An Unwanted Visit to Suwon Medical Center

This is usually the kind of time on a Sunday when I am blogging about my weekend's activities (hopefully I'll get chance to do that tomorrow!) However today I feel it a necessity to let you all know the sad news that I had to spend a few hours in a Korean hospital this evening.

During our Inter Suwon game this afternoon I decided to try and help our team out by stopping the opposition scoring. Their best player was lining up a shot on the edge of the box and in trying to close him down I managed to volley the ball clear, jar my foot and kick the bottom of one of their players studs. I sumhow walked off the pitch unscathed thinking that in five or ten minutes I might be able to come back on but it was only when I decided to take off my boot to look at the damage I realised the extent of the pain that my 'heroics' had caused.

A combination of the pain and the heat meant I had to spend the second half lying down in the shade with ice on my foot and after the game had finished my coach was nice enough to take me back home so I could get some medical attention. I headed off to Suwon Hospital and had an x-ray. Despite fearing the worse, my foot wasn't actually broken but two bones are severely damaged.

I now have to spend the next week with a cast on my leg, unable to get it wet or basically do anything. Take a course of pain killers and even worse hobble around on crutches until my next appointment!

Obviously it's not been my happiest moment in Korea so far but I am glad that I was able to somehow bumble my way through and get to see a doctor. Hopefully the cast will come off next week and I can put some pressure on my foot as at the moment it is extremely swolen and not very fun!

I'm going to get myself some well deserved rest as I am still going to attempt to teach tomorrow and like I said I should be able to update you on the day and a half before the visit to hospital.

Take care x

A New Bag, The Champions League Final and Three Seperate Counts of Not Enough Sleep

Hey folks!

After not being able to write too much after doing nothing last weekend I decide to save up a few things that I could write in my pre-weekend blog however as is the usual way I didn't quite get the timings of my typing right and now I end up struggling to remember what I had set out to blog about in the first place!
I'll do my best to try and remember anyway!

The first few days of the week were pretty standard, just working and eating the usual. As I mentioned before Kevin's cousin Joe was staying with him for a few days as part of a trip he had taken to the far-east. On Sunday Kevin showed him the delights of Hongdae and on monday we all met up near Suwon station to grab some dinner together.
Anna, who came along too, directed us to a new restaurant which was down the main street in 'downtown' Suwon and although I can't for the life of me remember that the food was called it was pretty damn tasty.

I'm sure I won't do it justice by describing it but it was basically glass noodles, soy sauce, chicken and vegetables. It was something ridiculous like 26,000 won between five people which is basically like £2.70 a person. There's no danger of getting anything like that back in England that's for sure. Im sure the expense, or lack of it, in dining out is one thing I am going to get all too comfortable with and it's going to be a shock when I return home.

We decided to show Joe and Anna a few places we had discovered along he way and by the time we headed home I was pretty nakered (tiredness in case you haven't guessed will be a constant theme in this story!) On Tuesday at school I started teaching my new class which was pretty fun, and even if I do have to teach for an hour longer than usual, spending time with these kids is an enjoyable ending to the day. It's probably my largest class as there is maybe 9 or even 10 students in there but as these guys have been taught by my boss for the last couple of months they are pretty well disciplined.

On Tuesday something very small and inconcequential happened but it made me realise that perhaps I am doing a good job of making friends with the kids after all. Everyday if they do good work the kids get stamps and when they collect one-hundred they get a 'prize' from the school which is usuall a t-shirt or some stationery. One of the kids in my 3pm class had got to a hundred the day before and during the lesson he proceeded to try and explain that the prize he had got was for me! I was like OK, whatever you say, I don't think one of these small t-shirts for Korean's is going to fit me! To cut a long story short he'd actually got a new bag as a present but decided to donate it to me, he'd even written my name on it and the names of the kids in that class. I thought that was pretty sweet and very generous to say that this boy had been a royal pain in the posteria for about two weeks when I started!

Soon the middle of the week was here and as usual I was wondering where the two previous days had gone! On Wednesday in kindergarten we did about 'hands' and 'feet' so for an artistic task I got the kids to draw round their hands and their feet and then paint them. I have to say it was almost as if this was the funniest thing that had ever happened to them and I don't know what it was about taking a pencil and following the outline of your hand and feet but they loved it (perhaps just slightly less than they love the chicken dance, but it's a strong feeling for both!)

I spoke to my mum on wednesday evening which was cool too. In some ways it feels like I have been away from home for quite a long time but in others I can still remember the first day I got here. I still obviously miss home quite alot and especially my mum and the rest of my family. It's tough to be away from the one person you have spent most of your life with and are very close to, I know she probably misses me as much but needs must I guess, it was either another few months looking for a job which was like searching for a needle in a heystack or take a risk and come here! I still think I have been vindicated by my decision!

Being the huge football obsessive that I am, I decided that it was a wise idea to beat tiredness and stay up to watch the Champions League Final on Wednesday night. I went to bed at about 11.30pm and set my alarm for 3.45am which was the time it was on back home in England. Typically I felt perfectly fine like I wasn't even tired for the first ten minutes but slowly my body started to feel worse and worse! Bad decision Ben! I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the game and was quite happy to see Barcelona win 2-0 however it only dawned on me about ten minutes before the end of the game that it was actually light outside, and yes I was going to have to be up in three and a half hours.

Thursday was a loooooooooong day! I didn't even feel as tired as I did that day when I arrived here! How it possible that the Champions League final made me feel worse than a 28 hour flight from the otherside of the world! I managed to struggle on through the day however and although I was severaly lacking energy the sugary sweets, coffee and chocolate that I consitently pumped my body with throughout the day were extremely beneficial to my cause. All I could think about during the day was actually sleeping and how when I got home I was just going to go to bed but obviously at 6.50pm I wasn't even feeling a jot of tiredness!
We headed to Dak Galbi near Suwon station for tea and I think it was when I got back to my room at about 9.30pm that my body decided it had had enough and shut down on me!

Since I discovered free-will at the age of about 17, I think that is definately the earliest that I have ever gone to bed!

Friday creeped up on me as it usually does and despite still being tired inspite of the extra hours sleep I had managed to pick up I wasn't too fussed that I was still feeling tired, it's the last day of the week after all! Once I had got done with lessons at about 5pm, I decided that as the weather was significantly cooler than it has been over the last couple of days I was in a walking mood and so I headed up to the familiar haunt that is Hwaseong Fortress. I decided to head a different way round the wall this time and after about an hour of walking and taking pictures I reached Na-mul which is a decent walk from Hwaseo. Hopefully at some point of the weekend I get chance to put these pictures online but there was some terrific views from this part of the wall too and unlike the time I walked to the highest point it wasn't stupidly busy.
Still eager for some exercise I spent about half an hour working on my rough round the edges basketball game down at the park.

We headed to the usual galbi place just down the road for dinner and then decided to make a break for Yung-tung to spend the rest of the night in the company of foreigners at Now Bar. We brought Anna with us to experience the delights of the finest that the kinnex has to offer and after successfully managing to end up not on the losing side in a game of darts (of course Charlie lost) it was obviously well worth the journey. No need to tell you that me and Kevin continue to reign supreme!
After the usual conversations with the few people that I actually know there we decided to head home at about 3am and had a rather interesting cab ride (aren't they all) on the way back to Hwaseo with a driver whose mind clearly wasn't on the job.

