As time rapidly runs out and this steam train of an adventure comes hurtling towards its final destination, it’s only right that I take the time out to write another few paragraphs of inane rubbish. And in a thwarting contrast to the last entry, there will be no overabundance of pictures this time around as my craptop has decided to be an absolute nemesis and stop letting me upload pictures. I’m afraid you’ll have to make do with looking at them on my 4 inch camera screen when I get home. Sorry. It’s certainly not Club Tropicana here at the moment, [View Full Entry]

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After a long hiatus here on this so-called blog, I feel like I’m back with a bang…..or at least a big light show against a milieu of tacky music. Last week I popped over to Hong Kong for a much anticipated excursion and I wasn’t at all disappointed. At least not until the time came for me to leave. This was certainly a splendid holiday but in truth it was a lot more than that. Korean life was starting to take its toll, albeit without me really noticing because I hadn’t had the time to check. The societal refusal to have [View Full Entry]

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I spent last weekend at Songnisan National Park in Cheongju. It was a welcome break from city life and a much needed opportunity to breathe some fresh air. It was also an example of why it’s a good idea to befriend some local people because I don’t think I’d have made it there on my own. It was well worth the 5am start on Saturday and the 4 hour drive! Once we’d arrived, had breakfast and checked in to our Minbak (rented room) we started on the long walk up the mountain. Songnisan’s myriad trails are popular hikes and there were [View Full Entry]

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This week I had a very unique birthday because I turned 24 and 25 on the same day. In reality of course I’m now 24 but in Korea you are aged 1 the day you’re born and my ‘Korean age’ is therefore a year ahead of my actual age. Needless to say I always give my Western age when asked in a vain effort to hold on to my youth. Thought I’d give you a rundown of how the birthday went……. I got up early to open all the birthday cards from family before setting off to teach my adult classes [View Full Entry]

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In the last few weeks I have endeavoured to see some sights and take in some more culture and history - and Korea has plenty of both. Sightseeing is made a lot easier by the fact that I live less than an hour of Seoul, where there’s so much to see and do. I thought I’d share a few pictures of the places I’ve seen. Insadong is one of the best known attractions in Korea, both for foreigners and natives. You can wander around and see traditional Korean crafts, snacks, pottery, galleries, clothes, and street performances. The historical main street is [View Full Entry]

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Hello again everyone, and happy new year to you all. Christmas has come and gone and I can now say that I haven't seen any of you since last year. I had a good time and I'm now looking forward to the adventures that 2009 should bring. A wise old friend of mine - also living far from home - recently described his Christmas as a challenge to get past rather than an occasion to celebrate. I saw the festive season in very much the same way but I still managed to enjoy myself and make the most of it. Whilst [View Full Entry]

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Hi All! I’m just checking in to let you know that all is well and that I haven’t forgotten about this page for those of you who still take the trouble to check it. Sorry I haven’t given you anything new to read for a while! It’s come to that point in my journey that was always going to be one of the hardest…..Christmas! One of the few draw backs of coming here for this great experience is that I have to spend Christmas away from home for the first time. I can’t deny that it will be difficult but one [View Full Entry]

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I feel I must apologise for my relative lack of activity on here recently. It's not so bad though since it means that I have a couple of things to report. I also now have my own camera which will hopefully give my entries a bit more context from here on in. The difficulty of my Korean lessons has gone up a notch and along with it the amount of time I devote (or at least should devote!) to my studying. Still enjoying it though and slowly but surely I’m picking a few things up. All I need now is for [View Full Entry]

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I enrolled on to a Korean course just a couple of weeks ago and already I'm reaping the rewards. Not only are my lessons completely free but last Sunday I got to go on the first of many 'all expenses paid' day trips organised by the academy. It turned out to be quite a treat. There were about 90 people on the trip but only about 7 or 8 foreigners, few of whom I would regard as normal or worth speaking to. If you had seen one chap you could have been forgiven for believing that Freddie Mercury never died and [View Full Entry]

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As time continues to fly by I thought it was about time for another update. No trip to a sunny island to tell you about this time, but life has been very busy in other ways over the last few weeks and there’s always lots going on. Now that I’ve been here for six weeks I am feeling more familiar with the place and the people around me. Thankfully, I seem to have made a favourable impression with the Korean teachers at both of my schools and I have been taken out for countless lunches and dinners by my very nice [View Full Entry]

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