Vancouver. Again!

I blogged rather indignantly about this last year, when Vancouver was assessed to be the best city in the world to live. I was dubious about the claim and am just as dubious now. After all, this is from the country where news headlines like 'Beaver kills six men by repeatedly thwacking them with its tail' are a regular occurence.

However, on the upside, Melbourne, Australia, was number 2 and this is where I am considering going to university next year. This is all up in the air, of course, and will depend on whether any university will want to accept someone who has spent the last three years of her life doing as little as possible. Then again, that is pretty much the Australian dream. Why do you think there are so many beaches?

I have been smote by Korean flu once more. My Korean American neighbour, Cheong, advised me to cover myself up with as many blankets as possible and sweat it out in a night. Which is not a pleasant vision. Especially considering that I just had the crap kicked out of me in tae-kwon do by two men with muscly legs and little mercy. Trust me when I say I sweated.

One of my students compared his Korean teacher to a dog today - as a compliment. His logic was 'I like my dog and my teacher reminds me of a dog - ergo, I like my teacher.' To be honest, I have had worse chat up lines than that one so I feel that he is on the right track to a successful life.

Lantern Lampoon

I just had a great weekend where it felt a little like Christmas (festivities, a really fat man smiling benevolently at you) - but it was instead a lantern festival for everyone's favourite deity, Buddha. It was a genuinely beautiful parade, even if it went on for a frightening amount of time (I never knew that so many paper lanterns could actually exist). My friend and I kept accidentally standing near side streets and then the parade would just decide to divert, without any apparent plan and we would have to dodge an endless line of lantern bearing children shouting 'Helllooooo!'

Korea somehow - probably through lack of media / tourist interest, countless bombings - feels like it can lack that genuine feeling of Asia. I know many people who would disagree with me on this but Korean culture, as distinct as it can be, doesn't have that mystical cliched Eastern feel. It might have something to do with the prevalence of Christianity, in particular Presbyterianism. But yesterday, as we watched people passionately bow to Buddha underneath a rainbow of illuminated lanterns, it felt a little like Asia again.


However, the tradition of offering Buddha bottles of soju is well and truly Korean.

The weekend was manic as usual - Friday night was a 'luxury' noribang in Yeonsinnae for a co-worker's dad. The place had free ice-cream which was useful for soothing our throats after a belting version of Justin Timberlake's Rock Your Body. A group of us played board games on Saturday and a rousing game of Pictionary nearly broke up friendships (just you try to draw 'revolutionary war!) And, delightfully, I got to see American Jenny again for a night of galbi at the Sexy Pig and then far too many pitchers of sangria at Liquid, ending at my new favourite club, Funky Funky. Kevin and I danced the night away and we met an extremely cool Korean guy ever, who looked a little like a hairier, Asian version of John Lennon.

I am currently trying to get a Korean person to agree to do a language exchange with me. I have had loads of responses but my favourite remains a guy who actually lived in Bangor, Northern Ireland for a year. Bangor! Think of all the exciting things we could talk about - I could learn the Korean for 'defunct seaside town'.

Lantern

The Wonders Of....

Dick In A Box!

My beloved friend Annabelle, my current pop culture barometer, introduced me to the cheese-rich wonder that is 'Dick in A Box'. You will be interested if

a)you want to see Justin Timberlake looking like an 80s porn star
b) you have a penchant for bad dancing
c) you have a penchant for excellent lyrics
d) you have a genuine interest in dicks in a box.

I mean, who can beat lyrics like this, sang in a breathy porn-esque voice with added vocal histrionics?

'Christmas; dick in a box
Hanukkah; dick in a box
Kwanzaa; a dick in a box'

I saw Spiderman 3 last night with Cheong and nearly wept, it was so horrendous. What alarmed me most was that Kirsten Dunst wasn't the worst thing in it. Actually, what really alarmed me was the scene where Aunt May pours Peter a cup of tea and THE WATER IS CLEAR! AND THEN SHE ADDS MILK! Talk about trauma!

I am off to Geoje tonight for a weekend of beach and frolics with Kevin and his fellow teachers. I get not one, but TWO islands. Unfortunately, these pleasures lie after my two open classes today. Parents will be watching me with my two worst classes so be prepared for blog like tears later.

Young Children Scare Me

I have been unreasonably entrusted with two classes of so called semi-returnees - kids that have already been through an intensive, some might say molly coddling, pre-school course and are now joining the afternoon classes. They are hyper. They know enough English to be able to argue with you if you say anything even remotely contradictory. And, best of all, they have a propensity to tell on each other. An ordinary class will have at least ten comments like this:

'Teacher, Ken kicked me under the table!'
'Teacher, speaking Korean!'
'Teacher, Teddy took my pencil!'

And yes, I do have a student called Teddy. You have to let a stony heart melt though whenever you see a child who can't tie their own shoelace.

So, teaching is back in full swing.

I have been rediscovering the wonders of the massive electronics mart where you can haggle for items like laptops. I tried haggling in Currys once and they patronisingly pointed to the price tag. And thanks to a certain person with tiny hands, I was introduced to the best brunch place in Seoul, called Suji's - so I will never have to worry about missing fantastic breakfasts ever again.

I am hopefully going to go and see Kevin in Geoje this weekend, which is an island approximately five hours away from Seoul. Once, I would have blanched at a five hour bus ride. Now, I just pah at it and reminisce about all the times I sat on Argentinian buses for 20 hours and watched endless Jean Claude Van Damme movies.