Bla

Well here I am, nearly a week back on Irish soil and it's all a bit... underwhelming. Yes, I know, the grass is always greener and yes, I know, I'm so lucky to be home for Christmas. But there is no doubt that Monday-Friday in Cooley is a slow ride. Added to that is all the family 'clutter' I usually forget about during the year which leads to me really looking forward to getting home, unprotected from the upcoming frustration. Every time I come back I suppose a small part of me is wondering, 'is it time to call it a day abroad? Could I live here again?' and the conclusive answer is, 'no!'. As I've said many times before, Ireland is where I would like to bring up my family and I think it's a great place to live. However, for me, an unmarried man in my (mid...) twenties with a lot more I'd like to do and see around the world, I just couldn't hack being back here too long. The majority of the friends that I had growing up around here are elsewhere now, and I'm not even sure what it is that I'd do if I lived in Moville. Even writing the sentence doesn't feel right. Someday, but not now. A great place to live, but not for me.

As for the family 'clutter' I mentioned... We all love our family, right? Of course we do. But that doesn't mean that they don't do about a million things that irritate us to the point where I think they've actually been giving me headaches. When we live at home we build up resistance, coping mechanisms to get us through the day. When we move away, we let our defences drop so that when we visit home again BANG we are vulnerable to the full brunt of all those niggling little peculiarities you will never get your head around, but which will never change. My mother, for example, (cooking me a lovely dinner as I slag her off to the world - how lovely I am) speaks all her thoughts. All the time. You won't see her looking thoughtfully out the window. No. You'll HEAR HER, perhaps, going through her entire day in order to figure out where she left her phone. She is currently commenting on how much of a mess she's making. Oh, and that's another thing, she talks to the dog. Full sentences. If the dog eats from the cat's bowl, she reasons with it. I think I feel a kind of a connection with our dog, Millie, as she stares back dumbfounded.

Nonetheless, I know that if I waste my time at home I'll regret it when I get back and said regret will span the entire year or however long it is before I grace these shores again. At the moment I'm internally vowing not to come home next Christmas. Too much cost, no one seems to give a crap anyhow, nice white sandy South-East Asian beaches trump being snowed in with my TV-addicted parents. Still, I also know that the next week is going to be brilliant when Ji and all my sisters are here and I hopefully get to catch up with more of my old friends. Then all my negativity will go out the window. My main concern right now is getting down to Dublin tomorrow (we Irish don't handle a bit of snow very well) and being at the airport when Ji arrives around 11pm, all being well. Most of my presents are bought, a good portion of my relatives have been visited, there's not much more I can or have to do before the big day. A couple of days in Dublin could be just what the doctor ordered. My bank account, on the other hand, may not agree - hats off to those of you who can afford to live here!

The family jibes - just tongue in cheek I hope you realise! Of course they bug me, as I bug them no doubt. When you consider that I have spent the majority of the last ten years away, what can I expect? In reality, they are essentially having a stranger invade their house for a couple of weeks. They have their version of normality, and I have mine. For a very short period of time once a year or so, we just have to try to meet in the middle.

Home

Well here I am sitting at the very seat and looking out at the very field, town and lough that I talked about in my last entry. The strangest thing about being home is how it feels as though I never actually left. It's almost an entire year since I was here and saw my family in person, but it feels like the most normal everyday occurrence in the world. Some things around the house have changed (the never-ending saga of home improvements) of course, but a whole year of highs and lows in Seoul don't hold as much sway in my mind than the 18+ years spent stumbling up here right now. I think no matter how settled you become somewhere else in the world, there's nowhere that can ever hold the influence over you the way home does. That is, if you're lucky enough to have been somewhere long enough to have been able to have called it home...

The flight was all very nondescript. Not much sleep, some young Korean sport's team being very loud and excitable the whole way to Germany, nearly having my duty free taken from me in Frankfurt because we're apparently not allowed to take any from Korea (I'd check that out if I were you and travelling soon), watching 'Inception' on the plane and not being blown away. My sister Charlene gave me a lovely surprise by coming to the airport in Dublin to meet me. That's twice in a row now (Catherine met me last time I went back to Korea) so I just might start expecting it! Then followed a late but sensible enough night out with Charlene, Lisa and Caomhain (I have given in) near Temple Bar. The DJ's second-last song of the night was this 'epic' that is expected to be the Christmas Number One here. Oh, the pride...:




I'd say that first night back in Dublin showed me the very best and the very worst of socialising in Ireland once again. All the good manners, courtesy, hello, excuse me, and generally being friendly and giving a crap about one another. On the other hand, we saw a fairly nasty scrap between a taxi driver and a lady of real 'class' in the wee hours on the way home. If only there could be a middle ground.

