Louise's Seoul

Back from the Honeymoon

2008-05-14T19:36:00.002+09:00

We have been back from the honeymoon for just over a week now. Originally I planned to be a 'housewife' until the time that we would be back in the UK, but I realised that we needed a little more money for Songsu's visa application, and that being home alone doesn't suit me. To this end, I signed a 3 month teaching contract ( a rare find in Korea) for a Kindergarten school local to me, which also keeps me from feeling useless and depressed at home.

At the same time I am considering an independent recruiter position in the UK for my ex-boss at CDI, who recently set up a recruitment business, recruiting teachers into Korean schools. At first I was put off by the low renumeration, but as it turns out I misunderstood the business proposal and the renumeration is higher than I expected. This opens doors for me, as before I left Korea I considered recruiting or HR as a career, and this is certainly a step in the right direction. Working with my ex-boss, (soon to be my boss again!!!) I will be doing mostly canvassing and marketing while he takes all the responsibilty of connecting the candidates with the right employers and taking care of them for their first few months at their new school. This I will do on top of a regular full-time job.

Meanwhile I have another half-business proposal from one of Songsu's close friends to help him sell his stationary products in the UK, with no cost to ourselves. Added to this Songsu's current boss is planning on outsourcing work to him in the UK, as he has so much trust in him. It feels like people around us are jumping at the opportunity present to them by my and Songsu's possible reutn to the UK, not that we are complaining, as it benefits us too! Of course we will not be relying on any of this; we will both ensure that we get full-time jobs in the UK.

Many people have asked about wedding and honeymoon photographs. We are still waiting on the wedding hall to print them; they should be ready in the next two weeks. That's a one month wait for wedding photographs-ridiculous!!! However we have the ones from the honeymoon, and I have opened up a facebook account as uploading photographs on there seems to be more effecient than photobucket. My facebook profile is at
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=552396510 (but you need your own facebook profile to visit it) and our photographs can be viewed here.

As for the visa application-I am still contacting various government/visa officers seeking advice about our catch22 situation: We are here in Korea but our application will be stronger if I, his sponsor, have a full-time (and preferably permanent) job in the UK. This means me arriving a minimum of 2 months in advance of him, and I may have to go back there without an offer of employment, seeing as UK employers are not flexible on telephone interviews and start dates. If I get a permanent job but his visa is still rejected, then I would have to fly back to Korea, having wasted mine and my employer's time, and my money on an air ticket. We want to know if we still have a strong enough application with us both in Korea and me with no offer of full-time employment in the UK, or if the best option is for me to fly to the UK ahead of him. The application alone costs over 500 Pounds, so we want to get it right.

Watch this space for progress on the application, and news of photos!

Kinky Korea

2008-03-15T00:22:00.006+09:00

Just thought I would share a few photos with you all (taken with mobile phones so the quality is bad).

1) The name of a bar in Gangnam

2) Found in the men's toilets (not sure where)

A new theory about love revealed on a condom machine.

3) Found in a ladies toilets (also Gangnam)

It reads:

Put the tissue in the tissue bin.

The tissue bin is hungry.

Also this is difficult for the toilet because the tissue is dry and blocks his thoat so he will vomit repeatedly.

Please put the tissue in the tissue bin for the sake of both the tissue bin and the toilet.

Apparently we still need to be spoken to like children. Though I suppose being too lazy to put the tissue in the tissue bin constitutes child-like behaviour.

4) Found on the subway train:

No drinking, no smoking and no using your super-powers to grow, take up all the space and then nod off. Also the spread-eagle position is not becoming.

Catching Up

2008-03-14T23:38:00.002+09:00

The closer I get to the Big Day, the more manic my life becomes. First we had to go to the immigration office in Seoul with the marriage certificate on a Friday morning to get my marriage/residency visa, only to be told that we had to go to Incheon immigration office instead. Songsu made a lot of effort to find out exactly what was required of us, but they failed to mention on the phone that we have to go to an immigration office in the same city or area that is written on his ID card. Songsu's ID card has an Incheon address rather than our Bundang address on it because when he tried to change it he was told that an 'officetel' address is not a real address. This meant we had to drive to Incheon, a week later to apply for the visa. Thankfully, after two weeks of waiting I got my visa.

Two weekends ago we drove to Incheon to try on the wedding dresses at the wedding hall. It was hard to choose because they all fitted and looked so pretty, but between my friend, Songsu's mother and aunt we finally picked out one. After that the make-up artist and hairdresser practiced my hair and make-up ready for the wedding. It was hard to convince Songu's mother that wearing a pink pallette may look fantastic on a Korean girl, but it makes Western girls look cheap. She still isn't happy with my final choice of make up.

Also Songsu and I have been looking at wedding rings. In the UK the engagement ring has stones, but the wedding ring is usually quite a simple design. In Korea however the wedding rings look like British engagement rings, which means that we have to look at the 'couple rings' for our wedding rings. Besides, Songsu would rather gorge his own eyes out than wear a ring with big fat diamonds in it.

Tomorrow we will go to Incheon yet again to try on the wedding hanboks (Korean traditional dress), visit Songsu's mother's friend's jewelry shop to look for wedding rings, and meet with the priest in order to organise the script for the wedding- a nightmare seeing as we are mixing cultures and languages.

This week we have finally been able to give out the wedding invitation cards that Songsu designed, along with instuctions for our guests.

For a long time I did not feel excited about getting married. Certainly having to do all these doucments has taken the romance out of it. Only when I tried on the wedding dress did I start to feel excited about the wedding, but most of the time I swing between stress and apathy. I want it all to be over and then we can just get on with our lives together, hopefully in UK ( another round of stress applying for his UK visa). However I am looking forward to the honeymoon...lying on a beach for a week stress-free is a luxury I have not experienced in about 5 years.

Light of the Moon

2008-02-11T22:58:00.000+09:00

Last night Korea suffered a national disaster: the tragic loss of National Treasure no.1, Namdaemoon (also known as Soonglyemoon). The south gate of the original city of Seoul lit up like a torch, stripping the stones bare of it's original 600 year old wood. So far there have been many theories surrounding the cause of the fire, and Koreans are unsuprisingly in a sombre mood today, seeing as the Japanese had already pillaged and plundered everything else.

Today Songsu and I got up at 6am so that we could make our 9.30pm appointment at the UK Embassy. When we got

to the city centre a newspaper reporter followed us, asking for a foreigner's opinion of what happened last night. Unfortunately we did not have enough time to answer his questions, as we were more concerned of the events of this morning: getting all the marriage documents filled out and signed.

As of this morning, Songsu and I became officially husband and wife.

Onward with visa applications and the rest of the wedding plans!

새해 복 많이 받으세요!!!!

2008-02-07T16:17:00.000+09:00

Today is the first day of the lunar year, the Chinese year of the rat. It actually feels like a new year since for the solar/western new year my hagwon did not give us time off. However we only got two out of the three day holiday off. The first day is usually spent preparing the food (usually the woman's job), the second day spent eating the Ddok Mandu Gook breakfast, praying and bowing to elder family members to receive money. The last day is usually spent hanging out with friends at the pub. Koreans visit their parents or grandparents and sleep overnight so they can share the breakfast together on New Year's Day.

