NEWS!!!!

News from Seoul.

Ok so on Saturday we went to the Zoo. It was one of my four allotted Saturdays that I have to work. Not so bad though as the sun was shining and I had a clear head for a change. No late Friday night, and early Saturday morning regrets. Anthony teacher, on the contrary, was a complete mess. He decided that this particular Friday night was going to be the biggest one to date. He was nearly sick on the school bus on the way to the Zoo. He survived, just. Anyway, the Zoo was pleasant in comparison to Beijing Zoo. In fact this Zoo was like walking around a gold plated chocolate factory in comparison to the hell hole that was, and probably still is, Beijing Zoo.

The sky was blue, the sun was beaming and the kids were in high spirits, as were the teachers and animals (again in comparison to Beijing’s depressed cattle). I’m not going to praise the Zoo too much though. In fact, lets be honest, it was a little pathetic and miniature. It was more like a tour of Pets World pet shop. The biggest animal they had was a donkey, whose attitude to the kids feeding them dried carrots was similar to that of Anthony’s attitude to the whole day “Is that much point to all of this?”

As the day drew on the kids got more and more tired. We had a photographer working with us. He was working on commission. So basically he would only get paid for the shots that the school bought after Zoo day. Therefore, he made it his mission to take as many photos as possible. Imagine, it’s 27 Celsius, we have around 50 kids, aged between 3-7, all pacing around a crowded Zoo, and our photographer wants to pair them off every five minutes for a shot in front of the monkey’s, crocodiles, fake wooden monkey’s, fake stone crocodiles and then at a busy intersection in the Zoo….. needless to say come 3 ‘o’ clock we were all ready to go home, including the kids.

A few choice pictures for you here.

Other news.

I have decided to stay on in Korea for another year. Why not? I’ll be coming home in July/August for three weeks. Then it’s back to Korea to start another year at my same school. I love the kids, I love the country, I love the food, I love my life right now….. so why should I stop now? Stop when I’m ready to stop…. I’m not ready…

Other news.

ESL class. I asked them to right a short few sentences on what they were like as a baby. This was Emily’s response. She’s 8 years old. That’s 7 in UK/US years.

“When I was a baby, all people said, “That baby looks like a pretty boy!” But I am a girl. I eat wines.

I have no idea what the wines thing is, but how great is the boy/girl confusion. Her picture do accompany the text was hilarious. It has a picture of her mother shouting “it’s a girl”. Amazing. Another girl drew a picture of herself drinking milk from her mothers breast. And then wrote.

“When I was a baby, I drink milk from my mother”.

All for now.

Time

I was reading ‘The Guardian Weekly’, whilst peddling on the exercise bike, as I usually do. I came across a headline that triggered some kind of wave through my mind, the result in that wave was that I should write a blog about it. The headline read “Five Years On”. It was in reference to the invasion of Iraq. It just made me think of other time frames. I then thought of when Diana died, when was that? I thought of the mobile phone, how long have we been dependant on an SMS reply or a returned missed call? When did Macdonald's first start trading?

It has been 7, nearly 8 years since 9.11. It has been 9 years since the Beckham’s got married. It’s nearly 30 years since Margaret Thatcher first took up the hot seat as the UK’s number one. How many years has it been since you passed your driving test? When was the last time you said ‘I love you?’ Can you remember when you last cried? Did you know that it has been 63 years since the first computer was invented? (and it was the size of a living room?). Did you also know that the English Premiership has been running for 16 years? The game of cricket was first played over 400 years ago, and that I have now been in Korea for 241 days.

Blog completed 21:25, 15.04.2008

A little bit of versatility

The small, compact but hugely versatile ‘blue van’, in Korea, is as common as seeing a red bus, black taxi or grey sky in London. It took me just a couple of months for the van to take its toll on my thinking cap, and it has done so much now that I thought it would be worthy of a mention.

Its colour is navy blue, its size is somewhere between a Ford Galaxy and the Post-Man Pat van. It sits two and I believe goes under the category of ‘dropside’, which I translates to ‘it doesn’t have a roof at the back and the sides drop down’. Its versatility in Korea, I’m sure, would seem somewhat freakish outside of Asia.

