Annyeong Haseyo to one and all. I trust I find you all well? First off I'd like to wish ya'll a belated New Year. I hope your festive season was swell and the ensuing debris wasn't too painful.
I myself had a lovely Christmas as my Mommy and Sis flew the vast oceans and landmasses to visit me! It was really cool to show them around and introduce them to all the many joys Korea has to offer. Obviously including Korean BBQs, singing rooms and taxi drivers with less knowledge of Seoul than me. They even got to see me in my element (heehee) at E.L.L. I think they enjoyed seeing my wonderful establishment until the mandatory introduction to the principle. I believe I've mentioned him before-a grasp of English akin to a snoozing Spaniard and a personality as dry as a piece of unbuttered toast. It was relatively uncomfortable to say the very least. We also managed to climb up a big ol' hill in search of Buddhist temples and carvings of the big man himself only to find...well nothing really. My dearest Mother now informs me I led us down the wrong path, um yeah that sounds like me. A nice walk all the same though with some stunning views of apartment buildings as far as the eye could see.
Since then I've spent the winter evenings tucked up indoors 'cos it's bloody cold. Plus I've been working a normal 9 to 5 working day instead of the usual 2 to 9. So like a good conscientious teacher I've been gettin' early nights during the week.
My most excitng excursion in the last month has been to some snowy mountains outside of Seoul. I did this in order to throw myself down them with a plank of wood strapped to my feet. More accurately a fibreglass board but my feet were strapped to it and I definately threw myself down the mountains. It was a relatively successful first attempt at the boarding of snow. Plus it was a lot of fun if nothing else. The only problem being I'm still hurting bad thanks to falls a plenty. I got off lightly though considering Ris was lucky enough to get a Ski in his back at high velocity-ouchy. Halfway up a mountain I heard some Korean over the tannoy followed by "Richard Harris", then some more Korean and "Daniel Grainger". Hmmm useful announcement for the Englishman who can say "beer", "tired" and "hungry" in Korean and not much else. Luckily we ran into two flustered Korean girls talking about "my mistake...I'm sorry...your friend" in broken English. They led us to the first aid building where Richard was sitting looking a little bemused. Poor chap could barely walk for the rest of the day. Anyway the rest of us had better luck on the slopes and should be pro after a couple more outings.
Check out pictures from Christmas, Snowboarding and other random things here http://www.ringo.com/profile/dan_grainger54.html
Goodbye for now. Hopefully I'll have something else exciting to report on in the next month!