I was working on the day that is allocated for preparing the food, so Songsu's mother just bought everything at the supermarket. However she made the soup (Ddok Mandu Gook) this morning and nagged everybody to get up while she was at it. Songsu's brother got back from his last day at the army 24 hours before and I had a hangover so it was difficult for us to get up. Songsu's mother wanted her daughter-in-law (middle brother's wife) to help her this time (because usually she is pretty lazy) so I did not feel to guilty about not being able to chip in.

The bowing was equally confusing this time as it was last time, with Songsu's mother wanting I do it the proper way for a female, while his father insisting that it is all right for me to do it the male way as it is easier and more comfortable. In the end I did it the female way, with my left leg placed forward as I bent my head and back as far down as I could. Afterall, Songsu's mother usually wins and I have to bow like this at our wedding anyway.

At both Chusok (Harvest Celebration) and Sollal (Lunar New Year) the younger family members usually give very generously to the older ones. Songsu's mother is quite picky so Songsu usually gives his parents a department store voucher for W100,000. Also bosses usually give a lot to their employees, usually a huge toiletry set or food basket, but the employees then have a duty to give whatever they receive to their parents. So in reality, the bosses buy presents for the parents of their employees. Songsu's parents got the toiletry set that Jimmy gave me (but I kept the tuna^^).

The translation of the title of this post is " Receive lots of good fortune in the New Year", the Korean way of saying "Happy New Year". Songsu and I are hoping that the new year will be happier than the end of the last one. To cut a long story short, a visit to Lotteworld amusement park resulted in one of the workers staring at me in a perverted manner, and when Songsu asked "what are you looking at?" we were then followed by the worker across the amusement park museum, with profanities shouted at our backs. Songsu naturally shouted various choice words back, which lead to the worker grabbing him by the collar and raising his fist to hit him. The worker suggested several times that he should 'step outside' to 'talk' with his fist still raised, but we got out of it and walked into another shop in the museum. Unfortunately the worker followed us a second time and again threatened to drag him outside. None of the other workers tried to help us or call security.

When we finally got safely ushered out of the museum by another customer we came across a security guard who did not believe our story and after much persuasion took us to the customer service centre. When the managers arrived they too did not believe us at first. One of the managers phoned us the next day saying that the worker has been 'warned', and as it turned out they did not bother to check the CCTV. As a result Songsu wrote a four page letter of complaint to the headquarters, and the president personally contacted Songsu on the phone, apologising profusely and said that the the worker had been fired.

Songsu is still considering contacting the newspapers to suggest they research the percentage of foreign woman in Korea who have had some kind sexual attack or been followed home by a Korean man. Korean newspapers scream blue murder about the American soliders attacking young Korean women...in our opinion it's about time Korea took a good look at the opposite.

Normal is Safe

2008-01-19T18:02:00.000+09:00

This week our officetel bought SkyLife, which meant that we could have all the expensive channels at a cheap rate as the whole building shares the satellite. More importantly, it means that I can watch BBC for the first time in nearly 3 1/2 years (except my visits to the UK), and Songsu can get more exposure to the British accent.

Today we will be planning the honeymoon and the design of our wedding cards. There is so much more to do and it all feels overwhelming. Most people have the usual wedding stresses of organising wedding venues, the honeymoon and so forth, but we have to organise all of this with the added stresses of visas, my parents visiting, a language barrier between the two families and trying to turn the Korean interpretation of a white wedding into a British one. The latter is impossible as half of the features that are traditional in a UK wedding are impossible to create here in Korea. We even have to write our wedding vows as they do not exist here.

The honeymoon is difficult to do too; in Korea they have 'honeymoon packages' at the travel agencies, but all of them are just 3 day tours of a bunch of islands at twice the price of a week's holiday at just one location. When we first approached the travel agencies we did not mention that it was a honeymoon, we just said that we wanted to relax somewhere quiet with a nice beach and good service. At all the agencies we visited (and the websites too) this was 'impossible' as it 'doesn't sell'. In the end we had no choice but to mention that it was in fact a honeymoon, which opened more options for us but put the price up. (" Bloody hell, I just wanna relax on a beach for a week" quote Songsu).

Anyway, we have spent the past two weeks researching the places featured in the brochures, and basing our choices on the opinions of the English-speaking, French-speaking and Korean holiday-makers that went there (as these are the languages that we understand, and it gives us a more international opinion of a place). We have finally settled on a couple of resorts, but even organising the honeymoon without a travel agency may put the price of the honeymoon at the same price as the wedding.

In two weeks we will need to sign the wedding contract 3 months in advance of the actual wedding as my teaching contract finishes soon, and I need to change my E2 teaching visa over to an F2 residency visa, just to keep me in Korea without the added expense of flying out of the country and coming back as a tourist. It's a miracle that we have not had a single arguement about the wedding.

I suppose my life was never meant to be normal. As my housemate at uni once said: " God Lou, why do you always have to be different?". I don't intend to be different, it just kind of happens that way.

A New Year

2008-01-07T23:15:00.001+09:00

A new year that came without me paying much attention to it, seeing as I had no time off at Christmas or New Year's day. My boss tried to make us feel better by providing an American style Christmas meal. This was an interesting experience for me as I had always assumed that English and American Christmas dinner was the same. In fact it was very different...no Christmas pudding, no roast potatoes, some weird thing called 'stuffing' that was eaten seperately from the turkey (i.e not inside it), and shock horror, no mince pies. I checked with my American colleagues and apparently this is a typical American Christmas dinner; nothing was lacking due to availability in Korea.

Songsu and I have been feeling stressed recently so he took us to "Spa Village" this weekend for relaxation in an outdoor hottub. I thought the facilities were terrible compared with the price; just a room and access to an outdoor hot tub for a few hours, and a small convenience store which was only half-stocked. Stepping out of my dressing gown in minus temperatures into a hot spa bath was very unpleasant at first but I got used to it after a while. It was nice to look at the stars and drink fake champagne for an hour before retiring to our room.

Chinese Transportation and Law

2007-11-18T01:51:00.001+09:00

Yes, this is a typical scene from a Beijing inner city road. I say 'typical' but this actually looks quite tame compared with reality. As you can see, there is a line of vehicles that are queueing past the traffic lights, including a bus which is stretched right across the pedestrian crossing so that
a) it is impossible to cross and
b) you can't see the pedestrian light anyway.

Not only this but a taxi is illegally trying to muscle in on the queue, but unfortunately ends up static at an angle of 45 degrees to the aforementioned line of traffic.

If you try to cross the road while the pedestrian light is clearly green and the traffic light is screamingly bright red, the bus drivers take offence if you try to cross the road (traffic jam or no traffic jam)...I mean how dare you cross and place your body in their direct and sacred path? There is only one thing thing left to do: lean on the horn and continue driving directly at you and hope that you are quick enough to jump out of the way. I mean, hey, there are six billion other people on the planet, one billion of whom are Chinese, so we can afford to lose a few.

