Today's Hallowe'en, in case you were unaware. Hallowe'en isn't generally 'celebrated' in Korea, but owing to the North American hegemony in the ESL business, it's become common practice in schools. I dressed up for the 31st of October at uni, most memorably as a vagrant (those were dark times) but never before or since, and was feeling decidedly phlegmatic about the whole occasion. I actually bought my costume, if you can call it that, at the stationery shop in the basement of my apartment building. I was a robot. I had a tinfoil-covered kettle box as a head, wristlets on my forearms, a miner-style headlamp attached to my chin and, dressed in black, I was covered from head to toe in silver stickers.
The stickers proved to be a mistake, as I was constantly surrounded by scavenging children.
Didn't have classes in the morning - instead we made containers to put sweets in, and spider themed cookies. These cookies involved two crackers housing a lump of peanut butter, into which were pressed six bifurcated Peperos, and Skittles for eyes. Peperos will be discussed later, probably on Pepero day. Only one student (Eric, see below) commented that spiders have eight legs, not six. We were short on Peperos.
Then we went trick or treating. Three parents volunteered to open their apartments to and provide bags of sweets for thirty kids (and their teachers), which is commendable. We went to the apartment of the best student from my homeroom 'Cambridge 1' class (Eric, see above) and I was able to see why he's the best student. The living room had a bookshelf filled, floor to ceiling, with ESL textbooks, kids' storybooks, Korean 'WHY?' books: they even had stairs to enable the kids to reach the top shelves. There were the English "useful expressions" we give out pinned to the wall, an extensive magazine rack full of more ESL goodies, and numerous maps on the wall, alongside photographs of exciting and educational days out. I'd describe it as a genius farm. Those kids cannot fail to become whatever they want to be.
Or so I thought. We taught classes in the afternoon, and Eric's 10 year old brother had to give a speech about eagles to his and two other classes, along with numerous teachers. He was the penultimate guy to go and bottled it a bit. I still have high hopes for Eric though, who's so far ahead of the rest of the class it's embarrassing.
Photos were taken, and may find their way on here at some point. Now I have to go out on the town. I have no costume, but I'm considering utilising the surplus silver stickers to create a glam jacket. Considering. I probably won't.
Friday 31 October 2008
Sunday 19 October 2008
Some things that I do miss from home, and Seoul Land... again
Intending to follow on from my last post, I sat here for ten minutes trying to think of nine things I miss about home, and all I could muster was my dog, a greater variety of beer and the ready availability of sparkling water. Oh, and my family and friends, I suppose.
Three things I've experienced in the last week, quiz nights (we came third!), a curry and pro evo, would've made the list but I've been satiated. If I think of more, I'll just edit this post.
Thursday was curry and quiz night night in Itaewon, made possible only by the fact that instead of school we took the kindergarteners down to Seoul Land during the day. For more on Seoul Land look back to my post about it in mid-September. While looking after fifty kids meant we couldn't go on any of the big rides, I did get to on the baby-coaster. A guy called Alex wouldn't let go of my hand, so I was dragged on to keep him company. He buried his head in his lap and didn't release his white-knuckled hands from my forearm until I'd assured him that it was over. Cute. It was quite fun watching their faces light up with unrestrainable squealing glee (Harry), but the constant queuing got a bit dull. There were ten times more people there on Thursday than when we went in early September - on a Saturday. Since they were pretty exclusively schoolkids, of all ages, we concluded it was a Seoul-wide-end-of-season-let's-go-to-Seoul-Land-thing. It was still really warm though, as I found out at the end of the day when we took the kids on this huge white rubber hill-like arrangement. I ran around with the kids for half an hour and had literally the most fun I've ever had ever. Ever.
The two boys in the front here, Harry and Noah, look like they're having fun. Nathan (maths video Nathan) in the back car looks terrified.
I just thought of another thing I miss a bit. Cheese. I'd love some cheese.
Three things I've experienced in the last week, quiz nights (we came third!), a curry and pro evo, would've made the list but I've been satiated. If I think of more, I'll just edit this post.
