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
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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
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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
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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.
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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?
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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...
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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