As for the fella on the bike, good luck to him. And good luck to the Chinese government when attempting to clamp down on this behaviour during the 2008 Olympics.

Next up is bus number 000, which is a secret bus that takes you underground where Chinese communist leaders plot their next move against the West.... The bus driver probably forgot to do the numbers, which really spoils the mystery.

By far one of the coolest contraptions I have ever seen. Introducing the err...motor-bicycle, the environmentally-friendly bicycle that has a motor attached to the back of it. If the user gets tired or bored of pedalling they can sit back and enjoy the ride. Perhaps all countries round the world should invest in these.

Chinese Manners

2007-11-13T00:56:00.000+09:00

I am still in the middle of uploading our photographs of China, due to my busy schedule etc. Busy doing what exactly? I mean really, what have I been doing the past few weeks? Last weekend I slept (due to catching one of those nasty little colds that one of the kids had been brewing just for me), went to a Korean restaurant, tried to sort out the problem with my phone (but to no avail), studied Korean, and got my hair cut (I'm growing it out for the wedding, you see). Well, this seems like quite a busy weekend but surely I could have snatched some time here and there to upload some photographs onto Photobucket?

And the weekend before? Saturday morning was spent lazing in bed, the afternoon in Incheon looking for a pub that we can hold the wedding reception in (rather unsuccessfully), and Sunday was spent shopping with a friend for the best part of the day. Again, surely I should have been able to squeeze in half an hour or so to upload these blessed photographs?

And how about the mornings before I actually go to work? Spent sleeping, cooking and studying of course. Can't I multi-task and upload these pictures at the same time? It seems not.

So, the main reason for not having time to upload these photos (other than inherent laziness)? World of Warcraft. Yes, that's right. Songsu and I networked our computers in our home and have been battling it out on some silly computer game any time we can get. Not only that but I was stupid enough not to realise that I CAN in fact upload photographs and play this dratted game at the same time.

This evening I promised myself NO MORE WOW, JUST UPLOAD SOME PHOTOGRAPHS.

And so I did, though I am not anywhere near finished uploading them all.

Without further ado, I will now insert a couple of photographs from China. I label these photographs "Chinese Manners". The Chinese, I found, were very rude and inconsiderate of everybody around them. Either that or they go around lost in their own little world where they are the only person in it. Frequently, when it it was blindingly obvious that I was trying to take a photo, they would shove their bag, mobile phone or in fact themselves right in the way, only a few inches from the camera lens. This was not just a simple mistake, oh no no no. It was more than that. I wonder just what they are thinking when they do this ? "It's ok, she can take it again after I have moved" or something like that. In the end I gave up and purposely took some glorious shots of such examples. I am quite proud of the photo of the mobile phone, where I focussed on it and made the background blurred (a technique that Songsu taught me a while ago); quite artistic, I thought.

The older I get

2007-10-27T22:22:00.000+09:00

...the busier I become. Not only this but with the pressure of work, studying Korean, going to other people's weddings as well as organising my own, I have not found the time to even upload the photographs that we took in China. However, here is one to keep you going, taken on the Great Wall of China.

Wedding Stress

2007-09-10T23:42:00.000+09:00

We have spent the last few weeks searching for and visiting suitable weddings. Each and every one so far have been a disappointment. Ideally we would have the wedding in Incheon, as it is traditional for the wedding to take place in the groom's 'hometown'. However we are open to the idea of gertting married in Seoul as this might give us more choice. To read more about our wedding stress, just visit my new website by clicking on the "MY WEDDING" under General Links in the right side bar.

Go Me

2007-08-30T23:00:00.000+09:00

Every CDI term (13 weeks) a teacher is chosen as the Best Teacher of the Term. This is my first full semester....and I got the prize!!! My boss gave me a W200,000 voucher, but the most valuable thing to me was the letter he wrote commenting on my "professional demeanour" and "examplary teaching". This has given me confidence to believe in myself in future workplaces when people will try to tear me down.

The Alternative to Cheese on Toast

2007-08-20T23:05:00.000+09:00

Today is the last day of the summer intensives-hurrah! Now I can kick back and appreciate having a lighter load for the next three months. For one whole month I have been snacking on cheese on toast (prepared by the lovely Songsu) when I got home, as this is about the only thing my stomach will digest at 11pm. Today Songsu prepared something different: 소고기국 (beef soup). It is a simple soup consisting of beef, radish (무), leek (파) and garlic (마늘), in water with a drop of sesame oil and a pinch of salt. Delicious!

It has been so nice not having to cook, and having someone to cook for me! But of course this is short-lived, as now that my schedule has returned to normal I will be resuming cooking duties.

Simon's Got a Soft Spot.

2007-08-18T22:34:00.000+09:00

Today I saw an advertisement on TV here in Korea for a CD of Paul Potts, a mobile phone saler and a man whose obvious talent on Britain's Got Talent made Simon Cowell smile. Simon Cowell, world-famous (even in Korea) for his arrogant, rude, snide and depreciating comments on his talent show contests, watched with mouth agape, and only had positive things to say about Paul. Out of curiousity, I just had to watch the moment that Simon's face twisted itself into a genuine smile on YouTube.

To put the icing on the cake, a 6 year old not only made Simon smile, but she also made him melt. Nice to know that Simon is human at last.

IELTS and Other Things

2007-08-18T21:49:00.000+09:00

Next Monday will be last day of the summer intensive course that I have been teaching on top of my normal schedule. This month has been exhausting but I am looking forward to the fat pay check that I will get. Unfortunately I cannot frivolously spend a penny of it due to upcoming events next year, and the trip to China in October.

This week I spotted an advertisement for an IELTS (the official British English test) hagwon in our area (idp). Perhaps this is not the only one in Seoul or Bundang, but it is certainly the first one I have seen. We visited the hagwon today, and Songsu has enroled for the writing classes, the only class which is held at the weekend. His first class is next week, but he must complete his homework before he attends. There is something amusing about a 31 year old man with homework. Tomorrow we plan to study together...let's see if our intentions turn into reality. While I feel frustrated about my exhaustion and trying to keep on top of my studies, I know I have China to look forward to.

Incidently, I have joined photobucket as I am tired of the increasing limitations of the flickr site. I have started to put my spare photographs on there, and you can view them by clicking MY PHOTOS under General Links in the right-hand side bar. After that you can choose which folder you wish to view.

My Visitors

2007-08-16T22:49:00.000+09:00

A few days ago I put the cluster map ( see the right toolbar) on this website, because I was curious to find out where my visiters are. I seem to have visitors in America, England (of course), Korea, Japan, Canada and maybe Brazil. I cannot zoom in very far, so I am just guessing some of the places. It's very exciting to know that people around the world are reading my blog. Some of them are friends and family, but the others I don't know. Perhaps these people merely stumbled upon my blog accidently, never to return to it again, or maybe they visit regularly, I don't know. Nonetheless it will be interesting to know who these people are. I don't update my blog regularly, and I have been in Korea almost 3 years now so I tend to talk about the more mundane things, as what was once interesting and unusual is now normal to me.

