Autumn

Folks,

The weather has taken a turn, as they say. I looked at the forecast for this week, and every day is in the 20s, with the highest being today at 27c. That's quite a change. And when I go for my run the track is beginning to get covered with leaves. I'm excited, because it will be my first autumn since Dublin in 2004, as we didn't have them in Costa Rica.

The pic of the week shows my lovely presentation pack for Chuseok of tuna and spam.

Language 1
------------
It can be difficult sometimes in the supermarket, when you're just greeted by a shelf full of hangeul writing and you can't read any of the labels. Sometimes, pictures are all you need. Other times you don't know if you're buying washing up liquid or fabric softener.

I was looking for little waste disposal bags, because in the heat my bin can smell. Putting everything in sealed little bags first seemed like a good idea. But when I got my pack of little bags home, it turned out they were all plastic gloves. Like you'd use in a supermarket for handling bread. So rather than let them go to waste, my rubbish now goes out in very strange hand shaped arrangements.

Language 2
------------
I haven't really frequented many restaurants around where I live. A lot of them seem to always have groups of people, not individuals. They sit on the floor at low tables, and cook on a hot coal 'bucket' that slots into the centre of the table. I've done this with friends, but it doesn't seem the type of thing you'd do on your own.

The second problem is the menu. Even when I can interpret the hangeul symbols, and pronounce them, it's not much help when you don't know what they actually mean. I passed a take away place the other day, which said, in hangeul, chee-kin (an attempt at the English word), so I went in and ordered chee-kin. She hadn't a clue what I was saying. So she phoned her cousin, and put her on the phone to me. I talked to her on the phone, but sometimes the phone can be difficult to interpret accents, so she didn't understand me.

Next thing, the cousin came around to the shop, she must live locally. She interpreted my order, and chatted away to me. Another customer arrived in and he offered me a beer. The two of them then translated the TV news for me, which was on in the background. Eventually, I left with my chicken, feeling I'd disrupted everyone's night.

Tell tale shoes
--------------
I've previously told you how we don't wear shoes indoors. So outside the apartment there is a little hallway area, just shared by my apartment and the Korean guy next door. And we leave our shoes there, just outside our doors. I smiled the other morning as I was leaving when I saw a little pair of shoes that were definitely belonged to a woman. I thought it was interesting that you can't get away with much when you leave your tell tale shoes outside.

Come in out of the warm
-------------------------
On Friday's, we take the kindergarten kids out to a playground close to the school. One of the kids' mother arrived, because she was worried that Dylan had a cold, and was out in the heat. She felt he should go back into the air-conditioned school. It was like the opposite of what we'd do in Ireland.

Hairdresser of the week
------------------------
The local hair dresser down the road is Missy Hair Feel.
-----
Well, that's it for this week. I'm not sure if it's my last week in school. We had agreed on 26th September, but nothing has been said. I'll play it by ear. I do want to free myself up for my brother's visit though, so it will probably be an extra week at most.

So until next week,

Annyeonghi kaseyo,

Éamon

Today's headline in The Korea Times: S. Korea, US Remove Last Hurdle to Visa Waiver

Chuseok

After the Chinese New Year, Chuseok, or Thanksgiving, is the most important Korean Holiday.

It was a four-day weekend for me; the school was closed Friday and Monday.

The pic of the week shows John from Wales, Melanie and Lyndenne from South Africa, my father, Michael, and Mary from Clare in Clara's for Chuseok dinner on Sunday.

Chuseok
---------------
Chuseok is on the 15th day of the 8th Lunar month, which was, apparently, last weekend. There were traffic jams all over the place as the large exit of Seoul got under way. And there were large traffic jams in Seoul as those left behind made their way to their relatives. The tradition is that everyone goes to the home of their oldest surviving male relative.

It's funny to be in the middle of a holiday that's so important for everyone living here, and which means nothing to me. I was on the bus at the weekend, and everyone was getting on with presents, and laughing, and wishing each other a happy Chuseok. And it made me realise how strange such celebrations are.

We had a gathering in Clara's apartment. There were ten of us for dinner, coming from Ireland, Wales, South Africa, the US, and Korea. I guess you could call it Irish/Korean fusion cuisine. We had traditional Korean rice cakes, along with roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. It was an excellent evening and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Gifts
--------
Like Christmas, Chuseok is a time to give gifts. I was surprised to be given a gift in school. A big box in a presentation bag. I laughed when I got home and opened it to find twelve tins of tuna and four of spam. Serves me right for making a joke of it.

My fame
--------------
Living so close to the school I rarely go out without meeting kids or their parents. I'm in the supermarket, and I hear a blabbering in Korean with the words Éamon teacher in the middle. I walk through the grounds of the elementary school on my way to work and I'm like a local celebrity.

The other day I was walking past apartments, and I heard bellowed from somewhere in the building 'Hello, Éamon teacher'. I couldn't see anyone, or work out where it had come from. So I just waved at the building in general and shouted 'Hello' as if I recognised who it was.

Favourite headline of the week
-----------------------------------------------------
The fact that Kim Jong Il, the Dear Leader of North Korea, didn't appear for Chuseok, having already missed the country's 60th anniversary celebrations has caused much speculation about his health. My favourite headline was in The Economist - Kim Jong Ill or Kim Jong Well?

T-shirts
-------------
You hardly ever see t-shirts with Korean on them here. They're always in English. And sometimes very bad English. A student came in the other day and proudly showed me his new t-shirt. He wanted me to tell him what it meant. I had to say that I wasn't quite sure. It said Being attracted jazz a motorbike.
-----
Well, that's it for this week. We're still in the 30s here, which is hotter than I expected for September. My brother Enda arrives on holidays in just over two weeks.

