5 months to go

My contract officially ends in 5 months, at the beginning of July. I have no idea what I will do then, but neither do many other teachers, so at least I'm in good company. I'm certain that the time's just gonna fly by without me noticing, so I'll do try to do my best with the time I have left. The Lunar New Year is coming up soon, and rumour has it we'll be getting a day off work to celebrate, so hopefully we'll be using the long weekend to see some of the rest of Korea, maybe to Seoraksan Mountain on the East Coast, hopefully we can make it down to the South coast port city Busan, too. So the one New Year's resolution I made - to try and take more photos - has failed disastrously: I think I made it about eight days. I'll remake it again at Lunar New Year instead. See how long that lasts. I'm sure it's also been noticed that posts here are generally weekly rather than daily these days. That wasn't a conscious decision, so I don't know if it'll stay that way or not. From tomorrow I'm back on morning/day shift again for the first time in about 5 months, so my routine's gonna be completely flipped anyway, so anything could happen I guess. Right now I'm just focussing on whether I'll remember to get up in the morning. Since Friday was my last graduation for a while, I took my camera along, lest I forget the fun. Also, these Winter camp kids have been here for two weeks, so I got to know them better that you usually can. This last kid shook my hand every single time we crossed paths for two weeks straight. I later found out that he was doing it to everyone else too, so didn't feel quite so special after all. After graduation we went for a few drinks in Suyu with some of the Korean staff. Of course 'a few' swiftly escalated into 'a few tequila shots' (and precisely when that became habit I couldn't tell) so the rest of the night's pretty much a blur. Saturday daytime was mostly spent in recovery, but by nightfall we were ready to head back out was again, as our friend Kane was playing a set at a James Brown tribute night at a bar in Hongdae (the party zone in Seoul). There were around 10 bands, the idea (so far as I could gather) being that each had to play at least one James Brown cover each. Almost without exception all of the bands were quality acts - most were Korean but even the Korean songs were full of funk, I was very impressed. Plus, there were bongos! We didn't discover these until near the end of the night when everyone had started leaving (or was it just before?) but we wasted no time in finding the rhythm. God knows what the bands still trying to perform thought of our accompaniment though. Here's Kane anyhow, he enjoyed it: And here's a short video courtesy of Shawn. No prizes of course as to what we did after the show: But note that this time we tried a luxury Norebang for a change - not that you can tell here. I think luxury just means free percussion and ice cream, but what more could you possibly need?

Halfway

Today is my six month anniversary in South Korea, which of course also means that in the same amount of time again, it'll be time to move on to whatever's next. Most of us teachers that started together in July agree that it seems like we've only been here a few months, though at the same time, the days of frolicking up in the pool as the sun went down do seem very distant right now, caught as we are in the middle of a rather bitter snap. Three more teachers leave us this week, though two only because they signed six-month contracts to begin with. We have a bunch of fresh new teachers to fill the breach, but among us veterans there seems to be a bit of a malaise in the air, I think for a few reasons: many of us seem to have persistent colds like we've never had before back home, so we're all feeling a little drained anyway, and the ever-crashing wave of kids shows little sign of breaking - I know that compared to my old 9 to 5 this job's pretty cushy, but having 100% of the slots on my timetable filled (as compared to the old days when I used to have at least a couple of free periods every day) takes its toll. Plus, there's the cold, and the being so far from home at Christmas, which I think has gotten many people down too... On a more positive note, Christmas was not a complete disappointment despite having to work all day. In the morning I managed to speak to my mum and dad for two hours via (a very dodgy) webcam so we could open our gifts together. It almost felt like being home. That, and the Christmas dinner later made with (I should really say 'by') Mary and Christa, actually made the day feel like Christmas, which I wasn't expecting it to. In other news, the two-week winter camps start next week. I'm working as one of the 'science major' teachers, doing various experiments with the kids, so should be fun. We have the beginnings of plan to go to Vietnam with our generous 5 days of annual leave in February or March, which is pretty exciting. Something to focus on during the cold times ahead (the snow from the weekend before last has still not fully melted). Oh, yeah, and I guess it's been noted that my posts have fallen to weekly rather than daily lately. I'm gonna blame the heavy schedule and ask you to bare with me. I'll try harder but am making no promises. New Year's resolution maybe. And speaking of, Have a Happy New Year everyone!