I only got back up home on Sunday night after a nice chilled out day with Charlene near Clontarf. I've been taking a few nice pictures that I'll get up on facebook (and a few here) after the holidays. I read an entire TIME on the bus back to Derry; the 'special timeframes issue' reviewing the key events from the past ten years, which was just brilliant. The strangest thing that struck me was how I generally forget how recent so many everyday things we take for granted actually are. Facebook and Youtube only came into existence in 2004 and 2005 respectively. It really makes you wonder what changes 2010-2020 will bring to our lives, and what we'll look back on and struggle to remember ever having happened.

The last couple of days have been quite chilled out. I've been going for massive long walks and enjoying the relatively mild weather we've been having and trying my best to stay offline and spend as much time as possible with Mum, Dad and Melissa. It's a bit frustrating because, like every other year, they have taken on a big job in the house in the mouth of Christmas so they're actually pretty busy most of the time. I just want them to drop everything and concentrate on me for the short time I'm home! How's that for honesty? My other sisters will be arriving home by Monday and that's when Ji will be here too so I guess that'll be when Christmas really starts. Shame that I'll be on a plane back to Korea just a few days later.

My plan for the next couple of days is to finish up my Christmas shopping (thank you duty free) and start catching up with as many friends and family members as possible. As I'll be in Dublin Saturday-Monday, I have precious little time home and I want to use it as wisely as I can. I have only really been chatting to Rob in any depth so far and he's not even home yet! Mind you, it was great chatting to him and I'm looking forward to catching up with both him and Hee Young on Christmas Day. I doubt many of us here in 2000 would ever have entertained the idea that there would be two Korean girls in the Craig household in 2010. I'm not sure how our neighbour, Willy, is going to cope with it at all!

Perfect Timing

I guess you have to be careful about what you write online but let me just say, I'm glad I'm going home for a couple of weeks tomorrow. My blood was absolutely boiling earlier after a meeting with my boss when the injustice and, for want of a better word, bullshit I have to deal with here from time to time reared it's ugly head once again. Being called disorganised because I ask my boss to do something which will help us all be better organised and being disliked simply because I don't lay back and take it like some other people I could mention. The beauty of it all was that she didn't want to give me my evaluations. Why? Because they were, as usual, well above average and that doesn't fit in with her theory of liking the teachers who simply lick up to her most successfully. Nonsense. The amount of extra work I put in FOR MY STUDENTS that goes totally unnoticed is fine by me. I think it's part of the job. But actually being treated less well because I have the balls to point out when she's wrong and I'm right, that does make you wonder what the point of it all is. Ok maybe I'm being naive, that's the way it is, bosses just like people who nod and smile and don't rock the boat, but I'm going to stick to my guns. Worst case scenario I work somewhere else from March. The beauty of it is that, as I'm a good teacher, there's actually nothing she can do to hurt me. So much for me being careful about what I say on here. One last thing, it was suggested that my top priority should be my job and that I should always be sat in the teacher's office on the off-chance that she wants to tell me that we have a pointless meeting tomorrow morning. Ok, I'm done...

Just finished packing and I have that nagging feeling that I have probably left something really important in my flat. I got some soju, makkeoli, kim, pretty landscape pictures, home made soap (the things students give you...) and Korean sweets to bring back. I was toying with bringing over some Hite D for Rob because I can't remember if it was out when he left, but I'm not sure how much he'd appreciate a can of fizz when I could just buy him a nice.... Smithwicks, or something. I'm not looking forward to the journey but I AM looking forward to meeting Charlene, Lisa and Kev (ok Caomhain...) for a few beers in Dublin and getting back up to Moville on Sunday night. I've brought back a few bits and bobs to study but I'm promising myself that I'm going to take it easy and spend loads of 'quality time' with the family. The chores can hold off until January, and I'm sure they'll be fine.

