A question posed to me by Kelvin last week, Kelvin from my smart afternoon class.
My Friday class is currently all about strange creatures - the Loch Ness monster, Bigfoot, giant squids.. 'Bat Boy' - and last week we'd digressed onto the subject of zombies (or 'jombies'), which led to the electronic dictionaries being taken out. As I was explaining the concept of being undead, Jenny looked up the Korean word for corpse and showed Kelvin. A few seconds later a combination of amusement and horror passed over his face as he scrolled down a couple of entries in the list to the Korean word for, erm, necrophilia. It had a short description and everything.
Now how do you respond to that one? It's uncomfortable enough to explain away a question about sex.. normal, living people sex.. but there's no way to get around cadaver love.
OK. Next page, come on. First one to finish gets twenty stickers. Just don't ask me any more questions.
Sunday, 14 December 2008
Monday, 8 December 2008
Not much to report
A day after last month's payday, I bought a new laptop, a holiday to Japan and a curry. I was consequently constrained by a tight budget which prevented me from doing all that much. Fortunately, I was able procure all five seasons of TV show The Wire, thus satiating my lust for entertainment without the need to leave my apartment. Sixty hours of my my life well spent.
I have been outside though - don't assume I've become a hermit - I've just been more localised. I've discovered chicken hofs. Chicken hofs are great. They sell fried chicken, and they sell beer, that's mostly it. I think. They may sell more, but the menu is all in Korean, and I can read what chicken is because it's the same as English. The one we frequent regularly is the immodestly named Best Chicken Hof, but there's as many, if not more than there are Noraebangs and English schools within a literal stone's throw.
This weekend was cold, very, very cold. Minus figures. This is not unremarkable, nor would it usually be much of an inconvenience: I quite like the cold, in fact my last few holidays have been to Nordic countries, and it's finally cold enough for me to break out my favourite sweater. However when the coldest day of the year coincides with the inexplicable disappearance of running hot water and heating, it gets a bit annoyong. It wasn't just that the water didn't get hot, there was no hot water. When you turned on the hot tap, nothing, literally, came out. Then, after the ouside had warmed up and everything, it came back. If this is going to happen whenever it drops below zero I'm going to have to complain. I mean, tell someone who speaks Korean to complain for me. Still don't have heating.
And it's not only the temperature that's been dropping: so are our numbers at ECC. The kids are dropping like flies, not through illness - not even through overwork which is commendable - just disappearing... to other schools, to concentrate on their elementary school exams, I don't know. The reasons are often unforthcoming and always vague. The kids themselves tell you nothing - they just cease to turn up one day, and after a couple of days of absence you have to go to your Korean partner teacher to enquire as to their whereabouts. Three afternoons a week in November I taught a class of 12 followed by a class of 8. These have now been respectively decimated to 6 and 4. In the first class I lost a lot of good guys, but I can't say I'm in any way concerned about the removal of half the second class. They were shit.
Right now I'm counting the days until the Japan trip, which will finally provide a reason to put some photos up on here. So apologies for all these lines and lines of letters. As it happens I'm meandering along quite nicely. My life is constructed with healthily equal amounts of optimism and pessimism, love and hate. You'll be aware if you know me that I'm very much the misanthrope and there's ample cause for, and opportunity for release of, those sentiments here, but its more than balanced with all the good things. Work isn't that taxing, I still have my grotesquely long lunches which, coupled with the well-structured blocks of between seven and nine 40-minute lessons a day, ensure that the days and the weeks flow with disarming haste. I was asked today what my plans were for next July. My reply was that it's seven months away and yeah, y'know, it'll work out.
But really, I should start weighing stuff up.
I have been outside though - don't assume I've become a hermit - I've just been more localised. I've discovered chicken hofs. Chicken hofs are great. They sell fried chicken, and they sell beer, that's mostly it. I think. They may sell more, but the menu is all in Korean, and I can read what chicken is because it's the same as English. The one we frequent regularly is the immodestly named Best Chicken Hof, but there's as many, if not more than there are Noraebangs and English schools within a literal stone's throw.
