A Better Iraq According To An Iraqi!

There is a young man, Hammar who is about 30 that plays on the same pool team as Rob here in Itaewon, Korea. He is married to an American girl and has been in Korea since about 2006.

We were talking to him tonight and Rob asked him what he thought about Iraq now and before under Saddam Hussein's rule. Rob felt a little arkward asking Hammar, but he really wanted to know.

What ensued was truly unbelievable. He told us stories of rape, murder, torture and absolute terror that happened to anybody at anytime and anyplace under Hussein's rule. It can be described only as absolutely shocking.

I had an idea that things were bad, but my god! I sat there and just listened to what Hammar was saying. He was a doctor in Iraq and is a doctor here. He was working for 2 dollars a month!!!!!!

He spent 7 days one time in jail because one of Hussein's private policemen came to the hospital drunk and was insulting everyone at the hospital while being cared for. Hammar said something to him and he ended up being in jail for 7 days. He said that he was lucky to get out and that he wasn't killed. The fact that he was a doctor, may have saved his life.

So, to all the people around the world that say Iraq was better under Hussein, you need to talk to someone like Hammar and understand the animals that Hussein and his entourage were. They controlled the country by pure terror. In Hammar's own words, " Holy fuck, Iraq today is so much better off, but we as a people have no idea what democracy or freedom is. Everything is new to us and it will take us a while to figure out what to do with these new things. Other countries don't want us to succeed and it is in their best interests to try and get us to fail."

An unbelievable night's conversation that taught me a lot and made me realize how lucky I am to be able to live free and without fear. Anyone else reading this blog should feel that way, too.

To all the people that want America out of Iraq. Shame on you!!!!!! Maybe the results are not happening as fast and as smooth as expected, but America had and has the right idea about bringing democracy and freedom to that part of the world, where there are lots of countries that rule their people by pure terror and that needs to be changed, even if it takes force at times.

Enough said. Thank you Hammar for educating me about your life and your country and restoring some faith in the American ideal, be it right or wrong in anyone's opinion.

A Promise To Blog More Often

I have been so busy of late that it really has been a task to blog as often as I used to. Given the fact that I can't blog on my breaks in work as the computer there is an absolute relic, then it is quite a task to keep up with my old rating of blogging so often.

I had a good weekend. Went out with the lads on Friday night, Saturday night and met them for dinner at Marakesh, the Morrocan Buffet on Sunday afternoon. We were all pretty shattered and ended up going home about 11pm, which is early by our standards.

Rob starts a new job tomorrow and for everyone else, it is the Monday blues, as such!

Nothing much happened over the weekend. Watched some football at Hollywoods and most places were packed to the rafters due to the St. Pat's Day celebrations and the combination of 6 Nations Rugby being on. We banged up the Irish 33-10, which was great to see.......haha.

As I said, I have been working hard. We started a new semester and am getting used to new kids and new challenges. I got my visa renewed for one more year, so I am safe and happy at the same school until April 30th, 2009. Not sure what I will do then, but we shall see, shall we not!

The plan right now is to take 5 weeks off in August/September to go to Canada and then take my son to England along with all the family for our Jonathan's wedding. We found out that our David's wife, Carmel is due in September, too.Congratulations Carmel and David and with our Jonathan's soon to be wife, Sarah having had a baby boy, Willy, both lads will be Uncles and Husbands within the same year.....haha.

Great news all around and I am looking forward to seeing everyone and hanging out with family and friends in Canada and England while I am there.

Enough for now, as I am off to bed. The new queen size bed is great and although I still have my insomnia, the quality of mini-sleeping has improved!!!!!!

Not Included In Liverpool's Poster For The 2008 City Of Culture!!!!

Feels A Little Bit More Like Home!

I have not had a queen size bed since about 2005 when I worked in Ulsan, but it wasn't mine, it belonged to the school.

