Off To The Sauna Tonight To Pamper Myself

Tonight I am off to do one of my favourite things in Korea; go to the public bath. I love the place and feel like a million bucks once I leave there. Then out with Dave again to visit a Korean fella that paid for all our drinks while we were at another place last Sunday. He is the owner of a local place called Dogobi, which means Frog in Korean. We want to repay him for his generosity and of course, we want to hang out with each other too. That is why that picture that I got from my Dad today is so apt to describe my best friend, Dave Anjema!!!!!!

It is hard to describe other than the fact that you walk around completely butt arse naked and then go into either the sauna, steam room, hot bath, cold bath or other baths with different concoctions of things to make your skin healthier.

My usual routine is to go from the sauna to the cold bath and keep going back and forth for about an hour. In the sauna and steamroom there is an hourglass that times how long you are in there. Each flip of it when it empties is 5 minutes. So I usually go in for one flip of the hourglass and then in the cold bath for about 10 minutes. Wait for my body to cool down adequately and then back in the sauna again and again and again and again and again..........






Where was I ? Oh yeh, at the sauna. Anyway, the places are immaculately clean. They are constantly cleaned by the staff there and and I have watched them scrub the mirrors and floors and even one time powerwashed one of the baths. They are very popular places here in Korea and a steadfast part of Korean culture. Most of the fathers take their sons to the public bath occassionally on the weekends or for other special occassions.

Here is a nice picture of my Mum when her and Dad went to see the play "Spamalot" in Toronto last weekend. It was Dad's 68th birthday and he got the tickets as a present from our Jackie, my sister.

They both said it was great and they would actually go and see it again! Mum looks great and I must say so does Dad! Retirement suits them so well. They look healthier now than they did 10 years ago. I guess the Huff 'n' Puff gym is helping them out too. What a great name eh for a fitness center for older people.... hehe.

This one is a great one of Mum and Dad and our Jackie and Nuri, Kate and Jamie. The kids are growing up so quickly! Our Kate starts at the University of Toronto in September and Jamie starts grade 12 too. When I left Canada in September 2004, Jamie was really short and now look at him. He is the same size as both our Jackie and his sister. He was always so paranoid about being short and used to actually cry about it sometimes. I told him to give his head a shake and that he was only 14 at the time.... for Christ's sakes!!!!!!

I put the cover of this book "Enders Game" on here as it is one of the novels that the wisdom level kids are reading at Avalon. I was originally going to teach it, but then they decided that they had me doing enough classes.

I actually started reading it and was enjoying it. I have read about the first 10 chapters and aim on carrying on reading it. It is a science-fiction novel, which usually don't interest me in the least, but this one is fun and caught my attention right away.

I also read another novel called "Hoot," which was also really good and I taught that one to two classes during the intensive period. We also downloaded the movie and showed it to the kids. They really enjoyed that and we bought them pizza and pop too, which they also loved. Cost both Wayne and I about 25 bucks each, but it was well worth it.

A funny picture that I got from who else, but my Dad again. It is a really funny take on the whole hide your face thing. Maybe they could use the footware to identify each other or maybe there is a marker on the Burka somewhere? Either way, pretty messed up in today's society to be that archaic!!!

Ended up meeting Dave at Dublin tonight and not going to that Dogobi place that I mentioned. We ended up meeting another fella we know at Dublin. An American fellas Travis who is a really cool fella and you can have a great conversation with him. We also met another fella, Steve who hails from Australia, but whose mother is from Kirkby, Liverpool. I guess she left there when she was 9 or 10 after having been sent to Wales during the Blitz!!!

His mother is a Scouser and her maiden name was O'Brien! She ended up moving to Birmingham before she left to go to Korea and his dad is a Geordie. He loves Newcastle Football Club and we had a good gab about English football. He is a great fella to have a conversation with. It ended up being a great night. I got home at about 2am, not bad considering I never went out until 11.30pm.

Dave has joined a gym that has a public bath attached to it and is only about 80 bucks a month for both the fitness club and the public bath. I have decided to join it as my membership is up today at my gym. It is only about 20 minutes from where I live and will make me get up a little earlier to get there and I can have a sauna everyday, which I miss like crazy.

I am going to meet Dave there tomorrow about 10.30am. I am looking forward to having a sauna everyday after I finish working out. The gym is in Bundang, Dong (that is the word that means neighbourhood in Korean.)

Friday is my easiest day of the week, so I am looking forward to just teaching 2 classes tomorrow. The new semester starts on September 11th. We shall see what my schedule is like then!!!!!!

Jason Wanted An Honourable Mention!!!!!!

It has been a while since I blogged by my standards..... a whole four days!!!!
I decided to sit down and do a nice big long one to let you all catch up on all the happenings over the weekend and the start of the week.

First of all, this pic below is a classic. The email started off describing how a man had found out his ex-wife had bought a new car with all the support money he had been sending her. You are not meant to scroll down until the end of the little blurb. Needless to say the man is describing the latest model of car that she bought and all the blah blah about how she can afford it because he is sending her all that money every month. Don't get it yet.... don't look at the first picture..... scroll down to the second picture below the balloon! The ex-wife's new model car!




This picture here is one taken by a mate of mine, Gareth who is living in Ulsan and was the coach of the Wonshot Wanderers while I was there. We became great friends and he is coming with Dave and I to Taiwan in October during Chuseok, which is the Korean version of Thanksgiving Day and is also 3 days long.

Gareth is an avid photographer and is very good too, I must say. If you want to check out his pictures, check out the link on my blog, which says "Gareth's Website."

This picture is off of his website as well as the other ones further down the page. I tried to get a few others, but they were copyrighted. I gave Gareth some guff about that by leaving a comment on his webpage. They are great pics and actually Gareth just came back from a week's vacation in Taiwan. That means that he has already scoped the place out for Dave and I and himself for when we go in October. We should have a great time. We are only going for 4 days, which I think will be long enough.

