Korean Age

The weather has improved this week. We're back to 10 degrees as I write. Although tomorrow is forecast as windy with a high of 4 and a low of zero degrees.

The pic of the week shows Vio from my school in Sinpung. It's a while since I was there, but I realise that I hadn't used any pics.

Party for Sellinne
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Sellinne is Clara's friend. She had her birthday during the week. We had a party for her in the apartment last Saturday. She's been so helpful to us. For anything that requires Korean we get on to Sellinne. Booking a visa run, getting cable and internet, translating Korean websites or booking concert tickets - it's a phonecall straight away to Sellinne.

It was a great night. We started about 6pm, and over the night a lot of people came along. Clara made a Thai curry and a vegetable bake, and we had a good laugh. Afterwards, we headed down to Itaewon where we got the tail end of the Ireland Argentina match.

Korean age
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Korean age is different to western age. When you're born you're 1. They count the time in the womb as your first year. You 'age' at the new year, not on your birthday. So on the next new year you're 2. It's possible for a baby 2 days old to be 2. Clara works with a girl whose baby was 2 within five days of birth, because she was born at the end of the year. So Korean age is 1-2 years older than western age.

It used to be based on the Chinese New Year, called Lunar New Year here, but now they're increasingly using the calendar new year. Also, some younger people are now using western age.

Piano Man
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I forgot to mention last week that I went to see Billy Joel in concert the previous weekend. He was playing 2 nights in Seoul, in the Olympic Gymnasium in Olympic Park. It was a great gig. He played all the old favourites, and the crowd seemed word perfect. They have little shops inside the venue, so you can pop out to buy a few cans of beer during the gig. Very civilised.

University applications
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The university applications continue. I've dropped some applications to the colleges by hand, so I can check out the campuses, and most seem quite nice places to work. Some others have been submitted by post, and there are more going this week. I should know if I'm called for interview by Hongik, my university of choice, from their website on Monday. So wish me luck.
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Well, that's it for this week. The final applications will be sent during the week, and hopefully I'll have some interviews scheduled. It's hard to believe it's almost December. Most people here are staying for Christmas. It's not a big holiday here, and a lot of people just have the 25th off work.

Until next week,

Annyeong haseyo,

Éamon

Today's headline in The Korea Times: Prosecution Raids Home, Office of Key Roh Sponsor

Enda's holiday

I'm going a little back in time with this mail, and recalling Enda's two week visit.

I'm also working on my university applications. There is a huge amount of supporting documentation required, so I'm waiting on receipt of university transcripts from Dublin.

The pic of the week shows Enda, Clara and myself having a wonderful meal outside the city of Wonju.

Tourist Seoul
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It was Enda's second visit to Korea. He was over with Clara to visit my father four years ago. He hadn't seen much of Seoul on that trip, and so we started off by doing the tourist spots. Mostly the palaces.

Enda also wanted to see the headquarters of the World Taekwondo Association, which is here in Seoul. We went over one morning, and were lucky enough to catch a demonstration show. It was really impressive, I hadn't seen much Taekwondo before and I was amazed. At the end they asked if we wanted to come forward for photos. I assumed they meant to take them, so myself and Enda moved down to the floor of the gym. A guy there took the camera, and gestured for us to go into a group photo. As we took our places we realised that all the others were international delegates, wearing suits and delegate badges. I can imagine them all going through the photos wondering who the two imposters in shorts and t-shirts were.

Travelling
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My father has a 12-year old Jaguar car that he never uses, it has just 20,000km on the clock. We took it out of storage to travel around the country. Our first journey was to a restaurant owned by one of his students in Wonju. We were made good time. At 3.30 I remember Michael saying we'd be there by 4pm. Unfortunately, we were again dependent on Korean directions. We drove hither and yon in the vicinity of the restaurant, sometimes within metres. Every time we phoned we were told how close we were. We drove over roads, boreens, dirt tracks and through motorway building works, eventually arriving at the restaurant sometime around 8pm.