Thursday was curry and quiz night night in Itaewon, made possible only by the fact that instead of school we took the kindergarteners down to Seoul Land during the day. For more on Seoul Land look back to my post about it in mid-September. While looking after fifty kids meant we couldn't go on any of the big rides, I did get to on the baby-coaster. A guy called Alex wouldn't let go of my hand, so I was dragged on to keep him company. He buried his head in his lap and didn't release his white-knuckled hands from my forearm until I'd assured him that it was over. Cute. It was quite fun watching their faces light up with unrestrainable squealing glee (Harry), but the constant queuing got a bit dull. There were ten times more people there on Thursday than when we went in early September - on a Saturday. Since they were pretty exclusively schoolkids, of all ages, we concluded it was a Seoul-wide-end-of-season-let's-go-to-Seoul-Land-thing. It was still really warm though, as I found out at the end of the day when we took the kids on this huge white rubber hill-like arrangement. I ran around with the kids for half an hour and had literally the most fun I've ever had ever. Ever.
The two boys in the front here, Harry and Noah, look like they're having fun. Nathan (maths video Nathan) in the back car looks terrified.
I just thought of another thing I miss a bit. Cheese. I'd love some cheese.
Friday 10 October 2008
Nine things I don't miss
Following on from the last post, Hair, here's a list (off the top of my head before I go out this Friday evening) of things I've not missed since leaving the Vaterland. There may be a corresponding list to follow.
1. The aforementioned hairdressers
2. Public transport. You can cross Seoul for a few thousand won, and generally subway journeys are less than a pound. The base rate for taxis is W1900, about £1, which makes it practically cheaper than walking. Plus buses, despite the fact that the drivers accelerate and brake at such intense velocities that I've lost all sense of balance a few times, are every couple of minutes, clean and quick, and all night too.
3. Weather. Self explanatory. I still get home every night and sit in my pants with the AC on. I understand my parents have had the central heating on since July 15th.
4. 1471. It hadn't occurred to me until a friend happened to mention it, circumstances forgotten, but he was right. I don't miss it. Um. Next one.
5. The general pacificy of life here, even on a weekend night is really nice. Even in Woodbridge, my hometown, walking home from the pub on a Friday night was a dice with death. Or at least a dice with a drunk chav pushing you uncoordinatedly in the shoulder. In Seoul, you could walk home at 2am from one side of the city to the other wearing a Korea is Gay thirt and you'd be fine. Probably:
I'm yet to test this.
5. Saturday night TV. No idea what's going on on Saturday night TV here, but at least John Barrowman's nowhere to be seen.
6. British football pundits. Though a year without Lawro was always going to be tough, I'm enjoying the lack of Gray, Pleat, Townsend, Shearer, that BBC woman and Garth fucking Crooks. Here commentary consists mainly of shouting whenever a team gets in the penalty area, which is fine by me.
7. In pubs, you don't have to wait at bars, you sit down and press a button to call the beer providing Korean person. When they arrive with your beverage, they also lavish you with complimentary crisps and, maybe, nuts, because it's bad form to drink without edible accompaniment. Friday night at the King's Head is a distant memory.
8. Living with my parents. Not that I don't miss my parents, I just don't miss living with them.
9. Microsoft Excel.
1. The aforementioned hairdressers
2. Public transport. You can cross Seoul for a few thousand won, and generally subway journeys are less than a pound. The base rate for taxis is W1900, about £1, which makes it practically cheaper than walking. Plus buses, despite the fact that the drivers accelerate and brake at such intense velocities that I've lost all sense of balance a few times, are every couple of minutes, clean and quick, and all night too.
3. Weather. Self explanatory. I still get home every night and sit in my pants with the AC on. I understand my parents have had the central heating on since July 15th.
4. 1471. It hadn't occurred to me until a friend happened to mention it, circumstances forgotten, but he was right. I don't miss it. Um. Next one.
5. The general pacificy of life here, even on a weekend night is really nice. Even in Woodbridge, my hometown, walking home from the pub on a Friday night was a dice with death. Or at least a dice with a drunk chav pushing you uncoordinatedly in the shoulder. In Seoul, you could walk home at 2am from one side of the city to the other wearing a Korea is Gay thirt and you'd be fine. Probably:
I'm yet to test this.