Well, first things are first. An honourable mention on the blog for Jason who I work with, as he has been bugging me to put him on my blog.

Well, Jason hails from America, can't remember where now, but is it important? Just joking, Jason!!! Anway, I feel sorry for him as he has to sit beside me in work and listen to my constant nattering and my sick of sense of humour; I think?

Jason is very quiet and I would describe him as "deep in thought!" He is a good guy to work with and is very easy going. He always says on the weekend that he is going to call me and I always answer him back something like, " Yeh, right Jason, as if!"

Anyway, this Friday night after my 12.2 km run (90 minutes non-stop), I called him up and told him that I was heading for "Monkey Beach." He asked me if I was going there for sure and of course I told him in very polite English, that of course I was.

I met up with Dave and Chris and about 10 minutes later Jason showed up. So we actually hung out for a little while.... amazing eh Jason!

I was as high as a kite after having completed my 12.2 km run. I had so much energy, it was unbelievable. I felt such a sense of accomplishment and actually couldn't believe that I actually did it. But, I did!!!!!!

I was a bundle of energy the whole night and a few people commented that I should never work mornings again as the afternoon shift suited me better, especially my attitude and energy level..... hehe.

After much thought over the weekend, I decided that I am not going back to Avalon after my contract finishes. I am so tired of rushing around, which is what I have been doing ever since I finished university back in September 2004.

Rush here, rush to Kyoungju, rush to Ulsan, rush to Bundang. I am not rushing for anyone or anything anymore. I will buy an open ticket and come back when I am ready. I want to go to England for a week and also go to Amsterdam while I have some time off.

Dave has family in Holland and of course I have tons of family in Liverpool, which I hope you all know is my hometown. I left there at almost 15 years old and emigrated to Canada with my family.

That was back in 1978..... shit that is a long time ago, but great memories and a life changing experience, which I have to thank my Mum and Dad for, over and over again!!!!!!

There are much better jobs in Seoul, with less hours and more pay. Plus, it is more my style to change jobs every year. I don't get bored and it is a new challenge. I meet new people and learn new things and of course, most of all, find new places to explore. That was the whole idea of coming to Asia and to join the leagues of teachandtravel.com alumni!!!!

Well, now we are onto Saturday. Saturday morning, I woke up early and went out and about. I went to the gym about 3pm, had a good workout and then went home to clean the place and do some washing and general housekeeping.

The plan was to go to Itaewon on Saturday afternoon, about 5.30pm or so. Dave and I left from Sohyeon at about that time. It was pissing down rain just as we got on the bus. By the time we arrived across the river going into Itaewon, the rain had already stopped.





We usually get off the bus and walk up what we refer to as "Embassy Drive," as all the foreign Embassies are on this one street that we walk on just before we get into the middle of Itaewon.

We decided however to take a cab as it was so muggy and humid. If we had walked, we would have ended up eating and drinking our own sweat. Plus, it is only about 2 bucks each or less to split a cab. So that was that. We ended up in Itaewon and went to our regular place, "Geckos."

At Geckos we ordered some food. I had the chili chicken soup and some chicken tenders and Dave had something that I can't remember, but I do remember he ordered the chicken quesadillas. We shared everything and let me tell you, it was awesome food and very reasonable.

Probably the best western food that I have tasted since being in Bundang. I was very impressed and it was mostly all healthy. The soup was really spicy and I only had a couple of pieces of the chicken tenders and the quesadilla.

Billy, another friend of ours and Kyle who we met about a month ago, showed up to join us. There was initially no seats for them, but one opened up, so we sat together having some food and drinks.

Billy is a big wine drinker, so he was enjoying his wine. Dave is into "Hoegarden" beer these days and I am on my vodka and oranges of course. Kyle is not much of a drinker and actually prior to coming to Korea, he told us he had never drank before. Oh, we are corrupting the young chap!!!!!!!!

We ended up leaving Geckos and then went to another pub behind the Hamilton Hotel, which is a central focal point in Itaewon. Tons of foreigners everywhere of course as it is the biggest concentration of foreigners in Korea, also due to the big American army base there too. There are actually places in certain areas that have signs that say, "No GIs Allowed!"

It is a long story, but suffice to say, there has been a lot of trouble with some of them and it has created a lasting reputation for the rest of the good GIs.

We met a fella wearing a Liverpool shirt in the bar and it was the latest one, complete with the stripes and the lot. His name is Simon and of course we sat and talked to him for a little bit. He said they were showing the Liverpool game across the street in "Scrooge." I had been there before with Dave to watch the England vs Portugal game during the World Cup.

We watched the first half there and just before the second half was about to start, rugby showed up on the screen. There were loads of Kiwis and South Africans in the bar and we finally figured out why; there was a game between New Zealand and South Africa. New Zealand have already clinched the tournament, but this was South Africa's first home game of the tournament, or something like that.

Anyway, we ended up walking up the street to a place called "Jesters" that show a lot of the LFC games. It was a shite feed and it was like watching a video game. Anyway, no more goals were scored after the first half and LFC ended up winning 2-1.

Billy and Kyle had taken off from the place before Scrooge. They headed back to Bundand and were done for the night. Dave and I carried on to Geckos again, but then decided to meet this Korean fella that we had met a few weeks before, Anthony. He has just finished his military duty and is what I refer to as a 'walking hard-on."

We met him in Kangnam, which is a really busy area with all the dance clubs and hopping places. We met him in front of a place on the main street and headed to a small pub where they play good North American music. We had a few drinks there and decided to go to a dance club called 'Harlem."

Dave was really tired, as it was 1.30am by this time and decided to go back to Bundang. I wish I had gone back with him, but I decided to stay there with Anthony. We went to Harlem and it was a madhouse with wall to wall people and it was full of boss posers. The women were all dead young and oh so vain! It got on my nerves to tell you the truth.

