more familiar, aspect to social events.

Thank you............

I ventured into Seoul today. I wanted to give my new Samsung GX-1 a test run. The conditions were perfect. It was a chilly winters day with a sky blue sky and the sun was shining with a beautiful intensity. Plus I was feeling fairly creative after a good nights sleep and some confusing dreams.
Off I went.......... here are some choice pics. Some have been slightly tampered with through the medium of Photoshop, but more often than not they are genuine...... hey the camera never lies, just the photographer. Profound?? not really!

PM Time - What do I do??

Most of my blogs, to date, have been about general experiences and when I do comment on my teaching it’s, more often than not, about my kindergarten class. So I thought it was about time to make a substantial contribution about my Elementary classes.

To fill you in. My classes run from 14:00 through to 18:15 on Mon, Wed and Fri and then from 14:00 to 17:30 on Tue and Thur. I have 3 classes that are basic text books. They have a student book; which consists of phrases, conversation time, new vocabulary, practice time etc. This is usually accompanied with a CD and/or tape (the voice on the tape is a mixture of male and female BUT is always an American accent – which had resulted in me occasionally slipping into it myself). They also have a workbook, which is a book that allows the kids to put the ‘English’ they have learnt into immediate practice. The workbook consists of a number of different writing tasks. Finally some of the books come with a homework booklet – this is very similar to the workbook.

In terms of teaching. It’s pretty straight forward. It’s teaching the day to day stuff that us English use but don’t realise we are doing so. For example. We naturally say – These are my shoes and Whose shoes are these? rather than This is my shoes and Whose shows are this? It is fairly simple to teach, but there are a number of other similar grammar uses that aren’t so easy to explain. With be new to the teaching profession it does bring the odd tricky moment. Some of the kids are VERY bright and demanding in terms of their English knowledge. They want to know it all and they want to know it at his most specific definition. They don’t want a waffled explanation, they want cut-throat, bullet pointed, gold plated, purified factual information, all at an instant.

My other classes are labelled ESL classes. I have big story books and have the freedom to express what I want to the kids within the book. For example we had a story called ‘The Mixed-Up Chameleon’. It was a fantasy story. So I took a week out from the book and we discussed fantasy characters (i.e. Superman, Mermaid, etc etc) and then created our own character and then gave him/her special powers. I have just finished a 4 week project with them. The project was designed to educate the kids on the plot (start, middle and end of a story – so the WHAT), setting (The WHERE) and other details like the WHEN and the WHO (characters) of a good story. The kids created their own 8 page story book that consisted of the following. Page 1 – Title Page, Page 2 – The Plot, Page 3 – Introduction to characters, Page 4 – The Settings, Page 5, Start of the story, Page 6 – Middle of the story, Page 7 – The End. Finally page 8 is about the Author and Illustrator, which is of course the student. The picture above is of this class - behind them was a game of 100 words!!

Hello Mr. Freeze

(Apologies for any spelling mistakes - my auto spell checker is experiencing the flu)
So the last few days have been great.
I had planned a fairly quiet weekend. That failed miserably. Well it was actually a great weekend. Met a host of new people, including a few Koreans. I lost my noraebang virginity. For those of you who don't know what a Noraebang is; well it's very simply translated to 'song room'. We sang and danced till about 7am - they don't serve alcohol, so it's a pleasant excuse to escape it for a while.
Sunday arrived and so did the Siberian army!!! I mean an extremely cold front thrashing its way through Seoul and more potently through my hat, gloves and feeble excuse for a jacket. I couldn't believe what was happening. Then Monday arrived and the Siberians were still combating their way through the country and this time they brought weapons. I was sitting comfortably in a restaurant, eating a Korean BBQ (really??? - yes) with a Korean lady (my first date) and then it started to snow. It was beautiful snow though. The flakes were the size of eggs (ok an exaggeration - but hey, there wasn't really an army of Siberians) and they fall with calm grace. Everyone in the restaurant dropped their Kimchi fixes and glued their eyes to the sky........ however the moment passed fairly quickly as the snow got thinner and heavier and resulted in a dense stream of sleet piercing the navy blue sky. The wind picked up and the navy blue sky soon became thick black. Then out of the blue (apologies for over use of colours) came an almighty crash - thunder was upon us and in spectacular style. So much so the people around us gasped and then there was a chilling silence. A procession of thunderous crashes descended down and through our small alleyway. And then the finale. The sky, which was still a horrific thick blackness, began to flash away like a Korean welder on the street side.
Moments later it was all over.....

Today is Tuesday. At around 11am all teachers were asked to go outside and erect the kids artwork that we had spent a fair few hours preparing for them. Not a problem one would think...... but you're forgetting that the Siberian army are well and truly still in Seoul. It was freezing and we were having to tie knots with brittle string..... It was funny though, as no one was enjoying it, but this some how made it enjoyable.....
A couple of pics to savour the moment.

Umm, What shall I do???

