He aint gonna die

I've known this dude from America for about a month, last night was his leaving party, he's going back home for a while then off to teach in The Czech Republic but the real reason that I am writing about him is because last night I discovered that he is from a small town in Seattle called Olympia, the next small down down the road is a place called Aberdeen. Any one got my drift yet? He was a uni student during the beginning of the Grunge Explosion, we spent all night talking about bands he has seen and gigs he bled at and of course the musicians that he knew cause he was from the same town, went to school with, drunk with, and boiled up mushrooms with. I was in awe of this guy as story after story popped out. He saw all the Bands, NIRVANA, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, L7, Mudhoney, The Melvins, Stone Temple Pilots. He told me two stories about God, the first time he met this stooped over skinny guy in op shop clothes was in a bar and they got to talking about nothing in particular and ended up playing pool together. Those of you that know me can imagine how I was sitting right on the edge of my seat, drooling at the thought of playing Pool with Kurt Cobain. The short quiet skinny guy won the game!

The other story was how he and a friend were in a convience store and in walks Cobain and Courtney Love. She walks up to the two of them and asks his mate to approach Kurt and say "Hey, your Eddie Vedder I love Pearl Jam and I'm your biggest fan!" She offers him $5 to do this. He thought about it and reasoned this is my chance to talk to Cobain, even if I am fucking with him. So he did. Love was pissing herself with laughter and Cobain walked out without saying a word.

The Weekend.

I spent all day Saturday at the University in Jinju on a teachers refresher course for the chain of Schools that I work for (E.Bo Young Talking Club). The first half of the day we were in a room full of computers, it was my dumb luck to get a computer that didn't work! And to top it all off the entire morning course was in Korean! What a waste of time it was for me. The afternoon session was a little better. It was all about running lessons and how to keep the class interested. The chick up on stage kept asking me questions in front of everyone, talk about being put on the spot but I successfully answered all the questions and each time got applauded for it! I should have worn a hat so my locks wouldn't have stuck out so much then maybe I wouldn't have been asked so many questions. There were only a few other foreigners on the course and I got talking to them all and so have met some new guys.

After the course I had arranged to meet up with some Irish people in Jinju, we went bowling, then drinking. I met Scotty from Scotland in a bar called Gurl. I have never met such a drunk person in my life! He was fucked, I managed to find out that he had been drinking for 2 days, got talking to him and ended up drinking a bottle of Johnnie Black with him. He paid! He was pretty interesting, got into trouble back home and was kind of hiding out in Korea! He wouldn't tell me what he did and with the amount of tattoos on his body I wasn't gonna ask to much about it! The first thing he said to me was "I'm a Celtic supporter, are we ganna fight?" Luckily I knew that Celtic supporters are Catholic so we got to talking about it, Scotland has such a different sporting culture from New Zealand, he was saying if your team lost you had to fight the opposition supporters for redemption. I can't believe how drunk he was. He kept on telling me how good it was to talk to someone who could understand his thick Scottish accent!

I went out last night to a Italian restaurant, had the best pepperoni pizza I had ever tasted in my life followed by a few quiet pints at the local then off to bed.

I got my second New Years of the year in two weeks time. These Koreans don't fuck about they take 3 days off to celebrate it! I'm planning a trip to Seoul, I don't want to waste these 3 days by staying in Gimhae and it seems like a good idea to travel further afield. Big Smoke, here I come.

Who the hell does that English Wanker Wilkinson think he is? Him and his fucken drop goals, fuck off to League.

This Weekend...

Tomorrow I am going to Jinju University with all the teachers from my school on some sort of course to learn about some sort of new English test, normally I would be keen as mustard for something like that but it's an early start (leave at 7) and after all today is Friday which means tonight is Friday night which means a quiet one for me. Normally in a situation like this I would go straight home but as I left my cell phone at the pub on Wednesday I gotta turn up to get it and since I will be there....

Life has been pretty quiet this week, I went out on Wed but that was it, been catching up on some much needed rest, it's been so quiet I'm gonna sort out a hell of a Saturday night. Any one keen?

Bad day in Gimhae.

The air pollution in this place is starting to get to me, that along with spending all day talking and participating in all night kareoke benders has reduced my throat to mince meat. The plus side is my voice sounds more like a grunge God but fuck I gotta cut back on the ciggies. Those little bastards are so cheap over here it is not funny. And I can't get rollies anywhere. The water is just as bad, no tap water for me, bottled all the way. You can get 1500mls for about 90c Kiwi. Having rice everyday is also pissing me off, I WANT A SCOOP OF CHIPS. Tomorrow will be better.

