Blogs from Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, Asia - page 29

After being in Korea for a month, Kovats and I started to feel pretty lazy with the lack of physical exercise. We were drinking lots of beer and eating lots of rice. That's a bad combination for the appearance of any body. So we had the option of either joining Taekwondo, or joining a gym. We joined "Kyunghee University Taekwondo". We refer to the owner as Grand Master. There are also two other instructors, whom we refer to as Mr. Lee and "Kevin". They are usually the ones teaching us. For the first two months we were White Belts. White is a symbol of innocence, as in we have no idea what we are doing. Thankfully we're since then graduated into Green Belts. There is lots of kicking and lots of stretching. I don't think I've ... read more

Wine Party About a week ago, Dave organized a little wine party for anyone who was interested. He was able to gather about 12 of us and naturally it ended up being mostly foreign teachers. So, this wasn't the kind of wine and cheese party where everyone brings something and all share, or the kind of party where Dave is kind enough to supply several bottles of wine for the enjoyment of others. Though Dave may be a generous guy, he's a bit smarter than that. If you're going to have a wine party, how about you find out a way to make the wine free for everyone? Dave found an add for a wine distributor that puts on wine tastings for large groups. He spread the word, gathered enough of us, called the guy, and ... read more

We’ve heard Mo’vember is a widespread phenomenon…a little word play that produces some fairly disturbing results…especially when done en masse as it was here at the Village. In case you’ve not heard of it, the month of November becomes moustache-growing month, and a sporting air of competition imbues every interaction of the men involved. So, on November 1, all participants shaved to baby-faced smoothness and assembled on the steps of City Hall for a “before” photo. Over the next 30 days, the men folk propagated as intently as they could…secretly intimidated by the growing ability of certain Kiwis, and giggling like little schoolgirls at the measly efforts of other competitors. There were to be awards for a variety of categories. Some sculpted their creations from the beginning; others let it all hang out until the final ... read more

Hello again! I have finally posted some pictures, have a look! Things are looking up for me, today, one of the 5 year-olds asked me to help her go to the bathroom and last Friday, I got a group hug from my whole 5 year-old class! Score! They are finally warming up to the scary giant that I am! So I was happy about that, well except for the juicy snot (morve en francais) that was left all over my brand-new 3$ HK pants. Also, tonight, the yoga instructor fixed my position, I guess she has realized I am here to stay, it's not because it was so good before that she had nothing to fix, no worries. I am still the worst in the class, by far, after twice a week for 2.5 months. Oh ... read more

Well here's my first entry, in my first blog! Its pretty bloody exciting to be honest, but not haf as exciting as I'm hoping the next 12 months will be. At present, I'm working in a middle school here in Hanam, teaching English to some crazy kids. I don't wanna spout off about them too much here, all I really want to say is that they can be absolutely lovely, but they can be little horrors too.... So I've been in Korea for 6 months already, and my present contract finishes on May1st 2007. My plan then is to fly one-way to Bangkok (courtesy of my lovely employers here) and spend 2-3 months in SE Asia if my finances allow. I don't want to spend too much time in Thailand as I have been there twice ... read more