I’m beginning to relish the relatively stress free lifestyle out here. OK, the job is demanding but I would never label it as stress. Also, general day to day errands are no longer a worry. Who here can safely raise their hand and say that they enjoy going to the bank? Or they enjoy going to Sainsbury’s during rush hour. Well I can safely say that I enjoy going to the bank here in Korea. You get a lovely warm welcome, regardless of the outside temperature, as you walk through the main doors and then as you proceed to your chosen desk you pass complimentary hot and cold drinks as well as an ongoing supply of tissues to blow away the debris from your nose. Once seated I can speak to my bank worker face to face, there’s no thick tinted plastic here. So our relationship is already on level terms. The transaction itself is trouble free and efficient. Oh I forgot the mention there is NEVER a cue! Why you may ask??? Because every single position is always OPEN!!!

However life isn’t that hunky dory. I have a new dilemma. Every day I stroll home. It’s a pleasant walk that consists of around 30 minutes. This means I need to think of an album to listen to, to accompany my journey. For the first time, today, I actually got a little frustrated at having to pick something. I have around 5,000 songs on my I-pod (12.5 GB), which works out around 420 albums. So I’m in limbo about whether to purchase a smaller, low key, style I-pod that has less memory resulting in less options, resulting in a trouble free decision making time come end of school. THEN, there’s the decision of what to put onto the low-key I-pod. I’m never going to know what kind of day I’m going to have, therefore not knowing what kind of music I will need on my way home……

So what I’m trying to say is this is as stressful as it gets here!!

The Cheeky Buddha Race 2007

Saturday saw the 2^nd annual event of the Cheeky Buddha race. It consists of a number of teams, with each team consisting of 4 members. The brief is come dressed in fancy dress and give yourself a team name, oh and turn up at location one at 12:00.

From there monies are exchanged and team name badges (A4 sized) are pinned to a suitable location on your costume. But more importantly our day pack is handed out. The day pack is your teams mission. There are a number of ways to gain points throughout the day. One being a number photo challenges. For example, take a photo of dancing girls, any pet wearing shoes, BIG hugs with a police officer and high five an old lady wearing orange pants and you’re rewarded with points. Also there was a food mission. And these were all interlinked with going from point, A, B, C and D and then finishing up at the World Cup Stadium. And then all off to a bar for the after party.

Chris and I joined up with two Kiwi’s and we decided upon dressing up as British Gangsters. Are reasons were fairly straight forward. We all had white shirts and black ties and some kind of accessory. So minimal effort was exercised and little financial harm was caused. Plus we knew that we would look cool, which is a big factor on days like these. We got off to a flyer. After mission one we were sitting in second place (out of about 12 or so teams), and morale was high. Second mission passed without too much hassle and we still had the knowledge that we were in the running to receive top prize. Then something drastic happened. None of us know what is was, but it resulted in us sitting down for an hour long lunch, tucking into beers and soju. We then walked around for an hour trying to find our 3^rd, out of 4, check point. The sun then went down and fatigue hit in. Phone calls around rival teams begun to break up the calmness in the group. We suddenly realised that everyone had either finished or were in the same boat as us. Basically it was time to jack it in and head to the after show. Needless to say we won nothing, and didn’t even hand in our photos at the end – we were exhausted!!

However we saw parts of Seoul that we hadn’t and probably won’t ever again. And we also met a taxi driver that was prompting being horrifically unfaithful to his wife by sleeping with 6 separate women a week and spitting in the face of the Korean government by breaking as many laws as he can in the space of his 12 hour shift. If I’m here next year I will certainly be participating in the 3^rd annual Cheeky Buddha Race.

The team photo in front of arch, show the photo to the referees and get your next mission.


Chris and I. Chris was called the 'runner' - as in the new kid in our mafia unit. So here I'm giving him a cheeky slap, to congratulate him on a smooth operation......

25 Now, so no excuse!!

My birthday has been and gone.

OK, so my Dad rung me on Wednesday morning and said he was in Dubai and on his way to Seoul. I had just woken up so my immediate thought was how random that Dad has got some work in Seoul...... he was of course coming to surprise me for my birthday. Quality.
So Wednesday evening started off in true experimental fashion with a trip to a new restaurant in a new part of town. I didn't have any reason to judge the place as it looked like any other that I had been in to date. We ordered some Galbi (which is BBQ'ed meat), a few chopping sounds later our dish was carried out in regular fashion by the smiling Korean mummy waitress. What followed was usually a moment when one would reach for their camera and in retrospect which they had..... However this was something that I didn't expect and took me by shock, therefore forgetting to utilise my camera. It was a plate of fresh octopus. It had been chopped just seconds ago and still had life in it. Enough life for it to move itself around the plate and onto the table. Not being a fan of seafood I quickly reassured myself and Dad that we wouldn't be eating this, and Dad strongly agreed (to my relief).... we paid for our beer and moved on.
Friday night followed two nights later. Here we went into Itaweon. Dad and I were sipping beers in a 'would you like to chat with some girls' type bar. We didn't. I then had a call from two friends from London. They were passing through on their way back to London, from Sydney. They joined Dad and I on a drinking adventure throughout the night and into the early hours. A night to remember.....
Then Saturday, which quickly followed Friday, arrived. It was time for my actual birthday. Still feeling the effects of the night before Dad and I found ourselves doing some shopping and then very quickly I was saying my goodbyes to Dad and then hellos to my second entourage of birthday goers. We hit the food part of Gangnam and then someone, ingeniously, suggested that we went to Hooters. It was fun. I was made to stand on my chair and sing “la, la, la, it’s my birthday” whilst 6 female hooters gyrated around me.

