Tuesday, July 31, 2007

An Ulsan Weekend!

Ulsan is about 4 hours south of Seoul. Dave, Rob and I headed there Friday evening and arrived about 10.30pm. We were all set to have a party with 11 guys on the beach in Jongja, which is about 30 minutes outside of Ulsan.

The view from the front of the condo facing the beach. Gareth taking a picture of me taking a picture.




Rob stayed in Ulsan on Friday night with one of his friends and Dave and I helped load up Dan's van ( the guy that organized the whole thing) and loaded up Dave's car also. We headed to Dan's father-in-law's cottage for Friday night and then from there we headed to the condominium on the beach.

Baldy in Bundang, just before we left for Ulsan on Friday afternoon/evening.




Dan picked up A.J and Nick and Pete and we all headed to Dan's cottage for the Friday night. We all got to bed about 3am or so and woke up at 9am to a nice bacon and home fries breakfast complete with toast.....nice!!!!!!!
Guy playing cards. He hails from England.



It was very very hot and we knew that it would be great weather to be at the beach. Dave and I drove down to the beach and we met Dan there and unloaded all the stuff.

A guy called Nathan was already there with an English fella, Guy.

Nathan at the back, Gareth reading "Trainspotting."



There were sausages, garlic bread, tomato sauce, spaghetti, onions, home-made hamburgers, loads of cheese, garlic, hot-dog buns, bread, vegetables coming out the ying-yang and of course, 10-24 packs of beer, which disappeared by Sunday morning.

Guy on the left. Dan on the right, (the organizer of everything,) Nick is on Dan's left. Dan is French-Canadian and Nick is from British Columbia.




There was no liquor as such, but that changed late Saturday night, as Gareth, much like myself, hates beer and couldn't stomach anymore of it. So, he headed to the store and got some soju, which we mixed with orange-juice. Much better than beer, I must say.

A view of the beach. Sorry the pic is a little fuzzy.


Rob and Tony showed up late Saturday afternoon. We all had a good time. We swam in the sea, which was very salty and played cards, sat around and chatted and of course ate and ate and ate. Dan did all the cooking and most of everything else. I chipped in cleaning a bit and also washing a few dishes, but most of the others were idle arses and didn't help at all!!!!

Tony and I, with me showing how much I value his friendship....haha. Tony is from London, Ontario. Dave and I brought him here in 2000. He stayed ever since then and we became really good friends along with Rob.



Oh well, Dan said it was to be a test so that if he decided in the future to do some catering for others, he would get an idea how much work it would involve and how much time it would take.

Night time shot of the party place under the tent complete with bbq and tables.


Everything wrapped up about 1pm and most of the others went home except, Guy, Gareth, Nathan and myself.

The place where you washed all the sand and grime off of yourself.


Dan dropped of A.J, Nick and Pete and then came back for all his stuff. In between him dropping the fellas off, there was a massive storm and we watched it right from the beach front. It took Dan about 2 hours to get back due to the traffic. We loaded the rest of the stuff off and took a scenic route back to Ulsan to dodge the backup of traffic, which by now was about 5 kms back!!!!! We got back to Ulsan in good time and it was a really nice drive despite the drizzling rain.

Dan, the gracious host, cook, dishwasher, cleaner-upper and driver!



I went to the public bath and then met up with Gareth at his house about 7pm. Dave and Rob had left to go back to Seoul about 1pm, as they had classes on Monday. I had nothing. I am on vacation for the next 2 weeks!!!!!!!!!!

Gareth, catching an afternoon nap!


Gareth and I went round to Benchwarmers and then went and had some kalbi and some more soju. We ended up back at Benchwarmers and then headed home after that. We got home pretty late, but we had a good time and it was nice to hang out with Gareth, one on one.

I woke up on Monday morning feeling as sick as a dog. Gareth went to work at 2pm and I decided to wait until he finished at 8pm and then head back to Seoul. I was in no condition to ride a bus for 4 hours. At 8.30, Gareth came home and I headed for the bus station. I got the 10pm bus and arrived in Seoul at 2.30am. It was a good bus trip and I got to read a lot of one of the books that I am reading.

I am reading one book called, "The Face" by Dean Koontz and the other is "Rose Madder" by Steven King. Both books are really well written and exciting to read. I am about half way done both of them. Still don't have a tv in the house and I can't see myself getting one in the near future.

