Pepero Day

We're flying through the semester. This is week 12 of 15. Beginning to think about the final exams, and Christmas.

The pic of the week shows three of my Chinese students in the International Business School. I arrived into class and they were all wearing animal hats, with bears, lions and pandas. 

Pepero day

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Some Korean celebrations are difficult to understand. Pepero day is a good example. Pepero is a type of wafer stick, sometimes covered with chocolate. Wednesday was pepero day, and every shop and supermarket was selling them. There were aisles set up in the supermarket for it, and stalls set up in the city centre. It was along the lines of the Easter Egg displays at home. However, as far as anyone can tell me, there is no basis for it, other than they want to sell more pepero. This is a link to a very colourful, noisy, busy, and very Korean style, website to promote the day. 

Cold weather

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The past few days have been very cold. It was snowing lightly when I got up on Sunday. And my students tell me it was minus 5 the other night. It's certainly cold going to my morning classes on the scooter. I'm wrapped in scarves and gloves, but haven't yet found how to protect my eyes, which are always streaming in the cold.

I don't know how I haven't contracted H1N1, because I've had a lot of students off with it at this stages. Rates of infection were due to peak on 13th November, with infection rates of over 4,000 per day, and 52 deaths. 

Scooter

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Speaking of the scooter, it cost about €170 at current exchange rates. But I've now received €178 in taxi fares allowances since I got it. So it's totally paid for at this stage. It's a great purchase and I love it.

Online translater

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My students are very fond of writing in Korean or Chinese and putting it through Google Translate into English as a shortcut. It's normally very obvious. For example, this week one of my Chinese students sent me an email, and wanted to say that her homework was attached to the email. 

Dear Teacher, my homework is in accessory clamp. Thanks!

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Well, that's it for this week. So until next time,

Annyeong-hi kaseyo.

Éamon

Today's headline in Segye Times: Panel reviews Sejong City plan for economic, science hub

Hand Sanitiser Edition

Well, the traditional Korean over-caution about foreign threats is well to the fore with the H1N1 threat. I was in Seoul for an English teachers' conference, and there is controversy in the neighbourhood in response to a university plan to build new dorms.

The pic of the week shows a guy painting the apartment opposite. He's on the 10th floor, working alone, suspended by a single rope and sitting on something similar to a child's swing. And not a bother on him. You see a lot of abseiling for cables or maintenance, and workers dangling over moving traffic for street works.

Seoul conference
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I joined the Korea Teacher's of English to Speakers of Other Languages organisation (KOTESOL), and we had our international conference at the weekend. It was an excuse to have a big night out in Seoul, and it was a very late one.

Visiting 'the others'
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Most of the English teachers in Daejeon are in the new downtown area, called Dunsan-dong, which is where most of the private schools (hagwons) are. The town is quite divided between the old downtown, Eunhaeng-dong, nearer to me, and the new downtown. In 'Lost' parlance, I call the teacher's over there 'the others', and we rarely mix. Two English teachers that I worked with in Costa Rica are 'others'. They've been here since before I got here, and I'd only met up with them once. So I gave them a shout last week, and we decided to meet up. It was strange meeting them outside the tropical climes of Costa Rica. We all agreed that we're quite happy here money and workwise, but that we still miss Costa Rica a lot.

Ajuma protest
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The item that I've got most response from people since writing from Korea was about my summer ajuma class. The ajumas are housewives, but the term is synonymous with a small, older but strict woman. Anyway, there is a protest outside the university these days, because there is a proposal to build a new dorm. They're appalled by the idea of more dreaded 'foreigners' being housed there. On a Monday and Wednesday I have to go past them on my scooter, usually stopping right beside them at the lights. I hear the 'foreigner' word in the middle of their Korean. But if I smile at them, they're too polite to smile back. The other day they were all wearing surgical masks, with black X's on them. So I guess there's been some sort of a gagging order. Yet another example of the very healthy protest movements of Korea.

Swine Flu
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I'm not sure how things are back in Ireland with the swine flu threat. But here it's being dealt with in a very Korean manner. There are hand sanitisers everywhere. Whoever is in the business of making them must be getting very wealthy. Every public building has one at the entrance. In addition, many people are wearing surgical masks (and not for a protest). You see it from time to time here in public places anyway, but it's at a different level now. Most of my Chinese students were totally housebound when they went home, because their parents thought that the risk was too great to go out of my house. It's getting closer though. A friend of mine (and I was out with her on Wednesday night) went down with it over the weekend. And she's on 7 days quarantine.
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Well, that's it for this week. I'm off now to prepare for my classes tomorrow morning. I'm running a bit behind because I was away for the weekend, and have been marking the mid-term exams.

Well, that's it for this week. So until next week,

Annyeong-hi kaseyo.

Éamon

Today's headline in Kyunghyang Shinmun: Influenza A shows signs of pandemic

Definitely Autumn

Well, I'd almost forgotten about the weekly update it's been so long.

I had a great trip home in August, and I'm well back into the new semester here.

The pic of the week is the view from my apartment. This is from the front, looking North, I guess. In the foreground are a group of allotments where locals grow vegetables. The group of buildings towards the right, just before the mountains, is Daejeon University. My own university, Woosong, is just a turn left at the junction on the main street that's visible, Daehak-ro.

Trip home to Ireland
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Well, since my last email I've been home to Ireland, even though that was a long time ago at this stage - August. I had a great trip. It was primarily family-focused, and mostly concentrated on catching up with my niece Robyn around her six-month birthday. I did get to Dublin for a long weekend, and caught up with some people. However, it was holiday season and a lot of people couldn't make it.