Anyway, thank you to everybody who takes the time to read my blog!

Rainy Days

2007-08-12T21:34:00.000+09:00

Recently the weather has been so erratic that people are not even bothering to set foot outside their homes, even armed with an umbrella. Except for myself and Songsu, who spent today studying and exploring where we live at the same time. Two subway stations away at Samsung Plaza we found a Mexican restaurant (albeit very Koreanised food) and a game cafe where we could sit indoors and play board games. In between he studied English while I started the first chapter of 한국어2 from Seoul National University (at a couple of cafes that we found ourselves in). I am very proud to have got though the first book in 3 months without attending any classes, but I am noticing a big difference in difficulty between book 1 and 2. Anyway I will study away undeterred... as the Koreans say: "fighting"!

Yesterday Songsu took me to the cinema to watch D-War, a film about a Korean legend affecting present day America. The director is Korean, but the film is American. I was fairly impressed with the visual effects, but I felt that it was far too short, and that they could have made more out of the story. Nonetheless my students (especially the boys) thought it was superb and it was upon their recommendation that I went to see it. At least it was something to do while it was pelting outside.

Silly Songs that Get Me Through the Day

2007-08-08T22:26:00.000+09:00

Recently I have been bursting into song while teaching, much to the dismay of my long-suffering students (hence the accusation "you're klazee"). I use this to add comedy to the monotony of the CDI curriculum, as well as using them to motivate my kids to participate in class. These songs were composed on the spot in moments of desperation, but they seem to very effective. "Necessity is the mother of invention" (or composition!) as they say, and I certainly am at my most creative when I hit the peak of my neediness (and klaziness).

The preposition song:

" Preposition, preposition, where are you? (point at the word in the sentence)
Here I am, here I am, how do you do?"

The because song:

"B B B Because B is the cause"

...to teach them the grammar: Sentence A (the first sentence) is effect, Sentence B (the second sentence) is the cause, connected by because.

The participation song:

" Participation, congratulations! A+A+A+A+A+! Put your hand up, I'll stop
singing..."

Not to mention the Super Student Stick. The stick comes out when none of the kids want to answer a question, usually involving making up example sentences using new key grammar or idioms. The Super Student Stick entails me whipping out a marker pen, and using it like metal detector as I walk around the classroom…beep beep beep… until I suddenly shout BEEEEEEEEP while shaking the pen wildly in the direction of a random, unsuspecting student. The class is on tenterhooks, backs rigid as they wait to see who will be chosen. For the middle school (aged 13 to 15) I play “Spin the Stick”, something more sober for those mature and sophisticated teenagers (ahem). Neither of these are anything to do with silly songs, but they have something to do with silliness, so thought they deserved a mention.

Korean Film Library

2007-08-05T21:21:00.000+09:00

Since I have been living here for 3 years, and I now have a laptop with a DVD/CD re-writer I have made it my mission to make a library of my favourite Korean films on CD. Inspired by the rather limited space on my computer, I hope I will accumulate an interesting collection of dramas, romantic comedys and adventure films. I will probably try to steer away from the gangster ones, but the other half will probably complain if I do. If anyone has watched an interesting film please recommend it to me.

Teacher You're Klazee.

2007-08-02T23:08:00.000+09:00

As stated by one of my fourth graders. "If I wasn't crazy" I replied " I would be boring". To this I got an enthusiastic nod from the same student.

It's not the first time I've heard it, but it perhaps the first time that I have deserved it. I sing, dance, do sharades with sound effects at this hagwon more than I did at the others. Because there is less of a language barrier I feel that there is more opportunity to just be myself and have a good time while teaching.

Subject noun+ verb+ place preposition+place noun.

"Teacher....I think this is Math class not English class"
How can I not laugh at this observation?

"Nerbos, oooooh vely nerbos" one of my teenage girls complains while she flaps her arms up and down like she is about to take flight. She performed vely well on her speaking test anyway.

" I take photo myself because I'm vely handsome" states one of my other 4th graders during his speaking homework, in reply to the question of who/what would you take a photo if you had a new digital camera?

The best one yet (SLP):

" I can dunce".

It seems that I'm not the only crazy one.

Our Dirty Weekend

2007-07-26T10:05:00.000+09:00

Two weeks ago, Songsu and I went to Daecheon beach for the Boryeong Mud Festival. We asked many people if they would like to come with us, but nobody fancied it. "Been there before" and " I don't like mud" were the most popular excuses. Nonetheless, we had a good time relaxing on the beach, covered head-to-toe (for free) in the kind of mud which is normally bottled up sold as a beauty products for a tenner. There were many foreigners (mostly the American army), some who visit Korea just for this event (Chinese, Thai, Japanese) and others from some far-flung places (France, Germany, England-me!). Generally speaking the women, who know the purifying qualities of the mud were smearing themselves in thick layers of the stuff, while the men just used it as war paint and did funny things with their hair (devils horns etc). When we got back to our motel, the receptionist did not bother to disguise her amusement as we asked for our room key. Hope you enjoy the pics!

I Have Something Some Of You Don't (so nerdy ner).

2007-07-21T16:30:00.000+09:00

It's 4.30pm Seoul time, but I bought it at 2pm. Being hours ahead of the UK, I started reading it before many of you got out of bed. Yes, that's right...I am now on the 20th page of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. While some other people camped outside Piccidilly Waterstones in the drizzle wearing silly costumes, I simply saunted over to the bookshelf in Bandi & Luni's and picked up my copy without further ado. Perhaps not earlier than those who waited outside Asda or Waterstone's and bought their copy at midnight, but certainly earlier than those who are expecting a delivery from Amazon at 9am GMT.

I started reading it on the subway train on the way home. A couple of teenage girls noticed that it was Harry Potter 7 but I had to break the news to them that the Korean edition is not out yet (or at least, I have not seen it in any of the bookshops). I also have something to tease my students with over the next few weeks...

I'm planning on making Songsu read it from cover to cover in English...

Two weeks ago....

2007-07-20T23:23:00.001+09:00

Songsu proposed. The ring I chose is a white gold band with a 0.41 carat solitare diamond. As a left-hander, it feels strange having it on my finger, but I am traditional so I will keep it on my left hand anyway. It's not obvious from the picture but the band is a gentle wishbone shape-something slightly different from what other gal's wear.

Mike's Gomdo Belt Test

2007-07-17T00:16:00.000+09:00

Mike moves his sword so fast, it's a blur!!! Congratulations on passing your black belt test, Mike!

It's My Shop

2007-07-01T21:52:00.001+09:00

I found this shop near Idae Women's University in Seoul last weekend. I hereby lay claim to this shop and all contents that lay within it.

Sometimes I Really Hate Blogger

2007-06-27T20:46:00.000+09:00

I made a mistake with the chronological order of my posts. And when this happens, even if I save my posts and then try to publish later, in the order that I want them, they will publish them in a preset order anyway.

To start from the begining, readers will have to scroll down and find 'Lulu on set' and then scroll up-sorry!

