Taiwan Continued...........

This picture came out a little blurred, but it was a picture of a house that was literally right off the main street and between a wall and then in a row of houses. The Taiwanese love plants as you can see and are big on putting them wherever they can. This actually ended up being a restaurant and we came upon it again at night and it actually looked even cooler. It was on the way home from our walk from the subway to our hotel, so we got to see it quite a few times.

I took this picture out of the window while I was on the bus coming from the airport. It shows you the trees once again mixed in with the overpass and the parking lot. They are big on trees making everything look nicer and I actually think they have done a good job of it. It makes everything look a little softer instead of a full on concrete jungle, which it really is!

This is a guy that I saw passed out right before you get to the famous Lanshou Temple. He was right out of it. Every culture has these types of scenes, but Korea has a lot more people drunk than Taipei. Another assertion that I became aware of very quickly while I was there. He was actually the only person I saw in that state the whole 5 days I was there.

I saw a lot more handicapped people in Taiwan than I have the whole time I have been in Korea. I don't know why that is, but I think it is because in Korea there is not a lot of acceptance for handicapped people and not a lot of effort put forth to integrate them into society. Taiwan seemed very receptive towards handicapped people. I saw a lot and I mean a lot of people with bad legs or what seemed like stroke-like ailments. Again, not something that I went looking for, it just seemed very transparent.

This picture was taken of two girls in their school uniforms. I asked them if it was okay to take their picture. Didn't want to seem like no pervert or anything. I told them that I wanted to take a picture because they were in their school uniforms. They were obviously quite shy about it, but they let me take the picture and I thanked them for it.

I took this picture as it shows the mixture of old with new. The two buildings are somewhat traditional style, but right in between them is the new 'Nokia' place. Chinese letters either side and English letters with one of the biggest companies in the cellular phone business beside them. Notice again all the scooters. The people are not in the stores by the way. That is parking area, like I mentioned before. There are parking areas like this all over the place, on every street, back alley and side street.






I actually took this picture at the airport in one of the souvenir shops. I just thought that is showed some of the stuff that they sell as traditional souvenirs. You probably could by the same stuff anywhere else in the world and probably cheaper.

One of the positive things about Taiwan also was that everyone on their scotters wore a helmet. Unlike Korea, where nobody wears helmets. This was a picture of a small stall off the main road that sold helmets and bike paraphanalia. They are big into the helmet design. I guess with so many scotters, the helmet can make you feel somewhat unique!!!!!

The drivers on a whole were much better in Taiwan. The taxi drivers didn't ride the brake or accelerator pedal and the bus drivers didn't drive like maniacs. The driving style was very smooth and crossing the road, pedestrians were given the right of the way all of the time, with a lot of courtesy. Sorry that I can't say that in Korea, where cars go first and people are an afterthought.

This is a shot out one of the windows at the top of Taipei 101. It is the tallest building in the world at about 388 meters. It also hosts the world's fastest elevator. It goes from the 5th floor to the 90th floor in approximately 37 seconds. It was a hoot going up it. My ears popped and the whole lot! It was dead smooth though and very cool. There was a picture of the elevator on the inside as a red square and it showed us moving up the floors. Quite a rush, I must say. It is officially entered in the Guiness Book of Records as the world's fastest elevator. This is a good view of a part of Taipei.

The temple once again that we visited. Actually Dave and I managed to lose each other. He ended up getting pulled aside by some monk or something and I couldn't find him. I guess he was still inside, but I didnt' look diligently enough. I waited outside for about 40 minutes and guessed he had gone off somewhere.... don't know why I thought that! Anyway, we ended up meeting each other about 3 hours later at the hotel. I had got a taxi back there and left a note on our luggage, which was in the front lobby, to tell him that I would be back there about 3pm. I checked in a couple of times in between and I guess we just missed each other an hour earlier. I ended up getting a hair cut and eating some very spicy curry at a restaurant downstairs from the hotel that we had booked out of.

One of the cool things is that even when you check out of a hotel, they will still let you keep your luggage in the front lobby. They give you a ticket and just throw a net over everyone's luggage. That way I guess they figure they have a better chance to get you to stay another night, if you want to.

This is another cool picture that shows how poor some of the people there are. Someone actually lives in this place, believe it or not! As far as I could see, there was no middle-class there in Taipei. There was rich and poor, very poor. This was taken on a side-street not far from the main road. We walked down it and also saw a small make-shift temple where a woman was burning the yellow pages with all the prayers on them in a traditional pot for the wishes to come true. The Taiwanese are very big on those kinds of spiritual things.

Another picture of a parking lot full of scooters. You can see more clearly from this pic just how many there are. This is one of many many lots similar to it all over the city.

This is the best shot that I could get of Taipei 101 from the outside. You can see they have tried to integrate the design as a kind of traditional Chinese building. It is an engineering accomplishment and something that Taipei is very proud of. There is a hall attached to the side of the building and across the street a very American style mall with shops and coffee shops outside. Dave and I had a coffee at the Starbucks right across from this building and hence that is where the photo was taken.

A photo of a fruit market on the main street. I thought it looked so colourful that I had to take a picture of it. They had Korean pears in the store! Some nifty looking fruit and Dave bought a couple of apples and peaches from there.

A picture of the mall that I was mentioning across from Taipei 101. We were sitting right next to this stall at the Starbucks. It was all Hang Ten products. This was the main entrance to the mall, which we didn't bother our arses to go in of course. Could do that anywhere in the world. Nothing special about shopping in an American style mall in Taiwan. Believe me!!!!!!!

This was a shot taken out of the hotel room window. The second hotel that we stayed at. It was much nicer and cleaner than the first one and about the same price. They had a fairly good breakfast too. It was away from the main downtown, but close enough to the subway and a few other areas.

This is a picture of "Snake Alley" which is part of the night market in an area close to the temple that we visited. It has all kinds of delicacies, from chicken's butt holes to snake soup and other exotic foods. We didn't like it that much as it was a bit stinky and dirty looking. Every other store was a sex toy shop too. The shopping at the night market was very disappointing and there were not really any good bargains or if there were, the stuff was shite. Nothing we expected from Taiwan. "Made in Taiwan" we thought would be a great place to shop........ not!!!!!!!

