Out with the old, no room for the new

Several years ago my friend, Nerissa, was getting ready to leave Korea. I was with her and my mum and we were talking about how hard it is to throw things away. Ner then shared a secret with us. She gathers together all the things that she doesn't want to throw away and takes a photo of them. Then chucks the lot. At least this is what she told us she did.

Guess what I just got rid of! It was hard. Their little rabbity faces woefully looking at me as I piled them into the plastic bag. I guess that the real question is why a 30 year old woman has enough soft toys to need to throw them away.

Two words, crane machines. Those irritating machines with the claw wavering over a tantalising selection of cuddlies. I used to be able to resist, back in the days when I thought that boys were taught how to use these things along with fruit machines on the day that girls are taken to one side to have periods explained to them at school. Then I got the bug. To limit my expenditure I had to make some rules:

• no having a go on the hamster crane machine- easy enough to resist really. This is a machine that has live hamsters instead of cute and not-likely-to-die-or feel pain- toys.
• stay away from the lobster machine. As above only with live lobster

• ditto the goldfish machine

• limit my targets to Mashi Maro toys.

These are the rabbits pictured above. It was still a terrible habit to break and I only did so with the plague of ugly toys that were suddenly rampart in every crane machine here. Now in case that gives the impression that I was some kind of a rabbit hunting expert, I should point out that I won very few of these little fellas. I was great at winning Gamzadori toys- potato character and my favourite- but most of the rest of them were given to me. Some of them were even hunted on demand-- 'Rory, I need a fake sailor Mashi Maro for my collection, be a dear and get one would you?' Man the hunter in action.

But I can't take them with me around the world. And I didn't think that anyone else would want them. So I took them to school and gave them to the kids.

I guess that the next question is , Ner, what do you do with all the photo albums full of photos of things that you didn't want to throw away???

On a different note

People keep finding my site when looking for porn. Not sure how exactly that makes me feel. Not sure if I feel a little dirty that these people are reading my words (or at least looking at the photos) or worried that my site has the content they are looking for.

Recent searches that ended up here include:

nakedness in Korea

naked in front of strangers

Naked Korean public baths

and

dildo vending machine

Guess that it is my own fault for writing these things. Don't know who would be more disappointed though- the guy looking for the nudity or the one who stumbled across my site while looking English speaking churches in Gangwondo.

You'll never walk alone

My mum knows everyone in Felixstowe. It has been a running family joke for years that she can't even make it to the end of the driveway without bumping into someone she knows. It used to drive me crazy as a kid as it took so long to get anywhere as we had to stop and talk to everyone on the way. We would even bunp into people she knew while we were on holiday--- in other countries. As I have got older, I have admired this quality in my mum, the fact that she is so approachable and friendly. The fact that she is well known and that people want to take time out of their day to see what she is up to.

I can make it from one end of Felixstowe to the other without seeing anyone I know. I left there nearly thirteen years ago so it is hardly surprising. Plus, I look very different now from back then when I was a very slim, glasses wearer with short hair. I can travel incognito or surprise old classmates in our local if I so wish. Assuming that I recognise them of course.

My sister is always telling me that I am turning into mum. And I know what she means. I left my house today to go and run a few errands in town, bumped into a friend and went for coffee (yes, I don't drink coffee but it has always been known to me as 'going for coffee' because that is what my mum does. Sometimes it is known as going for 'coffee and a cake' but I digress). After leaving the coffee shop I saw one of my old adult students who has been trying to meet me for a drink. We agreed to have dinner before I leave town. Then I saw an elementary school student of mine who smiled and waved. The guy from my local store smiled at me as I walked past his shop and the pizza people tried to get my attention (I don't want it known how well the pizza people know me but I don't even have to give my name when I call, or say what kind of pizza I want..).

Now I know why Mum has never seriously entertained the idea of leaving Felixstowe. It is nice to be somewhere that you are known, knowing that you will rarely leave the house without seeing someone to, at least, wave to. I have been here for two years now and taught many people. My social life is excessively healthy- four nights out is kind of a quiet week for me. I like being part of the community here even if it is just the expat one. It is not going to be easy to leave Gangneung.