Then our final stop of the night. A club called 'Club Spot'. A great DJ, a great club and great company. The club had a swimming pool and many levels and crevices to explore. At the end of the night, the dance floor was cleared and then the Korean woman began a dance off, which carried a Korean twist. The woman proceeded to remove most of their clothes, not all of them, but enough to make you think "what kind of place is this?"..... But it wasn't like that. I think it's maybe just a simple reflection of cultural differences!! I happily accepted the difference and went on about my evening....
Thanks to everyone involved with my birthday. That includes the great surprise packages from home including this beautiful 125th anniversary Spurs shirt, 180 PG Tips tea bags! and MARMITE..... Oh and an xmas hamper, which I'm going to wait to open... despite the burning temptation in my mind to do so now!

Picture above of package

Have a little patience.....

I seem to be having some technical problems with my blog....... I hope to be back soon.

Seoul Tower

I spent Saturday with none other than Chris Utton (Spud) and Patrick Duce (Yid). We started off with some brunch in the Gangnam area. A rather suspect meal was neatly presented on plastic trays; there was a soup, a sandwich, a basic salad drenched in a creamy sauce and a coffee. It did the trick. We then strolled around Gangnam for 30 minutes, stopping occasionally to take a photograph or ogle at the beauty of the occasional Korean women. A short taxi ride then took us to Itaewon where we played pool and drank beer for an hour. Another short taxi ride took us to The Seoul Tower. This was a genuinely pleasant experience. The cab driver was rather amusing. He had us in fits of laughter as he drove us right up to the tower. The road was getting smaller and smaller and the amount of people walking was growing twice the speed. There we were, three very young and fit chaps getting escorted to the last possible place a car could go - we were so embarrassed that we hid under our hooded jumpers.......
The tower itself is like any over tower in the world. Tall and had great views. I needn't go into too much extra detail. It was a hazy day as you can see from the picture. It was good to finally see the entire layout of Seoul though, being stranded on the ground day in day out, not knowing the plan of the city was getting frustrating..... so worry over!
Then another short taxi ride took us to Yongsan market where Yid purchased himself a Macbook. Then another short taxi ride and we were back in Itaewon. This is where we stayed all night.
A day in Seoul.

Open Classes.................................

I’ve been blabbing onto a few of you about my open classes for the last couple of weeks. For those of you in the unknown zone, it’s an opportunity for the parents to come and watch a class and then pass their judgements on every aspect of the day. Judgements can range from the amount of hair on my face to the crease in my show laces, oh and the way I teach of course. So from this you can imagine the kind of pressure that is apparent.

So I had two classes to present.

Red was first. My four year olds. I chose the lesson plan of “Ok, Kids, today we’re going to have a birthday party” (cue over the top enthusiasm in order to encourage the kids and get the parents off on the right foot). It worked. A few rye smiles from the parents as the kids don’t really respond as one would hope. Nevertheless I carry on. All goes well with the gentle introduction, touching on a familiar ground to get the kids relaxed. Then I begin the body of the lesson.

Before I carry on I just want to set the scene. We are all situated in a smallish classroom, no bigger than three Ford Galaxy’s (interior, with the seats down). There are 11 of us. 5 Kids, 5 parents (all Mum’s) and little old me. The kids are placed in front of me whilst mummies (one or two of them being yummy mummies) are in a military style curved line to my immediate right.

Ok, so I begin with a few key phrases and actions, again to get the kids active, all in aid of “baking a cake”. So far, so good. Then we come to the picture game, which is cleverly titled ‘The Picture Game’. I draw, they guess, they get it right, they get a sticker. At this point I now have a further three people watching from the door. One being my Boss, two being the school principal and thirdly the scheduler. The scheduler has a hand held camera and it seems to get bigger every time I turn around.

My drawings were comical, but clinical, to start with. Then Sean thought that a birthday hat was an upside down ice-cream. This sent the entire classroom into fits of laughter and sent me completely of course. I managed to salvage some dignity by making a fool out of myself by imitating what would happen if I wore an ice-cream on my head. Once this minor blip levelled itself out I realised I was sweating horribly from the tip of my hairline down to my top lip. The kind of sweat you know that other people can see it because you can see their reflection in the sweat drip as it goes past your eye – trust me look next time!!!! And we all know what happens when you know that they know that you’re sweating! You sweat more!!!!!

Nay bother though there was only as few minutes left. Just enough time to give them their cookies and stickers and get the hell out of there.....

Pink class was good, but not as interesting.

Few Things that have crossed my mind.

Nervousness - I have open classes on Thursday. The parents come in and watch you teach. The pressure is immense from the school. It's do or die it seems. It's all good fun but I must admit I'm experiencing a little nervousness.

Disbelief - I have now woken myself up twice at 4am to watch my beloved Spurs play. The first time was an epic 4-4 against Aston Villa in our 125th anniversary game. Fair enough. But last night I experienced a foul performance from our defense, yet again. This season so far is frequently sending me into disbelief. Answers on a postcard please!

Joy - I have purchased myself a Digital SLR camera. It has already brought me much joy and I haven't even been outside with it yet. Many exciting photographic moments to come I feel.