Anthony was like a lion on the prowl, hitting on anything and everything, even though he did have his backpack on and a pair of lame shorts and pathetic shoes!!!!!!

We left there to go across the street to another dance club, "MB" I think it is called. I went in there and wanted to leave the minute that I got in there. As I was getting ready to leave, you will not guess who I saw? Jason!!!!!! Yeh, he was there with some Korean girl that I didn't see and he was as surprised as I was. 2 times in one weekend. What is going on Jason!!!!!

I hightailed it out of the one club as Anthony was busy dancing with some Korean bird and he was getting on my wick anyway. I got a cab back to Bundang and as I was about half way, Anthony called me and asked me where I was at! I told him that I was half way home, catch you later dude. I don't think I will be going anywhere with Anthony again. He is an okay fella, but dead flakey and not my style. Sorry Anthony, but catch you later dude!!!!!

That was it for Saturday night. I ended up getting back to Bundang about 4am, which was great by me. It only cost about 30 dollars to get back too. It is a good 25 minute drive. I can't imagine how much that would cost in Canada.

Anyway, enough for now. I will carry on with the rest of the story in another blog. Enough typing for now and don't want to make the blog too too big.... hehe.

Friday Nights.....................................

I found this great pic of one of the funny pics websites that I pull things from. Very clever and somewhat relevant to what is going on in the world today. Don't you think so?





Liverpool made it through to the group phase of the Champions League and the draw was last night. Liverpool have been drawn in a group with Galatasaray, PSV Eindhoven and Bordeaux. We should be able to get to the next phase, but I think the most difficult team will be PSV. Galatasaray will be difficult in Turkey, but we have played them before and it should be a good game.

The next two weeks I am going to be busier than usual. I have 4 classes everyday from Mon to Thu with no breaks. I was asked to do them as the special classes that are carrying on from the morning intensive still have 2 more weeks to go. I don't mind the classes as the kids are generally very bright and it is mostly getting them to speak more comfortably and with proper grammar and more 'natural' sounding vocabulary.

They have all read a novel during the 4 week intensive period too, so I get to have a class on Friday's talking about the novel and checking the question book that they have that goes along with the novel. It is quite challenging for them and I actually enjoy the classes.

I probably won't have much time to blog during the week, but I will try my best to blog sometime for you avid readers..... hehe. One thing that I must do is buy a new camera sometime in the next little while. The cameras here are really cheap and very good. For a good brand and good quality, you are looking around the 200 to 250 dollar range.

That will be one of the newer models that are smaller and have some new bells and whistles. For that money though, you can't expect too much!!!!

Things are going great on the personal front. Very happy that I don't have to work mornings anymore, but if I had to do it again, I think I would be okay to get my head around it.

I have to do it again in the Winter, as there is also a Winter intensive period as the kids get 4 weeks off in the Winter as well as 4 in the summer.

It will probably be the same kind of style and same hours. It will be at the end of or middle of January and it will be just before I finish my contract on Feb 5th.

I am stilll going hard at the gym, but backed off the weights for a few days as my arm was still a little sore, but not as sore as in the past.

I ran 7.8kms last night in 53mins and the only reason that I stopped at that time was because my sweat got on one of the controls on the treadmill and shut it off. I have a towel with me at all times, but the sweat that comes off of me is unbelievable. I can lose up to 4 or 5 lbs after a run.

I know that sounds ridiculous, but it is the truth. I weigh myself before I go on the treadmill and after I finish. Numerous times I have dropped 5lbs or a little less.

I am slowly losing the layer of fat that was surrounding me and everything is starting to fit a little looser, even my t-shirts.

I have hardly any clothes right now and it is driving me mad. I hate the ones that I have, but will not buy much here due to the cut of the clothes. They are either way too tight in the shoulders and back or way to big like a tent. Korean men are somewhat slighter than the average Western build, so for a big man like myself, or is that fat, it is a problem.

I am going to wait until I go back to Canada with an empty suitcase. One of my main goals when I go there is to shop shop shop. Clothes and vitamins are at the top of my list as well as a few other things. I am saving my money just for that purpose.

I am sure Mum and Dad will help me find some good bargains and my Mum will find some great styles for me. She has a great eye for what suits both my sister and I and I can't remember how many times that some of the clothes that she has bought for me, people have commented on how they liked them!!!

So get ready Mum and Dad! We are going shopping when I get back there. I know you won't mind at all. One of your favourite things to do, isn't it. Our Jackie will gladly be in there as well. She even told me a few months ago that she has already spotted a few things that will be good for me. I need to shop for Spring clothes and Summer even though it will be Winter there when I go. That will be a challenge. Are the Campbells and the Yigitiozs up to it?

Friday is a good day for me now in school. I only have 2 classes, hence the blog now! One of my Friday classes was given to one of the other teachers to lighten my load on Friday due to the 4 classes everyday Mon to Fri. I have a break, one class, break and final class. I also can get caught up on my essay marking and inputing all the scores for homework and tests into the Avalon database.

All the teachers now have to input our daily scores for every class into the Avalon database. It is not difficult, but takes time. It is all in Korean too, except for a few key words that help us get around the website. I can access it from home too, if I am that hard pressed to enter the marks, which I am not!!!!!

Saturday night, Dave and I are going to venture into Seoul again and go to Itaewon and probably Kangnam. Should be a good night and we will meet some babes, I am sure!!! Dave with his Korean magnetism and myself with my charming personality. Don't puke now everyone....................

Today was absolutely pissing down. I got soaked not walking in the rain, but at the bus-stop when a bus drove by and drenched me. Then another car drove by about 20 seconds later and did the exact same thing! Quite funny really!!! My feet are still soaking wet now and my pants are just starting to dry out. I was initially a bit miffed, but after thinking about it for a minute or so, I started to laugh and thought, "it is only rain, enjoy it!"