2007-06-27T20:30:00.000+09:00

2007-06-27T20:17:00.000+09:00

The movie set for 취화선.

2007-06-27T20:06:00.000+09:00

2007-06-27T19:53:00.000+09:00

Two photographs that Songsu is proud of.

2007-06-27T19:40:00.000+09:00

On the film set for 음란선생 (Erotic Writer). Acutually it is one of my favourite Korean films.

2007-06-27T19:22:00.000+09:00

A hole cut in a film poster, inviting you to put your head in it and make yourself look like a numpty, the usual kind of thing...something that Songsu has mastered quite well.

2007-06-27T19:13:00.000+09:00

This is the view from the car park. As you can see the surroundings are ideal for filming.

Lulu on Set

2007-06-27T18:22:00.000+09:00

Two weekends ago I met one of Songsu's (many) friends for the first time. As it turned out, he is a film set designer, and we were invited by him to join him on his latest film set.

The film set was actually part of a museum ( 남양주종합촬영소) but we saw something that no other visitor is allowed to see: an actual studio housed within the museum. I only needed to spend 10 minutes on set to realise one important thing: even if I had the talent, even if I had the motivation, I could never be involved in the TV or film industry. Why?

1) The place was far too hot from all the lights above us
2) There were dusty wires, cables, rigging and more dust everywhere. If there is one thing that I loath and despise it's wires (oh, and dust).
3) Being the clumsy babo/fool that I am, within 30 seconds of stepping into the fake 'house' I split green tea all over the floor, which Songsu's friend frantically moped up in embarrassment.

That day the actors were taking a rest from a full week of fiming, so it was just the crew editing, moving things around and whatever else that film crews do. However I was swealtering under the lights so I suggested that we eat lunch. Songsu's friend took us to cafeteria where the actors and crew usually eat, and despite the chef cooking everything en mass, it was the most delicious kimchi-jin I have ever tasted.

After lunch Songsu's friend ushered out of the private area and into the museum proper, as he had to continue working...yes that's right. He told me that he works Monday to Saturday (and sometimes Sunday) from 9am to 10pm (but this varies) and that he sleeps in a local Youth Hostel. Perhaps I should add that to my list as to why I should never working in films.

Most of the museum comprised of abandoned fim sets, so we spent most of our time outdoors. We could not use our cameras inside the studio (of course) but we took many photographs outside. The pictures below show us inside the old movie sets.

Central Park

2007-06-26T11:17:00.000+09:00

Songsu and I found this park about a month ago, a 15 minute bus ride away from our home. It is known as Jungang Gongwon/중앙공원 or Central Park. It is a really nice place to relax, cycle or take a walk. Normally there is a tall fountain in the middle of the pond, which would normally disguise the apartment buildings seen in the top photograph. However we did not take the photo at the right moment....perhaps another time.

Actually this park was the inspiration behind us buying a bicycle each, as the park is connected to the river system that runs through Bundang. People can cycle along the river, all the way to Seoul It took us about 1 1/2 to cycle to Seoul, and 2 hours back because I was exhausted from the heat. These days it is monsoon season, and the weather can be debilitating, so we have temporarily lost the will to get on our bikes until the the weather is less humid (maybe September).

Another Strange Thing In Korea

2007-06-22T23:41:00.000+09:00

Songsu and I were on our way to the park when we spotted this gigantic shoe next to the pelican crossing. As it turned out the shoe was actually some kind of moped advertising something. And if that wasn't odd enough, there was a cute doggie chained inside it. Here you can just see his head poking out over the edge of the shoe, looking quite lonely and forlorn. As you can imagine, this spectacle attracted a lot of attention from passersby.

Birthday Part Deux

2007-04-18T15:59:00.000+09:00

Last Saturday Songsu was dragged to central Seoul knowing that a 'suprise' was in store. I tricked him into thinking that we were going to the Gyeongbukgong area, because he had been bothering me all week about giving him clues as to where I intended to take him. When he guessed Gyeongbukgong I just gave this kind of sheepish smile, to which he responded with a feeling of pride that he had worked out where we were headed for. However that feeling soon evapourated when we got off at a completely different subway station (Jongno). No longer did he feel like Mr Smartypants, but like a complete numpty.

As we walked the streets of Jongno he continued to nag about where we were going. I just silently made him follow me, until we neared the pub. "Oh, we are half an hour early for the thing I want to take you to, let's get a drink in here while we are waiting" I suggested. So we entered the pub and I quickly scanned the crowd.

Within seconds I had him at a very long table with 9 of his friends sat down waiting for him to arrive. "Happy Birthday!" they all cheered in Korean as a suprised Songsu took his place in front of the birthday cake. Songsu was completely bewildered and asked everbody about how they organised the party. Eventually he found out that it was my idea, and I had asked one of his friends to contact everybody else for a suprise birthday party for Songsu. In fact, the day that I started making arrangements, Songsu told me that he had already arranged a boys night with his friends for the same day and time. Panicking, I demanded that he cancelled his appointment because I had arranged a suprise for him weeks ago etc. So he cancelled the plan, and I got on the phone the next day to the same friend, whom I then asked to phone these boys and tell them to come to the party. How suprised he was to see the same boys turn up at the party and therefore the cancelled appointment was not really cancelled at all!

People arrived in dribs and drabs over the course of the evening, topping at around 20. Many photographs were taken, especially ones of Songsu drunk as a skunk wearing his 'I'm 31" badge, but unfortunately not with my camera because I forgot it. However, I really hope that this is a night he remember for the rest of his life.

(5 days later, despite repeatedly giving his friend all the credit for the suprise birthday party, I'm still receiving special attention from Songsu and basking in the glory of "the Best Girlfriend in the World" quote).

He's a Year Older!

2007-04-12T13:25:00.000+09:00

Today is my other half's 31st birthday, and because I work late tonight we decided to celebrate part A of his birthday last night. I meet him in Itaewon (Seoul brown line) after he finished work, a place that I detest due to the overwhelming number of foreigners and the general ghetto-ness of it all. However, due to the wide variety of foreigners residing here, there is also a wide variety of restaurants, so I thought it would be a cool place to take him (on a budget, as we both need to save a lot of money this year).

While he was studying English in Oz, he lived with an Australian housemate of Turkish descent, who regularly cooked him Turkish food. Even though it has been nearly 4 years, he still misses the food, so I thought it would be nice to take him to a Turkish restaurant. The place I took him to is named Salam, and despite the interior looking like the Turkish version of Kimbab Nara, and being well out of the way in some nook in the wall of the Mosque, there was competition for seats. Even Turkish people were eating there, a true compliment to the food and it's Turkish chef (or maybe because it is one of the few Turkish restaurants that exists in Korea).

Unfortunately even though I brought my camera with me I forgot to get batteries for it (duh), so I have no pictures of the food. Also this place does not seem to have a website. However the most important thing is that we had a really good time; it was my first time to eat specifically Turkish food, and for him it brought back fond memories of his time in Australia. The food....I find it difficult to describe. I suppose I can say that the main meat is Halal lamb or beef, and there are side dishes of various curries and salad. It is not particularly spicy, so it will suit most tastes. Also the food is eaten with rice, or wraped in flat bread (you wrap it yourself).

