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)
Thursday, September 06, 2007
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)
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
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!!!
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.!!
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.!!
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Seoul Subway System (SSS for future ref)
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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……
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……
I'm back!! (not in the UK)
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Ok, so I have had a few problems grasping this blog thing. I can came over and had a few things to write and loaded up my blog page and it had kindly converted into Korean language for me. So I huffed and I puffed and then I gave up. But Perseverance is something I have learnt to tolerate a little more in my time out here. And guess what it worked. So here you go I'm back and will be updating now and then. Feel free to come inside and comment.
The picture you see here is my first taste of Korean alcohol. It was a Morgan's Spiced with Coca-Cola. So not very Korean!
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