When it rains here, it is unbelievable. It rains like a madman and then just stops. When it is raining, most of the catch-basins can't keep up with the amount of water going into them. Not because they are small, it is just the volume of rain that comes down. It is cool to see and look out the window at.

Being single is awesome. I am really enjoying my own space and keep thinking why I did the relationship thing for so long. I want to make sure that I analyze myself in that respect so that I don't do it again! I feel so free now and like one of my mates in Pusan, Stu from Liverpool said, "I like doing my own thing!"

Off I go to class to enjoy my students who keep me young. Have a good Friday everyone. It will be Friday night by the time most of you read this blog....... that still is so freaky to think about sometimes; day in one place, but night in another.

The Reds Are In Kiev and I Am Back To The Grind!

Robbie puts one in to give us a well deserved 1-1 tie at Sheffield. I never watched the match, but my Mum and Dad told me that in the first half they were a little groggy, but the second half they were all over the Blades.





I have been trying to watch the highlights on my pc, but it has been breaking up a lot due to me downloading torrent files. Once I turned them off, the pc ran like a normal fast whiz machine. I guess when you are downloading about 20G at a time, it tends to slow it down a bit.... haha!!!

I wanted to put this cover of Metallica on my blog as I had such a good time at the concert last Tuesday. They really overawed me with their energy and excellent musicmanship for the whole time they were on stage. I will definitely see them again if I get the chance.

I am curious to know how many people were at the concert, not that it matters that much. I just want to know what the numbers are like in Korea for metal concerts and for the bands coming here in the future.

Morning classes are over now, but I am going to be busy for the next 3 weeks until the whole Chongshim special classes are done. That means that I have 3 classes on Monday and Wednesday and the other days, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, no breaks all day....... I can do it, but I am sure it will be physically challenging for the next little while.

I was approached by my director this week and asked if I had considered being a head teacher. I was told that they are expanding schools at Avalon and they might be interested in me going to one of them. I am a little interested to tell you the truth. It would mean a little more money and less teaching of classes, but more responsibility as far as technical and administrative duties go.

I am going to mull over it as I would like to try it at least for a little while. The only problem that I have is the time off when I finish at the end of my contract. I want at least 3 weeks of so that I can see Mum and Dad and our Jackie and the family. Also I want to go to England for a week to see my Uncles and Aunts and cousins.

We shall see what happens anyway, you never know. Richard my director was even hinting that my vacation time could be used in conjunction with the time off after the contract and that way I could get the time that I needed.

Keep reading the blog to see what happens in the future anyway. I think it would be a good challenge for me and look really good on a resume in the future for teaching ESL anywhere, especially at such a good school and the size of it also.

Liverpool are playing tonight and they must win to progress into the real 'Champions League' part of the tournament, worth in excess of 10 million dollars!!! They go with a 2-1 lead from the first leg and the game is in Kiev due to the whole Israelly thing.

Israel are cheeky bastards thinking that anyone would want to play a game in Israel with all the going on there at the moment. We need a tie or a win to go through. I will be watching it live on my e-season ticket as they are offering live video again.

Once the tournament starts, if we get into it, they won't have it available for anyone due to the Champions League agreements and money pay outs for broadcasting any or part of the games. Go Ye Reds!!!!!!!!!

Summer Intensive Is Over..... Back To 3pm Starts Again!!!!

I will make this blog short and sweet. The best thing about this weekend is that I know that I don't have to be in to work until 3pm, Monday afternoon. That is awesome. Back to normal hours that I like a lot!

Dave and I found out today that Korean t.v. will be showing the Reading game and the Tottenham game and then tomorrow Man. U. That is awesome as we will get to see every team in the Premiership. Even some of the less televised teams. That is great news for football mad fans like us two.

Still having problem with the blog. Can't get pictures to go on it and also it is acting up in a few other areas. Oh well, I will keep writing and hopefully, you will keep on reading.

I ran at the gym yesterday for 70 minutes. Yep, that is right 70 minutes. I felt so good when I finished. I just wanted to do it as I was in the mood. I guess I am still in good shape for a middle-aged man? I ran at a slower pace than I usually do, but not much, only by about .5km/h less. I ended up running 9.7kms on the clock on the treadmill.

I am getting a little thinner all over. The inches are coming off, but very slowly. I am doing my best to make sure that my lifestyle is totally sustainable and can keep my body healthy and have the same regimen when it comes to food and lifestyle.

That is it for now. Off to see the Reading game with Dave. I am hoping that maybe they will show Liverpool as it is the first game of the whole schedule for the year, but I doubt it as we are at Sheffield Utd's ground. But you never know!!!!!

Problems Posting Pictures Still!!!

I am still having trouble with posting pics on the blog. I contacted blogger to see if they can help me. If anyone that reads this has any experience or advice about it, I would appreciate it a lot.

I don't like posting blogs withouth pics. The pics kind of make it more user friendly and the reader doesn't see this big huge ass text to read, which usually puts people off. I also do lots of paragraphs, which makes the blog easier on the eye and a little more user friendly too.

I hope that I get the problem fixed soon. I am sure I will learn something in the process of fixing the problem.

Well, Tuesday night, Danny, Scott, Patrick and I headed towards the Seoul Olympic Stadium around 5pm. We got to the Olympic Park first, which was nowhere near the stadium. We asked a few people and then eventually hopped in a taxi and got to the stadium, no problem.

Once we got there we noticed that there were quite a few foreigners, but also a lot of Koreans. Everyone was lined up waiting to go in. The guards were just not opening the doors to let them in.

Tool started playing and the people were still waiting to get in, which I thought was a load of bollocks. Not very well organized that is for sure. We all skooted round to our entrance and got in just as Tool had started.

