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.

Two years in Gangneung

I feel a little emotional today. No real change there then. But today is extra special because it marks two years since I arrived in Gangneung and three years in Korea. I certainly didn't know that I was going to end up a long termer when I got to Mokpo in December 2001. With only five weekends left in Korea and only two of those not accounted for, I am running a list of things that I need to do through my head.

And one of those things was to get really, really clean. So I went to the jjim jil bang last night with Tania. I hadn't been to one for ages. For those not in the know, it is a public bath house with a sauna thrown in for good measure. I refused to go at all in my first year here for the obvious fact that I am British and therefore am not comfortable getting naked alone in my own shower, let alone in front of a room of strangers. Also, how can I put this, I am not the tiniest thing ever to grace the shores of the East Sea so was nervous about being naked in front of people so tiny that I can't work out how they manage to fit all their internal organs in their skin- two lungs?? Surely there isn't room! And a heart too? Are you kidding me??

But I was talked into going and thoroughly enjoyed it. Then I put on weight and it became more of an issue for me again. Now, though, I feel responsible for showing Tania some of the finer sides of Korean life- yes, there is more to Korea than listening to me drunkenly rambling about how no-one has ever really loved me....

Plucking up some courage from my more than ample bosom, we made a plan to go a few weeks ago. Then I got caught up in a two hour special visit for a bunch of kindergarteners- not bad in itself but they asked me over and over again if I was a man or a woman and seemed surprised at my answer (I am a women in case the photos don't make it obvious enough or any four year old Korean kids are reading this). I like to think that this was because of my lack of make up but it still knocked my confidence enough that I chose not to strip down to my bare essentials that night. A relaxing game of Jenga calmed my nerves instead.

But time is running out. Both me and Tania are cursed with rubbish showers in our homes- I am in and out in less than three minutes and the hot water still runs out half way through my business. So we went. And figuring that we would be larger than most of the rest of the clientele we decided to bulk up on pizza first. Good idea.

Then we went. I hadn't been for so long that I was as nervous as a first-timer. But we paid our money, picked up the shorts and t-shirts provided and walked up the steps. Into the locker room and our first chance to strip down in public. Avoiding looking at each other we shrugged on the clothes (the first time that I ever went, a Korean friend told the ajumma that I would need extra large clothes. I didn't. But I got them. And they were a different colour from any others provided just in case anyone was in any doubt that I was an extra large person) and ran up the stairs to the sauna.

There is a big communal space outside the saunas with a huge TV, plenty of food and drink available, an internet cafe, library and plenty of places for a sleep. We hit the first sauna, sweated for a while, took a break, went into the bad boy sauna, sweated a lot, took a break. We were getting pretty tired by then so it was one more trip into the sauna and then down to the washroom. And nakedness.

The washroom consists of rows and rows of sinks with shower heads, a basin and a plastic stool. Round the edge of the room are several pools, hot, cold, ridiculously hot, so cold that penguins cower in the corner in fear and one with a floating table for those exciting games of strip go-stop.

We sat down at a sink each and started to wash. Tania was a bit taken aback when a grandmother came over to show her that she wasn't washing correctly- enough of you youngsters and your fancy-pants shower gel, use this real soap here. After we bathed for a bit it was time for Tania to go for a scrub down.

This is where someone's mum lays you down on a table and scrubs you within an inch of your life. I swear last time I lost several freckles and nearly an elbow. The dead skin comes off in strips and makes you feel disgusting but it is worth it once she is done. I had warned Tania that the ajumma would get up close and personal because I remember being vaguely unnerved when I first went to find her scrubbing places I didn't know I had places.

It was a good night, and needless to say, Tania is now a total convert. I would love to have been able to share parts of the experience with you, the saunas are amazing ornate, but I didn't feel that it was appropriate to take a camera into the bath house. So here is a random photo instead.

Dancing girls celebrating the opening of the newest kimbap place in town.

