Birthday Shenanigans

Hey hey

Sorry for the late post, been recovering for the past couple of days so haven’t had chance to do it! First of all I’d just like to say thank you to everybody for their birthday messages. It was very much appreciated!

Anyways, after last weeks post, I have lot’s more fun and frolics to fill you in on. After having another quiet Monday and Tuesday, I met Mark and some mates after school on Wednesday to go for some food and have a few bevs. This of course turned in to another very hefty night! There’s a Korean dude called Chris that works at Marks school and it just so happened that me and Mark ended up sitting next to him while eating. There’s a curious custom over here where your drink can never be empty and Koreans take it very seriously. This meant that every time we had some Soju, Chris automatically filled up our glasses. Being the mental drinker that he is, he made Me and Mark keep up with him. This all meant that by the time me and Mark left the restaurant, we were, for want of a better word, shit-faced! After visiting a few more bars, neither of us recollected going home or going to bed. Thursday was horrific!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’d definitely put it in my top 5 hangovers of all time! I won’t fill you in on the gory details, but it involved lot’s of sick!

After a very, very low key Thursday night, the weekend was a little more eventful. I was happy to get another week of teaching under my belt and by Friday I felt like I was finally starting to get my head round it all. The kids are starting to get to know me as well so it’s making my job a little easier. They can still be a handful at times but I think they’ve realised how far they can push me, I’ve already gone ballistic a couple of times! For the most part they’re a lot of fun to teach and apart from the odd one or two, I’ve got a really good bunch of kids. I did a bit of acting with them this week as well which was a good laugh. It’s really weird, they’re the most outgoing kids ever but put them in front of a camera and they just seize up and shit themselves!

After finishing school on Friday, me, Mark and a few friends went for some food and had a few beers. I was determined to have a quiet one because I didn’t want Saturday to be a write-off and thankfully I managed to do it this time around! Whoop Whoop! Instead of getting smashed we went to a pool hall and played for about an hour and a half, all for the price of about 4 quid each. The only downside of playing pool in Korea is the fact that they use American tables. The pockets are huge so it’s pretty easy, but makes you look a fool if you miss a simple shot. Anyways, after that, I went home and got to bed about 2 o’clock.

It was  really nice to wake up on Saturday as fresh as a daisy, but I completely forgot that it was my birthday! I was pottering round my apartment for like 15 mins before I realised, think it’s a sign of getting old! Also, it’s the first birthday I’ve ever spent away from my family or my close friends so there was nobody there to remind me. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get a twinge of homesickness, but I guess that’s to be expected on your birthday. It soon passed though as soon as I decided my plans for the day. After chilling out and getting a coffee in Sanbon, I decided to get the subway into Seoul to visit Dongdaemun market. Dongdaemun is the biggest market in the country and has got to be one of the biggest in the world, it’s a behemoth! People had told me how big it was but It’s quite difficult to comprehend. It’s both outdoor and indoor, and different parts of it are open at different times of day. As it’s 24 hour, it never actually closes so you could go there at four in the morning and buy something if you really wanted to. I had a wonder round for an hour or so and got completely lost, but that’s half of the fun. I can’t actually describe what the market itself sells because it sells absolutely everything, from textiles and clothes, to electronics and live fish! It’s kind of like the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul but a hell of a lot bigger! I managed to pick up a cheap Casio knock off watch for two pounds fifty so it was a good days work! After finally finding my way back to the subway station, I decided to go to Myeong-dong.

Myeong-dong is the main commercial shopping district of Seoul and is absolute carnage!. You’d expect the area to be massive but all of the shops are crammed in to a few streets so it’s always packed. You have to barge your way through just to be able to walk properly. All of the buildings are high rise as well so it feels like your in New York or something (ladies you would love it!) I found it hilarious that people were queuing just to get in H&M! I don’t mean to buy stuff, I mean just to actually get in, with an actual bouncer! They were operating a 1 in 1 out policy………for H&M!!!! I’ve later found out that it’s just opened though and Koreans love anything that’s new. After spending a couple of hours fighting the crowds  I decided to head back for a snooze before the nights birthday festivities, and boy what sweet festivities they were!