I woke up this morning, went to the bank and paid my rent, sent money to Canada and paid all my bills. Then I went to the gym and ran 8kms and had a full chest workout. Even with 3 days of not doing anything and eating most of the stuff that I never eat, I didn't put on any weight. I am still hovering around 210lbs. Time to put it into high gear and drop that 10 pounds.

No more late night eating, which was becoming a habit again especially after a few drinks. No more eating now after 10pm at night. I am going to go to the gym everyday during my holidays and work harder than I was before to get rid of those extra pounds and flatten my belly at little more.

The weather is really nice and it is nice and hot! I am planning on going around Seoul over the next 2 weeks and just explore things by myself. I don't want to spend a lot of money, but want to see some of the places that I have been meaning to see since I got here. I will have some photos of the places for sure and I will post a blog about some of them.

Not much else going on. I am enjoying the summer here in Seoul and am looking forward to the beginning of the Premier League, which starts on August 11th. The Community Shield is being played this weekend between Chelsea and Manchester United. They are showing it at Hollywood's on Sunday evening, so I will be there for sure.

They are also showing one of the Liverpool games, which is being played in Rotterdam, Holland. Should be a good game and there will be some of the lads watching it there as well, like Richie and Howie and maybe Matt!

My favourite mouse pad..........

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Going To Watch Liverpool vs Hong Kong XI.

I started morning classes on Monday due to the summer schedule change. That means that I work all this week including my usual day off, Friday. That means that we get two weeks off in a row, though. That never happens here in Korea, so it is monumental just to have that amount of time off!!!!!!

It is nice though, as I work this week, get 2 weeks off and then return for 2 more weeks of mornings and then back to the normal afternoon schedule.


I am getting up no problem at all, but must say, I don't like getting up that early anymore. I made the choice after working early mornings for about 20 years once I got to Korea. I am working afternoons and never getting up that early for work, ever again!!!!!!


Hey, it's my life and I choose to do things my way now. Whether people agree with that or not, it is still my life and I am living it according to my likes and dislikes. I know it sounds a bit selfish; I suppose that I am!!!!!!!!


Going to see the Liverpool vs Hong Kong XI at Hollywood's. It is a 9 pm kick-off, so it won't be done too late. I am getting to bed about midnight this week anyway.


Off to Ulsan on the weekend for the boy's beach party and hang-out. Looking forward to it very much. I found out that Gareth is going now, too. That is even better news. It should be a good time. Dave and I are leaving Friday night and should be down there about 11 or so. We are going to stay at Dan's house and then the whole thing is set to kick-off at 9am or so the next morning.


Included a few pics of shots of Itaewon and one of the police that surround the army base close to the War Museum. They wear t-shirts and carry these really long sticks that look like Kendo sticks. They are patrolling completely around the base along a marked pathway, which you can see above, on both sides. There must be in excess of 30 or so total policeman at the same time doing their patrols. They do it 24/7 too!!!!

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Enough Is Enough.......Come On!!!!!!!!

Please read this article. I hope you feel it is as ridiculous as I thought it was! Do they do this in all their houses if they move to Canada or America or any other western country? Absolutely ludicrous. Stop right there people!

There is nothing wrong with being respectful to other's culture, but in prison........Holy shit!!!! Literally.............haha.


Friday, July 20, 2007

Liverpool's New Boys!

Liverpool Football Club have made some new signings in the last few weeks and in my opinion, it will allow them to realistically make an effort into winning its first Premier League Championship since League One became the Premiership.

As Gerrard has said, "Liverpool has not only invested in the present to challenge for the Premiership, but they have also invested in its future with the acquisitions to the Academy and a total restructure on young players and their progression into the big team from the reserves."


I would like to introduce the new players:
The first player is Fernando Torres. He cost Liverpool in excess of 24 million pounds, which is a record for the club. Part of the deal for him was Luis Garcia going to Atletico Madrid, which is where Fernando came from. Torres is strong, can dribble, pass and has loads of pace. He is a very intelligent player and all indication point to the fact that he can be an absolute superstar in the league. Let's hope so!!!!!!!


Second is Andriy Voronyin who came on a free transfer from Bayern Leverkusen and looks to be a bargain buy from how he performed in his first couple of games. He is strong and determined and looks to have loads of eagerness.


Third is Ryan Babel who was one of the top stars at the recent u20's World Cup. He comes from Ajax and looks to be a class player who can dribble, pass and has loads of pace.