A difference in opinions

Back home in England we are told that we shouldn't get a dog unless we have enough space to keep it in and enough time to walk it. We are told that dogs are pack animals and need company. Things are a little different here in Korea. My neighbour, for example, has two dogs- both tethered to their kennels. If they stretch to the full length of their chains they can just touch noses but the chains are short enough to deny the dogs getting their noses into each other's nether regions. It makes me sad. As does watching the muck build up around them.

But yesterday I looked out of the window and one of the dogs had been released and was running around the garden, wagging its tail, running in and out of the kennels and the flowerbeds. It was the younger dog, that I have hardly seen move in the year it has been outside my window. It started to play with the older dog but as the senior mutt tried to give chase it was yanked back by the restraints.

Watching the puppy enjoy the freedom of the garden was a joy. And he was still out today- able to follow the sun around the garden to always be lying in it. Shame about the other dog.

PS- my boss told me that he had sorted things out with the landlord. So I guess that I will be dog watching for another couple of weeks at least. Five more weekends in KOREA! Weird, weird, weird!

The bells, the bells...

It was easy to ignore the doorbell this morning. I was snuggled deep into my bed and I knew that it was cold on the other side of the duvet. Plus I knew that I had fallen asleep with my make up again last night. Since it was only my door receiving the pummelling I knew that it wasn't the Mormons. So it could only be my landlord, a guy who I swear thinks that I understand more of what is going on than I actually do- probably from my tendency to smile and nod while he is talking. Even when I do understand I can't reply which makes the whole thing a frustrating exercise.

I held my breath until he went away, footsteps fading down the hallway, pushed my head further into the pillow, smiled in satisfaction and went back to sleep.

Not so lucky later in the day. I was still in my dressing gown but since it covers me more than most clothing I felt that it was OK to open the door when the landlord came a-calling- I had also sorted out my make up and looked a bit more presentable.

He wasn't his usually smiley self. Through the use of his Korean, my Konglish, a piece of paper and artless clowning around I discovered what he had to tell me---- that I had to be out of the house in seven days. I thought that he was moving me so I asked him where to and he vaguely waved his hand to the outside of the house. So I guess that his answer was anywhere but here. Panicking I called my co-teacher and she spoke to him as he got increasing irritated on the phone. Then she spoke to me. Seems that there has been a problem with the rent. And it is also a year since I moved in so I guess that the contract is up on the place. But the main problem seemed to be the rent- or lack of it.

My rent is paid by my director. Or not. My co-teacher has spoken to my director and told me not to worry. I guess that I won't know what is going on until I get to work tomorrow. Dammit, I just got two new keys cut.

And don't be surprised if you live in Gangneung and you hear a backpack being pulled up the stairs to your house one morning- t'is only Helen and I don't take up much room!

Poodle hunting

Things that I have done to prepare for the Round the World trip this week include borrowing Lonely Planet guides from friends, putting them all on the bookcase, sitting back and admiring them all on the bookcase, taking photos of them on the bookcase and finally removing one of the books and looking at the photos. I feel much better prepared now! I have also realised that I have gone from saying that I will probably be back in six months to I will definitely be back in six months- back in Korea that is.

So I went to school armed with the camera to get a shot of the kid with the perm and he didn't come in with his brother this week. Disappointed I took a photo of his sister instead. Maybe next week.

On Friday I had a class with two middle school girls from eight until ten pm. They interest me a lot as I try to decide how much like them I was at their age. Quite a lot, I think. They spent two hours talking about all the handsome boys at their school and how ugly all the girlfriends of the famous boys are. This also included quite a long and detailed plan on how they were going to bump into the high school boys on their way home from class- which route they should take, which shop they should stop at, how slow they should walk, whether it was OK to hang around at the bus stop even if they weren't catching a bus. I smiled the knowing, patronizing smile of the old while putting my make up on and phoning my friend to discuss which was the best bar to go to in order to look at men. Guess we are not that different at all!

Actually we went to the Warehouse bar to meet up with a couple of mates for dinner. The dinner was good and only mildly put off by a drunk Korean guy telling us that he was the father of one of Tania's students, we tucked right in. After dinner we went to Absolut and then back to Rory's house. Now I am not saying that things got messy but I was surprised to find that I had taken some photos when I looked at my camera the next day.

