While I was away, I did this and this and that, thought about this and this and that....... Lots of stuff really, read on...... find out.

Amie and I
31st July huh? Wow, please accept my dearest apologies for not updating for such a long time. Some might think that I have been plodding along doing nothing, others might think I may have gone into blog hiding, maybe given up on the whole ordeal, which to be honest it can be at times. Well, the truth is that for my last month in Korea, I was a bit of an emotional mess. Not sad to be leaving as such, but more just in a state of looseness. I had completely lost all drive for teaching, all drive for eating well, all drive for studying Korean, all drive for being social, all drive for my existence in some horror moments. I was strictly focused on getting home and seeing everybody and working my way through all those UK things that I had been dwelling on minute by minute since I'd booked my flight a few weeks back. To be brutally honest I felt a little lonely. My house became, all of a sudden, a very spacious airy hotel room. It lost its comfort and familiarity. Sleeping became a problem and I even began to see things in my room. I knew it was an accumulation of too many emotions. Sadness to be leaving, anxiety about what the next 6 months has for me, where to travel, therefore indecision, tiredness, confusion over the future, pressure on decisions, in regards to 'What job to do next?'........ Bla Bla Bla..... All sounds pretty deep, but it just boiled down to, I needed a break!!!!

Which is what I'm in now. Got back to the UK on the 1st September. Thrown into a hectic lifestyle of dinners here, coffees there, drinks here and more dinners, coffees and drinks there. Having such a wide berth of friends is great. Friends from University, friends from my first job, second job, third job, part time jobs, friends met in Korea now in the UK, ex-girlfriends, of course family and just people I love and wanted to see and be around again. Not to mention a couple of 'old school' reunions. One reunion with a small crew from Bungay High school days, last time we were all together was 8 years ago. What I'm trying to say is that I had a very busy schedule. So much so, that I had to start a diary, and actually use and live by it. I've always been cautious about starting a diary. I've always been proud to say that I can handle my 'goings on' without use of a diary and cope fine with my competent mind, but this, rapid fire, series of catch ups required careful and precise scheduling. Not at all complaining in the slightest. I ate many deliciously prepared foods and drank many delicately poured wines, along with perfectly executed catch up chats. I was living the life of a ra-ra king..... No work, lunching and dining may way through the working week. All this soon starting hitting hard on the bank balance, so I had to sit back.

Rick and I then thought that we'd would both tick a box on our 'must do' list and head to New York for a bit. We booked it, with thanks to Air France, and started our planning. 6 nights it would be. Emails from past New Yorkers got us on our way. We landed and were thrown into the deep end. Our hostel was in Harlem, ok it was East Harlem, and South South East Harlem at that. But, when we stepped out of the subway at 103rd Street, I tell you it was more of a culture shock than landing in Seoul. Can't explain what the feeling was, but just felt out of place. Soon got comfortable and started to enjoy New York for what New York is all about. The yellow taxis, the NYPD, the diverseness of everything there. The people, the architecture, the smells, the atmospheres, the attitudes, all combining to create the New York experience. On leaving New York, I decided that it wasn't all that I had cracked it up to be. Cities are cities and most tick in the same way as the next one, and the last one. I spent 5 days in Tokyo and came out with the same conclusion. To really thrive and immerse yourself into a city, and therefore get the essentials out of it, one has to live there for a healthy duration, not just a jolly 7 day tourist visit.

Whilst in New York, Rick and I went to a predominately Korean area. We both love Korean food so thought that we would hunt out some decent Korean BBQ. We found it and found ourselves enjoying it as if it was our first time. During this specific meal, something hit me. I remember the feeling as if it had just happened now, as I'm typing 'typing'. I placed my first mouthful of juicy BBQ-ed pork belly into my mouth and I decided there and then, that I need to get back to Korea, as soon as I possibly could. For the next 24 hours I racked my brain on what I could do. I then saw a video of my old kids on-line, thanks to Steph Teacher. This acted as the confirmation that I would be going back to Korea when possible. Although I didn't need confirmation, as such, as I already knew what I needed to do. I needed to go to Korea and study Korean.

On our return to London I started a little research and discovered the suitable remedy for my illness. A 150 hour Korean course at Sogang University, starting December 1st and finishing February 18th. This gives me enough time to organise my life before starting, and also fits in nicely with starting a new job from March 1st, which is the new schooling year in Korea. So, enrolling was next and enroll I did. Paid tuition fees, booked flights and off I go again. Now it's 24th October, and in four weeks I'll be off.

