The last few weeks have passed.

 

Little bit of snow 

I'm dreadfully sorry for the lack of updating. I have been awfully busy with adapting to the monstrosity that is the climate of this country. That has had me on the back foot for the last 7 days (originally wrote this a week ago, so sickness was actually 2 weeks ago now). Sunday morning I woke to the feeling of a regular hangover that would be issued to any normal foolish person that drinks too much, of this, that and the other. Thing is, this time, I had a very sombre, tranquil and neatly paced evening.

We kicked off with some nicely fried and spiced chicken drum sticks with a few chilled beers, then onto a birthday party at a house, with a couple of cans of chilled beers, then final stop, two more beers before bed. Went home feeling fine. Woke up feeling like I had spent the entire previous day and a half swimming 20 metres down in a pool of Scottish, forty year old, whiskey. My head felt like there was a sand bag, or two, sitting at the back of my sore strewn head. Lifting these sand bags wasn’t easy and resulted in very little movement from around 6am-11am. Then someone kindly sent me a message on my phone. I picked it up and opened my eyes. The result was an instant spin of the innards of my skull and then a very urgent dash to the kneeling position, around my ‘loo’, in my bathroom. The next few hours followed in this pattern, with any light exertion of my eyes, head or brain causing panic and muscle excitement from neck to waist.

Basically I had been struck down with something nasty. The headache stayed for a couple of days, as did the stomach muscle strains. The sickness was just for the Sunday. The next few days saw me hitting the Korean health sections in the corner shops. Stocking up on Ginseng juices, soups, candies, granules, etc etc. Saturday morning arrived and all was well.

Despite this fall in spirits I managed to have a very productive week of studying. Confidence was very high during this week. Still speaking like a 4 year old Korean, but still enjoying the classes and the life of a language student. My week goes something like this…….

Monday to Friday – Wake up at 8:45. Breakfast, shower, leave around 9:15. Get to school for about 9:30-9:40 – depending on weather I have bought a coffee on route or not. 10:00-11:00 speaking and grammar class. 11:00-12:00 more speaking and listening. 12:00-13:00 reading, listening and little bit of writing. 1:15 go to the University restaurant for some very decent and cheap food with a few of the students from my class. Once lunch is done then it’s off to a coffee shop for 1-2, or maybe, like today, 3 hours of studying.

So that is standard scheduling. Morning till evening is set aside for studying, evenings go as follows.

Monday night – language exchange with two Koreans. 45 minutes in Korean, for me, then, 45 minutes in English, for them.

Tuesday night – no plans. Usually get to together with a couple of mates for dinner and catch up.

Wednesday – round two of language exchange with two Koreans, as mentioned above.

Thursday – two hours of teaching English to a Korean.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday, as true as us western folk are I leave this open for festivities away from studying/work, although the more I drink, the less I want to drink, so might be occupying these leisure hours with something a little more brain powered. What a change that would be?!!

It’s now Christmas Day morning (now I’m editing this on Sunday evening, 27^th). I had written most of this blog last week (and been editing it ever since), but then delayed publishing it as I wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas. Today I will be having a very traditional Christmas, Korean style (I did). In Korea families don’t really get together, it’s more of a couples event. I don’t have a partner these days, so to have a traditional Korean Christmas was looking like an unlikely option. But then two nights ago (actually now 4 nights ago, as I’m editing) I was chatting to a lovely Korean lady in a bar and we decided it would be nice for all involved if we met on Christmas Day for lunch. So, I have a date on Christmas Day (It went well). Everyone back home will find this very peculiar, but as they say, “when in Rome, do as the Romans do”.

Up to present time now. Boxing Day was relaxed and productive. I went and bought an electronic dictionary to assist in my journey of learning another language. It has helped me immensely already. Boxing Day afternoon I went to a coffee shop and utilised it successfully. Then again today, I went to a coffee shop and got some educational usage out of it. Very useful indeed.

Today, Sunday, I went to a new shopping bonanza, in Seoul, called Times Square. It’s a department store, come entertainment village, of epic proportions. The first thing I thought on arrival was, North Korea really did make the wrong choice back in the 50’s. It’s a ridiculous exhibition of wealth and class. My goodness, I have never been so gob-smacked, at such glutinous, but gorgeously stylistic shopping mall-esc architecture. I got a few snaps, here are a couple just to give you a taste. 

Very questionable, but equally interesting sculpture, outside one of the many entrances and exits.

Week ahead consists of more studying and electronic dictionary usage, and of course some research into some New Years revolutions.

What are yours?

The last few weeks have passed.

 

Little bit of snow 

I'm dreadfully sorry for the lack of updating. I have been awfully busy with adapting to the monstrosity that is the climate of this country. That has had me on the back foot for the last 7 days (originally wrote this a week ago, so sickness was actually 2 weeks ago now). Sunday morning I woke to the feeling of a regular hangover that would be issued to any normal foolish person that drinks too much, of this, that and the other. Thing is, this time, I had a very sombre, tranquil and neatly paced evening.

We kicked off with some nicely fried and spiced chicken drum sticks with a few chilled beers, then onto a birthday party at a house, with a couple of cans of chilled beers, then final stop, two more beers before bed. Went home feeling fine. Woke up feeling like I had spent the entire previous day and a half swimming 20 metres down in a pool of Scottish, forty year old, whiskey. My head felt like there was a sand bag, or two, sitting at the back of my sore strewn head. Lifting these sand bags wasn’t easy and resulted in very little movement from around 6am-11am. Then someone kindly sent me a message on my phone. I picked it up and opened my eyes. The result was an instant spin of the innards of my skull and then a very urgent dash to the kneeling position, around my ‘loo’, in my bathroom. The next few hours followed in this pattern, with any light exertion of my eyes, head or brain causing panic and muscle excitement from neck to waist.