As you may have gathered from my other stories of cab drivers in Suwon they are all about running redlights, pipping at people unecessary and basically taking the fastest and unsafest route they can home. Aftter a combination of the aforementioned things I experienced something new in Korea and something I hopefully won't again! After stopping at a red light near the Ogari in Hwaseo we stayed stationery for rather long then usual when the light changed. After about a ten second delay Kevin was like 'OK man, the lights green you can go', no response. It was only then that we discovered that the poor old guy driving our cab had actually fallen sleep at the wheel and only when Kevin decided to tap him on the shoulder did he wake up!!!! Boy was I glad we were nearly home! According to Anna the guy said something in Korean when he woke up and appologised because 'his mind was on other things'. Yeah no doubt about that! It certainly wasn't on driving! We're on a meter here, no time for falling asleep!

Once we managed to get back safely we all had a laugh about it thinking that our entertainment for the evening was over. Oh how we were wrong! Slightly more hilarious that our driver falling asleep of the wheel was a full grown man sleeping on a table outside a shop just down the road from Talkster. After staring for a few minutes and seeing if the person would wake up we then decided to see if we could wake him up in our own way! Returning from his room with a tray of ice cubes Charlie decided it would be a good idea to see just how much of a deep sleep this guy was in. First from a distance and then a little closer we proceesed to check just how conscious he was by using the ice as a method of waking him up!

As you can imagine and exactly the same as I would act if someone put an ice cube on my head when I was in a sleepy trance the guy got up with a bit of a jolt, we only saw this from a distance as to ensure that he was unaware how his deep sleep was broken we pretty much got away as quick as we could and after watching from the roof of our school to see him confused about what had happened quick as a flash he had disappeared, hopefully home to a more comfortable sleeping area!

I'm pretty exauhsted now after another stupidly late night in Yungtung and at 24 I clearly am not able to keep up with the 'pace' as readily as I'd like! Today (Saturday) will mostly be spent playing golf and there is a possibility that we'll be headed to Itaewon for a music festival in the evening. Tomorrow I have a game for Inter Suwon against the side at the top of the league which I am looking forward to.
As always I will be letting you know exactly what I have been up to on sunday evening (or monday morning depending on what I am up to!) Hope you're having a good weekend!

Doing nothing, nowt and zero

Unfortunately I fear that for the first time my post weekend blog will be less than entertaining!

As the title suggests I haven't been up to anything of note over the weekend and the only reason I am writing this blog is because I doubt that I will now be doing anything until next week and I don't want to leave a massive gap between posts!

Despite original fears that it was going to pour down over the weekend it actually turned out to be quite bright and sunshiney. Which makes it even more annoying that I didn't do anything! Saturday evening was mostly spent playing on Alex's PS3 with Charlie which they travelled to Yungsan during the afternoon to buy. We played a few games of FIFA 09 then Charlie and I headed back to the Suwon statation area to grab some dinner.
I spent the rest of the evening messing around on the computer and playing on my Wii which did consume some time but is the kinda thing I don't need to be in Korea to do! I could have stayed in England and spent my saturday nights doing that!

On Sunday I woke up pretty early to watch basketball and after a little mid-morning snooze I got up and had some dinner before heading to GSIS for my game with Inter Suwon. After a weeks hiatus and some time to reflect on the 4-4 draw against Anyang two weeks ago we were missing quite a few players and had to make some wholesale changes to the team. I started on the right of midfield and we soon found ourselves 1-0 up thanks to the most blatent penalty of all time.

Unfortunately the lead didn't last long as one of our centre backs decided to be a goalscoring here - sadly he managed to scuff a clearance into his own net to make it 1-1. Later in the second half we took a 2-1 lead and it stayed that way until late into the second half (by which time I'd moved to right-back). We went 3-1 up with a header but were stunned in the last five minutes when their best player scored an absolute screamer. We managed to hold on to the final whistle for a 3-2 victory which probably should have been alot more if we'd have taken our chances and didn't insist on bringing on bad substitutes in the second half.

I believe we have just three games left in the season now and I'm hoping to get plenty more playing time before the season ends. After the game I headed back to the kinnex with some of the boys for a meal and some drinks. I met a few cool new people and we chatted for about three hours before I decided to head home. I was booked in for a skype chat with my mum at 9pm and it was nice to speak to her.

Desperate to actually do something me and Charlie watched 'We are Marshall' which I really enjoyed but missed the end of because I came back to my room to watch the final day of the Premiership season on MBC ESPN. It's obviously not the same as being at home but it's great to be able to keep up with the league, and not just through reading the BBC website. I reckon they will probably show the FA Cup final next weekend but after that it's going to be a long three months before the action returns! I guess I am going to have to take an interest in the K-League for a while!

Today has just been another regular work day. In kindergarten this morning we learnt about 'faces' and we made some wacky ones out of paper plates. The kids did a good job actually although as usual they needed my help to glue things on!
Between lessons I watched the end of the Cleveland and Orlando conference final game which was good and I also met Kevin's cousin who is staying in Korea for a few days.

It has been quite hot weather today so after work I decided to take a nice relaxing stroll round the lake and then sit and read my book for a little while, I'm trying to get hold of a copy of Match of the Day from last night so I can see the highlights of the games that I missed but it appears to be taking it's time!

Sorry it's not been a very interesting one but life can't always be fun can it! Not even in Korea!

Uiwang Nature Park and Another Night at Now Bar

Well there flies by another week in Korea!

I feel like this one has rocketed by quicker than some of the other ones and I really haven't been any busier than usual. One day it's dealing with the early monday morning that nobody likes and the next thing I know it's friday afternoon and time to have some fun in the classroom!

I had a bonus to the end of this week actually because yesterday (Friday) was the monthly kindergarten trip so for just one day the kids were let out of their confined space and into the open world of Uiwang Nature Park about 10 minutes from Talkster. Despite the fact it had poured down the day before it was actually very nice weather yesterday and I was pretty glad as I shouldn't imagine it would have been too fun in the pouring rain with seven soaking wet kids!

As it turned out I think I had as much fun as them. Haji, Elizabeth and Charlie came with us as well and we walked around inside took a look at some fish (obviously Larry tried to bang on their tanks and communicate with them my shouting 'FISHY'! I tried to explain that just like him, the fish don't understand English, but ironically he didn't understand!) Then we walked outside and round a bit of a nature trail before coming to come animals.

The funniest moment (and I'm gutted I didn't get it on camera) came when one of my boys in the class had a bit of a scared kind of strop when he saw a frog in the grass which then decided to leap towards him. This boy is easily one of the smartest in the class and he's always reading books about dinasoars and lizzards, being a boy he also likes play-fighting but heaven forbid he sees a frog in the flesh! He came running over to me almost in tears cowering behind me like he'd just seen some kind of monster! When I realised it was a frog that was making him freak out I couldn't help but laugh!

We then took the kids inside the building and to the top deck of the building which was an observatory deck which has a view of the whole park, the nearby mountains and a lake right next to the park. The kids enjoyed looking through the binoculars to see what they could see and even if they were highly freaked out by how things far away suddenley become close by they seemed to enjoy it.
Whilst up in some open space Elizabeth explained to the kids how to play 'What Time Is It Mr Wolf?' and they had some fun playing that with me an Charlie up and till lunchtime! After a lunch of some regular kimbop which was damn good we headed up a small hill and through a little wooded trail which looped back into the park.

I think we headed back to school at about 1.15pm and with still half an hour before they got picked up by the busses I spent about half an hour playing with the kids, lifting them up and hanging them upside down, you know the kind of repetetive things that send them nuts with excitement! If someone tried to hang me upside down at the age of 24 I don't think I would be quite so happy!