The other bad thing was that it was still very bright out and the video screens that usually help create a dark, gothic effect for Tool, didn't work out that way . It was too light and the effect was lost.

They were very good live though. I didn't realize they were so heavy on the guitars and drums and I actually enjoyed them. They only played for an hour though! We were told when we bought the tickets that after Tool there would be a 30 minute break and then Metallica would come on.

It ended up being an hour and a bit. It was roasting hot and even the Koreans were sweating. That is when you know it is hot, when the Koreans are sweating... haha!

The wait was well worth it, let me tell you. Metallica rocked the joint and they were one hundred and ten percent pure energy from start to finish. Those fellas are all over 40 and they rocked like the old days. They played a lot of stuff of their old albums like Master of Puppets and Ride the Lightnin' and also Justice for All.

They played for over 2 hours. Scott snuck onto the main floor and ended up being about 5 rows from the front. Metallica got the crowd going and really did an excellent job performance wise and musically.

The lead guitarist did solo after solo and there was also a great bass solo as well as rhythm guitar too. Lars did not do a drum solo though. I think he would have been too knackered anyway. He never stopped from the time he got on stage until they finished. He bashed the shite out of those skins!

Tomorrow is the last day of the summer intensive. Wahooooo! Monday we are back to normal 3pm starts until 10pm. I am happy about that. Don't like waking up that early anymore. I am the total 100 percent afternoon dawg now.

Still pressing on in the gym. Trying to keep positive and keep the weight training going and the healthy lifestyle too. I must admit that my blood pressure has dropped the last week or so and even now when I drink coffee, I don't get the adrenalin rush anymore. I think that is a good sign. Now I can drink coffee without worrying about the after effects.

Like I said, I hope to have something done about the pic process and then back to putting some good pics on. I have a few of the apartment since I moved things around and a few of different things around my building, which will interest some people anyway.

Lyndsey at my school is done tomorrow. One year done and completed. She is going to Vietnam for a month and then coming back to another school somewhere in the Seoul area, I think.

Not much else going on. Have a great Friday and enjoy the weekend, yee all!!!!!

Metallica And Tool Here We Come!!!

Great news today! A bunch of us from work are going to see Metallica and Tool plus whatever other bands in Seoul this afternoon.

It is a holiday here today. It is Korean Independence Day. We went in this morning for 2 classes, but we get an extra day off in October, which is quite cool by me!

Scott, myself, a new fella Patrick and maybe Danny are heading into Seoul at 4pm. The doors open about 5pm and we can go scope out the scene and maybe grab some food before the concert.

I have never seen Metallica or Tool who are both meant to be awesome in concert. I have been a long time fan of Metallica and had one cd by Tool; Opiate. It should be a great time and what an opportunity to see both those bands in Asia.

The tickets range from 80-100-120 dollars. About the norm compared to Canada and America. We will decide what seats we want when we get to the stadium. The concert is being held in the Olympic Stadium, which was also used for the World Cup back in 2002 also.

I am just getting ready to go and thought I would do a quick blog and tell you all about it once I get back. I think we will have a great time. How can we not? Music, heavy metal and friends. I will not drink though, don't worry!!!!

Went to the gym earlier and got my workout out the way, so no feelings of guilt while being at the concert. I lifted a bit more today and feel a little less sore than in the past. I have to be careful not to overdue it though. Getting stronger is okay, but not at the cost of the elbow having a setback. It is feeling stronger everyday and more flexible. I have the odd occassional twinge from it, but other than that, it is coming along quite well. I don't have the pins and needles in the fingers very often anymore.

Pulled Another One Over Chelsea And Deservedly So!!!!

Well, I am glad to say that we beat Chelsea again and gained some more hardware on the way!!!!

They showed the game on tv here as Samsung are the sponsors for Chelsea, so we get a lot games here showing them. The other two teams are Man U and Tottenham and now I am hoping Reading, as they signed a Korean player just after the World Cup.



It is so nice pulling one over Chelsea again. I don't mind some of the Chelsea players, but Morinho the manager is a total **** head! He actually said after this game that we were deserved winners. However Benitez and him didn't shake hands again.... bit of bad blood there now and rightly so!!!!

I had a good weekend. Not a drop of booze passed through my lips and I am happy about that. It is amazing how many people think it is strange that you are not drinking. Just goes to show you how many people can't do without it to have a good time and it has become such a normal thing for them to do.

I am tired of drinking and need a break. Even a month is better than nothing. I am going to try and quit until I go to Taiwan, which is in early October. I did not miss it at all this weekend and also I am not much in the mood for going out to bars or loud places right now. I am going to completely back off the bars and pubs until I go to Taiwan. I want to see how much extra money that I will have too.

I want to hang out at coffee shops and go home at half-decent hours and get my body back into a nice groove. I worked out over the weekend and felt great. I still cannot get over how much healthier I feel. It will get even better, you watch!!!!!

Anyway, this is the last week of the morning classes and then back to normal, which will be a treat as I am sure it will feel really easy having a normal schedule. I am looking forward to it, for sure!!!

Off to class I go, hi ho hi ho. I feel like one of the seven dwarfs here in Korea sometimes. Get it? Like a freak! But in a good way, of course.

Cultural Frustration In Korea Once Again!

Well, it was one of those days again today when culture gets in the way somewhat.
Today started off quite well, but by the end of the night, it was a little frustrating. All in all, I had a good night and I didn't drink!

I met Dave at Samsung Plaza and we went to Dublin's, the local bar of ours that we frequent on the weekend. It is owned by a real Irishman who is a rock reclamation salesman most of the time, travelling around the planet. He does however own the bar together with a Korean woman. By the way, you cannot own any business here in Korea unless there is a Korean partner with you.

Last time Joe the Irishman, was off in Katar doing his salesbidding and the like. Anyway, back to the story. We were in Dublins and shooting the breeze as such when Dave asked me if I wanted to go to another place that we always go that has food and drink. It is called Dukobbee in Korean, which means frog.