At his Royal Namjaness' request, I also gave him his birthday present: a limited edition Dr Who DVD boxset, 1963-1993, the theme being the Darleks. Songsu got into Dr Who after watching the recent ones on TV in Korea, and he loved the fact that it was the Darleks, because the mechanics are famous etc etc (it went straight over my head, but the most important thing it that he is happy). He also got a chocolate pig birthday cake...about 3 inches in diameter seeing as does not have a particularly sweet tooth.

Birthday celebrations part deux/B will commence Saturday night....it is a suprise so I cannot mention it right now in case he takes a sneeky peek at my blog.

My Peaceful Sunday

2007-03-25T21:56:00.000+09:00

I am still suffering from jet-lag, so I could not sleep until 5am this morning. The sound of my mobile phone ringing woke me up, reminding me that I had arranged to meet Mike today. When he arrived we took a walk round the area, including along a stream that runs past my officetel (in fact we have a view of it outside our bedroom window). It was nice to get some fresh air (relatively), which helped to wake me up a bit. After the walk we went to the cinema that is conveniently across the road from my building to see '300', which was good entertainment but nothing too special.

Tomorrow I start my training at work...wish me luck.

Under the bridge

2007-03-25T21:44:00.000+09:00

Mike and I saw this under one of many bridges that crosses the stream that runs by my officetel, in Bundang, in KOREA. I'll leave the readers to comment on this one.

Fishy

2007-03-25T21:40:00.000+09:00

Something tells me that this restuarant sells fish dishes....

(Seen behind my officetel),

Our new apartment

2007-03-24T23:25:00.001+09:00

Our new apartment
Originally uploaded by Eleruen.

On 28th February I moved to Bundang, and Songsu and I just dumped the boxes in our new apartment and slept on the floor. While I was back in the UK waiting for my visa for my new job, Songsu bought a sofa, a bookcase, a TV and most importantly a bed. (Oh and a microwave too). Already the place feels like a home, and we are both very pleased with it.

I arrived back in Korea Friday 23rd March (yesterday) and Songsu left for Thailand today. So I have the place to myself for the next 5 days *yawn...stretches luxuriously*

Flower-powered Moped

2007-03-24T23:11:00.001+09:00

S4021526
Originally uploaded by Eleruen.

During my last week at SLP, I spotted this outside Homeplus...would have loved to have met the person who owned this!

Solnal

2007-02-18T14:16:00.000+09:00

Solnal
Originally uploaded by Eleruen.

This weekend is Solnal, the Chinese new year's day, celebrated also in Korea. This year it the year of the pig, and since the start of the Gregorian new year, golden pigs have cropped up everywhere. According to Chinese astrology, babies born this year will be be rich later in life. That's alot of very rich people, then! Just like Christmas in the UK everywhere is closed except a few 24 hour convenience shops, and so forth, and Monday has also been declared a national holiday.

I spent the best part of yesterday afternoon helping Songsu's mother prepare the food. This was a good opportunity for me to learn, if I am to continue the traditions back in England. In the photograph above we are making hobak-jon; 'hobak' looks like a fat cucumber, but is translated as 'pumpkin', and 'jon' is translated as 'korean pancake'. In the photo I am covering the chopped hobak in a layer of jon mix, dipping it egg, and then frying it. We did the same with sliced pollack, which I thought was more delicious than the hobak.

The next morning I did the traditional bowing to his parents, which I messed-up, because I have never done it before, and the man and woman's style is different (so Songsu could not teach me). A very embarrassing moment, though luckily his parents just thought it was 'cute'. However when I bowed the second time for Songsu's brother and his wife I got it right.

After eating the ddok-gook ( a soup containing flatten rice discs, that represents being a year older), Songsu's parents, his brother and his wife went to church, which Songsu got me out of by listing 5 reasons why I should not go (Yey Songsu!).

On a side note, mother made a very funny comment Friday night, after learning the translation for 'heavy' while I was shifting luggage around. " If (blah blah-Korean) is 'heavy', then what the bloody hell is 'heavy metal'?" This comes from a music teacher who despises rock music, so I was doubled-over for about 5 minutes. Ten minutes later, after showing her my valentines present from Songsu, she demanded a present from his father. His father simply reminded her that in Korea on Valentine' day, the woman gives the man a present , so therefore where is HIS present?. I regularly but inadvertently cause small spats between his parents everytime I visit.

New Money

2007-02-18T13:52:00.000+09:00

New Money
Originally uploaded by Eleruen.

Korea has brought out new 1000 and 10,000 won notes, seeing as they were jealous of last year's new 5000 won note. I read somewhere that Korea is aiming to make the new notes look more like European money. The notes at the top are the old style, and the notes at the bottom are the new ones

2006-12-20T15:48:00.000+09:00

Yet again it has taken me a number of weeks to post another entry. It’s not that I am short of something to say, but that I am too lazy to get on the bus to the nearest non-minging PC-bang. There is one on the second floor of the same building of my flat, but it is dirty, smelly and I cannot bear to touch the keyboard for fear of getting assorted sticky-stuff on my fingers. I don’t understand what is wrong with the management of that place- the majority PC bangs are clean and well-run. Even the namja-chingu (boyfriend) cannot bear to go down there (and men can in general cope with grime better than women).

A couple of weeks ago I bought a laptop which I am overjoyed with. Or, to be more specific, namja-chingu contributed \200,000 as a Christmas present, and I paid the other \500,000. A great weight off his mind as it is one less present he has to think about, especially as it is our anniversary a few days before Christmas.

Anyway my laptop is an Apera with a 12.1” wide screen and fairly light weight at 1.8kg; these factors along with the price are the most important to me, as I wanted one that is easy to carry. It is only 1.4GHz but this is respectable given the price, and has a CD-R/RW+DVD+ROM. Naturally the namja-chingu bent over backwards to help me with a sense of pride that HIS girlfriend is buying a laptop (even though numerous girlfriends buy laptops). Also this is more or less his field, so I could trust his advice, though incidentally I would regard anyone’s advice, especially a man’s advice as valuable, as when it comes to computers I am a complete airhead).

After buying the laptop, we set about trying to get internet connection, but not service will accept a 2 month connection without imposing a ridiculous fee (I will move out of here end of Feb next year). Thus I have no choice but to continue using PC bangs, but as I mentioned before the one downstairs is filthy.

Back to the other events in my life, the hagwon is experiencing an almost complete overhaul in staffing. Tim and Mike are leaving, the two supervisors got fired, and another Korean teacher upped-sticks and left without notice. As well as replacing the two supervisors, boss also pulled a new manager out of his rear-end (some random bloke who came out of nowhere, without any announcement of finding someone for this position and interviews thereof) who was then made vice-principal two weeks later. Following this, the SLP management now have got new, swanky comfortable office chairs, while we lowly teachers still have the cheap, that-will-do, I-made-it-myself-using-loo-roll-and-sticky-back-plastic type office chairs. The amusement never ends in this place.