In a weird way, I'm sad to be leaving Korea for a couple of weeks and missing Christmas dinner at Gerry's with Catherine, Thomas and their gangs. Mind you, I am chuffed at the thought of having a beer with Gerry in Derry and hopefully seeing Rob, Hee Young and Jamie on Christmas Day. Ok, you might be reading this not knowing who any of these people are, but I'm sure the sentiments of getting to see people you haven't seen for what seems like an eternity aren't lost on you (ok I saw Gerry last Sunday, but I've never met him in Derry). I haven't seen my sister Rachel in two years!!!

I'm probably going to be busy for a few days and I'm leaving my laptop here (aaaah!), so next time I blog I'll be in my sitting room at home in Cooley, looking out at a field full of cattle, snow-covered Moville, and Lough Foyle. Weird. Have a great weekend everyone.

Oh - one final thought. The locations of visitors are usually fairly easy to figure out (think Mongolia, Barcelona, Leeds, Australia, Slovenia, Incheon, etc.) but WHO THE HELL do I know in Iceland? Identify yourself, you're doing my head in.

Close Your Eyes, Stick A Pin In A Map

It might not even be Christmas yet but, if you're looking for work at an International School next summer (as I am), then it's time to get on it. Next year could be a real crossroads for me, with a girlfriend and life of my own in Korea, but a niggling feeling that I'd love to try something new. There will be jobs available in Korea (and probably at Ji's school), but there's no denying the excitement of looking through the job postings in Bali, Kenya, Poland (among many, many others) and wondering, 'why not?' I don't know about you, but the place where I do my best thinking and decision-making is at home. I'm going to enjoy fourteen sweet days back in the land of my birth (beyond fourteen is generally the point where I slowly start wanting to leave again) and come back ready to face 2011 with a firm goal in mind. There'll be lists of pros and cons, chats with my nearest and dearest, beer-inspired claims that I am going to 100% definitely do x or y, only to think the exact opposite the very next morning. Words of wisdom are welcome, but with my MA finishing in the summer, my patience running out with TEFL, my desire to start really putting my training into practice by teaching something I am passionate about, and the looming job crisis for teachers best exemplified by this Scottish example, I know 2011 is the year to get on to the IS circuit. I can recommend a fairly good blog about IS teaching here, but any further links are more than welcome.

I was in Asia-Pacific International School today covering English and AP history with some forensics thrown in at the end of the day for good measure. Every day I spend there is great for my dissertation, which will focus on (as yet unselected) international schools in the research section, which I aim to begin in January. Ji is pretty keen for me to apply for the social studies position opening in the summer, but working with my girlfriend is an idea I'm just not comfortable with at the minute. She rightly pointed out earlier (girlfriends tend to be right, don't they?) that, as I'm looking for my first IS position, I'm not really in a position to be choosy. Still, I'd like to throw my hat in the ring at a few other locations first, and see what comes of that. I don't know, but sharing a workplace and a private life with something must be tough. Or maybe I just need to grow up.

I have been receiving calls and emails throughout the day from students querying their grades or asking for clarification in specific areas. As I've told them, I'm happy to answer their questions, but it is a little frustrating that I have already given them all the information in their course syllabus at the beginning of each term and as I assigned each piece of assessment. Still, it's only natural that they would pay more attention now even though, in reality, it's a bit too late. The student grades effect who gets full/partial/no bursaries for the course, so I made pretty damn sure that I put a lot of thought into finding a fair and clear evaluation method that I could justify if I had to. I'm confident that the majority of my colleagues did the same, but there was one teacher boasting about how he just made all the grades up, so you can't blame the students for questioning us in a way. Although almost all the people I work with are professional, creative and talented, the odd lost soul teaching English because they can't find anything else they can do (like the person mentioned above), does really hit the morale of those of us who think what we're doing might actually matter.

I spent like what seemed forever sorting out the final marks for my general English classes during free periods today. There was a bit of confusion when a student's paper who I've never taught showed up in one of my piles, but we soon located where it should have been so minor panic over. Once I have met my boss to go over a few things, handed in my final grades and tied up a couple of loose ends with two of my students tomorrow, I'll be officially done for the semester. Then starts the process of getting ready for home, Christmas and making sure I don't leave anything important behind. Now, where did I leave my passport...?

The Final Countdown

I bet there's a certain guitar riff bouncing around your head right now... Am I right? Sorry. Well, not really. All right I'll try to replace it with something else...