Basically I had been struck down with something nasty. The headache stayed for a couple of days, as did the stomach muscle strains. The sickness was just for the Sunday. The next few days saw me hitting the Korean health sections in the corner shops. Stocking up on Ginseng juices, soups, candies, granules, etc etc. Saturday morning arrived and all was well.

Despite this fall in spirits I managed to have a very productive week of studying. Confidence was very high during this week. Still speaking like a 4 year old Korean, but still enjoying the classes and the life of a language student. My week goes something like this…….

Monday to Friday – Wake up at 8:45. Breakfast, shower, leave around 9:15. Get to school for about 9:30-9:40 – depending on weather I have bought a coffee on route or not. 10:00-11:00 speaking and grammar class. 11:00-12:00 more speaking and listening. 12:00-13:00 reading, listening and little bit of writing. 1:15 go to the University restaurant for some very decent and cheap food with a few of the students from my class. Once lunch is done then it’s off to a coffee shop for 1-2, or maybe, like today, 3 hours of studying.

So that is standard scheduling. Morning till evening is set aside for studying, evenings go as follows.

Monday night – language exchange with two Koreans. 45 minutes in Korean, for me, then, 45 minutes in English, for them.

Tuesday night – no plans. Usually get to together with a couple of mates for dinner and catch up.

Wednesday – round two of language exchange with two Koreans, as mentioned above.

Thursday – two hours of teaching English to a Korean.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday, as true as us western folk are I leave this open for festivities away from studying/work, although the more I drink, the less I want to drink, so might be occupying these leisure hours with something a little more brain powered. What a change that would be?!!

It’s now Christmas Day morning (now I’m editing this on Sunday evening, 27^th). I had written most of this blog last week (and been editing it ever since), but then delayed publishing it as I wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas. Today I will be having a very traditional Christmas, Korean style (I did). In Korea families don’t really get together, it’s more of a couples event. I don’t have a partner these days, so to have a traditional Korean Christmas was looking like an unlikely option. But then two nights ago (actually now 4 nights ago, as I’m editing) I was chatting to a lovely Korean lady in a bar and we decided it would be nice for all involved if we met on Christmas Day for lunch. So, I have a date on Christmas Day (It went well). Everyone back home will find this very peculiar, but as they say, “when in Rome, do as the Romans do”.

Up to present time now. Boxing Day was relaxed and productive. I went and bought an electronic dictionary to assist in my journey of learning another language. It has helped me immensely already. Boxing Day afternoon I went to a coffee shop and utilised it successfully. Then again today, I went to a coffee shop and got some educational usage out of it. Very useful indeed.

Today, Sunday, I went to a new shopping bonanza, in Seoul, called Times Square. It’s a department store, come entertainment village, of epic proportions. The first thing I thought on arrival was, North Korean really did make the wrong choice back in the 50’s. It’s a ridiculous exhibition of wealth and class. My goodness, I have never been so gob-smacked, at us glutinous, but gorgeously stylistic shopping mall-esc architecture. I got a few snaps, here are a couple just to give you a taste. 

Very questionable, but equally interesting sculpture, outside one of the many entrances and exits.

Week ahead consists of more studying and electronic dictionary usage, and of course some research into some New Years revolutions.

What are yours?

Role Reversal

So, quite a big change of events today. I just got back from my first day, in over 5 years, as a student. I got flashbacks from my first day at University, in regards to that uncertainty feeling, the excitement of exploring empty classrooms and scanning the corridors of fresh student faces. My first job was to find the list of names. There are seven different levels of study, within each level there is an ‘a’ and ‘b’ level, and with anything from 5-15 in a class, you can imagine the amount of names floating around the walls. I found my name, it was standing out, due to its length. DENHOLM TOBY ALEXANDER. Not hard to find. It was sitting 3^rd in a line-up of about 10. 903, was my classroom number, 9^th floor. I had a breeze through my co-students names, studying them and trying to dissect them and conclude upon some nationalities. I’d been told that most of my co-students (past statistics have proven) would be Japanese.

Well, I would never have guessed the line-up. Our first task was to introduce ourselves, in Korean of course (NO ENGLISH in class time), so as we went around we all said our name and nationality and something extra, maybe an “I like” or “I don’t like”, just something simple. Anyway, as we went around we discovered the geographical diversity of our group. From left to right we have, an American, a Frenchman, an Austrian-Korean, a Korean-American, Me, an Australian, a Vietnamese lady, a Japanese lady, a Singaporean lady, a Danish-Korean and finally a Cuban man. Oh, please don’t forget the Korean teacher.

Amazing I thought.

Something else amazing was the role reversal I’d found myself in. For the past two years I had taught myself to be a teacher, then became one, and loved it beyond my wildest and most distant of dreams. Now, here I was, being the student, sitting back and watching a teacher, teach me. It did feel a little peculiar. There were moments when I was like, “I wish I was up there”, making little jokes, funny facial expressions, and strange shapes with my mouth, tongue and cheek bones, to convey to the audience the perfect phonetical deliverance. At the same time though, I was loving the simplicity of sitting back and being a sponge, absorbing this and that, jotting down things at my leisure. A nice reversal of roles, if you like.