A monk on the subway. We saw quite a few of these all around Taipei. We were on the subway at least about 20 times. We got to know the subway very well and Dave was an expert with his beloved map.

Some more photos of the streets and the buildings and the traffic. Enough for now anyway. Don't really have that many more good photos, but Dave has a few that I am sure I can borrow. He had his camera with him 24/7, I however had mine sparingly on my person.

Nothing Like A Couple Of Good Night's Sleep.

I didn't feel much like blogging after coming back from Taiwan. I think it was due to being absolutely exhausted. Dave and I got a lot in in a few days, but it was a good trip full of good memories and good times.

I have been to the gym twice since I got back and I think that nackered me out too. I had a good night's sleep last night, by my standards anyway. I feel rejuvenated today and ready to face the world with my happy face...... as always... well sometimes... well okay sporadically.... oh whatever!

Dave and I landed in Taipei and then proceeded where and how to get to downtown Taipei. We figured out the bus and we were on our way. The bus trip was kind of cool as it was a double decker or should I say looked like half a double decker.

The highway was just like any other highway in the world except this one had palm trees and loads of other types of trees on either side of it. I think they did a good job hiding the highway from some of the areas where the Taiwanese live.

The bus driver was much better than the bus drivers in Korea, something that I commented on almost instantly. The taxi drivers in Taipei ended up being much better too and not crazy like they are in Korea and constantly on the pedal, pushing and stopping, pushing and stopping.

Back in Korea taking the taxi yesterday was a reality check. One of the bad things about coming back to Korea, but only one of few. I am genuinely happy to be back here and must say I like living in Korea...... surprised are you?

Once at the bus stop, we hooked up with a cab driver that took us to the main downtown, which we had already passed on the bus! It didn't matter as the fella spoke English very well and was very informative about Taipei and told us a lot of stuff like about how many taxis and what the general feel was like in Taipei.

We got out downtown and then went looking for hotels, which Dave had got a list copied of at the airport from a very nice young man that was a great help to us. We looked at the list while we were in the taxi and then decided on one to have a look at.

We ended up staying at that one and got what they called a suite, with two double beds in it. It ended up being an okay hotel, but not one that we wanted to stay in again, as it was not that clean and for the money we paid, we knew there were better, cleaner hotels.

It was very central however to the Taipei Main Station and to the subway. Dave had his map, which he used religiously during the trip and I must say did a great job for us. Dave was very good at finding things on the map and he got us to a lot of places with the aid of the map. It was well used by the time we finished our trip in Taipei.

After checking in, we decided to go and start exploring. We went to get something to eat and walked around a little to get ourselves orientated. We ended up going to a quite affluent area, which was very close to the Taipei 101 Tower. It was very Americanized, something we didn't particularly like. We had gone there to see Taiwanese culture, not American. Anyway, we hummed and harred about going to eat and where and finally decided that we would go to another area and get out of "Little America."

We met one girl though, Sherry, as we were leaving and she told us that she worked at a night club called 'Luxy." This was great as she got us on the guest list, meaning we didn't have to pay to get in. We went there twice during our trip and had a good time each time we went. She gave us her number and she was a really good contact to have. We were quite lucky to meet her, but I had egged on Dave to go and say hello, so I guess our teamwork helped us in the end.

That is the end of part one of I don't know how many. I have no pics at work, so I will do another blog with some pics of Taipei on it, at home.

Back From Taiwan And Blogging Again!!!!!

Just a short blog for now. Not much in the mood for sitting in front of a pc and typing and stuff.

This is a picture of a temple that is famous in Taipei. It was very small, but very cool and you could smell incense burning constantly. People come and pray for all kinds of things, like good luck on an exam and good health etc...

It was quite funny because one fella took Dave aside and proceeded to teach him all about the spirituality of the temple and the history and the like.

He told Dave to say a prayer and to remember to give his name and address...... Hilarious...... "HE" has to know wherer you live. The Canadian address or the Korean one!!!!!

We walked a hell of a lot while we were there and got to know Taipei quite well. We went on the subway more than 20 times and went to places from one side to the other. We had a good time, but it was very different from what we expected. A little dirtier than Korea and some of the smells were awful.

Scooters everywhere. There were so many, it was unbelievable. Literally millions of them. I guess it is the principal mode of transportation there. People don't drive cars unless they have a fair bit of money. There were also 200,000 taxis in Taipei. That is right, it is not a typing mistake. They were everywhere. We heard that right from a taxi driver and he spoke English very well. He was going to get his boating license in the next month or so. He had lived in Boston for 2 years, or somewhere like that.

Enough for now. Just wanted you all to know that I was back and ready to start telling stories again. I will soon. I promise.

Wishing my niece a very happy 18th birthday on October 11th, 2006. She just started at The University of Toronto and I wish her all the luck in the world at uni as well as a great 18th year. Happy Birthday Katie!!!!!!!!!!

No More Blogs Until I Get Back From Taiwan

Tuesday at 12.30pm, Dave and I fly to Taipei, Taiwan. We can both taste it at the moment. We are just chomping at the bit to have a vacation and get away from the normal grind that is part and parcel of teaching.

We have no hotel booked, have no idea where we will be staying and have no idea other than some conversations with people and family about what Taipei has to offer. We are not going there blind, but as close as you can get to it..... haha. We don't care though, it will be an adventure and I think the first night we are going to stay at a class hotel and enjoy the service and the gym and pool and the like!

This weekend has been a bit of a chill out weekend, but we still managed to get up to a few things. We ended up going to a barbecue pork place tonight and had our fill there. We are both very excited about the trip and of course the conversation was about going there.

Not much else to speak of at the moment. Liverpool lost on the weekend, which sucks, but what can you do?

I went to the gym everyday this weekend. Managed to run 10kms on Saturday in 65 mins as well as a full 50 minute weight workout. Then today I ran 6 kms, interval training; walk one minute, jog 2 minutes, sprint one minute. Did that for about 38 minutes. It was a good change from just jogging at the same speed and a good shakeup for the system. It is amazing how fast our bodies can adapt to being pushed, so we need to change things up once in a while.

As the blog says, there will be no more blogs this week and I will resume once I get back from Taiwan, which is some time Saturday night, October 7th. Wish us a good time and hopefully we will have some good photos and good stories to tell about our vacation. It will be my first vacation in over 2 years.

