So the Major Typhoon that was meant to hit us turned out to be a wee bit of a storm, I had a feeling it was only bollocks and it was! A bit of wind, a bit of rain and still bloody hot! I can't understand why this is called the Typhoon season, it's only a bit of rain and the Monsoon season was also only a bit of rain, no flooding, no nothing, I couldn't even play in the gutters in my gummies cause there was not enough water!
BUT IT IS STILL BLOODY HUMID and summer hasn't kicked in yet!
So last Friday night I got invited to my mates bosses house for a meal, We had an awesome feed and numerous bottles of Soju followed by a bottle of Ballentines, good knows what I was doing but after I left their house and met some mates on the street I had some apologising on Sunday and Monday to do. Enough Said.
After that incident I ended up in Shinaye market, my mate reminded me off a story about a dude who had a paperclip and traded it up to a house in a year so we came up with a plan to do similar. I was eating some Mangdu (Kinda like a dumpling with veges inside) and we decided to start with that. We ended up with two shopping bags full of veges! It must of been our amazing Korean language skills! We even managed to catch a lift on the back of a rubbish truck for a while and had a few drinks with some Ajumas on the side of the road, apparently I also had a spider with me but I don't recall that.
Some where along the line I lost my bag with my keys in it. So I spent all weekend outta my apartment. I was pretty impressed with my Korean skills though, after talking to a mate who can speak a fair bit and with the aid of my dictionary I manged to find a locksmiths number, call them up, explain the situation and that I needed a guy to come and change my locks for me only to be told that it was the weekend and wait till Monday.
So on Monday I met the locksmith, got into my flat only to find that I did not have enough cash in my pocket and as my wallet was also in my bag I was in a spot of bother but again I managed to make myself understood and got the guy to give me a double on the back of his scooter (he was holding his tool box between his legs and I was waving his drill above my head hoping to spot a fellow foreigner) to my work where my Boss, a dam good lady, lent me some cash. That was after laughing at me for yet another strange drunken incident in Korea.
Any way all sorted now.
Off to Seoul this weekend, tell ya all about it on Monday.
Won poker on Tuesday.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Friday, July 13, 2007
Weather.
Man has it been busy here, I've picked up extra work and don't have as much time on the works net at the mo so haven't written for a while.
The follow up from the last story was that the cops turned up, they couldn't speak English and we couldn't speak Korean but it was very apparent that they only wanted the noise down, which we did and then decided to move on to another apartment to carry on the mayhem.
The Monsoon season has hit Korea, they predicted it right to the day when it would turn up and they were right, so it has been very wet here lately, everything is constantly damp and my apartment is smelling a little like washroom cause of the continuous wet, damp smell around. I don't really mind that when it is compared to the next problem. HUMIDITY HERE IS AT 99% AAAAHHHHRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH. As soon as you walk out the door you feel it, the moisture clings to you and in five minutes your sweating like a pig, there is no point in deodorant! I'm lucky that in my classroom I have my own air conditioning and can keep my room at a balmy 18C , at times I put all my energy into wishing for a good dose of proper rain to bring the temperature down a little. I'm kinda used to it now but have been feeling the effects.
Today Japan is being battered by a Typhoon and warnings have gone out that it is about to hit Korea, as the city I live in is only an hours flight from Japan it is expected to hit us shortly, even now the clouds have rolled in black and it is raining. I've heard the horror stories but really I think it's a lot of bollocks where Korean people are just exaggerating the effects of everything. I'm looking forward to it as there is nothing like a good storm to put you to sleep, which due to the night time humidity I have been struggling for 5 hours sleep a night.
So the Monsoon season has ended, Typhoon season has started, as soon as that finishes it will be the summer proper where I am told by my students that the temperature will rise to the mid thirties and the humidity will stay the same. Great, no sleeping for me.
Did I mention I had been to the Korean Cup? as well as the Derby and tomorrow am off to the races again?
Trip to the D.M.Z in three Weekends, that should be bloody interesting!
The follow up from the last story was that the cops turned up, they couldn't speak English and we couldn't speak Korean but it was very apparent that they only wanted the noise down, which we did and then decided to move on to another apartment to carry on the mayhem.
The Monsoon season has hit Korea, they predicted it right to the day when it would turn up and they were right, so it has been very wet here lately, everything is constantly damp and my apartment is smelling a little like washroom cause of the continuous wet, damp smell around. I don't really mind that when it is compared to the next problem. HUMIDITY HERE IS AT 99% AAAAHHHHRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH. As soon as you walk out the door you feel it, the moisture clings to you and in five minutes your sweating like a pig, there is no point in deodorant! I'm lucky that in my classroom I have my own air conditioning and can keep my room at a balmy 18C , at times I put all my energy into wishing for a good dose of proper rain to bring the temperature down a little. I'm kinda used to it now but have been feeling the effects.
Today Japan is being battered by a Typhoon and warnings have gone out that it is about to hit Korea, as the city I live in is only an hours flight from Japan it is expected to hit us shortly, even now the clouds have rolled in black and it is raining. I've heard the horror stories but really I think it's a lot of bollocks where Korean people are just exaggerating the effects of everything. I'm looking forward to it as there is nothing like a good storm to put you to sleep, which due to the night time humidity I have been struggling for 5 hours sleep a night.
So the Monsoon season has ended, Typhoon season has started, as soon as that finishes it will be the summer proper where I am told by my students that the temperature will rise to the mid thirties and the humidity will stay the same. Great, no sleeping for me.
Did I mention I had been to the Korean Cup? as well as the Derby and tomorrow am off to the races again?
Trip to the D.M.Z in three Weekends, that should be bloody interesting!
Monday, July 02, 2007
More Korean Gun Stories...
I've been a bit slack on the blog lately, two weeks ago I was quite crook, I couldn't eat or drink much and the beer was definitely out of the question! I struggled through work only to find out on a Friday that I had to be in Seoul for a teaching conference by 10am the next morning so I was not very happy. I thought a free weekend in Seoul would be sweet but it wasn't. I spent all day listening to bollocks, found a hotel and for the first time since I don't know when I was in bed by 7pm! I had to go all the way to one of the largest cities in Asia to get some decent sleep! I woke up at 9 and was back at the conference by 10 and out of it by 6pm. They even gave us an exam at the end of it! More bollocks!