Something I hugely admire in Asia is their workman like ability to adapt things to suit their exact needs. They don’t go out and buy something just for convenience, they don’t say “oh that would be helpful, lets buy one of those”, they would more likely say “Why don’t we just use the tea crate to ferment our Kimchi?” or “I think this is fine, just take this bit off, put this here and weld this to that and that will be good enough”. Quite refreshing.

Just to cement the role of this vehicle in Korean society I will start my reel of examples with this.

Learner drivers in Korea come in their 3’s, 4’s or 5’s. Unlike at home, in England and I’m guessing most countries, you take your lessons with just you and your instructor. In Korea you will see a procession of yellow cars making their way down the 8 lane high street, all stopping now and then to bring up the tail. So, one day, to my shear delight, a procession of the ‘little versatile van’ came rumbling through Oryudong. How fantastic!! They’re so pivotal to the ‘to-ing and throwing’ of the country that they even have dedicated driving lessons/instructors for them.

I have seen an abundance of goods being transported around in these vans; washing machines, living room furniture, substantial kitchen appliances, a huge widescreen TV was once seen being hoisted upon the deck. I have also seen someone cramming their entire house onto the back (including the kitchen sink – no lies). Another function of Mr. Versatile is the collection of old computer parts. I have seen the same van working the area numerous times. He has a loud MC style speaker on the top of his van and he works his way down the street shouting out some enticing information to his local Oryudong-ians. On the same street I have seen another van, identical in colour, posture and presence, only this time the back is overflowing with cabbage, which is being delivered to the local Kimchi fermentation factory. Other goods that make their A-B journeys on the van are Soju, Beer, Cooking Oil and numerous others consumables.

The van also acts as a mobile shop. The van stops wherever it likes, the ‘dropside’ feature drops to the side and then the haggling can begin. Selling anything from mixed fruit, nuts, fish (living fish by the way, still swimming and bopping around in fish tanks), DVD’s (on the deck there are racks reminiscent of a DVD section in HMV) , socks, pants, herbs, dried fruits, just apples in huge gift sets, just oranges in huge gist sets and just pears in huge gift sets. You can also purchase cooking oil, gold painted piggy banks (horrific), rotary chickens (spinning and cooking before your eyes), etc etc. The list could and will go on another time.

The one thing that provoked me into writing this blog was the latest addition to the Mr. Versatile of a van. We had another election last week. I have noticed that the little blue van is also being used within the electoral campaigns. The standard cut of the blue van has been thrown through a ‘Pimp my Ride’ style car garage. It comes out with an overpowering sound system, light polluting jumbo vision TV and a small deck area for our local contingency to stand on and serenade the on-looking voting public.

The blue van. A truly versatile and remarkable piece of machinery. Images below.

Photo Time: Photoshop edits

A coffee cup. Picture taken at Yongsan Station.

There's a Korean bakery called 'Paris Baguette' - it has an amazing array of pastry goods. Has to be seen to be believed.

Patty and Hayoung. I taught these kids for about 6 months. Very funny girls. A lot of trouble, but oh so sweet. In my last class with them I made them design me a sign for my new Blue classroom.

Giovanna, Patrick, Elicia and I went on a walk last Saturday. A stream runs from West to East in Seoul, this was our walk. At the start of the stream we came across some street performers. It was very strange. This guy opened the show by unpacking some food and putting it into other packets.

Diaries of Leena and Sara.... (Mostly Leena)

Leena in background and Sara in pink.

I thought I would start a little corner dedicated to a couple of my best students. They go under the name of Leena and Sara. I have taught them from the day I arrived. They're Elementary students. I teach them for 30 minutes a day. I haven’t really noticed their raise in level until now. The thing with teaching Elementary level is that all the work is in the form of text books. My goal is to teach basic and general one liners. Examples. The giraffe is taller than the cat. What does she want to be? She wants to be a doctor. I can ride a bike, I can’t drive a car. There are a few lemons, they aren’t any apples.

The books come in a range of levels and each book last 2 months. So I have taken them through nearly 4 levels. Until now I have stuck to the book and just got them to work on the phrases provided. However, I have noticed their level rising. So, I have started asking Leena and Sara (Mostly Leena, as her level is MUCH higher) some more testing and diverse questions.

Today I had the following conversation with Leena. She’s 9 years old and being studying English for just a year and 7 months.