This weekend was cold, very, very cold. Minus figures. This is not unremarkable, nor would it usually be much of an inconvenience: I quite like the cold, in fact my last few holidays have been to Nordic countries, and it's finally cold enough for me to break out my favourite sweater. However when the coldest day of the year coincides with the inexplicable disappearance of running hot water and heating, it gets a bit annoyong. It wasn't just that the water didn't get hot, there was no hot water. When you turned on the hot tap, nothing, literally, came out. Then, after the ouside had warmed up and everything, it came back. If this is going to happen whenever it drops below zero I'm going to have to complain. I mean, tell someone who speaks Korean to complain for me. Still don't have heating.
And it's not only the temperature that's been dropping: so are our numbers at ECC. The kids are dropping like flies, not through illness - not even through overwork which is commendable - just disappearing... to other schools, to concentrate on their elementary school exams, I don't know. The reasons are often unforthcoming and always vague. The kids themselves tell you nothing - they just cease to turn up one day, and after a couple of days of absence you have to go to your Korean partner teacher to enquire as to their whereabouts. Three afternoons a week in November I taught a class of 12 followed by a class of 8. These have now been respectively decimated to 6 and 4. In the first class I lost a lot of good guys, but I can't say I'm in any way concerned about the removal of half the second class. They were shit.
Right now I'm counting the days until the Japan trip, which will finally provide a reason to put some photos up on here. So apologies for all these lines and lines of letters. As it happens I'm meandering along quite nicely. My life is constructed with healthily equal amounts of optimism and pessimism, love and hate. You'll be aware if you know me that I'm very much the misanthrope and there's ample cause for, and opportunity for release of, those sentiments here, but its more than balanced with all the good things. Work isn't that taxing, I still have my grotesquely long lunches which, coupled with the well-structured blocks of between seven and nine 40-minute lessons a day, ensure that the days and the weeks flow with disarming haste. I was asked today what my plans were for next July. My reply was that it's seven months away and yeah, y'know, it'll work out.
But really, I should start weighing stuff up.
Sunday, 23 November 2008
Promotion Day
Yesterday was the school's annual promotion day, and for our manager, the most stressful day of the year. For us, it was just a minor inconvienence that we had to go to work on a Saturday and give a minute-long speech about something to do with the curriculum.
Parents of potential new students were invited to see what ECC is all about, meet the teachers, see the classrooms, learn what books we use and so on, in the hope that they'd open their wallets. The majority of the school's money comes from this day so the manager was keen to make us seem as good as the other schools in the area (because from what I gather, other schools have a better reputation.. damn you to hell, Poly.)
We didn't see many of the potential new kinder recruits, but there were a few there: two boys with boundless energy and a propensity to throw things, a girl barely out of nappies who cried every time a foreigner looked at her, and a pretty odd kid who, while playing in her own little world, balanced a rotating assortment of plastic fruit on her head. The parents, the dads especially, all looked a bit bored, and apparently only a few signed up on the day. So we'll see how that goes.
After promotion day we went to a bar we'd not been to before, only a few minutes' walk away, but pretty well disguised. It's called Hey Hey Hey. I'd seen the sign for ages, but was unaware until recently what it actually was. On the sign there's a picture of seventies cartoon character Fat Albert, as in the one voiced by Bill Cosby, remember? I had to look it up. So, yeah. There's a bar in Seoul named after the catchphrase of a long-forgotten black American morbidly obese cartoon character. Interestingly inside the place there's no further reference to Fat Albert.
Parents of potential new students were invited to see what ECC is all about, meet the teachers, see the classrooms, learn what books we use and so on, in the hope that they'd open their wallets. The majority of the school's money comes from this day so the manager was keen to make us seem as good as the other schools in the area (because from what I gather, other schools have a better reputation.. damn you to hell, Poly.)
