Melaka in pictures

Garishly decorated trishaws are the way to travel Melaka
Couple culture is not just limited to Korea

The only bound-foot shoemaker in the world

One of Chinatown's many temples

Melaka

So after a laid-back start this morning, we got a lift to the bus station to hop on a bus to Melaka. After picking out the first listed guest house in the guidebook, we grabbed a taxi to the heart of Chinatown. I guess Lonely Planet destinations are aware of Lonely Planet users' ironic disdain for Lonely Planets, as the Sama-Sama Guest House has a new annex "NOT YET IN THE LONELY PLANET". I wonder how long it will be before it makes its way in there.

Melaka really is rather the epitome of the Lonely Planet's definition of chilled out. But it's good. And I guess Christmas is the time to take your holidays to avoid the hoards of tourists. We've just spent our day taking a very leisurely wander around Chinatown and around, nosing in at the various temples, learning a bit about the area's history and sampling the local cuisine. Very relaxing. I would like to upload some photographs but I'm not sure this slow internet connection would be able to handle it.

Kuala Lumpur

I like it. Everyone speaks English which is incredibly novel (and highly convenient), though coming from a predominantly non-English speaking society I'm finding myself conscious of what I can say (without disapproval from passersby) in public. But everyone is very friendly and accommodating; and Malaysia's multi-national people are not at all intimidating as I imagined travelling as a lone female at 2am when I arrived at KL airport on Friday might be.

KL is pretty small as far as capital cities go, and certainly being able to walk from one end to the other in the humidity is quite a contrast from the never-ending sprawl of Seoul. But despite its size, the rather convoluted road network rather does make navigation somewhat taxing as Ian and I discovered trying to cross the 500m from KL Station to Chinatown by a criss-cross of overpasses, underpasses, roundabouts and railway lines. We have been lucky to be able to stay with Ian's cousin and his family to get easy rides to places of interest, and of course getting a local's perspective of what we should do/where we should go and charge-free accommodation.

So after a morning's meander through Chinatown (complete with a roti canai breakfast and tour of temples - see photo) yesterday we took Peter's recommended tour of the swish department stores of KL, slowly meandering our way up to the sunset view of the iconic Petronas Towers (photo above). I've certainly been filling my photo quotas. Today - a Malaysian national holiday - we gave Peter and his 8-year-old daughter an excuse to take the car and walk up the 272 steps to the Hindi shrine-laden Batu Caves. The highlight was probably the scampering monkeys - around to keep the tourists interested, around to enjoy the banana-feeding - though playing "I went to the market and I bought..." was also a great way to pass the car journey. Teaching English to non-native children, I get a warped view of the level of language that young children have.

This afternoon we were let loose by ourselves to explore the Lake Gardens and foot our own entrance fees. We wandered the Butterfly Park, making for some challenging photography, before heading on to the Bird Park to walk through the extensive free-flying aviary. We'll head down to Melaka tomorrow before heading onto Singapore for the weekend.

In transit

So I didn't really consider what I was going to do for between six and seven hours at Beijing airport waiting for my connecting flight to Kuala Lumpur. I would take advantage of the unlimited internet access and comfy seats in the business lounge for a mere 50RMB (which I was forced to exchange into cash at 50RMB commission thus essentially paying double for my time, but whatever; that £20 in my wallet hasn't been spent on anything else in the last year) and spend more time online, but despite definitely being winter in China, somebody decided it would be a good idea to crank up the air conditioning as if it were 30 degrees outside. I purposefully didn't bring my winter jacket with me on this trip, foretelling the inconvenience of lugging it around in the heat. I carelessly forgot to take into consideration potentially heavily air conditioned buses and shopping malls, even where it might be appreciated where it is 30 degrees outside.

So since I landed in China I've had a reasonably leisurely brunch, followed by a half hour of surfing while my fingers froze off, followed by a wander to the gate, getting distracted by a coffee shop, spending an hour warming my hands on some warm tea, followed by cooling my hands once the cup was empty. I dislike air con. So I decided to warm up my toes by walking the length of the airport back to the business lounge, and that's where I am now, slowly numbing my fingers again.

I'm also pretty tired. Four and a half hours of interrupted dream sleep isn't my favourite kind of sleep. I did get an hour on the airport bus and maybe another hour on the plane, but sleep in a chair just isn't as good as the sleep you can get in a bed. I guess I just don't fancy battling with the air conditioning to take a nap in the airport. But I like airports. There's something about being between countries that kind of makes me feel trapped in time. It doesn't matter that I'm tired now. I'll catch up when I'm out of the airport. I guess I really would get tired if I were Tom Hanks in The Terminal.

After all this procrastination (but it's forced procrastination, and perhaps that's what I love; there's nothing I have to be doing, largely because I can't. And for goodness sake girl, you're on holiday) I only have a couple of hours left to wait. My fingers are sufficiently numb now to decide to go and take that walk back down to the gate again. But if this post wasn't enough evidence of the excitement that Beijing airport has to offer, here's a picture that I took of my tea.

Merry Christmas!

Despite being away from friends and family in the UK, I have had a most relaxing Christmas in Korea with all my closest friends (bar Jaideep who I will see in Singapore in the next week, but still managed to phone in his Christmas wishes to us all) exchanging gifts, eating food (not necessarily traditional Christmas food, but good food nonetheless), listening to music, dancing, and generally enjoying one another's company. After all, home is where the heart is and all that, right?

So now I'm packed up and ready to get the 5am airport bus tomorrow morning to head on out of the sub-zero temperatures of Seoul on for warmer climates in Malaysia. No doubt I'll do much blogging and photo taking from there, but in the meantime I wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas!

Wonder Girls – Nobody

Another inescapable chart topper.

Airport goodbyes

Another weekend on friend-filled fun. I think we're all getting a bit partied out; hopefully the holidays will bring a lot of excuses to sleep! Anyway so for Jaideep's final weekend in Seoul it was back down to Wara Wara in Sanbon on Friday night with their delicious fruit soju cocktails; salsa class on Saturday followed by shots and raspberry mojitos at Bonji and dancing at Caliente; and for the first time in a long time we all went our separate ways at 4am, to reconvene in Hyehwa at midday on Sunday. This was just in time for coffee and lunch and to make our way to the airport to send Jaideep on his way.

I'm not a big fan of airport farewells; they're sad and prolongued and well, sad. Luckily Jaideep attempting to take five large suitcases on the plane to get charged $2000 excess baggage rather detracted from the sadness as we spent an hour packing it all up to ship (for a meagre $500 :-o), and after a final dance with all the girls there was little time for tears. Of course he will be missed, but we're living in a small world. I have no doubt that the adopted salsa family is yet to disperse.