You Think You Are Having A Bad Day?

I am happy to say that I only have 6 more essays to mark and then I am done with the 91 of them!

It definitely has not been a labour of love doing these essays this time. Especially considering that 77 of them were all exactly on the same subject. I only have one class that is different from all the other classes!

When Wayne, the head teacher for the English teachers, asked me what levels I wanted, I told him that I didn't care, anything would be good. I didn't realize that they were going to give me every Wisdom Basic class!!!!

That means that I teach the same lesson on Monday and Wednesday for 4 classes straight, or about 5 hours. The exact same lesson and the exact same thing the next day for 2 out of my 3 classes. I guess preparing is a lot easier, but it is a little boring after a while doing the same thing for 7 hours over 2 days!!!!

I like the level that I am teaching, but would have liked a little more variance in my classes, even if it was one or two of the lower levels or intermediate levels. I am still enjoying my job, as always and wouldn't trade what I do for any other job at the moment. I really like teaching and plan to do this for as long as I physically can, hopefully until I feel like retiring.

It is such a rush teaching the young kids and they keep me young at heart, or is it the other way round. Anyone that knows me, knows that I am about 12 at heart, 13 tops!

These are a few photos that have been doing the circuit, either on email or on website. I still think they are good and it makes you think about how shit happens in the world. Like the title says, "You think you are having a bad day?"

People never cease to amaze me on their take on things that happen. I will give you a prime example of one that happened to me today.

I was sitting at my desk with my yogurt, low fat biscuits and bean bread pancakes. One of the Korean English teachers walked towards me and pointed at one of the bean breads and said, "Give me!" I replied to her that she was not getting one unless she asked me nicely, as the way she asked me was bad manners, just like a little child. I of course was also saying; Give me, give me, never gets, haven't you learnt your manners yet.

Well the surprising thing is that Wayne saw this and said that I was rude for not giving her one! I told him that if she asked me nicely, she could have one, but not before. It is our job to teach the kids and the non- English speaking teachers.. joke joke.... some of our culture and what is rude and what is not.

I could not get through to Wayne or one of the other teachers. They firmly believed that I was wrong. I didn't say it in an angry tone of with attitude. I just said matter of factly that she was not getting one unless she asked me politely.

The students here do the same thing, "give me, give me, " 'hey you, hey you' or wave their hands in front of your face and I mean right in front of your face. I won't have it of course and make every student stop doing anything of the sort when they do it.

The thing is that they don't do the same thing to the Korean teachers, which goads me to say the least. Sometimes I think, let me rephrase that, I know that the kids have more respect for the Korean teachers. Even the foreigners when we have food are begged by the kids to give them some, but it never happens with the Korean teachers.

The fact that the Korean teachers say nothing or do nothing when it happens get on my nerves too. I am not the slightest bit angry or frustrated blogging this, I am just stating a reality, but what did surprise me today was the two American teachers thinking that I was rude! What was I supposed to do? Let the teacher carry on asking every foreigner in that fashion for something? That would be rude of me to let her embarass herself in that manner without telling her the polite way to ask. Even I know the polite way to ask for something in Korean. There is a word "Jusayo" which means please give or please do and I always use it when I ask for something or something to be done.

This kind of thing is a normal occurrence in Korea and it takes someone to let them know that what they are doing is impolite or not acceptable behaviour. I guess most of the teachers are either too lazy or too fedup to say anything about it. Not me, I am always on my preacher's box and won't let the unbelievers pass without giving them the sermon!!!!!!!

I am on my break right now and well deserved must I say. I listened to the Liverpool game last night on the pc and from being 3-0 up, they almost blew it. I watched the highlights today and what a goal that Crouch scored!!!! Not bad for a bloke that hasn't started the last 4 games!

Tonight it is off to the gym after work. I ran 7kms last night and plan on doing some weightraining tonight and then a short 2 km run. I think I am going to go with the 2 day cycle of day 1 just run and no weights and day 2 do weights and just a short run and then keep repeating that throughout the whole week. I think it will be more beneficial for my elbow too as I still have a bit of pain after doing 2 days in a row of weightraining. Anyway, I will see how it goes.

I am eating as healthy as ever now. I have a yogurt and fruit for lunch and eat very little meat. I don't eat chocolate or cookies or a lot of any kind of snack food. It it easy to maintain living this way, which I think is the key to any kind of healthy food lifestyle. If you ask yourself the question; "Can I eat like this for the rest of my life?" and the answer is yes, then you have the right diet for yourself.

Off to input some marks into the computer and start to think about going to Taiwan next Tuesday. Looking forward to the time off and the new experience of another country to explore.

Not In The Mood Right Now!

I am not much in the mood for blogging at the moment. I have had more than 90 essays to mark and plus all the regular work, I don't feel like typing into a computer either.

Plus I started full workouts with the weights this week and am absolutely nackered, to tell you the truth.

I went back to the doctor and got 5 more days of antibiotics plus another shot in the arse to make sure that my infection is completely gone before I go to Taiwan.

I am happy to say that I am not spitting up any more phlegm and if there is any, it is the right colour.

Not much else going on of note to write about too. I am really looking forward to going to Taiwan next Tuesday and having 5 days of r and r.

I will not be blogging at all the whole time from October 3rd until October 7th, so don't even bother checking the blog from those dates, unless you are nostalgic and want to look at other old blogs of mine.

Who Cut The Cheese?

The weekend went by quite quickly, as usual. I really didn't get up to much by my usual standards. Stayed home on Friday night and got a good nights sleep as I had to wake up early on Saturday morning.

Saturday night, Dave and I went to watch the Liverpool vs Tottenham game at a local hangout that we have been to a lot. We went there during the World Cup to watch a few games. It is a full on Korean style place and has tv's everywhere.

It is called "Dukobee," which means toad in English. It is a very popular hangout as it is quite cheap. You get to pick from a menu of about 30 or more dishes and you can choose any three for about 10 dollars. They have a vast array of food to pick from though. They don't give you too much, but what do you expect for 10 bucks. The booze is quite cheap as well and Dave and I had some soju and some more soju and some more soju.... haha.