Anxiety - Pretty much every time I know I'm going to be eating a Korean BBQ. I know I have mentioned my delight for them very recently, but I can stress enough, just how good they are. When David and I decide we are going to have a BBQ (this usually happens about 45 minutes before we start eating) I get this wave of anxiety. It's lovely!

Laughter - I have started to humor some of my classes. It seems some of them have an equal sense of humor to me. One girl, aged 10, literally cracks up into fits of laughter at my jokes. And I'm the same at hers. However, I do have a feeling that we are both laughing at very different things.

Red Class

Went on a science trip today. Well it was a space adventure park if you like. Lots of things to do, to watch and to experiment with. There was a huge spaceship bouncy castle which I stupidly went into and struggled to get out again. Also there was a big show where the presenter guy talked to the kids (our whole school and 2 others) and said what happened in a spaceship when it's on a mission. They then begun asking for volunteers. I had just come back from the toilet at this point and didn't realise what was going on, so to encourage my kids I put my hand up, not realising that the Korean speaking presenter had just asked for a teacher volunteer. So up I went. I was demonstrating how astronauts sleep..... standing up!
It was OK.
Picture is of my Red Class, the younger of the two classes.

Korean BBQ's

I want to tell you all how god damn nice Korean BBQ’s are. Not only is all the food that you’re provided with delicious but the experience is a fantastic one. I have never had so much enjoyment within a single dinner time. OK, so let me start from the beginning, as that makes best sense.

It’s only about 15 seconds from the moment you sit down that you’re presented with an entourage of side dishes. Most of them are unknown in substance, but I will hazard at some guesses rather than actually researching.

There’s always a watery soup with a few rogue leaves floating on or just below the oily surface. It’s ok – it has a subtle fragrance that makes you leave it alone. Then there are a plethora of vegetables evenly spread over a number of roundly shaped china bowls. Cabbage, spring onion, red cabbage, more types of unknown cabbage, whole gloves of garlic, cucumber sticks, bean sprouts, etc etc etc…. AND then there’s the signature dish, Kimchi: Vegetables (standard mix of cabbage, white radish, and/or cucumber) commonly fermented in a cauldron of ginger, garlic, green onion and chilli pepper. All I can say is take a big mouthful to get the full effect.

Then comes the choice of meat.

Most places only have one or two types. I’m yet to find beef. So far chicken and pork have been served up!! I can’t describe the joy one gets from seeing your food ‘cook’ in front of you. The chicken comes ready marinated in a tasty, spicy, finger licking good sauce. When this hybrid is evolving before you eyes and nose your taste buds begin to salivate. Then you begin. You take a crisp lettuce leaf, fill it with all the above dishes, top up with some extra spicy sauce and then a chunky piece of chicken and then load it all into your mouth in one go! And wash down with a mouthful of professionally chilled beer.

Furthermore it all costs (including x2 beers) 9,000 won. Which is approximately £4.50.

Dead Man Walking

On Saturday I took a leisurely stroll around Dongdaemun Market when I came across this fella. He was also leisurely strolling around the market. However he was wearing hospital gear and was accompanied by a drip!! I couldn't believe my eyes. What was equally strange was that NOBODY, apart from me, seemed to think that it was a little peculiar. Everyone was just walking by and showed no emotion at all.......
Dongdaemun market is fantastic by the way...... Keen clothes shoppers would literally spend weeks around here.

Easy Life

Thought I would write a short piece on a few general things. School has been going pretty well recently. I'm now about to finish my 8th week. Over the last couple of weeks I have noticed that it's pretty much like any other job, in the sense that you have a good day, shortly followed by a bad one etc etc etc. Something that I haven't really experienced before, in the work place, is that in teaching you're only as good (or bad) as your last lesson. You can never relax with these kids. You have to be on the ball on all the time. I'm talking about Kindergarten of course, Elementary is a different situation........
Anyway, enough drivel - check out the picture above. This was one of my 45 minute classes today. I got them to write their own version of a story we have been reading. The above example is mine - brilliant huh???!!! Can I draw or can I draw???!!!!
But hey, what others jobs in the world can you spend a full 45 minutes, drawing and writing this kind of stuff. Jealous??? I would be if I was you!!
(I tried to draw me swimming, but I am pathetic at drawing heads and bodies, so I thought I could be diving - creative)
Also today, I had a 'Free Talking' lesson. I think I mentioned this some time ago. Basically a double lesson with both Red and Pink class to talk about anything. Today I spoke about 'Family'. Couple of choice pictures below of them doing their family trees.....

Thrilling...

So my experience with the 5 Korean ladies was certainly nothing to shout about. It was, as expected, another chance for them to read to me and try to convince me that my life can and should be better - if only I would find a god, oh and follow him.
I did however get to see what it was like inside their prayer room.
I was taken upstairs to a reasonable sized room, you could probably fit 175 chairs in the room, with a thin stage acting as focal point. It was empty though. We walked through here and then into a small room. They read, I listened, I made my excuses and they escorted me out back through the prayer room. BUT it was now 7:18 and it seems that Oryudongs' Christian population had descended upon the prayer room. I had around 60 eyes (OK make that 120, as everyone has two) following me as I embarrassingly found the exit.
So a little experience if you like.
Something a little more interesting was the building above. Advertising eat your heart out!!
I think you can just see the odd window here and there........... and even some of the windows have a form of advertisement on them.