And just as a relevant aside, Andrew dreamt that on questioning when we'd all next see one another, I distributed fingers of a severed hand and assured everyone that once the fingers revived themselves we'd know to get back together. Someone's subconscious is running overtime I fear...

Sleeping in Sanbon

With everyone living at different ends of Seoul, if indeed in Seoul at all, it's usually easiest for the weekend Itaewon salsa crew to congregate at the Itaewon dance studio at the weekends. However, sometimes you just don't wanna dance salsa. So where do you go??

Sanbon baby! All the way down south on line 4 about an hour's journey on the subway, home to Robin and Sebastian. One wonders why people would choose to live so far out until you visit and find out for yourself. Like a city within a city (no, not like Croydon), it has all your life's needs: all the big high street shops, restaurants, coffee shops, and of course, noraebang. There's pretty much no reason to leave except to sight-see, and, well, salsa.

So that's where we crashed on Friday night. Saturday morning was planned for a hike up the local mountain in view of Jaideep's imminent departure from Korea, but (un)fortunately he got called away for a conference at 7am so we scrapped that plan in favour of a lie-in. And by the time we finished brunch and sufficiently recovered after squeezing 7 people into a one-bedroomed apartment, it was time for Robin and me to whisk ourselves away for a private ladies' salsa styling lesson with Helen before class. Most helpful.

Having had so much fun the night before the group agreed to veto the all night Saturday salsa party and head back down to Sanbon. And who needs salsa bars when you can salsa and sing in any one of the multitudes of noraebang that Sanbon hosts? By 5am we were all flaking somewhat, but that didn't stop Robin from delegating brunch tasks the next morning while she sorted out her flat. Sebastian and I were on DVD duty, and in preparation for Christmas we brought back Love Actually. It was a group decision.

So Christmas is upon us folks! In 10 days' time I will be swanning about in Malaysia, far, far away from lesson plans and cold wintry weather. And get this, in less than 12 weeks' time, I'll be saying my teary goodbyes as I put my umbrella up to prepare myself for the perpetual drear of England. My flight is booked and my flat needs a clear out.

Destination: UK--?

As my close friends will be all too aware, I have spent the last few weeks battling an internal struggle with myself over what I will do once the school year finishes at the end of February next year. Ultimately where I am or what I'm doing for six months of my life doesn't really matter as long as I'm having a good time of it, but whether I will be having a good time of it is another matter.

I guess part of me wants to hang out in Korea, take advantage of the cheap subway clothing stalls and salsa it up in Itaewon with my friends at the weekends. The other part of me really misses fried eggs on toast and afternoon tea.

So I had thought, if I could negotiate with my school so that I only worked part time in the afternoons, essentially only teaching the kids I'm teaching now so that I won't have to deal with setting the ground rules again with a new bunch, that might work out for me. I'd have more free time to learn Korean and spend time with those friends that don't work regular 9-5 hours in the mornings and evenings. But then I thought, I probably wouldn't have a whole lot of time in the mornings to get all the way into Seoul and back, and I probably wouldn't get off work any earlier than I currently do. So I might just be a whole lot more bored, and with a decreased salary I might actually have to start worrying about money.

During negotiations I fleetingly suggested to my boss (mistake) that I could stay on full time for a couple of more months. Then I went away and thought about it. As much as I love my life in Korea, I guess I realised I just don't love the weeks quite enough to be living for the weekends. So I decided to come home in March as was originally planned.

So that fleeting comment was naturally taken as the written word, and my boss then went and started making plans for the new year with the intention that I would be staying. We had a chat this afternoon, her saying, "Oh but I want to change the English program, and you'll have more support, and you'll only have to teach the older children, and they are already used to English lessons so it will be easier, and it'll be easier for a new teacher to take over from you later in the year," and other such reasonably valid points.

It is thus that my excitement about coming home and eating all the fried eggs I can stomach and drinking all the afternoon tea the afternoons can offer started to wane, as I thought about how much I'll miss the kids. It's not that I feel any particular responsibility to the school, but I really will miss the kids. Today one of them unexpectedly just gave me a big hug and said, "Oh Teacher I like you!" It kinda pulls at heartstrings.

But writing this I realise, I'm going to leave at some point, so I'll have to leave the kids at some point. If the English program is going to change then I will have to oversee it. Well that sounds like a lot of effort and stress right there. I think another issue is that Lauren and I set up the whole English program in this school from scratch, and I don't like the idea of passing that responsibility onto someone else. But yes, eventually I must pass the baton, and it may as well be sooner rather than later.

I should book my flight before I change my mind again.

Winter dancing

Went to a three hour workshop on basic ballroom dancing steps today with Joey and Helen.

>Getting your toes stepped on as a bunch of beginners make their way round the room just like in the movies? Painful.

>Storming across the room in an attempt to master basic American tango? Invigorating.

>Waltzing to Christmas music to find that it's snowing outside? Priceless.

The perks of an F4 visa

Since I have "at least one parent or grandparent who renounced their Korean citizenship", I am eligible for the "overseas Koreans" F4 visa. This gives me the same residency rights as Korean nationals for the next two years and I am not legally tied to my job. Even though many people take on private tutoring for some extra cash under the table, I am now legally entitled to do part-time work. Score.

So lately, qualified by my British accent, I have been recording part-time for English text books. Example sentences include:

1) useful everyday phrases, e.g.: "The living room communicates with the dining room", "It is abnormal for a two-month-year-old baby to have teeth", "He caught our eyes with his characteristic beard";

2) patriotic indoctrination, e.g.: "Korea worked a miracle in economic development";

3) political generalisations, e.g.: "Old men tend towards conservatism";

4) motivational slogans, e.g.: "No reward without toil", "Don't drink raw milk";

5) observations of the heart, e.g.: "A good wife is a household treasure", "Children and lovers like to blow bubbles", "Young men should not yield up to any temptation", and, one to watch out for, "Silence often implies consent".

I have actually found that I occasionally have to take educated guesses at the pronunciation of some of the more advanced vocabulary, and it is thus that I will endeavour to stop carrying around my Korean phrasebook and replace it with my English dictionary for perusal during my ever-dwindling free time instead. :P

Regarding my visa, I am currently considering what I am actually going to do between the time my non-existent contract at the kindergarten is up at the end of February, and the time I start my masters next September. Hence, I am in the process of re-negotiating my present working agreement to work in favour of both the school (not having to hire and train a new teacher) and myself (not having to find a job in the increasingly expensive UK, or having to take on new and inevitably bratty children).

I shall keep the blog posted.

My weekend food story.