We didn't see many of the potential new kinder recruits, but there were a few there: two boys with boundless energy and a propensity to throw things, a girl barely out of nappies who cried every time a foreigner looked at her, and a pretty odd kid who, while playing in her own little world, balanced a rotating assortment of plastic fruit on her head. The parents, the dads especially, all looked a bit bored, and apparently only a few signed up on the day. So we'll see how that goes.
After promotion day we went to a bar we'd not been to before, only a few minutes' walk away, but pretty well disguised. It's called Hey Hey Hey. I'd seen the sign for ages, but was unaware until recently what it actually was. On the sign there's a picture of seventies cartoon character Fat Albert, as in the one voiced by Bill Cosby, remember? I had to look it up. So, yeah. There's a bar in Seoul named after the catchphrase of a long-forgotten black American morbidly obese cartoon character. Interestingly inside the place there's no further reference to Fat Albert.
Tuesday, 11 November 2008
Open Lessons, Pepero Day
For the last month I've been teaching a 'special' lesson alongside my usual textbooks for two of my classes, at a significantly higher level than what the kids are used to, for the purpose of impressing their watching parents. We practiced every day, to the point that everybody became intensely bored with it and yearned for a return to the normal structure. But the parents don't want to see a standard lesson from the standard text book thereby giving an accurate representation of how their child is performing in school. No. They insist that we place them in battery cages and drill into their mushy heads twice a day the same regurgitated lesson for four long stultifying weeks.
Whatever. With my homeroom Cambridge 1 class we did the polar regions. I had them memorise how to spell Antarctica, where penguins live and who the first man to reach the north pole was, that sort of thing. We did the lesson last Thursday and it was a success, I think. No kids have quit yet, and I've been told that in the past, as a result of a substandard open lesson, they have.
Today I taught the prodigies in Harvard class the history of chocolate. They did quite well, considering they had to memorise and incorporate into sentences words like civilisation, conquistador, Xocolatl and Tenochtitlan (they're six). Jenny actually nailed 'Tenochtitlan' but came unstuck on the word 'milk'...
It was also unintentionally prescient of me to choose the history of chocolate as my open lesson, as today in Korea, it is Pepero Day. Although alliteratively connected, Peperos have nothing to do with poppies, and the celebrations are about as far removed from two minute silences as you're going to get. Peperos are biscuit sticks coated in chocolate, made by the Lotte conglomeration, given to "the special person in your life" on this day every year. Lotte thought up this celebratory day a few years ago, plumping for this date as written numerically it's 11/11, which, obviously, resembles four peperos. They're pretty basic to be honest, with little in the way of taste, but the kids can't get enough. And I, being their beloved teacher, have been showered with them. This flash video will explain nothing but click it anyway for further proof that Asia is just insane.
Remember: Dulce et decorum est... Pepero...
Whatever. With my homeroom Cambridge 1 class we did the polar regions. I had them memorise how to spell Antarctica, where penguins live and who the first man to reach the north pole was, that sort of thing. We did the lesson last Thursday and it was a success, I think. No kids have quit yet, and I've been told that in the past, as a result of a substandard open lesson, they have.
Today I taught the prodigies in Harvard class the history of chocolate. They did quite well, considering they had to memorise and incorporate into sentences words like civilisation, conquistador, Xocolatl and Tenochtitlan (they're six). Jenny actually nailed 'Tenochtitlan' but came unstuck on the word 'milk'...
It was also unintentionally prescient of me to choose the history of chocolate as my open lesson, as today in Korea, it is Pepero Day. Although alliteratively connected, Peperos have nothing to do with poppies, and the celebrations are about as far removed from two minute silences as you're going to get. Peperos are biscuit sticks coated in chocolate, made by the Lotte conglomeration, given to "the special person in your life" on this day every year. Lotte thought up this celebratory day a few years ago, plumping for this date as written numerically it's 11/11, which, obviously, resembles four peperos. They're pretty basic to be honest, with little in the way of taste, but the kids can't get enough. And I, being their beloved teacher, have been showered with them. This flash video will explain nothing but click it anyway for further proof that Asia is just insane.