Work
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I'm back in the swing of things at work. I much prefer working in the semesters. In the summer and winter university breaks - called 'the intersessions' - we get very bitty classes. We have schedules that change from week to week, and we're always meeting new classes and new students, so there's no continuity.

Now that we're back in the semester I have a firm schedule until the second week in December. I now know all my students, and, for me, that's a much easier way to work.

Autumn is here
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One thing that Koreans are very proud of is that they have four distinct seasons. And it's true, although spring and autumn are brief compared to the long winter and summer seasons. We're now well into autumn. It's colder, although today is quite beautiful. Even on the 10th floor I have the windows wide open. It's currently (Sunday afternoon) 24 degrees. The mountains are changing to autumnal colours, and the Koreans are out hiking. En masse.

Mid-term exams
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We're actually at the mid-term now. And it's mid-term exam time. To give you an example of the level of some of my students, this is an actual example of the submission I got back from one guy. All they had to do was to match 8 supplied words with the gaps in sentences.

• My sister has been making poetry since we were kids. She wants to be a director.
• I can only run for a short time. I'll never be able to run a home movies.
• Don't put those marathon on your letters! They are from my collection.
• Jet Li signed coins for half an hour last night outside the movie theater.
• I enjoy all types of literature. But wildlife is my favorite.
• I saw an excellent program about the animals of South America. There were some fantastic images of autographs.
• I don't think collecting kites sounds like fun. I like to spend my money!
• People love to fly stamps in the park near my house on windy days.

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Well, that's it for this week. So until next week,

Annyeong-hi kaseyo.

Éamon

Today's headline in Chosun Ilbo - President, ruling party will push to cancel gov't office relocation plan

Partial solar eclipse

This week and next week are my busiest two weeks since I've been at Woosong. Twenty hours, but as they're all new classes there is a fair bit of preparation too. Still, after that I'm off to Ireland for two weeks.

The pic of the week shows the partial solar eclipse we had last week. It was the longest eclipse there will be this century, but we weren't on the path of totality. That ran to the south, and went over Shanghai in China.

Solar Eclipse
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The solar eclipse had a path of totality through India, Bhutan and China. It continued to Iwo Jima in Japan and on into the pacific. It was the longest eclipse of the 21st century, and the sun was blocked for about six minutes.

Here in Daejeon we only had 80% of the eclipse, which was less than Dublin in the 1999 eclipse (that was something like 94%). I was looking at it by reflecting it through my binoculars and looking at it on a white sheet, because I didn't have proper glasses. I took this picture without looking, and it didn't work at all. What you see there is some sort of reflection. The sun is extending its glow in the top right. I don't know how the reflection got there, and it's tiny in the original photo, but it's got the exact shape of the moon blocking out 80% of the sun. Although it looks dark this is because it was so bright I had to reduce the light right down, making it look like night. It was actually a beautiful sunny day with blue skies. Unlike in Shanghai where thousands tried to see it, but were blocked by clouds.

Scooter
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Just before I went to Taipei I bought myself a scooter. It's just a small basic scooter, second hand, and it cost just €160. I don't know myself with it now. Because I'm living a little further away, and my classes are geographically widely distributed, it's a great time-saver. With the scooter I'm 10 minutes from my furthest class.

Top five Dublin pubs
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A friend and his girlfriend are heading to Ireland on vacation, because her sister lives in Navan. He wanted to know the best pubs in Dublin to go to, and I had to think. I much prefer the old style pubs, and each time I go home I find there are fewer. But I settled on my top five, and have recommended them to him. They are

5. Bowe's, Fleet Street
4. The Long Hall, South Great George's Street
3. Kehoe's, South Anne Street
2. The Palace, Fleet Street
1. Mulligan's, Poolbeg Street

So now I'll have to try them out again myself when I go home.
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Anyway, that's it for this week. I'm in again in the morning.

In Ireland I'm going to be mostly down in Ennis, so I'll be up in Dublin for a few days around the weekend of 13th August, so I'll probably just park myself in a bar for the night and let you all know where to find me if you want to! Details to follow.

So until next week,

Annyeong-hi kaseyo.

Éamon

Today's headling in Seoul Shinmun: President Lee names new chief prosecutor

Taiwan

I'm back after my week in Taiwan. It was a great break. I really liked the country and the people, and would highly recommend it.

The pic of the week shows Sun Moon lake at dawn. This was taken from the balcony of my hotel room. It was absolutely breathtaking.

Taiwan
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I didn't know that much about Taiwan before I went. I had taken a flight with China Airlines one time, and had been surprised that the airline flew to a all main countries in the world, with the exception of China!

So I looked up a little on the history. It's an island in the Pacific, is less than half the size of Ireland, but with a population of 23m. Originally settled by Pacific islanders, it has been part of China for most of its history, but with some settlement by the Portuguese and Dutch. In the early part of the 20th century it was controlled by the Japanese, but reverted to being a Chinese province at the end of WWII.

After the war, back on mainland China there was a civil war between the Communists, let by Mao Zedong (Mao Tse Tung), and the Nationalists, led by Chiang Kai Shek. Following the Communists' victory, Chiang Kai Shek and the Nationalist leadership fled to Taiwan. They regarded themselves as the legitimate government of the Republic of China. Mao led the People's Republic of China on the mainland (a little like the Republic of Ireland, and the People's Republic of Cork). In the Cold War world of the time, Taiwan as the Republic of China was recognised as the real China. It wasn't until the thawing of relations with Communist China in the early 70s that the PRC was recognised as the real China, and China's permanent seat on the UN Security Council was given to Beijing.