Both of my teachers are lovely. One male and one female. The male was very relaxed and leisurely. His style expressed this. Some loose, beige, trousers, with a long sleeved, nicely fitted t-shirt with beach/ocean imagery. The lady was a little more abrupt, styled matched this, but with that, more expressional and dramatised in actions, AKA, fun…..

The content, of the textbooks we got, seems to be all stuff that I have studied on my own, in the past. It’s material that I’ve studied but always stumbled and eventually tripped upon when it comes to the crunch, conversation. My university is geared towards enhancing speaking ability, so laminating this, previously swatted knowledge, into my conversational nature, is the goal. Fingers crossed. 

No pictures yet. 

I arrived.

Safe and Sound.


The flight was pretty much a formality. Two hours of tailed wind assisted flying from Heathrow to Helsinki, was followed by another two hours of transit at a very relaxing departure lounge at Helsinki. Then a very easy 8 hours and 30 minutes from Helsinki to Seoul. Whilst I was drinking out in London with my friends on the Friday night, exactly 36 hours before my departure time, Dad was sat at home checking me into the flights. Amazingly, he managed to get an exit seat. I've always walked past 'those' people with all 'that' leg room they have. Never thought that would be me. It was a luxury, and one that I would wish upon anybody close to me. It took me a while to get used to it though, I'll be honest. My mindset before any flight is simply, usually, "this is going to be uncomfortable", more often than not it is, but not as bad as one had first imagined. This time I went in thinking, "this is going to be as comfortable as sitting at home watching TV", but it wasn't, it's still a flat, straight, small, rigidly formatted chair, just with a little more leg room, one can only stretch their legs so far. But, big advantage was being able to walk forwards from my chair, when I wanted to, being able to fully stretch my legs out and up into the air, and behind my head if I could, and wanted to. Go to the bathroom, exactly, and when I wanted to, not when the person next to me shows some sign of being ‘possibly ok', and unfazed to be moved. All in all, a good flight.

Oh, Finnair have cameras around the outside of the plane, so at any stage of the flight, including take-off and landing, we could look ahead or below the aircraft. Genius idea…..


Once arrived, it was straight onto the hour long bus to central Seoul. These buses, well, all buses, subways, trains, taxis, cars, EVERYTHING in this country has heated seats in the colder months. So, I sat, and slowly started to cook my backside whilst taking in the changed surroundings. Three months away, you'd think everything would be the same. Nope! This is an upandcoming BIG Asian city, they don't sit back. Roads, buildings, junctions, areas, stretches etc that had just started to form when I left, were now fully upandrunning. Was it only three months that I was away???

Tuesday morning I took a trip down memory lane and popped into my school. The school I spent two fabulous years at, teaching, playing, messing around, singing, dancing and generally having the absolute time of my life. On a scale of 1-10, of how excited I was about going back, most would know that it was an out and out 10, no question. I had been having these very peculiar dreams in the past few weeks, leading up to my return. The same dream played itself out about 3 times. It went like this. I would walk up the stairs to the school. Go in. Say hello to all the staff and teachers. Reminisce. Then I’d start to walk around the corridor and peak into the classes to see my beloved kids working away. When I looked into the classrooms, I began to notice that they had all gone, and they’d been replaced by horrible children from my middle school, when I was a kid. A couple of old favourites would be there, and I’d ask them “where is everyone?”, and they would give me blank faces, as if to say “who and what are you talking about?”…. So, in my dream, I began to think that the last two years was all a dream. Deep filled crust of anxiety styled dreaming there.

Anyway, the dream was only a dream. Most of the kids were still there. Top three material Sarah (although her reaction to me returning puts her firmly in position 1, as all time greatest kid to have ever walked). She was playing the Melodian instrument with her classmates as I walked in. The Melodian is a piano/keyboard type thing, that you blow into to create the sound, whilst tapping the keys. So, she was sitting down in a line as I walked in. She was concentrating on playing her tune. Then she noticed me. Still blowing into her mouth piece, her eyes bulged, but she managed to keep in tune and concentrate on her teacher. True Korean hard working ethic maintained. As the tune finished, the smile came sweeping across her face, then she stood up and started to giggle and do a little Sarah-like dance, very hard to explain, but it stops her from getting too excited. So a dance to shake off her excitement I guess. Then she ran over and demanded a hug. Awesome kid. She then, along with a random rabble of old favourites continued to follow me wherever I went, pulling on my legs, arms, anything that dangled at a 5/6 year old height, for the entire morning. Lunchtime, I had to walk around with my tray, eating here there and everywhere. Each kid asked me, “Toby Teacher, today, eat lunch, where?”, so I had to do that rounds.

Sadly, Angela, who also makes the top three wasn’t there. Her mother has taken her out for a month as a precaution to the swine flu epidemic. But she’ll be back there soon, and so will I, for another visit. Decision on going back to work there still yet to be made. Time will tell.

My room is tiny. Smaller than I had hoped. But, I’m not going to complain. I have a room, I have shelter, I have running water, food, internet, a bed, clothes, money, health. This three months living in a box will finely tune and educate my future living style. I’ll go from this dog house to a royal palace and appreciate it like a dog coming across a half eaten Big Mac on the pavement.

The location is outstanding. I have everything and more on my door step.

One weekend to go before I start being a student. I’ll update after my first day, which is Tuesday.

