So... It's been a while

Yes, it's been forever - but you can't blame a girl for having fun and neglecting her blog... right??  Time continues to fly past me at the speed of light - can you believe that next week marks my 10 month anniversary with Korea?!? (Me and Korea, we're thinking of buying matching T-shirts and phone accessories to mark the occasion... maybe well get a few sticker photos made too...)  

Anyway, I thought rather than spend years trying to make a million posts to get things up to date, I'd just add some links to my facebook photo albums... after that's done I promise to make a concerted effort to blog more often - which should be a little more manageable now that the weather is distinctly more winter-like.

Not surprisingly, my blogging slackness coincided with two things; 1) Claire arrived in Korea and 2) the weather warmed up to a point where weekends away upped in frequency, so first up I'll start with some links to albums from said weekends away.  

I guess the best place to start is way back in... well actually, I can't remember if it was May or June.... but we'll kick off with an impromptu weekend away in Yeoju with Claire, James and John.  http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=124774&l=9bd90&id=892645136

Next up, was one of my favourite weekends to date - The Boreyong Mud Festival where group of 10 of us spent a crazy July weekend at Daechon beach covering ourselves with 'therapeutic' mud and generally just running amok... who knew mud could be so much fun?? http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=151128&l=75c8c&id=892645136

A week or two after the mud festival I was lucky enough to get a week long visit form my lovely sister Cathy and her Gyles.  It was SO awesome to see them and equally as cool to be able to share my life here with someone from home - at least now someone will know who/what/where I'm talking about when I get back, plus now they won't be able to tease me and say I was really in a mental asylum for a year or something... 

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=158540&l=55e6b&id=892645136

The day after Cath'n'Gyles left Korea, my summer holidays started (typical right?)... oh and by vacation, I mean 4 days and a weekend off work... bullshit excuse for the word 'holiday' if you ask me, but something was definitely better than nothing, and Claire and I took the opportunity to beach-bum on the north of the east coast of Korea in a great little place called Sokcho.  The beach rest was welcomed with open arms, and when the weather turned on us (as it is known to do in the middle of rainy season), we took the opportunity to check out the beautiful Mt. Serok - we didn't actually see much from the top due to some crazy cloud cover, but it was pretty all the same...  http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=160153&l=b1446&id=892645136

Korean thanksgiving (Chuseok) fell early in September this year, and Claire, Jeff and I decided to take advantage of the one public holiday where the whole of Korea WASN'T heading to Jeju Island, by heading to... yup - Jeju Island!  Jeju has been likened to a lot of places ranging from Hawaii, Australia, Disney Land and just straight up Paradise... I think that the last two give the most apt description of Jeju -(you may understand the Disney Land part when you look at the first few photos... at times it was a bit bizarro). It was a great long weekend - even if the rain did spoil our hopes of another 4 days of beach bumming.  Instead of tanning we went to the circus, rode funny bikes, looked at waterfalls and bypassed security so that we could climb Mt. Halla in flip-flops (it's Korea's tallest mountain I'll have you know)... http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=165125&l=a4603&id=892645136   

The most recent and last long weekend before Christmas was at the start of October - our lovely school gave us 4 days while everyone else got 3 (whoot whoot!) so my travel buddy, Claire, and I decided to check another few places off our list of things to see.  This time we headed South East to the country's 3rd largest city, Daegu.  There we perused the traditional herbal medicine market, and some other smelly markets and hung out with old men and random wild animals in a community park.  Then we made our way to the ancient Silla era city of Gyeongju.  This place is stunning and should be on every must-see list in Korea... we spent days strolling around ancient tombs, serene ponds and beautiful temples. Check out the photos to see for yourselves. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=173477&l=6ea73&id=892645136

That wraps up the weekends away - and if you weren't already starting to get the picture as to why it's been so long between entries... well you just should be.  I'll leave you with another few links to a few other facebook albums I put up (Mama, Pa and Dad, I hope you know this link business is almost entirely for your benefit as you are just about the only people I know that don't have a facebook account...) Anyway, here is a link to some pics of the kiddies at school - little angel-faced monsters that they are... http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=158536&l=7e900&id=892645136

This one showcases the latest installments in the world of EngRish...  http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=171567&l=92b1e&id=892645136

And last but not least, the extravaganza that was Halloween - first for the kids, then for the grown-ups (if you can't figure out what Claire and I went as, we are dressed as our kindergarten children - complete with our school backpacks and all)... http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=179533&l=49c19&id=892645136

Well, that brings me pretty much up-to-date with life in the dong of Youngtong... I'll try and keep on top of things a little better from now on... but just remember that I said try and not promise. xx

Recently Local... (I'll tell you about the weekends away some other time)

Recent blog slackness is once again duly noted... my lovely sister has even created a facebook group called "Amy should update her blog" (of which I am now a member), in an attempt to give me a swift kick out of cyber-laziness and back into bloggy-diligence.  Given that I'm not one to turn my back on a good cause, here's one of what I hope to be a few updates on life in Happy Suwon... I've opted for photo-board style once again as it's the only way I can begin to cover what's been going on.

