What are you doing?

Stop sitting there moaning about your country being in a financial boo hoo, get up and sample something completely refreshing and insanely rewarding. Come and teach in Korea. Why aren't you here already? Is a question, I would ask you. A question you might ask yourself is "Why not?". There's no small print when it comes to Korea. Everything everyone tells you is true. Artificial temptations are; the good pay that you'll receive, the free housing you will receive and the hero status the kids and mothers will give you, most of the time. Other huge selling points to this country are; its culture and food, its big city, its smaller cities, its energy and tradition. If you're in limbo about what to do next, then come, get on that plane (which your company will pay for by the way), don't waste anymore time.

See you soon....... (maybe)

Writing Practice

What you see is a diary extract. I don't usually write a diary in my own language, but thought it would be a good method of practicing newly acquired Korean vocab and grammar (in fact it wasn't my idea, but Chris Uttons, but I took it on).

I wrote this today and am using it on here to show you what kind of level I'm at and what I'm studying. I will of course translate for you soon. I wrote this in about 15 minutes, so I'm a little bit chuffed with myself, as were my Korean teachers. They seem to think that I'm smart, I have never been called smart by any teacher in my existence, and I'm not taking this too seriously as, I'm pretty sure, they're just being nice, after all, it's in their nature to be nice, in situations like this.

Translation.

Saturday, Last week, my girlfriend and I went shopping. and then we had dinner in Hongdae. We ate Samgyobsal. Yesterday morning, afternoon and evening I took a rest because I was tired. Next month my friend will come to Korea, but, I want him to come now, because I miss him so much. Tomorrow evening, I'm not busy, therefore, I want to go shopping, but, I don't have lots of money, so, I will not be going shopping. I will probably go shopping with my girlfriend next month. I think shopping is fun, but it's expensive. Next Year, I will probably go traveling, because I want to have a rest. I think that Brazil is interesting, therefore, I might go there. But, There are lots of countries that I want to see, so it's difficult to choose.

Other things that have brightened up my life are these.
Penguins make Ice Cream. I was talking about food groups with my 8 year olds. Dairy foods was our subject and the best way I could describe them was that they came from animals, which is true, isn't it?.
A little while later I said "What food group does Ice Cream go in?", I said Dairy because it's made from milk, essentially. One kid, remembering that 'Dairy products come from animals', and looking confused that I had placed it in the dairy group, questioned me "Does ice cream come from penguins, then?". My goodness it made me smile from ear to ear. What a beautiful idea!!!!!
Big Bang is a Scientist. In Korea, K-POP, is huge. Korean Pop is the only music that youngsters listen to. There are alternative genres, but if you're looking at percentages then we're talking about 90% of the country listen to and love K-POP. One of the leading artists is 'Big Bang', which I think is made up of 4/5 very female looking males, not transsexual, but just very young and cared for males. Their songs are catchy and quite good actually. Anyway, In class today, with my 7 year olds, we were talking about the Earth, Volcanoes, Lava, etc etc. One kid said, "A long time ago there was a big bang". Thomas then said, "Why is the group called 'Big Bang', do they like science?", Then his friend replied, "maybe they're scientists".

Moments like the penguin and the big bang are two concrete reasons why my job is amazing. Hard at times, but where else can you get dialogue like that?! I love it.........


Nice contrast. A slice of a Buddhist temple (old) with offices in background (new).

Something, that I think I've mentioned before, that is bothering me, is how much I'm stared at. If this happened at home you would be very proud and even start to gain some self confidence and believe that people like the way you look.
Here, it's obviously because I'm a significant minority. However, some of the looks I get are as if they have never seen a foreign sole before. This, although very unlikely, might be the case. Either way, some of the looks are of genuine disgust. Mostly coming from the elder generation and also from the female sex.
Men usually stare at you, and then look away because more often than not I will be bigger than them, and men usually look another man as an act of comparing stature, therefore when a Korean man looks at one of us, they then feel inferior, so they quickly look away. A completely fabricated and not completely honest opinion, but it reads well.
Mothers in Korea are like no others on planet Earth. They care for the sons and daughters to a level of pure insanity. It's a beautiful thing though, I'm not casting a negative judgment on them in the slightest. However, it leads me to why elder women, probably mothers, look at us foreign folk with disgust.
Firstly, considering their daughters, they think that I'm going to date them, woo them, marry them and whisk them off to my country to settle down. Secondly, considering their sons, if I date a Korean women they think that is reducing the number of beautiful women (options) for their sons. Interesting........

Nothing too important

A neglected life size teddy bear, thrown out to the dogs. Shame.

Oryudong is where I live. I've lived in this old undeveloped part of Seoul since my first toddlers steps in South Korea. It is where I experienced my first Korean hangover, it is where I got out of my second Korean taxi. Oryudong is famously known for being an old part of town. It's the least developed part, well at least one of the more undeveloped parts of Seoul, but it has immense character and will always, currently still does, have a huge piece of my Korean heart. Tooting Broadway, which was my last significant home, was also a shabby part of a big city that hadn't seen much light of day (in terms of development). Tooting Broadway and specifically Himley Road, will live in my fondest memories forever, in the same way as Oryudong will, although for extremely different reasons.

One thing that has bothered me over the last 18 months is Orydong's lack of fresh coffee. Seoul is overflowing with coffee shops. Starbucks is an obvious choice but there are a good 10-15 other heavily branded coffee shops flooding the high and low streets of Seoul (not to mention all the other independent ones, that still manage to stand up). There's even a Charlie Brown franchise coffee shop. It's a uniquely created coffee shop, with a double life size Charlie Brown character (and Snoopy) floating in and around the stores, bothering customers.

Despite the epidemic of latte lounges across the city, not one has ever been opened in the history of Oryudong....... UNTIL NOW!!!!!! It's has been a bit of an ongoing joke with people close to me, as my desperation for fresh coffee in the morning has even resulted in a 30min detour to work, on occasions, to get a latte. I've been praying (not literally) for one to open nearby, and finally this little gem, Tous le Jours, opened two weeks ago. BUT, I have a small psychological problem, already. The lady that works in there clearly doesn't like to make coffee. Tous le Jours is predominately a Bakery, that houses a small coffee machine in the distant corner. I'm convinced she fears me every time I walk in. BUT, I can't let that stop me, coffee is on the menu and I'm ordering.


Something completely different but probably more of interest to the reader is my temperament. I love my job, of course, but you must remember that at times I'm teaching 10-12, 6/7/8/9/10 year olds. Right now I have just started two new classes. I have taken over Pink and Purple class from Anthony Teacher. The kids, so far, are adorable and a welcome change of pace. One thing that is testing my temperament is the abuse I'm getting. I will be bringing this up in conversations with Anthony when he returns to Korea in a couple of weeks. In a light hearted manner of course.

I'm getting beaten by the kids most of the day. I'll walk into the class and a chorus of "Good Morning Teacher", is shortly followed by surprise swings of the arms into my backside, stomach and/or thigh, from a few different directions. To them it's obviously a sign of affection, but I'm having to train them to channel their emotion in a less aggressive manner. At the same time I'm having to train myself not to retaliate. Ones usual reaction to getting hit is to retaliate and hit back, or apply some forceful restraint, but I can't and don't want to do that. Maybe I do want to, but it would comprehend my profession, I think, if I started hitting the kids. I'll stick to shouting and pointing.