Month 5

Well, it was five months yesterday, but close enough. I guess event of the month is Emma's leaving for home last weekend. I think our original pact was that neither of us would allow the other to leave within the first three months, but after that would be no hard feelings. So, she's gone, and so far seems happy with her decision, but if in the next 10 days she should change her mind, she does have a return ticket as it was cheaper than a single, so who knows? Shannon has one more week to go before she leaves to enjoy a few weeks back home in Des Moines (pronounced "de Moyne" apparently - who knew?) in Iowa; then fingers crossed, she'll be teaching English in Turkey from January. Hopefully she may let me swing by for a short visit next Summer en route to the UK! The first signs of Christmas have arrived just in time to remind me to get a bit of shopping done for the folks back home; it's very refreshing to get a break from the usual saturation of media and retail back home...and having so few (and so far, pretty tasteful) fairy lights around means that you actually do take a second to appreciate them. My main class for December is theatre, clearly something I was born to teach after my last foray into the world of dramatic arts. Whatever doesn't kill you, etc, etc... At least I have seemingly managed to hoodwink them into putting me on evening duty once again (and maybe for January and February too, but schedules are always subject to change), but whenever they finally do put me back on regular morning duty again, I will suffer greatly. But it would stop me being so lazy: my goal for the month is to get up at least once for the pre-9am breakfast - by popular demand they've recently started serving bagels, cereal and other Western delights to the staff, but I have yet to sample any...it's so cold in the mornings! The next month will be busy as we gear up to the special winter camps around the new year, but due to my working the evening shifts, I should at least get Christmas Eve and New Year's Day off (owing to them being on weekends) - but unfortunately not the days after either! The weekends will be busy too, but in the good way - with many leaving do's, birthdays, and Christmas meals to attend...though possibly not my birthday which I may end up celebrating in January owing to scheduling conflicts! And now dear readers, I am going to go watch the last ever episode of The West Wing, which I know none of you care about, and for that you are fools. Annyong.

Quarterly review

Sorry, had the weekend off. We've now been here for an unbelievable four months. It sounds like a long time but still doesn't like more than a couple. I had a dream the other night that it was next summer and I had returned home. I couldn't work out why I could only remember a few months worth of adventures, I felt kinda short-changed. This month I have started having Korean lessons twice a week. Obviously we (I'm doing it with Christa) have a long way to go, but even just being able to ask the price of something in a shop (and understand the answer without them having to write it down) is a nice start.I'm really enjoying it even though I know it won't be of much use in eight months time. Maybe I'll learn Welsh next, at least then I can just pop over the border should I need a refresher. Emma leaves for ol'Blighty in 26 days. I dare say it'll be rather weird here for a while after she's gone, I dare say in ways I haven't yet imagined yet. On the bright side however, I'll gain sole ownership of the kettle. Plus, it may finally stop people who don't know us so well if we're a couple! This week we're running a special intensive program at the school. Since I'm still on evening shift, for me this involves striving to whip my kids into shape enough to put on a play (based on Robert Munsch's 'The Mud Puddle') by this Friday. Now my team aren't bad kids, but it's not a great reflection of them that I went straight from class to the store to buy beer. I'll let y'all know how it goes. The temperature has finally started to drop, but having said that it's still quite pleasant. Yesterday I was sat out in the sunshine in just a shirt watching the kids playing zombies (we had a special Halloween event this weekend but I wasn't working) up by the swimming pool. I'm told it will get very cold eventually though so I think some shopping is in order...

Tri-monthly review

Three months survived as of today! 25% of the way there already. Seems a lot, and yet kinda not that much too. I'm sure the long cold winter is gonna drag much more, but for now we're in the midst of what I'm told is an unseasonably warm spell. It still feels like midsummer. Homesickness is still absent I'm glad to say. My sources back home told me to expect it to kick in after the third month, but I remain cold-heartedly immune. Not everyone feels the same as me, I know some people are feeling the pull of home pretty strongly right now. Personally I'm quite happy to be here for now. If I'm honest, I did feel a few pangs of 'oh my god what have we done' in the first week here, especially when coming back to my empty room at night, but that soon evaporated. Next week is Chuesok, the Harvest Moon Festival, which is I think something akin to the American Thanksgiving. Everyone goes back home to visit their families, and they pay respect to their ancestors. The more significant factor for us teachers is that we get a week off work - probably the only full week I'm gonna get until next summer when I leave, and I'm especially excited as I'm going to Japan with Amy and Christa. A note of explanation: when I post the photos of the trip, don't be surprised to only see me and Christa in the photos - Amy has forbidden us to publish any of her online; I think she's either in witness protection or she's an international felon. Although I just said I'm quite happy here, I'm not sure that I would pick South Korea as my country of choice if I was to do this over again. I don't know where I would pick, but Seoul is so commercialised, that really it feels that this could be any (densely populated) city in the world sometimes, save for the language differences. Maybe that's unfair though. I've yet to venture beyond the city (as have most of us) so I guess that's like judging the whole of the UK on a few months spent it London. I guess the answer is to get out more. That shall be mission for the next month. Another goal I'm setting for myself is to keep up with the Korean lessons. I haven't had any proper lessons yet - our schedules fluctuate so much it's a little hard to plan - but I've just got a computer program that I'm trying to spend an hour a day on. So far I've not used much more than a hello or a thank you 'in the wild' but I haven't been intensely practicing before this past week so I hope to improve soon. Oh, and Emma's definitely staying. For the time being.