I have no idea whether or not that link will work. I spent a couple of hours yesterday uploading Dead End Friends videos onto facebook. Some worked, others didn't. I'm still none the wiser as to how it operates but I think I put enough on to cover us for the next few months at least. We had a fun gig at Ting Tings last Saturday for the Rubber Soul event, which raised an impressive W9,000,000 or thereabouts as far as I understand it. The gig itself was a bit strange as Jimbo was kinda tucked away in the corner so he and Jeff couldn't hear each other very well. As the guitar amp was right behind me, that's pretty much ALL I could hear. When you're watching a band, you have no idea how different it sounds onstage to how it sounds out on the floor, I promise you. Still, we're tight enough these days that I don't think it hurt us too much. Although the new band is going well, there's still just that undefinable something missing. We have a bit of a break now before we play with 'Sticky Fingers' at Stompers on New Year's Eve (not best pleased about the venue, but it's good to be playing). January will include gigs in Gangnam, Gwangju and Bucheon, so we should have a chance to work on the performance element of things and, perhaps, rehearse less.

Today I've been conducting final interviews with my General English girls. I've already had three hours of it on Monday (that was fun after the FC Seoul win on Sunday and ensuing celebrations) and an hour this morning. In general, the students have been pretty good but, as their levels are SO similar, it's tricky trying to identify the more able candidates in such a short time. My hope is that I'm able to be fair to everyone and not face any angry doubters when I come back in late-December. It seems that at Korean Universities, there's much more scope for questioning grades than what I was used to. I get the feeling that, at Magee, you basically took the score you were given and that was that. Here, I definitely get the impression that the grades we give are open to negotiation. In saying that, my instinct would be to take time to give the right grade, then stick with it. No doubt that may be tested over the coming days...

Having effectively wasted Monday and Tuesday, I now have more to do before going home on Saturday than the time to do it all. Final grades, one-to-one lessons, a meeting with my boss to get things arranged for January, sort out the chaos going on all over my desk, pack for Ireland, pick up a few presents from Korea, get this unruly mop on my head sheared (I believe sheared is the appropriate verb at this length) and try to spend some time with Ji before I leave. It has been quite the year, and I'm looking forward to some down time before whatever comes in 2011.

Sweet Sweet Smell of Success

FC Seoul rounded off an incredible season by coming from behind (in both legs) to overcome a highly impressive Jeju United side to claim the 2010 K-League Championship. Kim Yong Dae almost ruined the dream with a very scrappy period of play allowing Santos to put the visitors ahead in front of nearly 57,000 fans at Sangam World Cup Stadium. Moments later, the home side had a huge slice of fortune when Jeong Jo Gook won a very questionable penalty and duly dispatched for his 13th of the season. People will talk about the penalty, but Dejan had earlier had a good goal ruled out for offside, so it seemed to balance out.

An FC Seoul win felt inevitable but Jeju continued to threaten and there seemed to be twice as many of them at times as they harried and wouldn't allow us time to settle on the ball. Still, a beautiful Djeparov corner was met by the unmarked Adi and he capped off an incredible season for himself with the Championship winning goal. Jeju had a goal ruled out for a very close (but correct) off-side call and we held on for our first Championship since 2000. It was a brilliant feeling for our little band of loyal supporters who have been there through good times and bad (oh, there has been a lot of bad) since 2007. There are highlights here and a decent (although massively biased) review of the season here.

Next season, a repeat of our Championship win and maybe lift the Asian Champion's League trophy? We'll see. I'll keep an eye on developments over the closed-season but, personally, I'd love to see Djeparov sign on for another season and perhaps a good striker (Yoo Byung Soo from Incheon United?) to lighten the load for Dejan and Jeong Jo Gook. It was a day that was tempered by other things going on behind the scenes, but I know none of us will ever forget being there to watch them take the title. What a game.

Rubber Soul

Hey there, I hope everyone is doing well. It's cold in Seoul and colder on the British Isles so chances are that if you're reading this blog, you've probably been doing a fair bit of shivering over the past few days. Tough it out, it's December! If, on the other hand, you're visiting from Australia then I hate you and you should feel bad about yourself. Jealous? Me?