Goodbye.

12 Hours to go........

My latest blog update is brought to you from a sofa in London. 

I have 12 hours to go to my flight back to Seoul.

What will I be doing in these final twelve hours? Currently watching friends, the one when Ross has a night with Janis, to get over Emily re-marrying. Then Match of the Day two will be on. Looking forward to seeing Arsenal lose 1-0 to Sunderland. Then, I will bag up my old clothes for the charity shop. Sleep will then be something I'll be very much trying to get, having missed out on a fair chunk last night, due to a large amount of Long Island Iced teas, and two bottles of James Bond's favortie champers, Bollinger. Once I have woken, I will do final cupboard and drawers checks, and then into the car it is.

See you on the East Side.

12 days to go (possibly most pointless blog do date)

So, I will be flying, courtesy of Finnair, to Seoul, in just twelve days time. I thought I would bring us all up to speed on the signficance that, to life in general, the number twelve has.

There are twelve in a dozen, dozen is used as a sales unit. A dozen is most commonly known for the use of eggs. A group of twelve things is known as a Duodecad.

The 12th month is December, which is the month in which I'll be starting my Korean course.

12 x 2 = 24, which was my age when I first arrived in Korea.

This is the 12th picture on my facebook that I am in. I'm centre, arms aloft, macho style.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/ is the 12th website that is inserted into my bookmarks.

In the former British currency system, there were twelve pence in a shilling. 

In the US, twelve people are appointed to sit on a jury for felony trials in all but four states.

12 face cards in a card deck.

12 inches in a foot.

12 = perfect government.

The McDonalds hamburgers' 12th birthday was last year.

This was the 12th google search, when I typed in '12', into google.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4ebtj1jR7c - It's a AA-12 gun, in action.

This was the 12th google search, when I typed in 'twelve', into google.
http://www.twelvegames.com/TWELVE.htm

This was the 12th image when I typed (twelve' into google images.

If Manchester United win the English Premiership this season, it will be their 12th Premiership title.

Jermain Defoe and Robbie Keane, Tottenham Hotspurs' little option, strike force, have scored 12 premiership goals between them, so far, this season. 6 each.

Birmingham FC currently have 12 points in the league. No other team has 12. BIRMINGHAM FC is a total of 12 letters. haha.

12 is the amount of points that Tottenham are currently ahead of West Ham Utd. haha.

Last football fact. There were 12 years between Pele's 1st and last goal in the a World Cup competition. He scored many more in between.

There are 12 days of Christmas.

What does the number 12 mean to you???

I'm copping off..... I mean I'm copping out...

I feel the need to explain why I have copped out of going on a little adventure. Maybe, I need to jot down these thoughts, more so for me, to justify not going traveling in my break.

The plan was to load up my leather money carrier and head off on some self indulgent travel experience, somewhere uncharted and untouched by my small impressionable fingertips. I flirted immensely with the idea of a jaunt around India, I even bought the travel guide. I also dipped into the idea of a few months around Venezuela/Columbia/Ecuador. Again, I even bought a travel guide for Columbia. Plans were being made, flight prices were compared, Visa rulings were researched, climate assessments in relation to 'when to go' were also checked and noted. Some people said, 'oh my god, you must go there", or, "well, yeah, I haven't been, but have always wanted to go, I'm so jealous, you're going to have the most amazing time". Of course, I would have had an amazing time. I'm not denying those facts. I thought a lot, every night, (which is something I seem to do a lot, I limit my brain use during the day, which is probably the time when it should be most active) about what type of experience I wanted. If I was 20-23, fresh off the University boat, still sporting my baggy and wet bottomed alternative style jeans and questionable hair style, then maybe a 'life changing' exploration of another country is what the 'life' doctor would have prescribed. However, I'm growing up, turned 27 yesterday, and instead, feel like going on an adventure with a partner. With somebody who can share it all with. I don't want to get all cheesy, and sickly, by going on about why it would be good to share this with a partner, as I think it's all too obvious. But just, sitting here now, justifying, to all, as to why I have chosen to put that travel trip into the drawer labeled "To do before I'm 40", and embark on a  different adventure of, studying Korean relentlessly for the next 3/4 months. No regrets...!

A delicate fog descended upon Elmfield Road the other night. It was a damp, chilly and mysterious fog that nestled itself between every nook and cranny available, except the area surronding the Post Box, very mysterious indeed......

Language Fusion

This is Suna. Everybody say "Hello Suna!".

Suna is my new friend. She's Korean and has been living in London for about 8 months now. We met through a Korean Language Exchange Group that I discovered online. We have met twice now. On meeting we chat in each others language. Both parties within this meeting are rewarded with practice in their chosen, second, language. Her English is much better than my Korean, so we chatter in mostly English. My use of Korean is limited, but having now completed two meetings with Suna, I'm finding myself far more knowledgeable than originally thought. Still a long long, never ending, way to go, but this is a great method to get things moving in the right direction.

I'm currently reviewing a lot of material that I've studied so far in my short tenure as a Korean Language student. I have a level assessment on the 13th November. This will place me into either level 1 or 2. 1 would be a touch annoying as I'm pretty sure it will be a good few weeks covering a lot of stuff I'm comfortable with. Level 2, on the other hand, will all be new fresh material that will get me chomping at the bit. So, lets see what level I enter at. Either way, it'll still provide ample opportunity to get my speaking on course.