She thought I was someone else!!

1359 mcg of beta-carotene

I mentioned a few weeks back that every day surprises me with yet another eye opening experience. Things that make me stare, smile, frown, chuckle etc. An experience can be as simple as a Korean crossing the road in a unique way or a taxi man coughing in such a way that it triggers some kind of reaction that’s alien to my UK formatted brain. A few tasters below.

A kid fell off his bike whilst crossing the road. The road was 6 lanes wide and it was busy. The kid went mental. He was screaming at another kid, whom I think was a friend. I feel he may have caused the fall. The lights went green, but matey was still screaming and now he had turned as anger onto his 2 wheeler, kicking it a few times…. It was an eerie moment – passers by stopped and stared.

A swaying moped carrying one Korean man (aged 65-75) and about 8 ft of cardboard boxes.

Sitting in a Korean bar and suddenly the lights dimmed and then disco lights started thrashing around and then happy hardcore music filled the air. I was sitting with some Koreans – they translated the change in atmosphere to “It’s Korean party time” – it lasted around 10 secs. After, normality resumed.

But I’m now getting to my point. Yesterday I came across something that delighted my day and the moment will live with me like no other experience.

I found a new area of shops within spitting distant of my apartment. I started strolling around and I came across a small supermarket. On roaming aisle after aisle I came to the vegetable and salad section……. I at last found some Broccoli. Most of you will know that I like Broccoli. It’s a very good vegetable that is easily cooked and supplies one with great levels of nutrition. I quote “Not only does a cup of broccoli contain the RDA for vitamin C; it also fortifies your immune system with a hefty 1359 mcg of beta-carotene”.

I have been striving for some, familiar, immune system enhancing goods for some time now….. It may seem like small thing, but those are the best….. I did have to hide my sheer delight (or should I say overreaction) as the shop was quite packed….. he he…..

A picture for proof.

Under my Umbrella

I had a fairly confusing experience on my way home from work on Friday. Although I feel the experience has only just begun.

So I had just turned off the main drag onto my high street. I was approached by two Korean ladies. I would say they were in their mid 30’s. They said ‘Hello’, which was a good start. Then their natural Korean flow streamed out. All was fine though as they handed me a computerised, English, questionnaire. The questions were of a religious genre. Number 1 was, “What is your chosen religion”? Multiple answers, I circled ‘none’. A few more questions followed. One recited a verse from the Old Testament (I think!) I worked my way through, with some ease, all the questions. I had the ability of not knowing any of the questions so I simply circled ‘none’, ‘don’t know’, ‘other’ and/or ‘no thanks’.

Then just as I thought the street meeting was winding up, they heckled over three more Korean women. The heckling was loud, impatient and very much desperate. The three additions to our party were, in all honesty, more my cup of tea. And that is exactly what the 5 invited me for. (The new girls to the party spoke better English. A few familiar words were branded. ‘Presentation’, ‘Sign’ which was accompanied with the swirl of her right hand.) I had to refuse the cup of tea as I was meeting a friend shortly. However, what I had picked up from the brief chat was that they wanted me to watch their English presentation and then sign some kind of assessment paper. We arranged to do this on Tuesday night at 7pm. It wasn’t that straight forward though. Before agreeing on Tuesday night at 7pm, we went through pretty much every hour and every day that preceded it, with me trying to explain and divulge my reasoning/excuse for not being able to meet at that point.

We exchanged numbers and email and waved goodbye with one final confirmation of our meeting time and place. I have ABSOLUTELY no idea what I’m going to be doing on Tuesday. Neither do I know where they will take me. Even what I will be signing or what they will be presenting. It could be a religious lecture in English, then I sign my life away to weekly prayers and rituals. It could be watching a performance of some kind by a daughter of one of the ladies, and I could find myself with some extra after school lessons (which I’ve heard pay well). Who knows? Either way I’m looking forward to my experience and will embrace it like nothing else…… even if they do make me prayer or chant or sway around on my hands and knees – I’ll be there with bells on!!

Wish me luck……

(p.s. all the above took place under umbrella's, it was raining hard!!)

This picture is of my 'Free Talking' class on Thursday. It consists of animals and where they live. Plus all the kids wanted to be either on the Lion, in the shark, swimming in the pond or riding the chicken. Most amusing.

Friends - Global

Imagine my delight when this came on. I was doing my hourly channel hop and a double bill of friends had just started......
Some of you will remember this episode!
He he.....

Skype and Hike

So, I finally have Skype and have just had my debut call. It lasted 32 minutes, was to the UK and cost me nothing..... oh there was a very very slight delay. Not enough to annoy me though.
It still don't understand why it's so good, so cheap, well free. OK, it's pretty straight forward in terms of technology, but still ' the world we live in eh'.... whatever next!

