Im back!!!

So I know that I haven't updated in a while but there has been pretty good reason for it........ Im pretty bloody lazy.

Well thats not exactly true, in fact its the exact opposite. Ive been extremely busy volunteering my time to help teach kids English. Im so generous aren't I? So how did this happen? A teacher had a back operation and couldnt walk for about 3 weeks, so I was asked if I could cover for him. It began straight after school until 9 for the past 6 and a half weeks. That means 12 hour work days, and make it at least 13 hours door-to-door. Sure it was difficult at times, but at the end of the day I chose to volunteer because of the personal satisfaction, and it feels so good to see smiles on kids faces. I didnt care that I had no free time during the weeks. All that mattered was the knowledge that I was doing something good, and volunteering has to be good for karma. So, thats why ive been away from the blog for so long. It finished last Thursday..... ahhhhh, it's nice to be able to dinner before 9:30!

I guess I'll just give you a quick run-down of whats happened in my life lately.

• I passed my 1 year anniversary in Korea on March 29th, so I'm officially in my 2nd year! I will be teaching at the same schools (unless my school get wind of my volunteering) which is a major reason why I want to stay on for another year. I will be making a year in review post soon talking about my favorite and most regrettable moments of the year.
  

• I havent felt any earthquakes or seen any tsunamis since they began in Japan. Im safe and sound. Until last week, there hasnt been any noticable effect on the lives of people living in Korea, but that did change. Last week, we were lucky enough to have "radioactive rain" bucket down all-day Thursday. It was a miserable day, and compounded by the fact no one told me it was radioactive until Friday. I went for a run in that rain!! No, I kid, I knew it was supposed to be toxic and against my desires gave in and used an umbrella for the day. Im not sure just how bad the rain was and I guess I wont know for another 20 years or so, or until I start growing new limbs in strange places. But I do know that my umbrella now has large holes in it and my shoes are a different colour. Just to clarify; I didnt drink the rain.
  

• Spent a great weekend in Busan with Choi that included staying at a hotel right on the beach that had the following views....... Not to bad for Korea hey?
  

• I was also served something during that trip to Busan that i'd never seen before, nor really expected to ever see; ice cream in bread. Now, Korea typically doesn't seem to make bread products that meet my lofty expectations. A loaf of bread is fine, but buns, rolls, and special items using bread always have something wrong with them. Usually it is a confusing usage of sugar. But iv'e never seen anything like this. Its basically a hollwed-out loaf with ice cream and berry puree. Not that great.
  

• Also came across this delicious combination of pizza with lettuce the other day. Wasn't too bad actually, but I won't be going out of my way to order it again.

• I know I always get crap from various Roberts family member for eating foods that Roberts' usually don't eat, but I need to add one more to the list. Im now clinically addicted to banana milk. I have 2 a day without fail. Seriously the best drink ever made. Works really well with Kahlua as well. Get ready for it Macka!

• Had a really nice weekend as Spring is finally upon us. Went into the castle with Choi and a few bears and soaked in the awesome saturday. Jinju is just looking stunning at the moment. Not a bad place to down a few coldies right here.....
  

• Then went to check out the Hadong Cherry Blossom festival on Sunday. Cherry blossoms are the pretty trees with snow white flowers on the that come from Japan, but are plentiful in Korea as well. They are also the trees that makes every Korean and Foreign girls hearts melt, knees shake and give an irrepressible desire to be photographed under, next to, on top of and in. There is seriously a weird attraction/admiration/obsession that girls have with this tree. I guess, chicks just like pretty flowers. Anyway, they only really bloom for 2 weeks, so the window for seeing them is really quite short. Thus, roughly 46 million people (out of 50) go to various Cherry Blossom festivals throughout the land, or so it seems. I think 42 of the 46 million went to the Hadong festival. We had a lazy start to the day, which turned out to be a bad idea. After a train to Hadong, we needed to catch a bus to the site of the festival. This trip usually takes 20 minutes, but for us, took over 2 hours. When we arrived, we ate, and since we were worried about getting a bus back, we only ended up walking around for about 25 minutes, and never actually reached the main site of the festival. So it ended up being a looooong day of travelling, albeit a fun one. Luckily there was plenty of Cherry Blossoms to be seen out of the windows of the bus.
  

