Irene! Don't Go!

I apologise for the stunning lack of blogging but I have been spending a lot of time with a certain Miss Bond, who has been staying with me for the best part of two weeks. She is leaving tonight and I am devastated. It has been ridiculously hectic, as was to be expected and also, a riotous amount of fun. We went to two Ladies Nights in Itaewon (with varying levels of idiocy, mainly mine). We partied at the Bungalow on Saturday night - it was a white themed night for a friend's birthday. When I arrived, I was immediately given cake, which is one of my favourite things to be given. As the weeks have passed, I have done lots of silly stuff that I hadn't done since I was approximately 17.

Which brings me to a point - Korea is kind of like a bizarre fountain of youth. I say bizarre, because I don't think that any of the original conceptions of a fountain of youth ever included alcohol and stealing Starbucks mugs. Everyone does it - you will rarely go to someone's apartment and see 'bought' mugs. Sacrilege. Funnily enough, I actually got caught out on that one - I stole one recently and my co-worker told me that it says 'Starbucks Property' on the side in Korean.

People end up staying here because it is the perfect way to abandon reality. You can live a hedonistic, fulfilling lifestyle on little money and the ex-pat community is fun (if not quite sane). And some people actually do just build great lives for themselves, with real jobs in universities and the like.

I am addicted to Mark Ronson's version of 'Stop Me' even though I do prefer the Smiths version. When Morrissey sings about being 'laid into' you can quite believe it.

Did you ever see such a thing in your life....

As a tail-less mouse?

My status as performing teacher monkey continued when I was observed by four new Korean teachers. First, before I even made it to the class, my student Justin put a tiny baby mouse into my hand. It had a stump for a tail and looked to be barely functioning. The teachers observing me looked faintly horrified. Then the same student had a sneezing fit which triggered a bloody nose which dripped everywhere. Needless to say, the class was a smashing success.

I had a birthday-tastic weekend, with the Child-handed one's celebrations on Friday night then my own on Saturday. Annabelle took us to Macondo's, a salsa club in Hongdae. It was possibly ok for her, having taken salsa lessons and actually looking really good with it - it was a different case for me and her friend Jenny. We stood around looking awkward until some bloke whisked me away and tried to teach me how to meringue. It was then that I learned that real dance moves and talking are completely incompatible.

Irene arrived on Friday night and she was there to enjoy the loopiness of my birthday which ended with terrible photos being taken outside a 7-11 at four in the morning.

Last night there was an epic battle of the sexes involving pretzel consumption. You had to put eight pretzels into your mouth at the same time and see how fast you could swallow. As anyone who has played the cream crackers game can attest, this is no simple feat.

Vote Kevin!

Just follow this link - it's self explanatory!

http://www.bebo.com/PollView.jsp?PollId=4184165182

Grammar Stand-Offs!

A hazard of being a teacher, and particularly one in a fraught environment of North American English vs English English, is that grammar arguments crop up regularly. Too regularly, really. I have just spent the last ten minutes debating which of the following sentences is correct:

a) My school starts at 8am
OR
b) School starts at 8am

Surprisingly, a Canadian came to my assistance in opting for the second. We felt that the 'my' would denote a possession that doesn't exist. But, in true crazy grammar style, the more you think about a grammatical point, the more you get swayed towards the opposing argument, just because you can't come up with any real viable reasons to support your own.

I had a really great weekend on Muui Island with Kevin, my workmate Colum and lots of Kevin's friends. We waded through mudflats and Colum was unceremoniously nipped by a territorial crab. We had 4-wheeler races (and got quite competitive). And we sat on the beach and played drinking games whilst fireworks whistled disconcertingly past. The last time I was on an island off the coast of Incheon, with Freeman, Aoife and Loz, I was hit by a firework. I now cower whenever anyone even has a sparkler.

It is my birthday this week and Annabelle, my friend with the child sized hands, has her birthday one day before mine - we are planning an epic double celebration. All I can say is MID TWENTIES NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I don't want to be 24!