After going round to Mark’s for a couple of beers and a Fifa, we headed out to meet some friends in Hongdae, the main university district of Seoul and incidentally, the main clubbing area. Ben told me before I came out that it’s the most European type area he visited and it’s definitely true. I don’t think I’ve mentioned yet that Korea is predominately  made up of high rise tower blocks. This isn’t just for the housing, but for everything. I guess it’s due to a lack of space (it being such a small country) but it’s perfectly normal to go to a bar on the 7th floor of a building. For example, in my block alone, there’s housing, restaurants, bars and a karaoke room. You really don’t get a true perspective of Korea until you look up! Hongdae on the other other hand, isn’t really like this. All of the bars and stuff are on street level so it kind of feels as though your drinking in Manchester or any other big British city, but with lot’s more neon! I’ve never seen so many bars and clubs in such a small space, it literally is just drinking establishments, nothing else!

Going against a sacred British tradition, we decided to kick off the night with an authentic Turkish kebab from a takeaway. I expected this to be dirt as Korea isn’t exactly known for it’s Turkish kebabs but it was delicious! It was more like the kebabs I had in Turkey than any I’ve ever had in Britain. Think it helped that the owner was actually Turkish. After filling our belly’s, we went to meet an old friend of mine who’s also living in Korea. My mate from school Jenko has been living here for about 18 months and I’ve not seen him for a few years so was great to catch up with him. He took us to a club where his mate’s band were playing and it was a really good laugh. The club was basically like every other indie club ever invented but the bands were outstanding. We just caught the end of Jenko’s mates band but the Korean band on after them were, in the words of Frank….epic……absolutely epic! They basically decided to sack off the vocals for 45 mins to make a f**##n racket! After spending a couple of hours in the club we decided to go to Tatooine, or at least a club that did a damn good impression of it. Needless to say there were Star Wars references flying about everywhere! The inside was made up of little caves that you sat on the floor in and smoked hookah pipes, always good fun. For some reason somebody decided it would be a really good idea to leave bongo’s and other various instruments lying around……..I couldn’t resist!

After Tatooine, we headed to another club that must have known we were coming, as soon as we walked in the door The Smith’s started playing! I honestly did feel like I was back at 42’s. They then knocked out Common People, which actually made my night! For some reason, we then decided it would be a great idea to go to the shop , buy some booze and just hang around the street for a bit. Everybody just drinks on the street here, nobody cares at all. I then thought it would be a great idea to ride a giant plastic apple (??????). I smashed my knee in real good trying to get up there, and have got the bruise to prove my accomplishment. After heading to one more bar out of sheer desperation not to go home, we finally hailed a taxi and rolled back in to Sanbon about 7.30am. One final word on Hongdae, it’s the first time I’ve seen mainly white people since I’ve been here. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but I’ve kind of got used to being a minority, so much so that I quite like it now. I like not knowing what the hells going on. It’s nice not to have to listen to other people’s conversations when you’re out. 

Sunday was an absolute write-off, I slept pretty much all day and all night. Yesterday and today has been quiet but tomorrow I’m going out for my mate Enoch’s birthday so should be another monster hangover on Thursday!

Right, and that about brings me up to date! Photo’s of my birthday night out are up on Facebook courtesy of Mark. I have a few of my various escapades but haven’t had chance to put them up as I’m having to use a PC room for the internet. I should be getting a laptop in the next 3 weeks so I’ll put them on when I can.

For now, peace x

The kids are alright

Yo yo yo

So, after having Monday off for a Korean national holiday, I finally got into the classroom on Tuesday. I was pretty nervous when I got there because as it was the start of a new term,nobody seemed to know what the hell was going on! I felt woefully unprepared for my first class but I think that’s kind of expected when you first start. My fears were eased once I started teaching though because you’re told what to teach and it’s all on a computer for you. The main bulk of the job is simply keeping the kids interested and involved. The kids themselves are adorable as well. All of my kids are between like 8 and 12 years old and they’re really inquisitive. It’s tiring work keeping the kids involved because you’ve got to be really active but it beats sitting in an office all day! My schedule is pretty cushy as well. I work from half 2 until half 8 everyday but some days are busier than others. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I have 8 classes so by the end of the day your absolutely knackered but Tuesdays and Thursdays are easier as I only have 5 classes. By the end of the week I felt as though I’d been doing it for years! I’ve already got my favourite classes as well. I have one class 3 times a week that’s just 6 lads and they’re all little dudes. There’s two in particular called Rex and Rafael and they’re the coolest little kids. Rex wears these sweet shades and he’s absolutely mental, Rafael is tiny but has this huge head of hair, he’s going to be a right heartbreaker when he get’s older! So all in all the teaching has started off well. It can be pretty stressful but is really rewarding, I’m sure it will get easier the more I do it. The other teachers I work with are all really sound as well.