Taipei
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Taipei is the capital city. It's a large Asian city, with some older districts in the west, where I stayed. And a modern, high-rise area in the east. I went to the viewing observatory of the largest building, Taipei 101, and it was only when I was in it that I realised that it was the tallest building in the world.

The people are exceptionally friendly, most speak very good English (with the notable exception of taxi drivers!), and they go out of their way to help you in shops and on the metro. There's a lovely gay area which was quite near my hotel, with a big open-air courtyard with a large selection of bars and restaurants. It was very cool and relaxed.

Sun Moon Lake
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I had wanted to spend a little time in Taipei, but then to have a relaxing few days on the beach. When I looked at tourist brochures I changed my mind and went to Sun Moon Lake, the largest lake on the island (but not very big even by Irish standards). It's in the mountains in the centre of the country, and I arrived after a difficult trek around the Taipei working out how to get there.

Sun Moon Lake is beautiful, and my hotel was right on the water. It was peaceful and relaxed. There are a lot of hiking trails, and there's a lovely walkway (very like the boardwalk in Dublin) around a good portion of the lake, which was lit up in changing colours at night.

The main tourist activity is boat trips on the lake, but I was more interested in visiting the Buddhist temples and pagodas I could see on the other side of the lake, so for €1.70 I got a day ticket on the local bus and did a full tour. I loved it.

Sun Moon lake is where Chiang Kai Shek took his holidays, and there are memorials to him everywhere.

Back to Daejeon
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I arrived back to Korea on Saturday, and stayed for the night in Seoul, returning to Daejeon late on Sunday. I've had an easy week at work, just working 12 hours, with 8 of those being easy conversation classes. I have the same schedule this week.

It's been very rainy this week. July is traditionally rainy season, but it didn't really happen last year. I see what it's like this year, with the worst rain I've seen since I've been in Korea. Today there are torrential showers and thunderstorms.
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Well, that's it for this week. I'm off to visit friends for dinner.

Until next week,

Annyeong-hi kaseyo

Éamon

Today's headline in Donga llbo: N. Korea suspected to have orchestrated cyber attacks against South

Korean website rant

Well, I'm writing from the balcony of my hotel room at Sun Moon Lake, the largest lake in Taiwan. It's Tuesday, and I'm here until Thursday, then back to Taipei for two nights, then Seoul for Saturday night. I'll be back at work on Monday.

The Taiwan pics are on my camera, and I don't have a cable to transfer them to the computer. So the pic of the week this week are three of my TOEIC students from last week. Part of the TOEIC exam is to describe a picture for 45 seconds. So I put them into groups, and they had to decide on poses for 3 pictures, to be described later in class by another team. This is the green team's idea of an 'action picture'. It shows three of my students in what I call their boyband shot.

Korean Websites
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I mentioned before that I hate Korean websites. It might be a cultural thing, but they're extremely busy, with lots of flash components winking and blinking, and bouncing around as you scroll. Every site seems to depend on Internet Explorer. But they don't tell you that until you're well through the transaction. You can choose the English option, but as sure as eggs is eggs, when something goes wrong up pops a box written entirely in Korean and you can go no further.

Booking the ticket to Taiwan with Korean Air was a case in point. I went through the transaction on my browser of choice, Firefox, and eventually got the Korean pop up box with 'Internet Explorer 5.5' in the middle of the text. So I realised the problem. I use Ubuntu as my operating system, so I have to log out, and log back in to Windows to get at Internet Explorer. Then I have to repeat all of the same procedures. Only this time every screen comes up prompting me to install some ActiveX component. When I got to the same stage as I had got to earlier in Firefox, everything went dead. Nothing happened. So I went through the troubleshooting guide, and it asked if I had pop-ups blocked. I didn't think so, but as I never use Internet Explorer I wasn't sure. When I checked, they were blocked. So I turned off the block, and went through the entire transaction again,. Same problem. It turned out that Internet Explorer had toolbars installed from Yahoo, Google and Ask all with their own pop-up blockers.

So I turned all that off. Then it asked me if I wanted to pay with my Korean bank card. I said yes. It popped me up a Korean language window, which by trial and error I managed to navigate. But in the end it wouldn't validate my card. At this stage I decided to phone them. but the 'freefone' number ate up the remaining credit on my phone while going through the recorded introduction.

So it was back through the whole transaction again, this time selecting Visa. It popped up a different box (in English!) to authorise my MBNA Europe card for credit card transactions on the internet. Even though I've used it countless times before. In the end it refused, saying that it wasn't an MBNA Europe card. Even though it clearly says MBNA Europe on it. I repeated the entire transaction again, which was at least the fourth time, and was finally successful with my Mastercard credit card. Even though it was also an MBNA Europe card, and I'd never used it online before!

The whole transacton took 3 hours from start to finish.

Multiple-Entry Visa
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You'd think I would have learnt my lesson, but I went for a Korean website again. My teaching visa is called an E-2 visa. I'm allowed stay in Korea and work for the year. But if I want to leave in that time I need to get a re-entry visa, which is like an upgrade. For W30,000 (€17) you can get a single entry visa, and you can make one trip out and back. For W50,000 (€28) you can have a multiple-entry visa, and can leave as many times as you like. I need a multiple-entry.

I had planned for weeks to go to immigration, but then someone told me you could do it online. I logged out of Ubuntu, into Windows, into Internet Explorer, set up an account with Korean e-government for foreigners. So far so good. I applied for the visa, it found my alien registration, showed all my details on screen, and deducted the money without a problem from my Visa account. The transaction would take 3 days.