This week I was feeling much better and am now holding down food, I went out on Tuesday with my colleagues which was very cool, ended up in a noribaan singing my heart out, Wednesday I went to a leaving party for a mate who went back home to Australia. The bar was pretty cool and was known for it's flavoured soju. On Wednesday I was in Home plus and Italian red wine was on special, so being me I bought the lot, 18 bottles for $55, not too bad a drop.
Since I had all this wine at my house I decided to have a party, what a night, this time it wasn't security guards with guns but the actual police! I got a class in 5 minutes so I will write it another time. Don't worry, no one shed huge quantities of blood...
This week I was feeling much better and am now holding down food, I went out on Tuesday with my colleagues which was very cool, ended up in a noribaan singing my heart out, Wednesday I went to a leaving party for a mate who went back home to Australia. The bar was pretty cool and was known for it's flavoured soju. On Wednesday I was in Home plus and Italian red wine was on special, so being me I bought the lot, 18 bottles for $55, not too bad a drop.
Since I had all this wine at my house I decided to have a party, what a night, this time it wasn't security guards with guns but the actual police! I got a class in 5 minutes so I will write it another time. Don't worry, no one shed huge quantities of blood...
Friday, June 08, 2007
Last weekend.
The Beach Soccer tournament was a bit of a disaster, not for the team but for me. I played in the first game and that was that, cause I was hung over and couldn't be bothered. We managed to draw our first game 2-2, it was a shear fluke, the opposition were running rings around us, they scored two very quick goals and then started taking the mickey out of us by fooling around with all sorts of flash kicks and stuff. Buddha only knows how we did it but we scored twice in the final two minutes to level the game. We had Nate.com as our enforcer, he was also hung over which made him angry and as he is the only guy with any level of fitness he ran around charging into everyone and I reckon it was cause of him we didn't lose.
Our second game we won! I sat on the bench praying not to go on, this game was a little nasty, lots of bollocks going on. For some reason we didn't play the third game, Sometimes you just can not work out what is actually happening over here but our captain was given a choice of two bags, one said win and one said lose, he chose the winning bag which gave us two wins and a draw from three which placed us in the final 8. Not bad considering we were all out at an all you can drink for $15 bar till 5 that morning and playing by 10am. Bloody Whisky.
In our quarterfinal we got thrashed, then I went and ate at a nearby Indian Restaurant which was a tad disappointing.
One cool thing was we all got on Korean T.V, the festival was televised and a bunch of white people playing soccer is apparently quite interesting to Koreans. The Busan soccer team turned up and that got the dancing girls quite excited which did actually manage to get me interested.
I had Wednesday off work cause it was Memorial Day (just like ANZAC Day), lots of apartments draped flags out their windows. I went to the movies and then got drunk.
I'm off somewhere to an Island somewhere with some people somehow. Not too sure how I'm involved but I'm getting a sailing lesson out of it. I think it's around the Busan Area but I'm not sure. I'll tell you on Monday.
Our second game we won! I sat on the bench praying not to go on, this game was a little nasty, lots of bollocks going on. For some reason we didn't play the third game, Sometimes you just can not work out what is actually happening over here but our captain was given a choice of two bags, one said win and one said lose, he chose the winning bag which gave us two wins and a draw from three which placed us in the final 8. Not bad considering we were all out at an all you can drink for $15 bar till 5 that morning and playing by 10am. Bloody Whisky.
In our quarterfinal we got thrashed, then I went and ate at a nearby Indian Restaurant which was a tad disappointing.
One cool thing was we all got on Korean T.V, the festival was televised and a bunch of white people playing soccer is apparently quite interesting to Koreans. The Busan soccer team turned up and that got the dancing girls quite excited which did actually manage to get me interested.
I had Wednesday off work cause it was Memorial Day (just like ANZAC Day), lots of apartments draped flags out their windows. I went to the movies and then got drunk.
I'm off somewhere to an Island somewhere with some people somehow. Not too sure how I'm involved but I'm getting a sailing lesson out of it. I think it's around the Busan Area but I'm not sure. I'll tell you on Monday.
Friday, June 01, 2007
My Debut.
This Sunday I am making my Korean sporting debut, it ain't cricket but I'll give it a shot. I'm in the Gimhae Foreigners Beach Soccer team playing on Sunday.
32 teams, 8 groups, top of each group goes through to the next round.
12 minute halves, 5 minute break, 7 a side, as many reserves as you want, pitch 20m by 30m.
Starts at 9.30am so staying the night at the beach.
On Saturday going to my first ever Baseball game, the Lotte Giants are playing, they are the Busan team. All teams are owned by corporations and Lotte has it's capitalist fingers in every money making pie in Korea, from chocolate milk to live octopus. They are playing the Kia team who make cars. Dunno where they are from.
Should be good.
32 teams, 8 groups, top of each group goes through to the next round.
12 minute halves, 5 minute break, 7 a side, as many reserves as you want, pitch 20m by 30m.
Starts at 9.30am so staying the night at the beach.
On Saturday going to my first ever Baseball game, the Lotte Giants are playing, they are the Busan team. All teams are owned by corporations and Lotte has it's capitalist fingers in every money making pie in Korea, from chocolate milk to live octopus. They are playing the Kia team who make cars. Dunno where they are from.
Should be good.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Sheep Shagging
I heard a good joke, it appeals to me cause it is a little bit of self depreciating Kiwi humour followed by taking the piss of the Aussies.
An Aussie farmer came over to New Zealand to buy some ewes of his Kiwi farming mate, they were walking the boundary of the farm, checking out the lie of the land, talking about crop rotation, water supplies and reminiscing about driving their tractors up Parliaments steps when they spot a ewe with her head well and truly stuck in the fence.
The Kiwi walks up to it first (after all it is his farm) drops his mole skins, to be absolutely sure she won't run away he carefully lifts up her hind legs and places them in his gum boots and shags the ewe like his life depended on it.
After he is finished he asks his Aussie mate
"Wanna piece of this?"
In that laconic Aussie way he replies
"Sure, why not?"
So he walks over, drops his mole skins, bends over and puts his head in the fence.
An Aussie farmer came over to New Zealand to buy some ewes of his Kiwi farming mate, they were walking the boundary of the farm, checking out the lie of the land, talking about crop rotation, water supplies and reminiscing about driving their tractors up Parliaments steps when they spot a ewe with her head well and truly stuck in the fence.