(In Tintin Style) "It all started when... I went with Brian for breakfast on the Yongsan US Army base on Saturday morning. It has become a bit of a running joke that two minutes after I receive my food, Brian will look over and find my plate empty. For a little person one wonders where it all goes, but perhaps after three fat slices of Texas style French toast and sausage topped with whipped butter and maple syrup, "little person" will no longer be an accurate description.

"Now this breakfast was full in the knowledge that I'd be meeting one of my cousins for lunch in Apgujeong. She wanted to meet to exchange some gifts, and as far as it was nice to see her, the language barrier rather stinted conversation somewhat. Still, what communicates better than food, so we went for sushi rolls. It was good, if my stomach wasn't groaning a little.

"So the afternoon plan was to meet up with my multi-national group of friends for some bowling on base, but Jaideep, being from that huge terrorist threat of a country -- Singapore -- was shouted down and escorted away. Rather than leave him stranded we went to Ho Lee Chow in Itaewon for Chinese food. So Mr Lee sure does some good chow, but being the third meal out in day the rate of consumption was slowing on my part. You'd've thought this would be the last meal of the day. But no. I decided to skip salsa class that evening (shock :O) in favour of Brian's dance partner's birthday party. Little did I realise that this would involve a full sit down Italian meal. The exercise probably would have been a better option, but I'm sure the drinking followed by dancing at Caliente compensated, right?

"Sunday we - the Brit, the Canadian, the American, the Korean, the German and the Singaporian - met up in Hongdae for some Indian-?-style curry. After wandering the quirky clothing stores we wandered back in the direction of our usual hangout in Itaewon. There we met Jenny, who in her busy work/study schedule, managed to fit us in so we could celebrate her birthday. Baskin Robbins icecream cake and noraebang all the way baby! We didn't realise we were going with an actual professional jazz singer, but this didn't put the guys off doing possibly the worst rendition (and that's saying something) of Bohemian Rhapsody. :

"To top the weekend off, we went for Thai food at a local haunt. I'm not sure Brian's warning that anyone-to-split-food-with-me-should-claim-their-share-well-in-advance-for-fear-of-not-getting-any-food-at-all was needed in this instance. The company was great, but I think we were all rather bursting at seams by this point. But it sure was a multi-national food induced weekend with a wonderful group of multi-nationals to share it with^.^"

Winter is here. Again.

And at one fell swoop the trees were bare, the pavements were covered in a blanket of yellow ginkgo leaves, all the Koreans had cracked open their winter wardrobes, and, for the first season change of the year, Chi-Hé followed suit by paying attention to the Weather Channel.

The sun shines brightly, the skies are blue, but there is no doubt about it. Winter is here. Again.

James Bond: Quantum of Solace

So much to the amazement of my friends as the cinema was booming with action, I managed to fall asleep for the first twenty minutes of the film. I woke up right in the middle of the loud sound effects feeling I'd missed most of the plot lines, but soon realised that I hadn't actually missed much that I couldn't catch up on. Granted it's a James Bond -- it's not supposed to have the most complex of storylines -- but to sum up there was: a lot of action, Bond going off the rails, a distinct lack of Bond girl action, oh, and more action. I'm not saying there wasn't a storyline, there was just a whole lot more shooting and not a whole lot of dialogue for my liking.

Also, against usual Bond film norm, this was a sequel to the previous -- much better -- movie, with many references that would be lost on you if you'd not seen it, and apparently (I'm not astute enough to have really noticed) storylines have been left over for the inevitable trequel. This isn't necessarily a criticism, but it's recommended to have seen the previous one first before heading out to catch all the nuances of this one.

Still, it was well-acted with a great cast, and it's a good job they kept Daniel Craig on to keep the attentions of the bang-bang-tired such as myself. The continuation of this 007 was certainly a highlight for me. But despite my feelings, I know some of my friends thoroughly enjoyed it. Each to her own I guess.

Spent most of this weekend sick which was a tad bit annoying. Haven't thrown up from non-alcohol related reasons like that in years. Not so pleasant, but I still managed to whoop Brian's ass at Guitar Hero...

Autumn leaves

단풍 [dan-poong]: 【잎】 tinged autumnal leaves; red [crimson-tinted, scarlet-tinged] leaves; crimson foliage; 단풍이 들다 turn red{[yellow]}; be tinged with red; put on autumnal tints

I learnt this word last night, and today was the perfect opportunity to try it out. After a reasonably disappointing exhibition at the Seoul National Science Museum about light, the whole school went next door to Changgyeonggung to frolic in the reds, oranges, yellows and greens that the leaves have turned.

Bachata with Jorge Elizondo

It's been another epic weekend. This weekend at You Can Dance studios we were graced with the presence of Jorge Elizondo who put on a three day bachata workshop. I love this dance. When I first started going to salsa bars, I found it a bit sexy to be doing with people I didn't know, or indeed with people I did know. However, the more I learn about this dance, I can't get enough of it. Not to mention that the music is beautiful. Here's a sample of Jorge's dancing:



So for three hours of Friday night I was going back to basics with hip action and the basic steps of bachata. Followed by a late dinner and chatting with Jaideep half the night, we then got up Saturday morning to meet the crew at Jenny's place for lunch. She cooked us Korean food and it was delicious. We then rushed off to the second day of workshop where we took on some bachata sequences, took an hour for dinner, went back for salsa class, and on to Caliente for a hardcore night of sexying up our new moves. Including dinner (who doesn't dance over dinner?) from 3pm to 3am that was 12 hours solid of dancing. No wonder my feet hurt the next day.

But it doesn't stop there - I met David for brunch at the All American Diner on Sunday (check it out for huge ass American portions), followed by a well needed coffee, on to the third and final day of bachata where we continued to learn more moves, try and remember everything from the previous two days, put it all together and not forget to move those hips. To recharge we fit 17 of us into a small Indian restaurant, chucked all the tables together in the Coffee Bean for 17 of us to have coffee, and finally those hardcore enough went on to dance more salsa. As it was hitting 10pm, I went home and thankfully accidently set my alarm an hour late this morning. If I hadn't, I may well have been hiding in a corner from hyper active children all day.

But bachata. It's an easy dance to learn, and it's heaps of fun. Big fan.

A gripe at grammar

We have Bill Bryson to blame for this post, and indirectly, Simon, who gave me the book. The book being, that is, Mother Tongue, by Bill Bryson.

Being one for rules and that, I like the idea that one can learn grammar. I'm learning otherwise. It's not sitting very well with me.