  HONGDAE (or HONGDAZE as we like to call it)

 Tucked away in Seoul, is a little place called Hongdae that houses a myriad of bars, pubs and clubs.  It is considered mandatory for anyone living in Korea to partake in periodic wild nights out in Hongdae.  The last friday of every month is "club night" where, for about $25 you can purchase an arm-band that gives you a 'free' drink and 'free' entry into just about any club in the area.  When one goes out in Hongdae they must party the night away until the busses and subway starts running again in the morning to take them home... at which point the prospect of sitting on public transport for over an hour is so unappealing, money is pooled and extra people are squished into cabs for the long ride home (thus defeating the purpose of staying til 7am, yet never stops it from happening). During my first venture to Hongdae we visited a number of bars, including an 80's bar (the name of which escapes me now... perhaps it's 80's Club), that had Milli Vanilli AND INXS on vinyl - really, I was like a pig in poop.   

BUDDHA HAD A BIRTHDAY

In May, we had 2 long weekends in a row (oooh yeah!).  One, was for Children's day and the other was to celebrate Buddhas Birthday... (no, I'm not sure how old he turned this year).  Buddha likes to get his party started a week early with a few lantern festivals around the country, so I went to Insadong in Seoul with my friends Darian and Darryn to check it out on the Saturday... shame the festival didn't actually start until the Sunday...  however, we did get to see a few lanterns that had been put up in preparation.  I really ♡ lanterns (maybe almost as much as I love cherry blossoms). 

Disappointed with the lack of lanterns to look at, we wondered around Insadong for a while.  I like Insadong as it's one of the few areas of Seoul I've been to that has a traditional feel to it (although, it is a fairly touristy-traditional feel).  There are a lot of old-style buildings, restaurants, shops and tea-houses in they alleys that run off the main street, all selling 'traditional' Korean crafts etc (if you can call a Hanbok-wearing Hello-Kitty mobile phone charm traditional... but there are a lot of calligraphy, ceramic, book and antique shops too).  Anyway, the main drag of Insadong is one of the only areas of Korea I've been to without a million 7-11 style convenience stores dotted along the street at 5 meter intervals - and better still, there is not a Paris Baguette or Dunkin' Donuts in sight (which is less than I can say for every other street in Korea)... there is, however, a Starbucks on the main street of Insadong.  Booooo.  BUT, the reason I mention this is that there was such a hoo-ha about a Starbucks opening in such a traditional area, that it was a condition of opening that the company name be written in Hangul on the storefront rather than in latin script... it roughly reads "Su-Ta Bok-Su Ko-Pi".  Love it! 

Not too far from Insadong you can also find this little gem - the Chonggye Stream, which is definitely one of my favourite places to spend time in Seoul.  The stream, that runs through the centre of the city, was covered over by development for decades (?), but was re-opened a few years ago to be used as a public recreation space... it's just really beautiful and peaceful area of the city.

INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL

Foreigners aren't always loved in Korea... we look funny, we tend to drink a lot and we don't really understand a lot of the social customs of Korea, so we probably unwittingly offend the locals from time to time.  So we decided to do some image maintenance and show the local Koreans that we're not all the scary drunks we appear to be.  We decided that it was time to give something back to the community...  A group of foreign teachers living around Youngtong managed to organise an 'international' festival to run alongside a market day being held by the local YMCA (no mean feat given the language barriers we face here!).  So one Saturday in May, a gaggle of foreign teachers (not sure what the collective noun would be) from the Youngtong area set up stalls near the YMCA flea market with free activities for the local kids.  There was paper airplane competitions, colouring in competitions, hair-wraps, sports, drawing - everything!  I was working on the face-painting site with 4 other girls and WOW did we have kids lining up to get our crappy artwork on their faces!! - Even when a few Korean girls from the YMCA set up their own face-painting stand near us and the kids realised these girls had artistic skill far superior to the foreigners.  It was so much fun - although I'm sure a few kids were wondering what the hell they had painted on them... see exhibit A:

Despite the fact that this kid is still in a pram and therefore isn't really qualified to pass judgement on my art work, I couldn't help but notice her look of "W.T.F?" when she saw the flowers on her arm and the rabbit on her hand.  I did some awesome spiders (even if I do say so myself), but I wont be quitting my day job to become a face painter - even if I wasn't the worst there... My buddy Joe painted a robot on this kids face (being a male, he thought he was more qualified to do this than we were)... well, this robot was so terrible it looked like a rag-doll. He told the little boy's dad that it was an "American robot" and retired his paintbrush then and there... The local's loved us despite this.