(WARNING: posts will become increasingly sentimental for the next three weeks or so as I get ready to leave Korea for home and the start of the adventure. I would apologise but if I stopped posting then I might have to do something practical like packing boxes and that really would ruin my day)

Flappy Oyster

Today is Easter Monday which means that yesterday must have been Easter Sunday. It is very easy to be totally oblivious to that here in Korea. Back home I might complain about the mass commercialism of Easter, while stuffing the contents of a Cadburys gift pack into my mouth. Korea doesn't do Easter.

I am not religious so all Easter has ever meant to me is another chocolate holiday. So I miss Easter eggs when I am over here. Though trying to explain this to my students is funny- eggs? made of chocolate? why? chocolate rabbits? Teacher, are you kidding me?

But I did actually see something quite Easterly yesterday. I spent the day at a recording studio with a box of chicks.

I was at the studio because Crwys was playing some drums for Rory's new CD. What the chicks were there for, I just don't know. I actually spent most of the day sitting out in the sun, nursing a hangover.

The weather has been so strange this last week. Last Thursday the whole city was covered in fluffy whiteness and by Saturday we were walking along a sunny beach. On Sunday I was wearing sunglasses and wondering why I hadn't put my sandals on.

I was glad for the sun. I had hidden the fact of the snow from my mate, Margo, who cancelled her last trip here after the big downfall a month or so ago. But I kinda knew that it would be gone by the time she got here. And sure enough, she made it in the glistening sunlight. And Crwys arrived just ten minutes later. I love having people to stay here in Gangneung. I am so proud of my Korean hometown. The bus journey over from the west is a gorgeous one of snow covered mountains and views of the ocean. When people get here I have to take them to the beach asap.

Crwys took time out from complaining about how cold it was to play a game or two of squash the gopher

while Margo got busy with the fish tanks outside the multitude of seafood restaurants

When the complaining got too loud I took them to do one of my favourite things- drinking wine at the beach. We went to the Mailbag, a beautiful wine bar with ocean views. It was too cold to sit on the balcony but we did do a fair bit of foreigner spotting

and I am not saying that drinking that early went to Margo's head or nothing but....

only the one bottle of wine later and it was time to go back to my house and get ready for our big evening out. We met Rory for dinner before going back to his house to play some drinking games- mainly how much beer we could drink in a small amount of time. Tania came over to meet us and then we hit the bars.

Or rather they hit us- all you could drink for 20,000 won (about a tenner) at the Warehouse- nasty nasty! And rather fun.

People have told me that there aren't enough photos on this blog so here goes

We ended the night at Bumpin with the wig wearing brigade. Margo tended to her new found fan club while I got maudlin about leaving soon. All in all a great night.

Thank you for coming over to Gangneung, Margo and Frodo, see you next weekend!

Where has all the snow gone?

I remember promising no more snow photos but that was before it snowed again. Which it did, much to my surprise, yesterday. I went to bed in Spring and woke up again in Winter. I think that I am getting enough winters as it is this year- leaving Korea in Spring to end up in a wintery Oz and NZ before heading into fall in New York.

Then again it is so pretty and makes for an easy teaching day once you realise that you just can't teach kids while there is snow on the ground!

Mind you, I woke up this morning to find that it had almost all gone. Just as snow should be- pretty and then gone.

I went to my favourite kalguksu restaurant today. That is spicy noodle soup. True to Korean form, the restaurant would be closed down back home for the lack of hygiene. But it seems to be a thing in Korea, the tattier the restaurant the more popular it is. A Korean friend has a theory as to why this is- secretly, people like the scruffy restaurants because they look different and are more interesting than the nicer places. This place is great for the food and because it is in an old Korean house. Therefore, it is a series of little rooms where you sit on the floor to eat off small tables.