Monthly Review: Month 2

We've been in Seoul two months now. That same length of time five times more and it'll be time to come home again. Still doesn't seem too bad. Perhaps in the icy grip of winter time will pass at a more noticeable pace. Sixteen point six recurring per cent of the way there in any case. The summer program is finally over, which means student numbers are back down to normal levels thank goodness. Last week I had three free periods, this week, some people have up to 20. My schedule is slightly different as I'm going to be on evening shifts for the foreseeable future, but it's still pretty good. I'm teaching nutrition. The school are throwing some kind of party/meal for us this weekend in honour of our oh-so-hard work over this last month. We do deserve it though. It isn't going to be that busy again until Christmas I'm relieved to say - although this does mean I will almost certainly be working Christmas day, which ain't so good. Developments of the month: the dress code is to be sharpened up so I guess I'm going shopping soon. Thongs and singlets (translation: sandals and vests) have already been banned, as have shorts, and as soon as the hot weather ends, t-shirts will be out too. If jeans are ever outlawed I'll be coming home as I hardly have anything else to wear! Katie is coming to visit in a week! She'll be staying with me for a couple of weeks (or until security find her and kick her out as the issue of visitors is hotly controversial) so I should finally get round to doing all the touristy things that we haven't bothered to do just yet. I'm very excited. I'll probably know in a week if Emma's going to be sticking it out here with me or not. Honestly, I don't mind either way. That may sound harsher than I intend, so I'll qualify. Obviously, it is great having her here, and I'd probably never have come here by myself; but on the other hand, hanging out with Emma all the time inevitably means spending less time bonding with the other teachers, so maybe it'd be good for me being on my own out here... By all accounts, homesickness is due to kick in another month, but I'm personally not seeing any signs so far! Four of us (me, Christa, Cade and his friend (even if she stays, Emma would prefer to do something cheaper herself)) are planning to go to Japan in October during our week off; hopefully having this to focus on will allay any homesickness that does start to kick in around this time, if it does at all. Me and Emma have started giving salsa lessons to some of the other teachers in the school's dance studio. First one was yesterday and I think everyone enjoyed it. We're planning on doing it every Sunday until the director finds out and bans us. Note that this is entirely selfish - we just want people to come to salsa bars with us so of course we have to get them up to standard first! Oh, and it's still roasting outside.

Monthly Review: Month 1

We've been in South Korea one month as of today, and it has flown. I do wonder what it feels like for you guys back home though - does it feel like I've been gone a while? Or has it not been long enough yet? Probably not every month will pass so quickly. I've just read Lionel Shriver's Double Fault (which I heartily recommend), and there's a passage where she muses on the rhythms of a prison term:

The beginning went surprisingly fast. The early middle was the worst - the routine already grown tyrannical, an appalling preponderance of servitude to go. The vast middle-middle was almost restful, with no tempting parole in view; the walls of any cell must evolve to the walls of the world. The killer was glimpsing release...it is said that a convict may experience his final weeks of captivity as longer than the rest of his sentence.

No I don't mean to sound like I'm comparing this place to a prison (though some of the rules are a little tyrannical) but maybe that's how time will pass here. Right now all is novelty so it goes fast. And before I left a few people told me that homesickness hits the worst after around three months, so that's the 'early middle' I guess. Time will tell. Anyway, everything's going well. I'm enjoying it and have few complaints. We're still waiting for the laundry room to be done. Apparently the laundry room is to double as a classroom (why we need a laundry-themed class escapes me, but whatever), but it seems the builders didn't know about the dual-purpose of the room - they thought it was supposed to be just a classroom, so they put in the washers and driers as planned - they just didn't both to sort out any plumbing for the building. Apart from that everything's in order. Ok, well maybe they could sort out some proper drainage for the place, but apart from that... I was going to celebrate this milestone by going into Suyu (our local district) for a night of kareoke, but since we don't get paid for another week, everyone's broke so don't think they'll be much of a turnout. I could afford to go, but I could not afford to get drunk first as would of course be strictly neccessary. Instead I'm gonna have beer and chocolate alone in my room and watch the next few episodes of Lost which I've downloaded. Yes, it's another hardcore Friday night at Seoul English Village. Which makes me realise: I haven't been drunk, or even what you might call tipsy, in a month. Don't woory, this will be rectified many times over when we finally get paid. Finally, here's some random pictures for your enjoyment while I get back to my beer: I don't know what this first one is but it's pretty. You get the strangest juxtaposition of old and new buildings all over Seoul. I don't know if this is actually old, but the point is, it's right by the main road, just outside a bookshop. I couldn't get any closer to find out what it is as just as I was taking this picture, me and Emma had a bit of a spat and she stormed off down into the subway ahead of me. Apparently in South Korea, there is an official 'Teacher's Day' every year when the kids shower their teachers with presents. But that's at proper schools. The grand total of my gifts so far is: one candy, two pieces of bubblegum, one cup of coffee bought for me this afternoon from a vending machine, and this origami rose: If the city weren't permantly covered in a layer of smog, this view would be stunning: Goodnight y'all.