SUWON FOLK VILLAGE

Me'n' Darian at the Folk Villageeeee (this is how the word 'village' is said by koreans - I'm not kidding, if you want to get to a village of sorts by cab, you have to say villageeee to be understood - good friends of mine live in youngtong villageee, so I get to say it a lot)

.

I don't know what to say about the village - I guess it's the Sovereign Hill of Suwon.... but, in typical Korean style,  there were a lot of things at the village-eee that one wouldn't expect from a 'traditional' village.  The above picture and the fact that the folk village has an amusement park speaks for itself and the sheer randomness this country can bring - humorously strange things in stranger locations .

MONKEY BEACH

Another night out in Seoul... this time, at a club called Monkey Beach in Apgujeong.  Monkey Beach followed a farewell dinner for my lovely friend Darian...  A group of about 30 of us went to an all you can eat and drink restaurant (salad bar, seafood, meats, pasta beer, wine and spirits and more - all for $25!) then stumbled our way to the club...

All that needs to be said about this photo is that there is a cocktail in that bucket.  A cocktail with 12 shots of tequila sunrise goodness.  A cocktail with 12 shots, that only costs 12,000 won (about AUD$12.10). A cocktail with 12 shots, that only cost $12 and some very thirsty people.  The only other thing that needs to be said about this photo is that the cabbie had to pull over a few times on the way home for our mate James... to, erm, de-cocktail.  

R-16 FESTIVAL

The R-16 festival was an urban arts festival and b-boy competition held in Suwon.  Yes, I went to an international breakdancing competition in Korea -bahahahaha!  It was so fun - and the breakdancing really was world class! (in my humble breakdancing opinion). 'Crews' (see, I'm down with the lingo) from 15 countries were competing for the title, which Korea unsurprisingly won...  little rigged perhaps?- I was sure Japan or France had it in the bag.  Anyway,  I love how Koreans can fit cartoons into the most unlikely situations....

Me'n'Trav with the 'boy mascot' (could you get any LESS b-boy??)

The crowd at R-16... The Korean MC liked to say 'aiii'iite' at the end of his sentences.... the American MC made up a new word:  he said the 'R' in R-16 stands for 'Respect' then he said it also stands for 'Recognise'... then he actually said "Respecognise".  Oh, how we laughed. It's my favourite new word.

AUSTRALIA WEEKEND

Last weekend, Claire (my friend from home who came to Korea to take a job at my school at the start of May)our buddy Trav (who is another Melbournian we met over here) and I, while waiting to meet some friends in Itaewon, Seoul,  decided to head to an Aussie bar in the search for a Coopers Pale Ale.  Now, I'd like to say that this was the first Australian ANYTHING I've been to in the 5 months I've been here, and I'm not going to make a habit out if it.... but it really was nice to sit down and eat beetroot in a hamburger while watching a bit of AFL on TV (even if they didn't have pale ale). Anyway, I'd heard rumors that this bar was owned by the old drummer from the Chiorboys.... turns out the rumors are true - as you may or may not have noticed from the above picure.

The following day, Claire and I joined a bunch of our American friends to watch Australia Vs USA in Womens Soccer - just another wonderful event to take place in Happy, Harmonious Suwon.   Not wanting to be outdone by our friend with a U.S. head-bandanna, we sacrificed the last of our Aussie flag stickers and got ourselves down to the shops for some green and gold ribbon...  We were the ONLY Aussie supporters there, so LUCKY we had some flare to show it (and lucky we were able to convert some korean kids and old men to our side... they liked us so much, they even shared their lunch of kim-bap with us!)... too bad Australia lost the game though - perhaps our chanting wasn't loud enough??

I'm pretty sure these kids thought we were famous... who was I to burst their bubble???

 

The end for now.

P.S.  This post is dedicated to my sister Cathy - cos she made me promise to dedicate it to her. 

Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.

Forgive me father for I have been slack.  It's been a few weeks since my last blog and for this I am sorry....  

Yes, my slackness in blogging of late has been duly noted... by many (I honestly didn't think anyone outside of my immediate family actually read this, but the numerous crabby emails I've received about my lack of posting suggests that perhaps I was wrong).  It's just that the weather has been fantastic lately (sunny and around 25 degrees most days) and  staying indoors to write my blog has been a far less attractive option than the abundant park-life that has been taking place.  Anyway, point is that I'll try and get my act together on a slightly more regular basis.

Two (or so) weeks in review...

Items on the agenda: trivia night, fajita/jenga night, hookah night, hedgehogs and a covert helipad adventure. See below for details.