W.T.F?

What is all this emo crap everyone is talking about, I figure it is some sort of music style. Have I been away from home that much? I miss one B.D.O and I'm behind the times? Fuck that LET THERE BE ROCK.

R.A.T.M

I wanna be Jackie Onassis I wanna wear a pair of dark sunglasses I wanna be Jackie O Oh Oh Oh please don't die WE ARE ALREADY DEAD. http://www.stuff.co.nz/3938932a1860.html

Good ole Ridgey

Every day I look at www.stuff.co.nz to keep up with the news back home, I always liked to watch game of two halves to see what Ellis and Ridgey were up to and what I found at stuff cracks me up. No wonder he was a crappy All Black...Beckhams sloppy seconds http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/story_pages/showbiz/showbiz1.shtml#

Star Face, not quite the C&F but up there.

I think I may have found one of the coolest bars in Korea, it's called Star Face, it's in Hyundai which is in Busan and on Saturday nights it serves foreigners all they can drink for $N.Z15. For some reason your not allowed rum or Jack Daniels but as I'm neither a Pirate or a god dam fake whisky drinker I couldn't have cared less. I was a wee bit wobbly when I got there and ended up on G&T's all night, Man did they go down. The place had a pool table (very rare in Korea) where I'm proud to announce not one Australian beat me, a few Canadians did but no Ockers, a dart board (almost unheard of), where everyone at the Cat & Fiddle knows I'm an easy beat but that didn't stop me 1 iota and one of the best pub vibes I have ever come across. It has a reputation as a foreigners hang out which is kinda cool cause it means that the locals realise this and those that can and want to talk to Wiguks (That's me) go in and get boozed. It's really interesting talking to Koreans who are fluent in English there lives are so different from a Kiwi's, they are all about beating the competition (By that I mean competing hard out for jobs, apartments and education) they are all curious about westerners and want to know the most personal stuff, I tell em whatever they want to know cause I figure I'm not gonna see them again in a city of 4million that I don't even live in. Believe me, New Zealand is coming out as all good! I stayed the night in a Motel in Hyundai, around here some motels have a reputation and are known locally as Love Motels, as you can imagine they are cheap as chips and discreet! So no one blinked an eye when a Kiwi bloke, an English chick and an Irish chick wanted to share the same room for the night. I know what your all thinking and no. $40 between three ain't bad. It was a traditional Korean room which meant no beds! over here alot of people sleep on padded mattress, kind of like a thick heavy quilt. When your boozed you don't care! The locals I was talking to said it is not uncommon for Husbands and Wives to saunter there way through the doors as generations of families live not only under the same roof but in the same rooms(Bugger all space over here) and want a shag in private! The Friday before I did the usual, went to the local, got drunk, shot the shit, went to another bar with a live band from Thailand of all places, then off to a Noriban where I pulled out some atrocious but highly entertaining (Yeah Right) Oasis, Queen and The Killers. Home by 7 up by 2 and in Hyundai by 4 to start all over again. As Pa Beagle would say "It was very pleasant" This week so far has been uneventful, work, home, sleep, work etc, got some of the schools Big Wigs coming on Friday and got told to wear a suit. I'll keep you posted.

Gambling is life.

Can somebody please put a half box on Darci B, Gee I Jane and The Silence Sir in the Telegraph at Trentham on Sat. Chur.

Crazy aspects of Korea: The Rooster's View.

I've been here a wee while now and I have seen some weird shit that just would not happen in New Zealand.

1) The cops here put up with a lot of shit. I know Kiwi cops do as well but last week I saw a cop car pull up a scooter, the guy on the scooter was obviously drunk (as was I) so I thought I would sift on over and investigate. I wish I could of understood the words being said but I definitely knew the body language. The Copper got him off the bike, the derro started yelling, stuck his fingers down his throat and threw up on the cops shoes, as the cop bent over he got a knee to his kisser, the derro leapt on his bike and scooted off!

2) It is considered very normal and natural behaviour for guys to show friendship by holding hands.

3) Males can smoke any where they want, it is very frowned upon for a women to smoke in public. When the Korean chicks are on the juice in a bar they will smoke in the toilet, just like school girls. This leads to massive queues outside the ladies. Foreign chicks hate this, the number of times I have stood guard outside the men's while my chick mates are doing their thing, well I need more fingers and toes. It is hilarious trying to bounce Korean men out of the men's when they are drunk with a full bladder!