The Kiwi walks up to it first (after all it is his farm) drops his mole skins, to be absolutely sure she won't run away he carefully lifts up her hind legs and places them in his gum boots and shags the ewe like his life depended on it.
After he is finished he asks his Aussie mate
"Wanna piece of this?"
In that laconic Aussie way he replies
"Sure, why not?"
So he walks over, drops his mole skins, bends over and puts his head in the fence.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Korean Derby.
I went to the Korean Derby, run at The Seoul Race Park, the horse that won absolutely annihilated the others, in a Derby where the best 3 year old horses run it was amazing to see such a good horse. He was boxed in on the rails, about 400 out the jockey actually stood up, looked around him, slowed downed to get a gap pushed his way through to the outside, shot to the lead with about 200 to go, another horse tried to keep up but no one had to the class to even come close and waltzed away by 5 lenghts.
The race track, or park as they are called over here was huge, There was easily 80,000 people there, the noise was tremendous! You have to buy betting vouchers which you then place in an automatic betting machine along with your picks, it was very quick and efficient as you had to have written down on the betting slip exactly what you wanted before you got there so no body was pissing around talking to the TAB operator.
I was sitting in the foreigners lounge, it was very comfortable and classy but there is no drinking at any Korean tracks and they don't have any chips and hot dogs but that is the only complaint that I have about it. They even had two waterfalls there!
I made a couple of bucks as well.
The whole trip to Seoul was pretty cool, I finally got to Itaewon which is renown for
being full of foreigners, I gotta tell you It was like I was in a film made in New York, I have never seen so many black people in my life, people were gambling on street corners, blokes doing their best to look tough on other street corners and sluts tryin to look their best to everyone!
And it was in Itaewon where I struck gold, I went to the Aussie Shop and for the first time since December I ate 2 Sausage Rolls, 2 Steak Pies and some Fish and Chips! Those Aussies aren't that bad!
Of course I got blind drunk and apparently I was carried home but I dispute that..if only I could remember.
The race track, or park as they are called over here was huge, There was easily 80,000 people there, the noise was tremendous! You have to buy betting vouchers which you then place in an automatic betting machine along with your picks, it was very quick and efficient as you had to have written down on the betting slip exactly what you wanted before you got there so no body was pissing around talking to the TAB operator.
I was sitting in the foreigners lounge, it was very comfortable and classy but there is no drinking at any Korean tracks and they don't have any chips and hot dogs but that is the only complaint that I have about it. They even had two waterfalls there!
I made a couple of bucks as well.
The whole trip to Seoul was pretty cool, I finally got to Itaewon which is renown for
being full of foreigners, I gotta tell you It was like I was in a film made in New York, I have never seen so many black people in my life, people were gambling on street corners, blokes doing their best to look tough on other street corners and sluts tryin to look their best to everyone!
And it was in Itaewon where I struck gold, I went to the Aussie Shop and for the first time since December I ate 2 Sausage Rolls, 2 Steak Pies and some Fish and Chips! Those Aussies aren't that bad!
Of course I got blind drunk and apparently I was carried home but I dispute that..if only I could remember.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Monday, May 21, 2007
I refuse to drink any more Bacardi 151
I've just had another great weekend, Friday I went to a bar I have never been to before, it is called the Wa Bar and I started drinking XXXX before moving on to the Long Island Ice tea's. I think it was the first time a large group of Whities have ever turned up en masse, I thought the bar staff coped remarkably well, a few funny incidents took place which will be talked about for a while!
The first was our Aussie Ajuma( A polite term of endearment for an older married woman). She normally has a bottle of Soju in her bag and buys coke to mix it with. Well, we were sitting around a bar that had about a hundred beers sitting on ice in the middle of it and you just grab whatever one you want, drink it and pay at the end. Unfortunately for her a bottle of Soju looks remarkably like a bottle of beer and when the bar staff saw her putting her Soju back in her bag they thought she was pinching some beer (Some stories came out later of a crazy foreigner who made a habit of paying for his beer with his five finger discount card). So they confronted her, she has got a wee bit of a wild streak to her, after all she is from Tasmania! so she told them all to @#$% off until she realised what had actually happened so she pulled out the Soju and showed them and they were most apologetic and offered her a free drink, which she refused!
That had us all in hysterics but the other incident went too far and in my opinion was out of line. A mistake got made somewhere along the line with a chicks change. I've worked in bars and know that these things happen and who really cares about $9 anyway? I don't know if the mistake was made by the bar tender giving the wrong change or the chick not giving enough money in the first place but she thought she was owed nine bucks and became very irate and belligerent, charging up and down the bar yelling and screaming and giving all of us foreigners a bad name. Stage 2 culture shock my arse.
I had a good time on Saturday arvo, I went and watch some of my mates do a Kok Sol Won demonstration, this a form of Martial arts and was pretty cool. Then I discovered a new Vietnamese restaurant which is amazing, just around the corner from my house and I even had lunch there a few hours ago. That night I went to another mates house to watch the F.A Cup final, I 'm not really that interested in it and most finals in all sports are pretty boring to watch but we did have many litres of beer, 4 bottles of Scotch and that bloody Bicardi 151. That shit is 70% proof and it was the Gimhae Hat Committee's punishment bottle. I can't even remember what my mistake was but down the hatch it went. No more. I thought Manchester United won the game but it turns out I was wrong.
On Sunday I got woken up to go walking around the old town, it was pretty cool just wandering around buying stupid pointless stuff and weaning away the hang over, I got my self a camouflage floppy hat, a C.D Muse: Origins of Symmetry and some Vanilla Custard from Pakistan. I found an Asian Food mart and a Foreign food mart where to my delight I discovered that you can buy a leg of lamb. Now I just need to find an oven to cook it in. Another good feed and home for an early night.
I've got some cool stuff lined up this week, a trip to a Water Fall on Thursday (A day of work cause it's Buddha's Birthday) and a trip to Seoul on the weekend for the Korean Derby.
The first was our Aussie Ajuma( A polite term of endearment for an older married woman). She normally has a bottle of Soju in her bag and buys coke to mix it with. Well, we were sitting around a bar that had about a hundred beers sitting on ice in the middle of it and you just grab whatever one you want, drink it and pay at the end. Unfortunately for her a bottle of Soju looks remarkably like a bottle of beer and when the bar staff saw her putting her Soju back in her bag they thought she was pinching some beer (Some stories came out later of a crazy foreigner who made a habit of paying for his beer with his five finger discount card). So they confronted her, she has got a wee bit of a wild streak to her, after all she is from Tasmania! so she told them all to @#$% off until she realised what had actually happened so she pulled out the Soju and showed them and they were most apologetic and offered her a free drink, which she refused!