Item #1: Trivia night

Location: "The Magnet" (aka. Now Bar)

Rationale: Mid-week public holiday, an excuse to drink (like we needed another one) and a chance to put our collective trivial knowledge to good use... oh, and raising money for charity.

The Team: Amy, Kit, Darryn and Phil 

We thought we had the trivia night in the bag... we thought wrong. Although, we did put in a cracking effort for the karma sutra - pictionary round... 

Well we weren't entirely wrong- we did have something in the bag... A Chihuahua.  After the quiz we were left babysitting said chihuahua in the bar while we drowned our sorrows over our tragic defeat... this photo highlights just one reason why dogs should not be allowed in bars.

Item #2: Fajita/Jenga night

Location: My apartment.

Rationale: Mexican food is hard to come by here... Jenga has so much potential in the 'seemingly innocent games turn drinking games' realm.

A recent trip to an American wholesale supermarket left me with an excessively large amount of fajita seasoning in my possession.  Given that a lot of decent foreign foods can be quite hard to track down over here, this is acquisition was big news amongst my friends.  In addition to this, my former co-workers left me as the guardian of a jenga set that they had previously used as a drinking game... basically (and it is a very basic concept), there are instructions on each jenga block, so each time you extract one from the pile you must do what it says.  For example; finish your drink, do 2 shots of soju, ask the neighbour for an apple (keep in mind all our neighbours are Korean), attempt an acrobatic feat, sing your national anthem... etc etc etc. So, last Friday, I invited a few buddies around for fajitas and jenga (if you didn't already gather that from the title of "fajitas/jenga night").  Unfortunately my role as hostess-with-the-mostest left me with little time to photograph the evening (actually, there were a few hilarious videos, but I promised they'd never see the light of internet), so instead I've opted for a photo from significantly later in the night after we'd migrated back down to now bar...

Fajita'd, jenga'd,maekju'd, soju'd and mandu'd out...

Item #3: Hookah night

Location: My apartment (apparently this weeks social hub of Yongtong)

Rationale: There is a hookah amongst us... and it keeps us away from the bar.

'Round here, we like to hookah (or shisha - depending on what you like to call it) and although there are a few cool hookah bars in Seoul, they aren't exactly convenient for an impromptu mid-week get-together.  However, as I mentioned before, we like to hookah , so my friends Kit and Joe came up with the brilliant idea of co-purchasing a hookah of their very own... and thus bringing the mountain to Mohammed, so to speak.  Over the last few months we have had a growing number of people partaking in hookah nights at Kit and Joes apartments.  Last Wednesday, however, due to extenuating circumstances, we were left without a venue at the last minute, so I volunteered my place.  Thinking that the 6 people who came for fajita/jenga night was probably at the higher-end of my apartment's comfortable catering limits, I was surprised to find we were able to squeeze 12 people and a hookah onto my lovely lino floor without too much trouble (in fact, I dare say that there was  a tiny bit of room between Joe and my fridge for one more)

Yes, I realise it looks like something of a boys night... un/fortunately (depending on which way you look at it), most of my buddies here are boys - aside from a few of the boys girlfriends (who sadly don't live in Youngtong), a lot of the girls I know here don't go out all that much.  As a consequence, I've been made an honorary boy - which I'm not sure is a good thing or a bad thing, but I'm taking the glass-half-full approach.

In Korea, everyone leaves their shoes at the door... this was my doorway after about half of the group showed up.

Item #4: Hedgehogs

Location: The park

Rationale: I don't think there needs to be a rationale behind hedgehogs as a species... but my rationale for putting them on the items agenda is that they're pretty damn cool!

Not too much to be said about this item of the agenda - aside from that this is Blackberry the pygmy hedgehog - 1 of 5 that friends of mine own.  I want a hedgehog, but they are spiky and I discovered that I'm a little scared of touching them... but they're so cool, I want one!

Item #5: Covert helipad adventure

Location: New towers in Youngtong

Rationale: Keeping in mind I said 'rationale' and not 'rational': (a) we wanted to and (b) no one stopped us.  

Late one Sunday evening, after a day of hanging about in the sunshiney park, a bunch of foreigners got talking about the new apartment towers that had recently been completed in their town.  It was noted that although between them they had seen a combined total of approximately 3 helicopters during their time in Korea, the vast majority of high-rise buildings (of which there are many), have a helipad on the top.  Their conversation naturally progressed to speculation about the nature of the views one may encounter atop the aforementioned 40 story buildings... and soon enough these inquisitive and adventure-hungry foreigners decided that they would like to see the views for themselves....

The triumphant delinquents - moments after reaching the summit of the high-rise.

(with the lifts currently servicing only the first 10 of 40 floors, it really did feel as if we had just climbed a mountain.) 

Speculation no longer required.  The views were pretty sweet...

Holding my camera still enough to get good shots of them proved to be quite difficult.