The second day the status changed from submitted to received. And for the next 4 days it stayed received. That brought me to Friday, and I was travelling Saturday. It said that the application was with the Daejeon immigration office. And gave a number. I called, and got the message that 'this number is not in the directory'. I looked their numbers up online, and got about 12 phone numbers. Same message with each of those numbers.

I had to go to work to the personnel assistant, who handles these sort of issues. He phoned them, they said that they hadn't processed it, but to print off the certificate of application, and to show that to immigration at the airport. So I did, and they told me that that was just the application, and that it hadn't been processed. I told them I knew, but that they should have finished on Thursday, it says 3 days. At the airport they told me they had no authority to change it. The only solution was to pay the €17 for a single-entry visa, in addition to the €28 paid online!

Happy birthday
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After all the hassle of the bureaucracy in Korea, going through immigration into Taiwan was a joy. Saturday, my day of travel, was my birthday. I hadn't remembered it at all (4am starts do that to you), but I remembered filling out the paperwork at the airport. But when the immigration official was processing my passport and immigration form her face suddenly lit up. "Oh," she said with the brightest smile, "today's your birthday! Oh, have a really happy birthday in Taiwan". And so I did.
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Well, that's my rant for this week. I'll write about the trip next week.

So until then,

Goodbye in Chinese, which I don't know how to say.

Éamon

Yesterday's headline in Taiwan News: Jackson family orders new autopsy

Summer schedule

I've had a week now on the new summer schedule. My schedule changes every few weeks, but it was fine last week, just 13 hours. And just 11 this week, because my kids class finishes tonight.

The pic of the week was taken at a fundraiser we had the week before last. It was for one of my colleagues who was hospitalised with a tumour, and is facing some heavy medical bills. As a photo I really have to say I think it sums me up. I partcularly like the serious face.

"Vacation"
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I have to say vacation here, because if I talk about holidays, they think I'm talking about Christmas or Halloween. Anyway, I get 5 weeks vacation in my first year, and six after that. They can be requested for any time within the 'intersession'. So I requested 3 weeks in the summer, one at the end of this month, and two in August. I'm holding onto 2 for the winter break.

I am going home in August, primarily to see my neice Robyn, who I only briefly got to see when she was just a couple of days old. She'll be almost six months by the time I get home. I arrive into Shannon on 9th August, and will be in Dublin for a few days around the following weekend.

I hadn't really decided what to do with my other week, but vaguely thought I'd go to Japan, as it's close. But when i did a search on airfares, China and Taiwan are cheaper. And I know they're a lot cheaper to stay in. As the visa process for China is slow, I didn't want to cause complications by booking just a week ahead. I'll go there again, but for now I've decided on Taiwan. I know nothing about it, except a lot of things are made there. And there's an ad always on TV "Ilha Formosa, Taiwan will Touch your Heart", which makes it look good. Either way, I'm going to have a good break, and I'll report back.
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Well, that's it for this week. I have a party with my kids tonight, and then just two TOEIC classes and a day off on Thursday. I head to Taiwan on Saturday,

So until next week,

Annyeong-hi haseyo,

Éamon

Today's headline in Segye Times: S. Korea, world's second developer of anti-submarine torpedo

Ch-ch-changes

The pic of the week shows a big change, my new apartment in the block of apartments on the bottom right. Because I'm over the hill (which the Google Maps photo doesn't particularly show) people think I've moved miles away. But as you can see, I'm right beside the university, (top left where the blue markers are).

New apartment
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When you start in Woosong you're given the most basic accommodation, and then put on the 'housing seniority list'. When better accommodation becomes available as people leave, they're made available to the highest person on the seniority list that wants it. Being very new, I was number 42 on the single people's list. There was nothing wrong with the apartment I had except it was very small. I had no place to eat really, except on my bed. But it was clean and modern.

When an offsite apartment was put on the board I didn't even apply, because at number 42 I didn't think I had a hope. It was only when it was put on a 2nd time, and they said that if nobody wanted it they'd have to give it to another department that I thought I might have a chance. It was described as 'a corridor-style apartment. Old, but neat and tidy, and with a bit of space'. It had been married accommodation, but was now available to singles. I enquired, and was told to get the key and have a look.

I wasn't impressed when I saw it first. It's in an old shabby apartment building, and it was absolutely filthy. I felt dirty even sitting down when I visited. But it's quite a bit bigger than I had. Not so big that I can understand how it was married accommodation, but a lot bigger than my tiny room before. There is a kitchen that's big enough for a kitchen table and chairs, and a bedroom that's at least as big as my old apartment. There is a desk, TV and TV unit in the bedroom. There's a bathroom with a bath (almost unheard of in Korea), a little washroom, and an enclosed balcony, where you hang your washing to dry.

I really didn't know whether to apply or not, because the clean up was going to be intense. I the end I did apply, because I knew at least it could be cleaned, there was nothing I could do to make the old one bigger. I still didn't expect to get it, but to be honest, I don't think anyone else wanted it.

I've been here 3 weeks now, and I'm really happy with it. There's been a lot of cleaning and tidying, with a lot more to be done, but it's nice to have a bit of room, and I think I'll be happy to stay here for my duration at Woosong.

The university is built on a hill, and this apartment is over the brow of it, so when it gets into high summer it's going to a difficult walk up and down, so I'm going to buy myself a little scooter.