Toby Teacher: Would you marry an Englishmen?
Leena: No.
Toby Teacher: Why not?
Leena: Because I don’t like other. I don’t like together, Chinese, Japan and other countries. When they marry….
Toby Teacher: Who marry?
Leena: One person from one and another person from Korea. It’s not good and conversation is umm, umm….
Toby Teacher: Hard?
Leena: Yes and personality is different, which isn’t good.

Few moments later.

Toby Teacher: What age do you think you will get married.
Leena: 27
Toby Teacher: Why?
Leena: Mother and Father get married and they same age.

Few moments later.

Toby Teacher: Should I marry an English woman or a Korean woman?
ALL CLASS: English woman.
Toby Teacher: Why?
Leena: You can’t speak Korean.
Toby Teacher: So, what if she can speak English?
Leena: umm, yes then it’s OK. (BUT she had a big frown on her face – she doesn’t approve)

Few moments later, Leena feels she needs to explain herself further.

Leena: Korean woman ok, good. But you are in harmony?
Toby Teacher: I’m in harmony? What do you mean?
Leena: Umm, you and English woman combin, cimbin…..
Toby Teacher: Combin???
Leena: You and English combined.
Toby Teacher: What? You think I have a wife back home in England?
Leena: Yes, I think you are married to English woman.
Toby Teacher: No, I’m not.

Then they all started pointing at my ring and saying you're married. Then a co-teacher came in and I asked her...

Toby Teacher: Erin Teacher!! Am I married? (expecting her to say, No!)
Erin Teacher: Yes, yes you are.
ALL CLASS: Really??? Really?? Really???

Hysteria took over and they all thought that I was married. This is a big thing for them, for months I had said no and they thought I was. The class ended and they walked off shouting and screaming in Korean about me being married. Then, 5 minutes later, Leena called my mobile and asked me one more time if I was married....

Leena: Hi Teacher, It's Leena. Really??? Really??
Toby Teacher: No Leena, I'm not married.
Leena: OK Teacher, I believe you. (she really does believe me)

Very interesting points of view from the 9 year old speaking in her second language. I’m looking forward to many more chats with Leena.

Something New - Teacher Bio:

I’m going to start a new feature on my blog. It’s titled Teacher Bio.
First up is Patrick Duce.

Patrick Duce:

Age: The right side of 25.
Height: A little bit too tall. The kind of height that makes you feel like a shorty.
Nationality: British
Home Town: Lincoln
Favorite Food: Meat
Favorite Drink: Beer

How did we meet?

Patrick and I were introduced to each other on my first night in South Korea. It also happened to be his birthday. I landed, was picked up by my boss, taken to my apartment, then jumped into a taxi and made my way to Itaewon. There were around 20 people celebrating two peoples birthday. I joined Chris, Patrick, and Haji at their table. Later that evening I discovered that Patrick was a fellow Tottenham fan, it was instant friendship from that moment on.

What is he like? (briefly)

Patrick spent around 6 months travelling Asia before descending upon South Korea for a years teaching. He lives quite far away from me, therefore we meet at weekends in central Seoul. In my first 5 months or so we would meet pretty much every weekend. Itaewon or Hongdae were our chosen locations, both offering an abundance of places for food and drink. Patrick is a very tall fun loving guy. A very sociable character that can embrace any soul into a conversation, which is his most likable attribute. He likes a drink. Some would say that he is always the last man standing. There have been many occasions where I have been ready to go home, but having a strong character beside you allows you to reach new levels of drunkenness. He likes to take a good picture, he knows how to take a good picture. I think he loves his Apple Mac more than he loves his bank balance.

Funny Story:

Pat, Chris and I spent a day walking around Yongsan Electronics market. Patrick was out to spend a lot of money on an Apple Mac laptop. He knew what he wanted and he knew where to find it – bish-bash-bosh – it was in his hands. Chris left to meet his lady friend and Pat and I hit Itaewon for a few celebratory drinks to welcome his Apple Mac to society. Many many drinks later we decided enough was enough. We left the bar and started to walk down hooker hill. Hooker Hill is probably the most repulsive street in South Korea, maybe even Asia. Pat stopped briefly to roll a cigarette. Once completed we walked on for 50 metres of so, suddenly Pat turned to me and said “Where the fuck is my laptop?” – He’d only gone and left it on a step half way up hooker hill. He ran back up the hill to discover it was still there!! Imagine having just spent well over £1,000 to lose it 3 hours later. He then demanded that I slapped him across the face and to call him something unpleasant. I did so and we walked on. Image is of Pat and Apple Mac selling man.