So that's been the last 2 weeks for me - more or less... I went to the zoo last week with the kids at school and this week we had a mini-olympics - but that's another post all together.  I also started volunteering at an orphanage near my house this week.  I've been trying to organise it with one of my Korean co-workers for about a month now, but finally on Tuesday we were able to get it sorted to go down to meet the kids and assess their English levels... The orphanage is not at all what I expected (but given that my imagery of orphanages is entirely based on the movie 'Annie' and a terribly depressing kids home I visited in Vietnam, I'm not surprised my expectations were a little off).  It's run by nuns and it's a really warm, clean and comfortable place.  There are just 9 kids there at the moment and they all go to a local elementary school and have piano lessons and math tutoring like everyone else... they've just never had the option to learn English before, so Bunny (my Korean co-worker) and I will take them for a 45 minute beginners English class once a week and just hang about and play some games with them. So yeah, I'm looking forward to going again next week 'cos the kids there are sweethearts... and it's just really nice to be able to do something good while I'm here too.

Well, that's all my news for now - oh, except that a kid threw a banana at me today which reminded me of the Groucho Marx quote I used for the title of this post... anyway, I hope everyone back home has a nice ANZAC weekend.  Eat some ANZAC biscuits for me!!!

Flowers in trees are pretty

I have never experienced the seasons change as rapidly as they do in Korea.  A few weeks ago it was winter - freezing and snowing, the trees were bare and the grass was completely dead and brown... the next week it poured with rain, but I lost the need for my thick winter jacket... the week after, the sun was shining again - it was shining nearly all winter, but I could actually feel it's warmth this time.  The grass turned green over night and all of a sudden, the bare trees of winter burst into full, glorious spring time bloom - it is, in  a word, stunning. And better still, no longer am I bound to the confines of my apartment with the ondol switched onto high.  Now, my time off work is spent lazing about in one of the many nearby parks with a book or a few friends... it's noice. It's different.  It's unuuusual.  

Most of the foreign teachers around here had Wednesday off work due to a local or provincial election (can't be sure of which it was... most of the explanations I've received from my Korean co-workers have been vague and/or sketchy to say the least) - but we at the wonderful ECC were lucky enough to get Tuesday off as well! (yes, we were the envy of many).  So my fellow Aussie co-worker, Mardi, and I decided to head into Yeouido Island in Seoul to have a look at the Cherry Blossom Festival.  Wow....  I don't normally go ga-ga over flowers (or trees for that matter), but these flowery trees were gorgeous.  I must've said "it's so pretty" about 7 million times in the first 10 minutes of being there - and that's just the times I said it out loud. 

A stream running through the beautiful Yeouido Park - with the obligatory high-rise buildings in the background... wouldn't be Seoul without them.

(BTW.  Yeouido... seriously, how many vowels do you want to put in a single word!?)

I like photos that capture the old and new... well given that the park isn't even 10 years old (like most things in Korea) I guess I should say that I like the contrast between the traditional and the modern style - or something like that.

Purdy cherry blossoms... around much of the world, these would often just be regarded as nice flowers, but almost everything in Korea carries a deeper symbolism - even the letters of the Korea alphabet represent the land, the sky, people etc.  Aside from the visual beauty of blossoms, Korean thinking uses their short, but stunning existence as a metaphor for life.  The fleeting glory of the blossom signifies the precarious and transitory nature of life - something we're supposed to be reminded of during the festival.  Nice huh?

... Aaaand back down to earth - in the Korea of day-to-day-  an outing wouldn't be complete outing without seeing something completely bizzare... and here is a fine example.  Yes, these girls are riding a tandem bike - whilst wearing roller blades.  "Why?", you may ask?  Well, my guess is as good as yours... but it typifies the sheer randomness I see here on a daily basis.  I'm learning not to ask questions about it as the answers are generally more confusing than the behaviour in question.

The Cherry Blossom Festival was a nice day out for many a couple... as I imagine it would be anywhere in the world.  Difference here is that couples often wear matching outfits.  The matching aqua tops above are far from the best his-n-hers outfits I've seen, but at least it gives you an idea.  I once saw a couple wearing identical hot pink t-shirts with a picture of said couple printed (in a love heart) on the front. Let me also throw in that the guys carry their girlfriends handbags everywhere - no matter how girly the bag may be. 

Ahh... Beondegi - the bane of my pedestrian life in Korea.  Beondegi are boiled silkworm larvae... mmm... unfortunately it is also very popular snack here - you can get it in on the street, in restaurants, bars and even in a can at the supermarket.  Every bloody street vendor (of which there are many) boils up beondegi for peckish passers-by.  The main problem is (if you can get past the obvious 'you are eating freaking pupae' issue) - that it smells absolutely vile.  I have to remember not to breathe when within 15 meters of it, as it is one of the most pungent, thickest, stick-in-the-back-of-your-throat smells going 'round. I've had a few close calls with the old gag reflex and really want to avoid jumping on the Korean band-wagon that apparently okays vomiting on the street (although they do it when drunk... which, judging by the number of spew piles dotted around, is quite often). Moral of the story is: I hate Beondegi.