I mean, if traditionally unapproved structures are adopted by society (e.g. "I'm well hungry"), or even to an extent, if you can make yourself unambiguously understood without employing perfect grammar (e.g. "Me go market now"), what's to say that these are 'wrong'?

I like to write using unfamiliar syntax, justified by the idea that it is 'idiomatic', or something, and yet I'll still strive to be grammatically correct. But what does that even mean? Who decides whether or not we can split an infinitive? When did it become acceptable to say, "I'm going, aren't I?" and yet we can't say, "I'm going, are I not?" It does concern me that I will find myself on a slippery slope if I continue to think about these things - it's one thing to edit every comma that gets published on a personal blog; another to debate the validity of every word that hits the page.

As far as written conventions are concerned I'll refuse to substitute cant for can't and dont for don't, yet I'm not about to write piano', 'phone or Hallowe'en. At what point can we accept change in our language? When will we agree that we can say, "Ten items or less", "To boldly go", or "I'm well hungry"? Or have we already done so?

Turn and Widen: an exhibition

Today's field trip was to the Seoul Museum of Art. I knew we were going to an art gallery; I just didn't know which one. I was probably more excited than the kids when we pulled up in the big yellow bus.

This exhibition, Turn and Widen, is a modern display focussing on contemporary ways of portraying art through the media of unnatural light, communication methods, and the concept of time. It was disappointing not to have more time to take in the exhibits as (as always) we were on a schedule, largely dictated by the childrens' attention span. But still, it was a very cool exhibition. Unfortunately today is its last day in Seoul, as the free entry would definitely have inspired me to go again.

Reflections

Sometimes I think I'm just a little *too* scathing on this blog. Don't get me wrong, I like my life in Korea; I'm over the mid-contract I-hate-Korea phase that so many foreigners seem to go through, and heaven forbid I should ever say it, I even quite like my job. Eight months down the line and the kids are really coming on well, communicating in English a lot better, and I'll defo miss (some of) them when we all head off on different paths (elementary school, university, whatever).

I guess I only write about school when I have something to rant about, which isn't always an accurate representation of how I feel about it. I am highly cynical about Korea's love affair with learning English, and I suppose that comes out more than I necessarily mean for it to, but that doesn't necessarily mean I don't like being a part of it.

This is all I wanted to say -- for the record.

Halloween Festival

Well it was a busy October making an unnecessarily large amount of Halloween decorations to hang up in my classroom in preparation for the kindergarten festival. With over-zealous English enthusiasm this year, comes an English Saturday for the kids to show off their abilities to memorise dialogues. That's where I took Simon last Saturday, then, for a genuine Korean school experience.

Unfortunately I was not involved in the face painting/bobbing for apples/pin the tail on the black cat. Instead, I had to read a story about a frog. Yep, a frog. A frog who eats a fly for lunch. We made frog/fly crafts. Then we roleplayed the story. The highlight was in the party blower, and ensured that the classroom wasn't filled with an embarassing silence. Simon got stuck "selling" juice in the sandwich making room. Don't think his day was any more thrilling.

Still, I heard that the face painting/bobbing for apples/pin the tail on the black cat was fun, and apparently the kids actually enjoyed my frog craft. So woo for the day. What's more, is that Simon "volunteering to come in and help" resulted in a nice unexpected pay packet. That funded our day-of-doing-absolutely-nothing-on-Sunday. We possibly overate on the icecream and fried chicken.

I tell you what though, I was disappointed not to have my camera on Monday morning when the pumpkins were moulded through and dripping pumpkin juice on my piano. I'm glad they've been disposed of now, and I can stop my classroom looking quite so black and orange. Today Simon is just hanging out in my apartment today waiting for an appropriate time to go to the airport...

Andong

I had a very vivid dream last Friday night (probably facilitated by the lack of sleep) that I was late for the train to Andong on Saturday morning and I ended up driving all the way. Since I don't have a car in Korea it is unlikely that this was a premonition of any sort, but I definitely had to run at each possible interval in order to ride the very boring, hunger-inducing 4 hour 17 minute train journey to meet Simon in the south-east of Korea. I guess he wouldn't have been too impressed had I missed the train, either.

Now one thing I must commend Andong for is its particularly helpful tourist information center. Really, it is not so much the center itself that I must commend, but the provision of no less than two maps to help us navigate the optimistically-titled "city". There was a general map with pictures and information about the tourist sites, plus another more-to-scale map of the city center with markings of all potential points of interest (decorative gate, food street, Dunkin Donuts) along with bus times and numbers for all of the surrounding destinations we might have wanted to visit. Very useful.

After checking into our love motel (with a disappointing lack of coloured glow lighting) it was perhaps an indication of Andong's worth as a tourist destination when the bus driver hadn't even heard of the soju museum. It was convenient that he spotted the sign as we drove by so that he could give us door-to-door service, but for a Saturday afternoon we didn't expect the museum to look so decidedly shut. Nevertheless the security guard ushered us in, and even turned on the lights for us to have a look around. Simon contemplated how I managed to ace my science GCSEs as he had to explain the distillation process to me that I'd failed to recall, and I read The Queen's thank you letter after her visit to Andong with momentary patriotism. We figured we weren't going to receive that thimble sized sample of soju at the end of our self-led tour.

So we walked back to the city proper, drank some coffee, and headed out to Jebiwon - "No, it's not a Star Wars character, though this huge rock-carved Amitaba Buddha (Icheon-dong Seokbulsang; admission free; 24hr) does bear a faint resemblance to Jabba the Hutt." [Lonely Planet - sometimes I think I'm too scathing, but for a published book, this definitely is.] Again I'm glad the bus driver told us where to get off, as even when we were let loose in the street there weren't any obvious signs. It was hitting sunset as we arrived so we didn't hang around long to look at the stone Buddha head in the dark (or indeed hike up any hills for better views), and since Simon failed to even mention this excursion in his blog post, it's evident why.

Even though Andong is famous for its meat, we failed to enquire into famous restaurants. The meat we ate that evening (chosen from one of the many restaurants down "Food Street" largely to its close proximity to where we were standing when we decided we were hungry) was good, but whether this was due to the excessive marinade or the actual quality of the cow, we weren't sure.

On Sunday we took a scenic walk by the river 3km out of the city to the folk village. It could have been more pleasant were we not walking by a pavement-less main road, but at least the sun was shining and the way was still adorned by the beautiful reds and yellows of autumn to distract us from the whooshing cars. We detoured by the oldest brick pagoda in Korea underneath the railway line before reaching the village that was reconstructed/relocated due to a dam-induced lake that would destroy all surrounding cultural relics. Apparently KBS do some filming in this village since it looks so authentic, but I also imagine the lack of tourists around makes it a convenient set. Apathy got the better of us as we decided not to take a look around the museum. We took the main road back to Andong, ate dak galbi, drank more coffee, and I'm glad Simon accompanied me home as that wasn't a 4 hour 17 minute train journey I fancied doing alone again.