I now only have two afternoon lessons on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and as usual we spent most of the lesson playing games and also UNO. In my 4pm class one of the kids was nice enough to bring in some snacks for us to eat and although I'll never be a fan of octopus flavoured crisps it's always nice to be treated to some free food. Kevin was telling me that one of his children brought in an ice cream cake for teachers day last week, I look forward to the day when that happens! Although I think they'd better bring in two, one for me and one for them to share between themselves!

As I said my schedule has now changed so I only teach two classes three days a week and as from tuesday next week I'll be teaching a 6pm-6.50pm class on on tuesdays and thursdays. The extra hour doesn't really bother me, especially as on the first and last day of the week I won't have so much teaching to do.

I decided to spend my extra hour in the park yesterday playing on my PSP, even though it wasn't very sunny it was still quite warm although later a few rain drops decided to fall and I took that as my queue to come home. As usual on a Friday night I had to wait for Charlie and Kevin to finish before I could eat and we headed to Ocha's to get some galbi. Charlie had to Skype with one of his friends after that so I came back to my room for a bit, uploaded some photos to my gallery which you can now look at and then we headed out to NOW Bar.

It was pretty busy in there as usual and it was fun to have a conversation with the usual crowd of people. I've made a few new friends from playing football which meant that I had a larger than usual pool of people to talk to and as is now traditional we played darts. Alex joined us later on (post a date with Anna which she never mentioned!) and in a game of doubles me and Kevin proceeded to close out a game in double-quick time! Something which as ever annoyed Charlie!

After a bit of a late night I decided to stay in bed for a lie in this morning and there was an NBA game on TV so I decided to watch that in the comfort of my bed. Charlie was going to Yungsan with Alex this morning so that the later could buy a PS3, at one point last night I agreed to go but after being unable to be bothered to get myself out of bed to get a drink at about 11, I decided to take the lazy route and stay in bed.

I've just had my first actual bath in Korea too and it was amazing. Despite the stupid water non storage water system there was quite alot of hot water in the pipe and I did have to let a little bit out because I got a tiny bit carried away letting the water run! The rest of this afternoon I doubt I will be up to much. I've been quite slack on replying to emails this week so I will try and send off a couple of them. The weather has turned nice today despite the forecast of thunderstorms, I think once Charlie gets back we might meet Kevin for a game of screen golf which is always good!

Until the next exciting installment of my adventure I bid you farewell!

Another midweek blog about nothing!

Considering I used to update this thing almost everyday I felt that even though I don't really have much to say I should probably post another update about life in Korea!

It's pouring with rain today which isn't what I signed up for and over the weekend I think we are in for thunderstorms which is always good fun. I'm supposed to be going on a trip tomorrow with the KU class as well....to a nature park! Not going to see much nature except rain, puddles and mud at this rate!

The last couple of days at Talkster have been going fairly well, we've made some good progress in the morning class and the afternoon ones seem to be settling into a nice rhythm, one that usually involves doing very few pages in the book which always makes class a bit more interesting! My 5pm class of three have been merged with one of Kevin's classes now so next week I will be getting a new class. Should be interesting, and hopefully they are we well behaved as the students I just had. Somehow I doubt that.

Over the last couple of days I've been heading to the World Cup Park after class to kick the ball around for a bit and more often than not read my book. When I was kicking around there the other day some kids took an interest in my attempts to hit the crossbar from the half way line. Unlike the last bunch of people I befriended these kids were more like teenagers and had some pretty good English so I let them take some shots at me on Tuesday and yesterday. They agreed to meet me yesterday at 7pm and when I got there, there was like 15 of them instead of the four that I spoke to the night before. They'd obviously decided to turn up to see if the myth was true that they had actually communicated with someone from outside of Korea. In my usual way of being part-freakshow, part-exibit I spent about an hour and a half playing before I decided to head home from dinner.

I was going to head out there with them today but I guess the weather has put the curse on that one, I've got football training tonight at GSIS anyhow so hopefully the weather will hold off a little bit as that won't be the most fun in the rain.
My mum sent me a parcel the other day which was very kind of her, it arrive about 15 times faster than the postcard which took almost a month to get here and as well as a new card to replace the one that the cashpoint decided it wanted to keep, there was also some of the clothes I left behind, and probably most welcome of all, some chocolate! THANKS VERY MUCH MUM!

Just what I needed! One of my kids brought me chocolate for teachers day last week but they got eaten within the blink of an eye! Anyone else who wants to send me chocolate is more than welcome, I'd be glad to give out my address!

Anyhow, considering I haven't really been doing much this week, probably best to keep it short! Time to get back to class soon anyhow and I need to have my daily go on Guitar Hero on the DS before I get back to those little Rugrats! Barring anything interesting happening over the next two days I'll more than likely be updating after the weekend! Keep checking my photo gallery and video gallery in the meantime!

Korea...The First Month...and a bit

I'm a touch off with my timing as I have been in Korea for five weeks and a day now but having some spare time on my hands this evening has allowed me to reflect on what I have seen and done while I have been in Korea so far, as well as update you about what I have been up today.

I managed to master the art of using a Korean cash-point earlier, and not just to withdraw money either! I had an electricity and also a gas bill to pay and you have to head to the bank to do both. It's ok when you try and check your balance because it has an English setting but paying bills is a whole different matter! Somehow I managed to bumble my way through it however and I shouldn't be having to deal with that for another month!

Last night I also managed to successfully avoid having to seperate my month old rubbish into seperate bags as well! Don't worry this isn't another rant about not wanting to save the planet, and as it happens if I do what I did yesterday and wait till the cover of darkness to find some poor suspecting neighbours pile of rubbish to throw mine in I won't be complaining. Some people across the street had a massive pile of recycling out for the morning so as sneaky as a spy I headed over there and dumped a whole bag of pretty much everything in between all their well organised stuff! When I got up this morning I was expecting to see that it had been rejected but to my surprise the people appear to have taken it away! Which either means that they really arent as anal about their sorting process as first thought, or I just did a good job of disguising it as something which has actually been sorted!

Being a usual workday there hasn't been much time for exploring or anything but earlier I took a stroll up to the World Cup park near where I live and sat and read a book for a while and also played on my PSP. In the evening when it's starting to cool off nicely it's so peaceful to go and sit there or at the park around the lake nearby. I can imagine that in the summer it gets pretty busy as the humidity will probably mean no need for shorts or a hoodie.

Aside from being stared at by passing Korean people and feeling like I was an exibit in a museum it was a pretty relaxing experience, and one I'm sure I'll be repeating throughout the coming weeks and months. We decided to head into Suwon this evening and to eat at the usual Dak Galbi place. As ever we got the celebrity treatement and even had some new guy, presumably the owner of the restaurant trying to converse with us.
Again we had to go through the same routiene as always as they observe us and check that we have two eyes, two ears, a nose and a mouth just like them. But this guy was paticularily interested to notice that we even ate the same way as every other person in that restaurant! How strange he must have thought. It kinda felt like feeding time at the aquarium as he hoved over our table for a good while before giving Charlie from friendly banter about eating alot!

Although it's awkward and still annoying, I think I have adapted myself to the staring and now I take it as a compliment. You know, I'm a hansome guy, who wouldn't want to look at me! I'd prefer it if 20-something women wanted to look at me rather than old gadgies and ajuma's on the street but whatever you know, I guess it's their culture. Not being a very diverse people I can imagine how strange it would be to see a 'foreigner' walking down the same path as them. I perhaps wish they would be more subtle about their picture taking and pointing like we are circus freaks but I'm totally convinced that after a few months I won't even notice anymore!

