Matt's Wedding

We went to Matt's wedding yesterday. We didn't really have a clue what was going on as it was all in Korean! I guess it was similar to a wedding at home just in Korean with some alterations. We got a five course meal out of it anyway!! His mother and brother were able to come over for it which was nice for him. Apart from five other Western guests, everyone else was Korean! Korean weddings seem to be over very quickly. After an hour and a half we had the ceremony as well as the meal and then everyone left, which felt strange, so Joanne, Meagan and I went to a bar in Gangnam and had a couple of drinks before coming back.


Factoid: The little piece of paper that is cut out after a paper has been punched by a hole-puncher is called a 'chad'.

Korean eyes scare me!

I had my weekly lesson with Annie this morning and as she was working it suddenyl hit me that Korean eyes are scary! They are such a dark brown that it looks like they have no iris and it's just a big round black thing.
Anyway, Joanne and I saw Nanta yesterday. We were ten minutes late because someone wouldn't answer her phone because she was still asleep! It was really good though and I would definitely go again. Apparently it's now on tour worldwide as well. Go see it! Besides, the girl in it was cute!
The pics are off the website as no cameras are allowed.



Oops, nearly forgot your factoid! Laughing can burn off six calories a minute. I say that stepping outside in Seoul burns off about a thousand a minute from the instant freezing that takes place!

My Kristmas week in Korea

So Christmas started in Gangnam on Sunday where I met up with Mack and a couple of his friends and went to a bar before heading to Itaewon. To cut a long story short, I arrived back home at 9am with $300 less in my wallet than before. Sign of a good night out! Also got told by a Korean I look like Ewan MacGregor, crazy girl!
I then cooked brunch at 11am for Meagan, as Joanne hadn't woken up. I slept for a few hours in the afternoon and then had pizza for my Christmas dinner. Boxing Day was spent doing very little but I managed to go shopping today. I came back with nothing though as I tried to find some new football boots but Nike didn't have any larger than a 9.5UK or 270 in Korea. Maybe I will cut off a toe to make them fit!
Tomorrow I'm going to Insadong with Annie the Korean and on Friday I'm off to the theatre with Joanne to see Nanta - http://english.tour2korea.com/04Bookings/Performances/seedetails.asp?kosm=m4_2&oid=15

Seeing as I got a book of Steve Wright's factoids. Every post is now going to contain an exciting (or not) fact. Today's factoid: The dot over the letter 'i' is called a tittle.

Another treat for today - Korean hip hop. It's MC Mong!!

Christmas Eve in Korea

I've spent the day trying to buy things for tomorrow. Joanne, Meagan and I are doing a big brunch thing. I've bought pancake mix,bacon,eggs, croissants, bagels, fruit, juice, bread so that's going to be our Christmas meal! This is assuming I survive the night, as I'm going out with Mack to Gangnam and then to Itaewon. I will probably have the world's worst hangover tomorrow, especially as I'm drinking soju at the moment. Meagan is totally right about it tasting somewhere between vodka and rubbing alchohol! I suspect the ride home at 6am could be painful!

No More Work!!!

Today was our last day before Christmas vacation! I took in a huuuuuuge bag of candy for my kiddies and they got all sugared up on that. Among the gifts from my students were Ferrero Rocher, more chocolate, a huge cake and a pair of gloves. We had Christmas songs on all day and did wordsearches and other games. I love my 7a class who are in the first two photos as they're the sweetest children ever! After work all the waeguk teachers went to Outback for some good old unhealthy food!

Just chillin' out with the kids!

Last night all the foreign teachers from school plus Annie went to see Casino Royale. We've had to wait so long until it came out! It was so different to all the other Bond movies but we all enjoyed it.
Today is the last day of school! I bought some candy for the kids because apparently some of them are getting me gifts! I've burnt a CD of Christmas songs as well and all we'll proably do is play games all day. Tonight, the big boss guy has organised a Christmas party type thing but we'll proably disappear off to Outback for a steak and then spend the evening drinking.
I've just got back from E-Mart where they have a great deal on European beers at the moment. Guess what takes up the whole bottom shelf of my fridge!

Ever been to Bumgay?!!

On Sunday I went to hang out with Jen in Anyang, which if you don't take the direct bus, takes a long time via Suwon! Her subway stop is Beomgye which is spoken as Bumgay, something that made me giggle like a schoolgirl all day! In between trying not to break my coccyx on the ice and getting snowballs thrown at me we went to Outback for some nice American pretend Australian food and there wasn't a grain of rice in sight! I discovered Jen has a maid who cleans her apartment for her. I think I need me one of those!
Today is my short day at work and then Annie the Korean girl is taking me to buy her a textbook and then we're going to the cinema. I figured I'd better invite her seeing as she bought me the tickets!
If all goes well with a phonecall tonight, my salary could be taken up a serious amount of money so I'll be on £18,000 AFTER tax and deductions, with no rent to pay and living like a king!! We'll see though, and I definitely shouldn't talk about it where people can read about it. sssshhhhhh!
Alex has just left after the world's shortest period of employment in Korea. I love the fact he left me on my own for Christmas, oh well! I'm going to buy some CD's tonight and put some Christmas songs on them for class on Thursday and Friday.

The 2nd best defender in the league!!

Last night was the league awards evening in Itaewon. We had a buffet and then a football quiz. The first question asked for the manager of Watford!!!
By some amazing miracle I came second in the best defender award. I couldn't believe it!
Here's this season's stats for me!
Games played - 14
Positions played - Left back, right back, centre back, central midfield
Shots on goal - 4
Shots on target - 1
Goals - 0
Fouls conceeded - about 900!!!
Yellow cards - 1
Penalties given away - 1
Complete games played as sweeper - 3
Goals conceeded whilst sweeper - 1 (penalty)
Expletives used against referees - ummmm, thousands!
Long standing arguement about a rule with a referee going on for days - 1






After I got home last night it started snowing. Woke up this morning and we've got a ton of snow everywhere! Need to get to anyang today so that could be fun!

Strange things about Korea - No.973

Why are the only cars on the Korean roads black, grey or white? I only noticed it a couple of weeks ago when Alex pointed it out.
Apparently it's because other colours cost more to make. Cheapskates!!!

Costco is heaven!

Mike, Meagan, Robert and I went to Costco in Gangnam last night for supplies. Amongst my shopping were 48 nutrigrain bars, a ton on minced beed, 2lbs of cheddar cheese, a ton of pasta and about 20 packets of macaroni cheese as well as other stuff! It's great!

The DMZ....and football

First of all the football. We lost our final game of the season 1-0. It was so cold I had three shirts on plus gloves and I was still freezing. I think our African players were suffering with the weather more though! Had we tied the game we would have been promoted, and we had plenty of chances to do it, hitting the woodwork three times as well as being denied a clear penalty. Oh well, there's always next season.

We went to the DMZ on Saturday and it was just as cold there. It felt like we were in the middle of the Cold War again. the South Korean soldiers posted there are the coolest. They have to be bigger than the rest of the army, have a perfect civilian and military record, be at least a blackbelt in Taekwondo and they have to wear shades all day!

The UN huts exactly on the border

Mum and I with one of the 'cool' soldiers on the North Korean side of the negotiation building.

The Bridge Of No Return - The other side is North Korea. It's where they handed over prisoners after the war.

The world's biggest flag. 50metres across by 31 metres deep, it flies above a North Korean town which is rarely inhabited.

North Korean building in the JSA with a lovely North guard outside.