I finally bought a brand-new queen sized bed and a little 3 seat sofa on Friday. One of my student's mothers was kind enough to call a place and then take me there, where I bought the two pieces of furniture and then had them delivered the same night.

I have had 2 nights great sleep on the bed.......should have bought the thing a long time ago, but anyway, it feels more like my home now. I will be here until the end of 2009 anyway, so it was a good choice.

I have also included some pictures of the students that I tutor and also from my school. Some of the students are leaving as they are going to middle-school and others are just going to the next year up.

I have been off from school since Wednesday and don't have to go back until Tuesday. Have taken it easy and haven't been to the gym at all since then. I will go tomorrow and start back into the grind again. I have kept the weight off that I have lost, which is great considering I haven't exercised.

I am keeping to eating good food and the odd cheat here or there. All in all, it is going well and I feel good. The inches are starting to come off my waist and I feel a little more nimble on my feet.....haha......

The weather here is fantastic. Spring is in the air that is for sure. The sun is shining today and I am going out with Karina and some of her friends. 3 fellas and 3 girls, so it should be fun. We are going to have some food and just hang-out. I am looking forward to it, really......!

Went out with Dave, Rob, Chris, Richie and Ryan and played some screen golf. Cut a long story short, I was using a driver, hit the golf ball and the head of the club went flying off. I did not hit the floor, did nothing wrong other than hit the ball the way you are supposed to. Well the golf place felt that we should have paid for the club! It was 2 years old and god knows how many other people had used it over that time.

They were insisting that we pay 200 dollars for the club!!!! I told them to go climb a tree and peel some bananas, they had that much chance of me paying for the club. Anyway, I left, steamed and finally the others left, too....... Not a nice end to a fun time and anyway, we won't be back at that place anytime soon.

After that, we all went to Carne station minus Ryan. It is a place that is unbelievable; all you can eat, all you can drink including spirits for 25 dollars!!!! They had meat, seafood, pasta, soup, desserts, unbelievable really and I stuffed myself on spaghetti, rice and garlic. Chris had been trying to get us to go there for a while and we finally went and I think I will be going again.

There are bottles of whisky, vodka, rum, wine etc.... and all you do is mix your own drinks. Plus there are kegs of beer and juice and coffee. Fantastic really, and a real bargain. I only had about 3 drinks while I was there, but the array of food and the choice that was available, made it worthwhile. Gonna go there again, that is for sure.

Went to Hollywoods after Carne Station and watched the Man U and then the Arsenal game at the same time. Jammy Gunners tied the game in the 93 minute.

Went home really early by my standards. I was home by 2.30am.......sounds funny when you think that is early...........

One Of The Pics Is Just Down The Street From Me...Here In Seoul

Dad just sent me an email with some funny English on signs from around Asia. One of them is right down the street from me in Itaewon, an area, which I am sure you have heard or read about on my blog.

It is about 2 minutes from my gym and actually, Dave pointed it out again to me last weekend while we were in a taxi on the way back from Kangnam.......so funny, but so ridiculous.

There was a girl at my school last Friday that had a sweater on. She is only 11 years of age and like all Korean children and their parents, pays no attention whatsoever to what the writing says on their t-shirts or shirts. The shirt said exactly this:

"Your boyfriend will be kind and sweet, but will be kinder and sweeter when you've bigger boobies!"

You may think that it is outrageous, but I have read much worse, believe me. Now you know how bad the Koreans' English skills are!!!!!!!!!!

Dirty Bags! I Have Been Saying This Ever Since I Came To Korea!

This is so pertinent to what I say to my students at school! Although this article talks about 'handbags' and those of you who are not Brits, it means purses or whatever you call the bags that women carry.

I tell my students at school to get their 'dirty' bags off the desk. I am on them all the time about this and have been for the whole time I have been in Korea. I always repeat to them in English......'dirty, ooh, dirty!' Get them off the desk, right now!!!!!

