Sports

One year, seven months, lots of experiences. Countless memories, some joyful, some life curving, but all significant in the wrapping of my time here in South Korea. Within this time frame I have been to two sporting events. The thought of it makes me feel sick. How can I document to myself and other people that, "I like all sports"? I have been to just two major sporting events.
In fact, when I was back home for 3 weeks I went to two football games and one day of cricket. My first sporting event in Seoul was a football game during my first week and my latest addition to sporting experiences in another country was a baseball game yesterday. It was great fun. I shared the experience with a fellow Brit, like me had never been to a baseball game, and then a Canadian, who knew a fair amount about baseball and then Jason, an American who would proudly put baseball at the top of his pecking order of sports.
Throughout the game we were all calling upon our sporting experiences, with the focus being on the atmosphere and action of the fans. It seems that in all sports, that we discussed anyway, that football (soccer for the North Americans out there) is the only sport that has negative banter between its supporters. Jason was quite surprised to hear that on occasions (every game), the fans will hurl abuse at referees, opposition players and also their own players. He found it quite amusing that a Spurs fan would enjoy chanting "Viera, whoooohooa, Viera, whooohooa, he wants to leave the scum, cause Campbell wants his bum", as an example of many that I gave. Another being, "The referees a wan*er".
After my experience yesterday, at the very clam and respectful baseball game, I felt a desire for my blood to be pumping at a Spurs game. I do miss the atmosphere at a Permiership football game, and all the abuse and negative verbal slants that one will here during the 90 minutes should not be taken too seriously. This kind of electric language is what gives our great game the edge over most when it comes to being a spectator sport. I think passion is the word.
Passion was definately evident at the baseball yesterday. During picthes there was a atmospheric bouyancy that any sporting event would be proud to present. The difference between a British football game and a Korean baseball game can be summarised by one of their songs. The theme tune to 'Inspector Gadget', was blasted out of the stands, and to the crowds delight they would tweet "dudt doooo", at the end of the sample..... awe inspiring.
Here are a couple more pics from the baseball......

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.

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.

The last week and week before that, and possibly some time before that, also.

Kelly is asleep. She dreaming about Toby Teacher, not being her Teacher anymore. Painful!

An informative compilation blog on the last couple of weeks of my life

Jeremy (seen in pic above) - He's 5 years old. I asked him to draw his dream classroom. I suggested an ice cream machine, big pillows, lots of toys, sweet makers, milk man, lots of other things that all kids in our modern world love. I then suggested a big TV on the wall so he can watch cartoons all day long. He frowned at me, with a look of absolute disgust, then continued to draw a bookshelf full of books. Fair enough.

Sarcasm - I was getting into a taxi with my secret girlfriend, haha. We were going to a supermarket that was quite close, but too close to walk, plus we didn't know exactly how to walk there anyway, so taxi was the only option. We got in, gave our destination, and sat back. The taxi driver then started ranting about how close we were and that we should get out and walk. OK, very nice of him to point us in the right direction, as it was only a 10 min walk. BUT, he wanted to charge us for his information. We had moved about 2 car lengths whilst he gave us the information, as we were stuck in traffic. He justified his charge of £1.25, like this "If I hadn't of given you the information, and drove to the supermarket, you would have to have paid triple this amount". What an arsehole. I was enraged. Why couldn't he just give us the information.

So, on leaving the taxi and giving him his money, I did an ALMIGHTY sarcastic bow. As you know Asians bow to everything, they would probably bow to a pigeon in Trafalgar Square. So, I thought I would vent my anger by closing the door, then maneuvering myself into his eye line, then bowing enthusiastically. I was caught up in the moment, I had forgotten that behind me there were about 100 Koreans eagerly waiting for the stream of buses that come through the area. Oh well, I had the last laugh on the taxi driver.

New Look - Thursday was day one of the new semester. Kids throughout Korea all go up a grade in their respective schools. The country stands still as kids, mothers, teachers, head teachers, school directors etc etc brace themselves for a change of pace. Teachers will say goodbye to kids, kids will say goodbye to schools.

In private schools like mine, it's the same. As I've mentioned recently we were going to have some alterations to our format. Five teachers left and currently four have come in. The outstanding member, Sarah from the UK, is due to arrive in the next week. Currently we are all doing our part and covering her classes, which is unpleasant. Breaks are hard to come by, usually, so with extra substitute classes, life could and should be better.