It is really reasonable and not a bad atmosphere. Well, when Dave asked me to go, I thought he meants like in the next 10 mins or so. Well, he meant like right away.
That is where the story stems from. The two friends we were going to the other place are Chris and a Korean girl Rayon who we hang out with frequently when we are out around Dublins. Chris and Rayon and another girl Sunny who is the Korean owner's sister at Dublin and Dave hang out quite a lot.

They wanted to get going asap, which they have done before. They will not even wait for you to finish your drink and sometimes they don't even say goodbye when they leave. It has happened on several occassions and I didn't say anything at that time.

Well, tonight I brought it to Chris and Rayon's attention that they have bad manners whenever they leave, especially tonight as Rayon was waving Dave to hurry up and leave Dublins to go to the next place. They both were not happy about it, but I had to say something and I also mentioned about them not saying goodbye when the go home or leave the bar.

Anyway, that drama was over and we walked towards Dukobee. On our way there the discussion was still going and there were no hard feelings and I certainly wasn't angry and neither were they.





Once we got walking, Dave and another fellow Matt who had joined us, decided to go to another place called Monkey Beach. I hate the place on the weekends as it is mad packed busy and people bump into you and elbow you and the like.

Rayon, Chris and I decided to carry on to the Dokobee place, which is literally a 5 min walk from Monkey Beach. We got in there and we ordered a little food and they ordered some beer. I was not drinking, so I just had some water.

Dave came back about 15 mins later and said it was packed and had lots of girls, but that some of the crowd in there were a little obnoxious. We all had a good gab at the table and the night continued.

Then later on after about an hour or so, I was speaking some Korean and Rayon decided to correct me on my pronunciation, which she has done a little in the past. Not necessarily correcting, but trying to get me to say it perfectly like a Korean, which is never gonna happen. So I turned the tables on her and asked her to say something in English. When she said something, I said the same thing like no that is not correct. I then told her that expecting me to sound like a Korean was never gonna happen and vice versa with her in English. I wasn't the slightest bit angry, but was just making a point.

She had a bit of a face on her then. I think me telling her previously that she had bad manners maybe had a bit to do with it too. Like I care!!!!! It didn't end there as Sunny had shown up by this time and we were all shooting the breeze. Rayon then said something in Korean to Sunny, thinking I wouldn't understand. I understood alright and it was something to the effect that she was tired of me always being RIGHT!

I was pissed off royally by this point and told her that her problem was that she didn't like to admit she was wrong and that what she did was very bad manners. I wanted to smack her to tell you the truth.... well not literally. Anyway, she got a cob on and I didn't give a shit at all. I was very adamant about my opinion and that what she had done was wrong.

Sunny was making up excuses for her like she was tired and blah blah blah. I wasn't having it though. There were a few instances in the past too when Rayon had been rude to me and to some other people. I think she has just gotten away with lots of thins and people haven't pulled her up on it. Well, I did anyway.

Earlier today one of the Korean teachers had clicked his fingers at me to come outside of the classroom and it was in front of the kids as well. I didn't get angry, but told him that it was considered bad manners to click your fingers at someone in Western culture. That was the end of that and Matt was cool with it. Again though, a cultural divide.

Rayon ended up leaving in a huff as such. Sunny was apologetic and said that she was just tired blah blah blah. I told Sunny that Rayon needs to teach herself better manners and that it wasn't the first time that she had offended me as such. It was the whole thing in Korean that set me off. Before that I was just laughing things off and not in an angry state at all. Once she did that thing though, I saw my arse with her and wanted her to piss off. Didn't stress me out at all. We all carried on having a conversation when Rayon left about movies and gun control etc.....

Anyway, that is my spiel for the night. It was a bit of a saga, but not that frustrating.
I have still not drank and I won't for a while to come yet. I went to the gym tonight and ran for one hour. I also ended my fast tonight at Dokobee after 44 hours. It was the social aspect of being out that made me eat something. You can't sit there and not be drinking and eating. Whose a mong then!!!!!

Goodnight, sweet dreams and let's get up and get at 'em tomorrow morning with renewed spirit and vim and vigour..... ye all!!!!!!

Got The Computer Last Night...... Happy Days!!!

I got my new pc last night and I am very pleased with it, to say the least. It is so fast compared to my laptop and I can do about a half dozen different things at the same time and the pc doesn't get bogged down.



I started copying all my cds to my hard-drive and it takes about 2 minutes to do one cd. It is so fast. I put all the songs into my realplayer and it will be like having a jukebox that pulls songs from anywhere and any style of music that I like. You can pick any type and make a playlist and then hit shuffle and it could literally play for days, if you wanted!!!!!

The weather here is totally unbearable, it is like 34 degrees in the early morning and then the humidity factor is somewhere around the 10 to 15 degrees. My a/c is working well in the apartment, so I can't complain. When I walk out of the door, it feels like I am walking into a heatwave. The building here seem to hold the heat a lot more than what I remember when I was in Canada.

I try not to have the a/c on too much, but today I have left it on fairly low all day. When I go home, I need to have the thing on, so I can cool down. At work the a/c is okay, so no complaints there either.

I didn't go to the gym again last night, but am going to try and go tonight. I had 2 piece of pizza yesterday plus some other fried croquets.....my big cheat for the first time in over 2 months. I feel a little guilty today, believe it or not!!!!!

I have decided to go on one of those 2 day fasts again. It has been a while and to tell you the truth, I don't feel like eating anything in this heat. It will be an opportune time to just clean the tank again. Plus, I won't feel so guilty either... haha... just joking, really.