Read this article that I was sent by my Dad and see if you now think that I am right for doing what I do to all my kids at my school.

Subject: Handbags and dirt a true story:

Have you ever noticed gals who sit their handbags on public toilet floors, then go directly to their dining tables and set it on the table? Happens a lot!It's not always the 'restaurant food' that causes stomach distress.

Sometimes "what you don't know will hurt you" Read on...Mom got so upset when guests came in the door and plopped their handbags down on the counter where she was cooking or setting up food. She always said that handbags are really dirty, because of where they have been. It's something just about every woman carries with them.

While we may know what's inside our handbags, do you have any idea what's on the outside? Women carry handbags everywhere; from the office to public toilets to the floor of the car. Most women won't be caught without their handbags, but did you ever stop to think about where your handbag goes during the day.

"I drive a school bus, so my handbag has been on the floor of the bus a lot," says one woman. "On the floor of my car, and in toilets. I put my handbag in grocery shopping carts and on the floor of the toilet," says another woman "and of course in my home which should be clean."

We decided to find out if handbags harbor a lot of bacteria. We learned how to test them at Nelson Laboratories in Salt Lake, and then we set out to test the average woman's handbag.

Most women told us they didn't stop to think about what was on the bottom of their handbag. Most said at home they usually set their handbags on top of kitchen tables and counters where food is prepared. Most of the ladies we talked to told us they wouldn't be surprised if their handbags were at least a little bit dirty.

It turns out handbags are so surprisingly dirty, even the microbiologist who tested them was shocked. Microbiologist, Amy Karen of Nelson Labs says nearly all of the handbags tested were not only high in bacteria, but high in harmful kinds of bacteria. Pseudomonas can cause eye infections, staphylococcus aurous can cause serious skin infections, and salmonella and e-coli found on the handbags could make people very sick.

In one sampling, four of five handbags tested positive for salmonella, and that's not the worst of it. "There is fecal contamination on the handbags" says Amy. Leather or vinyl handbags tended to be cleaner than cloth handbags, and lifestyle seemed to play a role.

People with kids tended to have dirtier handbags than those without,with one exception. The handbag of one single woman who frequented nightclubs had one of the worst contaminations of all. "Some type of feces, or possibly vomit" says Amy.

So, the moral of this story is that your handbag won't kill you, but it does have the potential to make you very sick if you keep it on places where you eat.

Use hooks to hang your handbag at home and in toilets, and don't put it on your desk, a restaurant table, or on your kitchen countertop. Experts say you should think of your handbag the same way you would a pair of shoes."If you think about putting a pair of shoes on to your countertops, that's the same thing you're doing when you put your handbag on the countertops"

Your handbag has gone where individuals before you have sneezed, coughed, spat, urinated, emptied bowels, etc!Do you really want to bring that home with you?The microbiologists at Nelson also said cleaning a handbag will help. Wash cloth handbags and use leather cleaner to clean the bottom of leather handbags.

Grandiose Ideas! Bollocks!

The new Korean president that is about to take office, once again astounds foreigners by deciding that English needs to be taken to the next level and that there should be classes taught only in English at least once a week.

The article in the Korean Herald states that 60 percent of Korean teachers already speak good enough English to be able to teach in only English!!!!! Bollocks!!!!! Once again, the Koreans have no idea what they are talking about!!!!!!

Most of the Korean teachers that I meet speak awful English, have the worst grammar that I have ever heard and overall are very poor in the language. Imagine Korea thinking they can speak great! Doesn't surprise me anyway, as Korea has and always will be in denial about the system of teaching here in Korea.

This plan is only in Seoul ,by the way, and is supposed to go in effect by about 2011. Also the government wants to get transcripts sent to them right from the university, which as far as I know is not allowed at the moment........just other bullshit rules like the ones they have adopted now such as criminal check, interview at an embassy, etc...

