Dear Blog Readers, Having exhausted Boeun of all its tourist attractions (both of them), it was time to take Christine to Seoul. In Korea, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day have been rolled into one kimbab sized package and called, imaginatively, Parent’s Day. It was therefore fitting that we had at least one parent with us to celebrate the day with. We went straight to Gyeongbokgung Palace. The palace is built right in the heart of Seoul and is the Korean equivalent to the Taj Mahal. The architecture and grounds were truly stunning and although the palaces have had to be rebuilt because of the Japanese burning them down (twice), it still manages to hold onto its history and the authenticity. The Korean parent’s lapped up the traditional Korean folk music that had been put on especially ... read more

Dear Blog Readers, For all those suffering from the yellow dust this week; how about a double dose of blog reading medicine? Luckily for you, this is a short one. My brother managed to get hold of the video of us dog walking in Boeun a couple of a weeks ago. We were volunteering to walk the dogs in the animal sanctuary just outside Boeun as part of KAPS . Please click the link to visit their Facebook group for more information: I've put my own subtitles to the video on Facebook so you can check it out by clicking here. Many of you have asked for the video to download so I've uploaded a non-subtitled version on YouTube here and you can copy and paste the webpage to www.kee... read more

Dear Blog Readers, After showing a slide of a man jumping over a bull during a bull fight in Spain, Mr Oh stops me in my tracks, “Simon, I have a question.” The students, as well as I, wait in anticipation. Mr Oh, “In England, do you use the term ‘bullshit’?” “Erm…(stunned silence from everybody)…you can’t really say that word…anywhere.” I hoped that he noted the emphasis on ‘anywhere’ encompassed a place such as in front of 35 students in a middle school. He turned to the students and spoke in Korean for a minute, but it felt like an hour, with every other word being “shit” or “bull”, or sometimes, “bullshit.” He turned to me at the end waiting for my reaction (as though I completely understood what he had just said). I assumed it ... read more

Dear Blog Readers, We begin this week with news that has reached us from England that the Radio 1 Big Weekend will be held in Carlisle this year! Laura is gobsmacked that her hometown should be represented on such a colossal scale with acts such as the Black Eyed Peas, Foo Fighters, and Boeun Girl’s High School favourite, Lady Gaga will be performing. Laura’s co-teacher was visibly stunned at the news. As one person said, it’s probably the most exciting thing that has happened to Carlisle since the Roman’s invaded. Laura’s new hair cut has also been a talking point this week. Apparently some of the teachers at her school have been enquiring where she got it cut. However, my favourite comment has been made by a little girl at one of her elementary schools, who ... read more

Dear Blog Readers, Last week’s blog sparked some interesting discussions. In particular was the stalkerish nature of the high school girls, and specifically, the “What is your blood type?” question. Chef Chris told me that people have matched blood type with personality traits. I decided to investigate further and found this description for my blood type: “They are very studious type of person, and will try not to hurt anyone with their words or speak unnecessarily. They are decisive, but not thoughtless with their decisions. They like to follow the latest trends and dress up, but not in a flashy or gaudy way. Their career ends up commonly as an accountant, librarian, economist, novelist, computer programmer, gossip columnist.” Is it me or does this seem worryingly accurate? They could have replaced the blurb with, “Very boring ... read more