Actually we didn't get to bevied, but we enjoyed watching the game as Liverpool won 3-0 against Tottenham. We went to Dublin after that and then ended up going home about 4 am or so. I was feeling quite good considering earlier in the week, I thought I was on deathrow!

The picture above is quite an old one, dating back to June and July when the World Cup was on. I was actually getting ready to go watch a match at 4am in the morning at the same place, "Dukobee." I wore anything red as it was Korea playing. It was a good night as Korea ended up tying France 1-1. It was a long night though, as we got home after 6.30am. The game kicked off at 4am our time.





Now back to the title of the blog. The reason that I chose that title is that it is the exact title of the story that I taught all day today to my kids at Avalon. The story is called "Who cut the cheese." It actually talks about farting and other ways to say it, like toot, pass gas etc. It is hilarious and the kids, well some of them, got a really big kick out of it. It explains how bacteria mixes with foods and other things like beans, to create gas. We had some good laughs talking about what foods make you pass gas.

The boys of course enjoyed it more than the girls, but even some of the girls were laughing really hard and boy oh boy, what a subject to teach kids eh! I of course told them that my Dad was the 'Toot King' which they thought was hilarious and hey, it is not far off the truth, let me tell you...... sorry Dad, but if the shoe fits then wear it...... haha.

I told them the story of me in England getting a detention for farting in class and they thought I was joking. I really did get one when I was in class and my football coach, French teacher, was the one that gave it to me. He was also the detention teacher, which is unusual because it is always another teacher and there was a fella behind me in detention, farting away. Mr. Magill looked up at me twice and shook his head and then asked me what day I wanted for the next detention. I told him that it wasn't me and that it was the lad behind me. He asked the lad and the lad said yes, it was him. He didn't do anything to the lad for farting though.

I think Mr. Magill had had enough of my messing around in class at that time hence the detention. I was always the class clown. Does that surprise any of you? Haha...........

I had a Korean lesson on Sunday with that girl Caroline that I mentioned. I am also going to teach her younger sister English and her a little too. We meet at the Coffeebean and just study at the table. She bought me a basic Korean book and it is not bad as far as Korean English books go. I learnt a little even in the first lesson. I have to do some homework, practicing some writing and reading, which I will do before the next lesson; this Sunday at 2pm. She is a good teacher and I think I will get better all the time with her helping me.

I sent my usual money back today through the bank and that was at 1.30pm our time here. I checked at 9pm in school and the money was already in my account!!! Can't beat modern technology, can you!!!!!!! It still amazes me how easy things are sometimes with all the new technology. What did we ever do before? We were probably a lot more tolerant, I think.

It makes me laugh when people complain about a slow connection on the Internet. Well, I guess we are somewhat spoilt, I would say. It doesn't matter that the person or the site that you are connected to is about 10,000 kms away, does it?

Liverpool play Galatasaray on Wednesday in the next match of the Champions League Group Phase. The game is at Anfield. I would like to see Fowler at least be on the bench as well as Crouch get a game. If Benitez is going to rotate, then he needs to rotate fairly if it suits his tactics and use all the players so they can get match fitness and run-outs.

On The Road To Recovery........ I Hope

As you all know, this week started off as yours truly being really sick, but I am happy to say now that I feel much better. I am still a little shaky at times and a little weak, but I have been back to the gym and ran twice already.

Tonight I ran another 5kms and felt a little weak, but didn't push myself too too much. I feel a hundred percent better than last weekend and have two more days of antibiotics before I am finished my medecine.

I am going to go back to the doctor on Saturday to make sure that my infection is gone. If not, then I will be asking him to give me more or stronger medecine.





This pic is one of aloe that they were selling on the street in Seoul. You see the likes of this everywhere in Korea. The traditional stands are part of the culture of Korea and as far as I know, you need no licence to sell anything, you just set yourself up and off you go.

Sometimes you see people arguing to try and get a good spot, but other than that, you don't generally see or hear anyone complaining about people selling or setting up anywhere. One fella the other day had his food wagon set up right in the middle of the bus stop. Anything goes sometimes.


The next pic is a typical fish tank with different types of fish to eat. Sometimes the fish in there are huge, other times some really exotic looking ones that I have never seen before. Some of the fish can be as high as a hundred dollars a piece, as they are very rare and a breed that is known for good eating.

Outside my building on the right side there is a specialized fish place that has about two or three tanks that sell all kinds of weird fish. I heard that the restaurant is a little expensive too, due to the different kinds of exotic fish also.


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This pic is one of a mannequin wearing a traditional 'hanbok' as it is called in Korea. The store was a hanbok store that only sold and made their own designs and materials. They are mostly worn at weddings and traditional ceremonies. You can get them for both men and women of course.





Daniel at my school went home sick yesterday, so today we were short a teacher for four classes. They wanted me to do one of his classes and I told them that there was no way that the sick guy was filling in for the other sick guy.

I have tonsilitis and laryngitis and they are lucky that I even went to work this week. Anyone else would have been dead on their feet. So I stuck to my guns and it worked out well. I did my three classes and had my well deserved break, if you can call it that, as I was marking some of my 90 essays and inputing all the quiz scores for the whole time.

The director and the head teacher were really nice to me though. I don't think they realized how sick I was until I explained it to them. Richard, the director, came up to me twice today and asked me if I was feeling okay. Then at 9.20, which is when last class ends, Erin, the Korean head teacher, told me to go home and have a rest!!!!!!! So I got off 40 minutes earlier than usual.

I went to the gym and the sauna of course and then Dave and I went to Dublins to see the new pool table and the room that it is in. I drank some water of course. No booze going in me until I am completely recovered from my infection and even then, I want to wait until we go to Taiwan.

Dave paid for his ticket today and I will pay for mine tomorrow morning. Once I pay, they will send Dave the tickets by email and we are all set to go for 4 nights, 5 days. We leave early on Tuesday morning, October 3rd, so we will have that whole day to spend in Taiwan. We also come back in the afternoon on the Saturday, so we should have lots of time to explore things there and hopefully have a great relaxing holiday.

I haven't had a holiday in 2 years other than the 5 days in Tokyo, which was a trip to see Liverpool and not much fun as I had done my elbow in a week before I went. Plus it was expensive and cold and we didn't hardly sightsee at all.