Remember: Dulce et decorum est... Pepero...
Friday, 31 October 2008
Hallowe'en
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.
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.
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.
Sunday, 28 September 2008
Weather report
Today (despite what it says above) is the first day of October, and summer's still in full swing. It was, according to internet weather sources, 25°C today, and I just walked to the shops in shorts and flip flops. Still, there are signs that winter's on its way.
According to the same source, last Tuesday it was 30°C. The next day, it had dropped ten degrees. Autumn, it seemed, had arrived literally overnight. The first morning of the mysterious dip in temperature was a bit weird: for the first time in three months I was actually a little tiny bit cold. I soon realised, however, that I was merely experiencing what are normal British summertime conditions. Koreans, meanwhile, were wrapping up like a blizzard was coming. While a good number of jumpers, coats and even scarves were dusted off here in Korea, a quick glance at the crowd at the Premier League game on TV on Saturday and not a long sleeve in sight. I checked the temperature in Liverpool and yep, at 21 degrees it was the same as here.
I'd been enjoying the breeze and finally relenting humidity, but the last couple of days have been pretty warm. Winter's supposed to be bitter here - given the fact that the locals are layering up on balmy 21 degree afternoons, seriously, how bad can it be? (Check back here in about six weeks...)
According to the same source, last Tuesday it was 30°C. The next day, it had dropped ten degrees. Autumn, it seemed, had arrived literally overnight. The first morning of the mysterious dip in temperature was a bit weird: for the first time in three months I was actually a little tiny bit cold. I soon realised, however, that I was merely experiencing what are normal British summertime conditions. Koreans, meanwhile, were wrapping up like a blizzard was coming. While a good number of jumpers, coats and even scarves were dusted off here in Korea, a quick glance at the crowd at the Premier League game on TV on Saturday and not a long sleeve in sight. I checked the temperature in Liverpool and yep, at 21 degrees it was the same as here.
I'd been enjoying the breeze and finally relenting humidity, but the last couple of days have been pretty warm. Winter's supposed to be bitter here - given the fact that the locals are layering up on balmy 21 degree afternoons, seriously, how bad can it be? (Check back here in about six weeks...)
Thursday, 18 September 2008
Catch up
Since my last post was all about Taiwan, here's some other stuff.
Couple of weeks ago we bought Korean Monopoly. They use world cities as opposed to areas of a city. Mayfair is Seoul, and Old Kent Road is Tripoli. Mild fun, despite not knowing what the cards said.
Next day, we went to a theme park. Korean theme parks are identical to theme parks anywhere else, though this one did have a sex education centre. Seoul Land is at the opposite end of the Blue subway line to us, ie, South of Seoul. Since we live close to the second to last stop at the north of the city, we easily found a seat, and spent the 70 or 80 minute ride in relative peace. We saw all it had to offer, and while it was a bit dated, it fulfilled all that was expected of a theme park, with two rollercoasters, a pirate ship (advertised as "Korea's largest Viking with the largest seating capacity among all Viking facilities in Korea", which is just brilliant), a log flume, spookyhouse, various spinny things and assorted sideshows and attractions. We left well and truly exhausted and a little nauseated, a feeling exacerbated by the fact we had to stand up all the way back. Or at least I did.
Last weekend was Chuseok, which is like harvest festival or thanksgiving or whatever. On Friday all the kids came to school wearing traditional Korean Hanboks, which made the place look like the wardrobe department at a school production of Aladdin, or an early nineties shellsuit shop. I can't decide which. Anyway, all the teachers had to wear one too. We borrowed teachers' husbands' stuff. Again, you'll find evidence on facebook... Here are some kids armwrestling, "chicken-fighting," and er, a bit of millinary.