They are so naive in Korea. They are going to scare away more teachers from coming to Korea and I for one, am quite happy they are doing it. They get what they deserve. They are so arrogant that they refuse to see the problem with the system and refuse to change. Koreans have a real problem with learning English compared to many other countries that study it as a second language. Wake up and smell the roses, Mr. Myong Back Lee!!!!!!

Anyway, this is my spiel for the day; the Korean attitude really bothers me when it comes to English. They really don't have a clue and don't care about what the real English teachers think and don't care to take our advice. Just look at half the English signs around Korea. They make no sense and have spelling mistakes, grammar mistakes and 'Konglish!'

They will not change in the near future, but come up with these grandiose plans that will enable them to speak and understand English better, as they are saying. Yeh, right!!!!!!!!!!!

Time to wake up and realize that you are running a losing battle, Korea! Once you stop being so arrogant and pig-headed about the whole system, maybe then your ability can get to the next level. But not until then.

"Korean can English better do and helpful situation of being good skill and efficient, leads to wanting overall and sufficient level of today and future behind history!!!!!"

The above English is very close to what most English looks like in books and on signs and at museums and monuments.......what a joke!!!!!!!!!

A Large Chunk Of History Destroyed In A Day

Read this article and realize how sad it is that this main focal point of Seoul's history is going to need re-building. It is only about 15 minutes from my house on bus. What a shame!!!!!!!

This is the before and after pictures of what it looked like and now looks like!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7238210.stm

Staying Home Watching Football All Weekend

The month's sobriety was broken on Wednesday and Thursday night due to Gareth visiting from Ulsan, which is about 4 hours south of Seoul.

We hung out Wed night and went to a jazz bar on Thursday night. Dave, Rob, Richard and I all hung out that night. I didn't drink a lot, but still broke the month's plan to quit drinking. Oh well, back at it again this weekend. That is not drinking, by the way!

Couldn't go to the gym on Thur or Friday as it was shut, but had a good workout today. I started squatting again. For those of you that have never done squats. They kill!!! They are, however, one of the best overall exercises for building pure strength and work almost every muscle in your whole body. I haven't squatted for a while, but didn't realize how much they hurt!

I still did 4 sets; first set at 135 for 10 reps, second set at 155 for 8 reps, third set at 185 for 6 reps and the last set at 225 for 4 reps. I don't do any of those 'sissy' squats that only go about a quarter down, I squat right down to my ankles, so you have to really push with your legs and back. I wore a belt, so my back was fine.

I am going to do the main three again, squat, deadlift and bench. Give the other exercises a rest and stick to the main three. Run on top of that and walk also. I walked today also for 5 km and about 40 mins. I feel good right now, but am sure that my legs will be sore tomorrow. I love it, though! That kind of pain is always what I have liked. Call me mental, but that is the life of a weightlifter. No pain, no gain!!!!!!

I am looking forward to getting stronger again and back to the level of lifting I was doing a few years ago. You never really lose it, just need to start slowly and work your way back. Is that not true with anything that you give up on in your life?

Watching football at home and am back onto the non-drinking for the rest of the month. Watching Newcastle at the moment and Owen has scored again! I will watch the Everton match after this and maybe one of the other games, too.

I finished reading "The Kite Runner," which my sister had sent me. I started it the day before yesterday, but only read about 20 pages. I finished the whole thing, yesterday!

It was a very sad book, but highly entertaining and very well written. If you haven't gotten a chance already, when you do, read it. You will like it, a lot. It is set in Afghanistan and gives a little insight into what life was like there at the time of the Russian invasion and then after they left.

Liverpool play tomorrow without the services of Torres, who is injured. They play Chelsea, at Chelsea. It is a very important game and I hope we can get a win.

Also the Manchester derby is tomorrow and it is a very special occasion as it is the day to remember the "Munich Disaster" back in the 1950s when 20 plus people including reporters and some of the most famous Utd players at the time, all perished as the plane was trying to take off from Munich. There is a little controversy related to the fact of whether the fans will observe the minute's silence with respect tomorrow, before the game starts. We shall see!!!!!!!