On the up side, next week Father Christmas will be visiting SLP (probably the new vice-principal) and giving out presents to the kindys. Last week they wrote letters to Santa (in English) about what they want for Christmas. The letters are then sent the parents, and the parents then give the presents to ‘Santa’ on the sly a week before his ‘visit’. At least half of my class want a puppy or a kitten, so I am interested in how this is going to turn out. Still, it’s not as bad as Mike’s brood: most of them want a beetle…yes, the actual insect.

This week Songsu and I will celebrate our 1st year anniversary, and next Saturday we will be on an aeroplane to Manchester. Songsu will have the full Lamb Family Christmas Experience, and hopefully the meeting-the family-thing will go well, the only hiccups being the ones from my throat as a result of alcohol consumption.
I feel that this year has been quite an achievement. All of my students have shown a dramatic improvement in their English, especially the kindergarteners. We have moved from: “ Teacher…!!! Daniel *Korean something something something* wwwaaaaaaa!!!! (tears fall), to “Teacher, Sam is pushing!” (slightly disgruntled expression). However mistakes are still made of course, especially by elementary school students, to the foreign teacher’s amusement.

In summary of this week (and this year):

Kiddie comment of the week:
“Teacher!!! Chris is trash can!!” (Translation: Chris is playing with the trashcan).

Written work of the week:
“I rode a Viking”. (Translation: I rode a Viking boat…unfortunately written by a teenage girl).

Test answer of the year:
Where does a police officer work?
= A police officer works in a police restaurant.

So true.

Halloween Party

2006-11-10T13:07:00.000+09:00

Two weeks ago (yes it really did take me this long to upload all the photos on this blog) our hagwon had a halloween party. Myself and Justin spent 3 weeks making decorations with the students and so forth until we had possibly the best decorated classroom (hee-hee). Most of the classrooms on the 4th floor (SLP occupies the 4th and 5th floor of the building) were converted into game rooms and decorated all over with black bin bags and the lights covered with red cellophane, thus we had to teach the kindergaten upstairs, as it was too dark and I had no whiteboard.

In fact we held not only one party but three; Thursday we entertained the Tues/Thurs elementary students, and on Friday we had the kindgarten in the morning and the Mon/Wed/Fri elementay students in the afternoon. Banana class was the 'gateball' room where the kids competed to roll balls into holes in boxes. We also had a 'mystery box' room, a 'musical chairs' room, a face painting room, a 'putt-putt' (golf) room and the gym was converted into a haunted house.

The elementary students rotated round the classrooms and collected stamps for each room that they played games in. Once they had all the stamps they were given a present (an SLP notebook-very disappointing). It was the same routine for the Kindergarteners and the Mon Wed Fri elementary, except the kindys walked to the local park to meet their parents, and the parents gave all the kids sweets.

Both teachers and the kids enjoyed it; it was a chance for everybody to just let go and not worry about learning or teaching English.

The reception desk

2006-11-10T12:49:00.000+09:00

The day before the first party, the kindys had a cooking class where they used spoons to hollow out the pumpkins. We then cut out eyes, noses and mouths to make a Jack-O-Lantern. The pumpkins were then used to decorate the reception desk and another table in the main hall of the hagwon, to create the festive mood.
The reception desk
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

Vomiting Pumpkin

2006-11-10T12:48:00.000+09:00

This pumpkin had far too much soju the night before...this idea came from the strict matron that is the boss's sister. She is the very last person I expect to do something like this!
Vomiting Pumpkin
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

Enterance to the Haunted House

2006-11-10T12:47:00.000+09:00

The monster's mouth is the enterance to the haunted house. It took many of the staff hours to convert the gym into the haunted house: covering the walls in black, making the walls that lined the path through the house, and decorating it with spooky items. In addition to the scary decorations, three of the teachers hid (in costumes) and jumped out when the students least expected it. Some kids came out crying, but most of them thought it was really cool.
Enterance to the Haunted House
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

Me in the Haunted House

2006-11-10T12:46:00.000+09:00

"This is Louise teacher, the craziest teacher in the hagwon" says the skeleton to his friends.
Me in the Haunted House
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

Mike in the Haunted House

2006-11-09T12:59:00.000+09:00

"this is Mike Teacher. He looks too happy; make sure you scare him good".
Mike in the Haunted House
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

Skeleton in the Haunted House

2006-11-09T12:55:00.000+09:00

Skeleton in the Haunted House
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

Another skeleton

2006-11-09T12:52:00.001+09:00

Another skeleton
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

Monster/Demon wall feature

2006-11-09T12:52:00.000+09:00

Monster/Demon wall feature
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

Witch

2006-11-09T12:45:00.000+09:00

This was hanging in the main hall. The witch doesn't have a head...
Witch
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

Classroom window

2006-11-09T12:43:00.000+09:00

Justin and I spent two weeks decorating our kindy classroom for the gateball game. We blacked out the window and I created this night scene...it is not clear but there is a spider hanging from the tree, and a bat flying in the night sky (not the one on the moon).

Classroom clock

2006-11-09T12:39:00.001+09:00

Classroom clock
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

Banana Classroom- the Ghost

2006-11-09T12:39:00.000+09:00

Banana Classroom- the Ghost
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

Vajuma

2006-11-09T12:35:00.000+09:00

Vajuma
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

Evil Ajuma

2006-11-09T12:33:00.000+09:00

Evil Ajuma
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

Our supervisor

2006-11-09T12:30:00.000+09:00

Our supervisor
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

Fat Balding Ghost

2006-11-08T13:00:00.000+09:00

Fat Balding Ghost
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

Mike and Sally

2006-11-08T12:57:00.000+09:00

Mike and Sally
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

Korean Virgin Ghost and Werewolf supervisor

2006-11-08T12:56:00.000+09:00

Korean Virgin Ghost and Werewolf supervisor
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

Ghost

2006-11-08T12:55:00.000+09:00

Ghost
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

Yeon and Susie

2006-11-06T13:10:00.000+09:00

Yeon and Susie
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

Three of the unlikeliest teachers

2006-11-06T13:09:00.000+09:00

Three of the unlikeliest teachers
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

Elementary kids enjoying the video

2006-11-06T13:07:00.000+09:00

Elementary kids enjoying the video
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

Sam and Daniel

2006-11-06T13:06:00.000+09:00

Sam and Daniel
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

Banana class in Halloween costumes

2006-11-06T13:05:00.001+09:00

Banana class in Halloween costumes
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

Mystery box

2006-11-06T13:05:00.000+09:00

Mystery box
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

Coconut Terry

2006-11-06T13:04:00.000+09:00

Coconut Terry
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

Coconut Hue

2006-11-06T13:02:00.000+09:00

Coconut Hue
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

Lime Class

2006-11-06T13:00:00.000+09:00

Lime Class
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

Beauty and the Fairy

2006-11-06T12:57:00.001+09:00

Beauty and the Fairy
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

Pirate and Harry Potter

2006-11-06T12:57:00.000+09:00

Pirate and Harry Potter
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

Hero and the Fairy

2006-11-06T12:56:00.000+09:00

Hero and the Fairy
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

Jester and the princess

2006-11-06T12:54:00.000+09:00

Jester and the princess
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

The local park

2006-11-06T12:53:00.000+09:00

The local park
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

Top of the hill

2006-11-06T12:52:00.000+09:00

Top of the hill
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

The Kindy teachers

2006-11-06T12:50:00.000+09:00

The Kindy teachers
Originally uploaded by LouiseL.