Over the next few days, we visited the largest cave in Asia, Hwanseongul, and the historical capital, Gyeongju.

The Seoul of the Party
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What an old pun! When we got back to Seoul, we concentrated more on the night life. Seoul is a city where you can find a open bar at any time of the day and night. I was the one not working, so I was out with Enda to 5, 6 or 7am. Even 9am on one occasion. By the time he left I think we were all in need of a week of sleep. Preferably at The Priory.

University applications
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I've spent this week getting my university applications together. The application process is very bureaucratic, and I had to write essays about my teaching philosophy. However, once the first one was done the rest have been pretty straight forward. Three had closing dates this week, and there are more next week, and more in early December. Hopefully I'll get something from one of them! I should know if I'm called for interview in early December.
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The temperature has really dropped in the last few days. The night before last it was minus 5, feeling like minus 11. And it only seems like last week I was sweltering in the heat and humidity! Today the temperature seems to have risen, but there was a little snow earlier on.

Well, that's it for this week,

So until next week,

Annyeong haseyo,

Éamon

Today's headline in The Korea Times: S. Korea's Subway, Railway Strikes Averted

Halloween

Folks,

I'm getting back into my routines. I'm currently preparing my applications for a number of universities which are now recruiting.

The pic of the week shows the motley crew that prepared for the Halloween fancy dress in the Wolfhound on Saturday. Back: Clara, Sarah, Norah. Front: Sean, Sellinne, Brian and Elmer. I'm behind the camera in an amazing costume. Pity you missed it.

Finishing in California Language School
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While we'd agreed on September 26 as my final day in Sinpung, it wasn't until the Thursday that my departure was confirmed. I was happy enough. I enjoyed my time there, although it was difficult being the only non-Korean on the staff, and I never warmed to teaching kindergarten.

On my final night they took me out for a Korean meal. It was in one of the traditional sit-on-the-floor restaurants which are everywhere. We then cook the food on hot coals in a bucket in the centre of the table, as I explained before. It was delicious. We also had beer and sojo (the local poteen). I was so full at the end, and then they decided that we'd go somewhere else for seafood!

Back to Kyeong Li Dan
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The following day I moved back to Clara's. It's a much more lively area than Sinpung, and it's so close to the nightlife of Itaewon, a ten minute walk away. We have a large selection of restaurants and bars within easy reach.

Enda's holiday
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My brother Enda arrived on October 5, and was here for two weeks. I'll write about it in more detail again, but it was great that I was off work and available to spend time with him. We had three parts to the holiday. The first was sightseeing around Seoul. Then we travelled around the country for a few days. Finally, there was the party phase back in Seoul. Enda took full advantage of the fact that you'll find bars open around the clock. By the time he left we were all wrecked, and we nearly had to pour him onto the plane. We had a really great time, but I took nearly a week to recover.

Halloween
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I always seem to celebrate Halloween more away than I ever do at home. Halloween isn't a Korean celebration, so Itaewon, as the main foreigner hub, was full of people in a variety of costumes. We went to The Wolfhound on Saturday, and it was a thronged. First prize went to a guy who dressed up as a mad cow being carried around on the president's back. A throwback to the protests about American beef earlier in the year. It was excellent.
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Well, that's it for this week. The weather has got a good bit cooler, and the trees have taken on beautiful autumnal shades. The days are mostly sunny and we've had hardly any rain. Top temperatures this week range from 13 to 18 degrees centigrade.

Until next week,

Annyeonghi Keosayo,

Éamon

Today's headline from The Korea Times: S. Korea to Hike Fiscal Spending by $10 Billion Next Year

Normal service will be resumed shortly

I'm terrible when I break my routine! Since the last mail I finished up in the Elementary School, and so moved back to my sister's apartment. Then my brother arrived over on holiday, and we had an action-packed two weeks. Now my PC has given up the ghost (again! I've had nothing but trouble with that top of the range Dell). I get it back today, and hopefully normal service will be resumed this weekend.

Cheers!

Eamon

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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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The local hair dresser down the road is Missy Hair Feel.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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