Another Funny Mourinho

Absolutely Hilarious Setanta Sports Spoof Of Mourinho

Another Class Video Scouted Out By Liverpool Stuart!

Some of you may need an interpreter to understand this dead Scouse accent. Gotta love it like, lah!!!!!!

Alcohol Free!

For the first time that I can remember in the last year or maybe more, I have not drank at all this weekend. It was a conscious choice, as I have had enough of being out on the piss every weekend and ruining every Sunday, as I was too tired to do anything after getting home, sometimes after 5am or so.

Time for reflections, as I say. I am always looking at ways to improve myself and this is one of those times. I want to be healthier and there are 3 parts to that equation; good diet, good exercise and good sleep. Booze needs to be minimal if not non-existen at times. I am not going to become a born-again, by any means, but need to just re-adjust my lifestyle to incorporate a more healther me. I do want to live to 100, by the way and get one of those awards by the monarchy for being a centenarian!!!!!!

So, there you are. The new me feels better and what a difference this Sunday was. I went to the gym, did some washing, did my shopping and cleaned the house. Did some lesson reports, downloaded some music and generally had a great day. Got loads of energy and I slept a lot better last night.

Dave came over and we watched 3 premiership games on my pc. Liverpool won, but still looked very shaky at times, but a win is a win and we gained on all the teams except Arsenal who are now top, alone. Man U tied in the last minute after having being dominated by Tottenham and not deserving anything out of the game.

Richard is coming over tonight, at midnight and we are going to watch the quarter-final game between Ghana and Nigeria. Come on, Nigeria!!!! Richard is so passionate about Nigeria and it is fun to watch a game with him.

They don't show any of the games on t.v. here, I don't have one anyway! Online is the way to go. I have watched about 10 of the Africa Cup of Nations already. I think the best team right now looks like either Ivory Coast or Egypt, but like any tournament, that can change after just one game.

Capello has chosen his first England team and by all opinions, seems to have done a good job. Beckham was not given a run-out because of sentimentality, but I still believe that he will get his 100th cap and I think he deserves it, as he has been an ambassador for the sport and although some of his legacy is shrouded in controversy, he still has done a lot of good for the England team, past and present.

I am off to cook some curry and rice now and have a nice supper. Going to check the news and other events online and then off for a nap, as I will be getting up about 11.30 to watch the premiership games and then at 2am the Nigeria game with Richard being here.

I Have Discovered Podcasts!

Well, I have finally discovered podcasts and I must say, they are awesome. For those of you who do not know what podcasts are, you are missing out on a whole slew of information if you want to listen to things while you are on the bus, subway or other forms of transportation.

I bought myself an ipod back in December and it has been one of the best purchases ever as it has given me so much contentment and believe it or not, even more education, and all while I am on the go.

I have a whole host of podcasts on my ipod from news to sport, philosophy, language instruction, documentaries, history, discussion groups, health etc.....

It is like listening to a radio except you pick what broadcast you want to listen to, anytime of the day. There are also vodcasts, which are podcasts with video, just like tv, which you can watch on the screen of your ipod.

It is absolutely amazing and to give you an idea of how diverse the things are that I am listening to, here is an example. I listened to a BBC podcast about, "How to Capture a Castle." It was question and answer podcast between an author and an interviewer about a history book, on the history of castles and how they were sieged at different times in history. From being made out of wood and then on to stone, how the attacks differed. It was a really interesting podcast and it was about 40 minutes long. I learnt a lot and I was thoroughly entertained as I went up and down escalators and on and off buses and subways.