Most memorable moment with Pat:

Without any consideration or deliberation it has to be the Carling Cup Final. There is nothing like a goof football match to bring people together. Beating Chelsea, lifting the cup and all the emotions that comes with such an occasion will live long in the memory. Image is defining moment in the final.

Grandest joint achievement:

A rainy summer day. We had made plans to hit a music festival outside of Seoul. Once we had reached Itaewon, which is where we were set to catch the bus, we decided that a music festival in the monsoon-ing rain wasn’t the ideal way to spend a Saturday. It was midday and we thought that a beer and a game of pool would be a good location to rearrange our plans. Thirteen hours and countless games of pool later Pat and I found ourselves in the same bar and at the same pool table. The achievement in all this was our stint at the pool table. In Seoul Pub it’s always winner stays on. Pat and I ruled the rooster for around 7 hours straight. People came, people went, but we remained victorious and proud. Our grandest joint achievement. Image is of Pat winning pool and darts at the same time, in Seoul Pub.

What does the future hold?

Patrick has just 8 weeks to go on his contract. He will be returning to London to follow some other dreams. I’m guessing a summer of reunions. Pat’s presence in Seoul will be missed.

Rice. Rice. Rice. Rice. Rice. Rice

Rice.

I wanted to talk to you about rice.

What is rice? How often do you eat it? What do you eat with it? Do you have a preferred method of cooking rice? Slow cooker, or a quick boil? Do you have a preferred type of rice? Brown? White?

When I used to live in England I used to eat rice maybe once a week, sometimes only once a month. When I was a boy my favortite meal was fish fingers x10, lots of white rice and a can of baked beans.

I used to eat rice with a Thai curry or some other kind of curry. I would only ever eat it with some kind of curry. When getting a take-away from the Chinese, Thai or Indian we would always order one rice each, and every time there would be a plethora of rice left over. Rice was a bit of a hassle to cook. Timings were always out, sometimes being undercooked and therefore a bit chewy. Other times over cooked and a bit too stodgy. Everyone’s preference was different to that of others, unfortunately at the same meal, resulting in someone either not eating their rice, or leaving a substantial portion to one side. Ask yourself, how many times have you said or heard? “I can’t eat all that rice” or “it’s ok, you don’t have to eat all that rice”. How many times have you seen people polish off a big meal, but leaving a small corner of rice, on the plate?

Rice in Korea is more a religion than anything else. So much so that when a Korean asks another Korean “Have you eaten today?” it actually translates into “Have you eaten rice today?”

I have been here for around 170 days and I reckon that I have eaten rice about 150 of those days. And for about 100 of them, probably twice a day. Am I sick of eating rice? Do I crave a good roasted potato? Or a portion of chips? Or do I wish I could wrap my fork and spoon around a delicious portion of spaghetti? Do I desire some mashed potato next to my BBQ’d chicken? No, is the simple answer. I have taken rice to another level. An Asian level if you like.

The Korean teachers at school actually get a little stressed when lunch is served and rice isn’t served. Occasionally we have some kind of western style lunch. Perhaps spaghetti bolognaise or some kind of fried chicken. These are the days that rice doesn’t feature. I find myself a little lost without rice as well.

In the last few months I have discovered the perfect meal. It’s cheap, tasty and is second to none, at enhancing my chop-stick skills. Quick note, I have used chopsticks around 160 of those 170 days. So the meal is umm, rice, a small can of tuna and some ‘Gim’. ‘Gim’, pronounced ‘Kim’, is dried seaweed. It comes in small rectangular sheets that are about the size of the palm of your hand. I pick up a sheet with my chopsticks, place it on my plate. Then I pick up a bullet of rice and place it onto the Gim. I then widen my chopsticks to go around the Gim and then in one deadly movement the chopsticks surround the Gim, around the rice, forming a perfect blanket. In it goes. Salty and extremely nourish. You must try.

I leave you with a picture of some rice.