Saturday morning it was bright and sunny, all the better to nurse a hangover. Undaunted by the throbbing in my head I went to Ojukhon with Tania. It was the home of a famous Korean scholar and features on the five thousand won note. I had also helped correct the English on the pamphlet for the place. It was quite a buzz to see some of my words and also quite upsetting to see that they hadn't listened to all that I had said. Ah well.

We pottered around and did our usual camera assault on the building. Then it was off to Chodang-dong, famous for its tofu. We looked around another historical building before settling down for a tofu feast. After that I was pretty much wiped out so went home for a nap.

Four hours later and it was time to leave the house once more. We went to see 'Million Dollar Baby', which I am sure would have been a better movie had I been able to hear it over the rumbling of my stomach. Yes, yes, all the hospital scenes are probably very moving if you are able to concentrate on them rather than fantasizing about food. I had left my house a little too late to have something to eat before watching the movie and had to pay the price really. We went for pork barbecue after.

Sitting on the floor in the restaurant next to a stack of cushions it was no mean feat to drag ourselves out. In fact, we were both so undecided about whether to just go home that we had to have a quick game of rock, scissors, paper. I lost and we went to the bar. Which was blissfully empty, as we knew it would be, bearing in mind that another bar was offering free beer that night. I settled down with a nice slow Baileys and we cracked out the Jenga.

Tania and me have an ongoing Jenga competition in Bumpin. We take it so seriously that we keep the scores updated in a small photo frame we found behind the bar one night. To date, Tania is winning but not by that much considering that she has never even sniffed an alcoholic drink before playing. We also made a new record high of 35 blocks before the tower came tumbling down, into my drink mostly. On a Jenga high we decided to quit while ahead. I was home by 2am.

I blame the parents

So the kid who had the mullet last week came into my classroom mullet-free on Wednesday. Looks like mum forked out the cash to get the rest of the hair cut. Actually she must have been feeling pretty flush when she went to the hairdresser with her kids the other day as the mullet(free) kid came into class with his little brother trotting behind him... sporting the most incredible perm!

I was kicking myself for not taking my camera to work that day. And not bringing a bunch of ribbons and clips to play with the poodle perm that had been inflicted on this kid. The kid is too young for my class (being roughly western age four or five) but I am really hoping that he turns up again tomorrow- I will be waiting, camera in hand.

A little whinging but no snow

Crikey it has been a tough old week and it is only Wednesday! I hate this time of year, when the kids go back to school after nearly two months off for their winter vacation. The chaos that ensues at the hagwons can be really vexing. I have kids show up in an advanced class when they themselves can't even read. I have seven year olds arrive in a class full of middle school students. Even more irritatingly, I have the kids turn up for a class way before the books turn up. I guess that I have been pretty lucky in the last three years in that my classes have rarely gone over eight or nine students.

Yesterday I had two classes with fourteen students in- in which over half were in a class with a foreign teacher for the first time. Now this is a scary and exciting thing for them - perhaps they have never even seen a white face close up before- but a frustrating time for me:

Me: Hi!
First time student: ......
Me: Hello!
FTS: ......
Me: How are you?
FTS: .....
Me: How..are....you??
FTS: .......
Me: What's your name?
FTS: ......
Me: Name?
FTS: (slowly starts to cry)

Usually at this point one of the kids who understands a little more will burst in and translate for me. Then I have a name. But that is all. Oh the fun and games!

But the new kids are cute and some of them are very good at English already which is a joy. But I miss talking to the kids when the classes are that big- there is much less chance for one to one talking. I try really hard not to give the best speakers all the class time. But in my experience it usually takes a couple of weeks for the new kids to loosen up enough to try talking to me, in any language.

Also, while I was at the photocopier making copies for the new kids I found a pile of posters in a box on the floor. On closer examination, I found my face all over them! I knew that the director had taken a lot of photos of me over the last couple of months but I hadn't seen the results until now. Some of the photos are OK. But one of them.... let me explain.