So to sum up. Andong is famous for its soju, traditional masks and meat. I'd say we failed to really experience any of these things, so I'd say a big congratulations is in order for us. I had really wanted to get to the mask festival earlier this month but I was busy dancing it up at that time, but I'm thinking if I want to go again, that'd be the time of year to do it.

Digging for potatoes

It's been a busy month with Halloween decorations going up left, right and center in preparation for the "Halloween Fun Day" next Saturday - yes, that's right, Saturday - where all children and parents will come and bob for apples, among other activities. Rain was forecast for today, so I prepared an exciting pumpkin craft to stick around my classroom, but luckily the sun shone on brightly facilitating the planned sweet potato dig.

We went somewhere out and beyond Uijeongbu (i.e. out and beyond the north of Seoul) to a lone sweet potato patch somewhere in the middle of some farmland. I don't know if this is kindergarten owned land, or a random patch that the bus driver decided would be a good place for potato digging. Nonetheless, we all got our hands mucky pulling apart potatoes for the kids to take home. Much like the mass-production-bat-making lines Marie and I have been instigating in the classroom, this seemed rather like child labour as the bus driver shouted commands and urged faster picking. No prizes for guessing what's on next week's menu at school.

Simon's in Busan at the moment, but tomorrow morning - after David's birthday party tonight and thus a potential struggle out of bed and aching head - I will meet him four hours out of Seoul in Andong. It's famous for its soju, traditional masks and meat, so hopefully there will be much relaxing and won't be too hardcore on the sight-seeing...

Chuncheon and Gangchon

Simon is currently visiting in Korea after three months of travel around south-east Asia. I've happily given him full access to my apartment, and more beneficially to me (aside from scintillating company of course), my limited kitchen facilities.

After much deliberation and scouring of the guide book, this weekend we decided to go to Chuncheon (춘천) - a city just north-east of Seoul and conveniently accessed by train from Cheongnyangni station. Living in the suburbs in the north of Seoul, travel in Korea has so far necessitated a lengthy journey to Seoul Station or the Express Bus Terminal, so finding a close by exit is proving the prospect of further Korea trips a lot more convenient. The Sunday evening trafficked trip to Gangnam followed by a multi-transfer subway journey home was never the most appealing end to a weekend away.

Anyway, we took a taxi from Namchuncheon train station to the love motel we had unnecessarily phoned ahead for. This "Ritz Motel" was described in the Lonely Planet as having an underwear vending machine, which I believe was a big selling point for Simon. On arriving, this proved to indeed be no lie, along with the optional orange glow lighting and the complimentary toothbrushes and protection on arrival. As the man behind the counter made numerous phone calls, rifled through several directories and gave us no less than two maps to find our way around this easily walkable town, we figured he didn't usually get many questions regarding the tourist sights from his usual clientele.

Indeed it is worth mentioning how positively ridiculous the number of motels Chuncheon houses. If we hadn't already pre-booked our very respectable seedy accommodation, we most definitely would have easily checked into one of the other hundreds of motels we could see. Apart from the regular convenience stores and churches dotted around, on first impression Chuncheon didn't seem to be offering a whole lot else than cheap sleeps for the couples of the area.

So anyway after detailed directions, on Saturday morning we got a bus to Gangchon (강촌) - a small neighbouring town. Now although neither of us are nursing broken hearts (and thus not gagging at the couple culture of Korea), there was an incredible number of couples in his-and-her motorcycle helmets - presumably rented from the dozens of bike rental shops interspersed among all the dak galbi (닭갈비) restaurants - riding past us as we opted to walk the alleged 2km to Gugok waterfalls (구곡폭포). This definitely seemed to be a popular weekend activity among courting young people. The waterfalls themselves were made beautiful by the array of reds and oranges that autumn has brought, but the walk at any other time of year may have been deemed unworthy. Still, it certainly made us feel better about our fitness as we ambled past a pair of panting Korean enthusiasts, who had no doubt taken their car to the entrance.

This said, walking the 530m up Kumbong mountain (검봉산) put me straight, but I never like to be outdone by the old people in excessive hiking gear. Not being anywhere near 1000m Simon decided it was less of a mountain and more of a hill, but not being an avid hiker a 530m-high hill was mountain enough for me. We had actually intended to hike up Bonghwasan, but Simon assures me that climbing the wrong mountain is a becoming a regular feature of his travels.

Back down the mountain, though the waterfall entrance, back along the 2km to the center of Ganchon with a unpalatable iced coffee break, followed by a long wait at the bus stop watching an old man sporadically falling asleep and dropping his bus money, seeing the train go both to and from Chuncheon and debating the wear of couple clothing in the UK, we finally got back to Chuncheon eager for a shower and a re-coop. A mis-read of the map led us to go straight to sampling the local dak galbi (spicy chicken barbeque) down Dak Galbi Street. It got the thumbs up from Simon.

On Sunday, after a leisurely start and a long breakfast, we took a wander by the lake from the sculpture park to the war memorial. Despite being Chuncheon's probable only real activity, we opted out of taking the ferry/swan pedalo across to the not particularly exciting looking island. Still, the prospect of a relaxing weekend away with minimal sight-seeing to do and more book reading/blog writing opportunities sounded very appealing, and indeed all requirements were fulfilled. Simon's off in Gyeongju now for some more actual sight-seeing. Our weekend away was definitely enjoyable, but it's probably only a recommended destination if you, like me, live in the north of Seoul and are looking for an easy escape out of the big city.

Fall picnic

One day in Summer, it was was suddenly Autumn. The air is cool, jackets have come out, and my windows are getting a nice layer of condensation on them in the mornings -- very reminiscent of the mould that ensued this time last year. I love it. It's like British weather all year round, except that it doesn't rain so much. Actually I think I have a rose tinted vision of British weather. Still, it's like British weather on the few nice days that they get there.



Last Wednesday the whole school took an all-day field trip. The 5 and 6 year olds went to Seoul Forest (I believe a bit of a misnomer) while the 7 year olds went to some children's theatre center. This center was apparently part of the pioneering of public early childhood education in Korea. Anyway, the kids kicked around some changing autumn leaves before I fell asleep during what seemed to me to be a highly dubiously entertaining children's puppet show.