Sorry for the boring recap on my life, but thought that I would bring us up to speed, and use this as an opportunity to launch my blog into its next generation. On returning to Korea I will bring a new spin on the blog. Not sure exactly what it'll be yet, but maybe a makeover and some kind of format change. Stay tuned......

Some pics from the last couple months.

The London Eye.

umm, It's a New York City yellow cab. Duh!

A big green park called Central Park.

Exit door, with Statue of Liberty in the back, background.

Statue of Liberty and the sun in the back, background.

Thank you......

Broken down again (in a good way)

The unthinkable has happened. This is exactly what I didn't want to happen. I tried hard, not very hard, but hard enough to prevent this from happening. But, they did it, they did it again. They got me. I moulded an emotional barrier around myself with all natural materials possible, but they chipped, chopped and ground away until they finally broke me down. I have put my hand up, I have thrown in the white towel, I love these kids. God Damn it.....

My new kids in Yellow and Green class have finally made an emotional impact on me. When I took them over five months ago, I knew in my mind that I would be leaving Kids Herald School. So in order to make this 'leaving' as easy as possible, I said to myself not to get too involved with the kids on an emotional level. I made a serious conscious decision to care less about my job on all aspects, with the kids being the pinnacle of this. My last kids had a tremendous impact on my contract decision making, hence staying at the school a second year, a decision I have no regrets about at all, quite the opposite. What I really craved was a peaceful departure from my tenure at Kids Herald School.

It was impossible though. It was going well. I was able to teach them well, to the best of my ability, but keeping a safe distance from them. Having a larger number of kids (9 and 8) in the classes, than before (6 and 4), made this mission possible. However, no matter how much I pushed them away, literally, they kept chipping away, looking for weaknesses, and I finally cracked. Here are some short profiles on a couple of kids that stick out. With pictures of course. You could say these are the reasons.

Eric. Currently top of the tree. Number one kid. A comedy genius. An old man in a young mans body. He has a peeing problem. He goes to the toilet about 10 times a day, in fact, maybe more. He has a fantastic sense of humor. Situation comedy. I have never seen this in a child so young before. I could learn a thing or two from this kid. He knows he's cute. He loves to pose for a picture. He always questions a question, with a question. Comedy in itself (for a 7 year old anyway). He has artistic talent, he draws creatively. Everyones wants to sit next to him at lunch. Everyone wants to be him. He is Eric.
This is Eric, posing, yet again, for the camera, styling his new hat.

And his new clothes.


Lucy. Currently top of the tree of girls. She was called Cute Lucy last year, for obvious reasons. She's cute. This year I call her Lucy Loo, I call Wendy, Wendy Woo. It sounds good, kids love it. Lucy is very cute. She's a typical cute girl. She's a 7 year old with the mind of a rich, pretty, sweet 16. Daddy looks after her. She expects to get what she wants. If she's moody at school, leave her alone, if she's happy, then keep her thay way. Sounds horrible, but, it's charming. If she's smiling, then no doubt, you'll be smiling too. That what she brings to the class. She is Lucy.
This is her, at the forefront of this image, presenting me with a green tea, tea bag.

Here she's again, showing me her new book.


and here they are together......

Hold the FRONT PAGE

This may be my third blog in about 10 days, which some might say is a little bit too much, but this next update is significant. Most of you know that I am not the most motivated of readers, and my history of reading is a fairly recent and lacking in weight. In fact that's probably an understatement.

I was never a reader as a child and when I was at university a maybe read the odd book here and there, (one book over the course of a few months, maybe more). After uni, I maintained this same pattern, with the occasional burst of two books in quick succession. Things really picked up when I moved to Korea, and I started reading books back to back with the occasional break in between to rest my poor young brain.

I set a new record a few weeks back when a read a book called "The Koreans", a book about Korean people, yep, in about 3 weeks. VERY good for me. Then I beat that record by reading "The Aquariums of Pyongyang", a memoir from an North Korean Concentration Camp escapee, yep, in about 12 days. Well, yesterday I thrashed that record and probably set an unbeatable one by reading a book in under 12 hours, plus 6 of those hours, I was sleeping. The book was/is "South of the Border, West of the Sun", By Japanese author Haruki Murakami. I thought this was significant enough, and worthy enough to warrant a blog.