5. Saturday night TV. No idea what's going on on Saturday night TV here, but at least John Barrowman's nowhere to be seen.
6. British football pundits. Though a year without Lawro was always going to be tough, I'm enjoying the lack of Gray, Pleat, Townsend, Shearer, that BBC woman and Garth fucking Crooks. Here commentary consists mainly of shouting whenever a team gets in the penalty area, which is fine by me.
7. In pubs, you don't have to wait at bars, you sit down and press a button to call the beer providing Korean person. When they arrive with your beverage, they also lavish you with complimentary crisps and, maybe, nuts, because it's bad form to drink without edible accompaniment. Friday night at the King's Head is a distant memory.
8. Living with my parents. Not that I don't miss my parents, I just don't miss living with them.
9. Microsoft Excel.
Tuesday 7 October 2008
Hair
I used to hate having my hair cut. Back home, I went as rarely as possible: it was overpriced, I had to sit and look at myself for half an hour, and I generally didn't get it how I wanted it. Also, the main drawback, I had to talk to a hairdresser.
In Korea, while I still have a big mirror placed inescapably in front of me, the fact that it's half the price of in Ipswich is a bonus, but having my own personal stylist who always makes my hair look good and doesn't speak a word of English means I'm now having my locks trimmed every four weeks. Included in the W14000 (£7) price are not one but two hairwashes, the second incorporating a ridiculously relaxing head massage. The head massage makes me consider going more frequently.
Talking of follicles, just before the trip to Juno Hair I shaved my four-week beard. I'd grown quite attached to it, as I tend to with facial hair, and was weeping as I hacked it off, though that may have been down to the blunt razor I used. My kids were unsettlingly obsessed with it, and demanded that they feel it on a regular basis. That was just weird, so it had to go.
In Korea, while I still have a big mirror placed inescapably in front of me, the fact that it's half the price of in Ipswich is a bonus, but having my own personal stylist who always makes my hair look good and doesn't speak a word of English means I'm now having my locks trimmed every four weeks. Included in the W14000 (£7) price are not one but two hairwashes, the second incorporating a ridiculously relaxing head massage. The head massage makes me consider going more frequently.
Talking of follicles, just before the trip to Juno Hair I shaved my four-week beard. I'd grown quite attached to it, as I tend to with facial hair, and was weeping as I hacked it off, though that may have been down to the blunt razor I used. My kids were unsettlingly obsessed with it, and demanded that they feel it on a regular basis. That was just weird, so it had to go.
Sunday 5 October 2008
100
I must stop writing blogs while over the limit.
Sober tonight, so as promised, here's my big, happy, superpositive blog entry. Starting from tomorrow I now have two-hour-long lunches on Tuesdays and Thursdays, three hours on Mondays and Fridays, and on Wednesdays there are three hours and forty minutes between my morning and afternoon classes. You may feel that such a bloated break in the middle of the day would be a bit annoying, but I'm quite looking forward to it. Why? I live a few minutes away from school so can go home, if I want. Even after I've planned my lessons for the rest of the day, there'll still be time to read a good chunk of my book, or even watch a film. I mean, on Wednesday, I could fit in Lord of the god damn Rings. I can just get so much more stuff done. For somebody that lacks motivation some of the time, a big period of free time in the middle of the day is just what I need. I might even start going to the gym. But don't hold your breath. Anyway. Tomorrow I plan go shopping for a phone.
Yeah, I've been in a foreign country for three months, made friends and not died, without the use of a mobile phone... in 2008. It's like being in 1997 again. To be honest I've quite enjoyed the ability to go dark when I feel like it, but I now feel it's probably time to get connected. Last night I lost everyone in the stampede at the station before the fireworks, and only rendezvoused through sheer luck half an hour later. There were apparently more than an million people in the area, so I had been preparing myself for a night of solitude. I lost people coming out of a club in Itaewon later that night too, and was about to get into a taxi on my own when they showed themselves. A phone, I concluded, would solve any recurrences of these social quandaries. Just have to find a salesperson with a basic grasp of English now.