So until next week,

Annyeonghi kaseyo,

Éamon

Today's headline in the Korea Herald: Stocks, won resume rally as AIG bailout eases market jitters

Getting fit edition

It was a quiet week after my return from Japan. I feel I'm getting more used to teaching the kids, and I'm looking forward to a holiday weekend next weekend for thanksgiving.

The pic of the week shows the view of my street from the apartment. It's the main street of Singil Yak-Dong, or Singil Neighbourhood 6. The city is divided into districts, or Gu's, and each Gu is made up of a number of neighbourhoods, or Dongs.

School
-----------
Things are fine in the California Language School where I work. I'm getting more used to teaching the kids, and working out how to keep discipline in the class. It's good experience, and very different from working with adults. Even the kindergarten classes are going well.

Pretty princess soldiers
----------------------------------------
One of the things I notice here is that guys dress and behave in a different way from home. Pink t-shirts are all the rage, and it's not unusual to see guys carrying little bags from shops with hearts or flowers on them. This, coupled with the fact that they're much more inclined to hold hands or put their arms around their friends shoulders, can look a little unusual to westerners.

All Koren men must do two years military service. So there are a lot of military around. I was on the subway last week, and a soldier got on in his combat uniform, standing up looking macho, while carrying a pink shop bag with rope handles and pictures of a Barbie look-alike and a horse, which said Pretty Little Princess.

Weather
--------------
The weather has really been beautiful. For monsoon season, there was relatively little rain, certainly by Costa Rican standards. There have been some times that it was very hot and humid, but this week it's been beautiful, and I imagine it will be good for the rest of September. The forecast for this week is sunny every day, except Thursday, when it will be cloudy. Temperatures will range from 31c today to a chilly 25c on Friday.

Getting fit
------------------
I'm currently working on my fitness, having let it slide since moving away from the pool in Heredia well over a year ago. I've started running, of all things. Well, mostly walking, but introducing a little more running each week. The plan is eventually to have a decent run 4 times a week. It's both for fitness, and to strengthen my formerly broken leg, which has not responded well to my more sedentary lifestyle over the past year.

I go to the beautiful local park, Boramae park. There is a 600m track, and in the evenings it's got about 200 people walking around it. To run I have to weave my way in and out. But when I go on a weekend afternoon, it's almost deserted. The Koreans definitely prefer to keep out of the sun.

The park is really beautiful, and I'll miss it when I move.
-----
Well, that's it for this week. I have two four day weeks back to back, as we have Friday and Monday off for 추석 (Chuseok), the Korean Thanksgiving festival. I'm on my Monday lunchbreak as I write, so I'm just off for some ramen before heading back to school.

안녕히 가세요

Annyeonghi kasayo

Éamon

Today's headline from The Korea Times: Education Spending Growth Hits 5-Year High

Japan

Well, I'm back from my trip weekend trip to Japan. The fact that the Prime Minister resigned as soon as I left is unrelated to my visit.

Fukuoka, the city I went to, was a bit disappointing in terms of photo opportunities, so I've gone back to a photo from the Changdoekgung palace here in Seoul. It shows the Buyong-jeon pavilion in the secret garden.

Visa run
--------------
I am here 3 months now, so I had to go to Japan to get my passport stamped. There were no problems with immigration, and I'm now ok until the 30th November.

Japan
----------
The easiest place to go to do a visa run is Japan. I checked out the cost to fly, but the tickets were very expensive (come back, Ryanair, all is forgiven. I'll even bring my own oxygen mask). So I booked on the KTX high speed train to Busan, and the Kobee Jetfoil to Fukuoka, Japan. It was a very early start on Saturday, I got the 5.25am train.

I was alarmed on the Jetfoil to read the subtitles on the screen during the safety announcement, when it said "We are making an excuse in the event of an emergency".

Fukuoka
---------------
I should have read more about Fukuoka before I went. I thought it was a ferry port, so I was expecting something like Holyhead. In fact, at 2.5m people it's a much larger city than Dublin. However, there was nothing remarkable about the area I stayed in. I brought my camera, but I realised that everything just looked like Korea.

It was much cheaper than I expected Japan to be. I had a lovely Indian meal, a curry, rice, nan bread and a beer, and the cost was €14.

One of the main things I noticed on arrival, as I walked from the ferry terminal, was that I kept seeing people in 'made up' jobs. I passed a group of 15 youths sweeping the already clean pavements. And when I got to the pedestrian crossing there were two senior citizens with glowing orange batons to guide me across. This despite the fact that the crossing already had traffic lights. When the lights went green, the elderly guy on the far side stood out, shouting at me with a megaphone, instructing me to cross. I thought I was on some type of Japanese game show.

Gift boxes
-----------------
I was amused when I went to my supermarket yesterday. Next week is Thanksgiving, which is a major family celebration. Outside the supermarket they have a large display of gift boxes. There are pretty boxes with alcohol and glasses, chocolates and sweets, and bathroom toiletries. But what caught my attention was the beautifully presented boxes wrapped in bows and containing a bottle of canola oil, six cans of tuna and three of spam. I'd be so bowled over by such a gift.

Funny sign of the week
---------------------------------------
Soree Ear Clinic.
-----
Well, that's it for this week. I'm just on my lunchbreak, and I'm heading back to work now.

Until next week,

Éamon

Today's headline in The Korea Herald: Won (the currency) extends loss, stocks rebound