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.