So today I went on a hike. I like to call it a hike because for me it was. It only lasted about 2 hours and 28 minutes, and consisted of 5 km. To most, that's merely a walk but I don't walk much.
Nevertheless it was hard work. The first 50 minutes was, practically, a vertical climb. Relentless was my choice of curse as I rose up yet another stretch of pathway. What kept us going was the top of the trees and the promise, from the Lonely guide, that the panoramic views were stunning. Yet we climbed and climbed and the tree tops climbed with us..... It was a fairly long 50 minutes I can promise you that.
We finally reached stage 1 of 6. 0-1 was hardcore, 1-6 was bearable and definitely manageable.
The views were stunning.
A couple of choice pictures. As ever though pictures never do it justice. You have to add the panoramic aspect to an image and also the delight of reaching the top, after a steady climb - you can't get those mixed emotions looking at a J-peg. Apologies for the sweaty chest - it was hot today....
Once we reached stage 6 we took a bus back to stage 0. Just before getting on the bus a very kind man came up to us (Korean Man - in his 70's I would say) showed us his video camera and asked us (in fairly good English) "Who's this?"
It was David and I. He had been taking pictures of us and said it was very strange to see us.....
OK...........

Fighting and Cooking

Above video is two of my kids letting off some steam in some traditional Korean fighting..... It was SOOO funny. After this they did some wrestling. The whole school, about 30 kindergarten kids, formed a circle and were chanting the kids names EXTREMELY loud . Crazy fun..
Photo below - Today we had a cooking class. We made traditional Korean rice cakes. They're called Songpyeon - they're are half-moon-shaped rice cakes filled with sesame seeds or chestnut paste steamed over a layer of pine needles, which gives them the fragrant smell of fresh pine trees.

We didn't do all the steaming but we did the molding and eating. Was great fun!!

Momentum

This week has been a good one. Numerous things have happened that have made me feel positive in many ways.
On the teaching front the confidence, from certain lacklustre kids, is shining through now, which rubs off on me. They enjoy lessons - I enjoy lessons - simple.
I finally got my alien registration card through which is not only a light relief but it now means I can get proper Internet and cable at home, which has positive repercussions that include the use of Skype so I can call all friends and family soon.... and I don't have to watch the AFN (American Forces Network) channel anymore.
Also, I can now get a mobile phone, fingers crossed going to happen tomorrow morning, this means I can ring people!!!! and organise nights/days out etc.... Pay phones here are few and far between and lets face it - NOT at all practical in the modern world.
I can open a bank account, which means I cant settle some money situations and start budgeting properly. Oh and start saving....

I guess it's just that the momentum is finally picking up as all the small things are being ironed out.....
Still bloody hard work though!!!!

The picture is proof that I'm now a millionaire. OK a Korean one, but still........

One Month

Today is my one month anniversary. It has flown by.

I have signed a 12 month contract, so just 11 more to go. If they are all as quick as the first then the year will be over before I know it. If that's the case then I will be very tempted to do another year.

I think I have learnt so much already. In fact I know I have. I wasn't the biggest fan of kids before I came, well not so much anti-kids but had no idea how to handle them. This has been a ferocious learning curve in that respect. I'm far more comfortable about the inevitability of being a father now - before I wasn't sure of my ability but now I know I would be a good father. But not just yet........................

So this week we have a field trip on Wednesday and a birthday party on Thursday, so should be a quick week.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week is a national holiday in Korea. It's called Cheusok, which I believe is a thanks giving. So 3 days off, so with Saturday and Sunday it turns into a 5 day holiday. David and I are going to head to a National Park on the East coast. It's supposed to be pretty spectacular with mountains, forest, temples, a coastal stretch and a city.... plus more I would imagine.

After that I believe it's a 10 week stint of 5 day weeks - good huh?!

The picture is of my apartment block. Mine is in the middle facing inwards, on the second floor. So no traffic or street noise, but not much of a view.

Word of the Week

I've decided to do a word of the week. A word that sums up my week. Doesn't have to be related to teaching, could be a social mood that dominates my week, or an off the field event.... Whatever!!

I plan to do this every Friday. But i'm going to kick off proceedings on a Wednesday this week as I'm feeling inspired.

One last thing, I'm not going to justify my choice, I will leave that up to the imagination of the reader.

This week the word is..............

"Confirmation"

Home Cooking

A few of you have been asking me what the food is like. It's lovely. I have been eating at home quite a lot. No particular reason, just i'm here for a while so I thought that I would firstly concentrate on the teaching, once that is a formality I can venture out every night and eat, drink till the cows come home. So below is an example of what I have been eating at home.

This is what I had tonight.

• Baksul Man-du - they are the large white pasta looking things. Full with a mixture of veg and the odd spice here and there..... I don't actually know as the packet has no English on it. Tastes good. Basically they're dumplings, Korean style.


• Hot Red Pepper Tuna. Ok out of a can, but what am I?


• All tangled together with a large portion of lightly boiled beansprouts.


• And finally a few sheets of dried and pressed seaweed - lush.
• And of course all eaten with some platinum chop-sticks.
  

Happy Birthday to Grover..........

Today I had 'Student Book' class. The student book is a very simple book with songs, chants, and drawings. I do the book with two seperate classes. Red and Pink. Today I was feeling a little tired of singing and chanting (although on Monday i'm teaching them COME ON YOU SPURS and clap, clap, clap, clap, clap YIDS!!).
So I decided upon a practical lesson. The theme of the book at the moment is Birthday's. So wrapping a present was on the menu as a main course and unwrapping was the desert.... oh and singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, was a side dish.
Hopefully most of you can see the video below. Apologies for my singing!! - oh and Grover is from sesame street, which is the foundation of the Student Book.