4) They have got a Korean fast food chain over here called Lotteria. Last week I had an Octopus burger, if you think thats not cricket the bun was made out of rice glued together!

5) It is nearly impossible to buy a drink of spirits without having to purchase the whole bottle. I don't really have a problem with this one, Johnnie Black bottles go for around 40 pesos.

6) Korean men do not have arm hair, my students have finally gotten over the fact that I do and no longer pull it. Maybe it was the clips around the ears that did it, I'm not exactly sure...

7) Say a bad word about a certain English soccer player with a very similar christian name to me and the girls here start crying. Ugly fucker is not in the Korean vocabulary.

8) Do not let the kids drink coffee in your classroom. Green Tea is fine.

9) Korean food is not called Korean food, it is just food.

10) Spitting is everywhere, and not just the spit out ya saliva but hoiking out your lungs, any where or everywhere, anytime is acceptable. I decided to try this one out for myself. Korean men with a little bit of English will often come up and talk to you. I have discovered a common bonding ritual is a good old lurgy, followed by a smoke.

11) Only one person pays the bill, this is a huge matter of honour to them. It always falls on the oldest male. So Dad please feel free to visit. If you invite someone out for a meal this line can be a bit blurred depending on how well you know each other, or in my case how big the tab is. When I go out with foreigners we don't participate in this charade, if we leave we put money on the table and walk out. Twice I have been the last guy there and both times I have made a profit, free drinks all night and a couple of bucks in the skyrocket. Karma will one day get me and I will lose out big time. Earl taught me that.

I'm sure I'll think of more and I will write another post on this subject.

I just got Paid!

I just got my first pay check! I'm a millionaire! I'm off to the pub, I may be some time.

I spent the weekend in Jinju with an Irish chick and an English chick. Jinju is about and hour and a half away by bus. I didn't do any tourist shit, just got there, walked around the market then headed straight to a German pub where we played cards for hours, I learnt some cool new games, in particular a gambling one called New Market, after the race course. It involves two bets, a dummy hand, gambling and the obligatory drinking. It's pure luck with no skill involved, you can only lose out if the cards you need are in the dummy hand. Dad, before you say anything I lost about 90 cents.

While we were there a bunch of Koreans at the next table bought us food! It seems everywhere I go I get looked after. I can bowl on up to any local and with a lot of miming, pointing, smiling and my very few Korean words get what I need. They bend over backwards to help you. On Saturday we were trying to find a bar we got told about called Devil, we stopped a guy, he did not know but went into the nearest shop, they didn't know so they checked out the Internet for us. This all took about 10 minutes and I was thinking to myself would I do that for A Korean back home? I kind of doubt it but now I definitely would take the time to help out foreigners.

We only got kicked out of one bar this weekend, it was because we were too loud! Loud in a bar I hear you say, picture a drunk Irish chick, a smashed English chick and this Kiwi who likes a few too many, gambling over cards, everyone yelling, drinking and taking the piss out of each others accents and you might get the idea. After that place we eventually got to The Devil Bar which was much more amenable to our antics. We all walked in, spied some Wiguks (Foreigners) promptly became mates and taught them how to play New Market and started gambling again. The bar tenders at this place, two Koreans around 20ish started talking to us and it turned out that they were magicians! For hours they showed us tricks, some of them were totally brilliant. They were putting one ball in my hand clicking their fingers and there were two sitting in my hand. I know I was drunk but I was flabbergasted.

I didn't get up till three in the arvo on Sunday, this place is crazy and I'm loving it.

Race of the Century.

Check this out

http://www.bonecrusher.co.nz/modules.php?name=MultiMedia&d_op=viewdownload&cid=2

Click on the 1986 Cox Plate.

And don't forget that The Filbert ran third for a Kiwi trifecta.

Cobaining in the Noriban.

I have just had a monster weekend, it all started around $12.95 and as my taste grew cheaper down till $6.95 I can absolutely promise you I was on the wine (metaphorically) and definitely not the water all weekend.