BUT, my new kids are good. The biggest bonus about my two new Kindergarten classes is that they're at the same level. In the past 18 months, I've taught different levels. Teaching two levels requires two complete sets of curriculum and therefore two complete sets of ideas. Now, I can create one lesson plan and utilise that plan for both classes. Therefore my brain consumption has been sliced in half, literally. It's good news.

Saliva - Over the last few weeks I have found myself salivating when thinking about food. I'm not getting fat or anything, although I have been slack on my gym life of recent. I'm talking specifically about my desire to eat Korean food. I've raved on, probably a number of times, to the point of your boredom, about how good Korean food is, but it's getting silly. The craziest thing is I have probably only tried about 20% of what the country has to offer. What I have tried is just beyond my taste buds. I feel sorry for them. Imagine something being subjected to something that it likes too much, three times a day, and not getting tired of that thing, but also knowing that you aren't able to do it all the time (in my case, for fear of becoming a big fatty with a big rice belly), it's hard. I sit at work, from about 2:30, which is when my Korean lunch has fully digested, until 5:30, which is when I finish work, thinking about what I'm going to eat tonight, and even more so about, what I sadly won't be eating tonight. Luckily most dishes and cuisines are of a healthy nature, so the occasional over indulgence doesn't have too much of a negative conclusion.

I think this will do for now. A couple more pictures for you.


Jebu Do. This is ________


This is me, cooking Korean food. I'm licking those lips of mine!!


Did I mention that Roseanne is alive??!! Seriously, she came back from the dead.

Doom and Gloom

Koh Lanta, Thailand.

As the 'chilly and breezy winds' of my second South Korean winter are subsiding, I'm hoping my lack-luster attitude at work is going to accompany them. I have been lazy lazy lazy in more ways than one. A few changes that confirm my slight drop in form are as follows. My bedside book is collecting dust, I've started playing scrabble on-line again, I go the gym twice a week rather than three times a week, I've been editing a lot of old photos recently, I'm eating less food, but more ice-creams, I have worn the same t-shirt two days on the bounce a couple of times over the last few weeks and finally, I paid my rent on time this month, rather than early. A slight rise in general laziness (not reading books, not washing my clothes, playing games, eating bad food, not paying rent early, wasting time by editing images that don't need editing) all act as valuable evidence that, right now, I don't give a damn. This might coincide with a few structural changes at work. I think that when one stays within a company for a long period of time, one starts to pick holes. Holes that, to the newcomer/outsider aren't holes at all, they're merely things that have always been their, regular tunnels if you like. I find myself breathing a bit more deeply at work...... elongated sighs are creeping in more and more. Anthony Teacher had an opportunity to take a change of pace and change schools, as his contract was up. He took his opportunity and is leaving in 7 days. My change of pace was confirmed today with the notification that I'll be teaching two seven year old classes from the start of March. So hopefully this will be the DW-40 that I need to kick start my life again, and also matching this will be the arrival of Spring. Happy Days. I'm looking forward to reading a new book and hitting the gym hard again. Also, with going to the gym more frequently I can enjoy that extra ice-cream without it being a burden on my waistline and conscience. And finally, I can wear clean clothes to work and not be paranoid about sweating and smelling out the teachers room.


Me, Seoul.

It isn't and hasn't been all doom and gloom recently. My Korean is booming. I have injected myself with Korean grammar to the point of explosion, and furthermore overdosing on sentence making, with my newly acquired vocab and grammical structure knowledge. My come downs are brief but distracting as I realise the mammouth size of my task. Learning a langauge is 'oh so solid', in other words, very very difficult. One will get carried away with a weeks studying and start to think 'wow, I can do this'. Then reality slaps you accross the face like a big smelly freshly caught Tuna. There isn't an end to learning a new language. No-one can call themselves fluent in any langauge, not even in their own, it's too deep an ocean, too diverse and a forever changing world, is a langauge. Marine-Scientists are still finding new species the deeper they go and learning a new langauge I think has similar attributes. I can't see a completion to my learning of Korean, which is daunting. I just have to 'roll with it' and set myself weekly/monthly goals. By the way I have bought tickets to see Oasis in Seoul.

Around you are the images that I spent time editing. Nothing drastic, I just flirted with the brightness, contrast and color of some images. Enjoy.

Tokyo.

Fish Market, Tokyo.

London, August, 08.

Jebu Do, South Korea.