I've just polished off a large roast dinner, cooked by Mother. It was nothing short of ultimate deliciousness. The rice pudding, served as a pudding, was just too much for my stomach to handle. It's currently in recess and has warned me not to lean over and tackle the selection of chocolate and fruity chews that caress the coffee table. This leads me into my recent diet. Food has been a joy to get my lips around. I didn't think about UK foods too much while I was away, but having been in and around a few well endowed fridges over the last few months, it's easy to say that I have piled on a bit of holiday weight. This wasn't helped by a recent foot injury, which forced me to be sofa bound for about 10 days. I'm quite looking forward to getting back to my Korean diet. UK food is tasty, don't get me wrong, but, it does take a lot longer to digest and it does cause a rather uncomfortable amount of wind, which a few of my close friends will testify.

The next three weeks are going to be pretty busy. My 27th birthday is first up on Tuesday. Then Thursday sees a exciting trip to see a previewing of a Korean movie, called, Thirst. Then on Friday a small reunion in London with some old Bungay High School friends. Saturday is bonfire night. Sunday, it's off to see the Denholm side of the family, to say hello and goodbye. Then Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday is currently free (hopefully it will stay that way). Then Thursday, it's get ready for level test. Friday AM, level test. Friday PM, say goodbye to another crowd of friends. ETC ETC ETC...... Final week will consist of a family reunion in Glous. A short trip to the Foreign Office in Milton Keynes to notarise some legal documents for Korea. Then it's the final countdown.

OK, I've mumbled on just about enough that 'Countryfile', on BBC1, has finished so I can get back to some TV watching. X Factor it is, to hopefully witness the downfall of those awful twins 'John and Edward'. Fingers crossed.

Laters.
Just a silly little piece of photoshop I did......

While I was away, I did this and this and that, thought about this and this and that....... Lots of stuff really, read on...... find out.

Amie and I
31st July huh? Wow, please accept my dearest apologies for not updating for such a long time. Some might think that I have been plodding along doing nothing, others might think I may have gone into blog hiding, maybe given up on the whole ordeal, which to be honest it can be at times. Well, the truth is that for my last month in Korea, I was a bit of an emotional mess. Not sad to be leaving as such, but more just in a state of looseness. I had completely lost all drive for teaching, all drive for eating well, all drive for studying Korean, all drive for being social, all drive for my existence in some horror moments. I was strictly focused on getting home and seeing everybody and working my way through all those UK things that I had been dwelling on minute by minute since I'd booked my flight a few weeks back. To be brutally honest I felt a little lonely. My house became, all of a sudden, a very spacious airy hotel room. It lost its comfort and familiarity. Sleeping became a problem and I even began to see things in my room. I knew it was an accumulation of too many emotions. Sadness to be leaving, anxiety about what the next 6 months has for me, where to travel, therefore indecision, tiredness, confusion over the future, pressure on decisions, in regards to 'What job to do next?'........ Bla Bla Bla..... All sounds pretty deep, but it just boiled down to, I needed a break!!!!

Which is what I'm in now. Got back to the UK on the 1st September. Thrown into a hectic lifestyle of dinners here, coffees there, drinks here and more dinners, coffees and drinks there. Having such a wide berth of friends is great. Friends from University, friends from my first job, second job, third job, part time jobs, friends met in Korea now in the UK, ex-girlfriends, of course family and just people I love and wanted to see and be around again. Not to mention a couple of 'old school' reunions. One reunion with a small crew from Bungay High school days, last time we were all together was 8 years ago. What I'm trying to say is that I had a very busy schedule. So much so, that I had to start a diary, and actually use and live by it. I've always been cautious about starting a diary. I've always been proud to say that I can handle my 'goings on' without use of a diary and cope fine with my competent mind, but this, rapid fire, series of catch ups required careful and precise scheduling. Not at all complaining in the slightest. I ate many deliciously prepared foods and drank many delicately poured wines, along with perfectly executed catch up chats. I was living the life of a ra-ra king..... No work, lunching and dining may way through the working week. All this soon starting hitting hard on the bank balance, so I had to sit back.

Rick and I then thought that we'd would both tick a box on our 'must do' list and head to New York for a bit. We booked it, with thanks to Air France, and started our planning. 6 nights it would be. Emails from past New Yorkers got us on our way. We landed and were thrown into the deep end. Our hostel was in Harlem, ok it was East Harlem, and South South East Harlem at that. But, when we stepped out of the subway at 103rd Street, I tell you it was more of a culture shock than landing in Seoul. Can't explain what the feeling was, but just felt out of place. Soon got comfortable and started to enjoy New York for what New York is all about. The yellow taxis, the NYPD, the diverseness of everything there. The people, the architecture, the smells, the atmospheres, the attitudes, all combining to create the New York experience. On leaving New York, I decided that it wasn't all that I had cracked it up to be. Cities are cities and most tick in the same way as the next one, and the last one. I spent 5 days in Tokyo and came out with the same conclusion. To really thrive and immerse yourself into a city, and therefore get the essentials out of it, one has to live there for a healthy duration, not just a jolly 7 day tourist visit.

Whilst in New York, Rick and I went to a predominately Korean area. We both love Korean food so thought that we would hunt out some decent Korean BBQ. We found it and found ourselves enjoying it as if it was our first time. During this specific meal, something hit me. I remember the feeling as if it had just happened now, as I'm typing 'typing'. I placed my first mouthful of juicy BBQ-ed pork belly into my mouth and I decided there and then, that I need to get back to Korea, as soon as I possibly could. For the next 24 hours I racked my brain on what I could do. I then saw a video of my old kids on-line, thanks to Steph Teacher. This acted as the confirmation that I would be going back to Korea when possible. Although I didn't need confirmation, as such, as I already knew what I needed to do. I needed to go to Korea and study Korean.