Ah yes.  Back to the Cherry Blossom Festival.... in all it's Korean-ness.

This picture is my attempt at capturing the Korean penchant for unashamedly photographing oneself in a range of hilarious poses... but they do it for serious.  I could have taken this picture a million times since arriving here- insomuch that everyday I see girls sitting on their lunch break taking pouty photos of themselves with their mobile phones... or just sitting and and checking themselves out in the obligatory hand held mirror.  I'm not sure how much of it is vanity and how much of it is just taking care of their appearance... but it makes me giggle.  

Another interesting insight into Korea... here you see families and friends picnicing on a hillside.  Well, to be accurate, this was less of a hillside and more of a ditch leading down from the blossomed Yunjungno street to large, noisy road.  I'm not sure why this was deemed a nice spot to sit and eat kim-chi and drink ginseng tea - particularly when Yeouido park was mere minutes away - but for some reason it was.  It's not like there was even a nice view across the large road onto which the picnicers were facing - there was just a big, packed car park!  I really don't get it, but again, I got a good giggle out of it!

I don't think I'll ever get used to the cartoons... This one is on a police station.  If there's one profession that shouldn't use cartoons, it would probably be the police, right?  And maybe politicians.  Which reminds me - the candidates for the election on Wednesday... well, their campaigns involved a lot of  dancing and singing in the streets.  One candidate (I only know him as #2) had his campaigners set up shop on a traffic island in the middle of a 6 lane road and dance on the back of a truck to cheesy music while illuminated by a range of colourful disco lights.  No joke.... perhaps candidate #2 is a joke.

I put this one in just because it is such a typical view in Korea - I like the views across the Han river because it's one of the only times (in Seoul at least) that you can see more than 100 meters in front of you - normally you are crowded in by big buildings.

Hehehe... this kid had a sticker with his name and parents mobile phone number stuck to his back.  It made me happy to see that this kind of thing happens all around the world - I remember my dad writing my name and address on my arm in permanent marker at the Royal Melbourne Show... just in case we got lost and it was really rainy or something.

More odd posing with flowers by the Koreans... that's three different photos going on in the background there...  Cos squatting with your face in a pot of flowers is the most natural pose you could get!

Meh... when in Korea eh? But just as I suspected, the photo looks ridiculous and will never make it's way into a photo frame in my house... mostly because it looks like I'm on a squat toilet hidden behind the flowers (perhaps I was?).  I'm yet to discover how any of the others taking this style of photo could have avoided the same problem, yet I'd put money on it that this pose is the source of many a framed photo in Korea.

Seoul through the blossoms.

Yunjungno street with its festival goers.  There were parts of the street that were so densely covered with blossoms that it felt like we were walking in a cloud... or a fluffy, white tunnel... or some other analogy that describes the feeling better... 

And to top off a great day, I found this.  It's a truck with rotisserie chickens on the back.  Yup, you can buy an entire chicken at a street stall... intended as a snack on the subway home?? Who knows, but I think it's brilliant.

Anyway, I hope that my day at the Cherry Blossom Festival gave you all a better insight into Korea... and how weirdly wonderful it is.

  Until I can be bothered blogging again...

My first real visitor!!

Well, another week has flown by in Happy Suwon.  I'm beginning to think that time actually moves faster in Korea than it does back home... well that's the most logical reasoning I can come up with that explains how it's nearly April. Hours speed by like minutes and weeks like days... and Hey-Presto I've been here over 2 months!  I feel really settled now and think (hope) I've learnt a lot more about how to teach the little-uns some valuable things.  I'm realising that the teaching English part is only the tip of the iceberg... the kinders are at our school 5 days a week, so it's their full-time kinder, which means it's not just the place they go to brush up their English skills, but it's the place that they go to learn about important life things like sharing and not hitting and listening and being nice to your friends, etc etc . Realising that I am partly responsible for teaching them these things was a little daunting at first, but not such a scary thought now that I'm used to it... in fact, I really like that side of my job now - probably more than the teaching English part!