What else have I been up to i hear you shout? Well, just chilled out Monday and Tuesday as didn’t want to tire myself out for the teaching. On Wednesday, Mark decided to have a little get together at his apartment. Me, Mark and a few friends went out for some food and then went to the supermarket to stock up on beer and soju for the gathering. About 10 of us went back to Mark’s flat and proceeded to get shit faced! It’s really weird drinking with Americans, they can’t just sit and drink. In England, everybody just chills out, drinks and talks. Americans constantly play drinking games to get as hammered as quickly as possible! I haven’t got a clue why this is but I reckon it’s something to do with the whole frat thing they have going at university. Also, because the legal age is 21 in America and they’re really strict on it, I reckon they’re all trying to make up for lost time! Anyway, so we played a few drinking games and a bit of Fifa (Stu you’ll be pleased to know I’m still hammering everybody out here as well!), then decided to play a traditional Korean game called Yute (spelling?). This is kind of like Ludo but with sticks instead of dice. You throw the sticks in the air and depending on how they land, you move your piece round the board. The aim is to get all four pieces round the board first. It’s very confusing but is a lot of fun. After drinking lot’s more, everybody left about 3am, well, apart from me! Me and Mark then decided it would be a really good idea to work our way through another big bottle of Soju……eurgh! I think the Brit in us just didn’t know when to stop drinking, with school the next day that was a very bad idea. I cannot stress enough how lethal Soju is when drank in large quantities. It’s ok at first, it just makes you a bit giddy but then it slowwwwllly creeps up on you. Before you know it, you’re absolutely paralytic and can’t see properly! I think I left Mark’s about 5am but have know idea walking home or getting to bed. Another thing about Soju, it gives you the mother of all hangovers! When teaching the next day, I honestly felt as though something had eaten my brain. Thursday, I did absolutely nothing after classes and just got an early night.

Then we come onto Friday…….yep you guessed it, lot’s more booze! Before that though, I had the delightful task of going to the Korean immigration office to apply for my alien registration card. This card basically says that you are working legally in the country and you need it to get a phone, internet, etc. Mr Hwang (my boss) picked me up at 9 am to drive to Suwon to apply. I thought this would be a very simple task, taking all of an hour, but oh no, Koreans really know how to make things difficult. As I’ve mentioned, it’s the start of term so there’s been a massive influx of foreign teachers, and I think they all decided to go and apply on the same day! There was close to 100 people waiting when we got there, and only one counter open. It felt like being in a giant Argos, you take a ticket with a number and wait, and wait, and wait, and wait. We were sat there for nearly 4 hours and I still wasn’t close to being served. As i had to teach, Mr Hwang had to drive me back to the school and then go back and wait for me. I think he was there for another 2 hours but got it sorted in the end.

After school, I went for some food with a guy I work with called Ben ( why do I always become good friends with people called Ben??!!!), and it was by far and away the best meal I’ve had since being in Korea. We had this thing called Bulgolgi, a giant Beef stew with onions, peppers, chilli’s etc. They bring it out in this huge bowl and it cooks over the stove in the centre of the table. You then eat it with rice and all the obligatory free side dishes. The Kimchi was the best I’ve had as well. I don’t think I’ve mentioned Kimchi yet but it will be hard not to. Kimchi is the Korean staple, they eat it with absolutely everything. It’s basically veg that has been left to pickle in red pepper paste. Definitely an acquired taste but if you want to survive in Korea, you’ve got to get used to it! At first I was a little put out by it but know I can’t get enough of it, it’s well nice! I’ve got to mention again how cheap food is, all of the above plus a couple of beers came 20000 won, that’s a fiver each!

When Mark finished work at 10, a few of us went a bar to have a couple of beers. I was convinced i was going to have a quiet night because i wanted to go into Seoul on Saturday, but that couldn’t be further from the truth! After a couple of beers and some Soju, we decided to move on to another bar. None of us had ever been to this bar before and it’s safe to say that it was one hell of an experience! It was full of smashed Koreans, nothing new there, but the strangest thing happened. We were just sat drinking when all of a sudden, the lights went off and this Korean dude got on the mic and started singing congratulations! This random guy was then dragged onto this stage and was made to dance. We guessed that it was his birthday but then out of nowhere, two guys jumped up on stage with him, one dressed in a full cow suit, the other as some pig type animal! They then proceeded to gyrate around him and dance on all of the tables, this was all accompanied by flashing lights and techno music! Finally, as if it was some bad dream, the lights came back on, the music stopped and the animal men disappeared, everything back to normal. We all just looked at each other in disbelief……..mental, absolutely mental. As it’s my birthday next Saturday, I’ve already stated that I am not going to that bar, there’s no way I’m dancing with a pig man!

