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!)