Outside of work things are awesome as well.  I've got a bunch of good buddies to hang out with and am meeting new people all the time.  There are lots of laughs and lots of good times had here!  And as I recently discovered, sharing those good times with an old friend is great fun too.  Last weekend my old buddy Gary came to stay with me for a few days.  Gary and I lived and worked together in hostel in London back in 2001 (the Museum for those of you playing at home) and have kept in sporadic contact over the years... If someone told us then that we'd catch up in South Korea 6 years later I think we'd have tried to have them certified (actually, we probably wouldn't have heard them because we would've been too busy trying to rustle up a few quid to do our washing... then used the money to buy beer instead... but still). Anyway, Gary has been teaching English in Japan for the last few years and it just so happened that he had planned a holiday to Korea that coincided with me being here.  So on my lunch break last Friday, I met up with Gary in Youngtong and was able to take him back to my school to sit in on my afternoon classes.  The kids were so excited to have someone new in the school (he actually got mobbed by a hoard of 10 year old girls - literally, they were hanging off him) and I have to say that it was really nice to have an extra hand in the classroom!  After school, it was deemed appropriate that Gary experience a Youngtong ESL teacher's typical weekend... and so it began... 

Who could go past a giant ale at Garten Bier? Of course, followed by an obligatory Now Bar session...

Then off to a club called Crazy Duck (why?)... How many foreigners can you pack into a taxi before the driver gets pissed off??? (there were many more than the photo is letting on)

Apparently quite a few... this driver was awesome (as many taxi drivers in Korea seem to be)

And it seems that the later into the night it gets, the more people they'll let you squeeze into a cab... and the worse my camera and/or photography skills get.

We had planned to visit the Suwon fortress on Saturday, but around 6am on Saturday morning it was discussed (over a plate of end-of-the-night-dumplings), that perhaps we would go on Sunday instead.  So on Saturday afternoon we headed over to a friends place for a roof-top BBQ... had it not started pouring with rain, it is my firm belief that we would've sat up there eating hamburgers and drinking beer all night long.

The view from the roof-top barbie... so Korean

As the rain so rudely forced us off the roof, we did what any other self respecting foreigner in Youngtong would do on a Saturday night... we went back to the now bar and backed it up with a stint in the Noraebang (purely a social comparison between the Japanese Karaoke and Korean Noraebang styles, of course). 

The photos are bad enough... I'll spare you from the video footage (Gary, you should do the same... please).

As it goes with Noraebang and the speedy Korean clock, we again, did not make it home much before sunrise.... we didn't make it to the fortress either.  Ooops.  Instead we only managed to venture into Suwon city for an hour or so before the rain and the weekend took their toll and we turned for home - not before Gary got drenched by a bus speeding through a rather large puddle on the road though (I'm still cracking up at that).  Great weekends like this don't come without their price though... my enthusiastic efforts at the noraebang left me without much of a voice for most of the week - which made trying to talk over 12 screaming children somewhat difficult.  The husky voice has developed into a cold, which required another trip to the doctor today (I'm constantly warned that colds in Korea don't go away by themselves so decided to err on the side of caution).  Again, the doc used the sucker thing on my nose (then laughed at how much my eyes watered), made me breathe the funny air (this time through my nose) and quizzed me on my knowledge of Korean drama shows (i know nothing about them except that they all seem to involve people dressed in traditional costumes, sitting around a palace having stern words with each other)... In Australia, if I went to my local GP with a similar ailment, I probably would've been prescribed a simple antibiotic to take after meals. Done. Over. That's it.  This is what I got here....

 You'd think I was suffering from pneumonia with this vast array of medicine.... maybe I'll open my own pharmacy...

As far as I understand it, the little sachets of pills are for me to take after meals - but I have to take certain pills after lunch in particular.  The pharmacist stressed this several times, yet couldn't explain what would happen to me if I took the wrong ones at the wrong time.  The bottle of liquid is essentially cough syrup which I have to take 2 spoonfuls of exactly 10 minutes after the tablets... but 15 minutes after the lunch time tablets.  Tablets and cough syrup - fairly standard medication (despite the odd packaging)... It's the smaller sachets at the front that got me.  They're patches that I have to put on my back.  I have to wear each one for 24 hours and they can't be anywhere but the middle section of my back... I can only guess at why (oh, the story of my life here!), but the picture on them looks a little like lungs (or maybe a u-turn sign,  I can't be sure), so I think the stringent positioning requirements may have something to do with the patch being near my lungs.  I don't know... all I do know is that I feel like I'm walking around with a little square of rice paper stuck to my back and that's kinda weird. 

Singin' and Snowin' the time away

The weeks are flying by! I've spent four weeks in Korea already... where has the last month gone??  

Everything is still going well... I'm really enjoying life here! I feel like I'm settling into a bit more of a routine now too, which is good , and I'm really enjoying living by myself (which I was a bit worried about before coming here)- I've even found myself getting a little crafty with some painting and origami (some of which I have even made into fridge magnets! NERD!!) 