Fourth is Yossi Benayoun who hails from Israel. Unfortunately, I don't have a pic of him yet! I think he is very underestimated in the Premier league and will turn out to be a wonderful signing. Lots of other clubs were interested in him, but Liverpool was his only club of choice when he decided to leave West Ham Football Club.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

A Few Pics Of The Korean War Museum........Proper Blog To Come!

Rob and I went to the Korean War Museum last Sunday and spent a good couple of hours walking around outside and getting some pics of the equipment on show.




I took quite a few- I think about 100 plus and so did he. There were loads of aircrafts and tanks and military vehicles. We didn't go inside the museum as it was about to close when we got there.




I want to go back and take a few pics of the gigantic statues that they have outside. Unfortunately, my camera's battery was dead by the time we got to the statues.......for sure I will go back there to take some pics of them and to see the displays inside.




I had a great weekend. Yesterday, Tuesday was a public holiday and I ended up meeting, Benny who I had met in Ulsan back in 2000. Hadn't seen him in 6 years.
Rob joined up with us, as well as two of Ben's friends. Rob has visited him in China and has known him just as long as I have . Ben has been in China for going on about 6 years now. I will visit him for sure during the Olympics. Even if it is only for a few days before I go to Canada and then England in August 2008.




We went for a few drinks and had some 'kalbi' (Korean bbq pork.) Rob and I ended up calling it a night about 1am as we had to go to work today. I am glad that I made the right decision! I felt better for it today.




I only have tomorrow to go and then it is Friday again......shit........ where does the time go.




I start the morning class for a week next week. That means that I have to get up at 7am and leave about 7.30 to get to work for about 8.30 and classes then start at 9am. They go until 1.4o everyday, so I will be done nice and early........hate the mornings though......haha.




I do one week then I am off for 2 weeks straight. A total of about 17 days in a row. I can't wait. I want to do day trips around Seoul and suss out some of the good tourist spots.




Once I go back to school, I will have 2 weeks of mornings left and then we are back to normal schedule. By that time the kids will be back to school as they only get 4 weeks off in the summer anyway. They also get 4 weeks off in the winter too, though. It all evens out though.




Ran 8kms today in 41 minutes. Ran 5kms on Monday night in 22.20......close to a new record for me. I am staying about the same weight and have decided to just keep going and keep eating healthy and not worry about the weight, only the inches and body fat.




I am going to start drinking vodka again soon. I hate the taste of beer now. It is really not my drink and the only reason that I was drinking it was because it was dead cheap and I was on a beer budget. Plus the waterlogged feeling that I got after having 6 or more pints.......lol.




I think with cutting down on the beer, I should also get in better shape. My Dad always says, "Don't get into shape going to those places, do yer?" As always, the consumate criticizer, but I love him for it!!!!!




My sister's birthday is this Saturday, July 21st. She will be 17 months older than I. You figure it out.......I didn't say it.......haha.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

A Long Gap Between My Last Blog........Sorry!!!!!

This week has flown by. I cannot believe that it is Saturday already. Sometimes the weeks here in Asia just seem to be a blurr.

I have done a lot again this week. Where do I start? At the beginning, I suppose. Well, that is one of the reasons that I like to blog everyday or two; hard to remember all the things that happen after 3 or more days.
Mum with her friends in Stratford.


Monday was back to work after the weekend in Ulsan. A new term has started and I am getting used to my 'new' students. They are not new to the school, of course, they are just switched from Isaiah to me and my students vice-versa.
Dad with his friends in Stratford.


Went to the gym and had a good workout on Monday night. It was nice to get back there after the weekend of frivolities......haha.


Tuesday was about the same thing; school and gym and met up with Rob and hung out in Itaewon for a while.


Wednesday was the same again. There are so many things that I see on the subway everyday. I just have to try and remember them of course. There is always the great sights and sounds of being in a big city and all the people involved in the schema.


I met up with Rob though at Hollywood's and we watched the opening game in the Asian Cup for Korea. They played Saudi Arabia and it was a bit of a dour game, but ended up 1-1, which I guess is a good result for Korea as they have not beaten Saudi for over 2 years or so and Saudi have won this tournament 3 times in the last 5 years.


I just found out today also that Australia lost 3-1 to Iraq! Wow! That is the biggest upset of the tournament as Australia are supposed to be the odds-on favourites to win this thing. It is their first time in the Cup as they were switched from the Oceiana region to the Asian region due to the qualifying difficulties they have had......long story, but suffice to say, it is much fairer that they are in this zone and can qualify without having a 'playoff' game.