After lot’s more booze, I had my first experience of a noraebang. A noraebang is a glorified Karaoke house, but you have your own little room instead of singing in front of strangers. When you go in, they make you take your shoes off and put on these sweet slippers , and then lead you to your own room. The room comes equipped with couches, a giant screen, two mics, song books and tambourines. You then order booze and sing to your heart’s content! Over the course of 2 hours I managed to murder such delights as Say a Little prayer, under pressure, hotel california and my personal favourite, Gangsters Paradise (it was definitely sang better in Europe boys!). I’m sure I sang lot’s more but that’s all I can remember! The video’s on the screen are hilarious as well. They’re like a 1980’s eastern european tourism video, all slow mo shot’s of trams and tower blocks! Noraebangs are awesome, it’s a great way to end a night. The best way to describe it is that it’s like the bit in Lost In Translation when they get that Karaoke room, sadly no Scarlett Johansen though. I finally got to bed about 5am.

After waking up at 2.30pm, and not wanting to waste my weekend, I decided to get the subway to Insadong, Seoul’s tourist hub. Insadong is right in the centre of Seoul, and is as traditional as you can imagine. It’s a tight lattice of winding streets and alleyways filled with traditional Korean tea houses, art galleries and snack stalls. It’s a world away from my experiences of Korea so far, very quiet and chilled out. I think I needed it after 14 days of neon drenched debauchery! After wondering round for a couple of hours, I got a coffee and a bite to eat and headed home. Last night I just chilled out, got a pizza and watched Bolton v West Ham on TV.

Oh, and I’ve been speaking to a guy from one of the local Sunday League football teams, Anyang FC, and they want me to go and train with them! I’ve got training on Thursday but am a little bit worried about my fitness, the standard seems quite high!

And that about wraps up my first couple of weeks in South Korea. I realise that my first two posts have mostly been about me getting hammered, but that was always going to be the case wasn’t it! I’m sure the novelty of cheap booze will wear off soon and I’ll actually go out and experience something else, in fact I’m determined to. Think I’m going to try and visit one of Seoul’s palaces next weekend, I feel like I need to get to know a little more about the history and culture.

So for know, peace out. x

Greetings from South Korea!

Word up home boys and girls! Sorry it’s taken so long to publish my first post, been ridiculously busy so just haven’t had the time, all will be revealed here.

So, after saying goodbye to everybody last week, Ben gave me a lift to the airport on Thursday morning. After having a coffee and saying farewell, I was out on my own! The flight itself was an absolute mission, 6 hours to Dubai, a 3 hour wait in the airport and then another 8 hours to Korea. The time passed pretty quickly though as I had hundreds of films to choose from and was fed at regular intervals. Unfortunately though I just didn’t get any sleep, think it was about 3 hours in total, so was on my arse by the time I got here! After taking an age to get through immigration (they really don’t want anybody getting in this country!) I was finally here. Mark’s boss was waiting for me and drove me straight to Sanbon. First impressions of Korea weren’t very good, it looked like an industrial wasteland! However, as we got to Sanbon, my fears were eased. Sanbon is about 30 mins south of Seoul and is nestled in between a mountain range so the views were pretty special. Once in Sanbon, Mr Hwang (Mark’s boss) took me to e-mart to get some bedding and stuff and then took me to my apartment.

After a quick power nap, Mark and Jade came to meet me after they finished work and immediately took me out to meet their mates and to get some food. We went to a Galbi restaurant where they only serve traditional Korean Galbi. Galbi is basically Korean BBQ. You sit on the floor around these low tables with a grill in the middle and then order your meat. The tables have these huge grills in the centre of the table that you then throw your meat on and cook yourself. You then wrap the meat in lettuce leaves and gobble it down. They also bring out loads of free side dishes for you to add to the meat. It’s absolutely delicious, and seen as it only costs like a fiver you can’t complain! As well as this, I got my first proper taste of Soju. Soju is a fermented rice vodka that is about 20%, and it’s dirt cheap. Needless to say it’s pretty lethal when consumed heavily! Everybody drinks it with their meal along with a few beers (which by the way, is rank). After that, we went to a few more bars and I got pretty hammered! After rolling in at about 5 in the morning, i crashed big time and slept right through until 5.30pm the next day.

Just a quick word on the eating and drink culture, it’s so different to anything in the west. When you’re eating, you order all of your food together and share it, same with the bars. When you order drinks in a bar, it’s pretty much obligatory to order food as well, which means your always eating. You also never pour your own drink. You order your drink together and then someone around the table pours it for you. Once you’ve drank it, somebody then has to pour it again for you. Pretty odd but I’m getting used to it!

