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Published: November 28th 2010
Surprise!
Surprise party at NaebukDear Blog Readers,
Don’t worry! We’re still alive and we haven’t been bombed…yet!
On Sunday we decided to take a trip to Songnisan which is about a 15 minute bus ride away. The car park was rammed with coaches and hoards of people descending on the surrounding mountains. It reminds me of our camping trips in England where Butler will pack for every eventuality since the Koreans dress like they’re going to climb Everest and the women still hike in high heels. I may have just insinuated that Butler wears stiletto’s whilst climbing Scarfell Pike. We didn’t do any hiking but we had a good wander around the town and got some nice food in a cosy little restaurant. We nearly got involved with the outdoor norrebang by some drunk Korean men but luckily we had to catch the coach home. We weren't the only ones busy last weekend because it was kimchi making weekend for most of the Koreans! They basically make enough kimchi to last them easily through the winter and even for most of the year! They even have their own kimchi fridges here!
The start of the week was quite laid back and peaceful,
Birthday Cards
Birthday cards that the kids made me! maybe it was the calm before the storm? On Tuesday, I knew something bad was happening because the TV was turned on in the teachers room with the other teachers looking worried and shaking their heads. The breaking news ticker-tape on the bottom was in large Korean letters on a background which cemented my fear. I switched to the ever-faithful BBC website for the information but there was a bit of a delay between the Korean news channels and the translated version that I wanted. (Note: I’m beginning to fall out with CNN. Not only have they got rid of Anna Coren on the morning news, they now insist that their news is going ‘beyond borders’ to the point where they will say the words ‘beyond borders’ every two seconds!) South Korean military exercises on Yeongpyeong island were seen as a threat by the North Koreans who decided to shell them. South Korea retaliated and it has been one of the worst incidents of conflict since the armistice was drawn up at the end of Korean War.
At the moment, tensions are high, not helped by the embarkation of a US Navy ship that has planted itself near the
Tea Party
Cakes and crisps. border and the deployment of North Korean artillery shells along the border poised ready for action. To say things are on a knife-edge would be the understatement of the year. Having spoken to many of the Korean teachers about how they feel I think the response has been very mixed. Some people are not worried at all and say that this sort of thing happens all the time and it’ll just be another moment of the Koreas flexing their muscles. Other teachers are genuinely worried and seem as nervous as we are. We will just have to sit tight and see what happens!
On Thursday I went to Naebuk and as I walked into my second grade class, the students had prepared a birthday party for me! It was so sweet. The blackboard was covered with balloons and messages. The students had brought with them some crisps and cakes with candles stuck in them. The kindness was extended with presents from my co-teacher and another teacher at the school and then in my first grade class they had wrote messages on the board for me and then all of them came to the front and gave me crisps and
Conversation
Maybe talking about Thermodynamics wasn't a great conversation starter. drinks as presents! It was the best pre-birthday celebration ever and I really was overwhelmed. In the evening, Laura and I booked our trip to Japan for our winter vacation which will be a week of snowboarding with a few days sightseeing either side of it which will be amazing! Can’t wait!
To be honest, I’d been dreading my birthday in Korea. The thought of being miles away from home and not having a birthday surrounded by family and close friends worried me. Luckily, I’ve made some great friends in the short time I’ve been here so far and the wonders of technology mean that my family didn’t seem so far away. On Friday morning, I woke up at 6:30am and put on Skype to try the new group video call feature which worked flawlessly. So there I was in Korea, Pete in Nottingham and Dom, Mum and Dad in York all talking and seeing each other simultaneously. Although it was still 25th November back at home, we still had a surprisingly in-time rendition of Happy Birthday over the airwaves (or should I say, high speed fibre optical waves?).
I was also relieved and pleased to receive my
Tink Special
A good try in Korea. first packages from home too and they came undamaged exactly a week after they had been sent which was great. A selection of my presents are listed below, and as I’m sure you will agree, there are some absolute classics:
• Chocolate from Ye Olde Friars of Keswick
• Classical sheet music
• Wallace and Gromit poster
• Dairy Milk chocolate
• Chocolate cigars
• 23 PG Tips tea bags (wrapped cigar shaped in cling film because Pete thought it would be funny for it passing through immigration)
• Nando’s Chip Spice (Laura’s face was phenomenal when she saw this)
• Call of Duty Black Ops (which had been packed inside a ‘Culture Club Greatest Hits’ CD case)
They certainly kicked Kim Jong Il’s birthday present of World War Three into touch.
When I got to work on Friday I knew it was going to be a busy day because I was assessing the student’s ability to speak English in their speaking test all morning. I also arrived at my desk to have a broken stick lying there – is somebody trying to give me a hint to use it in class? Anyway, the speaking tests went
Black Ops
Culture Club!? brilliantly, and of course, there were some amazing answers. My favourite being, “How many brothers or sisters do you have?” “Science.”
We went out for some bulgogi for lunch which was great before Sunny and Eun-bi tricked me into thinking we were going to have a meeting about the Winter Camp to surprise me with their present which was a shirt and top which are great! In the evening, we had a night of fun and games at our flat and ate fried chicken finished with a piano-shaped chocolate birthday cake that Laura got me which was sooooo good!
Yesterday, Eun-bi, Sunny, Laura and I went into Cheongju and had lunch at the all-you-can-eat buffet that I mentioned in one of my previous blogs. It was awesome, and we stayed nearly as long as we waited for our showing at the cinema. We went to see The Social Network which was great. Also, when movies say they are on at 5pm here that means the movie actually starts at 5pm! Unbelievable! No 30 minutes of adverts to sit through!
Today, Laura has been playing on the Curse of the Monkey Island which is a PC game that
Amazement
The Nando's Chip Spice. she played when she was 10 years old and it has come up on sale on the Xbox so we downloaded it. She’s chuffed to bits! We went out for some samgyeopsal for lunch – it still makes us chuckle how surprised people are when we go to a restaurant and actually want some food! I think most of them think we’re just lost! Also, the chances of having a romantic meal to yourselves is almost non-existent since the woman running the restaurant will always want to help you with your food, whether it being cooking it, making it or feeding it to you (all three have happened!). The food and the owners were really awesome and gave us extra food, including an apple and a freshly baked sweet potato. Laura was full of food and not wanting to offend, she decided to wrap it up and put it in her bag! Classic.
That’s all for this week! Let’s hope nothing too eventful happens over the next week! Thank you for all your birthday messages and emails! It means a lot and I will try and get back to as many of you as possible!
Tink and Laura
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Roxi
non-member comment
Happy Birthday :)
oh and also MONKEY ISLAND.... I am pleased with this :) xxxx