Two weeks ago we had a visiting kindergarten class come into the school for a look around. Most of them had never seen a foreigner before and could speak no English. We had organised a game for them and Judy teacher was explaining the rules in Korean. And I was pulling funny faces at the kids for laughs while she did so. I guess I don't really need to tell you at what point the photo was taken. I took one of the posters and showed some of my kids and they asked me if it would be in all the newspapers tomorrow- I hadn't thought of that! It won't make me stop pulling faces at the kids but I will make sure that I am just out of the camera view at the time.

Hopefully things will settle down this week. And there are only three more days until the weekend. And after that I just have FIVE more weeks to go before jetting off home to London. Yes, I know that Felixstowe is my home town but I really can't see them landing a plane in downtown Felixstowe (maybe the Spa Gardens might be a better option).

Had a strange thought the other day. My mum's cat, at Korean age 15, is older than most of my students. And his English isn't that much cop either.

Living in a Winter Wonderland (last of the snow photos, promise!)

It was snowing when I went to bed on Friday night so it was no real surprise that it was still snowing when I woke up on Saturday. And I had nothing planned for the day except waiting for my mate, Sam, to arrive from Seoul. So I snuggled back down under the warm duvet and waited for Sam to call.

After a while I realised that maybe the buses weren't running because of the snow. So I picked up my phone to send a text message to someone I knew was going to Seoul that weekend. The message didn't get delivered and I got a screen of Korean to tell me why. This was the closest that my phone had got to working for the last few days- it goes a little mental in the cold.

Unperturbed I tried again. Same result. Decided to make a phone call instead and got a Korean message followed by an English message telling me what was up.

Yep, hadn't paid my phone bill so had had all outgoing call privileges suspended. So much for a quiet morning in bed. Time to fight my way through the snow to the LG telecom shop and finally pay the thing. The money had been sitting on my table for two weeks after all, pure laziness had slowed me down. Maybe I was really happy for the excuse to go out in the snow too.

And it was a gloriously snowy day. The snow was now nearly up to my knee and still falling. It was like living in a snow globe. Awesome. Paid the bill, took some photos and came home.

Sam arrived that afternoon and, to be honest, we settled down for a few hours of Eastenders and beer. But we couldn't just cocoon ourselves away all night- I had promised Rory that I would pick something of his up from Bumpin and Sam wanted to go and play in the snow anyway- there was no snow in Seoul. Of course we took more photos.

I feel that I have to put photos of Sam here because she would usually be out with James in Seoul on the weekend and so would have her photo splashed across his blog. I would hate for her to miss out on the attention.

We struggled through the snow between several bars that night and met up with a bunch of people. We indulged in a little wind up snail racing- two toys we had picked up from the Family Mart earlier. We both fell in the snow and jumped in the snow and threw the snow. And finally Bumpin was closing and it was time to go home.

Which we did very slowly so as to not fall again. Reached my place, put my hand in my pocket to get the keys and just found a whole lot of emptiness. Nothing there at all, the cupboard was bare. Dammit! Back through the snow but no sign of the keys- chased down Ryan and sent him to the Warehouse bar but no keys there. By the time we got back to the house it was nearly seven am so we just woke up the landlord upstairs. I can't tell you how happy we were to be back inside and safe in our beds.

Today the sun was out and the snow was turning from wonderful soft whiteness to slushy greyness. It took forever to walk to the bus terminal and even longer to get a cab home again. So I have been hibernating in my house ever since then. Playing with my computer, which has been playfully teasing me with threats of viruses and generally mucking me about and stressing me out and then working again for no apparent reason. Bless it....grrrrrrrr!

PS have discovered that it is fine to get the pizza delivery person to fight their way through the snow to my house. Twice. Strangely I felt no guilt at all.

PPS- Happy Mother's Day, Mum! Sorry I can't be there to spoil you

'If you drop that I will kill you,' sending the kids out with the camera

It snowed. I worked. Most of my mates didn't.