Enough of my ramblings anyhow. Back to how much I have been enjoying my stay in Korea! It feels like I have been here both a short and a long time. I can still remember by emotions and feelings the day I arrived at Inchon Airport, but it also seems like the weeks are flying by. I feel I have learnt a lot about myself and about Korean culture while I am here and I still think this was a fantastic decision, one I'm glad I made (even if it was a few years after I should have!)

As a way of sumising my experience so far here's a short list of the things I have enjoyed so far...

The Food
Korean food should get a special mention for not being quite as stereotypical as you might imagine. Sure there's a lot of rice around and obviously seafood is popular, occasionally from time to time I see things that I wouldn't want to go near (yes, I'm refering to you silkworm and skeleton heads I've seen in a restaurant window) but by and large the food has been one of the most resounding hits with me while I've been here.
There's not only a wide range of nice foods, but the fact that the meals are not only cheap, but also fresh is wonderful. From galbi to pudong-ji-geh to sushi it's an experience finding new things to eat everyday and that is one of the things I enjoy about being here. Eating out is a great experience and it's ironic that the worst food I have had was a hamburger!

The People
Aside from my little rant about staring earlier on I have found that Korean people are as a nation some of the friendliest I have ever met. The story I mentioned yesterday about the guy offering Charlie his umbrella to walk across the street is a prime example of what I mean. Would that happen in England? Nah, you're more likely to get laughed at and some evil being is probably going to drench you while purposely driving through a puddle. I feel bad for not knowing the language and when people speak to me they try and use English which to me is a major thing because I am in their country and they are trying to cater to my needs.

Korean people have been very friendly to me from the outset and whether it's been cab drivers, restaurant owners of people just trying to help when we are looking lost it's all been very refreshing from the 'head down and get on with my own business' culture I am used to.

Making New Friends
Something which is obviously beneficial to the experience of being in Korea is having some good friends around me and although I am missing several key people from my life back home, I know that I have a good set of people around me who will always be there to support me when I need it. I couldn't ask for better friends than Kevin and Charlie and the fact that the three of us have spent so much time together has already made us pretty close friends. I've met some great people at Now Bar, playing with Inter Suwon and i'd also like to think some of the kids working at the school too. The people around me are helping to shape my experience and they are helping to make it what it is at the moment.

The Culture
Let's face it, every single country on this side or the other side of the world has it's own individual feel and no two countries are alike. Still I feel that Korea is in a league of it's own when it comes to the culture it has shown me so far. The culture and the surroundings are phenominal. I've seen some great building's and scenes in my short life so far but I don't think there are many places I have seen with such a great, interesting and individual view as Korea. Whether it's walking down a street lit by a million neons or looking into the distance to see mountains and trees as far as you can see it's all fantastic. Hwaseong Fortress, even though I haven't walked all the way round it, is a sight which I'm sure I will never forget and will never be able to take enough pictures of. The view from the temple at the top of the whole of Suwon is almost as good as the view you get from the top of the Eiffel Tower (and it was free!)

There's plenty more to look forward to for me in Korea and I'd like to think that the first month has just been a taster of things to come. I hope that at least a few people will be able to experience the wonders of the great country I am in at the moment and for the rest of you I will continue to do my best to paint a vivid pictures of my surroundings!

G'nite x

Pebble Beach, Taco's and avoiding How-Wrong-Dae

Evening everyone!

A bumper edition of updating to come as I haven't been on the blog all weekend and obviously I have been making the most of my time outside the classroom.

After an inexplicable bout of body fatigue on Thursday and Friday I was pretty glad that it was the weekend. Charlie's antics in Now Bar last weekend obviously encouraged him to take it a bit easier this week and there was no soju on the table at our Friday meal at Ocha's.
It still tasted damn good to me, Kevin and Charlie (as usual) and in the pouring rain we decided to find a nearby pool hall to end the evening's entertainment. We actually wanted to go bowling but had been told that most alleys close at about 8.30pm as bowling is a daytime activity in Korea.
Wise to open up something when everyone is at work, but not after a meal and a few soju's!? Takes some business nouse to work that one out!

We tried in vain to check out the place across the road from 'Kiss Bar' but as soon as we walked in and saw 15 tables with 'Three-Cushion-Pool' going on it didn't look too promising. We decided instead to head to a bar right next door for a drink. As usual when we head into a building we do so to much bemused looks, but it was pretty obvious that we had made the lady-owner of the bar's evening when we turned up, and not just because we were the only customers. As usual Charlie dropped his English on her and after trying to communicate with us in Korean she then appologised for not speaking in English. In the words of Charlie "it's OK sweetheart, we're sorry!"

A few conversations later we decided to retire to our rooms for the evening with hope that the weather wouldn't be as poor when we woke up the next day. We were sadly disappointed to find that on Saturday the weather had worsened and it wasn't only raining, but raining harder. It was in a way quite heartwarming as it reminded me of being in sunny Manchester instead of Suwon.

We headed to Yungtun by cab to meet Alex. Charlie did the navigating again telling the guy to head towards 'Digital World One', something we discovered later which was completely incorrect! It took us about twenty minutes to get a ride though which wasn't too fun. After standing at the Orari for ten minutes and having drivers either ignore our outstretched hands or just flatly refuse to take us we finally got a life.
'Digital Complex One' wasn't as far as Yungtung but we still ended up in the middle of nowhere and spent the time waiting for Alex visiting a few randomly placed sports shops along the street.

We met Alex and another English guy he works with, Ian at the screen golf place right near by their house. I have to admit having not played golf for a long while I was pretty apprehensive but looking forward to the experience. For those who don't know, screen golf is a pretty amazing thing and might just be a business I have to invest in when I return home.
Fittingly as the weather was horrible outside screen golf is pretty much the perfect tonic for a rainy day.

Set up in a pretty spactious room is a computer, a huge digital screen and a golf tee and putting lane. I was soon to discover that quite accurately replicated by the computer are the golf shots which you play from the tee with a full set of clubs and like being out on the course (without all the boring walking and bad weather). After a few practice hits, one of which went horribly awry, we started our round. Seeing as we were foreign the guy set us up on an accurate representation of Pebble Beach...three hours and nine holes later we were about ready to head out with Kevin having absolutely destroyed all of us.

I managed to finish with an not unsatisfying score of +26, safe in the knowledge that if we go again and Alex is there I won't be losing. He finished with exactly double par on each hole and it could have been alot worse if the computer didn't cut you off after a certain number of shots. I really enjoyed myself actually and will definately be hoping to go again. For 15000 won (£7.50) it's an absolute bargin and so much better than going on a driving range as you get to play different kinds of shots. It's wierd to be playing into a screen but with the wonders of technology it's able to read your swing, power and distance. Even though putting is a bit of a pain in the posteria it's certainly the same amount as fun as going out and doing the real thing!

Typically me and Kevin were hungry so we headed back to Suwon to get some dinner. A rather good sumation of my experience of Korea happened on the way home as in the pouring rain when we were trying to cross the road a perfect stranger came and stood next to Charlie and put his umbrella over them both. Although he couldn't stop himself from cracking up, it's quite funny that that is the kind of hospitality I have been experiencing during my time in Korea and even though people stare and the kids giggle and laugh at you like you're an alien from outta space, people are very friendly here and it's definately something I will remember.

Arriving back at Suwon Yuk (Station in Korean, and another knew word I learnt!) we decided to head to he usual Medeterranian place for some kebabs and nan bread. A quick return to Talkster for a shower and we were heading out again to Hongdae to go and see Josh and Michelle's band play for the 2nd time. Hoping to avoid a repeat of the last fiasco we actually looked up where we were going this time and surprisingly made it there with no hitches what-so-ever!

