GETTIN' FAMOUS

So I've had my picture in two newspapers this last two weeks. One is a free paper called Metro, which they give out free on the subway here. And the other, which I don't know the name of, is one of Korea's biggest national papers (according to my students at least). My boss, the woman in the photo, wrote some articles about good techniques to use when being interviewed in English. And when our company's publicity department came to take photos they grabbed me as well. I'd like to believe that it's because I have a face of experience and clear pronounciation, but more likely it was just the fact that I was the only foriegner around at that time :o( Anyway, I was famous for a day or two with my students, and maybe some day in the future some random person on the subway will approach me and say "Hey, you're that guy...."

BIG CORPORATE SPORTS DAY

It's been a long time since I've been to a Sports Day (Thailand 2003) and I've never been to a big corporate event. And I've certainly never been to a big corporate sports day in Korea. So when my institute invited me to come along on theirs I gladly accepted. But when they asked me to participate I was a lot more reluctant. (Can you see me? Hint: I'm wearing a red T-shirt)

But fear of acquiring and early nickname like 'Mark the chicken' or 'scaredy cat' forced me to agree to participate in the relay, chicken fighting and some strange horse fight (without any horses)- I guess some things are just lost in translation.
The sports day was on a public holiday Thursday in my second week so I was still adapting and a little jetlagged (listen to my excuses). Plus it was a very early rise. It was a huge event with JungChul(the name of my institute) campuses from all over Korea competing for the prize of one million won (about a thousand dollars).
It was a bit intimidating, but a nice opportunity to meet people and get to know the others from my company a little better and in a (semi) realxed atmosphere.
So I guess Koreans a pretty competitive and take these things kinds seriously. I learnt this first hand during the realy race. I wore a pair of trainers with my jeans for comfort, but when I saw my opponents in running spikes, shorts and vests I didn't feel quite so comfortable. I did my best and believe I didn't let the team down too much, but definitely feel this is one thing best left to the serious competitors (who clearly have nothing better to do with their free time).
Chicken fighting was much more fun (hoping around on one leg trying to know over other people doign the same) and I successfully picked out the oldest, frailest Korean on the field and put him on his but, jsut seconds before I got flattened.
And the horse-fighting thing (god I hope that term doesn't bring animal rights activists to my blog via google search) was also fun. In that each tram had a group of three boys and a girl competing. Us three boys linked arms and the girl sat up on our combined shoulders. Then we ran about bashing into other groups as our girl and tried stealing baseball caps (and clumps of hair) from the other girls who were doing likewise. We actually did pretty well in this game, probably more for our cunning and dirty tactics than for our actual brawn or skill.
There were other sports too like football and combined baseball/football for the girls, which were fun to watch, but I'm glad I didn't take part in. And somehow at the end of the day our group were pronounced the winners and a million won richer. Yey!

SUNNY DAYS AND NEW TOYS

Well I've been here nineteen days and this morning was the first time I saw rain. And even at that it was only a few drops for a couple of minutes. I thought it was normal to have warm days and blue skies here at this time of year, but according my students this is unusual and the last few months haev actually been a mini-drought. But after a rainy Irish summer I'm more than happy to enjoy this while it lasts. Although we better get some serious precipation over winter after me lugging my snowboard all the way here.
On another note, I finally forked out for a camera so my blog will come back to life really soon with photos of the second most densely populated place on earth; Seoul City.

FIRST WEEK IN KOREA

My first week in Korea went really well. Of course I was pretty tired and jetlagged, but didn't have any major problems (except being a bit spaced out).
I spent the first few nights in my motel (love hotel) and then moved into an apartment here in Gangnam, quite near my place of work.
The apartment is small, but nice and new although it's quite empty except the TV, refridgerator, washing machine and bed. But I'm slowly accumulating stuff and as the mess on the floor grows it's starting to feel more homey.
As for work, it's been great. There are a lot of Christians working and studying at my institute so everyone is really nice and friendly.
The company I work for is called JungChul and they have many branches all over South Korea, but I am working for a new branch called JungChul Advanced which is aimed at the higher level students. There are four Canadians, one American and myself teaching here. Our boss is Korean and very nice, which is a big relief since I had heard some horror stories about Korean employers.I teach two classes; Intra-Office Communications and Current Issues Discussion. Both are very high level business English and my students abilities (but not mine) reflect this. Currently class sizes are quite small (one, two or three students), but they will expand in future I think. This department has only been open three months.
It's great being in such a new place. The classrooms are awesome. We have all new comfy furniture, computers and big plasma TVs. And the receptionists give us tons of supplies that are bright-coloured and shiney and they help us with any requests. It's a far cry from the institute I taught at in Peru where I had to battle for a new marker if it ran out before the end of the month.I like my students a lot, though sometimes feel a little incompetent when we are discussing things like the US elections. News, politics and current affairs have never been strong points of mine since I'm not overly interested, but here I just have to force myself to watch the news everyday and stuff like that.
I guess our courses are expensive compared to others in Seoul and most of our clients seem to be from wealthy or high positioned backgrounds. Nevertheless they are all very pleasant and helpful especially when I have questions about Korean life and customs.My days alternate so that I teach one subject (eg. Current Issues) one day, and the other (eg. Intra-Office Communication) the next. I start work at 1pm, teach three two-hour classes and go home at 9pm. 6 - 7 is dinner time and I usually get cheap takeaway Korean food. And a couple of times a week I partake in Lounge Hour from one to two. This involves sitting in our lounge and chatting with anyone that comes along (usually quite a lot of students/prospective students).
I like it a lot so far, with the only negative thing being lack of holidays. I basically have none. I get public holidays of course and each month one or two days between courses, but they don't necessarily creat long weekends. So it's going to be quite differet from the months vacation I took every Christmas in Japan. But I've just had an eight month vacation around South America so I'm ready to work.