So this is my quick little update. I just wanted to give you a little something to prove to you that I havent succumbed to any earthquakes, choked on my own vomit after drinking too much soju, or thrown myself off a bridge after eating bondeggi. I am alive an well. I know that this was a little disjointed and without much purpose, but better things are to come!!

Whats my age again??

Yea I know that this shouldn't be a difficult question but in Korea it most definately is. The age system is completely unique and completely confusing. With the passing of Lunar New Year or Korean New Year (what we in Australia know best as "Cinease New Year"), ive gained a year of life and am officially 27 years old in Korean Age, despite the fact ive only been breathing for 25 years and 3 months. How is this possible? Well, let me try to explain as best as I can, but I barely understand it myself, let alone articulate it.

1. You are 1 year old at birth. In Western countries, we are essentially 0 years old when born, and celebrate our 1st birthday after 365 days. In Korea, you are 2 years old, after 365 days. This part is simple right?

2. With the passing of the Lunar new year, you gain a year. So every Lunar New Year you add a year regardless of birthday. This year Lunar New Year was Thursday 3rd of February and everyone gets the day before and after off as well. 5 Day weekend!!

Hmm. I guess it isnt as complicated as I first thought.

I guess confusion comes when trying to determine your age at any given moment, because it is 1-2- years olders than Western Age. With the passing of New Year, I am 2 years older in Korean age than Western. However, once my Birthday passes, ill gain a year in Korean age, making me only 1 year older than western age (Remember 1 year old at birth, so when im turn 26, im 27 in Korea). When New Year comes, you add a year regardless, so im still 26 in Western, but now 28 in Korean. Get it?? Sort of??

How about this way: You are 1 year older in Korean years from your birthday until Lunar New Year. You are 2 years older in Korea years from Lunar new year until your birthday.

Either way, im a jaded and longtoothed 27 over here, instead of a young and naive 25 back home.

My apologies to all females in Korea who are twice their age. I think most Australian woman would sympathise with you. However, I don't think the woman of Australia would stand for this in their own country. Im sure mass rallies, protests, looting and terrorist attacks would follow the introduction of the Korean age system to Australia. Or it would just lead to more girls bending (ie: lying) about their age.

However, there is a loophole I discovered with this age buisness. It is tradition for the age to be added after eating a meal called "ddeok-guk". Essentially, you "eat" yourself a new age. Ddeok-guk is a delicious soup (guk) with soft-rice cakes (ddeok) and various meats and veges chuked in. Ive eaten it before; very tasty and extremely filling. So when you finish your bowl, your a year older.

BUT.................. What if you don't eat the ddeok-guk?? Do you stay the same age??

Thats the theory i, and all the girls of Korea, are banking on.

Conversely, if you eat 3 bowls of deeok-guk, do you gain 3 years of age???????

Ddeok Guk - Korean girls' mortal enemy

This weekend I had the good fortune of going to the snow. Let me tell you, its was nice going snowboarding without;

1) Paying $110 for a lift pass!!!

2) Having to stay on the mountain overnight

3) Not travelling 10 hours to get there

These are the things that make snowboarding in Australia damn-near impossible; its too bloody expensive, and its too far away from anything. On Sunday, it was a leisurly 1.5 hr drive north from Jinju to Muju, through some beautiful country. Just have to look out for the drivers going 180 kms on the road. Then rental of board, boots, pants= $21. Half Day ticket=$40. Petrol=$10. So thats $70 for day. Full day tickets are $60 but you can offset that by goin via a tour company and getting everything for $70 anyway.

So: Ridiculously cheap. Quality mountain (not the hills in Oz) = Good Times

Here are some photos of the the slope.

Things I missed about Korea + Update

Just thought i'd quickly fill you in on what's happened over here since my return:

- I bought toilet paper for only the 2nd time since ive been here. Sorry to turn this blog entry into toilet talk only 15 words in, but this fact astonishes me. I bought a 24 pack soon after arriving and its lasted me this long. Incredible. I swear I had to get a new 6 pack everytime I went to Coles, which was twice a week. By the way, ive got 8 toothbrushes and tubes of toothpaste in reserve so i dont think ill be buying anymore of those before I leave either.