Birthday in Korea

So I guess it's a bit strange to be celebrating away from home, family and friends in England, but I'm lucky to have made a great bunch of friends who I could celebrate with in Korea instead.  It wasn't much different to a regular weekend night out, but there was drinking in one of the many bars in Itaewon (with an irregular but appreciated influx of presents and ice-cream cake), followed by salsa dancing at Caliente (but this time with more tequila shots and beer than usual, and possibly less successful double spins), followed by taking advantage of the empty dance floor at the Hard Rock Cafe.  And of course all my friends and fun -- I couldn't have asked for a better birthday party :)

Seoul Salsa Congress 2008

My feet ache. No wait, let me amend that. Every cell in my body aches. Or it feels that way. But it's the good kind of ache -- the kind where I know I've had one hell of a weekend and I only have to catch up on lost sleep at work. And as a lot of us know, hyper-active children are very conducive to such situations. Not.

Anyway. The Congress. Three days of workshops from world class salsa professionals learning a mix of On 1 steps, On 2 shines (it seems all the cool kids are dancing on 2 these days, making that year's worth of on 1 experience a little frustrating), Columbian-style salsa (those Swing Latinos were just AMAZING, and so damn fast!), and Afro-Fusion moves (whatever the hell that is).

Performances from said professionals in the evenings helped ease the aching feet before all night parties ensued, but getting a bit of social dancing in at two previously un-attended salsa bars in town was definitely worth it, even if it meant lacking in sleep before a full day of dancing the next day. Had to skip out on Sunday evening's activities in lieu of sleep to prepare for aforementioned hyper-active children today, and given all the dancing I had no choice to put my sweaty suede and satin shoes in the washer. I write with baited breath for a pair of utterly ruined dance shoes. A good excuse for a new pair.

Anyway, I couldn't have asked for a more fun weekend.

...and I didn't, but I got one anyway. This weekend was also the Seoul Fireworks Festival, and following a bet with Sebastian that it wouldn't happen, Jaideep (salsa friends -- not that that really needs clarifying these days) hired a private yacht to take a bunch of us on the Han river to watch the fireworks. OK, so we were quite far away and they didn't look all too spectacular anyway, but the weather was perfect and the company was even better. These opportunities just don't come along very often, and I guess drinks will be on Sebastian next time...

Jangheung Art Park

Last Friday the kids went on a field trip to the Jangheung Art Park. Since "it is a good natural way for children to learn English", I went too. Can't say the kids learnt much English that day, but listening to explanations about the art exhibits was certainly good for my Korean.

"A Place of Emotional Experience
"Jangheung Art Park provides a space where exhibits and interaction come together to provide an exceptional experience which all members of family can enjoy. Jangheung Art Park is where "art - nature - humanity" coexists. The Art Park hopes to provide people with the opportunity for families to come together and directly interact with culture. It provides the opportunities for new experiences to be encountered."

I'm not sure there was much in the way of 'emotional experience', but there was definitely fun, and it's always good to have a morning off teaching.

The APPT Seoul

This isn't actually a post about poker. But good friend Ed happened to qualify for the tournament so shipped himself over for the weekend. Luckily for me he went out in the first day, but that meant we had all weekend to spend together; clearly that's why he qualified in the first place, right? ;)

Actually, mutual university friend Sun-Ho is also in Korea taking up holiday visiting family. Being a poker fan he spent much of Thursday evening swooning over professional poker players (while I'm sitting there at the open bar going, "Greg who now?"), but also being a fan of the salsa dance, I took the boys out to Caliente on Friday night to check out Sun-Ho's new moves. Speaking of which, it's the 2008 Salsa Congress in Seoul next weekend, but no doubt there will be more on that nearer the time.

So there was Insadong and Changdeokgung and Seoul Tower and the War Museum, but more than anything else there was silliness and geekiness.

Which reminds me of the "Rolling Ball" exhibition. Some geeks got together to present their marble rollers. It was amazing. Not to mention the weekend stay in the Sheraton Walkerhill hotel. So I was late to work on Monday morning, but I did have a good breakfast...

Leaving season

I've mentioned once or seven times that it's leaving season. That is, lots of people are leaving Korea right around now. Yet another one just left this morning, and I guess with the end of my original contract approaching it feels strange not to be following suit.

With Joey and Helen leaving for their honeymoon yesterday there seemed to be a need to give extended goodbyes to everyone at the end of the night, despite the fact everyone would see each other in a few days time. The dance studio has been my sanction from small children these past six months, and to me I guess it just feels a bit like the end of an era.

Actually not everyone shares my feelings. I spoke to a friend who has been here a decade or two, and he just said that people leave so often it comes as no surprise anymore. In fact he went so far as to say at one point he and his wife just gave up trying to make friends, as they'd only be leaving soon anyway. When I first arrived in Korea I was warned about people leaving all the time, but it's only now that I'm really noticing it.

Still, new people come as much as they leave, and I'll just be following the trend next year too...

Salsa workshop

Has been a weekend of dance, and with You Can Dance instructors getting married today, no doubt there will be more to follow.

Canadian salsa and swing champions Gerald and April are currently in Seoul, and put on some dance workshops this weekend. The salsa workshop I attended was a really good experience, with a focus on technique and leads. Also to give the regular instructors some time off before their wedding, they taught the Saturday night salsa classes which, as great as the classes usually are, was just a bit refreshing to have a different perspective and teaching style. Watching them dance together during the social dancing was just amazing.

In other news, still slogging through university applications...

Chuseok: discovering the wonders of the Seoul bus system

I take the bus three stops down the road every day to work, turning a 40 minute walk into a five minute ride. Other than this I've found the subway to be very convenient for taking me elsewhere in the city; it's clean, fast, and all the maps have English translations. I've even heard other foreigners go so far as to wonder why you would ever need to take a bus, and that they wouldn't know how.

After having had my attention turn to this convenient website (use with IE), I've started to be more adventurous with my bus travel. Travelling south of Seoul for the Korean harvest festival - Chuseok - to visit family, it was a good opportunity to avoid a four-transfer subway trip in favour of a direct bus all the way there.

Regarding the holiday, hanging out in the countryside was definitely what I needed after a long stint in Seoul, but I did feel mildly awkward not being able to follow my hosts' break-neck speed conversations! With an extra day off on Monday to play with, I went to see Mamma Mia: the Movie with my cousin. Once I got over how incredibly lame the storyline is, it was actualy quite entertaining. And just to note: I love popcorn in Korea! Having a mix of salted and caramel HOT popcorn is a much better idea than drying out your mouth with just one or the other that British cinemas insist you eat!

Recreational mathematics

I've become a sucker for evening logic puzzles. It makes me the victim of disdain in social drinking situations, impatiently waiting for me to join in the conversation and put the notebook away, until math-tutor-David imposes said problems on the whole table.