I now plan to take a six month break from reading. I'm going to take up watching You Tube clips of UK's Big Brother, and maybe some clips of some other mind numbing **** that can be found online. Actually no, I'm hoping to find another page turner. Recommendations please.

Oh, 6 weeks remaining.

My Home.

This was taken a few days before my departure, back in August 2007. No looking back.....

I'm currently perched on top of my tree, looking down, waiting for my prey like a hungry, ravenous, blood thirsty vulture. My prey is England and my waiting time will be exactly 45 days until I can get my hands on my lunch. My lunch being the things that I miss about home, the things that have ruined the last 3 months in Korea, because they're the things that I have been whining for, the things that have distracted me from truly enjoying recent life in Korea.

What are they?

Well, some of them will be obvious choices, others are just things that people take for granted until they're away.

Talking English to my dogs:
Quite weird, but it dawned on me last week when I met my friends new puppies. The puppies were just a year old, and had been brought up by Koreans. Therefore they spoke Korean.......??!!! (you know what I mean)
I wanted to hang out with the dogs, walk with them, chat like people chat with dogs. Suddenly I felt a wave of strangeness. I thought "I don't know what to say to a Korean dog"...... It baffled me. I think another way of looking at this is that I miss Biffer and Douglas, the two big dogs in my life. Looking forward to hanging out with the fat pooches, watching TV, eating peanut butter on toast, while they watch me, eating peanut butter on toast, and drooling.

Biffer sniffing.

Picking up a multi-read Metro newspaper:
Travelling on London’s vintage Underground is always a pleasure since I've been out of the country. A memory that lives on, which is one that I miss, is the moment before the doors open. I always look into the carriage to see if there's a newspaper lying around. At certain times of the day, and on certain lines, you're guaranteed a newspaper, and sometimes even a choice. If there's only one or two copies lying on the dirt ridden floor, then it becomes a head to head with fellow passengers to be, to get that multi-read newspaper.

Options!!

Knowing 'What's On', and when:
Watching TV in Korea is fun. They're various English channels with a lot of decent programming, there is also a lot of mind numbing bulls**t that a certain ratio of the worlds population are sadly into, and learn from. I have a cable situation set-up, I get about 60 channels, mostly Korean of course. With my level of Korean understanding still below basic, I sometimes sit back and pass my own interpretation as to what is going on, on the screen. This can be fun. Some thing that does annoy me is not knowing what is on next, later, tomorrow, next week, etc etc. Having a TV guide is one of those things that I have missed on a daily basis. Sky + is really the most luxurious platforms to watch TV, and I have missed it so much. Can't wait to sit down, with peanut butter on toast, while the fat pooch drools onto my newly ironed white shorts, and check up on the TV schedule......

Big TV please.....

Eating Humus:
I have missed this sooooo much. I can't wait to slice up a yellow pepper and dip the hell out of it into some humus. Then toast up some pita bread and dip the hell out of it into the humus. I have asked many Korean people about humus, doesn't exist. I've been to many foreign food markets, doesn't exist. I sliced up a red pepper yesterday, munched down on my first slice, without anything exciting to dip into, result?, nothing, no joy, disappointment, it wasn't the same. The more I think about humus, the more I miss it. Family and friends aside, I seriously think that this is one of the things I have missed the most. Who would have thought eh?!

Definately some humus in this London shop!!!

That’ll do for now. Apologies for any typos, too tired to read over it and check. You do it for me!!

Spending a Penny? take a minute

An empty bottle of water. It will make sense later.

Ever had to take stock before you walk into a bathroom? Not talking about your bathroom at home, but maybe the one you use at work, or maybe the one you use at your local, or the one in your favourite department store. I’ll be talking about the trials and tribulations of my trips to the bathroom at my Korean Kindergarten.