I've been having a busy following a predictably packed weekend. Rehearsal was good on Saturday but we had an eerie few minutes towards the end when we realised we were the only people in the whole studio. They wouldn't leave for a bomb shelter without telling the waegooks, would they? Funny how paranoia starts seeping through at times like these... It was Cheon's birthday so we headed to 'El Bliss' right next to FF for a fancypants (thanks for getting that stuck in my head Annie) dinner. It's strange that somewhere so swish and upmarket is right next door to FF, which is... whatever the opposite of swish and upmarket is. The gig that night at Woodstock was, "just a gig" as Jeff put it. We were fairly tight and played well enough without the night being really noteworthy for any reason. The place was pretty much empty when we got there (they'd been having a punk night since 8pm) but a good few of our brilliant friends came along and ensured there was a good atmosphere throughout the gig. I can say without doubt that it's the first time I've been asked to sing 'Gangster's Paradise', repeatedly. I'm from Donegal. We don't have rappers, we have Daniel. Maybe I could do a Daniel rap, or... maybe not.



This weekend we're playing as part of the Rubber Soul event taking place in several venues around Hongdae, as well as in a couple of North American cities. We'll be playing at 11.15pm at Ting Tings in Hongdae, which is just a few doors down from Club FF. I'm looking forward to taking part in such a big night for a good cause. Of course it's always good to play at a new venue too. We were in having a look last week and it looks as though it's going to be pretty nuts if there is a good crowd in. We'll be finishing the live part of the night off following on from Sotto Gamba, who are one of the best band's I've heard in my time in Korea. They have two great vocalists, a 'funky groove', play great original tracks and are great to watch live. Check out their videos on their facebook page here. If you're in Hongdae that night, you could do worse...

Monday was NOT just the same old Monday. I'm not really sure why, but I was full of beans (a word that is making me slightly ill after that video...) all day. The morning classes were great, I did a bit of prep for my Lit Review, got my classes ready and they went really well. No Monday blues, no weekend hangover, no energy dip. I'm sad to say, I can't tell you why. I think it was just a fluke. I even got to catch up with family on skype later in the night. Only a week-and-a-half until I'm back on Irish soil for a couple of weeks. I'm really, really looking forward to it.

Yesterday I spent the whole day writing my draft Literature Review. I made the usual mistake of reading for too long and starting the writing too late, but it is just draft so it doesn't matter too much on this occasion. Now that I'm writing my dissertation, I'm paying much greater attention to small details than I have ever done in the past. Also, reading 'Succeeding with your Master's Dissertation' by John Biggam is really helping to focus my work. Aside from prepping and teaching my two DDE classes last night, writing the review took up my entire day. In saying that, I actually enjoyed it, which is a good sign if I decide to opt for further study once I get this MA out of the way. I know some of you are also working on your dissertation these days. I've said it before, but that Biggam book is a must-read.

And then it was Wednesday. It's another full day of classes, conferences, 'volunteer' supervision and study. The big global event today is, of course, the first leg of the K-League Championship final between Jeju United and FC Seoul on the southern island. There's a nice preview as part of this week's The Outside View podcast here. The good news for us is that Ku Ja Cheol is out injured for Jeju, having been so influential from midfield all season and for Korea U-23s at the Asian Games last month. The bad news for FC Seoul is that I'm going to miss the first half because I have to 'volunteer' to supervise a TOEIC study session. The loss of my support is going to be a big blow (I know), but I'm hopeful they can come away with a draw at least and set things up for a big finish at Sangam World Cup Stadium on Sunday. It's going to be cold, but it's going to be worth it... I'm already dreading three straight hours of oral exams with my General English girls on Monday morning. I know what you're thinking. Shame on you!

If you found the first video offensive, best not click on this one... Have a good day everyone. A special welcome to those visiting from the Korean blog list.

Everyday Ecstasy and Agony

Someone posted on facebook that Korea's hills mean ups and downs, ups and downs. In truth, this was no doubt a reference to the whole North Korea carry on. In fairness, I'm not going to talk about that anymore (for now). Don't I have remarkable enough ups and downs in my own daily life? Well, of course I do. Take today, for example. Zee and Jimbo both post the amazing news that Iron Maiden will be coming to Korea on March 10th and TICKETS ARE ON SALE!! Cue sudden excitement, searching of websites, frenetic calling of Ji and Jim, booking of tickets and.... ecstasy!!! Soon after though, the seeping disappointment of reality. March 10th. Thursday night. I'll be teaching. All hopes dashed in a moment. Even worse, as I teach that night, thinking of everyone witnessing one of the few real 'must see' rock (let's not argue over the genre) bands still plugging away at it, I know I'm going to be a grumpy old sod knowing I could be in a much better place. With that and Placebo's recent cancellation here, I'm due a bit of luck on the live music front.