Summer schedule
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Last week was the end of our 15-week semester. I can't believe how quickly it went, and I have to say I really enjoyed it. Particularly my Korean university first year student class. We had our end of year exams, and now I'm marking and updating the system with their results. Every mark has to be explained so that the papers can be verified in the event of a recheck being required.

Last week we were given our summer schedule. A lot of universities finish totally in the summer, and teachers are paid through the breaks even though they're doing nothing. Unfortunately, that's not the case at Woosong, where there are many courses run during what they call the 'intersession'.

My schedule is a mixed bag. My children's class continues until next week, so I just have one extra class added this week and next, an intensive course in TOEIC speaking. TOEIC is an internationally recognised Test of English for International Communication. There are 32 classes starting with between 30 and 40 in each. That's over 1,100 students. We don't know where such an enormous amount of students are coming from.
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I'm sure there are another few things to catch up on, but I'll leave it there for this week. I haven't even had time to mention the former president's suicide or the nuclear threat from north of the border. I start at 1pm with the TOEIC class for 3 hours. Priorities!

So until next week.

Anneong haseyo,

Éamon

Today's headline in JoongAng Ilbo: Intelligence authorities identify 11 possible spots for 3rd nuclear test

Computer problems

Apologies for the lack of mails recently. I've been having computer problems, and I'm close to the end of my tether with my Dell laptop.

I don't even want to talk about it, but I don't have access to my photos at the moment, so this weeks photo of the week is a photo I got from the internet. It shows a typical Korean barbecue meal. I've become very fond of these. You have to go with friends, because it's not a meal you can have on your own in a restaurant. They put burning coals into the barbecue in the centre of your table (or it's gas in some restaurants), and you cook the meat, onions, garlic, kimchi or whatever on the barbecue. As you can see there are loads of side dishes, and you wrap the meat with vegetables and side dishes in a lettuce leaf to eat. It's delicious.

Work life
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Things are going well in work. I'm well into it at this stage, and we're not so far off the end of the first semester. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone. We're through the mid-term exams, and on week 11 of 15.

On a sad note, one of the new teachers died of a heart attack. We were having our work spring party in one of the accommodation sites which had a yard. In the middle of the party the police arrived. I was surprised, as it was the afternoon and we weren't that noisy. But it turned out that a new teacher, Randy from Canada, had died of a heart attack in the Homeplus supermarket. I had heard of Randy, but we hadn't met. He arrived a couple of weeks after me, and missed our orientation training. He was in his 50s, and had had heart problems before, apparently. They had a collection for his family to repatriate the body to Canada. It was all very sad.

Social Life in Daejeon
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And then life goes on. There is a good social life with the teachers from the school, and we've been exploring Daejeon. We have discovered some restaurants and bars downtown that we like. Closing times are very flexible, so late nights, and arriving home in the bright, are not unusual. We're getting into the good weather now, so we've had a few barbecues. Some on the roof of an accommodation apartment building, and this weekend in a river park on the other side of town.

901
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I can't remember if I've written about 901 before. It's an Woosong institution. It's the bar we go to on a Thursday night after class. The bar is run by Betty and her sidekick, Wilma (a Flintstones theme). When I arrive I'm greeted by Betty with a hearty 'Sláinte, Éamon'! A couple of weeks back a friend, Justin from the US, went to the loo and didn't arrive back for ages. You don't like to draw attention to such things and nobody said anything. Until someone else went out, and realised that the door was locked. Justin had been inside knocking for ages. We tried everything, but there was no budging the lock. Betty had gone home early, so Wilma was trying to sort it out, and had the Golden Pages out ready to look for a locksmith. She rang Betty who arrived back in her pyjamas, and once she'd checked the lock she came back with a large hammer, and proceeded to break through the door. That was a few weeks ago, but the door is still smashed. I can't help feeling I've found the Blacks of Korea.
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Well, that's it for this week. We've had some days hitting the 30s during the week, but slightly more overcast today, currently 24 degrees, but with a real feel of 29, or so accuweather.com tells me! I'm despairing of getting my laptop fixed at this stage. I'll never buy Dell again! I feel I'm going to have to buy another, despite this one being less than 18 months old.

Anyway, enough of my trouble. How are you?

Until next week,

Annyeong haseyo,

Éamon

Today's headline in The Korea Times: Korea to Be Surplus Country Till 2014

Mid-term

Well, we're at the middle of term, and it seems like no time at all. Some of my classes have exams, and the kids' class has a week off.

The pic of the week is taken from my classroom in the Technical and Information college where I have my university students. You can see the old and new university buildings on the hill, which is where most university classes are. The campus of the Technical College is in the foreground, and the district of Jayang-dong, where I live, is in between. We're constantly weaving through these streets on our way between classes.

Mid-term
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The semesters here are 15 weeks, so at week 8 we're in the middle. I've had a spike of work in getting the exams ready, but then the classes themselves will be fairly easy. The kids have 2 seven week terms within the semester, so they're off this week. The semester will finish in June, and we'll be into the 'intersession', when the Institute runs summer camps. During the summer break I've requested a week off in June, when I hope to travel in Asia, and 2 weeks in August, when I'll probably head home. I haven't been told if I'm getting these weeks yet though.

Barbecue season
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It was a fairly busy weekend. One of the teachers who started with me had his birthday on Friday, so we headed for pizza first, and then went to a few of the bars around the old downtown, and I think it was after 7 when I got home. The next night wasn't much better. There was a barbecue on the roof of one of the apartment buildings, and we went into town afterwards. It's at that time of the year when you can be out in the open late at night. And as it's going to get too hot, we're trying to make the most of it. So much so, that despite promising myself to stay in and recover on Sunday, when the call came that there was another barbecue on the roof, off I went.