Don't get me wrong, it was still worth going, but Taiwan will be a welcome rest from working my arse off for the last little while.

8 months, no sick days and no days off.

2 Days Of Hell...Really!!!! Laryngitis And Tosilitis Be Gone With You!!!!!

First of all I had to post this picture of my 2nd cousin who I have never met. He is the son of my first cousin, Michael Laski and of course this is Michael Laski Jr. He just graduated as a Marine Commando and the family in England are all so proud of him.

Unfortunately, he is going to be shipped to Afghanistan in the next little while, which is not the safest of places to be at the moment with the damn warlords and the other crazy factions within the country, trying to get a strangelhold of the people by sheer force. The wonderful "Taliban" are still at large and that can spell only one thing; pure and utter ignorance and mind control.

I wish Michael all the best and hope his experience there will shape him for the future and he returns back a better man for having done his military duty there.

Now on to me. The last two days have literally been the worst two days of my life for a long long time. I honestly thought there was something seriously wrong with me. It all started last Thursday, when I woke up with a sore throat and felt a little shaky.

People at work on Thursday night said that my face was really red and that I looked a little sick. My bloodpressure was up a bit and I felt okay, but a little tired. I woke up Friday morning and felt okay, but a little under the weather.

Friday night I went to the Jimjilbang as I mentioned in a previous post. Woke up Saturday morning. Did my usual Saturday stint and still did not feel good. My blood pressure was up a little again, but I went to the gym and ran for 40 minutes, which I think may have been a mistake. I had a sauna, but felt much better after, to tell you the truth.

Then I stayed home all Saturday night, watched some football and played on the computer all night. Went to bed feeling a little shaky, but not that bad.

Woke up Sunday morning and felt like someone had beaten me with a baseball bat. All my joints ached and I had a fever and had trouble catching my breath at times. I went out once and did my usual Sunday stint and then went back home.

I called Caroline, the Korean girl that I was supposed to learn Korean from that day and asked her if she knew of any hospitals that were open, as I was feeling really bad. She ended up telling me there was one close to my school. I went there, but they told me it was an Oriental medicine hospital. At that point, I didn't care, I just wanted something to make me feel better.

The doctor didn't even check my ears or throat. Put a thermometer in my ear and pushed my abdomen a little and said, "catched a cold." He said that they did not have 'real' medecine, but could prescribe some oriental stuff. I said okay, what the hell. It was only about 15 bucks for the 'check up' and the stuff he gave me. He was not a doctor as far as I was concerned. Just a 'quack.'

I got home about 3pm and called Caroline to cancel the class. I was just too sick. I slept from the that time until Dave came over. The Chelsea vs Liverpool game was on that night and I knew that I could listen to it live on my pc. Dave planned to come over about 9.30 or so when it started.

Needless to stay, I wasn't great company, but I tried to shoot the shit and listen in earnest to the match, but kept coming in and out of sleep. I had eaten about 4pm, the last time that I would in over 2 and a half days!!!! Dave left about 12 or so during the Tottenham game. I barely remember him leaving as it was like a dream....... so dizzy and such a high fever.

Monday I woke up and felt even worse. I didn't have the energy to go to a 'real' doctor even though it was only across the street. The headache had been with me for the last 2 days.

Anyway, cuttting the story short, I slept for almost 20 odd hours, went to work on the Monday and worked with no breaks, my typical Monday. I went to the sauna again and felt a little better.... so I thought.

I woke up this morning and thought I was dying. I was dizzy, disorientated and had my head banging out a beat louder than a hip-hop concert. I managed to drag myself across the street to the doctor at 9am. I was the first one there. I got in there and he told me I had a really bad case of laryngitis mixed with tonsilitis. Shit!!!!!!

I got a shot in the arse and then the doctor gave me antibiotics for the next 5 days. I went home and slept 2 hours, thinking that I was not going to work. I woke up at 12.30 or so and my headache was gone and my heartrate down. I felt a thousand percent better than the last 2 days. I decided to go to work and here I am typing this on my last break. I taught 3 classes and I finally ate this afternoon at 3.30pm. Then I ate again at 8.30pm.

I still feel a little weak, but oh my god, I feel like a new person now. I have some energy still. Amazing how a real doctor knows what he is doing..... literally two hours and I felt better and it was not in my mind either. I felt it, otherwise I would not have gone to work and been able to eat.

One of my students yesterday told me the same thing. On Sunday, she couldn't talk, but went to the doctor. She slept all day, had the shot in the arse like me and then on Monday she was fine.

I have a high tolerance for pain, I know that for sure. From breaking my two front teeth when I was 11 or so, to getting ear operations and then a tooth taken out the roof of my mouth..... stitches galore, doing my nerve in last Winter and on and on and on. This thing had me beaten though.......

When I say pain tolerance, that is exactly what I mean. I am no tough guy, but only cave in when I have no other choice. I always try to fight things with my own defences, but in life there are times when you cannot. This was one of them and in the future, I will go to the doctor a lot earlier, if the symptoms are the same as these.

I was spitting up some ugly stuff for the last couple of months, so maybe the last time that I had a sore throat, it wasn't completely cleared up. I should have got it checked out at that time instead of waiting for it to become a really bad infection like now........

I am feeling okay like I said. My throat is a little sore, but I am off to the sauna again tonight. The doctor said that would be good for me, of course.

So a word of warning to all you sensible people. Waiting to go to the doctor is okay, but sometimes it can backfire on you. Don't let this happen to you......... hehehe.

My Son, Tyler Pearson Campbell, Turns 19 Years Old Today!

I remember where I was 19 years ago, today! I was at the hospital for the birth of my son, Tyler who came into this world at 5.42am, September 16th, 1987.

It was one of the happiest days of my life, but a little worriesome as he was born with a little bit of a breathing problem. It cleared up after 2 days in ICU and ended up being minor, but the doctors were very careful about it and everything turned out fine.

Tylers and I have had a very difficult relationship ever since I left his mother. I am not going to go into it because it really is not very important to myself or him or anyone else for that matter. Suffice to say there have been hurdles to jump over, go around and knock down along the way.

There are no more hurdles. I talk to him every weekend and have a fairly good relationship with him despite the fact that I am not physically with him all the time. I talked to him today for about 40 minutes and we shot the shit about music and cars and school and his girlfriend of 2 years! He is driving and working and really living a normal 19 year old's life. That is good and I am very happy for him.