That had us all in hysterics but the other incident went too far and in my opinion was out of line. A mistake got made somewhere along the line with a chicks change. I've worked in bars and know that these things happen and who really cares about $9 anyway? I don't know if the mistake was made by the bar tender giving the wrong change or the chick not giving enough money in the first place but she thought she was owed nine bucks and became very irate and belligerent, charging up and down the bar yelling and screaming and giving all of us foreigners a bad name. Stage 2 culture shock my arse.
I had a good time on Saturday arvo, I went and watch some of my mates do a Kok Sol Won demonstration, this a form of Martial arts and was pretty cool. Then I discovered a new Vietnamese restaurant which is amazing, just around the corner from my house and I even had lunch there a few hours ago. That night I went to another mates house to watch the F.A Cup final, I 'm not really that interested in it and most finals in all sports are pretty boring to watch but we did have many litres of beer, 4 bottles of Scotch and that bloody Bicardi 151. That shit is 70% proof and it was the Gimhae Hat Committee's punishment bottle. I can't even remember what my mistake was but down the hatch it went. No more. I thought Manchester United won the game but it turns out I was wrong.
On Sunday I got woken up to go walking around the old town, it was pretty cool just wandering around buying stupid pointless stuff and weaning away the hang over, I got my self a camouflage floppy hat, a C.D Muse: Origins of Symmetry and some Vanilla Custard from Pakistan. I found an Asian Food mart and a Foreign food mart where to my delight I discovered that you can buy a leg of lamb. Now I just need to find an oven to cook it in. Another good feed and home for an early night.
I've got some cool stuff lined up this week, a trip to a Water Fall on Thursday (A day of work cause it's Buddha's Birthday) and a trip to Seoul on the weekend for the Korean Derby.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Buddha's Birthday
Not much has been happening in my life for awhile, the usual antics are still going strong but nothing out of the ordinary. I did find out that it is not recommended to go swimming in the local park and last night went to the local University called Inje for their O week, the same stuff happens as at Massey.
Tomorrow I'm off to the races again, and the following Sunday going to Seoul to watch the Korean Derby, they got a Foreigners Club there so it will be cool to wear my suit and pick many winners.
Going to a Dinner Party on Saturday, I'll turn it into a party without the dinner.
Next Thursday is a day off, Thank's Buddha, it's his birthday. I suppose it's a bit like Christmas with a birthday party and all but Koreans also have a day off for Christmas so I will write to Helen Clark and explain that N.Z should also have 25th May off cause Buddha never did any harm to us Kiwi's.
It's a good thing that we have Thursday off as on Wednesday night the Champions League Soccer Final is on so we can make a party out of it. Not that I understand too much about it but my Pommie mates are into it so I'll tag along.
See Ya.
Tomorrow I'm off to the races again, and the following Sunday going to Seoul to watch the Korean Derby, they got a Foreigners Club there so it will be cool to wear my suit and pick many winners.
Going to a Dinner Party on Saturday, I'll turn it into a party without the dinner.
Next Thursday is a day off, Thank's Buddha, it's his birthday. I suppose it's a bit like Christmas with a birthday party and all but Koreans also have a day off for Christmas so I will write to Helen Clark and explain that N.Z should also have 25th May off cause Buddha never did any harm to us Kiwi's.
It's a good thing that we have Thursday off as on Wednesday night the Champions League Soccer Final is on so we can make a party out of it. Not that I understand too much about it but my Pommie mates are into it so I'll tag along.
See Ya.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Weird Korean Experience
Last night I had yet another weird Korean experience, I was in the supermarket and I saw this foreigner staring at me, I checked her out and she wasn't just staring at me she was looking at me with an almost longing for something. I was a wee bit creeped out about it so walked away to the alcohol section. After browsing through the specials out of the corner of my eye I again caught a glimpse of her. It was as though she was penetrating right through me. By now I was a little bit worried I had never experienced this before so I graped a dozen and headed to the check out.
I had to get out of there and away from her.
So I was in the queue and she came right up to me. This woman was in her 50's and as she was right in front of me I could see that she was actually quite upset and sad. She said to me
"I'm sorry for staring at you like that , I didn't mean to offend you, it's just that you look a hell of a lot like my dead son."
By now I didn't know quite what to think and I just stood there feeling sorry for her. She pulled out a photo of him and I didn't look a thing like him, well apart from the ginger hair. as I was speechless she just continued talking and eventually I realised that she really had something to say but was beating around the bush. After a few minutes, (by now we had left the queue and were back inside the shop) she asks me a favour
"I know this will sound weird but I would really appreciate it if when I leave you could say Bye Mom to me"
She was Nth American so that's why I wrote Mom and not the correct Mum.
I just wanted the situation to be over so I agreed. I was in two minds as to whether or not do it so pretended to read the Korean labels on the shelf nearby. I looked up and she was just about leaving, she looked at me, smiled in a depressed kind of way so I did it for her.
She walked away with her bags and I went back into the queue with my beers, the check out chick says to me Chil Man Won. I'm thinking did I hear her right? she just asked for 70,000 won (About N.Z$90) for my dozen beers. I point to my beers, shrug, she says something in Korean, I catch the words omma (Mother) adul (Son) and ton (money).
The bitch had told her that her son would pay!
I throw down 10,000 won for my beers and charge out in the direction I saw her go. I was valiantly looking around when I see her get into a cab, I raced over, yanked open the door, scared the shit out of the driver and started to pull her out of the taxi by her leg.
Just like I'm pulling yours now.
I had to get out of there and away from her.
So I was in the queue and she came right up to me. This woman was in her 50's and as she was right in front of me I could see that she was actually quite upset and sad. She said to me
"I'm sorry for staring at you like that , I didn't mean to offend you, it's just that you look a hell of a lot like my dead son."
By now I didn't know quite what to think and I just stood there feeling sorry for her. She pulled out a photo of him and I didn't look a thing like him, well apart from the ginger hair. as I was speechless she just continued talking and eventually I realised that she really had something to say but was beating around the bush. After a few minutes, (by now we had left the queue and were back inside the shop) she asks me a favour
"I know this will sound weird but I would really appreciate it if when I leave you could say Bye Mom to me"
She was Nth American so that's why I wrote Mom and not the correct Mum.