Photos are from my employer. They show a typical classroom, the comfy lounge and reception area. I'll get better snaps up when I finally get a camera.

FIRST WEEKEND IN SEOUL

Arriving in Seoul, despite my tiredness I was very excited. I must admit that with all the trips I've been on I've rarely actually felt excited about reaching a country so this was unusual.
A volunteer from my school, MJ, met me at the airport with her boyfriend, Beck, and a driver to bring me to my hotel. I checked in and was quite impressed with the big plasma TV, high-speed computer, jucuzzi and sideways shower. But later I found out that my hotel isn't quite a business hotel, but rather a 'motel', or as they're labelled in Japan; a 'love hotel'.
After check-in MJ and Beck showed me around a bit. I saw my school (just from the outside) and bought a Korean phrasebook. My guides were really cool and spoke excellent English so it wasn't quite the bumbling introduction I've had into other countries.
Then we went to a cheap Korean chain restaurant for some typical food. I had bibimbap, a rice and vegetable dish with spicey red chilli paste mixed in, and we talked about Korea, Ireland, whisky and soju; their national drink.
Saturday evening I just rested in my motel. I was tempted to go out but even with my minimal wisdom I knew that was a bad idea.

On Sunday morning I awoke early and fresh and wanted to make the most of my day. So after some breakfast at a nearby cafe I explored the area I work/live in; Gangnam. Then it was time to tackle the subway alone and get over any nevousness about that. I headed to the other side of the city to visit Changdeokgung; Seoul's best Palace and home to the Secret Garden. I had no problems with the subway as they had a map in English and I only needed to change once. And at the temple I got a ticket for the 11:30 guided tour (the only possible way to see it) and then relaxed in the shade with a cold aloe vera drink.
Changdeokgung is supposedly the best of Seouls five ancient palaces. Originally built between 1405 and 1412 it acted as Korea's centre of power from 1618 to 1896. The temple has been burnt down a couple of times so reconstructed and repaired, but certainly looked and felt like something from centuries past.
(From this pavilion the emperor would go fishing for carpe from his well stocked pond. I imagine an old, white-whiskered Korean man playing a string instrument from somewhere in the forest as I fish without a hook).

The 110 acre site is on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and although I mostly visited it for the secret gardens, which weren't overly impressive, it was an interesting experience. Our English speaking guide told us quite a lot about the previous Emperors who lived there, including the last Korean Emperor who was there until his death in 1926. And whislt walking about I could definitely imagine masses of guards and servants wait hand and foot on their emperor like in one of those Yimou Zhang movies.
(The beautiful and meticulous painting is done under the eaves of all the buildings and has to be redone every decade or so. Looks like hard work.)
Photos from google and wikipedia.

DEPARTURE AND ARRIVAL

Well, I'm here in Seoul. The journey went fine, but was certainly not one of my most enjoyable. My parents picked me up on Friday morning at 08:00 and we drove to Belfast International airport together. Overloaded with luggage due to my snowboard I was slightly worried about excess charges for having two pieces of check in luggage and four pieces of carry-on. But we made good time and check-in went well until I asked the girl if my bags were checked all the way to Korea. "Uh, yeah. Paris." She said. Wrong plane, wrong flight, in fact; wrong airport! So much for high airport security.
So with gritted teeth my dad sped to Belfast City Airport, forty minutes away, while I phoned expedia to complain about the idiot who had told me to go the wrong airport and almost cost me a very expensive flight.Luckily we got to city in time and I checked in, said good bye to my parents, and bought a litre of Jameson whisky and a litre of Baileys at duty-free to help me deal with the culture shock of a new country.
I flew an hour to London, then changed and flew another hour to Frankfurt, where I walked for miles within the terminal (carrying my very heavy hand luggage) to get to my gate. Then I got on the final and longest flight (ten hours) to Seoul. I was looking forward to watching some new movies onboard, then having a good rest. But neither happened. Lufthansa had about five movies on offer, none of which I wished to watch, but that didn't matter because shortly after take off the entertainment systems crashed. Dinner was served soon after and I then tried to get some sleep. Trying to ignore that the large Korean man next to me was hogging all the armrest I reached for my sleepign pills. Prescription Temezapan 10mg, especially for this occasion. TAKE ONE BEFORE BED it said on the little brown bottle. I popped two with a glass of water and reclined my chair the full ten degrees it allowed me. After about an hour I dozed off. And two hours later I woke up energetic, refreshed and unable to get back to sleep. Slightly afraid of disturbing the big Korean I stayed in my window seat unable to reach my ipod and book in the overhead lockers. Not that I would"ve been able to read anyway since the lights went out with the entertainment system. So I just sat there, and sat there...
But when I got to Seoul everything was much, much better.

Photo from google.