The starting problem:

Three applicants for a job are all equally qualified. In order to distinguish between them, the employer presents them with a fair test. Each applicant is blind folded and seated facing one another in a triangular shape. The employer has three black hats and one white hat. He places one hat on each of the applicants and toss the other one out. When the blindfolds are removed the first one to state his or her hat colour will get the job.

Before the blindfolds are removed, one applicant states that he knows his hat colour and he knows why. What is it and why?

[I think this problem would have been a lot easier if I'd seen it written down rather than verbally...it's easy to forget information when there's beer involved...]

The current problem:

There are seven prisoners, each to be executed tomorrow. The warden presents them with a chance to save their lives. Before the execution each prisoner will be chosen at random to enter a room. In the room will be two light switches. The light switches serve no purpose. The prisoner must flick one switch once. When a prisoner can tell the warden when he knows all seven prisoners have flicked a switch, they may all live. They have one evening to discuss the problem. What should they do?

Since I'm that kind of fair-play kind of player, I haven't looked any answers up online. Of course now I've written them online, I'm potentially subject to spoilers. Just stay smug in the knowledge you know something I don't (yet), ok? :P

Giving in to pressure

The argument:

With society having moved increasingly towards a 2-parent working family, schools need to support the needs of working mothers. With the English learning boom of the past few years, competition from English language hagwons, and new regulations for all public schools to have English teachers, this kindergarten is under pressure to keep up.

The solution:

There is a 'day-care' class for children whose parents work and are unable to pick them up from school in the afternoon, where they play, read books, do occasional cooking (sorry, 'cooking') and use building blocks. "To support working mothers" the principal wants to introduce another English class to encourage parents to keep their children at school in the afternoon. And guess who has to do it?

Initially I gave an outright "no". I know it's not a big deal - I just have to read them a story and maybe do some 'fun' story-related activities, but it's just another thing I don't want to do, and frankly, another thing the kids don't want to do after several of them having already spent an extra two hours English lessons after a full day of Korean studies. This is let alone the day-care teacher who has already made all her plans and now has to fit in a farcical story time. Unfortunately this is well within contractual hours, so I don't have much of a leg to stand on when I try to object, though I got some sighs from other Korean teachers when they heard I finally agreed.

Actually, I don't really mind, now. It's easy - I can just read them a story, and as long as I fill the time I guess no one really cares what I do with it. It's not like I can complain given all the slave-driving hagwons out there. It was just the principle of the thing. "Now that my elementary class has been cut I have ALL this free time, so I can do another class." It sounded like they were working me for the sake of it. But since there is this highly convincingly dubious argument to persuade me I roll my eyes and give in.

Things I haven't done for a while

I mentioned my dislike for Itaewon, but it certainly has its perks. On Friday night David asked me what I wanted to eat for dinner. I said bangers and mash. You can get "sausage" here in Korea, but often it's the processed frankfurter type. I certainly have not had mashed potato in nearly a year. Gecko's Terrace it was then. It's all about the gravy.

I also mentioned it is leaving season. Another friend is off on Wednesday so some mutual friends threw her a small get together at the Ritz-Carlton in Gangnam on Saturday night. I haven't hung out at a private party drinking wine and listening to music since being in Korea. Admittedly Koreans tend to live with their parents and teachers tend to live in tiny studio apartments, so going out tends to be a more practical option than staying in. I don't think I've really even drunk wine in Korea - it's all been about the cheap Cass lager. But last night the weather was gorgeous; perfect for a bit of socialising among good friends and balcony dancing.

Another (another) friend just returned to Korea after two months at home, so it was back to Itaewon for some dancing at the Hard Rock Cafe. Most people I meet here say that they drink far more than they ever did at home. My lager intake has certainly gone up, but my all night partying (and tequila intake) has taken a down slide since uni. Last night was an exception though. Apart from salsa, I don't go out clubbing that often. But it was great. Haven't danced like that in a long time.

Partying in Itaewon

Last night was Rob's last night in Korea. I guess being the beginning of the western academic year, there's a lot of teacher turn-over at this time of year. Anyway, we went to Itaewon for a final drink and a dance.

In my whole time here I don't think I've ever really talked about Itaewon. Maybe there's a reason for that. When I first arrived in Korea I didn't go there much; the one time I went in the daytime I got really freaked out that a) I could understand people's conversations on the streets, and b) with that in mind, they could probably understand mine too.

Living out in the suburbs of Seoul it's rare that I meet another foreigner on the street in day-to-day life. If I do, we'll probably acknowledge one another, keeping up the united minority front. In Itaewon, the foreign district of Korea, I'm more likely to shy away from all other foreigners. I know I AM one, but en masse I guess we can be intimidating.

Actually it's not probably not that different to being at home. Hoards of drunk people in the evenings are intimidating wherever you go, especially when you're not drunk and by yourself. But getting back to England and understanding EVERYTHING is going to be weird.

Anyway other than this, Itaewon just doesn't seem to have the same standards of cleanliness than the rest of central Seoul. It just seems dirty (possibly with coke bottles and KFC wrappers floating on the streets). I kind of feel I might get a rat across my feet down the side alleys.

Still, these days I come here at least once a week to dance salsa (there's a seedy little salsa bar called Caliente, predominantly full of expats doing their thing on a Saturday night) and to hang out with my Korean and western friends alike without any pressure to speak Korean.

I guess people like coming here because everyone speaks English and you know what you're getting. I guess that's why I (and a lot of other foreigners) don't.

Taking an urban walk

Admittedly wandering through Seoul isn't always the most pleasant of activities. People, traffic and high rises aren't exactly conducive to relaxing. Still, eager to try my new digicam I bought in Yongsan last weekend, I headed for City Hall for a wander around the less congested roads around the area. First stop: Seoul Museum of Art.

I wanted to see if they had a modern art exhibition still running that Lauren had recommended before she left, but alas I was a week too late. Still, this was a good opportunity to browse the works of Chun Kyung-Ja in the permanent collection. It is a small array of the pieces that this successful female Korean donated to the gallery, depicting her life of travel and quest for international acclaim in the art world.

I really enjoyed wandering around this artist's paintings. I was lucky to turn up at the time that a fellow English teacher was giving a tour of the collection, and having enjoyed the art myself it was nice to gain more of an insight into the artist's life and the depth behind the paintings. I'm no art critic, but I'd like to come back here sometime and enjoy the serenity of this gallery.

Continuing my walk I headed to Gyeonghuigung - a small palace yet to be fully restored. Again, I was revelling in the lack of people and cool breeze that the end of summer has brought with it. By chance I stumbled across a taekwondo demonstration, being held every Wednesday and Saturday until December as part of the 2008 Seoul Taekwondo Tour Program.