I just wanted the situation to be over so I agreed. I was in two minds as to whether or not do it so pretended to read the Korean labels on the shelf nearby. I looked up and she was just about leaving, she looked at me, smiled in a depressed kind of way so I did it for her.
She walked away with her bags and I went back into the queue with my beers, the check out chick says to me Chil Man Won. I'm thinking did I hear her right? she just asked for 70,000 won (About N.Z$90) for my dozen beers. I point to my beers, shrug, she says something in Korean, I catch the words omma (Mother) adul (Son) and ton (money).
The bitch had told her that her son would pay!
I throw down 10,000 won for my beers and charge out in the direction I saw her go. I was valiantly looking around when I see her get into a cab, I raced over, yanked open the door, scared the shit out of the driver and started to pull her out of the taxi by her leg.
Just like I'm pulling yours now.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Fireworks and Coconuts.
I've just finished work, so I cleaned out my troublesome fish tank and thought I would write and say what's up. Got a new teacher at school today, she seems pretty cool, got a nice smile. My weekend was very similar to the last couple. Friday got drunk and went to a Nori bann, got home in time for a few hours sleep before heading off to the races, where I won $30, came home, slept some more, went to Jang Yu for a bit of a house party followed by a trip to Changwon to see a band play at O'Briens, followed by again getting home in the sunshine, sleeping till 5pm then getting up and being constructive.
On Sunday the opening ceremony of the Gaya Festival was held. Gaya is the name of one of the Korean dynasties that was in power in the area where I live, basically the bottom third of the Korean Peninsula. It was pretty cool, there was traditional dancing and costumes and the normal boring speaches which are even worse when you can not understand them and an awesome Fireworks display. I also bought a nasty sling shot, an evil looking knife and a coconut. I drank the milk from the coconut and then remembered that I am particularly partial to the odd dose of Malibu. Went to the movies to see Double Target, over here t is called shooter for some reason, don't ask me why, I just live here. On the way to the movies I bought a litre of Malibu, my mate who also bought a slingshot and knife bought some Johhnie Red to fill his hip flask that he bought and off we went.
Drinking Malibu out off a coconut that you had bought off a Korean shark outside the movie theatre while wearing jandals with my jeans was quite a surreal experience. As if I don't get enough looks from the locals any way, but throw a coconut into the mix and your just asking for trouble. I just told the curious people that I was American.
On Sunday the opening ceremony of the Gaya Festival was held. Gaya is the name of one of the Korean dynasties that was in power in the area where I live, basically the bottom third of the Korean Peninsula. It was pretty cool, there was traditional dancing and costumes and the normal boring speaches which are even worse when you can not understand them and an awesome Fireworks display. I also bought a nasty sling shot, an evil looking knife and a coconut. I drank the milk from the coconut and then remembered that I am particularly partial to the odd dose of Malibu. Went to the movies to see Double Target, over here t is called shooter for some reason, don't ask me why, I just live here. On the way to the movies I bought a litre of Malibu, my mate who also bought a slingshot and knife bought some Johhnie Red to fill his hip flask that he bought and off we went.
Drinking Malibu out off a coconut that you had bought off a Korean shark outside the movie theatre while wearing jandals with my jeans was quite a surreal experience. As if I don't get enough looks from the locals any way, but throw a coconut into the mix and your just asking for trouble. I just told the curious people that I was American.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Work
At school my students write a diary and it is my job to correct it, I kid turned in a set of stories that I gotta tell you as I inspired it, I'll write it down exactly as I recieved it. Its from a 9 year old writing in his second language.
friday.
I fish pet
fish is cute.
I have a very many money.
I'll have fish.
Monday
i pet a 3 Goldfish.
pet a fish is very excited.
wednesday.
Today too, I feed a gold fish.
But fish can't moved!
I'm very surprised.
I touch a fish, but fish can't moved
Fish is Dead!
So, I'm sad.
friday.
I fish pet
fish is cute.
I have a very many money.
I'll have fish.
Monday
i pet a 3 Goldfish.
pet a fish is very excited.
wednesday.
Today too, I feed a gold fish.
But fish can't moved!
I'm very surprised.
I touch a fish, but fish can't moved
Fish is Dead!
So, I'm sad.
A Mate Sent Me This.
MATES by Murray Hartin
I've traveled down some dusty roads,
Both crooked tracks and straight,
And I have learnt life's noblest creed
Summed up in one word, "Mate".
I'm thinkin' back across the years,
A thing I do of late
And these words stick between me ears
"You gotta have a mate."
Someone who'll take you as you are
Regardless of your state
And stand as firm as Ayers Rock
Because he is your mate.
Me mind goes back to '43
To slavery and hate
When man's one chance to stay alive
Depended on his mate.
With bamboo for a billy-can
And bamboo for a plate,
A bamboo paradise for bugs
Was bed for me and mate.
You'd slip and slither through the mud
And curse your rotten fate
But then you'd hear a quiet word
"Don't drop your bundle, mate."
And though it's all so long ago
This truth I have to state,
A man don't know what lonely means
'til he has lost his mate.
If there's a life that follers this,
If there's a Golden Gate,
The welcome that I wanna hear
Is just "Goodonya mate".
And so to all who ask us why
We keep these special dates,
Like ANZAC Day,
I tell 'em "Why?!
We're thinkin' of our mates."
And when I've left the driver's seat
And 'anded in me plates
I'll tell Ol' Peter at the door
"I've come to join me mates."
I've traveled down some dusty roads,
Both crooked tracks and straight,
And I have learnt life's noblest creed
Summed up in one word, "Mate".
I'm thinkin' back across the years,
A thing I do of late
And these words stick between me ears
"You gotta have a mate."
Someone who'll take you as you are
Regardless of your state
And stand as firm as Ayers Rock
Because he is your mate.
Me mind goes back to '43
To slavery and hate
When man's one chance to stay alive
Depended on his mate.
With bamboo for a billy-can
And bamboo for a plate,
A bamboo paradise for bugs
Was bed for me and mate.
You'd slip and slither through the mud
And curse your rotten fate
But then you'd hear a quiet word
"Don't drop your bundle, mate."
And though it's all so long ago
This truth I have to state,
A man don't know what lonely means
'til he has lost his mate.