Also you can write on the walls, floors and tables. Mostly it seems to be a list of people that love the food and each other

And no wonder, the food is fantastic!

After lunch I went to get my hair cut. I love getting my hair cut in Korea, I used to hate it back home. Mainly because of the small talk. I can't do that here because I can't speak the language but the hairdressers don't seem to bother the Korean clients either. Then there is the lack of appointments- just walk in and get a cut. And the price- four pounds fifty for a cut and blowdry- and my Korean friends tell me that I am paying too much.

I feel like I just stepped out of a salon so must go and walk down the streets, flicking my hair from side to side

Home wanted

So I am moving house soon- soon enough anyway! I am leaving Korea in a little over three weeks (six days over but who's counting? Apart from me) and so it is time to start trying to find homes for my things. I have had a taker on the beanbag for nearly the entire two years I have had it and I am sure that Rory will take as much care of it as I ever did. Tania has her eyes on my computer table and speakers. The world and his wife seems to have one eye on my book collection.

But my most beloved item has yet to find a home

No-one seems to want to take this lamp off my hands and I have no idea why. It only gave me nightmares for the first two months after a mate had rescued it from the trash and left it in my house. My old director even admired it when he helped me move house. Have a closer look

How could you see those big eyed orphans out on the street? Let me know if you want the lamp. I will be releasing it into the wild at the end of this week. I'll throw in the teddy bear for free!

As an aside, I was flicking through the pages of Let's Go 4 today when I came across this picture in answer to the question 'What does she want to do?'

I reckon that she is a dead ringer for me in my infamous green sunglasses. And so apt too.

Smells fishy to me

One of the things I love and hate about Korea is the snacks. I love the healthiness of the snacks (some of them, not the sugar coated balls of the many varieties that abound here) but I hate the snacks themselves.

For example, what would be the ideal snack to have with some beer? Crisps? Pork scratchings? Small dried fish??

Korean bars often err on the side of the small dried fish. I have yet to see a foreigner eat them but have seen many different versions of 'get the small dried fish in the other person's beer' game- lob the fish over, sneak it into the glass using sleight of hand and the all time classic, wait until the victim has gone to the toilet and then release the fishy into the beery goodness.

As for the kids. Imagine the look on a western kid's face- honey, do you want the lollipop and incredibly nasty for your teeth candy or would you prefer some dried squid legs to chew on? I like the fact that Korean kids often plump for the squid legs but I HATE the smell of the squid.

I want to encourage the kids to eat healthily but I don't want the squid anywhere near me. Even after I banned the food from my classroom I would wander to the teacher's room only to find the teacher heating up squid on the gas heater and sharing it with the kids.

So my message to the kids is eat healthy food just don't do it near me!

A Sunday spent shopping

Woke up on Sunday and realised that I had forgotten to pick up the hangover drinks. Shrugged on some clothes and dashed to the Family Mart. James was after some Dawn so I picked up one for me to try too. Ah man, I don't know what was in it but it smelt like an ashtray and tasted worse. I took one mouthful before retiring to my usual hangover cure of Diet Coke.

To be honest, I didn't feel bad, just tired. One of the highlights of Seoul has to be shopping in Insadong so off we went. Always full of interesting people, we saw some traditional crafts and dancing. While in one shop I heard some loud music and looked outside the shop to see people dancing past dressed as aliens and men wearing false boobs. An intriguing sight, haven't see anything that avant garde since watching the Felixstowe Carnival video on Felixstowe TV.com.

I don't usually take flyers from people in the street but could hardly ignore one entitled 'UFO A message from extraterrestrials'. Turns out that we were viewing the Korean faction of the Raelian movement. Here is the message:

'In 1973, then French journalist, Rael, was contacted by the Elohim (ETs), who asked him to make their final message known worldwide and to prepare an embassy where they can officially land among us, bringing with them all the prophets as predicted by every religion...The Elohim... created life on Earth scientifically.. thanks to DNA. The Bible was transmitted to us by them, but our primitive ancestors mistook them for gods.'