The boss let me out early. I went out for dinner and watched a movie at the DVD bang. This is the third time that I have written this post. It was a lot longer the first two times. But I lost them. I hate computers! Here are some photos that my kids took of themselves in the snow today.

The movie we watched was a Korean movie called 'Mokpo, a Gangster's Paradise'. It was fun to see my old home of Mokpo on the (semi) big screen. Afterwards, considering the snow to be hazard enough to my safety without throwing a tequila or two on top of the danger, rather than stop in Bumpin for a bit I just took a photo of the place

You would half expect to find Santa propping up the bar in there tonight. Will write more when my PC is annoying me less.

Snowing again

Woke up this morning to find that it had snowed over night, a lot! I thought that we had had the last of the snow a couple of weeks ago but no!

I will get more photos of snow later but here are some teasers for now

the view from my window

the snow is showing no sign of stopping. Only wish that I had some food in the house- is it wrong to drag the pizza guy out in this weather??

Money makes me go round the World

Have been thinking about the trip today. I am really worried about leaving Korea. I don't want to leave my friends here, no matter how much I want to see my friends back home. I wonder if I am crazy to be planning this trip.

So I spent some time looking at hostels and photos from the places I intend to go. Now I am wondering if the trip is really ambitious enough- why did no one tell me that Malaysia is only 1km from Singapore airport? Now I want to stay everywhere longer...

Jumunjin

Yesterday was a National holiday here to mark the 1919 Independence Movement. It was a beautiful sunny day and not as cold as it has been recently. It would have been a shame to have spent it cleaning the house and washing clothes. So me and Tania decided to go to Jumunjin, a fishing port about 23 km north of Gangneung. We got a bus from the intercity terminal and off we went. The journey took about half an hour and although we didn't take a coastal road it was still great to see the mountains in the distance, still topped with snow.

There are really only two things to do at Juminjin, apparently, go to the beach or go to the fish market. We didn't make it to the beach.

Fish markets in Korea are awesome- more marine wildlife than you would ever see in an Aquarium and really close up.

I guess that it was kind of weird for the locals to see a couple of foreigners running around taking photos of their prospective dinners and a few of the stall holders seemed a bit put out that we weren't interested in buying crabs the size of trucks or squids the size of Moby Dick.

But even the Koreans took photos of the fishing boats.

The market is a lively colourful place with some scary looking fish. We did see a lot of octopus too and even one that had escaped from the bucket and was legging it back to the ocean.

We walked along the sea wall and sat by the red lighthouse for a while watching the fisherman.

Then we walked further up the coast but failed to find anything looking like a beach so stopped for coffee. As the sun started go down (gloriously lighting up the sky above the mountains) it started to get cold and it was time to get back to Gangneung and meet Renee for dak galbi and a movie. We watched 'White Chicks' in the DVD bang, I wouldn't recommend it!

Around the World with a cheapskate

OK here is, as promised, how I planned my trip. Pretty much since I left Australia at the end of 1999 I have wanted to go back. Since I was in South Africa in 2001 I have wanted to go back. Feeling that a two week trip to Thailand was a bit short, I have wanted to go back. I have family and friends in America, I want to go there. New Zealand looks kinda pretty, I want to go there.

And that is the way that the trip starts. A list of everywhere that you want to go. It helps if there is a map of the World on the classroom wall- helps with planning a trip and really doesn't help with the teaching, with the students yelling 'teacher, teacher!' and all there is going on in my head is 'ah, so that is where Uzbekistan is...'.

I knew that I was reaching the end of my contract and also knew that I needed to go home for a while. I haven't been home since March 2003, people have got married, given birth, been sick, recovered and generally just got on with their lives since I left. And I have missed them. I knew that things were bad when I burst into tears one night when Big Ben appeared on the TV. But, much as I wanted to go home, I knew that I didn't want to stay there. So I started thinking about my dream trip- into Africa, onto Asia, Oceania, America and home.