Anyway, after sleeping until 5.30pm, Saturday night was pretty much the same. Went out in Suwon which is about 20 mins away from here, drank more beer and Soju, got smashed and talked to Americans all night! Met a really cool guy from Boston who had the best accent in the world, I got so drunk I was trying to talk about The Departed all night with him! He humoured me for a bit but think I annoyed him in the end. After two heavy nights I just chilled out on Sunday and got ready to start training on Monday.

First day of training was pretty hectic. As the training centre is in east central Seoul, I had a 1 and a half hour commute on the Subway everyday. The subway is really easy to use as everything is in English as well but was a bit of a mission to do every day. It was worth it though as it runs over the han river to get into central seoul so the views are amazing. I can imagine it’s what it must feel like driving into Manhatten. Anyway, after orientation at the training centre, a shuttle bus took us straight to the hospital for our medical. I can quite honestly say that this was the most uncomfortable experience of my life! After being herded into a room with 30 other confused foreigners, they made us fill in these forms and then queue up to be checked one by one. First they measure your height, take your blood pressure and then test your eye sight. One of the women shit me up big time because she said i had really high blood pressure and needed to be checked again. I tried to explain to her that I was nervous, hadn’t eaten and had drank like 5 cups of coffee to stay awake but I don’t think she understood me! Anyway, all was ok after they checked me again. After this, they basically push you into another room to have an x-ray, then make you go to another room for them to take blood. I’m not very good with needles so it wasn’t very enjoyable! They then give you a cup, point you to the toilet and basically tell you to go and piss. As I’d drank so much I was flowing like a river but I can imagine if you don’t need it then there are lot of people that just freeze! In total, all of this took like 3 hours, by the time i got out i felt like I’d been violated big time!

If that sounds stressful, Tuesday was when the fun really began! Monday night the jet lag well and trully kicked in, and i ended up getting about 2 hours sleep. Tuesday through to Friday was pretty much the same, have 2 hours sleep, get up, go to training, intense training for 6 hours, go home, revise and prep mock teaching for 7 hours, have 2 hours sleep, repeat. The training was really intense, they gave me so much work to do that all I saw all week were my apartment, the subway and the training centre. But, I passed with flying colours! Jade helped me a lot with the prep because she’s been doing it for ages so she really helped me out. I passed my medical as well so when I finally got out on Friday I was practically skipping down the road! I start teaching on Tuesday so quite excited to get in the classroom and meet my kids.

Friday night I went out for some food again with Mark and a few friends, had a few beers and hit the sack about 3am. Finally got my first proper nights sleep though, it felt amazing to wake up in the morning knowing I’d slept right through for the first time in a week. Sleep deprivation is the oddest feeling, by Thursday I started to feel like my life was like The Truman Show!

Yesterday (Saturday), I just chilled out, had a wander round Sanbon, got a coffee, did a bit of shopping and got an early night. Today I decided to go for a little hike up a mountain! Sanbon is built at the base of Mount Surisan so it’s only a 10 min walk away. For some reason I decided to do the steep route so my legs were killing me but made it to the summit in just over an hour. The views over Sanbon were stunning, i’ve got loads of pics so will put them up when I get chance.  That brings me up to right now, I’t’s 6pm and I’m currently sat in a PC room typing this!

So, first impressions of Korea? It’s f**##n mental! Everything that you’ve been used to culturally throughout your whole life, just flip it over, turn it on it’s head and you’ll get an idea. The way you eat is different, the way you drink is different and the people as a whole are just different. The one thing that I’ve noticed more than anything is the smells. It’s wierd how a country can just smell different to what you’re used to. It’s completely mad being a minority as well. Korea is such a homogenous society that you just never see westerners. Since I’ve been here I think I’ve seen 3 white people, not including mark and his mates, and the people at training. It’s well funny when you see them though, you kind of give a knowing glance and a nod to each other. For you guys that watch Curb your Enthusiasm, I now know what Larry’s talking about when he sees another bald person in the street! Absolutely everybody stares at you as well, it was really uncomfortable at first but now I just don’t even notice. It’s actually a bit of an ego boost when you get a hot girl staring at you (and they’re everywhere, oh yeah!).

Erm right, I think that’s everything! Sorry for the long post but seen as it’s my first one I thought I’d keep you all up to date. Pics will be up soon when I get chance.

Peace out, I love you all. x