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.

Tokyo

I'm trying to conjure up an interesting insight into my whip la around Tokyo. I'll start with some obvious observations.

It's big.
It has lots of people.
There are a lot of tall buildings.
People are Japanese.
I can't read there script.
They use the Yen currency

Here are some facts you might not of known.

The subway is completely insanely huge. But at the same time fantastically efficient. I would compare it to a household tap. The functioning of your tap above your kitchen sink is underestimated. When you make your journey to the tap, do you ever stop and think "hang on, this might not work"?, no you don't. Well the Tokyo Subway is the same, I knew when I got on the platform and it said the next train will be here at 11:23, It was, every single time. I quickly had complete faith in it, as one does with using your tap at home. Get me?

Here's a picture of the subway. This Japanese girl is so confident she doesn't need to check the approach of the train.


It wasn't all glory though as I did come across a very pointless escalator. So, I had just spent about 10 seconds on one of the average sized escalators and on completing the journey I turned the corner to see another set making their way upwards. At first, I was slightly relived as my legs were tired by this point, on day three. Having settled into my relief I then quickly discovered just how small the electronic stairs were, and began to chuckle inside. They totaled 5 steps. Pointless all round. It took me more energy to correct my walking pattern to enter the steps correctly, than it would have done to walk the 5 regular steps. Trivial!


Tokyo nighttime.

I couldn't help but think of Seoul as I walked around, comparing minuscule details here there and everywhere. It was a pretty stupid thing to do for a number of reasons. How can you compare two cites when you have lived in one for 18 months and the other for barely 18 hours? Also, Tokyo is in Japan and Seoul is in Korea. The three big Asian cities of China, Japan and Korea are so far apart in every department. But we all compare them, with the thinking that they are, and should be similar. Not many people go to Poland and say, "I had no idea that it was so different to England". What I mean is that I kept comparing but shouldn't have. So, what I came up with is that Seoul is a very big city with the character of a village. Whereas Tokyo is a big city with the character of a big city, which in other words means, little or no character to capture the cultural minded, which in other words means, just another big city with too much going on to digest, which in other words means, next time you go lots will have changed and there will be more and more of the same, which in other words means, it's just too big. Terribly harsh and a completely unvalidated thing to say, but first impressions do count.

However, these opinions are purely based on comparison to Seoul, which as I said, is a stupid thing to do. I would highly recommend anyone of any age to go and see Tokyo, if you haven't already. I would recommend Tokyo over Seoul for a visit, but the other way round for a lengthier stay, i.e. Exapatriate-hood.

My number one recommendation would be a MUST visit to Tsukijishijo, which is an enormous and empathic fish market. It's officially the biggest in the world. But size isn't everything right? It's what you do with it that counts. They know how to work their fish I tell you know. The tempo of the place was poetic, but intense. If you didn't have you wits about you, you will get hurt, you will get run down by one or a number of the motor carts that whistle through impossibly narrow pathways and screech to a halt when a wellied (man wearing Wellingtons) fisherman lugs a sack of throw away fish heads over his back. I spent about two hours walking around the place clicking away. Every corner offered a new challenge of stacked boxes, some empty, some full to the brim with all different sizes and shapes of fish, topped up with ice. I paused many times to take in what was happening around me. The sound of knives chopping heads and electric saws, working their way down the middle of a gigantic Tuna, See picture..... captured my attention. Then the roar of yet another cart flew infront of me and then behind me, distracted me back to my purpose.

I had planned to get to the market by 6-6:30 to catch the Tuna auction, which features in every travel guide of Tokyo. Sadly every guide, web page and person that I'd spoken to said, "Make sure you get their before 7, so you can see the auction". I got there at 6:20 and the auction had finished. Not to worry there were still plenty sofa sized Tunas lying around, see pictures.



The fish market really was somehting special. The place had such a buzz about it, it made my blood run wild. I guess, having been told that it's the biggest fish market for amounts of this and that type of fish that once I was there, I was beginning to feel this was the epicentre of the worlds fish suppers. Then I started to absorb the work ethic that was being carried out. People didn't stop, there was very little talking, very little distraction from given task. People knew what they had to do and how quickly that had to do it. Some of the work was hard labour, whilst other duties were gut wrenchingly vile, despite this smiles were wide and wholesome. As mentioned, a must see.

People in Tokyo didn't have a huge impression on me. I did take stock of their fashion styles and general persona. In Korea there are a range of styles that people follow. The range is small, but still diverse enough to maintain interest and progress with society. In Japan, it's a very different story. Fashion, youth culture, trends (fashion and technology alike) are constantly changing; accordingly to factual material here and there, that I have read. I, obviously, was only there for a few days, so I can't say if styles change frequently, but I can compare current life to Seoul, and I will.