The speaking tests are on again today. We have an easy time when they are doing the tests. I like the speaking test days a lot. It is a bonus that the speaking test fell on my heaviest day of the week and next Tuesday there are no afternoon classes. That is also my heaviest day of the week. Next Friday the summer intensive is over and we will be back to the 3-10pm shift. Can't wait. I don't like waking up early in the morning compared to the nice relaxing afternoon shift.

I watched the Liverpool game live on my e-season ticket. It is the first game they have offered live video coverage in a long time. I got up at 4 am to watch it and got to bed about 6.30 am. I am a little tired this morning, but after doing this blog, I am now wide awake.

It is now 11.10 am and the first essays should be coming back soon, so off I go to mark them. There will be a few stacks of them today to do, so off to the races, as they say.

My New Computer Is Coming Tonight!

After much humming and harring, I decided when I was at Derrick's place the other night to get a new desktop. Derrick had some spare parts around the apartment that were kick-ass and I knew that my laptop was toast, as such.

So we decided on what type of system I wanted and a bargain price, a really good price and presto! I am going to have a new system.

I thought it would be ready by the weekend or a little later, but I got a call from Derrick today, saying the computer would be ready by 9pm tonight!!! I was chuffed to say the least and best of all, he is going to deliver it.

No more praying like these two below that my computer doesn't crash anymore!!!!!!






The new system has a 160G hard drive as well as two sticks of 512 Ram. It should be lightning fast and as Derrick said, "It is turning into a little beast now!" I can't wait for tonight to start checking it out and start copying all my cds to the hard drive. I have almost 800 after all. I want to put them all on the hard-drive as I can play them through one of the media players and it will shuffle and continious play for as long as I want. I figure it is going to take me at least 3 to 4 weeks of constant copying to get them done.

The new pc also has a cd/dvd burner and it is a good one! I can burn photos, burn cds and dvds at my own leisure. Derrick said the new pc is about a 4 year jump from what I was using on my laptop because the laptop was in such bad shape and so so slow.

Below is a pic from my trip last December to see Liverpool in the World Club Championship. I had a great time apart from the really badly injured elbow, which I had done a week before we left. We all dressed up in Kamakaze headbands and the traditional housecoats, so we looked really Japanese. We got tons of pics taken with Japanese people inside and outside the stadium.

One of the other reasons that I put this pic on is because tonight, 4am our time here, Liverpool are playing Maccaibi Haffa in the first leg of the qualifying for the Champions League at Anfield. I get to watch it live on my new pc too as I have an e-season ticket with Liverpool and they are offering free live video for the game tonight. I will sit back with my new pc and watch it in all its glory and with my surround sound system that cost 40 dollars about 2 months ago, complete with sub-woofer. I got that from Derrick too. He is turning out to be a boss fella and very reliable also.

I am at work right now, in between breaks doing the speaking tests and marking essays from the Korean teachers tests for the kids. It is fun having the tests as the kids are one on one with you. They are a bit nervous, but I get them calmed down, fast style. I like the speaking tests. One of the nice relaxing parts of working at Avalon. We also have speaking tests tomorrow and the morning classes also don't get taught tomorrow, but we have to mark essays for them while we are here.

There is also a holiday coming up on Tuesday, August 15th. We do have to come in for 2 morning classes though. That is a huge deal right now at some of the other campuses. The teachers are saying that it is a public holiday and that we shouldn't have to come in and it should be voluntary. Some of them are even going so far as to say they are not going to come in. However, if we come in for 2 classes, Avalon are going to give us one extra day in October during Chusok, which is the Korean Thanksgiving. Not a bad deal if you ask me for 3 hours work, you get one day off?

Haven't been to the gym all week. Haven't been feeling well all week, however today I felt a lot better. I have been going to bed early and taking it easy. I have decided to take the whole week off and reload my ammunition for the weekend and then go hard at the gym. I am however, still eating very healthy. My weight is staying constant and I am not gaining any inches, which is important.

6 Months At Avalon On August 5th!!!!

6 months already at Avalon. It has gone by really quickly, I must say! I haven't had any holidays off that I booked in the 6 months also or a day off sick!!!!

I guess the old saying, "Time flies when you are having fun!" All in all, I would give Avalon about a 7 out of 10 for overall performance. They do expect way too much work compared to any other schools out there, but it is a challenging job.

Saying that though, I will not be resigning with them once this contract is finished. There are way better jobs out there with less work and stress and more money. I like to be challenged, but now Avalon are making me feel like a work horse.

I came to Korea to enjoy teaching the kids and not just go go go go all day with material and quizzes and stuff. I feel like I cannot have enough fun with the kids while learning and everything is way too fast paced for them to appreciate the nuances of conversational English.

The few times that I have had enough time to relax with the kids has been fun. Like all other schools, there are good classes, so-so classes and bad classes. Some of the kids are great and have wonderful imaginations, which keeps me young when I can get to see it out of them.






Take a look at these guys above. They have toilet seats in their hands. I guess this is the new way to play horseshoes? A good name for it would be shitshoes!!!!!! I wonder what they are throwing them around? Your guess is as good as mine.

I got my laptop back last night. Although it is working well, there are some major problems with it internally. It will not update and you cannot multi-task at all on it. I decided that I would buy a desktop off Derrick. I am getting a really good deal on it and it will have a 160G hard-drive, a dvd-cd combo burner and a 1G of ram. It will be very fast and it will be a good computer for me and at a great price. Derrick gets to get rid of some of his spare parts and I get an awesome computer also. I can use my laptop still, but it is a little slow and I had to turn off the Windows updates as well as the other protection program. It still has the anti-virus on it though.

Below is a good pic of Dad taken in Newfoundland. It almost looks like he wants to do something near that little post, don't you think? Haha

The weather is back to its unbearable-self. It is like 28 degrees at 9am. I like the hot weather, but walking outside in it, is unbelievable. By the time I get to work at 9.30am, I am roasting hot and sweating like a mule. I am sure there must be some relief in the future days? I hope so, anyway.