I finished work at 9pm on Friday, meet up with a mate at 9.30 and had finished my first by a quarter to. I was at my local Beer and Girls (It's still not what you think) with about 20 other foreigners drinking jugs of Hite, (tastes a hell of a lot like Lion Ice) working on my beer belly generally shooting the shit with everybody and playing darts when the next thing I know it's around 2am and time to move on. And move on we did. We all decided to go to a bar called Muse Me and my mate were the first to leave, we finally found the place, it was shut so we asked them where the nearest beer was and they pointed up stairs. Every where is up stairs over here so many tall bloody buildings (Yeah I know small town Hastings born and bred) We texted out where we were and headed on up. The dam place turned out to be a Noriban, which you all know as a Karaoke bar. Normally I wouldn't have a bar of this type of place but as I'm the newby here I've been up to all sorts of malarkey. I can truthfully say that I absolutely butchered Bon Jovi's Livin on a Prayer, fucked up It's my life (also J.B.J) and mutilated the best song in the world Smells like Teen Spirit! I'm pretty sure I did a pretty good Don't look back in Anger but who really knows these things?

We got kicked outta there around 4am, When the dude came in to ask if we wanted more jugs he saw me standing on the table and swinging the mic in huge circles, he immediately changed moods on us and we were out!

We walked along the main road looking for food when the best part of the night occurred. We were practising our Korean on strangers when a Korean man of about 50, very well dressed and as pissed as we were came up to us and started talking English to use. We got to chatting, said we were hungry and he took us to a restaurant in some huge building somewhere. He bought us a meal each and then ordered Soju, which is a local spirit. I learnt all the customs associated with it and was still knocking it back at half 7, by this point I had to stop as I remembered I had a 10.30 Staff Meeting in three hours. What a mission that one was!

On Saturday evening I get a phone call asking if I wanted to meet some Irish people, hell yeah I said and found my self bloody cold looking for a bar called Indigo in a place I had never been to called JeoungJu. It took us hours to find it, I did on the way manage to have a conversation about cricket with a guy from Pakistan! After meeting up with everyone we jumped in a taxi and headed to a place called Gaya in Busan to an Irish pub called O'Briens. I was there last weekend and I remembered the Genius as tasting good but this time what I was served was absolutely criminal. I stayed in that place all night, playing pool, darts and meeting foreigners, they even served cheese toasties and plates of chips! Got to bed around 5 and was useless on Sunday.

I'm at work now and just sorted out buses to Jinju for this upcoming weekend. Bring it on.

New Years Part 2.

Well, I was going to go to this place called Geoungju for New Years but my plans drastically changed after bumping into some very cool people in a pub in Gimhae. I bumped into a crowd of Welsh, Aussies and Poms who all made me feel very welcome and got me pissed. I was invited to go into Busan with them so I figured it would be better to go with them rather than by myself to Geoungju. We decided to make a two day party so went a day early.

The first pub I went to was an Irish one called O'Briens. I had been told that if I wanted a Guinness there would be fuck all around but that place had some. So I dragged them off in that direction and had my Pint's. The place was small but had a few more Kiwi's in it so I was settling in when I was rudely dragged away from the keg of Genius and off to P.N.U which was apparently a place to be as it is near the University and had heaps of pubs and people my age there. It was pretty cool, went to a pub called Soul Trane which was selling Johnnie Black for $4 a pop and played some decent music then off to a hotel in Seomyeon.

The next day was New Years Eve, for breakfast I had two Long Island Ice Teas, my day was looking good! I checked out a few sights then met up with two very cool chicks who showed me a great time. We all started in a flat, played games, talked a lot of bollocks and went out. We had to take three different taxis to fit us all in. After we had all met up again I had already been to a few more bars, lost a few pool games and discovered some great new drinking buddies.

The actual New years was spent in another place that I forget what was called but was crowded with ex pats and had good music. After that back to Soul Trane for some serious partying. I'm a wee bit hazy on what came next but I do remember moshing to Killing in the name off, more Iced teas, a tiny blue car, a chick from Blackpool convincing a Korean Taxi driver that she was Princess' Diana's sister and a Big Mac.

What did all you guys get up to?

New years is not a big deal over here, they have there own one in Febuary that celebrates the first new Moon of the lunar cycle. Many people call it Chinese New Year but they got a different name for it over here! That little puppy runs for 3 days so I get a second New Year in two months time!

New Years

I'm off to a city called Cheongju for New Years, leave tomorrow. It used to be the capital of Korea way back in the day and as such apparently has heaps of cool shit there, that was until the invading Mongols sacked it, and a few centuries later the Jappers got it, now it has apparently all been restored. It's pretty close to Gimhae, just an hour an a half on the bus.

I want everyone to have a Happy New Year's, for you all to get pissed and have a hang over free New Years day.... yeah right!