He is now legal age and once I go home next Winter, dad and son will be going out for a pint, that is for sure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know that I have not mentioned him a lot in my blog and sometimes it is better not to say too much about pain in your life when it is too real. Don't get me wrong, I have no more pain, only regrets that I wish he could have had a normal life with his mum and dad together, like a normal family is supposed to be.

It wasn't meant to be and I don't beat myself up about it anymore. I am just happy that he and I are talking and have about as normal a relationship as we can now. I am sure it will get better and better in the future, now that he is a young man and able to make his own choices.

I knew that the time would come, but it has been a long time waiting........ I enjoy talking to him and wished him the happiest of birthdays today...... 19 years old! Wow, I am that old? Haha..................




One of his favourite shows growing up was 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.' He had every figure going and saw all the movies and cartoons. I used to even act out the turtles with him. I still remember all the names; Donatello, Michelangelo, Leonardo and Rafael. Donatello had the purple head band, Michelangelo the orange, Rafael the red and Leonardo the blue.

If I remember rightly, Donatello had the numchucks, Rafael the swords, Leonardo the big stick and Michelangelo the whatever...... can't remember...... hehe. Not a bad memory though!



This picture is of the first ever 'public bath' known in the Western world. It was actually in Liverpool, on Upper Frederick Street. It was built to allow access for people to wash their clothes and themselves with sanitary water.

It was Catherine "Kitty" Wilkinson's revolutionary idea who had previously opened her house to allow people to have baths and to have clean water to wash their clothes.

The authorities cited it as a way to prevent disease from spreading by allowing people to have access to clean, sanitary water.

It must be in my blood because I love the public baths here in Korea. They are such a part of their culture and really non-existent in North America or parts of Europe, unless you are into the gay culture.





I was as sick as a dog on Friday. I had the shakes, a sore throat and generally just felt like I had been hit by a baseball bat all over my body.

Dave and I decided to go to another public bath across from the one where we usually go as it also had a 'Jimjilbang.' To those of you who do not know what that is, it is another phenomenon of the Korean culture.

It is on the lines of a sauna, but everyone wears shorts and a top, women and men and there are rooms of different temperatures and with different substances in them. For example there are salt rooms and ice rooms and other stuff that I don't know. They are coals of course and the smell is supposed to help clear your sinuses and chest and other ailments that you might have.

There are also mats and slabs to sleep on. There are computers that are 1 dollar for a half hour and a place to have snacks. Lots of families go there to just chill out. There are really hot rooms and medium temperature rooms and also even an ice room with ice walls or something a lot cooler than the other rooms. It is quite a big place and this one even had a small gym attached to the Jimjilbang part of the building. All this for just 5 dollars.

Everyone gets dressed in the sauna part of the place just like any other gym or public bath. We had a shower and a sauna just before we put our clothes on and walked up the stairs to the "Jimjilbang."

Everyone has the same clothes. For example the women had pink shorts and tops and the men had white shorts and white tops. They are not the most flattering clothes, but we are not going there to be in a fashion show. Most people go there to chill out and sit in the rooms and then cool off, have a nap, back into the rooms, nap again and then back to the changing rooms to have a shower and a public bath again.

Dave and I got there about 11pm and left about 2am. I really felt bad before I went, but when I left I felt a lot better and slept a lot better than usual. I woke up feeling like shite again, but once again, I pushed myself to go to the gym and ran 5km in 40 mins, I know slow, but better than nothing. Then I spent a good half an hour again in the sauna and steam room and cold baths. I left there feeling much better. I still have a little bit of a sore throat, but can feel the difference after I went to the public bath.

I came home and went shopping for some veggies. I bought some broccoli, carrots, garlic, mushrooms, potatoes and some curry beef sauce. I cut them all up and boiled them with some salt and pepper and curry powder for about an hour. Then I added the curry beef sauce. It was a nice dish, I must say so myself and very very healthy.

I am watching the Reading vs Sheffield football match on t.v. They are showing it because Sol Ki Hyon plays for Reading. The score is 2-0 for Reading with about 55 mins gone. They are playing well, but I have not been watching that much of it to tell you the truth.

I am going to bed now and going to try and have a good nights sleep. Thoughts of my son going through my head and wishing I could be there celebrating with him. Oh well, the future is always full of hope and ambition....... had a lot of emails about that stuff lately.

I am going to start Korean lessons with Caroline tomorrow, hopefully!!!

Liverpool vs Chelsea is the early game, Tottenham is the second game and Man U vs Arsenal is the third game. All the games should be on here; Chelsea have Samsung as their sponsor. Man U have Ji Sung Park and Tottenham have Yong Pyo Lee.

Liverpool game starts at 8.45pm our time here. Come on ye Reds.................................

Some Pics From Stu's Blog..........

This first pic was taken during the World Cup. The pics are from Stu's blog as I said. This is Sean who I went to Tokyo with last December. He is a mad Irishman that gets up to no good no matter where he goes. He got us thrown off the subway in Tokyo and we actually got the train delayed for about 10 minutes.... not bad considering they don't usually run later than a minute or two ALL YEAR!!!!!!!!!!

This one is of Pusan taken by Stu of course. Not sure where it is, but I wanted to put it on the blog to show how crowded some of the built-up areas can be at times. As Stu said, "Sprawl!"

I always joke with people when I see some of these sights and say it looks like one of those 3D puzzles that you put together out of a box!!!!!!

This is a picture of the girl that I met last night for the second time. It is not a very flattering picture. She looks much better in person, that is for sure! She is dead cool and she is going to teach me Korean and I likewise, will teach her English.

She is a Spanish major like I mentioned before, but she has forgotten a lot of her Spanish since she graduated. She is a very cool girl and I think she will do a good job teaching me Korean.

She has the right attitude towards language... nudge nudge wink wink wink, say no more. Is she a goer? Is she a what? A goer! Yes, she goes shopping and to the park......

Stay tuned, LA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This one is out the back of Stu's apartment. Again, looks like one of those 3D puzzles. Quite amazing really how the Koreans make use of the limited space that they have available. You always have to remember that Korea is a country literally in the middle of mountains. To build anything here, you have to blast and blast and blast to make anything flat including roads and bridges and apartments.