There is a "World Soccer Daily" podcast, which was voted the top podcast last year among many listeners. Two fellas, Steve and Howard who are English, but live in America, discuss anything to do with football. People email in questions and opinions and also people phone in during the show. It is almost 2 hours long, Monday to Friday and is very funny and at times controversial. It does not have to fit the criteria for regular radio behaviour as it is a from SIRRIUS satellite radio enterprises. They are very funny as a duo and some of the callers have great questions and insights into the football world.

If you just want to listen to the show on your pc at home, here is the link to the webpage. They have had trouble since last Tuesday, so no broadcasts were available after Tuesday, but the problems should be solved by Monday.

http://www.worldsoccerdaily.com/

There are a host of other sports programs such as; 6 minutes of The Leafs Hockey Team highlights after each game, Footy World, ESPN Soccernet Podcast and on and on.

I love the podcasts and I get so much enjoyment from them. I also have a learn Italian podcast and a Greek podcast as well as vocabulary of the day and on an on.

Sorry to go on about the podcasts, but it is an area of my life that has definitely made me feel more in touch with the western world as well as giving me more enjoyment listening to history, sports and other types of entertainment. I even get the Larry King podcast and listen to some of the people that he interviews.

Anyway, enough said about podcasts, but if you have an ipod and are on the go like my job is, you should check out podcasts and learn all about them.

If you are interested about what podcasts are, here is the link from Wikipedia, which by the way is one of the best online resources to find out about pretty well anything. It is like having the world's encyclopedia at your fingers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasts

Not much else going on at the moment. I am very busy and that is why I have not been blogging so much. I watched the Nigeria vs Mali game on Saturday morning at 4.30am with my Nigerian friend, Richard at my place. Watched the Liverpool game at Hollywood's last night and hung out with Rob and Chris and Dave.

Dave, Chris and I met up in Kangnam and had a meal there before we went to watch the Liverpool game. It ended up being 85 dollars, which by Korean standards is really, really expensive. Still only about 30 dollars each though, and we did eat a lot of bbq'd pork. Usually though, the same meal anywhere else in Seoul would cost half of that. Oh well, live and learn!

I am going to watch the Man U game online at 11 tonight and then off to bed with the start of a new week upon me. I will make my customary Sunday call to my son and then ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

A Mother's Love And Care!

I have to thank my Mum for the advice she has given me about my cold. She told me to go and get some nasal spray and some eye drops. I did just that and I already feel a little bit better.

Sometimes, all you need is some good, sound advice from a loved one.

I joined up at the old gym today and started having saunas again. I went today and it was awesome, I must say.

No more complaining for me. I am just going to get on with things. Looking forward to watching the Nigeria vs Ivory Coast game and then Liverpool vs Aston Villa. Gonna try and get a few hours shut-eye and then wake up and watch the lot.

January 20th Already!

This month seems to be just flying by. Can't believe that there are only 11 more days left in the month. It seems like yesterday that it was New Years Day!

Not a lot has been happening. I am extremely busy these days hence the drop in volume of blogging that I am doing.

I usually am done at 9.30 most nights now and then by the time I get home, it is after 10. I have not been to the gym once this week, which is bothering me somewhat.

It has been cold as hell here in Seoul and I think that has been taking it out of me, too. I just don't feel like doing anything when it is this cold. Don't really even want to go out the door.....haha.

The Africa Cup of Nations is starting today and I am looking forward to that. They are not showing any of it on t.v, but I can get every game on line. The online site is http://www.p2p.eu/ and it is a fantastic site. Stu got me onto it and I watch all the football matches on that now.

Didn't go out on Friday night. Just stayed home and went to bed about 11, which is ridiculously early by my standards.

I am still feeling sick. Got rid of that sinus infection and know my eyes are caked every morning and my throat hurts and I have a little bit of a cough that is very dry......ah poor baby Paul, you'll be alright!!!!!!




I really am tired of being sick and hold no trust in the drugs that they give you here. It seems like the stuff never gets rid of whatever it is you have......ever. Tired of going back to the doctors and telling them to give me something stronger. They are the doctors, shouldn't they know? Dumb arses that I have no faith in.