Korean classes
---------------
There are free Korean classes provided by the college, and there is another class at reasonable prices given by Dan, my mentor, and Mina, his Korean wife. However, both classes clash with teaching times for me, so I can't go to either. One of the other teachers is a girl from England, Debbie. She is getting married to a Korean guy over the summer, so she's pretty good at the language. She's offered to give classes to a Canadian teacher and me. We've just had a couple so far, but I'm beginning to pick up a few survival phrases!
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Well, that's it for this week. For all my talk of the weather it's been chilly yesterday and today, and we've had rain for the first time in ages. Eleven degrees as I write. Next weekend is our spring party, so looking forward to that. Dashing off now, becuase I've got to get my exams photocopied for tomorrow.

So, until next week,

Annyong-hi Kaseyo

Éamon

Today's headline from The Korea Times: S. Korean Delegation Departs for Meeting in NK

Non Easter

Well, there was no sign of Easter here. I mentioned it to a few people, even Westerners, and most didn't even know it was Easter. It's not marked at all, and classes continued as normal.

Meanwhile, the weather has continued to improve. We seem to have leapfrogged through Spring and to be in Summer already. Maybe wishful thinking, but it's 24 degrees as I write, and I have the windows open.

The pic of the week shows some of my students from the International Business School, Solbridge. They are standing, Jamshid from Uzbekistan, and the rest are Chinese, Furun, Dirk, Brad, Jerry, and seated, Coral, Doris and Jason. We had a class excursion on Friday so the photos were taken on the Campus of the Woosong Information and Technical College, just across from where I live.

Easter
-------
Clara invited me up to Seoul for an Easter dinner. My niece Robyn was being christened in Clare on the same day, so that was the theme of our celebration. We had friends from Belfast, Mayo, Kilkenny, Scotland, England, South Africa and Korea.

Woosong Social Life
--------------------
The social life in Woosong is still increasing, as I'm getting to know more people and places. A few of us went to a Korean restaurant for barbecued ribs on Friday. When we went to pay a waitress came over and, without saying a word, doused us up and down with Fabreze, to get rid of the barbecue smell. But how it went with my Ralph Lauren Polo I'm not sure.

Afterwards we met some of the other teachers who had been to a baseball game. We went to a really trendy bar in the heart of the neon of old downtown, although it was expensive by Korean standards.

KTX
-----
With all my trips to Seoul I've become very fond of the high-speed Korea Train Express, KTX. Daejeon is a bit of a transport hub, and there are high speed rail lines in all directions. You can get to Seoul in 50 minutes. There are trains about every 10 minutes, and with 18 carriages they carry about 1,000 people, so it's a pretty efficient transport system. The cost is expensive for here, but works out at something like €11-€12 each way. I really think it's worth it for the convenience. I'm told we can get a university discount, but I haven't checked that out yet.

Sometimes I've used the time on the train to make phonecalls, but one weekend I was ordered out by a very surly attendant and had to finish my call in the little area beside the doors. That was when I realised that the carriages are quiet zones.

The trains travel at 300kph, and there is a TV displaying the speed. Although it was on the blink on Sunday, and told us we were travelling at 1,789kph!
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Well, that's it for this week. I'm definitely staying here this weekend. I've hardly spent a weekend in Daejeon since I got here.

Until next week,

Annyeong-hi kaseyo,

Éamon

Today's headline in The Korea Herald: N. K. vows to quit six-party talks

It's Spring

It looks like spring is finally arriving. We had a lovely week a few weeks back, but were back in the cold for the past few weeks. Today, it's a sunny 21 degrees. I have opened the windows, and closed the mosquito screens, because I know it won't be long before we see them. The temperature is supposed to go to 24 degrees later in the week.

The pic of the week shows my apartment building, called 'Bestuh Bil' (I think it's supposed to be Best Villa), and referred to in work as Site F. My apartment is on the 3rd floor (in Ireland it would be the second), but this is the front of the building, and I'm at the back.

Trips to Seoul
--------------
I've been back in Seoul so many weekends since I moved down here, I'm like a culchie who's just moved to Dublin. The first was to collect stuff from my sister's, then it was St. Patrick's weekend, then it was the gay wedding of my friends Cam and Saejin (with the Grand Slam match later that night), and this weekend I was up because my friend Joanna is moving back to UK. She's travelling overland, which I'm very interested in hearing more about. She gets a boat to China today, and after 4 weeks there will go home on the Trans-Siberian Express through China, Mongolia, Russia and Poland.

The Grand Slam
-----------------
There was nowhere better to go for the Grand Slam game against Wales except The Wolfhound in Itaewon. The match was at 2.30am, and I arrived having been at a wedding since 4.30 that afternnon. I was meeting my friend Jonathan there, and everyone was in very high spirits before the match even started. Being down 6-0 at half time did dampen our spirits a bit. But the two tries in the second half, and the tension of the closing minutes really put us through our paces until the explosion of celebration when the whistle went. What an unforgettable night.

For non-Irish readers, this is the 6-nations rugby championship, and the winning Grand Slam means that you have beaten the other 5 countries. Ireland beat Wales 17-15, winning only their second Grand Slam. The previous win was back in 1948.