Cheers for the pics, Stu! If any of you have a chance, check out his blog. The link is on my blog and he is dead funny. Check out some of his videos. Guaranteed to make you grin for the rest of the day. Stu was also one of the fellas that I was in Tokyo with last December. Alright LA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Changed My Blog Again........Sorry The Polka Dots Were Not Cutting It As Jason Said!!!!

I had to change the blog again as the polka dots were a little feminine looking. I asked Jason who I worked with and he said that it just didn't cut it and that I should change the template. So I did!!!! Thanks Jason. I will try and keep the blog template like this for a while, but I can't promise anything...... hehe.


Sometimes computers are considered the best things on the planet, but once they start acting up, they can actually be the same as owing a car, i.e. They are the biggest pain in the arse and you want to do exactly what the fella in the picture is doing!

It is so funny to see how some people react when their computer crashes. There have been quite a few of them here in Korea since I got here. Thankfully we have Derrick, the computer wiz, here to help us. If anyone is in Korea and wants to contact him, you can at the following email address and phone number. Just tell him that you know me and that is how you got his email and number. He is a great fella and dead efficient. He will have your problem fixed in a heartbeat. It is a hobby for him and as he told me, "It distracts me from teaching, which is what I need!"

I am posting this on my break at the school. I have last break on Thursday and Fridays and I have 2 breaks tomorrow, Friday, when I will catch up on my quizzes and inputing into the Avalon system. After having had no breaks on Monday and Wednesdays, it is a welcome break to just relax and get everything organized again.

A Few Pics Of Some Korean Places.

This first pic is of a newspaper stand at the subway. As you can see, there are a large variety of newspapers here in Korea. There is actually an English one, well two really, but I don't read them much. I generally use the internet or the t.v. to get my information.

I actually read the news on the websites of the two English papers here in Korea. One is called the 'Korean Times' and the other is the 'Korean Herald.' They are actually not bad papers and have some interesting articles in them sometimes. I would rate it about a 7 though compared to other good newspapers.




This pic was taken a while back, while Dave and I were going into Insadong, which is in Seoul. It shows some of the fashions of shoes for men here in Korea. You can see that they are very pointy and long. These kinds of shoes are worn by almost every age.

They are worn a lot by businessmen and young men wearing suits and dress clothes. The Korean men are very particular about their shoes and it is very rare to see a pair that are not polished or well looked after.

They have shoeshine service at the public bath that only costs about 2.50.

This pic is of the traditional drums or instruments that are played at Korean traditional festivals or celebrations. They are pretty cool looking and you can see in teh background that this is a traditional Korean shop. I don't know what the stuff in the buckets beside the instruments is, but it looks like either wood or branches or maybe even herbs.

The week is going by quite quickly. I found out today that we now have 820 students at our school. Every class that I have has 14 or 15 students except for one that has 7. The workload has increased and it is a task just to get through the work for the class. It is difficult to get everyone of them to speak in the allotted time.

Yesterday we were told that the first essay had to be assigned. That means that starting next week, I will have over 90 essays, 400 words each, to mark. I will not be in a rush to return them, that is for sure.

Since I have been here, Sunae has gone from 400 to 600 to 800 students. It means that Avalon now have close to 8000 students overall. Is that insane or what? We don't get anything extra out of it either. They usually reward the Korean teachers for getting students to sign up for the next semester. I mean it has nothing to do with us, does it...... haha.

I am going to meet a girl tonight at a coffee shop. I met her next to my school while I was going for a drink of juice. She is a Spanish major and speaks Chinese and Japanese. She loves languages, so we hit it off right away. Her name is Caroline. I have no idea how old she is, but I figure she is about 22 or so.

I am going to play it cool and just hang out and have a coffee and keep it nice and friendly and try to be friends with her. I think we should have a lot to talk about as we share a mutual love for languages. Let's see what happens and wish me luck.

We are meeting at 'Coffeebean' in Samsung Plaza tonight about 10.20pm, after I get off work. She is good looking by the way. Did I mention that.... haha.

Off for now, to teach my classes and be a clown for the next 3 and a half hours.

Awesome Weather In Korea Right Now.

I must say that the weather right now in Korea is awesome. The daytime is just nice and the night time is so mild and it is actually getting to the point where a sweater will come in handy.




This photo by a mate of mine Gareth, is awesome. I am not sure where it was taken, but I think it was either Cambodia or Thailand or Laos. Anyway, he is good at doing this kind of stuff and if you are interested in seeing some more, just click on the Gareth link on my blog.



Today I have a break and after 4 classes yesterday and 3 classes today with almost every class having 14 students, I need it. I have to literally memorize about 100 new names.

I know a few in each class, but overall I don't know any of them. You should see the kid's faces when you can't remember their names!!!

I told them that they have to remember two names, mine and the Korean teachers, as apposed to what I have to remember.


The blog is starting to work better now, but this morning I still had problems putting photos on for while and then finally it let me put some on. I will keep at it though. I love a challenge that is for sure.

I changed the fonts and a few colours again. I hope you like the new look. I am always trying to keep the reader interested and sometimes changing things up a bit can add to that appeal!

Finally Some Pics To Show You!!!!!

This pic was taken at the "Coffee Bean" at Samsung Plaza. Dave and I frequent the place quite a lot and it has an outdoor patio that is covered, where the smokers can drink coffee and have a smoke. Kind of something that goes hand in hand with smoking, usually.

It used to drive me nuts when I was in Canada and you would go to Tim Hortons and couldn't smoke anywhere inside. I know that I don't smoke now, but it just seems fair that there should be a place for the smokers to go and a place for the non smokers to go. Don't you think?

I think the pendulum has swung to much the other way for all the non smokers now and maybe before the smokers had all the balance, but now the balance is completely with all the non smokers. Enough of that anyway.

Dave and I and quite a few other friends go there and have a coffee either before we go to the bar, or just to hangout sometimes.

Coffee is not cheap at those places, by the way. A cup of just regular "Americano" as they call it, costs anywhere between 5 to 6 dollars!!!!!! We are used to paying that, but I bet when I go back to Canada, the coffee will seem dirt cheap.