- I played soccer on Sunday for the first time in a while. Couldnt have picked a worse time either - the week since I returned has been beyond freezing, and espcecially the weekend, where it didnt get out of the negatives the entire 48 hours and was -12 at its worst. So, naturally, in that sort of tempting weather, I had an uncontrollable urge to run around outside that I had to submit to. Luckily, it wasnt nearly as bad as I thought it would be once you started to run around. Suprisingly, this wasn't the coldest weather ive played soccer in - that would be in Canada when it started to snow in PE class. Pretty cool.

- On Friday night was an Asian Cup game between Australia and Korea. So naturally, this was probably my biggest night since ive been here. I am a complete sporting diehard, have been stinging to watch any kind sport since I arrived, and put my heart and soul into the only time an Australian sporting team was on Korean TV - World Cup - so when I heard that My country would be playing Korea, I was over the moon. This had the potential for either the greatest night ever, or the worst night ever. Especially for me who is a loudmouth who talks up Australia at any chance and dogs Korea at any chance (I can dog it because I love it), this night could have been a disaster. On the flipside, if Australia did win, I could hold it against every Korean I know, and have an instant comeback to any future insults. I went all out - dressed up, went to a bar where Australians were outnumbered 40 to 1 (With 30 of them Koreans) and started to assert my voice and prescense early. Luckily Koreans are generally pacifists, and im extremely gregarious, likeable and charasmatic, otherwise things could have turned ugly. As it turned out, it wasnt the worst night ever, or the even best night ever, it was......... a night, as the game sadly ended in a draw. I almost wished we lost just so that someone had something to say to the opposition, because the draw just kills all trash talk and fun, which was the entire point of dressing up and acting like a clown in the first place. Hopefully we can do this all over again in the finals......


I dont know wht im meant to be doing in this photo but this is what i was wearing

Again, inspired by my recent trip here are some things I missed about Korea (or things I didnt like about Australia packaged in a different way).....

1. 윤초이
2. Not being served hot chips with every restuarant meal/bistro meal/meal not at my house ( They were good the first time. After the fifth time, not so much. Unimaginative, lazy, and unhealthy side meal)
3. Not paying $30 for a taxi ride (The most expensive taxi ive taken in Jinju - $6)
4. Kimchi (just kidding)
5. 250 ml cans of coke
6. Coins that dont weigh as as much as the weights at a gym and cause ligament damage to your knees when you walk
7. Korean instant coffee
8. 윤초이
9. Having a computer that doesnt f*** up all the time
10. Goin out for the night, only spending $25 and being completely trashed
11. Having meals at a restuarant being served in 5 mins (you can get a full meal served in the same time it takes for Maccas to make you a special burger)

Things I miss about Australia.....

This blog entry is inspired by my recent trip back home to Oz. Instead of giving you a day-by-day recant of what I did over the two weeks, I thought i'd tell you about the things I realised that I missed about home. Some are big and some are small and they are hopefully more interesting than telling you about the night I ate potato dish (which by the way was completely bloody awesome).

I will quickly tell you a few of my highlights, or more accurately, lowlights, of the trip before I get into it....

- Lost my wallet on the plane transferring from Seoul to Guanghzuo. This is why I don't like or use wallets anymore - you loose wallets. Its just another item to forget about when your drunk late at night. You don't loose 50 bucks and and ID card in your pocket. Also, you cant put it in your front pocket, coz it looks stupid, so instead you have to put in your back pocket, which you have to take out every time you sit down. They just seem too much hassle and concern when your pockets do the exact same job. Alas, I use my wallet for literally the first time in months and I loose it. Im making a stand now; im anti-wallets.

- Was not allowed on my plane from Australia to Korea. Was this a some sort of sign that i'm not supposed to leave the country?? Does someone or something not want me to go back?? The answer is no, it was just a combination of incompetence + anything at an airport being completely retarded, backwards and difficult + massive b****. Does anything good, efficient and competent ever occur in an airport?? Im yet to see it. The airline refused to give me my ticket because they didnt believe I had a valid Visa, and hence they believed i'd be refused entry to Korea, sent back to Australia, and cause the Airline to receive a fine. Of course, my Visa was valid, but they wouldnt accept this until I hauled my arse into the Korean consulate for confirmation, and then confirm this with the airline. What a bloody joke!! To top it off, the massive b**** had the nerve to question what im doing in Korea. She didnt even believe I was a teacher!! Who lies about going to Korea as an English teacher?? Especially when I dont need to lie considering I have a teaching Visa that is 10 cms from her face?? Seriously. Why does it even matter what I do?? What did she think she was going to find out about me?? Im posing as a English teacher with a real teaching visa in order to start a terrorism cell in Seoul?? Im going to illegally import cabbage and make my own kimchi and sell it at prices locals cant match?? Why didnt I just snatch the boarding pass from her hand?? I need to stop writing about this coz im getting too angry and ill never go to another airport again.