On our return to London I started a little research and discovered the suitable remedy for my illness. A 150 hour Korean course at Sogang University, starting December 1st and finishing February 18th. This gives me enough time to organise my life before starting, and also fits in nicely with starting a new job from March 1st, which is the new schooling year in Korea. So, enrolling was next and enroll I did. Paid tuition fees, booked flights and off I go again. Now it's 24th October, and in four weeks I'll be off.

Sorry for the boring recap on my life, but thought that I would bring us up to speed, and use this as an opportunity to launch my blog into its next generation. On returning to Korea I will bring a new spin on the blog. Not sure exactly what it'll be yet, but maybe a makeover and some kind of format change. Stay tuned......

Some pics from the last couple months.

The London Eye.

umm, It's a New York City yellow cab. Duh!

A big green park called Central Park.

Exit door, with Statue of Liberty in the back, background.

Statue of Liberty and the sun in the back, background.

Thank you......

Broken down again (in a good way)

The unthinkable has happened. This is exactly what I didn't want to happen. I tried hard, not very hard, but hard enough to prevent this from happening. But, they did it, they did it again. They got me. I moulded an emotional barrier around myself with all natural materials possible, but they chipped, chopped and ground away until they finally broke me down. I have put my hand up, I have thrown in the white towel, I love these kids. God Damn it.....

My new kids in Yellow and Green class have finally made an emotional impact on me. When I took them over five months ago, I knew in my mind that I would be leaving Kids Herald School. So in order to make this 'leaving' as easy as possible, I said to myself not to get too involved with the kids on an emotional level. I made a serious conscious decision to care less about my job on all aspects, with the kids being the pinnacle of this. My last kids had a tremendous impact on my contract decision making, hence staying at the school a second year, a decision I have no regrets about at all, quite the opposite. What I really craved was a peaceful departure from my tenure at Kids Herald School.

It was impossible though. It was going well. I was able to teach them well, to the best of my ability, but keeping a safe distance from them. Having a larger number of kids (9 and 8) in the classes, than before (6 and 4), made this mission possible. However, no matter how much I pushed them away, literally, they kept chipping away, looking for weaknesses, and I finally cracked. Here are some short profiles on a couple of kids that stick out. With pictures of course. You could say these are the reasons.

Eric. Currently top of the tree. Number one kid. A comedy genius. An old man in a young mans body. He has a peeing problem. He goes to the toilet about 10 times a day, in fact, maybe more. He has a fantastic sense of humor. Situation comedy. I have never seen this in a child so young before. I could learn a thing or two from this kid. He knows he's cute. He loves to pose for a picture. He always questions a question, with a question. Comedy in itself (for a 7 year old anyway). He has artistic talent, he draws creatively. Everyones wants to sit next to him at lunch. Everyone wants to be him. He is Eric.
This is Eric, posing, yet again, for the camera, styling his new hat.

And his new clothes.


Lucy. Currently top of the tree of girls. She was called Cute Lucy last year, for obvious reasons. She's cute. This year I call her Lucy Loo, I call Wendy, Wendy Woo. It sounds good, kids love it. Lucy is very cute. She's a typical cute girl. She's a 7 year old with the mind of a rich, pretty, sweet 16. Daddy looks after her. She expects to get what she wants. If she's moody at school, leave her alone, if she's happy, then keep her thay way. Sounds horrible, but, it's charming. If she's smiling, then no doubt, you'll be smiling too. That what she brings to the class. She is Lucy.
This is her, at the forefront of this image, presenting me with a green tea, tea bag.

Here she's again, showing me her new book.


and here they are together......

Hold the FRONT PAGE

This may be my third blog in about 10 days, which some might say is a little bit too much, but this next update is significant. Most of you know that I am not the most motivated of readers, and my history of reading is a fairly recent and lacking in weight. In fact that's probably an understatement.

I was never a reader as a child and when I was at university a maybe read the odd book here and there, (one book over the course of a few months, maybe more). After uni, I maintained this same pattern, with the occasional burst of two books in quick succession. Things really picked up when I moved to Korea, and I started reading books back to back with the occasional break in between to rest my poor young brain.

I set a new record a few weeks back when a read a book called "The Koreans", a book about Korean people, yep, in about 3 weeks. VERY good for me. Then I beat that record by reading "The Aquariums of Pyongyang", a memoir from an North Korean Concentration Camp escapee, yep, in about 12 days. Well, yesterday I thrashed that record and probably set an unbeatable one by reading a book in under 12 hours, plus 6 of those hours, I was sleeping. The book was/is "South of the Border, West of the Sun", By Japanese author Haruki Murakami. I thought this was significant enough, and worthy enough to warrant a blog.

I now plan to take a six month break from reading. I'm going to take up watching You Tube clips of UK's Big Brother, and maybe some clips of some other mind numbing **** that can be found online. Actually no, I'm hoping to find another page turner. Recommendations please.

Oh, 6 weeks remaining.

My Home.

This was taken a few days before my departure, back in August 2007. No looking back.....