I have also decided to stop drinking for one month. No excuses, no slacking, just do it. I have been socially drinking way too much lately and am sick of it, to tell you the truth. So, starting on Monday, August 7th, I will not have a drink of alcohol until September 7th, at least. I know some of you will say whatever, but I am serious about it this time. It has been almost a year since I quit smoking, so I know I can do whatever I put my mind to.

Watch this page for updates, as they say!!!!!

My Laptop Has Crashed Again!

Well, it was fun while it lasted! I think there is something seriously wrong with my laptop now. It started making a funny noise, like a clinking sound and then would not load up Windows or anything. I put in the Windows disk and it came up as saying it could not detect any hardware. I am no expert, but I think that means that it is not recognizing the hard-drive, which means there is a problem with it.

Derrick told me that if there was something else to go wrong with the laptop, to not put any more money into it. I am going to heed his advice, but am going to see him tonight and he will have a look at it.

The thing doesn't really owe me much. I got it off a girl that I worked with at BLJC in Markham. She sold it to me with an external cd burner, case and all the programs for 600 dollars. That was almost 3 years or so ago. Considering the way the pcs have progressed in the last few years, it is a little ancient, to say the least. It is very slow and takes a long time when you want to multi-task. If Derrick can give me a good deal on a reconditioned one with all the bells and whistles, I might consider it, but don't want to spend more than about 800 bucks on one.







I kind of felt like the picture below sometimes when Windows would start up. I have been very patient with it, but need to upgrade as such. I used to make fun of my Mum and Dad about how slow their computer was, so it would be a bit cheeky of me to keep an ancient slow workhorse. Even Derrick when I was there the last time, was laughing about how slow it was. He called it a 'workhorse!'

Today is somewhat of a relaxing day, as on Fridays I have only 3 classes. 2 morning classes and then a 4 hour break and then one afternoon class from 5.20pm to 6.40pm and then I am done for the night.

I went to the gym today and did a bit of weight-lifting and then ran for about 35 mins and 5kms. I weighed out at 97 kilos, which is about 215. That is a loss of about 8 or 9 kilos or 20 pounds from about 8 or 9 weeks ago. I am eating very healthy. Loads of vegetables and fruit and nothing fried. I am not starving myself at all, just eating good stuff. I am eating a lot of cereal and when I go out on the weekend, am drinking only a vodka and orange or soju. I never did like the taste of beer, so it was a bit lame really for me to have been drinking beer.

Today it is absolutely roasting. It feels like about 50 degrees outside. I will take this rather than the rain anyday. My a/c in the apartment is boss, so it is like walking into a fridge when I go home. It is not that expensive either as most of the utilities in the whole apartment block are averaged out and shared by all. That translates into an average bill of between 100 and 150 dollars for everything a month. That is cheap really by Western standards, don't you think?

I am getting ready for my afternoon class, which is a beginner writing class. I teach them how to write paragraphs and how to put useful information and write simple grammatically correct English. The kids are only 11 and 12, so it is a challenge to get them to think of anything other than computer games and playing some sport. The Korean kids don't write essays in the school system, so it is foreign to them when they start learning the basics of essay structure.


They are doing well and I can see an improvement in them. I hope that is due to me being a good teacher. I drill them about answering the questions to answer each of the paragraphs!!!

I hope to have some good news about my laptop tonight or about another laptop that will be a good deal. I think maybe Derrick can build one to suit me for a reasonable price..... we shall see. I saw some laptops on the internet today in Canada that were about 600 dollars brand new. I think it would be a good idea to wait until I go to Canada, but that is 6 months away yet and I do need a pc for my work and pleasure.

Back To Work After 3 Days Off

So back to reality today. I have just finished my 2 morning classes and they were okay. I am back into the rhythm of it again.... doesn't take long.

After 3 days off, it doesn't feel like I have been away for that long. The one class that I am teaching debate too is a little stressful, as I am learning it at the same time as them and also some of the students didn't do the prep work for today, i.e. Didn't write their essay. Most of these students are not regulars at Avalon, so we don't have to be as tough on them per say.



Thursday is a full day for me. 6 classes and only one break of an hour and a half between the two morning classes and then the next four, which finish at 8pm.

My computer went on the blink last night again. This time I think there is something wrong with the hard-drive as the pc started making a funny noise, like something was loose. It won't boot up and that is why I think the hard-drive is pooched. I will see how much it is to get it fixed, but am not too optomistic about it. I might have to buy another one. If I do, it will be a refurbished one and nothing too expensive. At the end of my contract in February, I will buy one when I get back to Canada, if worst comes to worst.

The weather here is humid still, but talking to my Mum and Dad, they said it was about 40 there with the humidity. It is not that bad here, but the a/c is working well at the apartment, so no worries there.

The three day holiday was good. I did a little of everything, but not too much of everything. Saturday night, Dave and I went to Itaewon and we met a couple of girls there. We ended up going for some food and drinks with them and then to the singing room. We got home at around 6am. I got up at 10am though for an appointment that I had, so it was a good time had by all. One of the girls really liked me, but as I said before, I am not interested in dating in the least at the moment. Can't be bothered to give anyone my time or money at the moment. I will be friendly of course and maybe go on a casual date. The two girls that we met are best friends, so that would be nice if we went out together again. I think it will happen as the four of us got along very well. One of the girls speaks English very well and the other doesn't speak at all. One is an English teacher and the other is a ballet teacher. The one that likes me is the ballet teacher and the English teacher likes Dave. We shall see what happens anyway.

This Saturday afternoon, Dave and I and Billy and maybe another fella are going up to a condo that we rented for the weekend. It is right by the beach. I don't know where it is yet, but Dave will give Billy and I the directions to get up there, as we are not leaving until Saturday afternoon. It is supposed to be about 3 hours or so from here.