Tokyo is vibrant with fashion and alternative styles. In fact, within Seoul, Japanese fashion would be classified as alternative, but in Japan it would be considered as the norm, or should I say, one of the acceptable, main stream styles. In other words, Japanese fashion would be frowned upon, or stared at in amazement in Seoul, as it's pushing barriers and comfort zones of the Joe Bloggs of the Korean world. Korean fashion is neat, cool, comfortable, smart, sexy, classy, sophisticated, clean cut and in general acceptable. I mean all styles are acceptable to cultural history. Japanese obviously matches this, as does any country's mainstream style, but then when you go past the watershed of fashion you begin to see the crazy, eye popping, outrageous, mish-mash of styles that the youth are divulging in. In other words, there is no pattern and there's no rule, with the exception of 'absoluetly anything goes'.


Casually walking around dressed 'casually'.

I certainly didn't find any of Japanese fashion to my immediate tastes, but I'm sure if my time there had been longer I would have soon enough found a style that my closet would have welcomed.

For now, this will do on Tokyo. More photos to follow one day soon.

Weekly

N/B, Longest blog to date. Length wise, yes, word count, maybe not.

Conversation/Quote of the Day: Congratulations to Sara, aged 8.
Toby Teacher: Sara, hurry up please. Come on!!
Sara: I’m comeon-ing.

Genius. She knew right away her mistake, as did the entire class. It made for a very amusing couple of minutes as the class heckled and rolled around in laughter.

Last night I had my first one on one Korean class. I was a little nervous, but more excited than anything. Starbucks was the chosen location, and general discovery of my ability was the chosen agenda. It brings you back to reality when someone actually sits you down and nit-picks at things (pieces of language) that you have been using, somewhat casually, over the last few months. However, it was refreshing to hear some constructive and sensible criticism. Our first class didn’t really have any structure, so I’m not going to be assessing whether or not her style of teaching is compatible to my style of learning. Time will tell.

Currently, I have one class a week, which falls on a Wednesday. I’m tempted to up the tempo to two classes a week and possibly a third. If I do this then I want to do it properly. I want to put in the hours and get some reward. The, once before, hobby of mine is slowly turning into an obsession and a serious contender for the biggest achievement of my life.

Further to beginning my 1-1’s, I have also downloaded the Korean script for my laptop. I feel it will definitely help me with reading and remembering vocabulary, as typing at a painfully slow pace will force me to digest each and every sound and word on its own, again and again. This is my homework for the week. Memorise all of these.

저는 일주일 세번 운동해요
I exercise 3 times a week

저는 일주일 네번 공부해요
I study 4 times a week

오늘 요리 해요
I’ll cook today

매일 한국말 연습해요
I practice Korean everyday

저녁 식사해요
Tonight, I’m having dinner

매 토요일 쇼핑해요
Every Saturday, I shop

노래 재미 있어요
Singing is fun

내년 여행해요
Next Year, I’ll travel.

누구하고 식사해요
Who are you eating with?

어디에서 일해요
Where do you work?



The picture you can see is of Steve. His artwork will help you understand his personality. He’s unique. He came into Red class six months after they started. Jeremy, Sarah and Cherry had been rolling around Red Class, learning their ABC’s and 123’s, turning their It’s a ball’s into That is a big blue ball, etc etc. Then Steve rolls in, head first. His first 4 weeks were painful to watch. He was so nervous. He would loiter in the corners of every room he entered, occasionally cracking open a huge, but limited smile. His smiles didn’t last long. They were big and quite scary, but would fade with any slight adjustment to atmosphere. Everyone was tip toeing on broken egg shells.

As time passed by I discovered that he had a tremendous bag of vocabulary tucked into his brain. When he spoke, it was English. He never spoke Korean. His movements were slight. His trademark was to shake his head at the simplest of orders. “Steve, get your Student Book please, then come sit down”. He would start the notorious head shake, and back off into his chosen corner. This went on for a long time, and even now, six months later, the shake comes back accompanied with a shattering of uncontrollable tears. His confidence has grown greatly. But every now and then, he will burst into a fit of tears over something very trivial.

To summarise so far, you’re probably thinking he’s a little delicate and probably a Mummy’s boy. Far from it. This kid is a hard-nut. He has two older brothers that obviously use him as some kind of toy. An incident occurred about a month ago. We were playing football in Red Class. Simple football, “pass the ball”, “kick the ball”, “goal”, “miss”. He started to get a bit confident and attempted to tackle another kid. He slipped and tripped and fell. He smashed his forehead into the corner of a sharp bookshelf. The sound was revolting. The bump on his head was instant and slowly rose to the size of a couple of Cadbury’s mini-eggs. A small crack appeared and the blood started to trickle. He got up and stood there. Not one shed of a tear. Not even a quiver in his upper lip. He was whisked away to the teachers office for a clean up. Two minutes later, he came running in and demanded me to give him the ball. Solid, solid kid.

It’s Thursday, on Saturday I go to Tokyo. Can’t wait.