After the new year break last week the kids at school were totally ferrel on Monday and Tuesday, which made this week feel a little longer than it was... and a lot more difficult work-wise.  Really, at times, I struggled to get the kids to even sit down let alone open a book and actually learn something. It was so draining and I felt like I was having to be the 'mean teacher' the whole time... there were no stickers given out and no games played in class. I even made some boys write lines (hahaha!!).  Being a hard-ass in the classroom didn't feel so good, but the tough love thing did pay off in the end and the kids were absolutely gorgeous for the rest of the week! I guess there's a very fine balance between fun teacher and push-over and I think I was starting to slide into the latter - which wouldn't bother me so much if I didn't actually have to teach them something. Ah, it's a steep learning curve I'm on, but it's definitely getting easier with every day.

Anyway, turns out that this learning curve is thirsty work, so friday night we headed out to Now Bar followed by a spot of Noraebang action.  Yes, you're probably noticing a pattern developing that involves Now Bar and karaoke on Fridays... I have no rebuttal to this - it's just what we seem to do on Fridays! Something about blowing off steam and singing cheesy songs (badly) with a bunch of other foreigners is strangely alluring for some reason...

Me with Jeff, Tania and Ellen - These are my co-workers. They're awesome. 

Noraebang time!!  Ellen and I peruse the song list.  As usual, we open with "Obla di obla dah" (We think we're pretty good at it... although, I wouldn't really know because you can't hear yourself sing in these places - it's just everyone around you that has to endure your howling).

Oh, geeze...  I don't even know what we were singing, but it looks like it would've sounded real bad.

Jeff, Ellen and I have adapted a few hand gestures which we use to communicate our drinking intentions to each other... 

We drank and noraebanged late into the night but skipped the usual Mandu stop on the way home in favour of a few hours of much needed sleep as we'd arranged to go snowboarding the following morning.... yeah, it's smart to go out drinking the night before strenuous and potentially bone-breaking physical activity...  

On Saturday morning, six bleary eyed foreigners headed to the nearby slopes- this was my first time snowboarding, and it was fun fun fun!  Only half an hour away from home and cheap too - $10 for snowboard hire and $40 for lift passes! Sweet! Although, I might add, that I am so sore today I can hardly move... every single muscle in my body is killing me and I'm covered in bruises from stacking it down the mountain a few times (read several hundred times).  Sitting down is particularly painful as my butt is somewhat tender after countless falls on my behind.  Entirely worth it though!

I was trying to get a snap of a couple in matching outfits, but unfortunately they skied away (in perfect unison of course) before I got the chance... shame.  A good photo of the slopes though!

Oh, hahaha, yeah, I'm all laughs and smiles on the lift up to the top with Ellen and Kit - this was, of course, before I attempted to actually stand and move on a snowboard.  I wasn't so smiley after my butt collided with rock hard ice several times.

I already needed a rest - and I was only at the TOP of the first run!  Trying to stay vertical was so tiring that that the prospect of navigating a negative gradient was positively exhausting!

Eeek!  That's a scary sight for a first timer!

My first snowboarding experience was a little like my first day as a teacher... once again I was thrown in the deep end.  No ski school or flat ground instructions for me!  Jeff and the boys (all with a fair bit of snowboarding experience behind them), thought this was an appropriate starting point for me. I pretty much fell over every meter of the run the first time I tried it, but it definitely got easier and by the end I was making it all the way down with only one or two stacks along the way!

Oh, we were having so much fun! But an outing for Ellen and I isn't really an outing without an attack from Dumb and Dumber... so of course, we accidently got on the wrong ski lift.  Rather than taking us half way up the mountain to runs that we could actually tackle, it took us to the very TOP of the mountain... the place where all the really experienced snow-bunnies go.  There is a reason they go there and we inexperienced people don't... because up there is a triple diamond/black run.   Great.  We only realised what we'd done when we were about a quarter of the way up the mountain, but it was too late to get off the lift.  

We got off at the top and looked down and I nearly shat myself. It was veeeeerrryyyy steep.  Like when I say steep, I mean that there was a section that was pretty much a vertical drop... we couldn't go back down on the lift and it was too steep to try and walk down, so we did what any other person would do in our situation (if any other person was dumb enough to get themselves into that situation, that is)... we slid down on our butts.  It was seriously scary - aside from being ridiculously steep it was also icy which meant that there were several times when we couldn't even stop our graceful butt slide.  There were definitely moments when I wondered if we were going to slip too fast and turn into giant snowballs rolling, with increasing speed, down the mountain  like in the cartoons, but because we survived I can say that bits of 'death mountain' were actually kinda fun (well, sort of... like in a "I think I may die, so let's make the most of it and pretend I'm having fun when I go" kinda way).

Ellen, butt-sliding down the mountain of death...

Aside from the near death experience, we had such an awesome day!  I'll definitely be trying to get to the mountains a bit next season (apparently the slopes close soon... which means it must get warmer soon too - whoop whoop!!!)