Gonna sign of now, before I get too much more negative. Needless to say, I have the winter blues, big time! I will head out tonight and try to neutralize them.......

Identical Digits For The Fourth Time

Yes, that's right. I turned 44 on Friday. That means I have done the identical digit thing four times now; 11, 22, 33 and 44. Let's hope I can get to do it 9 times....haha.

Met Dave, Rob and Dan on Thursday night, the eve before my birthday and ended up getting home about 5am. It was a good night and we all had a good time.

Woke up about 11 am on Friday morning and then finished my work at about 8.45pm. It was a bit of a long day, but it was my birthday, so it was cool.

One of my students, Alex, turned 6 the same day as me! It was so cool. I knew this a few months before, so we decided to have Domino's Pizza and a bottle of coke during the class for 'Our Birthday!'

I bought Alex a leather football from the Korean League here and he bought me a stainless steel thermos from Starbucks Coffee with a free coupon for a coffee anysize and anykind also. We had a good lesson and just hung out. He is football mad and plays also.

I also have another student, Moonhee who turned 31 the same day. I teach her by telephone, twice a week for 30 minutes each time. I only found out it was her birthday on Monday and thought she was joking at first.

My birthday itself on Friday night was great. Dan, Rob, Dave, Ryan and I played screen golf at a place close to Dan's house. We started about 10 and finished at 1.30 in the morning. Rob and I then headed back to Itaewon where we live and ended up at a bar called 'Ole Stompers.' Duane, the fella that owns it, is a great fella and we just hung out there with a bunch of other people until about 6am. The music was great and also I met two South American fellas.

I was able to practice my Spanish with them. One fella was from Ecuador and the other from Peru. The fella from Peru plays in a band that was scheduled to appear that following night at Ole Stompers, but we never made it out to see it.

On a bad note, Rob was let go by his school. They said something about numbers, but I seriously think they are having financial troubles and are just looking for an excuse to downgrade. The only problem is they told him on Thursday that they wanted him to leave the school 4 days later, the day after he got paid.

Usually ,job etiquette here states that the school will give you at least 30 days notice if they want to lay you off. It definitely works the other way if you want to quit. They insist that you give them that much time. I was pissed off royally and will wait to see what happens with a meeting that Rob has scheduled with the school on Monday.

Remember, I work for the same company, but at a different school. I told my Korean teacher that if they screw Rob over, then I will not be resigning there at the end of April like they want me to. I will not stand by and see one of my best friends treated unfairly and then just carry on working for the same company like nothing has happened.

I have too much integrity to do that and also there are tons of jobs out there, all the time. I look after my friends and anyway, that could happen to me next.

Watched the Liverpool game last night and don't even want to go there about how bad they are!!!!!!!

Gonna watch the Sunderland vs Portsmouth game in about half an hour and then off to bed. Back to the Monday grind and see what the week has to offer.

The First Weekend Of The New Year

By all standards, it has been a quiet first weekend. Friday night, I met up with Rob and Dan and we played 'screen' golf. Rob kicked our butts and I totally sucked. I got almost double par on each hole, which is the maximum the game will give you!

I enjoyed it though. I want to go and do it again for my birthday on Friday. Hopefully, we'll have Rob, Dan, Dave and I there playing it. Chris doesn't like it, so he won't be coming, I think.

I met up with Caroline on Saturday in Bundang. She is a Korean girl that I became friends with about 2 years ago when I lived in Bundang. I ended up teaching her sister and her sister's friend for about 4 months or so.

She just returned from Mexico, where she lived and studied for a year. Her aunt lives there, so it was much cheaper to study there than any other places. She did her major in Spanish in Korea, so it was a good choice to improve her Spanish.

I took my Spanish phrase book with me and we talked for about 3 hours in Spanish. I was quite surprised how much I remembered and it was great to speak my favourite language of all!