Upon arrival in the 'Times Square' of Korea I was again pretty hungry (yeah, my tape worm came with me to Korea as well!) and upon seeing Subway I was instantly excited by a meatball sub! Next door however Kevin spotted a Mexican place and the once in a year oppertunity of eating a burito was even more appetising than 'eating fresh' at Subway!
I had a chicken and rice burito and I must say that it was absolutely amazing. As far as food went today was a very good day!

We headed towards 'Club Ta' and had a throughly enjoyable experience listening to some good music, being surrounded by 'foreigners' and even putting on my dancing shoes for a period of time. By 2am me and Kevin were throughly ready for home but the sight of a chicken Gyros energised us once more. We spent the next 45 minutes looking for somewhere else to go and despite walking in too places and then immediately turning round and coming out we made the decision to have one more Gyros and then head home!

Jumping in a taxi, Charlie played chief negotiator as always and agreed with the guy to take us back to Hwaseo. Now we've had some crazy drivers in our time, but this guy was a complete fruit loop. Making strange noises to Charlie all the way back and then explaining in Konglish that the river Han was filled with toilet waste were some of his highlights. As was his blatent misunderstanding of the difference between 'radio' and 'meter'. Of course these problems were caused by Charlie trying to get the guy to put some English music on but instead starting the meter up! I swear at one point I thought my cheeks were going to burst!

Getting in at 4am I was pretty much ready to crash and didn't surface from my room until about 12.30pm. With no basketball and no ice hockey on TV today there was pretty much no reason for me to get up! Sunday has mostly been spent messing around on the computer, chatting to friends and spending some time reading my book and playing my PSP in the park.
The weather has been rather strange today as the sun wasn't really out for very long but some how managed to dry up all the rain. This then gave way to some gusty winds, which then turned into an annoyingly cold wind!

This evening we headed to a pudong-ji-geh place for dinner which was mighty nice and also mighty cheap. Since then I have just been planning what I am going to teach tomorrow and emailing the lovely members of my family back who have been kind enough to get in touch!

Time to head towards bed now, I have been watching the final moments of Liverpool Vs West Brom but now that has finished I have no excuse to stay up any longer.

Goodnight (and don't forget to keep checking out my picture gallery and also the video gallery!)

Videos Galore

As well as spending lots of my time in Korea taking pictures (my camera has probably had a better work out in the last month than all of my others put together) I've been doing my best to document my time in Asia with some videos.

Admittedly most of them involve Charlie's hijinx but the good stuff which I have been seeing and doing has also been captured in a variety of videos. It takes so long to upload them to this site that I decided to create a seperate gallery to hold them.

I'll be doing my best to update them whenever possible so check them out at http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j28/benjsmall_0014/Korea%202009-2010/

Cheers x

One month and counting...

Sorry I haven't updated as much as I was doing in the first few days of my time in Korea, what can I say, things have gone stale! There's only so many times I can express how much I am enjoying the experience!

This weekend has been pretty quiet as it happens. Unfortunately I have actually had to work all five days this week and this evening I have been feeling extremely nakered. I'm looking forward to the weekend once again and the end of my fifth week here.

I know I keep on mentioning it but it is actually amazing that I have been here over a month already. Time certainly is flying by which is some aspects is good as I am getting plenty done and also learning a lot but obviously it's bad because before I know it my time here will be finished and it'll be back to the 'real world'.
As usual this week I have had plenty of emails to reply to which is always a pleasure. It's strange that i seem to be able to keep in contact with people better when I am on the otherside of the world than when we live within the same postal code!

Most of this week has revolved around teaching, playing football and sleeping (what's new eh!?). After a knackering weekend I think the lack of sleep on Friday and Saturday took it's toll on my body as everyday after playing football down at the local school I have been getting more and more tired. On Tuesday I must have been out there playing until at least 8pm, by which time it was completely dark.

As well as the kids that I usually knock about with some middle school children decided they wanted in on the action and decided to take myself, Yung-Ji and about fifteen eight year olds on. Inspired by my defending, the tireless running of Yung-Ji and the goal hanging and and hustle of the kids we managed to beat them quite easily! One of my proudest victories!

Tonight I had football training which was fun as usual. I met he manager of the team, Phil, who spoke to me about joining up properley by getting a a shirt and the rest of the kit. It's really cool hanging around with some other 'foreigners' and making new friends is something I seem to be coming quite adept at! There's no game this week which is pretty annoying but I'll look forward to training next week and perhaps if I don't play for two hours every day after I finish Talkster I won't be so tired!

Schoolwise things have been going well this week. In KU we have been learning about opposites and I think the kids (even Larry!) are actually understanding. They keep running up to me in the middle of class pointing at something and going 'Ben, high' or 'Ben, over'. It's like wow, you actually do listen to me even though it doesn't seem like it. Tomorrow I am teaching them about the difference between a 2d shape and a 3d shape so we'll see how that goes.
I''ve been writing short assesments about the kids this week too which go home to the parents. It was a bit of a cop-out really as all it was were five multiple choice questions and then a two paragraph comment about the students performance.
Most of my kids are very well behaved so I didn't have to write anything too degrading. Obviously I had to use the 'compliment sandwich' method for a few kids, shall we say, the bread (compliment) was very thin on some of them and there was a substantial filling.

From what I have seen online the weather this weekend isn't supposed to be too great but we don't have any major plans so it shouldn't be a problem. Not sure if we are heading to Now Bar tomorrow (I think Charlie is apprehensive after his too much soju incident last week!). We might go looking for a bowling alley too. On saturday I think we're going to look for some screen golf, possibly in Itaewon but we might call the 'foreigner information service' and see if there is one in Suwon. Saturday night we're going to another of Josh and Michelle's gigs in Hongdae which should be fun and I imagine Sunday will be filled by doing laundry and all kinds of other bits and pieces!

Until then I am going to bid you farewell as it's way past my bedtime!x

Way Too Much Soju, Debuting and the International DJ Festival

Well there goes another weekend!

After my four day week of teaching (Thanks Children's Day) it was only a few days from Tuesday to Friday before the weekend came flying round again.
I had my usual game of football down the Elementary school on Friday evening until Kevin finished work at 9pm and then, joined by Haji we headed to Ocha's for our usual meal and Now! Bar combination.

The presense of Haji (and the fact that he had just been paid) obviously inspired Charlie to 'get on the soju', something which to me never seems like a good idea. We headed to Now! around 10.30pm to find that as usual it was pretty quiet a that time of the night. We played a few games of darts, I think Charlie may have even won one this week but we tried not to let him know.
A few other people decided they wanted to get in on the action so we played some form of '501' in four teams. Me and Kevin teamed up and we managed to successfully complete our aim of not being beaten by Charlie and Alex, an English guy who we met there.

During the game we were playing with a couple of Korean guys who could speak a fair amount of English and also seemed to be eating their way through the menu. I don't know if an incresingly drunk Charlie had actually spoken to either of them but for no apparent reason he seemed to dub of the them 'Pretty Ricky'. This guy was suited and booted and obviously Charlie took a liking to his style.
Speaking of which by this point Ramseys had turned up and was as usual sporting a predictably flash silk shirt and making us laugh with almost everything that came out of his mouth. Deliberate or not I don't really know.