I hope that makes life a little clearer for you. Entertaining at least.

Insadong is one of my favourite areas of Seoul- I am all about the colours. It is usually teeming with people 'doing their homework' which can consist of anything from asking foreigners questions to just taking photos of them. I usually do my best to help and imagine that I am regular staple in the homework photo albums of Korean students all over Seoul. My minor celebrity was disappointed to only be approached once but the student did seem surprised when I consented to have my photo taken. Not more surprised than I was to have his ten friends all whip out their camera phones to take the photo.

Here are some random photos from an afternoon in Insadong

Great shopping in Insadong. Scary when you didn't get the wages you were owed the week before. But did at least get on top of some present shopping. Now it is time to rest up until I have to go to work this afternoon.

Saturday in Seoul

The bus ride was a painless journey through snow covered mountains. The only problem is that both me and Tania are pretty fond of talking therefore cutting down on the chances to make up any lost sleep. We arrived at Seoul around 3 o'clock and went straight to Shinsegae department store to check out an exciting rumour I had heard in a bar recently. We scuttled up and down the aisles looking for the item in question. Then we saw it- the flash of white and purple-- yes, yes there it was- CADBURYS chocolate!

Not a lot of it but enough to make me smile and realise that I would never have to share my food packages from home again!

We stocked up on some foods from home, not just chocolate, stuffed it in a locker and headed to Itaewon. Seoul is a Korean city. More cosmopolitan than your average Korean city but still mostly populated by Korean people... until you get close to Itaewon. Change subways at Yaksu and suddenly you are surrounded by the rainbow nation. Coming from a small Korean city, it is like taking a train into an alternative universe. Actually reaching Itaewon is a surreal experience. So many people from so many places.

Some people hate Itaewon but I will always have a fondness for the place. I like the variety of people and food. The only food to really avoid in Itaewon is Korean food as it is vastly overpriced there and certainly not as good as the local restaurants elsewhere. Me and Tania met with Renee and had some lunch/dinner- it was that awkward first meal at 5 o'clock in the afternoon that is difficult to define.

Waiting for the lights to change so we could cross the road outside Burger King, we chanced across some evangelical Koreans- asking us if we believed in God, did we want to go to church, welcome to Korea etc. Nice of God to send some folk out to greet us but he is three years too late. Mind you, they might have some special inside information on God's movements, helping them to take advantage of this sale sign that I saw

After dinner, lunch, whatever, we said goodbye to Renee and went to James's house. Now, I don't want to go on about the benefits of having a real job rather than being an ESL teacher- I use the word real to mean one that earns a lot of cash- but his place is very nice indeed. Leave it there.

Back to Itaewon later to meet up with some more people in a bar almost entirely lit by candles. Surprisingly dark candles. Couldn't actually see my friends at all- had to aim the camera to roughly where I thought they were and take a photo to check that I was with the right people.

We drank, went to another bar to watch Wales beat Ireland in the rugby- my loyalties are only torn as long as it takes to see which team is winning- come on you Wales! Then to the final bar where I met a guy who had lived in Vietnam for two years, was going back at the same time that I was due to be there, offered to show me around. Nice work!

I love the 24 hour culture in Korea, it is rare that you can't find anywhere to eat and impossible to spend more than five minutes looking for food in Itaewon. We even saw a kebab stand and thought of home. But in the end we settled for our favourite Korean middle of the night, early hours of the morning snack- toasted cheese, egg and ham sandwiches- manna from heaven.

After that there was really only one thing left to do- so we got a taxi back to James's and did it- SLEEP!

Friday, Friday

Ridiculous amounts of stress on Friday. Stupid. Silly. Babo. I knew that things were not going to be right when I got a call from my director telling me that he wanted to come and see my room. When he arrived he counted the furniture and balked at the size of the wardrobe. I could see him mentally trying to work out how he was going to get it out of the house. Guess that he hadn't resolved the problems with the landlord. In fact, it began to seem likely that I was going to have to move the next day- contrary to what he had told me on Monday. I could see my fun Friday night turning into a packing frenzy.