Thursday was the Bolton vs Songnam game. I left from work and met up with Rob outside the stadium. Then Dave joined us and a little after that, Richie. We had to get our tickets as they were reserved.


After one policeman telling us to go upstairs, we found out we had to go all the way back downstairs and over to the parking lot venue to get them! Anyway, Dave went alone and we just waited on the stairs.


We were surprised at how many policemen there were! They must have thought we were all English hooligans. Nothing to worry about there boys! It's called The Peace Cup, after all.....haha.


We got into the stadium and to tell you the truth, there was a good crowd. Probably about half full. Not bad for a middle of the week, sort of anyway, football game. There were lots of kids there, which was nice to see. That is what Korea needs to promote when they have professional teams here.


If anyone is interested in the min-tournament, just search on google with the words; Peace Cup Korea 2007. It gives you a mini-schedule and the two groups. Reading are also here as well as Riverplate, Lyon, Racing Santander and a couple of other teams that I can't remember.


Last night, Rob and I met up with Jason at Geckos. We ended up going to UN club and dancing a little, well, I didn't dance much. It was full -on hip hop and full of fellas on the floor. Not my cup of tea, sorry!


Then we ended up going to a few other places. Matt joined us. Rob went home about 2am or so and I ended up getting home at about 7am...........shit. Don't feel bad at all today though and I am going to the gym once I am done this blog.


I think Dave is coming to Itaewon tonight, so we will be hanging out with him and having more fun. It is just part of the scene here, the social drinking thing. I am still on the beer and don't drink the vodka anymore or soju. I feel a lot better the next day and feel healthier. I don't worry about the calories either because I just run them off the next day at the gym.


I ran 6km last night before I went out and also did a full chest workout. I am going lighter with the weights now and doing more high reps. For example, before I would do a set of 10, 8, 6 and 6 with each exercise. Now I am doing 15,10, 8 and 8. I am hoping it will 'chisel' me a bit more or at least give me more stamina in the muscle groups that I am looking at.


Just made myself some curry and rice and like I said, I am off to the gym now. The weather is really nice. Put some washing in and washed my dishes. Tidied up a bit and organized things the way I like them. Fussy, fussy, oh so fussy I am sometimes.


Oh, I forgot. I shaved my head again too!!!!! Just wanted my hair to become a non-issue and that is what I achieved.

Monday, July 09, 2007

Another interesting weekend, which was full of surprises- as always! The weekend really began on Saturday evening as we prepared for the journey to Ulsan.



It takes about 4 hours more or less to get there from Seoul. Dave, Rob and I met up at Seollung Station and walked to where Dave's car was parked. We got on the highway about 8.15 and arrived in Ulsan about 12.30.




We stopped a couple of times on the way for a beverage. Don't worry, they don't sell alcohol at any of the service stations! It was a good ride and as always, Dave's 'old faithful' never sputtered once.



It has been a very good car to him and continues to be that way. Only one problem though; Dave's stereo doesn't work, so all the way was more or less conversational beginnings and talking about more shite than we are usually used to.....lol.



He needs to get a new car stereo that can play mp3's also. He just hasn't looked at it as a priority, but I think he has re-thought that now after another weekend driving so far and no tunes.........right, Dave?



Once we got to Ulsan, we checked into a motel and left our stuff there and took a cab to "Benchwarmers." That is Troy's bar, who by the way, is trying to sell it after a few years of ownership. His wife, Sharon, just had a baby and Troy is busy with all the other stuff in his life including teaching and running a family.



We stayed at the Bench for about an hour or so and then headed to the second stalworth of Ulsan, "Tombstone." Lots of the foreigners that are at both places now, I don't recognize or even know. The constant shifting of the sands, as I call it, allows there to be a very transient population among the foreign communities all over Korea.



Oh yeah, in between shooting the shit with Troy and a few others, I met my ex-girlfriend there at the Bench. It was good to see her and she looked as good as ever, but I really am not in the relationship mode at all anymore and I felt a little 'trapped' even having to entertain her while my friends were around and stuff. I didn't over-do it though. I hung out with my friends and let her mingle with a few people that she knew from me. Foreigners of course! She sat at a table with a couple of girls; Janie and Hope were very good hosts......haha.




The biggest surprise of the weekend was at Tombstone. We all knew that Janie was coming back to Korea sometime soon. Janie is Gareth's girlfriend for any of you that can remember him from my blog. He is a good friend and a fellow Brit. He was the manager of the Wonshots, our football team and gave us many weekends of good fun and he organized things brilliantly. He is definitely a manager by nature, that is for sure.



