And thus he spake...


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July 18th 2006
Published: July 18th 2006
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The Football MatchThe Football MatchThe Football Match

Here 'tis... loads of Koreans gathered to watch their team fail dismally.
It has been a short while since I last poisoned your minds with my doings and a daemon within has urged me to report on my doings, dirty little blighter.

Anyways, here begins the account of bugger all. Firstly, you may notice that this blog only has one photo, so I will begin from there.

The man in question was walking along a river at around 3am on a warm Anyang evening. Toting $3000 dollars worth of photographic equipment and $1.20 worth of alcohol he was attempting to rid his mind of displeasures and calm his world through imagery. Surely this was not too much to ask for the lad. However, he was accosted by two Korean gentlemen wishing conversation. Quickly deciding that this foreigner was amiable and could speak a degree of Korean warranting at least a little conversation, one of the gentlemen proceeded to procure beer, cups and boiled eggs. Our protagonist thought to himself "this isn't too bad, I could deal with this." One of the Korean gentlemen also turned out to be a photographer, with an interest in finding a photography buddy. Being Korean, they both also had an interest in seeing the soon-to-begin South
Them changes...Them changes...Them changes...

A fella singing some sort of alternative blues near a university in Seoul.
Korean world cup match. They proceeded to take our foreign friend to the stadium in Anyang, where there were approximately 50-60,000 Koreans assembled in lines cheering, releasing fireworks and generally being jolly. Along with having a crowd of this size comes a dearth of seating, so the trio, plus one of their girlfriends proceeded to obtain the plastic used to make temporary fencing at the stadium. Using this, they constructed makeshift seating, and enjoyed an evening of cheering and beveraging. By 5:30am these 4 misfits were becoming tired and decided to return to one of the homes for the remainder of the game. Ending up in a 14th story apartment looking through photos, eating crab and discussing life the 4 ended their evening.

'twas then that I returned home, for it was that evening that I had to collect Masumi from the airport on her visit to Korea. After 2-3 hours of sleep I awoke, feeling slightly under the weather. Ebbing my way across the room I began to clean my abode in a semi-dream state. After this, I simply stared at the screen of the PC for a few hours, watching some of the programmes I had downloaded.
The new bag...The new bag...The new bag...

As opposed to the proverbial "old bag" of course... mmm... backpacky... filled with goodness.
When it came the time, I left and glided to the station, catching the train all the way to the airport (Gimpo is on the subway line!) After waiting barely 20 minutes... a seeming eternity at the time I was greeted by a smiling face fresh off the joy that is an international flight. We took the bus back to accommodate for luggage and spent the night in. Masumi was not feeling too well... as inexpensive flights usually mean aircraft that jolt, jiggle, bend and flex more than more modern, well constructed vessels. However, a little fruit and a glass of wine had us all in good spirits. We spoke well into the night, slept a little and woke early to get a few things done. This included a trip to the Anyang art park, as she'd seen my photos and we decided it was easy to get to. By about 4pm that day we proceeded to catch a taxi back into Anyang and have something to eat, being that neither of us had eaten a meal since Friday night. We enjoyed barbequed meat before moving on to shop for her mother's (quite extensive) list of Korean foodstuffs she wished to acquire. Following this we moved on to Seoul to meet an old work friend of Masumi's for coffee. After a brief meeting we returned (subways end too early) to Anyang, partook in some more fruit and a little pasta prepared by myself... Then once again we talked deep into the night and finally decided at 3 something to get a little sleep as we had to rise at 5am to catch the train to the airport. Bearing in mind that I also had to work at 10am... By the end of this day I was fairly tired. Yet, despite all this, overwhelmingly happy.

However, 'no rest for the wicked' is what they say, and they're bloody right. I was called at 8:30 by the owner of the photography company I had met requesting that I join him for dinner at 10pm... I got lost and finally met him at 11pm... we had dinner and I returned home nigh on 1am. Again, too excited to sleep I simply tossed and turned the night away.