Bananas

As some of you know I LOVE BANANAS..... so you will empathise with my absolute joy when I came across this herd, one should refer to a number of Bananas as a bunch, but that doesn't suffice with this mammoth herd, of ripe Bananas. They cost around £1.00 and taste lush. There's a slight catch though.

You have to buy them all!! You can't just buy one, or two or even a few. So once you buy this lot you have around 3 days to eat them all.....

I have bought a smoothy maker, as you know, so I knock off about 3/4 in one go.

Friends are coming....

This is for those of you outisde the ex-Ravensbourne crowd of friends.................................................
One of my friends Giovanna Utichi (she ensures the school she's English - he he) is coming out to Seoul to be a teacher as well.... There's a strong possibility that she will join me at Herald School as well. Cool huh?? Amazing to be out here with people from home..... AND, another friend Zoe Waller is on the verge of packing up home and setting sail to the Land of the Morning Calm as well......
So i'm now on a mission to get more of you lot out here.....
(Also I'm working on commission from the Korean Government - I get 17% of a person wage if I convince them to come, so there's a financial motive on top)

Cheap (but still tasty) Meal

Finished work around 6:45 today. We had a quick teachers meeting to discuss the presentations that are coming up in December. Quite a big showcase for all the Kindergarten classes. So Hannah (Korean teacher) and I have two glasses to prepare for. The red and pink class. Red, which is my class are the youngest with all of them hitting 5 years old this year. So the brief is 5 minutes and there has to be some kind of speaking and performance..... I suggested a short play. Maybe Cowboys and Indians, but apparently they did that last year. My second suggestion was Romeo and Juliet, then realised that they struggle enough with modern day English, let alone 16th Century bla.!!

So back to the drawing board.....

Oh I had a science class today. x14 kids, all Kindergarten. It was crazy. I had to teach them the two basic different types of lens. Concave and Convex. Remember these kids don't even know what a lens is, hang on they don't even know what a window is, so imagine me trying to tell them what they both mean, do and how to say them..... it was cool though. I kept it simple with the whole "this one makes it BIGGER, this one makes it smaller" idea - it worked a treat.....

David and I (David is the new Irish teacher who has just joined, we live in the same block and also on the same level, which is very cool) then took off to Bucheon area for some dinner. The image below is of my meal. Simple Pork cutlets in very light batter, then with a side soup, some mixed boiled veg and salad thingy with some dressing and a pot of rice - all very tasty and at a mere 6,000 won (about £3.00) not bad..... THEN.

The monstrosity that was this Ice-Cream below. I was literally in tears of laughter in the shop. The kind shop asistant was molding this mountain of Ice-Cream for about ten minutes ..... It was huge. I know there's a language barrier here, but I had only paid for one scoop, definitaly only one scoop.....Needless to say, being an Ice-cream lover, I didn't complain... (Picture doesn't do it justice, sorry)

Osaka Visa run..........

OK, so some of you know that I hoped over to Japan for a couple of days. For those of you who don’t know and are questioning my motive then here you are….. Due to unforeseen circumstances I was forced to change schools about a week before departing the UK. Therefore the acquirement of my visa was postponed. So what happens now is that, one has to do a visa run out of the country to visit the Korean Consulate to obtain their visa. Japan is the closet and Osaka is the closest city. So I flew to Osaka on Monday morning and flew back at around 2pm on Tuesday. Not long to learn a few words and soak up a bit of culture. I spent about 5/6 hours wondering the streets and taking it all in. Then the evening approached so I sipped a few chilled beers in an Aussie bar till the early hours. Not very exciting or imaginative but nevertheless an experience, 6 hours of walking around a completely new city/country was another experienced encountered, a new lesson learnt….. for example, they have women only carriages on the Subway/Metro - they were pink carriages, with pink writing, pink handles, whitey pink seats etc etc etc.....
a few choice pics here!!!

Korean Football, FC Seoul style

FC Seoul play in the World Cup Stadium. It holds around 67,000 fans and is pretty much perfection in terms of space, transport, consumables and atmosphere. I descended upon a home game for FC Seoul last week. It was an overcast day and the mood was set for a must win game. FC Seoul are sitting in no mans land in the league. They have had an on/off season and find themselves now struggling to make amends. This game had been tagged as a must win. Their opponents sat 3 places above them. To cut a long story short, FC Seoul took the game 3.0, even with just 10 for 35 mins.
The most thrilling part of the evening was this. The half time whistle had gone and everyone’s focus was on the large screens at either end of the pitch. A short VT was played of a loving couple. The Video was pretty basic, just made up of a poem and a few stills. We then cut back to the stadium and we have a live close up off the loving couple. Seconds later Mr. Loving Couple is on his hands and knees and is proposing. She looks shocked, bursts into tears and I assume says Yes!!! But then for about 5 minutes they were being interviewed and her face kind of went stale. I think the realisation of it all had started to sink in….. My prediction is that she will be looking elsewhere…… The Picture is the ‘happy’ moment.!!