The bottom two are the enigma that is Jasmine and Eric, both from my 'homeroom' class (I teach them twice a day and give them tests and that). Eric is cultivating quite a remarkable five o'clock shadow for a 6 year old, and rightly so, he's incredibly proud of it. He keeps stroking it and smiling to himself. I've had to grow my beard back to put him in his place.
OK That'll do for now. Tomorrow the kindergarten kids have a field trip which means I don't start until 3pm, hence my posting at 2am in the morning.
Couple of weeks ago we bought Korean Monopoly. They use world cities as opposed to areas of a city. Mayfair is Seoul, and Old Kent Road is Tripoli. Mild fun, despite not knowing what the cards said.
Next day, we went to a theme park. Korean theme parks are identical to theme parks anywhere else, though this one did have a sex education centre. Seoul Land is at the opposite end of the Blue subway line to us, ie, South of Seoul. Since we live close to the second to last stop at the north of the city, we easily found a seat, and spent the 70 or 80 minute ride in relative peace. We saw all it had to offer, and while it was a bit dated, it fulfilled all that was expected of a theme park, with two rollercoasters, a pirate ship (advertised as "Korea's largest Viking with the largest seating capacity among all Viking facilities in Korea", which is just brilliant), a log flume, spookyhouse, various spinny things and assorted sideshows and attractions. We left well and truly exhausted and a little nauseated, a feeling exacerbated by the fact we had to stand up all the way back. Or at least I did.
Last weekend was Chuseok, which is like harvest festival or thanksgiving or whatever. On Friday all the kids came to school wearing traditional Korean Hanboks, which made the place look like the wardrobe department at a school production of Aladdin, or an early nineties shellsuit shop. I can't decide which. Anyway, all the teachers had to wear one too. We borrowed teachers' husbands' stuff. Again, you'll find evidence on facebook... Here are some kids armwrestling, "chicken-fighting," and er, a bit of millinary.
The bottom two are the enigma that is Jasmine and Eric, both from my 'homeroom' class (I teach them twice a day and give them tests and that). Eric is cultivating quite a remarkable five o'clock shadow for a 6 year old, and rightly so, he's incredibly proud of it. He keeps stroking it and smiling to himself. I've had to grow my beard back to put him in his place.OK That'll do for now. Tomorrow the kindergarten kids have a field trip which means I don't start until 3pm, hence my posting at 2am in the morning.
Taipei: surviving Typhoon Sinlaku
My excitement in coming to Korea was increased by the prospect of popping across to other parts of Asia while my geographical position was favourable. Luckily other people shared this peripateticism and on Saturday morning four of us jetted out to Taiwan. Lovely, subtropical Taiwan, I thought prior to leaving, with its palm tree-lined streets and average September temperature of 31C. Upon boarding the plane we were informed that we may experience some turbulence on landing owing to the massive typhoon that was battering north-eastern Taiwan. Great.
After a surprisingly smooth landing (our pilot was called Peter Parker, that would be why) we disembarked and saw the Taiwanese palm trees, only they were blown horizontal in force twelve winds as raindrops twice the size of ordinary precipitation battered the windows. Nothing was open on the Saturday afternoon we arrived. The first hotel we arrived at had slightly over the top storm defences covering their glass entrance, and it took a while to find somewhere to eat, at last deciding on something familiar from Korea: Shabu Shabu. I got through three umbrellas in three days, wetter than I've ever been in clothes, and at times, thoroughly pissed off. Got a bit of a cold too, though it could've been worse. Google "Typhoon Sinlaku video". Yeah not far away from the capital, bridges were collapsing, a hotel was floating away and there were quite a few fatalities. Like I say, I'll take the cold.