We carried on playing for a bit though me and Kevin decided to drop out and just watch the action from a distance. This mostly involved heckling Charlie for as Kevin quite rightly pointed out 'giving the three hell'. I can't describe the numbering order of the dartboard but I know he was going for 20 and 3 is nowhere near it. During these games another character joined (I late discovered he was called Brian) but Charlies's comment after one throw of a dart saying 'That guy's bad ass' now has him dubbed as 'the badass' between the three of us. It might be one of those, you had to be there moments but this guy couldn't be further from badass if he tried. He was some fourty year old creepy looking dweeb who was obviously glad of the company!

After a few games of darts we moved over to the pool table where me and Alex proceeded to be whooped by two guys who clearly knew how to play. It was at this point that Charlie started to come into his own and aside from picking up the nickname 'Quadzilla' he inexplicably decided to sink a bottle of soju and a couple of beers in the space of five minutes before going on a one man dancing mission around the bar. (Hopefully I will be able to attach the video for your viewing pleasure.)
It was at about the point when he started hugging everyone and talking to random people that we decided to venture home.

Me and Kevin always look forward to cab journies with Charlie as he is invariably a drunken jester but on this evening he was in paticularly fine form some of his best comments having us in stitches and including,

-Trying to get us a cut price deal of 2000 won to get home (despite the meter starting at 2250 won)
- Telling the driver he was taking us in the wrong direction and saying he wanted to go that way because he'd heard the girls over there were delicious
- Saying the word goobnee over and over again
- Describing the driver as 'his boy' and then proceeding to slap him on the back and knock his cup of change everywhere!

By the time we'd got back to Hwa-seo O-ga-ri I was ready for bed. By this point Charlie was in a complete state and aside from telling the cab driver to 'shut up' when he wasn't saying anything, falling out of the door and onto the pavement and then chatting to some Korean people for about fifteen minutes despite them not speaking English at all, he managed to make it home at about 4am.
I must admit I was a little alarmed at the amount of noise coming out of Charlie's room as I was trying to sleep but the next day when I discovered that he had infact been trashing his room and then vomiting I was not surprised!

The night of sillyness was followed by some much needed rest and preparing for my big debut with Inter Suwon on Saturday afternoon. After getting up I watched the Magic Vs Celtics game on MBC ESPN and then headed to E-Mart(e) for some shin pads. Took me long enough to find them in the shop that sells literally everything and even then it was a mission to find a pair that weren't meant for small children.

I hopped in a cab and headed to the GSIS school to meet with the guys. The driver on the way there was giving me a Konglish tour of the area pointing out things on the way there and although he didn't speak much English he sure knew how to use his horn. Strangely he also knew the words 'crazy', the word for a female dog and the thing you sit on! Something when strung together he liked to shout at people who were cutting him up. Never mind that he was not a far of red lights or not cornering at 100kph, God forbid someone get in his way!

I got to the school in good time and began training with my new team mates. As there wasn't a kit for me I looked a bit of a plank in a pair of borrowed and way too big orange shorts, my blue, yellow and red Roehampton socks and the team's white shirt! I started on the bench and we didn't begin the game very well being 0-2 down within about ten minutes. Things improved though and we managed to get it back to 2-2 before being 2-4 down into the second half when I came on. Not that I influenced any of the goals but in the fifteen minutes I played we managed to pull it back to 4-4.
We were playing Anyang who are from just down the main '1' highway in Korea and the game was of a pretty high standard. The Suwon team is mostly made up of American players with a few Scottish, English and Irish players mixed in. I enjoyed making some new friends and chatting with them about their experience of Korea so far. Will definately be going back to train with them on Thursday.

After the game I came back to Hwaseo to discover that Kevin, Charlie and Alex had set off to Seoul to meet one of the former Talkster teachers, Nate. I agreed to meet them at the International DJ Festival and after a shower braved the subway by myself for the first time to head in the direction of the 'World Cup Stadium' which is where the festival was being held. I managed to get there unscathed despite having to change lines a couple of times but that was just the beginning of the adventure as it turned out to be quite a distance from the station to the park where the festival was.

Using my powers of observation I noticed a couple of beams of light in the sky which were blatently coming from the park so decided to follow the road until I came to them. Twenty minutes later and after walking through three parks and up one massive hill I could finally see the festival but was slightly destroyed to see that between me and the venue was an eight lane road with no sign of a bridge to cross to get there. Just as I was thinking about hailing a cab to see if I could solve the problem I was some kids climbing across what looked like a pile of scaffolding.

I decided to investigate further and found that it was infact an incomplete brideg that they were climbing across. I waited a couple of minutes to see if there was any sign of them but figured they must have made it and then began plotting my way across! I'm really not sure how I made it across nothing more than wooden boards, metal rods and scaffolding but I was delighted to finally be there and rang Kevin so I could meet them once I had got a ticket.

The festival itself was actually amazing, I've never been to a rave or been a fan of trance, dance, house music but the whole setting for the park was perfect and I enjoyed the various different stages which were set up with dj's. After we stopped doing meeting place, toilet and bar laps we decided to join in with the action and do some dancing. First at the main stage and then at the Jaegermeister stage where we eventually pushed out way to the front.

At about 3am I was feeling pretty damn tired, my feet hurt and I was also very hungry. Luckily Kevin and Charlie agreed so we all decided to head home and get some food. We agreed a decent price of 45000 won to get ourselves a cab back to Suwon and despite listening to some horrendous 80's music on the way home I was pretty glad to be given the chance to climb into bed! Me and Charlie stopped for some kimbop first and I now see what they have been raving about this whole time as it was infact lovely. I had the egg version. It's basically seaweed with rice, egg and ham wrapped inside and then coated in an omlette and chopped into smaller slices. Even if it was 5.00am by the time I got to bed it was well worth staying up for.

Having exauhsted myself the previous night I decided it was be a good idea to have a long lie in. I didn't surface from my room until about 1pm and even then it was just to go to the shop and get some milk. Me and Charlie went to look for some dinner at about 4pm and ended up getting some delicious galbi down one of the roads off the 'five points'. A pot luck randome guess managed to get us some bacon strips which we throughly enjoyed.

We decided to go out and throw the American Football in the park for a bit after that. As usual people stared at us as if we were throwing a hand grenade around and one of the kids from Charlie's kids was so fascinated by seeing us that he decided to take some photos! In the mood for eating again me and Charlie headed to Suwon station and towards CGV to see if Star Trek was playing. The next showing was about an hour and a half after we got there so we decided to go to an arcade instead and waste some time. This place had a riduclous amount of games and we ended up staying there for an hour before getting that traditional meal 'Burger King' for tea!

It's been a while since I ate a non-korean meal and let me tell you it not only tasted a damn sight better than Lotteria, it was absolutely delicious. It reminded me how much I miss French Fries and also cheese. Although I enjoy immersing myself in Korean culture it's sometimes good to spend some time reminding myself of what I left behind!

Back to the grind tomorrow and a lesson about 'big' and 'small' faces me in the morning which should be fun! If not interesting!

Night all x

Making even more new friends...

Despite the fact that I have only worked four out of five days this week, I'm sure that I am glad as everyone else that it is Friday.

Sunday will be the end of my fourth full week in Korea and already the time is rushing by. I'm sure the weekend will fly past as well and i'll be almost through my first month of living and working in Korea! Just eleven more to survive through!

Today is 'Parent's Day' in Korea (Yeah, I know the celebrate pretty much everything!) so I was entrusted with the task of helping the kindergartener's make carnations out of crate paper some green wire and a few roles of tape. It didn't help that the instructions I was given were all in Korean but I managed to bumble my way through that with the help of my Korean assistant. Each of the kids made at least two flowers and I'm sure the ones I helped them with look like they have been made by a five year old! At least those ones will be authentic!

