Gyeongju (part 2)

Saturday was an improvement. The rains held off and we set out for the bus tour we had booked. One snag: Christa had left me in charge of the tickets, and I'd left them back in our room. Thank god the tour guide was forgiving and issued us another, and we set off. Because Seollal is so important to Koreans, they must've all been at home, as there were only five tickets sold for our tour, and we had the huge bus almost to ourselves. Gyeongju is sometimes known as the 'museum without walls' as there is so much to see. We saw many tombs, temples and Buddha statues. Here's my favourite: Rock on. Or maybe this one: Ok, that's enough of Buddha for now. Our favourite spot was the underwater tomb of King Munmu. Really it just like any other rocky outcrop, but it meant we got to go paddling in he East Sea. And boy was it cold. Some of us got more wet than others. We got back around four, and hooked ourselves up with the tandem that would be our sole means of transportation for the next two days. A few people had said that Gyeongju is best explored by bike, and it was certainly much more fun than the taxis! This is Tumuli Park. These 1000-year-old tombs are scattered through the city, and I couldn't help thinking of the pyramids when I was standing among them in the park, though I can appreciate that in my photos you're really just looking at a bunch of hills. This is Anapji pond. I'm sure there's a fascinating story to it, but all you really need to remember is that we were here taking photos. There's a narrative. We cycled back into town hoping to stuff ourselves with sushi at a restaurants we'd seen earlier in the day. But boo! It was closed for the holidays. We were standing on the street outside debating where to go instead when a young Korean couple came up to us. They had seen us previously at the pond taking pictures and wanted to say hi. Actually, they said quite a bit more than that, as without further ado they invited us to eat dinner with them! His name is Moo Hwan, and his girlfriend is Yeon Kyeong. At least, I think it's that way round. His English was pretty decent, she wasn't as confident but both were real nice. Well, they paid for our meal anyhow! He'd recently been to Canada where some locals had treated him, so he was after returning the favour. I guess I'll have to be on the lookout when I get back so I can do the same! And dinner was delicious. Afterwards, me and Christa went to another nore bang until we were too hoarse and exhausted to sing any more. We were both looking forward to bed, but it was no to be. The guest-house owner stopped us in the yard and redirected us to the kitchen/common area, where all the other foreign guests were having drinks to toast the new year. It was strangely jarring to hear the voice of a lad from Sheffield in amongst all the yanks, but they were all real friendly and willing to share their liquor with us. However we were both too whacked to stay more than another or hour or so, so it wasn't long before we slipped away to bed...

Gyeongju (part 1)

Christa and I spent last weekend down on the South-East coast in Gyeongju City. There were originally supposed to be at least a dozen of us going, but we (ie. Christa) were the only ones organised enough to book bus tickets early enough. The new lunar year (Seollal in Korean) began on the 18th (it's now the year of the Pig), so many Koreans had to return home to their family homes to pay respect to their ancestors, hence the bus and train tickets all sold out real fast. We were told many times that the ride would take 8-10 hours. It actually only took 6 hours to get down there, and 4.5 back, so we very happy and relieved to get there. We actually thought we were stopping for a bathroom break up to the point when we started pulling into the bus station. We arrived around midnight, throw our bags into the nearest yeogwan (cheap hotel) that was acceptable to Christa's tastes, and headed out to party! Huh. We resorted to plan B, karaoked for a couple of hours. Went to bed. Saturday was miserable. Anne, one of the teachers who couldn't make it, donated to us the reservation she'd made for the next two nights. We must've spent 90 minutes walking back and forth along the same stretch of road looking for the damn place until we finally gave up and went to tourist information, where we found out that bloody Moon guide book map was wrong! Only Lonely Planet from now on. We were gonna hire bikes but couldn't because it was raining and the rental shops had shut. We wasted about half the day just going back and forth across the city trying to find something to do. We ended up at a museum all about Gyeongju's history as the ancient capital of the kingdom of Silla (pronounced Shilla). The Silla people ruled most of the Korea peninsula from the 7th to 9th centuries, and many sites dating from the period are still there to see. Of course, they're all outside, and we were trapped inside, bemoaning the fact that we had ever left Seoul. Honourable mention for highlight of the day (vegetarians stop reading now, this is not gonna be pretty) goes to the delights of Gyeongju market. I don't know what poor creature's been skewered in the first picture, either. Despite these tempting treats we sold out and went to Pizza Hut for lunch. Having no desire to tramp around town in the rain looking for signs of nightlife again, we stocked up on sake and wine at the convenience store and headed back to the ranch to drink and play cards.

Oh yes, they treat us well!