- I played poker with Makenze at Wauchope golf club and was humbled and embarrassed. Well those words arent correct, because im a modest guy and I rarely get embarrassed (I had to dance in front of my students today - now that is embarrassing), but thats how I should have felt. I had a little to drink and wasnt as sharp as I should have been. Hence, all the hours spent playing here in Korea went down the drain as I proceeded to do stupid thing after stupid thing. I managed to A) Fold a Full House after the river card (I only thought I had trips and the other guy had a flush) B) Forget how to add up numbers and hence never throw in the correct amount of chips. By the end of the game I was just flat out asking Makenze to put in as many chips as I need C) During one of my turn to deal I only dealt in 5 hands for 6 people..... A ridiculous showing and im pretty sure that Makenze will never play with me again... I sure as hell wouldnt

So here are the things I miss about Australia in no particular order:

1. Sitting on a couch (Oh My God. After 9 months of sitting in a computer chair, this is Heaven)
2. Watching TV, especially sports (I do not watch TV. Ever.)
3. Smith's Chips
4. Steak (Beef is good here, and barbecue is sensational, but damn I love steak)
5. Mum and Dad's Cooking
6. Having a mother to do my ironing (Remains my most abhorred chore. Cleaning windows is second)
7. Seeing animals, any animals, anywhere, at anytime (I think Korea is the only country with 0 animals within its borders. The South Pole and the centre of volcanoes look like the Amazon by comparison)
8. Good lollies (Natural confectionary company, skittles and aussie chocolates absolutely kick the arse of Korean ones)
9. Good bakeries where bread isnt covered in sugar
10. A selection of beer at a bar greater than 3
11. Traffic lights that allow more than one lane to go at once
12. Having an oven in my house
13. Being able to discuss music with people with the same taste
14. Meat pies
15. Sitting on a balcony

And no I didnt forget the 2 things I miss more than anything - my family and friends. Being able to see both was the reason for the trip and despite loosing my wallet, being denied my initial flight, and the weather being crappy, I am so happy that I was able to be around the people I love, even if it was for a short time.

Shangers

I ventured beyond the borders of South Korea for the 2nd time since I arrived in late March this past weekend. Interestingly, or maybe not, it was the first time I ventured beyond South Korea's borders and actually into another country (the first time was when I went to the DMZ and went out ff South Korea and into No Man's Land). This other country was "jung-guk" - China - and played host to me while I met an old, smarter, and, incredibly, shorter friend, Clancy (Or "Clancy of the Overflow" as Kezza would put it). He had spent 3 weeks in China and on the Friday before I arrived, just finished a University subject via a University exchange program. So, unsurprisingly, it was time to party, and cram as much of Shanghai into a 44 hr window as possible. I would just like to point out that no matter what else happened, I was overjoyed that I wasnt thrown into jail, injured and then woken up in a hospital, or denied re-entry to Korea. Based on this, the holiday was a success.