I'll try to light a fire for you all. Sez, the job in New Zealand as resident pyro is now yours.

Lost in Busan (and in Translation)

On the 24th I made my first trip out of this city, I went to Busan which is about an hour away by bus. It is the second biggest city in Korea. It was huge, apart from the B.D.O it was the only time I have ever been amongst wall to wall people. I thought I was getting a bus to downtown Busan but I obviously got on the wrong one as after more than an hour the driver started glaring at me, nodding in my direction to the other passengers and generally giving me the creeps so I figured I could be a dorky tourist with my guide book and try to work it out with an irate bus driver or jump off. I saw a Lotteria coming up and as I had had no brecky I choose the latter option. Lotteria is the Korean version of Mickey D's and Burger King. I had an Octopus burger with a shake and fries. I don't recommend it, or the shake but the fries were sweet as.

So there I was, trying to hold down a processed 'pus burger with a chocolate milkshake, in a city of 4 million and only two smokes left in my pocket. The night before, I had been watching the Discovery channel and an ad came on that said "Don't look back, one foot forward and if lost take a breath and start again" so I did. I decided to just walk, it was only 10am, I had all day so I sparked up a ciggie and walked till I came across the subway station. My bible, The Lonely Planet Korean version and it's supplement the L.P Korean phrase book (Thanks Mum) had a subway map in it so I checked it out and decided to first go to ㅐㅜ초대ㅝ뭏 (Oncheonjang) where there was reputedly the largest spa in Asia there. That was really the whole point of me travelling to Busan. I had never been on a subway before but I figured it was only an underground train so it couldn't be too hard to work out. 45 minutes later I had sorted out the change machine, the ticket machine, worked out what line to head for and which stations to transfer subs (Can I call them that?) held my breath and jumped on. I was expecting a dirty filthy carriage like I see on american films with a black guy with a knife down his undies ready to yell out "Gimme all ya money" what I got was a pristine, immaculately clean brand spanking new ride. I was well impressed with it and the fact that I worked it all out with out using my bible or asking for help, which doesn't really work any way as they all say yes to every question made it all good.

When I actually got to Heosimcheong I was not only disappointed, I was fucked off. I made an effort to go some where and it turned it to be a bigger version of John Beaumont's pool. He taught me how how to swim, GOOD GUY, and this so called largest Spa in Asia was just a big N.Z heated pool. It even had the disgusting chlorine smell.

I was flabbergasted, I was thinking like a Kiwi, that I would be going to an outdoor hot pool, that I could soak myself in with what was normally considered a HOT pool, hot natural water... I was wrong. Oh well whatever, nervermind.

The Christmas that never was.

Today is boxing day and I've just finished work, over here they all take a day off for Xmas (by that I mean no school but everything else is open) but it is not in the middle of their Summer holidays like I'm used to. This is not a Christian country, though the missionaries made a good show of it( is that Cricket?), it could be called a Buddhist country but I've been reading up on Korea to find shit to do and places to go and all the books tell me that they don't really believe in anything, most are Atheists. But despite this everyone follows Confucius, which is not a religion but a train of thought, I think, so like all people they have got a set of rules, like don't slit throats or fuck ya mates girl or take a piss when it's your round. They just don't really care a lot. Which is fine by me.

They have bus drivers and the dudes in the middle of the street directing traffic wearing the red Father Christmas suit but not the raging commercial bollocks that plagues the world. And one thing I loved about Christmas in a non christian country.... no bloody Christmas carols, I did hear a Korean version of jingle bells twice and a few others... but generally no.

So I woke up on Christmas day with a phone call from Dad (The best), had a coffee, rung the rest of my folks all before 10am, time differences meant they were all half cut by then so I decided to have a drink as well. Soju for breakfast while watching the English movie channel, I got to see the last of the LOTR's, followed by a wee Christmas stroll to check out the Christmas tree in the Gimhae Sports and Arts centre, There I had my photo taken with a Korean family who also happened to be checking out the tree. I'm not entirely sure how that happened but I don't care. then off to the pub, my new local called Beer and Girls. There I got wished a Merry Christmas by a hot chick who spoke a little English. One of the best things about this place is being able to smoke inside the pub, so I'm making full use of it. I was drinking a German beer called Lowen Brau, and when that ran out I went home to bed.

So not much of a Christmas but a pretty cool day all the same, half boozed by lunch time, fully boozed by bed time and I don't remember doing anything stupid, like last Christmas.