Speaking of which, Ji is at the first round of the Rocky Mountain Tavern Battle of the Bands tonight. I, on the other hand, am being boring. I haven't exactly had a hard day. Studied for a few hours (draft Literature Review deadline looming), had my language exchange (NaRa showing the patience of a saint as I stumble through the same rubbish I've been stumbling over for the past couple of months) and had very easy classes tonight. Lee Hyori is at the Uni tonight hosting some kind of student Pop Idol-type thing so most of the students didn't appear to class. And why would they? As a result, I spent the first class yapping and the second class playing card games with them. Stressful stuff. Still, watching the battle didn't seem so tempting.
A. I have to get some study done in the morning before rehearsal.
B. I'm not a big fan of watching other live bands in Seoul. Nor can I do so without comparing them to us and thinking about it all WAY too much.
C. I'm not a judge. I'd have loved to have been a judge...

Here I am, so, sat in blogging on a Friday night, listening to Mayo and Kermode's strangely entertaining pretentiousness, going over lyrics a few more times before tomorrow, secretly hoping someone suggests a few beers in Suyu...

A short word on the recently neglected FC Seoul. Jeonbuk edged out Asian Champions Seongnam 1-0 to take the fourth and final Asian Champion's League spot for Korea and book a play-off semi-final fixture away to long-term league-leaders Jeju United (let's not forget that FC Seoul were top when it counted). The winner of that fixture this weekend will face a two-legged Championship decider against the mighty Seoul. Annoyingly, my 'volunteer' TOEIC study supervision is December 1st at 7pm - probably the kick-off for the first leg. I say 'volunteer' because we don't actually 'volunteer' to do it. We have to. I might try to UNvolunteer myself, but I doubt very much that that will be entertained. In reality, I'll probably be watching it on my phone and hoping they just work away and don't interrupt the tension. C'mon FC Seoul! It turns out that we're losing three players to military service very soon, two of which will be Kim Chi Woo and (my personal favourite) Choi Hyo Jin. We do have one or two returning, but it's a blow nonetheless. All the more reason to cap off a brilliant season by securing the Championship. Roll on December 5th...

Tomorrow night we'll be heading to a new microbrewery near Haebangchon for Julia's leaving party and then hopefully dragging people over to Woodstock (willing or otherwise) for our two-hour set at Woodstock, Itaewon. It's not everyone's cup of tea but I love gigging at Woodstock. Woo loves us, we love Woo. It works. There's a fair chance that the equipment will feck up at some point and I can GUARANTEE that my mic will shock me at least a couple of dozen times, but there'll more than likely be a good, music-loving crowd, nicely intoxicated and up for a bit of rock n' roll. Bring it on.

Really enjoyed catching up with Gary (Pot) on skype earlier for a bit, living out his dream in Melbourne and all the very best of luck to him. I'm going to stick 'contact [insert name here]' to my daily 'to do' list from Monday. I've barely spoken to Rob, Kev or John since they left Korea and I have fallen ridiculously badly out of touch with friends back home, in England, in Argentina... One call a day starting next week. It's time to start appearing offline people!

Thanks!

Well happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends (yes, they exist) and I hope you're having a good holiday. I felt a bit sorry for my American co-workers who I had some dodgy Korean canteen dinner with a few hours ago. Not what they would be doing back home, I'd imagine. I've been enjoying everyone's 'thankful' status updates on facebook today, possibly because I'm in a bit of a sentimental mood these days. No particular reason. No particular reason not to either. My classes are all going really well and we're coming to the end of term so I don't have long to go before I'll be back home catching up with friends and family. I'm also really enjoying the musical side of things these days. Dead End Friends is going well for us. Our gigs have been pretty tight and we really had the crowd on our side last time out at FF. Our next gig is on Saturday night at Woodstock in Itaewon. It's at midnight so, although it's late, we hope to have a good crowd. We'll be belting out two sets including four covers we haven't played live before. If you're in the area, it'd be great to have you join us. To be honest, it isn't just gigging that's going well. We are rehearsing well and still getting to know each other and gel as a band. At the minute it's all good craic and we're getting on well. How long before the inevitable handbags I wonder...?