Students
---------
I've got to know my students quite well at this stage (we're just a couple of weeks from mid-term!). Most of my classes are with Chinese students in the International Business school, Solbridge that I mentioned last week. I then have a University Freshman (first year) class of Korean Students, and I really have fun in that class. I'm never that mad about teaching kids, and so my middle school class is just ok. There are five Korean students in it, aged between 12 and 14.
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Well, that's it for this week. I just realised that Sunday is Easter, so guess what, I'm off to Seoul again. Clara is preparing an Easter Sunday dinner. No time off for Easter though, I'm afraid.

So Happy Easter, and until next week,

Anyeong-hi kaseyo,

Éamon

Today's headline from The Korea Herald: U.S. seeks strong response to N.K. launch

It's Daejeon

It's been a while. My excuse is that I've been busy setting up home here, getting classes up and running and just getting used to everything. That, plus going to Seoul for the past three weekends left me without much free time. I stayed home this weekend, and have done a big catch up.

The pic of the week shows a poster for the World Student Plan of the Woosong University Business school, where I have most of my classes. This billboard is outside the mainline train station. This programme aims to attract students to Woosong from around the world.

It's Daejeon
------------
The University is in the east of the city, in a relatively poor neighbourhood. There are many buildings spread around the 'dong', or neighbourhood. There is the University itself, the Language Institute, the Information and Technical College and the International Business School - Solbridge.

The city has two downtowns, Eunang-dong - old downtown, and Dunsan-dong - new downtown. We're much closer to old downtown here. There is a subway, but with just one line. The nearest station is called Woosong University, but it's about a kilometer away.

My apartment is tiny, but 3 minutes walk from the office and work. It's a small clean apartment on what we'd call the second floor. There is one main room, with a double bed, a couple of wardrobes, a TV with cable and a TV unit, a desk, and the fastest internet connection I've ever had.

Off the main room is the tiny kitchen, which is also the entrance. There is a big fridge, a sink and draining board, some cupboards and a two ring gas hob. There is no counter space at all. All food preparation has to be done on the draining board! As is usual in Korea, there is no oven. Just a hob.

There is also a small but comfortable bathroom. With a sink! (which I didn't have in Sinpung.) Again as is usual in Korea the shower head is just on the wall. The whole room is the shower cubicle effectively. When the floor is wet you wear plastic slippers to use the bathroom. The bathroom tap has a switch to redirect the water from the sink to the shower head. I realised the importance of remembering this on my first day when, having dressed in my shirt and tie ready for work I turned on the 'tap', only to be drenched from the shower overhead.

Everone in the building is a teacher from Woosong.

The University
----------------
My office is based at the language institute, which is where I have one of my classes. Another of my classes, my Woosong University class, is actually located in the Technical college, and the rest of my classes are in Solbridge. The Solbridge classes are all for Chinese students whose English isn't at a high enough level for college yet, they start with just English and Korean classes until their language skills improve. All the rest of my students are Korean.

I have 15 class hours a week, 8 in Solbridge, 4 in the Language Institute and 3 in the University. Monday is my busy day with classes from 1.30 to 5.30. Tuesdays and Thursdays I have a split shift. The University in the morning from 10.30 to 12, and the Language Institute - a middle school kids class - from 7 to 9pm. Wednesdays and Fridays I'm back at Solbridge, a 10 minute taxi journey, from 3.30 to 5.30pm. There has been a good bit of preparation required also as we started up, but that's reducing now that I know what I'm doing!

The Social Side
----------------
There is a very large English department, about 90 people. There were about 20 of us on training together. The profile is very mixed in terms of age, but is predominantly male, and before our class was predominantly from the US and Canada. Now there are teachers from the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. I'm the only one from Ireland.

Because of the variety of buildings, departments, teaching locations and teaching hours, there are a lot of people you never see when you're working. So there is a regular drinking night on a Thursday in a local bar. It's called 901, because the last classes finish at 9pm, so we meet from 9.01. There is a social core of teachers that I've met there. There are also events organised from time to time, like bowling, nights out to different parts of the city, and going to soccer and baseball games. Because I've been in Seoul for the past few weekends I've missed some of these activities.
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Well, that's it - in as much of a nutshell as I can make it. I'm happy. I like it. I have a good feeling about both work and Daejeon, and I'm looking forward to making the most of my time here.

Until next week,

Anneong-hi kaseyo,

Éamon

Today's headline in The Korea Times: 'Queen Yu-na' Makes History

Out of order

I know I've been AWOL. But my time in Ireland has been very successful. I got my visa sorted, and my little niece, and new heir apparent to the McDonagh fortune, arrived ahead of schedule. The beautiful Robyn Kate O'Connor is seen here with her equally beautiful mother.

I travel back to Dublin tomorrow to collect my visa. For Dubliners available on Saturday I'll be in The Long Hall on Saturday from about 8.30pm, so feel free to join me then.

Otherwise, I'm back to Korea on Sunday, and moving to Daejeon on Tuesday. Training will be on the Thursday and Friday, and I start teaching in my new place on Monday, 2 March.

So, it's all good.

Normal service will then be resumed. Honest.

Éamon

Finally, a Job

Well, finally the job hunt has yielded a result. I've accepted a job in Woosong University in Daejeon.

The pic of the week shows next door's TV out in the snow. We had a lovely shower of snow this week. But then temperatures soared up to zero.

Woosong
---------
I've applied to a lot of universities, and up until this week had only got even a no thank you from one. As I said last week, I started applying outside of Seoul, and was immediately contacted by Woosong in Daejeon. They scheduled a telephone interview for Thursday. It was more of a chat than an interview. But he told me in the call that they'd make me an offer once my references checked out. I got the offer in an email the following day.

