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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Prayers On The Subway And New Students!

Sometimes so many unusual things happen here in Korea that I just forget to write about them. Well, today I made sure that I remembered to write about what happens as a usual thing on the subway; people lay pieces of paper with prayers on them on people's laps.

I don't know what it is for, but I am assuming that they are looking for donations. Most of the people that lay the papers on the people's lap don't say anything, but one time I saw a guy get down on his knees and actually do a prayer in Korean.

Penny on the left and Michelle on the right.

It is funny because even if people are napping on the subway, they still get papers put on their lap. The prayer givers usually don't put a prayer on a foreigners lap as the prayer is in Korean and I think it is more of the Buddhist thing going on, so they think that most of us are not interested in Buddhism.

Peter with his party hat on. He is still in my new class!

It is interesting to watch though and some of the Koreans are a little unreceptive at times. They seem to tolerate the constant selling of many items on the subway as well as the prayer givers.

There was even a woman last week that was carrying a cross and chanting as she walked from each subway car to the next. It was very loud chanting and although I could not understand her, I was sure that she was talking about not going to hell and going to heaven! She was tolerated also. I think it has a lot to do with the Confuscionism in this country. It teaches tolerance even when you are bumped into and shook out of your tree by someone shouting so loud on their cell phone that the next planet can hear it......seriously they are so so loud at times.

I am well used to a lot of things, but today as I was walking to catch my bus from the subway exit, some older fella walked right beside me and shouted at me, I mean shouted at me, although he was right next to my ear, "Hey you, hey you, are you Russian man?" I didn't reply at all, which is what I tend to do now whenever someone is ignorant in English. By the way, ignorance of the language is no excuse in my books. They should know better and just learn some manners. Not all of the Korean people do that, only the older men and some of the younger guys.

They just do not get our culture at times. The funny thing is that they would never do that to each other in their own culture too! It seems like the foreigners are free game for anything.

James is a little handicapped and such a cute kid. Everytime I see him and he sees me, he always says, "Hot, it is hot teacher!" His pronunciation is awesome and he seems to really like English class. He is with Isaiah this semester now.

Even at the schools, the same problems exist. The students shout at the teachers, ask them for food and use some pretty bad manners towards the foreign teachers as a whole. They would not dare to talk to their own teachers that way or ask them for food or money or anything. It is like there is one set of rules for their own teachers and one set of rules for "US!"

I don't mind it most of the time, but I never let them get away with it for a moment. I tell them that it is rude and not to shout or ask for anything from me. It takes a while to sink in, but once they have stood in the corner with their hands up in the air for about 10 minutes, they don't feel like doing it again........haha......I love Korea for that!!!!!!

Linda on the left, Helen on the right and Penny and Michelle behind them. Linda is still in my class. Isaiah got the other three!

On the school note- I have had all my students changed except for maybe 2 or 3 in each class. Isaiah has got all my students and I have got all of his. I am cool with it as I think it is a good idea for the kids to hear different accents and to see a different teaching style.

Teachers have different styles just like anyone in a job that requires a lot of discipline and dedication. Anyone that says teaching is easy, has never taught in their life.......haha. I am not bemoaning my job. I am just stating a fact.

There is no way I would ever want to be a teacher in North America. The teachers there are completely handicapped and it is all because of the parents who try to protect their children even when they have done something wrong. Way to go parents!!!!! You all bitch about the state of the school and education system and most of you are the ones that have made it that way. The balance shifted from way too much discipline to diddly shit discipline now..........so I hope you are proud of yourselves for raising a bunch of wild undiscipline kids!!!

It is not all parents, I know, but the majority have risen to the top and taken control and still bitch about it, just like the non-smokers despite the fact that smoking is not illegal and the government makes millions off of it. That is my preaching for today done anyway.

I took a couple of pics of my first class students. They are so so cute. They are only 7 years old and are so small and the girls and boys are just so cute that you want to give them a big hug everytime you see them. It is cool to do that here in Korea. People don't think you are a pedophile or weird or a pervert. A refreshing thing that teachers here always talk about and like a lot. What a way to start your day-hugging a cute little student that loves you, the teacher.

Suzie on the left and Lucy on the right. Suzie was so shy, but is coming along good now. I still have Lucy in my new class and she is one of the best students. Her pronunciation is awesome and she is a very very smart girl. Look how cute they are though!

Often the students will rub my arms because I have so much hair on them. They are not used to seeing that as most Koreans have very little body hair especially arm or chest hair. They just look at me and smile and then say, "Teacher, you are like a bear!!!!!"

It will take me about another week to memorize the 60 odd names again, but it is a challenge and I like it. Isaiah was a little upset as he said he was starting to bond with some of the kids. I just told him that it happens all the time and you will get the kids back at sometime in the next year. We will probably switch after the summer vacation is over.

A Stupendous House Party! A Good Time Was Had By All!!!!!

The party was great! Everyone had a great time and we all made my 'postage stamp' house feel more like home.

Pic 1. Tom, Dave and Rosie. Pic 2. Bobby, Dave, Richie (from Liverpool) and Guido from Italy. Pic 3 and 4. Richie and I messing about. I am not that drunk, I was just acting drunk.

Only one casualty was Jason who passed out after drinking a whole bottle of vodka within about 2 hours.......he went to sleep on my bed after we carried or should I say, steered him there.....lol.

Pic 1. Jason passed out on my bed. Pic 2. Dave, Richie and Matt (from Manchester, but a Liverpool supporter.) Pic 3. Rob by my bed, Sara (from Manchester and a good friend of mine) sitting on the chair by the computer, a couple of her friends in the group sitting down. One girl is an Aussie, the other English and another Irish. The UN might of had a meeting here last night.

Lots of good conversations were had and it was really nice to have some friends over to make my house feel like it is mine, at least for the next little while anyway.

Pic 1. Bobby who is from Canada and whose parents are Greek. We speak Greek whenever we get together. I met him through Sara. He is a great lad. Rosie who works with Dave, next to him. Met her for the first time last night.

Pic 2. Jason while he was still awake and Sara. Jason is from America and is an ex-military officer.

Pic 3. Dave with his usual salute to the camera. The back of Tom's head. He is from Wales, but lives in Liverpool. His name is Tom Jones.......lol....

The rainy season has started here in Korea. It lasts usually the whole month of July and it rains a lot and sometimes really really heavy. Got to get used to it as there is not much else we can do.