If there's a life that follers this,
If there's a Golden Gate,
The welcome that I wanna hear
Is just "Goodonya mate".
And so to all who ask us why
We keep these special dates,
Like ANZAC Day,
I tell 'em "Why?!
We're thinkin' of our mates."
And when I've left the driver's seat
And 'anded in me plates
I'll tell Ol' Peter at the door
"I've come to join me mates."
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
The Weekend that Was...
I know that I blatantly stole this title off my brother (or is that bother?) but I know he won't care, On Friday night I was meant to go to to a party but that got canned and I ended up at the local followed by the ever present Nori bann, those places are really cool, I would never too it back home but the rules don't work when your in another country. Myself and My Pommie mate belted out some Emo style Oasis (just kidding, Jangles CALM DOWN.)
Just a thought, as I'm now teaching English i had better get this straight, does the full stop in the last sentence come before or after the closing bracket? I'm pretty sure it's inside but Mum, write and let me know.
I had Mickey D's for breakfast before going home as the sun rose. Then I was up for the races at 11. I was in the shower when the phone rang so I jumped out, dripping wet, bollock naked and slipped, slammed my knee into the corner of the step leading up to my bathroom, threw up (from the pain, not the from last nights efforts) , (Hehe, no full stop required there but do I have the comma in the correct position? Is it required but then can you have two sets of bracketed words next to each other without any thing in between?) answered the phone, limped to the bus stop to get to the track, discovered I had missed the bus, bought some chicken and beer and jumped in a cab. I was limping all day and night, pretty sweet now but still purple. It did also mean I couldn't dance all night, OH WELL, WHATEVER, NEVERMIND.
Those bastards at the gate confiscated my beer! but don't worry I successfully held on to the chicken. This Rooster looks after his own. Today, I only lost 30 bucks which was a much better effort than last weeks $88 shocker. As I left I got my bevvies back which were promptly downed in the taxi ride to Busan where we went to Hyundai for all you can knock back for 15 smackers.
Before going to the pub we had to wait a while for the dam thing to open so we bought some brews from a Dairy, sat outside on those ubiquitous white plastic tables and chairs which are most probably imported from the Hastings Warehouse and played cards for about an hour and a half. The pub rocked, had a good laugh, took my mate who was blind to eat, she fell asleep with her head on her plate, finally got her home, got home myself, slept till 5pm then went out for a nice polite conversation on Sunday evening. After staggering home on Monday morning I reflected on what a pleasant evening with scintillating conversation it actually was.
Poker tonight.
Anzac Day tomorrow, I have organised for us Korean Anzacs to go to the War Memorial (This memorial is for the Japan Occupation and the Korean War) in my city for some coffee and Rum. I dunno if we have to do it at 6am our local time or 6am Kiwi time. What are the rules?
May All living Kiwis and Aussies give a thought to those fullas who went to war for the future of us all.
Just a thought, as I'm now teaching English i had better get this straight, does the full stop in the last sentence come before or after the closing bracket? I'm pretty sure it's inside but Mum, write and let me know.
I had Mickey D's for breakfast before going home as the sun rose. Then I was up for the races at 11. I was in the shower when the phone rang so I jumped out, dripping wet, bollock naked and slipped, slammed my knee into the corner of the step leading up to my bathroom, threw up (from the pain, not the from last nights efforts) , (Hehe, no full stop required there but do I have the comma in the correct position? Is it required but then can you have two sets of bracketed words next to each other without any thing in between?) answered the phone, limped to the bus stop to get to the track, discovered I had missed the bus, bought some chicken and beer and jumped in a cab. I was limping all day and night, pretty sweet now but still purple. It did also mean I couldn't dance all night, OH WELL, WHATEVER, NEVERMIND.
Those bastards at the gate confiscated my beer! but don't worry I successfully held on to the chicken. This Rooster looks after his own. Today, I only lost 30 bucks which was a much better effort than last weeks $88 shocker. As I left I got my bevvies back which were promptly downed in the taxi ride to Busan where we went to Hyundai for all you can knock back for 15 smackers.
Before going to the pub we had to wait a while for the dam thing to open so we bought some brews from a Dairy, sat outside on those ubiquitous white plastic tables and chairs which are most probably imported from the Hastings Warehouse and played cards for about an hour and a half. The pub rocked, had a good laugh, took my mate who was blind to eat, she fell asleep with her head on her plate, finally got her home, got home myself, slept till 5pm then went out for a nice polite conversation on Sunday evening. After staggering home on Monday morning I reflected on what a pleasant evening with scintillating conversation it actually was.
Poker tonight.
Anzac Day tomorrow, I have organised for us Korean Anzacs to go to the War Memorial (This memorial is for the Japan Occupation and the Korean War) in my city for some coffee and Rum. I dunno if we have to do it at 6am our local time or 6am Kiwi time. What are the rules?
May All living Kiwis and Aussies give a thought to those fullas who went to war for the future of us all.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Alcoholic Hepatitis?
Is this just one of those new fang'dangle Buzzwords for a drunk?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4032601a1823.html
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4032601a1823.html
Modern Day Prince of Batsmen.
Tonight I am going to my first Korean House Party. I'm sure they still don't understand what parties are all about but I've promised them some Kiwi drinking games in exchange for some Korean ones. This will be interesting...
Off to the Gee Gee's again tomorrow followed by a night in Busan.
Brian Lara, your a Legend.
Off to the Gee Gee's again tomorrow followed by a night in Busan.
Brian Lara, your a Legend.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
The Saturday after the "Fish Incident."
Well, I woke up with a bolt at a quarter past Eleven, normally this would be a natural time to wake up but as I mentioned in yesterdays blog I had been trying to work up a group to gamble with me at the races. The thing is a few people had said yeah sure, you explain it all and we will have a right old laugh. I had told them all that they had to be outside Home Plus, the K.F.C corner before 11 to catch the free bus to the races.
I jumped out of bed and immediately threw up, I spent half a god damm hour dry retching before I could stomach some water and fuck off to the cab stand. I had no idea how to explain to the cabbie that I wanted to go the races so I thought I would take along the last weeks form guide in the hope that somewhere on the cover it said Busan Race track. So I hail a cab, explain what I want, he nods and I thought I was home and hosed but oh no, never be too sure about anything in this country. We drove for 10 minutes and I got dropped off outside a Video Parlour that had a spanking new advertisement painted on the front window advertising a bloody horse racing game! I jumped out, not even bothering another attempt at explaining and got in the next cab I found. This time it worked out just fine. I walk onto the track, find my mates and promptly fell over an elderly woman from South Africa. Talk about first impressions, she has only been in the city a few weeks and had met some people who invited her to the races!