Saturday night, I met up with Chris in Kangnam and then we headed to Itaewon again. We went to Geckos and stayed there for a while and ended up again at UN Club. Not much went on, but a good time was had by all.

Stayed home all day today. Did some lesson plans and prepared some questions for my classes at school. Other than that, I just lounged around all day.

I am going to call my son, Tyler, at midnight, as usual. At 1am, I am going to watch the Liverpool vs Luton FA Cup game on my computer. I might watch the Arsenal or another game that starts before the Liverpool game, too.

Not a bad weekend to start the New Year!

27 Hours Into A 48 Hour Fasting Session

Yep, that's right. It is that time of the year again to purge my system completely and get all the junk out of there or at least give my body a good chance to digest some of the residue out of the tank.

I am currrently into my 28 hour and I don't feel hungry at all. I have been drinking lots of water and had some juice this afternoon and some coffee.

This is not the first time that I have tried this. I have been doing this for many years now. Don't know if it helps my system in the long run, but it just feels good to do it once in a while.

I have not done any exercising other than walking while I am fasting, for obvious reasons. I will work out tomorrow and then tell you how things went.

For now, suffice to say that I am feeling good and will continue to do so unless I start to really want to eat and then I will..........

Joined A New Gym

My membership expired at The Hamilton Hotel, yesterday. I decided not to renew for several reasons.

One was the extra travelling time after I finished work. The location, although close, meant that I had to take an extra bus there and an extra bus back, in order to get home. It didn't take that long, but 25 minutes extra after having already travelled 2 hours plus on the subway and buses, is not needed.

The second reason was the hours that it was open. The Hamilton was open until 11pm Mon to Fri and 6 on a Sat and 4 on a Sunday. I needed a bit more availability at night, as I found myself rushing through my workouts a lot of the times.

Wished I looked as good as this guy. I am going to try, this year!

The new gym is a 5 minute walk from my house and I am paying for 3 months there, what I was paying for a month at The Hamilton. Also, the bus fare will save me about 10 bucks a week. Not much in the overall scheme of things, but better in my pocket.

The other thing is that the gym is open until 2.30am from Mon to Fri, which I am really pleased about. There is no sauna, but I can still go to any sauna once or twice and week for about 5 dollars a go.......much less expensive.

Plus, a change is always good, right! I joined for 3 months and got a locker, so I can leave my running shoes there and my mp3 disc player, too.

I will start working out there tomorrow. I was too tired today to do so, as I got home about 10.15pm and it was my first day back at my school in over 10 days.

Going to bed now and then setting the alarm for 5am to watch Liverpool vs Wigan. Come on boys, let's have a good result tonight.

A Pure Artist At Work And Play

This is very clever and witty.......

An Awesome Story To Start Your New Year

I wonder what their secret is and was?
I can guess it was pure happiness............

Read and enjoy this bit of glorious news:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/cornwall/7166713.stm

Finally The American Justice System Works!

Read this article about this 'animal.' At least the justice system worked the way it is supposed to do in this case.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/CRIME/12/31/iron.man.ap/index.html?eref=googletoolbar

Happy New Year To All Of You And Your Families And Friends

The biggest thing about the new year is always about resolutions. Do any of you have any? Of course, I do.

So in short, here they are:

1. To keep myself healthy by eating only good food and exercise more than I did last year.

2. To drink way less. Have a curfew of 2am when I am out.

3. Spend more time doing quality things such as reading, studying and sometimes just mental health time.

That is it, I am afraid. Nothing earth shattering, but all the same, very important things for me to improve on. I think they can easily be achieved, as I have already put some of them into motion before the new year got here.

I wish everyone that is reading this blog and their family and friends, the best of health for the coming year. Really without good health, we have nothing. All the best to all of you and I hope that I continue to interest you more than I have done in the past with some of my new blogs.