안녕하세요? 어떻게 지내세요? That means "Hellooo there, how's tricks?".
So here we are again, very nearly one month into a second stint in the Peoples Republic of Korea. I'm sat in my 'office-tel' apartment, drinking tea, wearing a Kimono and enjoying the furor of the 'Gwangmyeong Music Festival 2007' currently taking place outside my window. Just thought you'd enjoy that visual.
So then my first month. It's been grand so far to be honest. Full of work, play and a distinct lack of drunken Irish roommates (I'm yet to decide if that leans on the good or bad). Certainly it's been quieter during the working week so far. Evenings have been spent reading, studying and exercising. In stark contrast to a life of beer and playstation filled nights last time around.
My new school seems splendid so far as well. It's called SLP and it's a wee bit bigger than the last one. The atmosphere is an entire shed load better, mainly thanks to the absence of inept Supervisors and psychotic Vice-principles. I teach for about four hours a day which, again, is quite disparate to my last experience. The only issue I have is that the school itself is on the second floor of a building but most of my lessons are in a converted apartment on the sixth floor. Two classrooms and a toilet means that during classes when I'm supposedly not Mr. Teacher Man I've got nowhere to go to get away from the little plebes. But already I find even the most moronic of my students terribly endearing. I spent one lesson teaching "Is he running?", "Is she eating?" etc...40minutes on this one grammar point. So I went around the classroom eliciting "No, he isn't", "Yes, she is", not too tricky you might think. One boy would disagree. I show him a picture of a man running, "Is he drawing?" I ask. "Yes, he is" is the reply. Okay I thought, not the right answer but at least it's grammatically correct. "Drawing???? Really??" in a high-pitched mock tone (it'll usually get a laugh if nothing else). "Ahhh!" says this young man as I think the penny drops, "She runnings!" with the conviction of a deranged demagogue. The class erupts at the poor dunce and from this point he's embarrassed and flailing "She...no...he...running...is...". There's no coming back from this my little amigo. I'm sorry I put you in this situation. Being ridiculed by your peers for speaking some bad English...it's just not a good way to go. I was just about to wrap up the lesson as he stands up (in what seemed to me slow-motion, with some inspirational score playing in the background) and very nearly screams "NO....HE.....ISN'T!!!!". I give a victorious, and rousing "Yeah!" and the rest of the class congratulates him with silence. That little man left looking entirely chuffed with himself and I'm sure it's a story he'll tell his kids (probably in English). That's what it's all about, three words of English in the right order. I've got a million stories just like that but I believe you to have been regaled sufficiently for now.
I feel my story about the 'simpleton that succeeded' means that my tales of the East Coast and Japan will have to be decidedly short. So here it is: I went on holiday to the East Coast of Korea with Richard. We went up a mountain and sat on a beach, it were reet good. The pictures will tell the rest of the tale....
I also went to Japan to get my Korean Visa. I wandered around in nigh-on 40degree heat, met some guys at the Korean consulate and stole a Kimono (see earlier for more on this). It was just one night and the pictures ain't great because I only had a disposable camera with me but it was a nice little diversion.
So I'm thinking once a month will be sufficient for this bloggy thing, I'm not that interesting after all. So see you this time next month (maybe I'll tell you a story about a girl mis-pronouncing "cheese", but maybe not, wait and see).


My very short sojourn to Fukuoka, Japan.....

Fukuoka beach in Japan, quite nice really.

A lantern hanging outside the Noodle place by the river where we ate.

The Korean embassy in Fukuoka, many a happy hour spent here.





And my holiday to the East Coast of Korea with Richard during Korean thanksgiving (추석). Seokcho and Mount Seorak.....

The cable car up to 서락산 (Mount Seorak).

"Brabo" indeed. An outstanding understanding of written English.

Atop the tower in Seokcho, the city on the East Coast.

Atop Mount Seorak.

Cwazy Koreans doing some scrambling without ropes.

A big, huge, mega Buddha.

See Mom I'm drinking water on the beach.

Is the Sea of Japan perhaps a tad cold Mr. Harris?

Squid drying for later consumption by Koreans who think it's the best snack food ever.

Fishy restaurant, we didn't partake.