Somewhere, A Clock Is Ticking...

I guess I will precede this blog with a declaration about Korean health and safety rules - they suck! Shaun, Irene, her boyfriend Brian, Mike, Lorraine and myself went to a fireworks show where apparently, in two separate parts of the show, Korea and America were competing against each other. If our theory is right, and Korea were the first to fire off, so to speak, then they were unfortunately the losers because the American display was as flashy and overdone as you would expect it to be. But fireworks are beautiful wherever, and they were particularly gorgeous over the Han River on a freezing October night.

Anyway, when we were leaving, thousands of others were doing the same in what was a surprisingly enclosed area. One problem with Korea is that there are 48 million people crowded into a space roughly the same size as Ireland so any event will draw people in their hundreds of thousands. It doesn't even have to be well advertised - Koreans just know. It's kind of freaky. Maybe they have some kind of networking system involving kimchi and matching couple outfits. Still, let me tell you - leaving that river bank, whilst being swept along in a veritable seething sea of impatient Koreans was enough to make you shriek like a small child.

Ha! The next internationally renowned musical artist to visit Korea will be - gasp! - Michael Bolton! I'm not sure how long I can restrain myself from buying tickets for his concert. Sadly enough, Koreans absolutely adore the former mulleted one, and a Michael Bolton song will be inevitably sung with gusto during a night at a noribang.

I can't wait to go to a decent gig back home! I shall be calling on each and every one of you, as your duty, to accompany me.

Halloween dawns upon us tomorrow - I know that it is technically today but we are celebrating it for two days at school by having a bonkers party day for each set of students (Monday/Wednesday/Friday and Tuesday/Thursday). It will involve far too much sugar, activities that will be mainly aimed at controlling them as much as possible and outfits that will have its wearer sweating like a squirrel buried under a pile of half eaten nuts. I could actually achieve Mr Burns cunning plan and steal candy from a baby. What? There are moral objections to this kind of thing?

Just a postscript for film fans out there - have a wee look at The Red Shoes (분 홍 신)- a Korean horror movie based on a Hans Christian Andersen tale. It was pretty scary, even in a DVD room with three others who were experiencing varying degrees of terror. Maybe there will be a watered down remake starring an unsuitable Hollywood blonde.