Slowly recovering from a weekend of fun with the guys out in Seoul last weekend it was time to return to normality on Monday when work came rushing around, but I'm pleased to report that I have now made it to the four month mark of my stay in Korea which I guess means I just have to do what I have done twice more and I'll be all set to return home!
While living over here hasn't been as easy as I might make out, keeping track of time aside I am not in a rush to end the experience as I am fully enjoying my time in Korea but in times when I think I am losing the plot it's good to have something to aim for and while a few weeks ago that was going to Thailand, the 6 month mark and Christmas break are definately in my sights and hopefully I can get to them and through them as I have done with everything else that has been thrown in my path in the last 4 months.
This week has been a rather good one to be honest as on Tuesday my mum arrived in Korea to visit her favourite son for nearly two weeks and I have to say that the company was more than welcome. On monday though we took Shaun out to eat Dak Galbi for the first before heading back to the batting cages for some more baseball practice, something which is rapidly becoming a favourite activity of mine! Good job we went walking down there by accident I have to say.
Well on Tuesday it was time for my mum to arrive and although he fligh got in at 8.05 there was no danger of me making it there on time as I only finished work at 7pm and then had to work through a long and complicated series of trains to get to Incheon Airport. For some reason even though Incheon is only about 50km away on a map both driving and getting the train take about two hours which makes about as much sense to you as it does to me.
But I'm pleased to say that after only one error in getting off the train too early I made it through about 50 stops to Incheon and found my mum after only a little walking through the terminal.
We made our way back to Suwon-Si together and were more than likely on the last train back to Suwon when we arrived at the station at about 12.15. Feeling confident after navigating the train I was extremely surprised to discover that for once the cab driver we picked out could understand my English accent and take us to my mums hotel which is about a 7 minute ride from Suwon station.
The Ibis Ambassedor hotel where she is staying is extremely swish, I think it's pretty new and I am extremely jelous of the surroundings she has during her time in Korea compaired to the corridor that I live in. The hotel is close to Suwon station but also, as I discovered the following day, has plenty to do in the surrounding area and it's probably alot safer than staying in any of the motel-hotels which are near my house.
On Wednesday after recovering from going to bed at 1am I met up with my mum at Suwon station to discover that she had been doing all kinds of exploring without me (see Korea isn't that scary at all...I'm talking to you people who are thinking about coming over here to see me but are worried!) and we ended up spending the few hours we had together in Suwon Station eating dinner and then travelling to E-Mart to get my mum a much needed new digital camera.
I showed her my room and the area where I live before we decided to walk back to her hotel to see how long it would take. About an hour, and no wrong turns later, we made it make to the Ibis and agreed to meet up the next day.
My mum put her camera to good use taking plenty of pictures of the 'soju tent's they have set up near the station and also of many other things that I now recognise as the accepted norm, but to an 'outsider' still seem quirky. That's how I know I have been living here too long! Whilst we were catching up, Charlie, Shaun and Kevin decided that tonight was going to be the night that they ate dog for the first time.
Now I know there are a lot of stereotypes that the sentence I typed just there confirmed but I was informed the next day that it was actually delicious and as I have said before, not all Korean's eat dogs and as I have seen the all packed in the back of a truck before (it's a picture I will definately have to post somewhere, trust me) It's not like eating Snoopy or Beethoven! Somehow (I suspect soju was involved) they also managed to almost get the neighbours to call the police because they were scared when the Shaun and Charlie came home at 3pm shouting their heads off. Although they were in the room next to me and I didn't even stir at all their noise, I somehow managed to get the blame from my boss who said that the neighbours had picked me out personally as someone who was making a lot of noise. I've always thought I was incredibly, but being in two places at one time, as I tell my kids, is something that I have yet to master!
By Thursday my mum was starting to feel pretty tired and also having some problems sleeping so I told her that after she'd finished exploring she could use my room to nap in until I came back from work and then we'd go out so yesterday involved a lot of walking as we went round Soho Park which is just across the road from where I live before meeting Shaun, Charlie and Kevin at Ocha's for galbi so that they could meet my mum and we got a chance to see Shaun before he left this morning. She also came into kindergarten for a bit during the day to meet the kids but they were playing all shy and just about to have dinner when she came in so I guess she will have to return to the classroom next week before she leaves to assess my 'teaching abilities!'
Following the meal, me and my mum decided to join the three of them in a late night walk around the city walls as none of us had been up there when the place was lit up.
The Suwon Fortress wall looks pretty impressive during the day but even the evening it looks even better than usual and the fact that you can walk on the wall at anytime of the day is very cool. It's lit up all around and the views are spectacular. Last night we just walked along part of the wall from the beginning of Namul back to the closest point near our house where we can get off it but today we went back and walked around the other half of the wall after we'd eaten dinner and i'd finished work.
It took us about two hours to walk around and we walked from one end of Namul to the other so the both of us were pretty tired by then. We walked back to Suwon Station so that we could get the bus in opposite directions but we are planning to meet up again tomorrow so that I can take my mum for her first experience of Seoul. Hopefully the weather will be nice and we can visit the Palace which we tried to see last week that was closed and then travel on to the market which me, Charlie and Shaun visited last week.
Hopefully I'll have some good stories to tell and some good pictures to show after the weekends events so you can expect a blog at some point on Sunday!x
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