I arrived at about 6.30 in the evening after a suprisingly good flight with Eastern China Airlines. All the North North-Western Independent Rural China Airlines flight were booked so I had to go East China and was pleasently suprised to recieved a meal and 2 beers in a short 1hr 20 min flight (screw you Jetstar with your miniature packet of mixed nuts and shot of coke). I caught the metro to the closest stop to Clancy's uni, which was about 25 stops away, and took about an hour and a half. Brutal. I was also introduced to something I wasnt expecting that I would see quite often - people openly picking their nose. Probably counted it 3 times on the train and a handful of times the rest of the trip. Cant say i condone that behavior. Once I was off the train, and onto the street for my first real look of China, I was overwhelmed with the amount of people, bikes, motor bikes and cars that were in front of me. Mostly bikes and motorbikes though, as every piece of concrete seemed to be crammed with with one of them and I swear there was about 1000 of them parked side-by-side in an impromptu car-park, well, bike-park, that was only the length of one side of a block. Incredible. I then tried to get a taxi, which proved to be harder than trying to get one at 3 am in Sydney with a group of 4 guys. 20 minutes, and a long, long walk later, i found one and met up with Clancy. Post-exam celebrations were in full-throttle by the time I arrived at the dorms. About 254 people were crammed into a single dorm room, which I figure is skill you acquire if you spend enough time in Shanghai. I managed to find someone else's alcohol to drink as we kicked into maybe the strangest drinking game ever. The game works by playing Roxanne by the Police and when lyrics say "Roxanne" the boys drink, and when lyrics say "Put on the Red Light", the girls drink. Sounds fun enough, and starts off slowly, but "Roxanne" is followed by "Put on the red light" something like 27 times in a 3 minute span. They are also often repeated in groups of 4 or more in rapid succession. So unless you have a mini keg by your side, you will surely run out of alcohol and you need to be able to drink as quickly as Bob Hawke to keep up with every turn. Regardless of the practicality, it is a drinking game, which means everyone is a winner. We kicked on to a bar that night which was 80 Yuan ($11 or $12) for unlimited alcohol (with return of your cup for each drink.... brilliant idea by the way) but felt far, far to familiar to me. I swear id been there before but I though it was on Darlinghurst road in Sydney. It was so completely packed with foreigners that even the people that looked Asian were actually foreigners (Australians of Chinese descent). Everything about it, from the dancefloor, to the Djs, to the massive D***heads, reminded me of Oz and was very un-Chinese. Either way, it was a cracking night.


The next morning we went into town for a big Chinese lunch. It was at a very highly rated YumCha restaurant, apparently, and was bloody amazing. We sat at the biggest circular table known to man which required carrier pigeons to communicate with people on the other side of the table. The table had a rotating glass top that allowed you to slide the awesome food around the table. A little bit of everything was eaten - duck, pork, dumplings, tea - and it was fantastic. Unfortunately though, it didn't quite stack up to the $7 sweet and sour pork at my old bar, the "Dugout". That's some REAL Chinese food there. Of course, that's completely bogus, and I was really stoked to get a proper Chinese meal while I was there. By this point a theme was emerging during the trip - "I need some water". It wasn't just me, but many people in general, always seemed to be looking for water. It started coming home from the night before, then in the morning, and then at the restaurant, where they seemed to forget everyone's water, even after repeated pleas. This all stems from the fact that you cannot drink any water from a tap, and the uni was isolated from any shops. So something that is usually so readily available, and absolutely vital for life, was now a scarce and extremely valuable resource. It was a surreal feeling, knowing that right here, right now, i need water, but there is none. It doesn't seem like that should be a problem one should encounter in this millennium. From food, I went for a walk downtown with Clancy and his mate Nick. I knew I wouldnt be able to do much in Shanghai in only a day, so I figured if I walked around downtown for a few hours, I can atleast say that I did something and saw some of the city. It was well worth it. We walked from the main downtown station we walked a fair distance to the river. On the way, we walked through a park where we saw the most peculiar sight ever. About 200 or so older men and women "advertising" there children for marriage. That is what is happening in the picture above. Her bits of paper in front of her are telling of her looks, dimensions, skills, etc (by the way, if there is no picture of the child thats a pretty big red-flag). The ages of their children are in the 25-35 area, but of course, no one of that age is anywhere in the park, its entirely made up of old people, selling or looking for partners for their children. Crazy. The entire walk to the river - and the entire city for that matter - has 30-40 story buildings on every single block. Its hard to tell where "downtown" is because it all looks like downtown. The big, beautiful, and sometimes ugly, buildings are juxtaposed (first time ive every successfully used this word in a sentence) with the conditions of the street. Look up and its 1st world, or even better than 1st world (future world???), and look around u on the street and its 3rd world. Roads are 30 times more dangerous than Korea, beggars everywhere, dirty streets. Wasnt super impressed with this aspect of China. The skyline from the one side of the river across to the other is pretty darn awesome. The strange looking orange tower I actually think is really cool, but not as cool as the bottle opener shaped one. We grabbed a beer at a nearby rooftop bar while the sun was going down which was one of the highlights of the trip. I did find it difficult keeping up with the conversation of the Law students - Chinese foreign policy, the theories of Malthaus and Co and Global Politics arent exactly my strong points. I kept trying to talk about my fantasy football team and why cabbage kimchi is better than radish kimchi, but it didnt elicit much interest.