I'm currently perched on top of my tree, looking down, waiting for my prey like a hungry, ravenous, blood thirsty vulture. My prey is England and my waiting time will be exactly 45 days until I can get my hands on my lunch. My lunch being the things that I miss about home, the things that have ruined the last 3 months in Korea, because they're the things that I have been whining for, the things that have distracted me from truly enjoying recent life in Korea.

What are they?

Well, some of them will be obvious choices, others are just things that people take for granted until they're away.

Talking English to my dogs:
Quite weird, but it dawned on me last week when I met my friends new puppies. The puppies were just a year old, and had been brought up by Koreans. Therefore they spoke Korean.......??!!! (you know what I mean)
I wanted to hang out with the dogs, walk with them, chat like people chat with dogs. Suddenly I felt a wave of strangeness. I thought "I don't know what to say to a Korean dog"...... It baffled me. I think another way of looking at this is that I miss Biffer and Douglas, the two big dogs in my life. Looking forward to hanging out with the fat pooches, watching TV, eating peanut butter on toast, while they watch me, eating peanut butter on toast, and drooling.

Biffer sniffing.

Picking up a multi-read Metro newspaper:
Travelling on London’s vintage Underground is always a pleasure since I've been out of the country. A memory that lives on, which is one that I miss, is the moment before the doors open. I always look into the carriage to see if there's a newspaper lying around. At certain times of the day, and on certain lines, you're guaranteed a newspaper, and sometimes even a choice. If there's only one or two copies lying on the dirt ridden floor, then it becomes a head to head with fellow passengers to be, to get that multi-read newspaper.

Options!!

Knowing 'What's On', and when:
Watching TV in Korea is fun. They're various English channels with a lot of decent programming, there is also a lot of mind numbing bulls**t that a certain ratio of the worlds population are sadly into, and learn from. I have a cable situation set-up, I get about 60 channels, mostly Korean of course. With my level of Korean understanding still below basic, I sometimes sit back and pass my own interpretation as to what is going on, on the screen. This can be fun. Some thing that does annoy me is not knowing what is on next, later, tomorrow, next week, etc etc. Having a TV guide is one of those things that I have missed on a daily basis. Sky + is really the most luxurious platforms to watch TV, and I have missed it so much. Can't wait to sit down, with peanut butter on toast, while the fat pooch drools onto my newly ironed white shorts, and check up on the TV schedule......

Big TV please.....

Eating Humus:
I have missed this sooooo much. I can't wait to slice up a yellow pepper and dip the hell out of it into some humus. Then toast up some pita bread and dip the hell out of it into the humus. I have asked many Korean people about humus, doesn't exist. I've been to many foreign food markets, doesn't exist. I sliced up a red pepper yesterday, munched down on my first slice, without anything exciting to dip into, result?, nothing, no joy, disappointment, it wasn't the same. The more I think about humus, the more I miss it. Family and friends aside, I seriously think that this is one of the things I have missed the most. Who would have thought eh?!

Definately some humus in this London shop!!!

That’ll do for now. Apologies for any typos, too tired to read over it and check. You do it for me!!

Spending a Penny? take a minute

An empty bottle of water. It will make sense later.

Ever had to take stock before you walk into a bathroom? Not talking about your bathroom at home, but maybe the one you use at work, or maybe the one you use at your local, or the one in your favourite department store. I’ll be talking about the trials and tribulations of my trips to the bathroom at my Korean Kindergarten.

Going to the bathroom at work/school isn’t ever a simple procedure. It has turned into a calculated task, that isn’t as simple as ‘spending a penny’. “Can I go to the bathroom please?” is one of the very first full sentences the kids will learn at English school. The boys bathroom consists of three fully functional urinals, two child sized sit-downs, and then two adult sized sit-downs. There are also another three urinals, but they’re out of order, always have been, always will be. The urinals are probably two feet shorter than your custom urinal. This obviously means I have to immediately bend at the knees, which at first created a whole new peeing technique, now after two years I have mastered. The main problem about going to the bathroom is the kids fascination at what you have got. Every time, EVERYTIME, I’m in the bathroom peeing, and a kid walks in, you can be assured that they will stand at the urinal next to you, and they will cast an eye over. Again, at first I had to get used to this, but now I’m already well and truly shielded from any possible on-looking curiously minded Korean child, before they walk in. However, this doesn’t stop them. This didn’t happen to me, but it happened to Anthony. He was shielding, thanks to our self trained technique, but the kid wasn’t letting that deter him, he simply walked behind Anthony and then ducked down, between his legs and tried to look up. Luckily, Anthony had shaken and just put the attraction away, if not, then little Kyle may have had an early shower. Unbelievable!!!!

So kids ‘looking on’ is one thing, another is the kids very own technique of peeing. Some kids have some dignity and they lower the front of their trouser and pee, conventional style. Some kids undue their trouser and then pull them down, with pants, to the floor. Then they lift their t-shirts up to their chin, and if that wasn’t enough they stand back and fire it into the urinal. It’s like a well choreographed performance. The beauty of this is that the boys bathroom door is facing the girls bathroom door. The girls find it insanely funny, why wouldn’t they?, when they see a boy doing this. To be honest, it disturbs me quite a lot, needless to say if one of the little pee-ers is doing this when I walk in, I give them a minute, wait patiently until they have re-dressed themselves, before I take my turn.