Tuesday saw the sun come out and it was quite nice, though we were on the bus to the airport just after lunch. Conclusion? I'm not going back. The thing I was most looking forward to was visiting the world's tallest completed building, the Taipei 101. Guess how many floors it has. The observation floor (also the highest anywhere) was on the 89th floor, but the poor visibility made it a let down. The view was not good when we arrived and only deteriorated until it felt like we were in some sort of milk aquarium. A trip in the world's fastest lift was fun though. Eighty-nine floors in 37 seconds. It takes about the same length of time to ascend seven floors in our school building. To end on a positive note, the Taiwanese people are very nice, and interestingly speak better English than the majority of Koreans in the service industry. It was a novelty for me to have a conversation with the waitress or the bar staff!
Something struck me when I returned to my apartment too: it was nice to be home. Yeah, home. This is very much my home now - for the next nine and a half months or so anyway. I feel very comfortable, very at ease in my surroundings. It's good.
Our next holiday will be the very carefully nomenclatured Japan-demonium on Christmas eve. The countdown begins.
After a surprisingly smooth landing (our pilot was called Peter Parker, that would be why) we disembarked and saw the Taiwanese palm trees, only they were blown horizontal in force twelve winds as raindrops twice the size of ordinary precipitation battered the windows. Nothing was open on the Saturday afternoon we arrived. The first hotel we arrived at had slightly over the top storm defences covering their glass entrance, and it took a while to find somewhere to eat, at last deciding on something familiar from Korea: Shabu Shabu. I got through three umbrellas in three days, wetter than I've ever been in clothes, and at times, thoroughly pissed off. Got a bit of a cold too, though it could've been worse. Google "Typhoon Sinlaku video". Yeah not far away from the capital, bridges were collapsing, a hotel was floating away and there were quite a few fatalities. Like I say, I'll take the cold.
Tuesday saw the sun come out and it was quite nice, though we were on the bus to the airport just after lunch. Conclusion? I'm not going back. The thing I was most looking forward to was visiting the world's tallest completed building, the Taipei 101. Guess how many floors it has. The observation floor (also the highest anywhere) was on the 89th floor, but the poor visibility made it a let down. The view was not good when we arrived and only deteriorated until it felt like we were in some sort of milk aquarium. A trip in the world's fastest lift was fun though. Eighty-nine floors in 37 seconds. It takes about the same length of time to ascend seven floors in our school building. To end on a positive note, the Taiwanese people are very nice, and interestingly speak better English than the majority of Koreans in the service industry. It was a novelty for me to have a conversation with the waitress or the bar staff!
Something struck me when I returned to my apartment too: it was nice to be home. Yeah, home. This is very much my home now - for the next nine and a half months or so anyway. I feel very comfortable, very at ease in my surroundings. It's good.
Our next holiday will be the very carefully nomenclatured Japan-demonium on Christmas eve. The countdown begins.
Sunday, 7 September 2008
Nobody likes a quitter
Today is Sunday, and we've just been noraebanging for the past couple of hours. Which means lots of soju and shouting along to such classics as Wuthering Heights and Careless Whisper. Have to teach in the morning. Ow.
A week last Tuesday a new girl arrived at ECC to replace Rachel, the Teessider who went home this week. She'd been in contact with our co-worker and her fellow Canadian Laura for months, and she'd talked to everyone else on facebook prior to coming, so we expected her to slot into the ECC way nicely. On the Wednesday, the day after she arrived, I was out with a friend when Laura had a phone call from the new girl's mum, saying she'd had a bit of a freakout and could they go and see her.
She was staying in the same love motel as I did the first couple of nights, in Suyu, so a couple of guys went down to see her. They knocked, there was no answer, they went home. Apparently she was asleep - at half past 9? The next night we persuaded her to come to see us in Eunhaeng Sageori for some galbi, but she barely ate anything, didn't drink, and generally looked pretty fed up and it was more than clear then that she wasn't going be around much longer. We called our school's manager to tell her what was going on and the next day a replacement was actively sought.