We headed back into the city as darkness fell and the city just exploded with lights. Never seen so much fluoro, neon, and any other form of bright colours in my life. Street level, underground, and above you, its just a bombardment of lights. Crazy. Another beer followed at a swanky Morrocan style bar once our eyes adjusted to light and were able to find it. Back to the dorms but not before a quick meal at a small, local restaurant. Not a word was spoken by the restaurant people - this was a common theme of the weekend; not a single Chinese person could speak a single word of English. I thought Koreans couldn't speak English at first, but they sound like Barak Obama compared to the Chinese. The waitress ordered for us thankfully and it turned out to be really, really tasty, so we were happy with the outcome. I was also overwhelmed when we received the water for our table. I poured it into my cup and noticed that steam was coming out of it. A little weird to be sure, but I heard that water was heated up in China to kill the bugs in it, and it would maybe be a little warm. But this wasnt just warm, this was almost boiling water. I wondered what the hell was up with this and Clancy said you never drink anything not from a bottle that isn't boiling. So I ate my rice and beef with boiling water. WEIRD (couldnt they cool it down first????) The rest of the night involved......... wait for it....... yes, thats right ..... Drinking. What a suprise. Went to a place inhabited with a few more Chinese, that was really nice, cheap and had personal service to our table. Was quite impressed. This was followed by going to a club right next door called the "Bunker" which was just how it sounds. As you enter the club, you walk through a long, thin and small tunnel into a dark room with a low ceiling, which was the dance floor, and continued into other small, bombshelter-type rooms where you could sit. Very cool place with good music and a unique feeling. Topped the night off very, very nicely.

Unfortunately my trip ended too soon as I had to make my way to the airport from 11 in the morning. I got some Subway for the first time in 9 months (another one of the highlight moments) and jumped on a Maglev train (Maglev are the fastest train on Earth) which travelled at 300 kms/h to the airport.

An awesome weekend to be sure!

Some more vistors

I was fortunate enough to have a couple of visitors come and stay a week with me recently. My yeo~dong~saeng (little sister) and her namja~chin~gu (boyfriend) spent a few days with me in the now frigid Jinju, and then we spent the weekend in Busan. Brittny and Geoff got to see how I live my life, which pretty much goes like this; get off school, eat BBQ, drink beer and soju, then go to bed. Repeat Monday through Thursday. On Friday and Saturday, don't go to bed. Sunday, rest. I was most impressed with Britt and Geoff's ability to pick up parts of the language. I know that they will be saying "Yea" "Yeo~gi~yo" and "Kam~sa~ham~ni~da" for a long time to come. I look forward to having Korean conversations with them when I go home. It was a great week which went like this....... By the way, none of these photos are mine - I regrettably did not take my camera anywhere and relied on Britt and Geoff to take photos for me.

Monday went exactly the way I described above. Introduce the newbies to the BBQ, then get drunk. We drank at a place called "700 Beer", where you are required to drink 700 beers before you leave. Or maybe the beers come in 700 ml glasses. Im not sure. Either way, after about an hour, it felt like id drank 700 beers. We then broke out the Soju which got everyone's seal of approval, and as a result, I don't remember anything from that point on. It also meant some crazy headaches the next day.

Wednesday was, well, the same. Get off school, have BBQ at the best place in Jinju I know, then meet up with the gang for drinks in Go West. The BBQ has pieces of pork belly as thick as a dictionary, but also comes with hamburger steak, which is like being served sushi and baked beans in the same meal. Brings the good meal down a touch. Regardless, good dinner, B&G got to try KimchiJiggae, and I wasn't hungover for work the next day! Yay!