Four hours and many tears later (mine, not his) he had signed another year contract for my house to save me having to move this weekend but as a consequence, didn't have enough money to pay me all of my wages. Needless to say, I wasn't a happy bunny and couldn't wait to get to the safety of Bumpin and some sympathetic friends. Didn't realise that I would end up falling into the arms of the norae bang later that night. Or early the next morning, the line was not clearly drawn.

I had made plans to go to Seoul on Saturday so a mere five hours after falling into my bed, my bed, which I love to the end of the earth and back, I was forced to fight all my natural urges to remain there and instead get out and go to the bus terminal to meet Tania.

And off to Seoul we went.

If home is where the heart is...

I must have two hearts. It is Friday, end of another week in Korea- and everywhere else for that matter. I am going to Seoul tomorrow to meet up with a whole heap of folk for a night of splendid indulgence. I should be very excited but as time ticks away the last few weeks of my contract here I meet every weekend with mixed feelings.

Yes, it is Friday. Yes, I don't have to work tomorrow. Yes, I am going to Seoul tomorrow morning so I won't get woken up by the Korean National anthemn blaring out of the school next door. Yes, I am excited that in just about a month I can see my family and friends back in England again. I just wish that there was some way of getting all of my friends to live in the same place. Hum, double-edged sword. I love meeting people from different countries, loving the fact that I have friends from all over the world, hate the fact that I can't live in the same place as all of them.

At the moment I am comforting myself about leaving Korea with the thought that I will be back. That isn't going to make it any easier to leave England though. Ah well, life is exciting and I would rather have people to miss than nobody to care about.

Goodness me, I am getting caught up in the soppiness today. Pull yourself together, H, you are going to Seoul. Looking forward to a weekend in Seoul. There was a time, not so long ago, when I used to spend more weekends in Seoul than in Gangneung. I guess that when I started a serious saving scheme- if money under the mattress constitutes serious- I also cut back on the Seoul jaunts.

I am going with some people from Gangneung but also meeting up with people from as far a field as Mokpo. Tania and me spent some time the other night trying to work out how we were going to fit all the meals we wanted into just two days. Even if we went up on Friday night we would only gain one extra meal. Certainly part of the charm of going to Seoul is to eat some honest to goodness western food. Which is kind of a shame as there are some awesome Korean restaurants there too, apparently.

It is also the weekend of the St Patrick's Day celebrations. One of the more surreal moments of my first year in Korea was when I found myself marching in a Paddy's parade in Itaewon, wearing shamrock stickers, surrounded by Irish-Americans who were giving out the stickers, following a Korean bagpipe marching band dressed in traditional Scottish outfits, lurid red lipstick exactly matching their kilts. Last year in Gangneung, we rounded up the two half Irish people here to drink with on the basis that two halves make a whole. Drinking Korean beer dyed green was also a weird experience.

I even timed my return to Korea for Paddy's Day back in 2003 as I knew that would increase the chances of my mates being in Seoul to welcome me home. And me an English girl who had never even celebrated Paddy's Day until I moved to Sydney. And the Aussies I was working with asked me why the Irish temp hadn't turned up that day!

So off to Seoul tomorrow to leave some stuff for Sam to babysit for me while I am away. One of the first things that people say when they come to my house is 'wow, you have a LOT of stuff' followed by 'your place is really clean'- not knowing that I have just picked up armfuls of stuff and thrown them into the wardrobe as the doorbell rang.

As an aside, I really shouldn't tell my middle school students about British culture, see if you can spot the thing that I regret telling them, they seem to have developed a bad photo habit.

What is that buzzing?

Just saw a guy drive past on a motorbike the size of a cabbage. His knees were keeping his ears warm, no lie. After a noisy drive-by to show off the machine he stopped outside my local pizza place. Hope he's not working there as he will never get my extra-large-family size- this is why you need the extra large shorts in the jjim jil bang- combo special on the back of that thing without it tipping over.