The next pic is of the 'life saving" air conditioner that is in my apartment. This little unit cooled my apartment all summer and gave me some lovely cool night's sleeps. It doesn't look very big, I know, but it blows the arse of the place when it is cooling it down. It can range from about 25 degrees to 18 degrees. You can set it on the remote and 18 degrees feels like a fridge. Believe me!!!!


The two stuffed toys are kind of a momento of a school or chain that I taught at in Ulsan. The chain was called G'n'B, which meant, G for girls and B for boys. It was not much of a school but the two stuffed toys were given to me by one of the school. I guess B is for Bobby and G is for Ginny. Notice the girl is pink and the boy is blue. Just a reminder of some of the kids, whom I liked very much at those places. The job itself sucked, but some of the kids were great.

The last day that I was there, I went with one of the schools on a Friday morning to the local amusement park and it was a nice way to say goodbye and hang out with some of the kids. Although it was January, it was still nice weather as we were wrapped up. We went on the big rollercoaster and lots of other rides. I bought some of the kids some lunch and snacks and we had a good time. We took a coach there and back and it was cool when I got off the coach as I didn't have to say any of the long, uncomfortable goodbyes. So that is the story about my two stuffed toys on top of the air conditioner.




This pic here is inside of the apartment. I wanted to show this pic because it has the water machine in it as well as the rice cooker and toaster oven on the same rack. The water machine is a great thing to have here instead of buying bottles all the time and I use it to boil when I cook some veggies and stuff also. Last night I boiled up some broccoli, carrots, garlic and bean sprouts. I mixed them with a bit of sauce and actually had a nice big bowl of fresh boiled veggies..... yummy......

This pic is of the flag that I got as a momento, back in December 2005 when I went to see Liverpool in the World Club Championships. It never got put out onto the street until December 18th, the day of the final, but the competition lasted as you can see from the 11th until the 18th. That was a funny story watching all the flags being robbed in Yokohama, Japan. They were posted as one yellow flag, one blue flag. Pretty soon the whole block that we were standing on watching, was bare and all the flags were going home to other countries..... hehe.
It is a pretty cool momento, I think!


When you walk out of my apartment, up the street and onto the main road, this is what you see across from you. Everything in Bundang is up above eye-level. You have to walk around and look up, or you miss everything. You can see how many different stores and shops are advertised, even if you can't understand the Korean. These are called "officetels'' in Korea and are very popular in Bundang and Seoul. It allows everything to be in the same building and saves a lot of space to be taken up for shops and the like.


This is the main entrance to the subway station. I go through this entrance at least two dozen times a week. It is right on the corner of the main street and is only about a one minute walk from my apartment. Migum Station is the name of the subway stop and I live in Migum. In Korean when I want to go home from somewhere in a cab, I just say to them, "Migumyok, ka jusayo." That literally means Migum Station please take me!


When you come out of my apartment building this is the small street that runs between one set of buildings and my apartment and the other buildings. You can see there are a tons of shops and bars and cafes and stuff. It has also two variety stores either end of the building that are open 24 hours. I use this entrance most of the time. My building is the one that is blue and white, but I live on the other side of where this is facing. I have a wonderful view; a parking lot........


Well I hope this gives you a little idea of what it looks like, where I am. Now that I can post some pics, I will try and show some more areas where I travel to and commute between.

The new semester has started and I have 14-15 kids in almost every class. It is actually insane as trying to get that many students to each have a turn at speaking English as well as making sure they are understanding, is insane. Wayne, the head teacher at my school ,was saying that they originally wanted to have 18 and he had to talk them out of it.

I guess they are rolling in the dough now!!!!! It is just not fair to the students and as an ESL graduate and teacher, I think it is a shame to have classes that big.

The most a class should be is about 10 or 12 tops. Even that is big. I know that it is a business, but let's not forget Avalon has in excess of 7000 students now.

I think now at our school, we are looking at around 700 students plus now. I will write more about it in the next few weeks to come and let you know how things are going.

Until then, keep your eyes peeled on yourman64's crazy blog.

Write This One Down Cos It Doesn't Happen Very Often

Well this is a very rare occurence for me; I stayed home on a Friday night. I went to the gym right after work and ran for 50 mins and then had a sauna and shower for about 45 mins.

Decided that I wanted to go home and just play around on the computer and get a good night's sleep.

Dave and I are going to Itaewon tomorrow afternoon about 5pm. We are going there to see a friend of ours and his whole thing with his friend about the Cambodian Orphan's Fundraiser.

The derby is tomorrow, Everton vs Liverpool and they should be showing it at that bar, "Scrooge." It is the early game again, 12.45pm kick off UK time and that transpires into a 8.45pm kick off here.

I want them to beat the Toffees so badly this year. They have not beaten us in a few years, but this year I really want Liverpool to play well and show them the class that we have.

Today, the permission to start building the new Liverpool stadium got granted, hinging on the financing and the the grant money to be given to the project. It has to be very transparent and of course must meet a deadline.

I have mixed feeling about leaving Anfield and all the history behind, but Liverpool need to get more people in the stadium if they are to keep up with the 'big boys of business,' like Man U and Chelsea and Arsenal now.

Just a short blog today. Having trouble putting pics on..... still.

I Miss Them More Than Usual Today!

Today is one of those days that I don't know how to explain. I have nothing to complain about and am enjoying my life immensely at the moment, but I woke up just feeling a little down.

I think it has a lot to do with missing my family. It has been 2 years since I saw them and I guess I miss them more than I am willing to admit! Well, there you go I admitted it!

Sometimes it would be nice to drop by and have a coffee with them, like I used to, but being on another continent, that would be kind of tough, wouldn't it?

I can't download pics on this damn blog today, so it is back to boring text only. Sorry!!!!!

I am off to the gym again. I did go two times yesterday, after all. I feel a little shitty today, to tell you the truth, healthwise. I think it is just a combination of overdoing it at the gym/public bath and a little lack of sleeping.

I watched the documentary, "One Day In May," last night. It was about the whole Champions League thing and it was so good to watch it in English. Maybe that is why I feel so sentimental today. Never even thought about it, though!!!!! It was awesome to listen to the players and some of the other commentaries from Liverpool.

Off for now, hopefully will have some pics on the next blog.