Thursday was a highlight - Karaoke!!!! At the very homely Wine Bar, we assembled a good group for some mid-week No-rae-bang. After clearing out the venue 10 minutes after arriving, we got things started. Brittny and Geoff were treated to some all-time great performances by yours truly - Livin on a Prayer (Bon Jovi) and Tribute (Tenacious D) - which I know intimidated and scared them more than they already were. How could they possibly follow an act like that?? Brittny told me that she couldnt believe that we could do this sober, "you actually do it for entertainment" I believe I heard. So they both increased their alcohol intake to try and ready themselves. About 2-2.5 hours later, after the bar was almost double-handedly drank dry, and the local foreigners had began to scrape the bottom of the song barrel like "Barbie Girl" and "The Macarena", Brittny and Geoff stepped up to the mike and belted out the classic "Do-wa-diddy-diddy-dum-diddy-do". I was a witness to the performance - confident, emotional, and out-of-key - just like all good karaoke should be. Once the first song was out of the way, the flood gates opened, and we were all drowning in Brittny and Geoff's singing. A great night!

Friday saw us travel down to Busan for the weekend. We first found a night love motel, which had; a) the world's biggest beds (they would not fit in my entire house in Jinju) b) "buisiness" cards of local woman at the door, in the elevator, bathroom, fridge and next to the bed c) various creams, lotion and potions available for use (including "men's desenitising cream"). After this joyous expreience we did what all visitors to Busan do - eat Mexican food at the Fuzzy Navel!! Classic Busan and Classic Korea. With full bellys, we got in a taxi, ready to clean out the local casino of everything they had. I told the taxi where to go - Ca~ji~no - and he proceeded to drive us 10 seconds around the next corner and stop. Easily the shortest taxi ride of my life. An entertaining night of gambling ensued - my night was like a rollercoaster that got stuck upside down on the loop-the-loop - a bit of a disaster at one point, but turned out pretty good. Only annoying part of the casino was the free drinks. How do you complain about free drink? When there is no visible bar to buy your own drinks and you have to wait 20 minutes for your free drinks which are no bigger than a shot glass, you'd would probably prefer paying the $2.50 for a pint.

Saturday saw us go for a hike. Yes, a hike. Not my 1st choice of activity during the winter, but it turned out to be a really fun day. We started at a temple called Beo-mo-sa, and I think I can safely say at this point that ive seen all the best temples in Korea, and the rest are 99% the same. This one was the same. We then went directly vertical up the hill from the temple. Ice picks and ropes were needed at one point to navigate the trecherous landscape, and at one point, I thought we would be turning around. That was about 2 minutes into it. "When we get to the top we can just get a taxi", said Brittny. I replied "Are you high?". Last time I checked, there isnt a taxi rank at the top of mountains. Once we reached the plataeu, the walk became far more enjoyable and scenic and gave awesome views of the city. By the end, I almost wanted to keep going, but we had walked almost 6 kms and my knees were hurting, so it was probably for the best that we called an end to it. We then met a couple of friends at a University district in the City. We started off with a steak dinner - a very welcome meal after a long day and about 5 months without a steak - and then proceeded to drink the night away. A highlight was Gwang-al-li and part of town right on the beach, with a huge bridge in the background, and plenty of places to party. A really cool place to hangout.




The next day we were too tired and hungover to do anything other than go home. So that's what we did. Back in Jinju, we had a last supper of Pork Belly, Beef and Lamb, and called it a holiday.

Thanks so much Geoff and Britt for dropping in. I had an awesome time, I hope you did as well. If you ever have a craving for kimchi, your always welcome back.

빼빼로 데이 - Pepero Day

Its been a while since ive updated, so its time to make up for that by telling you about what happens in Korea on the eleventh of November. Instead of paying our respect to war veterens, observing a minute of silence, and generally having a thoughtful, humble day, Koreans enjoy giving chocolate covered sticks of cookie to one another. These things are called 빼빼로 or we might know them as "pocky"s



I told my teachers about what we do in Australia on this day and I found it amusing that they had to tell me that unlike thanksgiving or korea day or other important days in Korea, Pepero Day IS NOT a traditional Korean holiday! I was shocked! You mean that people buying candy for each other is just a genius marketing campaign and has nothing to do with the Fabric of Korea?? It literally is just a day designed to make people buy as many of these things as possible, and it bloody well works.

So this is an important day in the life of a teacher as you get a definitive answer as too just how popular you are. If you get none, you pretty much know for sure that your kids hate you. But if you cant fit them all in your bag before you go home, its a good indication. Im happy to report that i was somewhere in between of the two extremes, leaning a little more to the good side. I would rate it as sufficiently popular.