Any way, saw a wicked little filly absolutely annihilate the field with an astonishing burst of power, it was just too bad that I could not figure out her name I'll have to get my Korean mates on to it.
Went to Busan for a birthday that night, Sunday evening went to Sasang for an Indian meal, I had the lamb, then back home and went to the movies and saw Ghost Rider, a bit of a let down.
Monday morning bought some "I'm sorry chocolates" for the boss, she had a good old laugh at my expense and made sure that everyone knew about it. She's a cool chick.
I jumped out of bed and immediately threw up, I spent half a god damm hour dry retching before I could stomach some water and fuck off to the cab stand. I had no idea how to explain to the cabbie that I wanted to go the races so I thought I would take along the last weeks form guide in the hope that somewhere on the cover it said Busan Race track. So I hail a cab, explain what I want, he nods and I thought I was home and hosed but oh no, never be too sure about anything in this country. We drove for 10 minutes and I got dropped off outside a Video Parlour that had a spanking new advertisement painted on the front window advertising a bloody horse racing game! I jumped out, not even bothering another attempt at explaining and got in the next cab I found. This time it worked out just fine. I walk onto the track, find my mates and promptly fell over an elderly woman from South Africa. Talk about first impressions, she has only been in the city a few weeks and had met some people who invited her to the races!
Any way, saw a wicked little filly absolutely annihilate the field with an astonishing burst of power, it was just too bad that I could not figure out her name I'll have to get my Korean mates on to it.
Went to Busan for a birthday that night, Sunday evening went to Sasang for an Indian meal, I had the lamb, then back home and went to the movies and saw Ghost Rider, a bit of a let down.
Monday morning bought some "I'm sorry chocolates" for the boss, she had a good old laugh at my expense and made sure that everyone knew about it. She's a cool chick.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Who knew Gold Fish could be so much trouble?
3 Wednesdays ago I left my local and decided to get my self a Big Mac on the way home, there is nothing unusual about that. In the same building as Mickey D's is a Supermarket, more of a big department store selling everything a Korean House wife needs, like live Octopus, Kimchi and stuff to make your flat smell good. I was wandering around in a tiny haze of drunken thought when I came across the Gold Fish section, as many people know I love fishing and have always kept Gold Fish as pets, so I decided to splash out and buy some. I got myself a plush looking tank, pumps, filters, gravel, the works and took it to my work and set it up. I thought I wouldn't buy the fish at this time but get it all set up at first. So I carried all this stuff to work and that time I successfully turned off the alarms. The next day when I woke up I saw written on my T.V screen in a white board marker (over here the white boards are actually green but that don't matter to much) a note to myself to go and buy 붕어방 , I was thinking W.T.F? So I have a coffee, a smoke and a shower before it dawns on me what this note to myself meant.
I should explain that this 붕어방 is pronounced Boung or Bann and is a snack you can buy on the street, it is kinda like a pikelet in the sense of taste but the shape is that of a fish that looks remarkably like Nemo of the Disney fame. It comes in two flavors, one is a red bean type of paste (tastes much better than it sounds) and the other is a sweet sugar like tasting thingy that is very similar to custard. It literally means fish bread. Any way there is a woman outside my work that sells it and it was the first Korean word I learnt to spell in Hanguel. I buy a lot of this in the evenings and usually end up with a net full for my students.
So after work the next day I go with some of my colleagues to the Supermarket and buy Six Gold Fish, I named the Fat one 붕어방, the small one Liz, the fish with a black tail Shana, with a black belly tail Kelly, Jenny has the smallest face and Ava has the white face. These 5 lovely names are the English nick names of my Korean colleagues.
Now you are all probably thinking get on with it you Dick. We don't care about your dammed fish so I'll tell you why they are so much trouble. Last Friday I was at the local drinking a new beer that has just been put on the market called Cass Red, it is being advertised as "The flavour of Passion" and as such as a strength of 6.9% The language on the bottle is in English and I can tell you that I have had a great time explaining it to the non English speaking Korean waitresses. Anyway, I was planning on going to a Noriban with everyone (Karaoke) and we thought it wouldn't be appropriate to sing sober so we also started on the Soju, which is the local spirit and is made out of Kumara and tastes like a weak vodka. We got so smashed that we never made the Noriban and instead spent most of the night outside drinking Soju as the local doesn't sell it, being a strictly Beer and Whisky pub so we had to buy it from the dairy on the corner and drink it outside.
Anyway, you can imagine the state I was in, stumbling around, talking a load of bollocks about the cricket and trying to work up a clan to go the races the next day. Around 4 in the morning I went home but on the way I remembered my 6 Leviathans and could not for the life of me remember if I had feed them or not. So I search around in my pockets for the keys to my work, got my bearings and headed off in the general direction. I find myself on the 8th floor of the building where I work and this is where those bloody fish turned into trouble.
I unlock the doors and promptly forgot about the alarm. I walked right on in when I was stopped by an ear shattering piercing squeal of an alarm. Normally this would not be a problem as you can just turn it off quickly and the Security company won't bother. But oh no, I wasn't thinking quite straight and absolutely ballsed it up, after a minute or so I get the alarm off and think here we go, security is on its way, even if I was sober I wouldn't have had enough Korean to explain this situation and really had no idea what to do, I knew I couldn't just reset the alarm, lock the door and scarper cause then it may make me look a tiny bit guilty when after all I was only thinking about the stomachs of my new fish, so I pulled up a pew, sparked a smoke and waited, I was in hysterics by the time the security guard turned up, I was just sitting there as pissed as Jangles laughing my head off about the whole situation when I spot this dude walking towards me wearing a flak jacket and with a not to shabby looking pistol in his side holster.
He looks at me, wearing his best tough guy face and in the gruffest Korean voice I have ever heard said something to me, god knows what it was so I say
"Hey, I 'm Dave and I work here. I've come to feed my fish."