He had embarked on a trip of Canada, England, France, Bolivia, Peru, Argentina and Chile. His whereabouts as such were unknown. That is until Saturday night!!!! Guess who was standing there next to Janie in the middle of Tombstone? Yes, you guessed it right.........Gareth!!!!!!! He never told anyone that he was coming back to Korea!!!



He decided to come back with Janie as she needed to make a little money so decided to come here for one more year. He is madly in love with her and couldn't bear to think about being away from her for a whole year. So he decided to come back and signed a one year contract to work here again. Great news for me! That gives me an excuse to go back to Ulsan more often now........just to see Gareth.



Gareth, by the way, is an awesome photographer and he has his own website full of his pics from his travels around the world. Check it out and when you get to his website click on where it says "Portfolio" across the top of his page. That will take you to all of his pics.


He told me that he sold two of his pictures in the U.K. while he was back there. Some of the pics are absolutely magnificent. I will not spoil them for you. Just go and check them out at: http://www.garethcopley.com/


Sunday, midday, Kyoung Hee and I went for some 'galbi,' which is low fat pork and very thinly sliced. Dave met up with us and a little afterwards, Kyoung Hee went home. I sensed that she doesn't like Dave and that made me feel very uncomfortable and reminded me of one of the reasons that she used to annoy me; she is a bit of a drama queen. Anyway, I said my goodbyes and Dave and I decided to go and visit a good friend of ours, Dan Gauthier.



In between all of this, Rob had managed to not get back to the hotel room that he was sharing with Dave. He stayed at a friend's house. He managed to meet up with us about 8pm that night and got a ride back with another fella called Dan who lives in Seoul and of course, we all know him as well.


We got to Dan's house about 3pm or so and as always, Dan and his wife were the gracious hosts. She was going golfing, so that left Dave, Dan and I to have a boys hangout day. Dave ate, went for a nap, woke up and ate again.......something that Dan and I took the piss out of him for.....haha.


Dan and I had a great chat and we were drinking beer steadily all afternoon. It wasn't until later on that we realized we were pleasantly pissed..........oh, again, Paul!!!!!!!


Dave and I were brought here by Dan and we have been friends with him ever since. He recruited us to Korea back in 2000.....wow, doesn't seem like that long ago that we came!!!!!!


Dan, Dave and I had a good chat about pretty well everything in life and had a good laugh. Dan and his wife had just gotten back from a tour of Australia, New Zealand and countless other places. I think they were gone a little over 2 months. This was all a little while ago and it was the first time we had seen him since he got back.


He went into his room and got out his 'digeridoo,' not sure if that is how you spell it. It was priceless when he tried to play it and I was in bulk when between breaths, he turned to us and said, "It's been a while since I played it!" I was hysterical when he said that. It was just the way he said it and with his Aussie hat on as well and his Aussie accent, it was priceless. He actually told us that it cost him about 500 dollars, believe it or not. Each one is hand-made and one of a kind.



We all decided that we are going to have a 'boys' weekend at the end of this month. Dave is off that whole weekend and I start my two weeks vacation, slash shutdown at my school. So it should be a blast.
We are going to rent a condo and just hangout there and have a barbecue and a good laugh and of course some alcohol.
NO WOMEN WILL BE THERE!!!!!!!! That is a rule that we have made before we organized this whole thing. No going to town to chase women or anything like that. Just tunes, conversation, laughs, food and beverages.
I can't wait to tell you the truth. It will be the first time that we will hangout with Dan in that kind of environment and he is a funny guy with some great stories and some great laughs.


Friday, July 06, 2007

A Story That Must Be Read By As Many People As Possible!

This is unbelievable! Actually beyond unbelievable. It really bothered me when I read it and I vowed to make sure that as many people as possible get to know about this cultural "evil" that is going on in India..........I still cannot fathom how people could do this especially in today's society.

Read it and understand how angry, sad, lost and mixed up about the world, I am.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/07/05/damon.india.widows/index.html

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

More Pics Of My New Students Including Some Of The Same Students.

3 days into the new semester and I am starting to remember some of the students names, but not all.




It was Independence Day for America and Isaiah said something funny to me today. He asked me if I was mad or angry at him. I said no and asked why. He responded with the line that it was today that America kicked England's arse!!!!! Quite funny and somewhat orginal. I replied that we kicked their arse for a long long time before that.....hehehe.




Anyway some of the pics are below and above. Check the one out with the set of twins; Jan and Nelly.