I'm just between classes at the moment but thought I would update my blog as I haven't had chance to over the last couple of days and am sure I won't get round to doing it again till Sunday.
Not much interesting has happened but I have managed to make a few friends which is worth writing about.

Most afternoons after Talkster is finished I head to a local school to take out some of my frustrations on a football or try to re-create what I have seen at lunchtime in the NBA on one of the basketball hoops. On Monday when I was playing down there a couple of kids 'dropped their English on me' and asked me to kick around with them. I told them that I come down quite often and sure enough when I went back on Wednesday when I went back, there they were waiting for me. They managed to communicate that they had been there the day before for a couple of hours waiting to see if I turn up! I was obviously unhappy at dissapointing my public so decided to kick around with them.
As we were playing around a Korean man (possibly one of their brothers) turned up and joined in too. He introduced himself as Yung-Ji (I'm working on an English name for him that I will remember!) He seemed pretty cool and soon the game developed into me and him against about 14 or 15 of these kids.

Obviously we managed to beat them hansomly as most of them couldn't kick the ball very far but their insistance on playing the full length of the pitch wasn't easy on the lungs. I like to try and play everywhere normally but not at the same time. I don't think they understood the concept that it wasn't that difficult for them to score when they have three of them standing on the line and I'm down at the water fountain at the opposite end of the pitch trying to make sure I don't de-hydrate!

I went back down there last night for a game with them too and it turned into me and Yung-Ji against about 20 of them this time. Yung-Ji is a decent player actually and excuse the stereotype but he likes to run around alot and chase my bad passes which is fun! I tried not to knacker myself out too much yesterday as I had arranged my first training session with Inter Suwon earlier this week for the evening so I figured it might be best if I didn't turn up completely in pieces.

I figured that being a decent standard of team they probably wouldn't train on a dirt field so tried to get myself some boots. I tried the shop near where I live and then the one where I brough my actual football from but the guy communicated that he didn't accept cards so I had to visit a cash point. It was just then that a well organised afternoon went down the creek as the Korean ATM machine (clearly powered by microsoft) decided it was going to crash on me!
I must have stood there for at least 30 minutes while the machine said 'Please wait a While', it wasn't wrong!

I started to sense that something was awry and needing some dinner in a hurry I head to 'Pizza School' just around the corner. I checked to see if the ATM had quitted spazzing out on me but it was still broken and even the natives were taking a wide bearth of the strange noises it was making! I headed back to my flat still slightly confused but aware that this could probably only happen to me! Had to jump in a cab pretty much straight away which dropped me off in Yungtung just outside the GSIS International School where Suwon trained.
I met a few of the other people who had arrived early and introduced myself to them. They seemed very cool and were very welcoming to me, probably due to the fact that I don't 'belong' in Korea either!

About 13 people turned up to training in the end, some English, a couple of scots, an Australian and a few American's. We had a decent session and they have asked me to join them for a game on Saturday against Anyang FC so we'll see how that turns out. Hopefully I will get a decent amount of playing time and show the team that they were clearly missing my ability earlier on in the season. And if it wasn't for damn passport control and immigration I'd have been here at the start of the season!!

I didn't get back till about 12:30am after training so I was pretty tired this morning when I got into work but as it's friday I'm sure I will struggle on through.

Speaking of which I didn't go through the usual ritual of planning my classes last night so I'd better go do that now.

Will update over the weekend on how I got on with Suwon and also whatever else we decide to get up to on Friday and Saturday!

Another day, another holiday...

Turns out this might just be the shortest working week in the history of the world but I am enjoying every second of it!

After the three day weekend came just one more day of class before it was time for a day off again! I've long been a campaigner for the fact that both parents in a family get a day during the year but when is children's day? Turns out someone in Korea thought the same thing and made today 'the birthday of all children' and gave them, and us, a day off school. Wonderful stuff!

It took us a while to decide what we should do today as none of us have been paid yet and Charlie is still kinda short on monday so we thought we should probably do something a cheap. Having lucked out with the zoo being so cheap for our adventure on friday we took the advice of Anna and decided to head towards 'Seoul City Hall' which is just a little further away then Yungsan on the subway.
Before setting off we decided to start the day with a little bit of basketball 'horse' down at the park. Being English and playing with two American's I was obviously the underdog and it didn't take me long to realise that I was well out of my depth after the first couple of shots. There's a reason you don't see many, if any British players in the NBA.
I think the guys were taking it easy on me as I didn't manage to get too badly embarassed in the end. Kevin managed to hold onto one of the 'titles' by winning both games, I think I am going to have to get myself a ball and get down there and practice to surprise them!

We met Marie at Suwon station at about 12.30pm and hopped on the subway, took about an hour to get to 'City Hall' and obviously we were staving to headed to a restaurant called 'Italy Place' just across from the station. Inside the whole place looked brand new with authentic Italian objects all around. Naturally it was staffed completely by Korean's who know as much about Italian food as I do Korean but it was a lovely meal and excellent to be able to use a fork for once!
After that we headed across to the entrance to a Palace we had seen across from the restaurant. We were just in time to see the end parts of what seemed to be a 'changing of the guard' ceremony before heading inside to look at the surroundings!

There wasn't very much inside the Palace at all, no real exhibits, just some paintings, but the writing about them was all in Korean so we didn't learn very much. We tried to watch a show that was going on in the middle of the park but after waiting for five minutes and seeing nothing but people stretching we decided it best to move on.
There didn't appear to be an awful lot around that area so we decided to head back and make a stop at Yungsan Electronics Market (yeah thats the third time we've been there!) But this time we were actually determined to find the market and not end up inside techno world.

Aside from the mild drama of not making it onto the train fast enough and being left on the platform while Marie, Kevin and Charlie all made it on to the train we all arrived and eventually after a bit of help from another 'foreigner' we managed to find bits of the market. Next time we go I will actually take some pictures but there was literally wall to wall gadgets in that place. If it's been invented it's on there.

Charlie was still on the hunt for a PS3 and after searching through tons of computers, towers, mortherboards and other assorted things in several various locations we managed to find at least two different areas which sell computers. Charlie began with his usual "Playstation 3, how much" routiene and we could tell we were in the right place when the stalls started competing to sell the console at a better price than the person next to them. I think he got the business card of one place and will return next week to buy a console but we'll see!

Both me and Kevin were checking the prices of Ipod Touch's (I don't really need one after not buying my nano that long ago, but I feel I should treat myself!). The places we asked were selling them for around 410,000 won which as I discovered when I got back was quite expensive, certainly more expensive that you can get them on amazon for. I feel I might have to wait until I get back!
By this point all of us were nakered and in need of food once more so we decided to come back to Suwon Station and get something to eat.

We went up to Omato Tomato (we felt they owed us one after the HowWrongDae incident) and after trying to work out what each thing on the menu was we were plesently surprised to see that the food wasn't actually that bad. Infact I really enjoyed mine. We've done pretty well to say that we've only brought one meal which was nasty while we've been here!
I had a rather random concoction of 'Cheeseburger Omnirice'. It was basically a cheeseburger on top of an omlette filed with rice as the name suggests but it was delicious. Kevin had a Beef Curry Omnirice, Charlie a German Sausage Omnirice and Marie a Triple Cheese Omnirice. We decided to head home after that as neither of us could take the walking anymore.

Aside from the trip into Seoul today I really haven't had much to update my blog about in the past couple of days. On Sunday I went and took a walk around the first part of Hwaseong Fortress Wall and then yesterday I just had my classes as usual and went out to dinner with the guys at the Med. place in Suwon.