The school got us all Seollal gifts! I am disproportionately happy: We see these gift packs in the shops whenever there's one of the major gift-giving holidays coming up, and they always make me smile. Finally I have one of my very own. You can get proper luxury all-Spam sets too, but I'll settle for this. Seollal is The Lunar New Year by the way, and the reason we have the three-day weekend to enjoy starting tomorrow. I'll be living it up down in Gyeongju, so I can guarantee there won't be any more postings until (I'll optimistically say early) next week. Sae hae bok mani mani bahdeusaeyo! Happy Korean New Year!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope y'all were showered with the gifts I'm sure you all richly deserve today. We had a special Valentine's event in the canteen this lunchtime - everyone got a bar of chocolate, AND! a slice of cold garlic bread. Oh, they treat us well. I found another bar hanging from my door-handle after lunch from Mary, and Christa claims she left a rose on my doorstop (since I told her I'd never received flowers from anybody...) but no evidence of this has been found. I'm afraid they may have ulterior motives though, for in Korea, while on Valentines day it is the girls that give to the boys, the girls get paid back a month later. March 14th, or White Day, is when men traditionally give gifts to the ladies (I say it's traditional, but it actually dates back to circa 1965). This is a good deal for the men, because as well as getting a reminder a month in advance, they can gauge from the value of the gift that they received how much to spend in return! Anyhow, this is not all. In a triumph of marketing, Korea has a third holiday on April 14th. This one is truly depressing. It's called Black Day, and it's an opportunity for all those lonely souls who haven't yet received anything on Valentine's Day or White Day to meet up and eat noodles with black bean sauce together. I'm so happy I got the chocolate.

New Personal Best.

Hi there. So. It's been a while. Mianhamnida. Is anyone still here? So yes, there seems to be a pattern developing with regards to the (in)frequency of my posts these days. I see that. I won't promise things will change, because I've done that before and I feel my words may be meaningless now. Instead, I'll give you the run-down on how my weekly routine has been as of late, and next time you're here and I haven't posted, you can just use your imagination instead. Weekday mornings usually see me working my mojo in the magic classroom . This one's definitely more entertaining than teaching, but it can be fun for me too. I'd be happy doing 45 minutes of card tricks, but there's also a bunch of magical props in the room to mix things up. Most of them are pretty lame, and the kids can usually see straight through the tricks, but they enjoy it anyway. Sometimes, you'll get one kid who just wants to BELIEVE! and he'll imploring the others to 'just accept it! and stop spoiling the fun. My afternoons are even slacker, as I'm teaching pool! Despite the theme, the kids often end up using more English that they do in my other classes. This is because I put them in a three-minute time-out if they use any Korean at all, and since they really want to play, it forces them to stick to the rules to the letter. Few have played before, so we've not yet managed to get through a whole game. The way some of them handle the cue, you'd think they've never held any piece of sporting equipment before. Not that I'm one to talk about sporting prowess. I'm finally working day-shift again, so I can actually go out to play with my friends after work! Yet somehow I still seem to have very little free time. Monday and Thursday nights are Korean class 7 - 9pm, after which I'll come back and do my homework if nothing else is going on. Wednesday has become our weekly poker night, which I am yet to make a profit on. Tomorrow night being Valentine's day, half of regulars have bailed on us, so tomorrow night is Single's Night! Friday or Saturday night will probably find us singing karaoke until 5am, leading to the following day being mostly spent in bed. I really should post more often for my own sake - with my memory I completely forget what I've done otherwise...did I ever tell you about the time we accidentally ordered tripe soup? The only photos of interest I've taken in the last couple of weeks are from this Sunday's visit to Seoul Tower, one of the major tourist attractions that I've somehow never quite reached before. I think I said back before Christmas how refreshing it was not having to see any decorations being put up in November like back home. We are however still living with them mid-February. The Mighty Han. Public theatre. There's video too, but I can't do that to her. Or at least I won't, on this occasion. This weekend is the Lunar New Year, so a massive bunch of us are heading down to Gyeongju on the East coast. I don't have the faintest what the sights are down there, but it's my first time properly out of Seoul in seven months so I'm very excited! You might even get another post next week! The holiday means we get a three-day weekend to enjoy, but ultimately we're no better of as it just means we'll be teaching Tuesday-Saturday next week instead of Monday-Friday! But at least we'll be well rested. Or maybe not. There's a bit of a sickness going round again, but it's only mild this time. I have a bit of a runny nose and tickly cough is all. Not much, but it is enough to crack open the medicinal whiskey. There's a Korean citrus 'tea' called yu-ja-cha, which honestly looks and tastes exactly like marmalade, but I've discovered that with a shot of whiskey it is almost worth being sick for. I put the kettle on to make some about 45 minutes ago when I started writing this damn post, and now I'm finally going to let myself go and finish the job... Chal ja.

Fan-mail excerpts

The typical letter that I receive from a student goes pretty much like this: Hello Ryan teacher! My name is X. How are you? Good. I like you because you is/are tall/handsome/kind. My favorite class is Y (where Y is rarely the class that I've taught them), because it is very fun. Do you like pizza/soccer? Goodbye. I love you. X Even though I'm sure they tell it to everyone, or maybe just so I'll give them more excellent stamps, it's still very good for one's self-esteem to hear 'teacher so handsome!' a dozen times everyday. And it's generally the boys that say it... Here are a few of the more random excerpts that I received recently:

You're handsome and tall. All people in the world like handsome man! I'm not tall, so I like you...When I grow up I want to look like your face (but I'm woman...) This means "I really like your face". Wendy I want to be like your (not your body) mind. Jack

I like you because you're very kind. I think. Sky Ryan I think you are very kind in SEV! Because you are not hit and make angry. I want to be like your (not your body) mind. Jack I can't see your angry. Anon. You said the post office teacher is excellent. I think she is excellent. But she is a little bit boring. Sally

I like you and yummy for breakfast, lunch, dinner. You're nice and excellent. You're class very fun and not boring and kind. Good bye teacher. I love you. Kerry In your class I was surprise, because you bend your knee at team 10. So, I promise your saying. Sally I like you Ryan teacher. You broked my glasses but it is ok. Sam