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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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