P.S Merry Christmas to Everyone at home and my mates who aren't at home.

O.B Blue.

I've just finished work and feel like going home but now I have to decorate my classroom for the Festive Season, what a load of Bollocks, so I'll make an effort just so that my class isn't the only dumb one. Not sure what I'm gonna do.

I got this adult class who basically just want conversational English so we just talk about things, last week they wanted to hear about this American SitCom, so I work out that they were talking about Friends so I went out and found a D.V.D and tonight I showed them it. I can't believe that it was not on Korean T.V, maybe it was only on Cable.

Last Sat I was walking along minding my own business when this fulla shouts out to me, I turn around and to my surprise I was looking at a white guy, we get talking and he said that on Friday nights all the foreign Teachers head out to this pub called Beer and Girls. That sounds like a good place to get drunk in so tomorrow that's were I'm heading, to get pissed with strangers who I wont have to speak slowly with. I've finally discovered a Korean beer that I like, it's called O.B blue and tastes a little like Lion Ice.

I'm planning a trip to Busan this weekend to check out the largest and hottest Spa in Asia, I'm gonna have a hell of a mission getting there, involving Buses, Trains and the Subway but it will be my first attempt at finding my way around in a place where only the children can speak English. leave early to avoid the traffic jams is what I was told. My students here can't get over the fact that traffic jams, subways and crowds are not part of vocabulary, but I guess I'm gonna have to get used to them in huge hurry.

Bugger decorating my class, I'm going home via the fulla that sells beer on the street and the old lady who makes good cheap food.

Gimhae

It's Monday, I have sucessfully survived my first full week in Korea. I have now met all my students the vast majority of them are extremely keen to learn, I think maybe they all are but last week some didn't want to be in my classroom. Hopefully this is down to the fact that my classes are late at night and they have been up all day at their Primary schools, followed by all their sport and exta cirriculumn stuff and then have to go to a private school for extra English language classes.

The T.V programmes over here are hilarious, I can't follow any of them, they got a channel that is solely for Playstation games where people play each other on national television and the game is broadcast! They have got lots of Korean slapstick comedy that even though I can't understand it still makes me laugh. There are three English channels where I have the absolute honour of watching reruns of MacGeyver and The A-Team! plus Discovery which is very cool.

I spent yesterday walking around the city, I found this huge outdoor market that sells everything from a live octopus to socks to bread to electric blankets, it really is amazing what I found there. I spent hours walking around but in the late afternoon it started snowing so I decided to walk home, not knowing that I was over an hour from home and was bloody cold when I got back! That was the first time I have ever been in snowing snow!

I"m not too happy with those Sri Lankan Cricketers, did we really lose on the last ball of the last day? or am I a little lost in the translation?

South Korea.

I arrived in Korea late on Thursday night, I had been in a plane for a long time and was eager to get out, only to find massive delays at Incheon (Seoul) Airport. I was pretty lucky to be bumped up to business class for my long haul flight from Sydney to Incheon. It was awesome, I ate some dam good food, drank plenty of red wine and port ( The beer was crap so I moved on) had a chair that was fully move able by a little remote control that adjusted in about 9 ways, had my own little t.v screen and hostesses answering my every whim! I got bumped up cause my economy seat was double booked and the Korean woman who also had that seat started screaming at me in Korean and the hostess lead me away to the front of the plane, much to this other woman's disgust.

I finally got to Busan where the Director of the school picked me up and took me to a hotel for the night. She told me she would pick me up at 10 the next morning. That morning was the first time I saw Korea in the day light and the first thing I saw reminded me of the Thames Tarts. I got out of the hotel and the first thing I saw was an eel wriggling down the street. I couldn't believe it, I was in an urban environment full of cars and people and this bloody eel, so I investigated. Around the corner was a shop which sold live fish to reataurants and the eel had obviouslt escaped from there.

I've got a pokey little flat which has my bedroom also as the living room, a bathroom with the works in it and a kitchen which is also the laundry, I'm on the 2nd floor of a 4 story apartment building with 4 flats on each floor. I think I'm pretty luck cause all around me are massive apartments housing thousands of people. It's fully furnished with a double bed, fridge/freezer, gas elements, pots, pans, cups etc underfloor heating the whole lot. The only thing I had to get was bedding and a plug for the sink.

My job is a 10 minute walk from my flat, I've had my first classes and it was just as I expected. I got another class in 10 minutes so gotta fly.