He looks at me, I look at him, not one word of understanding between us so I leave him standing there and walk into my classroom, I motion for him to follow and very deliberately feed the fish. By now he has to be thinking that I'm straight out of the looney bin. He then walked over to the phone list on the wall and rings up my boss, it's about half 4 by now and I can see that maybe talking to the boss who can translate is not a bad idea. She gets on the phone in a groggy voice, hears this wanna be tough guy, then my drunken Kiwi accent explaining to her why the alarms were going off, talks to the security dude, he gives a little laugh, slaps me on the back and motions to the door which I then after resetting the alarm lock and walk on outta there.
Who would of thought Gold Fish could do that to a bloke?
I should explain that this 붕어방 is pronounced Boung or Bann and is a snack you can buy on the street, it is kinda like a pikelet in the sense of taste but the shape is that of a fish that looks remarkably like Nemo of the Disney fame. It comes in two flavors, one is a red bean type of paste (tastes much better than it sounds) and the other is a sweet sugar like tasting thingy that is very similar to custard. It literally means fish bread. Any way there is a woman outside my work that sells it and it was the first Korean word I learnt to spell in Hanguel. I buy a lot of this in the evenings and usually end up with a net full for my students.
So after work the next day I go with some of my colleagues to the Supermarket and buy Six Gold Fish, I named the Fat one 붕어방, the small one Liz, the fish with a black tail Shana, with a black belly tail Kelly, Jenny has the smallest face and Ava has the white face. These 5 lovely names are the English nick names of my Korean colleagues.
Now you are all probably thinking get on with it you Dick. We don't care about your dammed fish so I'll tell you why they are so much trouble. Last Friday I was at the local drinking a new beer that has just been put on the market called Cass Red, it is being advertised as "The flavour of Passion" and as such as a strength of 6.9% The language on the bottle is in English and I can tell you that I have had a great time explaining it to the non English speaking Korean waitresses. Anyway, I was planning on going to a Noriban with everyone (Karaoke) and we thought it wouldn't be appropriate to sing sober so we also started on the Soju, which is the local spirit and is made out of Kumara and tastes like a weak vodka. We got so smashed that we never made the Noriban and instead spent most of the night outside drinking Soju as the local doesn't sell it, being a strictly Beer and Whisky pub so we had to buy it from the dairy on the corner and drink it outside.
Anyway, you can imagine the state I was in, stumbling around, talking a load of bollocks about the cricket and trying to work up a clan to go the races the next day. Around 4 in the morning I went home but on the way I remembered my 6 Leviathans and could not for the life of me remember if I had feed them or not. So I search around in my pockets for the keys to my work, got my bearings and headed off in the general direction. I find myself on the 8th floor of the building where I work and this is where those bloody fish turned into trouble.
I unlock the doors and promptly forgot about the alarm. I walked right on in when I was stopped by an ear shattering piercing squeal of an alarm. Normally this would not be a problem as you can just turn it off quickly and the Security company won't bother. But oh no, I wasn't thinking quite straight and absolutely ballsed it up, after a minute or so I get the alarm off and think here we go, security is on its way, even if I was sober I wouldn't have had enough Korean to explain this situation and really had no idea what to do, I knew I couldn't just reset the alarm, lock the door and scarper cause then it may make me look a tiny bit guilty when after all I was only thinking about the stomachs of my new fish, so I pulled up a pew, sparked a smoke and waited, I was in hysterics by the time the security guard turned up, I was just sitting there as pissed as Jangles laughing my head off about the whole situation when I spot this dude walking towards me wearing a flak jacket and with a not to shabby looking pistol in his side holster.
He looks at me, wearing his best tough guy face and in the gruffest Korean voice I have ever heard said something to me, god knows what it was so I say
"Hey, I 'm Dave and I work here. I've come to feed my fish."
He looks at me, I look at him, not one word of understanding between us so I leave him standing there and walk into my classroom, I motion for him to follow and very deliberately feed the fish. By now he has to be thinking that I'm straight out of the looney bin. He then walked over to the phone list on the wall and rings up my boss, it's about half 4 by now and I can see that maybe talking to the boss who can translate is not a bad idea. She gets on the phone in a groggy voice, hears this wanna be tough guy, then my drunken Kiwi accent explaining to her why the alarms were going off, talks to the security dude, he gives a little laugh, slaps me on the back and motions to the door which I then after resetting the alarm lock and walk on outta there.
Who would of thought Gold Fish could do that to a bloke?
Friday, April 13, 2007
What is the speed of dark?
I'm on a break, thought I'd write and tell you all that I forgot to pay my power bill and last night I get home and the power is turned off. Oh well, whatever, nevermind. Tried to sort it out today but really fuck knows if it will be on when I get home. All paid up now so heres hoping. This morning I got woken up by some thunder, now it is hot and muggy, going to pub tonight but only because they have power and lights and stuff. Going to the races tomorrow only cause they too have electricity and a birthday party in Busan in the evening but this time only cause there will be alcohol and food. She most probably has electricity in her flat but I'm not too sure.
Bloody Sri Lankan's making me look bad in front of my Korean mates. Spose it's better to get a hiding at this stage rather than in the final.
Hey, my boss just walked in and threw me a bag of chips. I had a weird discussion with her this morning, she asked me what "most minute" meant I said "aye, where did you hear that" she went "I read it in the text book with one of this afternoon's lessons, haven't you gone over it" Was she trying to pull one over me? I had gone over it earlier and didn't remember it so I looked back through the text. Sure enough it was there, same spelling and all. It took me a jiffy to realise that it was minute as in teeny tiny that we had read. I had immediately understood the difference and had never thought twice about it, she read it and automatically though of minute as in 60 seconds to a minute and got all confused when it didn't fit the sentence!
The more I teach English the weirder I realise it is.
Bloody Sri Lankan's making me look bad in front of my Korean mates. Spose it's better to get a hiding at this stage rather than in the final.
Hey, my boss just walked in and threw me a bag of chips. I had a weird discussion with her this morning, she asked me what "most minute" meant I said "aye, where did you hear that" she went "I read it in the text book with one of this afternoon's lessons, haven't you gone over it" Was she trying to pull one over me? I had gone over it earlier and didn't remember it so I looked back through the text. Sure enough it was there, same spelling and all. It took me a jiffy to realise that it was minute as in teeny tiny that we had read. I had immediately understood the difference and had never thought twice about it, she read it and automatically though of minute as in 60 seconds to a minute and got all confused when it didn't fit the sentence!
The more I teach English the weirder I realise it is.
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