There's been a few new camera purchases this month as well. As I'll be going to China on the 27th of this month for 5 days, I decided that 3 lenses were simply too heavy and expensive to take with me for such a short trip and purchased the Sigma 18-200mm f3.5-6.3. Not too shabby a lens, a little soft and slow, but overall, for a travel lens it does the trick for now. This will be my soul lens for China so I'm doing my best to get used to it. This was bought on a day out with one of the aforementioned Korean gentlemen taking photos. After visiting 3 different places unsuccessfully trying to take photos we decided to look at a new lens for me, and I ended up buying a lens out of my budget, but much cheaper than it should have been 😊. It was after this that I got a call from Scott Walker (who is in Korea at the moment) suggesting that a lot of Monash students would be gathering in Anam (where Korea University is) for drinks and tea. I decided to go to this and invited Paul. Not all of the Monash students turned up, but there were Koreans, Malaysians, Chinese, Singaporeans, English, Irish, Japanese and of course Aussies. It was a good night for what I remember. However, after having a bottle of wine, then going to meet these people, I was in the form for a sizeable evening. This began with Korean rice wine. Which myself and an Englishman, David, were partaking in a great deal of. All the while having a few Sojus as well. Then we moved to a new venue, where many bottles of Soju were ordered and consumed in rapid succession. The decision was then made to go to a norebang (Karaoke). Being in no position to refuse I joined the movement. David made his way to the convenience store and purchased unknown quantities of beverages of unknown percentages. These were mainly consumed by the two of us, and we took control of the microphones (allegedly) singing all sorts of songs. I was told the following day that I have a good screaming voice... of which I have no recollection. However, upon entering the norebang, my memory, already being full with liquid was not cooperating, so all of this is hearsay. We left Anam in a taxi bound for Anyang. Arriving at my house (in a taxi I supposedly directed) I discovered that I had lost my key and called Paul, who kindly put me up for the night. The following day I was not well and had no way into my house... grrrr. A locksmith, not a very nice one mind you, opened my door for the kindly price of around $25.

The next few days were spent returning to a normal, non marshmallowy state of mind and loathing even the sight of a bottle of alcohol. However, experiences build us. Although I regret this one, there's no changing it now. The worst thing, attached to my house key was my vegimite keyring, my only piece of Australiana. Such is life...

This session was brought on by various things, but I think the largest part of it was the desire not to be inside my own head. I had been walking outside and even up to mountains trying to escape an intense feeling of claustrophobia for a few days and simply broke into that night with the intention of escaping that feeling, which is now rectified for the most part.

Aside from that we've been busy with work, which is fun. Although the bosses are causing a little discomfort for the staff, who have sporadically exploded and begun to quit, class time is fun. I'm enjoying my teaching a lot, I'm not sure if I'm doing well or not, there seems to be no way to judge, but most of the kids seem to like me and take in a good deal of my lessons. I've figured out all but two of my classes now and have some sort of a formula which can be loosely followed to keep them interested and involved. When they are able to use what you have taught them there is a sense of pride which you cannot contain, but this is rare :P.

At this point two more photos will be included, one taken on the trip out to take photos with the Korean lad on the day I bought my new lens and the other of my new camera bag, which is a story in itself.

Thanks to my dear mother, I had a camera bag for my new DSLR by Christmas last year. This has been my trusty carry all for my time here, trekking anywhere and everywhere, suffering all sorts of abuse and torment at the hands of it's merciless owner before finally giving in, TWICE. The first time was on the way back from a trek up on of the surrounding mountains late one night. As I was listening to some tunes I did not hear the plastic loop which was holding the strap on snap, dropping the bag and it's ($3000) contents to the hard ground. Luckily no damage was done and I was able to reattach the strap. The second time was on the way home last Friday night. This time I had no tunes going as I'd left my minidisc player at work. I heard the other side of the strap snap and was able to catch the bag quickly and prevent it from falling a second time. This was lucky as I was walking up a stairs at the time. However, this gave me due cause and motivation to purchase a new bag, which is shown in a photo on this page.

The weather has been atrocious recently, with the Korean wet season sinking in and a tropical storm passing over all rivers have been flooded and in the eastern and southern parts of Korea a few folk have passed. However, we're wet but unaffected.

Here ends my longest update thus far. Although there's no photos, that's my dealings. Hope you've enjoyed them and come to learn something.

Peace, love and mungbeans.

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22nd July 2006

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hi Dylan, glad to see that your university education has taught you to drink so well!!! looks to me that you are having a great time and will find aus extremely tame when and if you return to our sunny shores. look after yourself and be safe.

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