Thinking led onto exploring the idea through the internet. I started with STA Travel and even coped with having to tick the 'Not a student, totally the wrong side of 26' box to get a rough quote. The same with Trailfinders. But they didn't seem willing to sell me a ticket or really have any contact through the internet. Then I came across this

MY DREAM TRIP!

on the Round the World Flights website. They seemed only to eager to sell me a ticket through the internet. I did a bit more research- that is to say that I counted the money I had and got out a calendar. Now I am the ultimate cheap traveller (if you can ignore a little bit of souvenir shopping). I embrace backpackers hostels- I lived in them basically for a year in Australia and two years in Ireland. I have cleaned them, managed them and hung around in them to the point where I can be a bit confused that I can change the channel on my TV without having to ask 50 other people if it is OK. So if I am going to stay anywhere on my travels it is in a backpackers.

So I went onto my two favourite hostel websites- VIP Backpackers and Hostelworld. They both offer internet booking and if you buy a VIP card you get discount on the hostels as well as a range of other things, such as buses. Hostelworld tends to have more budget options as well as purely backpackers. From these websites I got an idea of how much money I would need to budget for a night in Oz, NZ, Fiji, America, Tahiti and the Cook Islands. Having been to Cambodia last year I knew that accommodation was as cheap as chips there.

Then I factor in how much money I might need to spend on transport- based on Greyhound buses or any other large bus company- and the knowledge that I picked up in Cambodia about travelling around South East Asia.

I put these two numbers together with the money I had counted to see how long I could reasonably afford to stay in each country.

Then I danced around the room yelling 'I'm going on my jollies, I'm going on my jollies!!!' to the irritation of all of my neighbours.

I really wanted to go to South Africa but the transport was more than I could really justify. After all there was a lot of exploring to be done over there. So I decided to cut it out of the trip in the end. I think that it will be a trip of its own one day. The travel agent that I was dealing was quick at responding to my emails and they sent me a quote. Unfortunately I had to book the trip within five days.

I panicked.

And then stopped and thought 'why not'- what was to stop me booking the trip. Yes, something might go wrong between now and then but I had already checked that the dates were easily changeable. I knew that I would be happier to go home with a plan in my head and a ticket in my pocket. So, taking a deep breath, I told them to book it. They needed dates to book each flight so I sat down with a calendar and a highlighter pen to mark out how long I would be in each country. I sent the dates and they booked the flights.

Now all I had to do was pay. The price was more than reasonable for what I was getting. Having travelled at peak times in Korea for the last two years it felt good to not be paying through the nose- and for people not to tell me how much less they had paid for the same trip! But I felt like this was a big deal for me and I didn't want to sit alone in my house to make the final phone call. So I went to Rory's house and chatted to him and Ben for a while until the time difference caught up with us and the travel agent in London opened.

I dialled the number - thankful that my phone was working for once- it really is not a big fan of the cold- fingers trembling.... and spent ten minutes on hold..... finally they answered, took my debit card details (yes, I am planning this whole trip without the sniff of owning a credit card, I must be crazy) and it was done.

Stunned silence for a second then hugs and kisses all round. I have bought the ticket but not seen it yet- must get Mum to wave it in front of the webcam at some point. I go through phases where it is all I want to talk about but I know from experience that the closer the time comes the less I will want to talk about it and the panic hits in and the reality of leaving Korea becomes more solid. Home first and then out into the World

My nominal budget is 80 quid (pounds, damn this machine not recognising a pound sign). I hope that I will spend less some weeks in the hope that this will leave me more to spend others. I decided to spend longer in Fiji than I had originally planned when I saw how cheap the hostels were. I am concerned about the prices in Tahiti so have booked to stay there for the minimum time. I did think about cutting it out altogether until I looked at some photos. I spend a lot of time on the Lonely Planet website, looking at their art galleries and reading all the message boards. I also use the Rough Guides travel journal section- where my Mokpo writings are also saved- for pieces written by travellers.

And I think that is all there is to it.

At least I hope that I haven't forgotten anything!