So peeing has it troubles, how about sit-down time? If there is ever a moment that needs the ultimate care and attention at Kids Herald School, then this is it. If a kid sees you going into, or out of, the cubicle then fully expect a comment. The comment will then be taken out into the corridor where he will, definitely, tell anyone in sight that Toby Teacher is taking a shit. He will say in Korean, “Toby Teacher is pooing”. These days I never let this situation happen, I plan my cubicle usage very carefully. In the past, I have departed the bathroom to a chorus of kids pointing, giggling, basically pointing and shouting the word “POO”.

One last trial of going to the bathroom is in the afternoons. The cleaning lady washes the floors well before the day is up. Her technique is thorough. She mops, scrubs etc. then to wash everything she pulls the hose and drenches every last inch of the bathroom. The water takes a good hour to dry up and wash down the drain. During this hour, it’s a very questionable walking surface. The slippers that I wear to work, and perfect for ice skating. I have fallen down twice during this time. I have slipped and nearly fallen about 50 times. Every time my heart skips a beat. This is just another thing that crosses my mind each and every time I need to pee.

I need to pee about 10 or so times a day, I’m guessing. I drink so so so much water at work. A new hobby if you like. I drink so much, and go to the bathroom so much that one class of mine call me bathroom teacher. This seems a fitting way to end the blog.

The Marmite Debate

My comparison, to that of the yeast spreadable Marmite, is pretty straight forward. Korea is a country that, once you have been here long enough to understand it, long enough to pass some kind of judgment, most come up with either "I love it", or"I hate it".

There are a large number that fall in both categories. In fact I would like to challenge any "I hate Korea" person, to put their hand of their heart and say they completely dislike every aspect of the country. For me, this is impossible. I love this country dearly, but at the same time it can be hateable. To summarise, before I digress, I would say this country has a significant ability to keep people interested, keep them guessing, wondering, a huge amount of mysteriousness is behind peoples fascination with these lands. Nobody can truly understand exactly what the make-up of Korea is. I think this is why people stay here longer than they anticipated. I recall thinking to myself "I'm not done here, I don't know why, but I got another year in me". I wasn't driven by another years contract earning decent money or by a lady, although both of those two things were VERY VERY VERY good reasons to stay. I think the feeling was deeper. I'm still fascinated by everything this country offers. I think I'm addicted to the people, the food and the mysteriousness. I've read a few articles in The Korean Times recently, written by a Korean. He's a social critique. He's discussed some intriguing opinions of Korean people and their society. The most significant to mind is that he sees Koreans as a tribe. A tribe with a huge heart, and as within any tribe, the heart is focused on looking after their own. It's very true. This carries over into the justice system in this country. Of course there are elements of justice, but the justice is awarded by the heart rather than a rule or procedure. Our justice system is down to one word "Justice". In a car accident, for example, if a driver is drunk, then without question that person is to blame, that is the procedure of justice in regards to a drunken car accident. In Korea, recently, there was a incident where a motorcyclist, from the US, hit a drunk Korean man. The drunk man was J-walking on an area of road that, by law, should be lit up. It wasn't lit up. So we have a road that the cities council have neglected, a drunken man who is J-walking and a motorcyclist. The three of them find themselves in a court. In a court of justice, the monies owed would fall into the hands of the drunken man, for J-walking, and the councils for neglecting the law and not illuminating the road. However, in a Korean court of tribalism, the monies owed fell upon the motorcyclist. Is that justice?? No, not to the American. But is it justice to a fellow tribesmen? Yeah, sure it is.I don't have a strong opinion on this issue of justice, but it highlights a fascination that Korea offers. Koreans have a huge heart. The heart comes first. Sadly, the heart is for their own.

I'm currently planning a trip around India. I've heard from many people and publications that India has the biggest heart of all nations. The difference being, when considering the Korean heart, is that the Indian heart is open for all, where as the Korean is very much closed and only open at rare times, and of course, for their own.

Tears way before their bedtime

I have around 90 days left at my current school. I have spent my FULL TIME in Korea at Kids Herald School. So you're looking at two years employment with only a total of 5 or 6 weeks vacation in those two years. So, I have spent a healthy amount of time within the four brightly decorated walls of my private institution.

Over the last few weeks, having decided to definitely leave the school, I have started to think about a few special kids. I've mentioned before that you get attached to kids on more than just a teacher-student basis. Some kids you chat to their mothers, and you get a bit of inside information on their family and relationships begin to blossom. One mother bought me a pizza the other day because she, and her two daughters, both of whom I teach and have taught, felt sorry for me being in Korea, without my family. The most of the mothers in this system of education are insane and completely irrational, but there are a few that stick out as seriously thoughtful and warm people. One mother wanted to take me to a nice restaurant, with her whole family, to thank me for teaching her son. She decided upon giving me a restaurant voucher instead because she thought it would be too uncomfortable for me to sit with her normally large Korean family, she was right.

My thinking right now is that I can't wait to get out of the school and have some down-time. But then I think of a few faces that I will dearly miss. The three kids that I know I will miss are Sarah, Angela and Bookie. There are of course a whole lot more. These three have all been brilliant. Weird and wonderful kids. Cute and crazy.

Having spent, on average, about 5 hours a day with these kiddies, it's hard to tell how it's going to feel when I finally leave them. To see a kid grow from the age 4 to 6, you do see a heart warming transformation in a child, that I was a big part of. I can predict (and probably confirm) that there will be some tears on my last day.

Here's an early picture of Sarah with a bloody snake around her neck.

Here's Angela refusing to have a bloody snake around her neck.

Bookie is the one on the left. Sara is worthy of a mention too, she'll be missed.