Going to the bathroom at work/school isn’t ever a simple procedure. It has turned into a calculated task, that isn’t as simple as ‘spending a penny’. “Can I go to the bathroom please?” is one of the very first full sentences the kids will learn at English school. The boys bathroom consists of three fully functional urinals, two child sized sit-downs, and then two adult sized sit-downs. There are also another three urinals, but they’re out of order, always have been, always will be. The urinals are probably two feet shorter than your custom urinal. This obviously means I have to immediately bend at the knees, which at first created a whole new peeing technique, now after two years I have mastered. The main problem about going to the bathroom is the kids fascination at what you have got. Every time, EVERYTIME, I’m in the bathroom peeing, and a kid walks in, you can be assured that they will stand at the urinal next to you, and they will cast an eye over. Again, at first I had to get used to this, but now I’m already well and truly shielded from any possible on-looking curiously minded Korean child, before they walk in. However, this doesn’t stop them. This didn’t happen to me, but it happened to Anthony. He was shielding, thanks to our self trained technique, but the kid wasn’t letting that deter him, he simply walked behind Anthony and then ducked down, between his legs and tried to look up. Luckily, Anthony had shaken and just put the attraction away, if not, then little Kyle may have had an early shower. Unbelievable!!!!

So kids ‘looking on’ is one thing, another is the kids very own technique of peeing. Some kids have some dignity and they lower the front of their trouser and pee, conventional style. Some kids undue their trouser and then pull them down, with pants, to the floor. Then they lift their t-shirts up to their chin, and if that wasn’t enough they stand back and fire it into the urinal. It’s like a well choreographed performance. The beauty of this is that the boys bathroom door is facing the girls bathroom door. The girls find it insanely funny, why wouldn’t they?, when they see a boy doing this. To be honest, it disturbs me quite a lot, needless to say if one of the little pee-ers is doing this when I walk in, I give them a minute, wait patiently until they have re-dressed themselves, before I take my turn.

So peeing has it troubles, how about sit-down time? If there is ever a moment that needs the ultimate care and attention at Kids Herald School, then this is it. If a kid sees you going into, or out of, the cubicle then fully expect a comment. The comment will then be taken out into the corridor where he will, definitely, tell anyone in sight that Toby Teacher is taking a shit. He will say in Korean, “Toby Teacher is pooing”. These days I never let this situation happen, I plan my cubicle usage very carefully. In the past, I have departed the bathroom to a chorus of kids pointing, giggling, basically pointing and shouting the word “POO”.

One last trial of going to the bathroom is in the afternoons. The cleaning lady washes the floors well before the day is up. Her technique is thorough. She mops, scrubs etc. then to wash everything she pulls the hose and drenches every last inch of the bathroom. The water takes a good hour to dry up and wash down the drain. During this hour, it’s a very questionable walking surface. The slippers that I wear to work, and perfect for ice skating. I have fallen down twice during this time. I have slipped and nearly fallen about 50 times. Every time my heart skips a beat. This is just another thing that crosses my mind each and every time I need to pee.

I need to pee about 10 or so times a day, I’m guessing. I drink so so so much water at work. A new hobby if you like. I drink so much, and go to the bathroom so much that one class of mine call me bathroom teacher. This seems a fitting way to end the blog.

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.

Tears way before their bedtime

I have around 90 days left at my current school. I have spent my FULL TIME in Korea at Kids Herald School. So you're looking at two years employment with only a total of 5 or 6 weeks vacation in those two years. So, I have spent a healthy amount of time within the four brightly decorated walls of my private institution.

Over the last few weeks, having decided to definitely leave the school, I have started to think about a few special kids. I've mentioned before that you get attached to kids on more than just a teacher-student basis. Some kids you chat to their mothers, and you get a bit of inside information on their family and relationships begin to blossom. One mother bought me a pizza the other day because she, and her two daughters, both of whom I teach and have taught, felt sorry for me being in Korea, without my family. The most of the mothers in this system of education are insane and completely irrational, but there are a few that stick out as seriously thoughtful and warm people. One mother wanted to take me to a nice restaurant, with her whole family, to thank me for teaching her son. She decided upon giving me a restaurant voucher instead because she thought it would be too uncomfortable for me to sit with her normally large Korean family, she was right.

My thinking right now is that I can't wait to get out of the school and have some down-time. But then I think of a few faces that I will dearly miss. The three kids that I know I will miss are Sarah, Angela and Bookie. There are of course a whole lot more. These three have all been brilliant. Weird and wonderful kids. Cute and crazy.

Having spent, on average, about 5 hours a day with these kiddies, it's hard to tell how it's going to feel when I finally leave them. To see a kid grow from the age 4 to 6, you do see a heart warming transformation in a child, that I was a big part of. I can predict (and probably confirm) that there will be some tears on my last day.

Here's an early picture of Sarah with a bloody snake around her neck.

Here's Angela refusing to have a bloody snake around her neck.

Bookie is the one on the left. Sara is worthy of a mention too, she'll be missed.