RedLight

2006-11-01T12:44:00.000+09:00

Last month we went on a boring but useful field trip to a traffic safety education place in Nowon. The kids watched a presentation then got to practice what they learned on a mock street situation with crossings, pedestrian crossings and toy cars. The lady taking my kids round the 'street' insisted that she 'didn't need teacher's help' so myself and Mike took this photo out of bordem.

Let's go to church together!

2006-10-30T18:23:00.000+09:00

This weekend was as expected given that I spent Saturday with Songsu's eccentric (in a good way) family. Songsu's brother is still yellow with Meningitis but is insisting he gets married in November anyway. As a result we all took a trip to downtown Incheon to kit out Songsu, Yongsu and Father in suits for the wedding. After refusing several times I eventually allowed Father to buy me a new skirt, and he would have bought me a handbag too had I not refused flat-out. Afterwards we went to dinner at a kalbi chip where myself and Mother shared a bottle of soju. It was during a pleasant conversation that Mother released the bomb that I had been waiting for her drop for a number of weeks...the subject of CHURCH.

Mother's dream: the whole family together under the holy roof of her local catholic church. A very touchy subject since has been persuading her family almost every weekend for a number of years for them to join her, and everytime Father and the boys refuse. An avid Christian and church-goer she involves herself as much as she can in anything church-related, including being a girl-scout leader, and playing the piano in Church on a sunday. This woman lives and breathes everything that is CHURCH.

Which is fine, except when you are the girlfriend/potential wife of the eldest son, and a non-believer, and she almost begs you to travel 2 1/2 hours on the train from time to time to join her. My explanation of believing in God but not believing in Church did not go down very well. Nor did the idea of having God in my heart whenever I am surrounded by nature and so forth. As the look of deepest disappointment clouded her face I decided to zip it and not dig this particularly dangerous hole any deeper.

As soon as I stopped digging my hole, finding the situation amusing Father started digging his: " I have a bible in my car...where I go God comes with me!" which Mother luckily ignored at the time but maybe he was sent directly to the dog house upon arriving home.

This incident led me to suggest to Songsu that perhaps the family should go, just one time to make her dream to come true, though Songsu thinks that if we do it once she will insist even more. Afterall her efforts and generousity towards me I felt guilty about refusing, but I do not want to lie to her. I hope she will come to understand...

Free Hugs in Myeongdong, Seoul

2006-10-19T12:52:00.000+09:00

Free Hugs in KOREA

This Korean dude was hugging random people, both Korean and foreign, to spread the luurrrrve. Such a nice idea, though a few people must have thought he's a weirdo!

This video features Myeongdong, a regular haunt of mine for shopping and meeting friends.

Chusok

2006-10-18T19:51:00.000+09:00

Chusok, known as the Korean Thanksgiving, has the same significance as Christmas in the UK...though taken a little more seriously. On this day families gather together to pray to their ancestors, wearing the traditional hanboks (well, around 50% of families still do) and eat Songpyeon (and other traditional food).

I mentioned earlier that myself and the boyfriend did not make it in time for the gathering with his family, though I got some of the Chusok experience two weeks ago at hagwon. I got to wear a hanbok, which made me look pregnant, make Songpyeon with Banana class-which looked nothing like how it should look, more like a squishy mess- and make a Jaeggi, a traditonal toy that you can kick. And as if this wasn't enough Glara teacher (the boss' s younger sister) held an etiquette class where we learned how to bow. This was my favourite part, especially as it may come in useful one day.

Despite teaching in a hanbok, it was a really interesting and fun morning for everyone.

Miserable me in a Hanbok

2006-10-18T19:41:00.000+09:00

Call me ungrateful, or down-right disrespectful, but I found it difficult to muster a smile wearing a dress that made me look pregnant. All the female Korean teachers said I looked great, even Korean, but I really could not enjoy wearing it.

Hanboked Banana Class

2006-10-18T19:40:00.000+09:00

I think that Wendy (second from the left) walks the hanbok rather nicely.

Jessi and Banana Class in Hanboks

2006-10-18T19:39:00.000+09:00

Jessi and Banana Class in Hanboks
Originally uploaded by Eleruen.

Me miserable again

2006-10-18T19:32:00.000+09:00

Me miserable again
Originally uploaded by Eleruen.

Rose and Esther in Hanboks

2006-10-18T19:31:00.000+09:00

Rose and Esther in Hanboks
Originally uploaded by Eleruen.

Playing with the Jaegi

2006-10-18T19:29:00.000+09:00

Playing with the Jaegi
Originally uploaded by Eleruen.

Boss in a Hanbok

2006-10-18T19:28:00.000+09:00

Boss in a Hanbok
Originally uploaded by Eleruen.

Playing with Jaegi's

2006-10-18T19:26:00.000+09:00

Playing with Jaegi's
Originally uploaded by Eleruen.

Lining up for the Etiquette Class

2006-10-18T19:24:00.000+09:00

Lining up for the Etiquette Class
Originally uploaded by Eleruen.

Etiquette Class

2006-10-18T19:23:00.000+09:00

My favourite part.

Children's Grand Park (외리니 대 공원)

2006-10-18T18:33:00.000+09:00

The September SLP trip took us to Children's grand park in central Seoul, which houses a botanical garden and rides as well as a zoo. It was the zoo that we visited on a suprisingly hot Autumn day. Perhaps due to the weather and the excitement of seeing the animals some of my class were quite difficult to handle, despite half the students being absent. As a result I did not get chance to take many photographs...see below.

Banana Class and the fountain

2006-10-18T13:01:00.000+09:00

Wow! A photo of them standing nicely in one place...though not everyone is looking at the camera. From left to right: Wendy, Esther, Wendy, Belle, Rose, Sam and Daniel. We are missing Crissy, Andrew and Jeffrey due to nasty cold. During the September, for around 3 weeks we were almost running a hospital rather than a hagwon, with literally half the students in every class absent, and those present coughing, sneezing and sweating with fevers. Additionally all of the staff got it too, except of course my boss, who does not come into contact with the kids. I was able to survive the first 2 weeks without catching it, and suffered minor symptoms for a week after that.

Anyway, enough about colds...back to the photographs.

Penguin

2006-10-18T12:53:00.000+09:00

The penguins...the one on the right had the kids on tenter-hooks as it wriggled its derriere, preparing to slide off the rock and plop into the water. It disappointed everybody by changing it's mind, turning on its flipper and waddling off in the other direction.

Daniel and the Goat

2006-10-18T12:51:00.000+09:00

Daniel and the Goat
Originally uploaded by Eleruen.