Sure enough, she didn't stay. We invited her out at the weekend but she declined. We invited her out for dinner during the week - nope. She's made it clear that she hates Korea and wants to get back to Canada as soon as possible... and the reason for this? It's "too foreign" here. It's hard to get into her head to know what she must be thinking. I mean, If I'd decided to quit after two days here, my friends would ridicule me, I wouldn't be able to look my family in the eye, it'd just be embarrassing. Not only that but this contract termination means she has to pay for her flights, out and back, which is more than £1000. If she'd worked even for a month she'd have broken even. I can't fathom the mindlessness of deciding to live on the other side of the world for a year when you blatently don't want to. Yeah, if I sound a little bitter, here's the reason: we have to sub her classes until a replacement can be recruited. Which could be a while.
She's been teaching here since last Tuesday and will do tomorrow, we assume, but her flight is on Tuesday. The atmosphere in the office slightly sour, and obviously so. Like I say, if she'd stayed for a month not only would she be fine financially, a new teacher could be recruited, we'd be happy, and she might even have had a good time. But that won't happen when you lock yourself in your room at the weekend eating low fat Pringles, doing laundry and weeping. Which is what happened this weekend.
Let's hope the new new person isn't such a disastrously weak human being.
A week last Tuesday a new girl arrived at ECC to replace Rachel, the Teessider who went home this week. She'd been in contact with our co-worker and her fellow Canadian Laura for months, and she'd talked to everyone else on facebook prior to coming, so we expected her to slot into the ECC way nicely. On the Wednesday, the day after she arrived, I was out with a friend when Laura had a phone call from the new girl's mum, saying she'd had a bit of a freakout and could they go and see her.
She was staying in the same love motel as I did the first couple of nights, in Suyu, so a couple of guys went down to see her. They knocked, there was no answer, they went home. Apparently she was asleep - at half past 9? The next night we persuaded her to come to see us in Eunhaeng Sageori for some galbi, but she barely ate anything, didn't drink, and generally looked pretty fed up and it was more than clear then that she wasn't going be around much longer. We called our school's manager to tell her what was going on and the next day a replacement was actively sought.
Sure enough, she didn't stay. We invited her out at the weekend but she declined. We invited her out for dinner during the week - nope. She's made it clear that she hates Korea and wants to get back to Canada as soon as possible... and the reason for this? It's "too foreign" here. It's hard to get into her head to know what she must be thinking. I mean, If I'd decided to quit after two days here, my friends would ridicule me, I wouldn't be able to look my family in the eye, it'd just be embarrassing. Not only that but this contract termination means she has to pay for her flights, out and back, which is more than £1000. If she'd worked even for a month she'd have broken even. I can't fathom the mindlessness of deciding to live on the other side of the world for a year when you blatently don't want to. Yeah, if I sound a little bitter, here's the reason: we have to sub her classes until a replacement can be recruited. Which could be a while.
She's been teaching here since last Tuesday and will do tomorrow, we assume, but her flight is on Tuesday. The atmosphere in the office slightly sour, and obviously so. Like I say, if she'd stayed for a month not only would she be fine financially, a new teacher could be recruited, we'd be happy, and she might even have had a good time. But that won't happen when you lock yourself in your room at the weekend eating low fat Pringles, doing laundry and weeping. Which is what happened this weekend.
Let's hope the new new person isn't such a disastrously weak human being.
Friday, 5 September 2008
Too many sandwiches
Remember my unabashed eulogising of Little Jakob's, the sandwich shop downstairs? For maybe a couple of weeks now, they've known what I'm going to order when I walk in. Chicken-Ham Original, no tomato, kiwi smoothie. Mmm. I thought that was pretty cool. Today, they noticed that I'd had my hair cut. Hmmm.
I'm also on first name terms with the guy that works in the MiniStop next door to Jakob's. Josh. I generally only go in there to buy beer and yan yans though, so not sure what he thinks of me.
I'm also on first name terms with the guy that works in the MiniStop next door to Jakob's. Josh. I generally only go in there to buy beer and yan yans though, so not sure what he thinks of me.
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