Back to the grind tomorrow but only for three more days before it is the weekend again!

Buddah's Birthday, B-Boy Dancing and a Kitten in a Bag...Just a Regular Saturday in Korea!!

I never thought I would utter the words I just did in the same sentence and although they are the unlikeliest trio since 'The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe', I kid you not, today was just another regular day in Korea when you see things you probably wouldn't anywhere else in the world.
I think it will be hard to translate into words the mixture of bizzareness I have seen this afternoon but once again it reminds me quite why coming to Korea was such a good idea.

After my horrendous bout of Korean fever last night I was pleased to discover that he after effects of a horrible night's sleep had not culminated in my demise, which is what at some points last night it felt like, but as it turns out I was actually feeling a hell off a lot better this morning. I guess that's what a full 14 hours in bed can do for you! It's so much worse being I'll when you are not at home!

We had to be up at 9.30am to meet Anna this morning as I managed to watch the first quarter between Miami and Atlanta in the NBA Playoffs before I left. Anna's other sister game to pick us up from the Ministop just down the road before we headed into the unknown roads beyond Suwon Station. It's a bit of a stereotype to say that all of Korea looks the same with it's Las Vegas style lights and never ending rows of flats but we could have honestly been anywhere in Suwon at any point on that journey. Sitting in the back of a people carrier the three of us began to feel a little car sick but almost as if by magic a rather strange but welcome distraction got us giggling.

We picked up a friend of Anna's family on the way to the temple and he was sitting in front of us when all of a sudden we heard this strange yelping noise coming out of the bag which was laid next to him on he seat. Me, Charlie and Kevin all looked at each other as if to say 'What was that?' only for us to lean over the seat, see the man open his bag and pull a tiny kitten out of it. My instant reaction was 'well of course there's a kitten in there, what else would you be carrying in there!' We discovered through translation that the kitten was actually twenty weeks old and they guy was carrying it about because he had found it abandoned and had been trying to hand reer it. Still, not what you would expect to be bringing along on a road trip. This might not be quite so strange without what unfolded beforehand which was what can only be described as mass hysteria over the fact that there was a dog sticking it's head out of the window. The same guy with the kitten in his bag even took pictures off this common event like it was some kind of strange phenomenon never seen before. That's what dogs in cars do right.

The other thing which was strange about the incident was the fact that there was no prior mention, in Korean or otherwise that he had a cat in his bag. I've I was hiding a pint sized meower in my bag I'd want people to be amazed by it and that might be the first thing I mention. In a confusing society I have come to tollerate and expect such behaviour!

We eventually arrived at the temple which was basically in the middle of nowhere after a 45 minutes ride. None of us being Buddhists but still wanting to be part of the occasion we took a trip into the temple and conducted a prayer ritual which involved standing up and bowing down to a big statue of Buddah which was inside. Following this we made a wish infront of a rather scaled down statue as we poured a scoop of water over the statues head three times.
As the ceremony for the actual Buddhists was taking place we headed for a walk around a nearby lake to discover that as glamarous as it might be to be a monk with a computer, a nice copy machine and a Sky Life digital dish it's probably not the ideal location to be right by sewerage works and the world's worst lake for fishing on.

We rejoined the celebrations when it became time to eat and we had a traditional Buddah birthday meal of rice and vegetables. After this we saw the second strangest thing of the day which may just have topped the kitten in the bag. We knew there was going to be dancing at this event, well what kind of birthday event is it without some form of dancing. However what we were comepltely unaware of was that said dance would be b-boy hip-hop dancing in the middle of the temple! Apparently this was due to take place outside but when it started to rain there was only one place they could conduct the 'show'.

I'll give them credit, the dancing was impressive (as the video at the bottom of the page shows) but I'm not sure how appropriate it all was. Me, Kevin and Charlie were cracking up at the hillarious juxdaposition between Korean's hip-hop dancing to music with American cultural roots inside a monks temple, and that was even before the karaoke singer got up and started sharing his dulset tones with the world. I must admit I'm no lead vocalist and this guy could have been singing the song perfectly well but at that point it all became too much to take in and I did have to bite the inside of my lips to stop the laughter!

After this we were all Buddah-d out and it was time to return to Suwon for some dinner. We spent about twenty minutes near Talkster looking for a place which Charlie said he saw yesterday but in vain we returned to our rooms for a rest before trying to tick another 'adventure' off our list by heading to CVG cinema in the evening. Thankfully Anna was there to guide us through the process of buying a ticket to see X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and even more relieving was the fact that the film was in English.

In a society that seems to be so mad on efficiency (just look at their 5 minute medical for example) it seemed highly pointless that when we met Anna she was in a queue with a ticket waiting to queue for a ticket!? Very much like in a doctors surgery back in England or at a deli you had to wait to be called forward to buy a ticket. Why don't they just let people buy them in the first place instead of making them wait to get a number in the meantime you are waiting to get a ticket! Is it just me that this doesn't make sense too!?

Aisde from the strange farce with the tickets I managed to get myself some popcorn and I really enjoyed the film. I've always like the X-Men films and this was no different. The special effects were absolutely amazing and the storyline helped to explain some things about the other three films. I came out of the cinema feeling like it was 8000 won well spent!

Time for bed me thinks, I'm just watching Chelsea vs Fulham with Korean commentary but I think once it gets finished it will be time to sleep!x

A Trip to the Zoo...Seoul Style

After many days of anticipation the day had finally arrived to visit the zoo in Seoul!

Boy was I excited!

For once we didn't have brave the usual boradm of the Seoul subway system as it turns out the Grand Park Station is about eight stops away from Hwaseo. Initial problems about me 'dropping my English' on the ticket seller were overcome when he finally realised where I was trying to buy three tickets too. Prehaps if I spoke English with a Korean accent I wouldn't have had to repeat myself about sixteen times before my version of Seoul Grand Park because his very same version.

We had a relatively troublefree way to the station, the lack of seats was a little displeasing but at least the turned the AC on so we didn't have to roast. The weather was very warm so that was a welcome bonus. Unfortunately not a bonus was the fact that the journey from the exit to the subway station to the entrance of the zoo was blocked by about 10 silkworm vendors.
Once we worked out the meaning of the strange signs we hopped on board a tram which took us to the enterance of the zoo and we brought out tickets.
At first I was sceptical about whether the price for entry would really be 3000 won (about £1.50) but turns out it really wasn't a joke.

Seoul Grand Park is supposed to be the world's 10th largest zoo and it was pretty big. I'm sure that once you have been to a few zoos you generally get bored of them, I mean how many times can you be surprised by the size of an alligator or amazed by the fact there is an elephant in front of you. Well for me, never is the answer! I loved every second of my trip there (except the disgusting Lotteria burger we had for lunch). It did have pretty much every species of animal except panda bears which we found quite strange! One of the highlights of the day was a grizzly bear which had clearly been trained to perform for the crowd and also a camel which seemingly couldn't get enough of being fed grass by us!

By the time we got home I was pretty beat and I certainly didn't need a strange bout of 'Korean fever' to constrict me to my bed for the rest of the night, unfortunately you can't always have everything the way you want it to be and the combination of a sore throat, dizzyness, sickness and sneezing was enough to wipe me out for the rest of the evening! Hopefully by tomorrow I can make a full recovery and not have to deal with the unenjoyable fact that I am miles away from home and feeling rotten!

I've added a few pics from the zoo but to see them all head over to my photogallery at http://smallsyskoreanadventure.shutterfly.com/