Seoul Subway System (SSS for future ref)

On my first trip on the infamous Seoul subway system I came across this. It's basically a glass cabinet. Inside there is around 20 satchels, which I presume each contain a load of gas masks. But not your average gas masks that kindly fall from the overhead compartment on a airplane. These were full head gear. The image on the cabinet only showed the head, for all I know these were full body suits. Also there was a large air tank with a number of respirators attached, similar in size to one you might find on a diving boat. Welcome to the subway system........
All very comforting I thought!!!

So far, sooooo good!

So, I’ve been here 11 days now. I landed at around 5:30pm on the Saturday. My boss, his name is John, picked me up from Seoul airport and took me straight to my accommodation. It’s in a huge officetel block, that’s what they call them over here, and I’m situated on the second floor and my number is 205. I haven’t got a key; I simply tap a button twice, which unveils a keypad, and then type in my 4-digit code. So as long as you have a memory good enough to remember 4 numbers in sequence you will never have problems getting in. It does feel a little strange every time I leave the flat without doing a key check!!
My apartment consists of a sofa, big leather armchair, very comfortable computer chair, a desk, a short side cabinet, TV, cd/tape player, small bedside table, a bed (single and a half size), a lamp, fold away chair, microwave oven, various pots and pans and general kitchen utensils, an iron, a world map, a calendar and some old school wire coat hangers. I think that’s about it. I bought myself a kettle and juice maker. My reasoning for the juice maker was that some of their fruit is a little well done so to speak, so thought could juice it up!!
So after landing, I realised I had no money. My boss had left and I ventured out onto the street for the first time. I spent the next 45 minutes trying every cash machine around. I was getting a little anxious at this point as I was concerned that Natwest were now in the process of cancelling my card, which they so kindly did when I was away in Italy recently. To be honest I started to panic. It was Saturday, I had no money and no money to call Chris (the only guy I had a number for in Seoul). I had resigned to sitting in my room till Monday morning, living off the two cans of lemonade that were kindly left in the fridge (apologies for not putting this in the above list). I began walking back towards my room when a strange face was approaching me. I say strange because it was like mine, white in colour and smiling. We chatted, his name was/is Riley and he comes from Canada. He has been here 2 and a half years and lives just round the corner. He happens to know the guy who lived in my room, Ben, who is the teacher that I replaced at my school. I’ll come onto the school later.
So Riley kindly pointed me in the direction of an ATM that would work. It did, I drew out 100,000 won……… seemed a little hasty at the time but it is only about £53.56.
I got some change, called Chris, and found out they were having a party to celebrate two peoples birthday. So quick shower and then hoped into a taxi and headed to Itaweon. On arrival there were about 20 people, all teachers and all very hospital with their welcomes and questions….. A gay guy called Alistair, whose birthday it was, recognised that I was a new bod and slapped my arse and said “we have a Korea virgin, let’s break him in” I replied with “gently please”.
Anyway, the night was only just beginning. It was about 8:30pm. Next time I looked at my time piece, which is now my mobile phone after losing my watch in Italy, it was 6am. I was slumped outside a club called Cargo. Not the one in E1, but funnily enough it’s frightfully similar.
Soon enough it was Monday morning and I was on my way to school. After 3 hours sleep, due to jet lag and nerves, I joyfully walked into the reception and said my hellos. I was then expecting to be formally introduced to some people, and maybe some kids. Nope, I was thrown into the red class, where there were six patiently sitting four year olds. This was it! My training, briefing, guidance, introduction etc etc etc etc was over. And this was it. From 10am till 1:35 it was either/and/or red and pink class. Then from 2 till 5:30 6 other classes, all at different levels of English. I walked home that day thinking what the hell have I got myself in to. Day two was exactly the same, “what the hell am I doing, life at home was fine!! I was doing ok wasn’t I?? Why did I leave again???”
However, that evening something clicked. I woke up and I started all over again. New approach I thought! And it worked. The kids were better, the lesson planning worked, the kids knew my name, I knew what my role was, the other teachers began talking to me. I had officially arrived. Thursday and Friday were both great!!! There are two other foreign teachers at the school. One goes by the name of Chris and has been in Korea for 3 years, has married a Korean lady and seems very nice. The other is under the name of David. David starts next week, so obviously haven’t met him yet, all I know is that he’s Irish. Besides us English speakers there are five Korean speakers, four women and one man. The school is about a 10 minute bus ride, followed by a 5 minute walk, or a 13 minute taxi or a 30 minute walk. I tend to bus in morning then walk home.
Weekend just passed was fairly chilled. I did a bit of a walk around on Saturday, just the city hall and a palace, tourism basically. Then Sunday did some back street markets.
I’m off to Japan on Mon/Tue next week. I have to do a visa run. Great huh!!?? Two days in Osaka, two days off work, a three day week. Nice!
One last thing for now…. The food here is pretty good. I get fed at work. Usually rice or noodles and then some kind of meat or fish, then some soup, and some mixed veg and ALWAYS kimichi!!
Ok, going to get back to watching ‘Family Guy’. At the moment I have one channel that has English language (out of 5 channels, so not bad). It is dire though. It’s called AFN Korea, and is solely for the US army out here. In between shows they have adverts for Army personal. Stuff like, (say in a harsh American accent) “Did you know it’s a serious offence to sexually harass females, it doesn’t matter if you are on duty or off duty, it’s an offence” something like that anyway…..
So I’m planning to get Cable.
Till the next time……