New girl arrived last week, and has settled in ridiculously well. On her second night here she forewent galbi, choosing to meet us for sojuing and noraebanging (with, unprecedentedly, the school's manager!) and, following a trip to Nowon, proceeded to be the penultimate man standing at 7am the next morning. I know this because I was the last man standing.
..I think.
To finish on an optimistic high, I'll mention how I feel after what is today 100 days since I arrived in Korea (I haven't been counting the days, I just happened to work it out last night when Sean brought something up). This is how I feel: I feel great. I would list all the reasons, but jesus, if you want to know read the rest of the blog. Bye!!
Sober tonight, so as promised, here's my big, happy, superpositive blog entry. Starting from tomorrow I now have two-hour-long lunches on Tuesdays and Thursdays, three hours on Mondays and Fridays, and on Wednesdays there are three hours and forty minutes between my morning and afternoon classes. You may feel that such a bloated break in the middle of the day would be a bit annoying, but I'm quite looking forward to it. Why? I live a few minutes away from school so can go home, if I want. Even after I've planned my lessons for the rest of the day, there'll still be time to read a good chunk of my book, or even watch a film. I mean, on Wednesday, I could fit in Lord of the god damn Rings. I can just get so much more stuff done. For somebody that lacks motivation some of the time, a big period of free time in the middle of the day is just what I need. I might even start going to the gym. But don't hold your breath. Anyway. Tomorrow I plan go shopping for a phone.
Yeah, I've been in a foreign country for three months, made friends and not died, without the use of a mobile phone... in 2008. It's like being in 1997 again. To be honest I've quite enjoyed the ability to go dark when I feel like it, but I now feel it's probably time to get connected. Last night I lost everyone in the stampede at the station before the fireworks, and only rendezvoused through sheer luck half an hour later. There were apparently more than an million people in the area, so I had been preparing myself for a night of solitude. I lost people coming out of a club in Itaewon later that night too, and was about to get into a taxi on my own when they showed themselves. A phone, I concluded, would solve any recurrences of these social quandaries. Just have to find a salesperson with a basic grasp of English now.
New girl arrived last week, and has settled in ridiculously well. On her second night here she forewent galbi, choosing to meet us for sojuing and noraebanging (with, unprecedentedly, the school's manager!) and, following a trip to Nowon, proceeded to be the penultimate man standing at 7am the next morning. I know this because I was the last man standing.
..I think.
To finish on an optimistic high, I'll mention how I feel after what is today 100 days since I arrived in Korea (I haven't been counting the days, I just happened to work it out last night when Sean brought something up). This is how I feel: I feel great. I would list all the reasons, but jesus, if you want to know read the rest of the blog. Bye!!
Tonight
Tonight, we went to see some fireworks. The fireworks were OK, though I was, as I am with all pyrotechnics, struck by the expensive ephemerality of it all. Bang bang bang. Blah.
It was quite pretty though.
Then, as a result of proximity, we went to Itaewon, which was for some reason nastier than usual. It's never the sort of place you'd take your mum after dark, but tonight there was an unhealthy abundance of cocks. A few minutes after arriving we witnessed a fight involving sticks, head stamping and a man repeatedly headbutting a glass facade until it cracked. Everywhere was uncomfortably busy, and busy not only with your usual revellers, but with unending conglomerations of cocks. Also, I ordered a sandwich with no tomato, and they put tomato in it. Cocks.
This post is rather negative. I'll try to balance out the next one with some ridiculously fun stuff, with which my life in Korea is generally more inclined.
It was quite pretty though.
Then, as a result of proximity, we went to Itaewon, which was for some reason nastier than usual. It's never the sort of place you'd take your mum after dark, but tonight there was an unhealthy abundance of cocks. A few minutes after arriving we witnessed a fight involving sticks, head stamping and a man repeatedly headbutting a glass facade until it cracked. Everywhere was uncomfortably busy, and busy not only with your usual revellers, but with unending conglomerations of cocks. Also, I ordered a sandwich with no tomato, and they put tomato in it. Cocks.
This post is rather negative. I'll try to balance out the next one with some ridiculously fun stuff, with which my life in Korea is generally more inclined.
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