I'm delighted. Even though it's not in Seoul, I'll only be an hour away by the fast KTX train. The money is decent, it comes with a small studio apartment, they pay towards air fare, and will even pay pension contributions when I get back.

I don't get full university holidays, because they run camps in the break. I'll get 5 weeks. I'll be working just 16 hours a week plus administration, and this will drop to about 6 during the university breaks. I'll be mostly teaching first and second year university students. My friend Julie, who I worked with in Costa Rica, worked there before and she was very happy.

Daejeon
--------
Daejeon (pronounced Tay-John) has a population of 1.5m people, and is Korea's fifth city (after Seoul, Busan, Incheon and Daegu). As I said, it's just under an hour by KTX, or 2 hours by regular train or bus. It's known as the technology capital of the country.

I think I've written before about the little English slogans for cities. Like Seoul, Soul of Asia, Dynamic Busan and Colorful Daegu. I was amused at the simple slogan for Daejeon - It's Daejeon.

Trip home
-----------
So all this means that I can come home for a few weeks before I start work. Originally, this was required for visa purposes. But apparently that has changed, and I could do it from Japan. But I'm happy to take a trip home and do it from there. So I fly next Sunday, arriving in Dublin Sunday night. I'll be between Ennis and Dublin while home, and will be planning it over the week.
-----
So that's it. After a long time of nothing happening, it's all go. I'm hoping to get up to the DMZ (the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea) during the week, because It's easier from Seoul. So until next week,

Annyeonghi kaseyo,

Éamon

Today's headline in The Korea Times: President Lee Replaces Finance, Unification Ministers

What's in a Name?

Korea is such a country of extreme temperatures. It was just a few months ago we were sweltering, and now it's minus 7 degrees as I write. Clara leaves the bathroom window open for the cats, and this morning there was ice in the toilet.

The pic of the week shows the apartment building, behind the new trees recently put in by the local district. I've labelled my room and Clara's room. The landlady runs the clothes shop underneath.

What's in a Name?
-------------------
One of the things that is very difficult for us westerners to understand in Korea is the hierarchical structure of Korean society. When you meet Korean people they ask you questions we'd consider indiscreet. Typically, How old are you? and Are you married? Sometimes about your job and salary. And these are so they can work out where you 'slot in' to the hierarchy. I read recently about the names of various family relationships. We wouldn't address someone back home as 'brother-in-law', or 'maternal aunt', but in Korea it's usual to use the title. And there are a huge array of titles. For example, a woman would refer to her older brother's wife as 'hyeongsu' and her younger brother's wife as 'jesu'. Her husband's older sister would be addressed as 'hyeongnim'. His older brother would be her 'siajubeoni', and his younger brother would be 'seobangnim' to her. It's very detailed. You would have to know that 'sungmo' is your aunt, the wife of your father's younger brother. Other aunts would have different names. I don't know how they keep up.

Job Hunt Continued...
----------------------
Some more universities have advertised this week. I'm now lowering my sights, and applying to universities outside Seoul, and also to public schools within Seoul. I'm aiming to be sorted by the end of the month.

Costa Rican Earthquake
------------------------
Spare a thought for my friends and colleagues in Costa Rica. They were hit on Thursday by a 6.2 earthquake, which was the strongest in Costa Rica for 150 years, according to CNN. The epicentre was close to the Poás volcano, the edge of which I could see from my bedroom window when I lived in Heredia. I've talked online to a former student who described how terrifying it was, she thought the house was coming down. There are 34 confirmed dead, mostly in mudslides around little villages near the volcano, and a further 50 to 60 are missing.
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Well, that's it for now, so until next week,

Annyeonghi kaseyo.

Éamon

Today's headline in The Korea Times: WiBro Turns into White Elephant

Weekly email - Brrr

A happy new year to everyone. We've had a great Christmas and New Year's here in Korea.

The pic of the week shows Namsam, meaning the south mountain. The N Seoul tower is on top, which is where we went to the revolving restaurant. If you turn right at the green roadsign you're almost at the apartment.

Christmas
-----------
We had 8 people for dinner, from Ireland, Scotland, South Africa and Korea. Clara went the whole hog with a full turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Like most Korean apartments we don't have an oven, so we had to cook it on Christmas Eve in Joan and Stephanie's, and I had to carry it home in a rucksack on my back. We tried to get ham, but they don't have it here. A fact we didn't realise until we put it in the pot and we realised it was pork. It was a good day, and we finished up in the Irish bar down in Itaewon.

New Year
----------
Both Clara and Norah decided to stay in on New Year's Eve, but I decided to head in to meet friends in Itaewon. We had a great night, went to several bars, and ended up at a house party. Well, two of us ended up where there was to be a house party, but everybody else had sensibly gone home. I arrived home about 9am.

It's Cold
---------
The weather gets quite cold these days. It's minus one as I write, but it's been down to minus 13. It's a dry cold, and you're fine once you wrap up before heading out. It's difficult to get things to dry on the line because they freeze into boards as you're putting them up. The other day I washed my trainers and put them out to dry. When I was going out on Saturday night I went to put them on, and realised that they had frozen solid, encased in ice. I nearly broke the tongue trying to get them on. They're the only shoes I have (apart from flip flops, and I wasn't going to wear those!) so I went out effectively wearing two lumps of ice. At least they thawed fairly quickly.
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Well, that's it for this week. The application process has started again, and I'm ready to buy another job lot of envelopes!

Until next week,

Annyeonghi kaseyo,

Éamon

Today's headline in The Korea Times: Seoul-Incheon Canal Construction to Start in March