Still working

Yet again I thought I was finished in the school only to have it all changed completely.

The pic of the week shows the view from my window, as the evening sunlight catches the apartments opposite. The brown area behind the trees is a soccer pitch which I overlook.

School
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Everything is a bit disorganised at the school. I went in on Friday, for my 'last day', and then the asked me if I'd stay another month. They've guaranteed me work up to 26th September, and 'maybe longer', so I decided to stay.

I have had other offers, but I'm not that mad about working with kids, and I am going to look for a university job. Most university recruitment is in February, so I'm just looking to do temporary work until then.

So all of this means a quick trip to Japan this weekend, because my visa is up on 4th September.

Olympics
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The kids asked me how Ireland was doing in the Olympics. This was before the boxing medals, so we had a grand haul of zero. They fell about the place laughing. "Are you not in it?" they asked. I said we were, we're just not great without the drugs. Well, no, I didn't say that.

It's been difficult to catch any athletics on the Korean TV coverage, as they concentrate on sports that feature Korean athletes. So it's lots of table tennis, badminton and taekwondo.

I was out walking the other night, and I could hear lots of cheers all around from the various apartment blocks around me. It was South Korea's surprise win against Cuba in the baseball final. They've done really well, and have ended up in 7th place on the medal table.

Hangeul
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Hangeul, or 한글, is the script used to write Korean. It looks scary, but it's actually quite phonetic. It's made up of symbols for consonant sounds (ㄱ, ㄴ, ㄷ, ㄹ, ㅁ, ㅂ, ㅅ, ㅇ, ㅈ, ㅊ, ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅍ, ㅎ) and vowels (ㅏ, ㅓ, ㅗ, ㅜ, ㅡ, ㅣ,ㅑ, ㅕ, ㅛ, ㅠ). They combine by stacking them in boxes for each syllable, so you get something like 소유진 비하발언.

As it's phonetic, I've learned off the symbols, and can now read what it says. I may have no idea what it means, but I can say it. You often discover that the words are English. Like ai-i-di kon-sul-ting is ID Consulting, and outside my apartment, the ta-i-uh sign is tyre.

I can read the train stations now, which is probably the handiest use of it.

Western names
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When I lived in Dublin, I didn't like that all the Chinese had western names. I didn't understand why people should have to change, and take names so removed from their own culture. But, I have to say that in teaching, I'm really glad of it. Korean names are so difficult, so classes of Harry, Sam, Danny, Sue, Sara (1), Sara (2) and Sara (3) (Sara is popular) are so much easier. You also get to name the new students, so you feel like they're yours.

Koreans have problems with L and R, because it's more of a blend between the two in Korean, so whoever named one of my students Lara must have been having a laugh. They say Rara, Lala, Rala, and everything in between. When I call her name she never realises it's her.
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Well, that's it for this week. I've been struggling to book the trip to Japan this weekend. But a Korean friend of Clara's in working on it now, so I plan to go by train and ferry to Fukuoka on Saturday.

Until next week,

안녕히 가세요

Éamon

Today's headline in The Korea Times: S. Korea, China to Expand Military Exchanges