Even though taekwondo is a self-defense sport, the power and control behind the fighters manages to turn a potentially scary skill into a form not dissimilar to dance. There really is an element of beauty and elegance to this martial art. There was an opportunity for foreigners to try out some board-breaking themselves, but it was only strong looking men who partook^^

My photos aren't going to win any competitions, but for a point-and-shoot camera I'm pretty pleased with the lack of effort needed to get some nice colourful pictures. On the way to the bus stop I got a shot of this moving Statue of Hammering Man, presumably depicting the endless toil of Seoul city life...

Everland has a new rollercoaster

My new co-worker Marie (who, by the way, seems to be settling in well) had her birthday celebrations yesterday at Korea's actual best theme park: Everland.

I'd been there several times before with my family, but this was the first time I'd had the opportunity to ride Everland's newest rollercoaster addition. The T-Express (named due to its sponsers, T-World, who make your swipey subway T-money card) is Korea's first wooden coaster, opened to the public in March this year. It is truly a sight to behold. Behold:


The ride up to the top was incredibly smooth, twisting you round the corner to prepare you for the world's steepest wooden coaster drop of 77 degrees (see the one on the right hand side). It was immense. All drops and turns were totally exhilarating, reaching a top speed of 64.6 mph, and you really felt like you were coming out of your seat on the fast dips. It was also great only being strapped in at the lap rather than having a cumbersome over-the-head safety bar.

Definitely the best rollercoaster I've EVER ridden.

Another ride of note was "Let's Twist" recently opened this year as well. We actually rode this one at night, so as the wheel lifted us high above ground level while the rotating arms simultaneously flung us about we were we able to take in the beautiful views of the star-lit countryside^^


The weather was perfect for a Saturday afternoon visit, and we hardly had to queue more than forty minutes for any ride. It was pretty impressive that all 11 of us managed to stick together all day, and the dak kalbi went down well afterwards!

Back to old ways

After the initial excitement of seeing their favourite Mary Teacher back, the kids' good behaviour and/or shyness has certainly worn off quickly. We're back to the old "Yay -- it's playtime!" mentality once let loose of the controls of their native teachers.

This week is seriously dragging...apparently having 5 hours in the afternoon to "prepare" is a lot more tiring than it sounds.

Still, was asked to join the "performance team" at salsa today, so that ought to keep some of my free time occupied! Eugh; tired. Went to bed at 9.30 last night. That's early.

First day back

Today was the first day teaching back at the old yu-chi-won. This week is pretty cushy with only two hours teaching each morning; next week won't be much worse since they cancelled my elementary classes, so it's just 20 hours of teaching kindy a week from now on. This will give me lots of time to go to the bank/post office/stationery shop, surf the net, read, or whatever tickles my fancy once I've done ALL that preparation for my classes. Considering how stressful I found this job to begin with, 6 months down the line it all seems to be working out in my favour :) Also, the weekend just gone is the first that hasn't been laden with storms or extreme heat. However it's still mid-August, so no doubt there is more to come...

In other news, have decided to apply for a masters course starting Autumn 2009 in linguistics. It sorta seems to be up my street. Am just waiting for applications to open so I can get on that.

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo

...is a grammatically correct sentence.

Yesterday, "sparked by my mathematical background and free time on [that] national holiday", I wrote a really long blog post showing how for every number of words 'buffalo' strung together, the string would make a grammatically correct sentence. With too much time to think on the subway I'm not really satisfied that what I wrote was 100% accurate, so have decided to come back to it later. This might take a long time though, since at this point in time I never want to hear the word 'buffalo' (or at least type it) again. So!

TODAY (which is now yesterday, and considering it's gone midnight, two days ago) I went to the Latin American Art exhibition in the Deoksugung museum. Pretty weird stuff. Lots of dismembered limbs, definite space theme going on in gallery 3, and gallery 4 messed with my eyes/brain. I enjoyed it.

TODAY (or Saturday, or today, or yesterday, depending on *just* how pedantic we're being) I saw The Dark Knight. Loud and long was how my friend described it, which I don't think is an unfair evaluation, but the raving reviews of Heath Ledger as the Joker were completely justified. It doesn't need to be said, but the lack of his masterful performances from future cinema screens will be missed.

I watched The Mummy then everyone left.

After mentioning a throw-away thought of holidaying to Egypt next year, Ian gave me a look of fear as he told me he was scared of scarabs. This look was nothing however compared to the look of horror he gave when he realised the reference was lost on me. With The Mummy 3 imminent to Korean cinema screens, we bought the two prequels (I think this particular subway seller was actually legit) to aid my impending education.

Being a big fan of Egypt, Rachel Weisz and American jokes, they went down well. The latest film, however, unfortunately misses out on the beautiful lead actress, and although we came up with some plausible explanations, Alex's cut-sharp English accent was disappointingly replaced with an all-American one. On top of this, the plot was poor. Basically they revived the mummy far too early and I fell asleep during the action. With the film set in China, none of my reasons for liking the earlier films were fulfilled in this one.

So that was Ian's last night in Seoul. I packed him off on the City Limousine Bus (it's just as plush as it sounds) on Tuesday morning to Incheon airport, tried not to get too teary as a further half year of long-distance-relationship looms, and set about enjoying Lauren's last night in Seoul.

Earlier in the day Lauren had met with her now ex-boss, who'd kindly loaded her off with some cash to splash on her last day. After packing and re-packing a year's worth of accumulations (let's not even think about how much stuff got sent home; I'm thinking of having a clear-out soon) we went to a fancy sushi bar. One of those all-you-can-eat buffet places. We agreed that Korea definitely does buffet restaurant a lot classier than England. For some reason they threw a mental when I wanted to take pictures of the food, though.

As a last-night memento we also went to one of Korea's many sticker booths. With make-up shops and face-rollers to slim down your cheeks rife, it is little wonder that Koreans are obsessed with taking photos of themselves. It's not uncommon to see people on the streets/subway/drinking coffee with their phones out posing for self-pics. I guess sticker booths just aid this obsession. They're just like ID photo booths, except there are wigs and hairbands to try on, and you can decorate the photos afterwards with pretty backgrounds and borders.

So that was Lauren's last night in Seoul. I packed her off on the City Limousine Bus (still plush) this morning to Incheon airport where my unexpected tears appeared as my Korean-adventure friend set forth for the security gates and beyond. I'll miss her tonnes and I wish her all the best back in the UK...and I guess I'd better get used to the idea that the holidays are over and it's back to work tomorrow!