My dissertation is coming along quite well. I have to submit a draft literature review on Tuesday so I'll have to spend at least a portion of the weekend being sensible... Somehow I'm managing to work at it at least a little every day. For any of you out there contemplating doing an MA, or with a dissertation looming, I highly recommend Succeeding With Your Master's Dissertation by John Biggam. I'm reading it alongside my other research and it's really keeping me focused and making clear what's important in attempting to get as high a mark as I possibly can. It helps that the reading itself is pretty interesting and that my teaching schedule isn't taking up too much time. The problem is that I'm not spending enough time studying Korean so I'm just stuck in a rut on that front. Those of you engaged in the banging-head-against-a-brick-wall process that is learning Korean might find this interview with an American fluent Korean-speaker interesting. It could even be a bit of an inspiration! I'm hoping so..

I'm heading into Suyu now to meet Tom for bit of grub so I better sign off. Just wanted to write something as I have been falling out of the habit recently. Hope you're all well and I'll try to write again soon.

Knowledge Is...

There isn't much to say about yesterday's event on Yeonpyeong that hasn't already been said. The loss of two young lives completing obligatory military service in the middle of nowhere is obviously a tragedy (one had recently blogged about how much he was looking forward to end-of-service party in three weeks). The fact that a lot of us thought about how our bank balance was going to be hit is as well. The fact that some guy decided to write possibly the world's worst song about it all within minutes of the story breaking is a definite third.



To those at home and possibly worrying; it's more than likely nothing to get overly concerned about and something that will blow over. Of course, we're all keeping ourselves informed and being suitably sensible.

The really interesting thing I've noted about this (and Ireland's IMF bail-out earlier in the week) is the epidemic of 'expertise' sweeping my world these days. There's a bit of a myth that more accessible methods of communication and media are allowing us to become these well-informed, active citizens playing a part in the workings of everyday life. In reality what tends to happen is this: someone with too much time on their hands scans the headlines; reads a couple of message boards; aligns all this to what he/she had thought prior to accessing this new information; regurgitates it all over any willing listener. No matter how long the news broadcasters manage to drag out their coverage, they all end the same way: no-one really knows why this has happened or what might happen next. However, it seems that if you have access to bbc.co.uk, facebook, twitter, or an office full of trapped audience, you think you know better.

Just Couldn't Be Bothered

Alright I haven't blogged all week and I'm forcing myself to now even though I don't have any idea what I'm going to say. This has been one of those weeks where I just couldn't really have been bothered to do very much of anything at all. In saying that, I have somehow managed not to really fall behind on anything (other than this blog - but nothing important!). Monday was... Monday. Tuesday was a second Monday as we headed out for Tommy's birthday the night before. Wednesday was a third Monday because I'm old and it takes me an incredibly long time to get over the weekend, never mind adding an extra night on Monday! I have just about returned to normality today, hence my feeble attempt at giving you an update.

Alright here goes - long and very tiring Saturday. Volunteering at Yongsan International School of Seoul as a judge for their debating competition. Heading over to Hongdae for rehearsal. Managing to keep the energy levels up (drinking Guinness and watching footie at Gerry's takes it out of you). Really really fun gig at FF. High-energy, tight performance, great crowd. It was up there with the good old U R Seoul days, but not quite just yet...

Ok I think it's clear my heart isn't in it today. Could be something to do with the fact that my youngest sister is celebrating her seventeenth birthday. I'm not quite sure how that has happened. I actually remember the day she was born because my Dad, bizarrely, took me out of school early before driving to Letterkenny at about 100 the whole way (exaggeration alert) in the vain hope of being there on time to welcome her into the world. We didn't get there on time (thankfully) but I saw her at only a few minutes old. Obviously I'm very proud of the beautiful, talented, warmhearted young woman she's turning out to be. I can't claim that there isn't a fair dollop of guilt at the recent years of her life that I have effectively missed out on. I'll be glad to get home for a couple of weeks soon, I can tell you that for sure.

I had been hoping to add a video from our FF gig last Saturday but, low and behold, I can't figure out how to. Let me get back to you on that one. Hope you're having a good week and feeling more inspired than I am. I'll try my best to be more interesting tomorrow. No promises...

A Lighter Note

The old blog has been a bit heavy this week, so I'm endeavoring to keep it a bit lighter today and not seem to take life so seriously. I don't, really! I just enjoy thinking about things that go a little deeper than 'Desperate Housewives' or 'The X-Factor'. In saying that, I am giving up my Saturday to be a judge at an international school debate at Yongsan International School Seoul tomorrow from 8am-4pm. From there it'll be straight to rehearsal, fit in a bit of grub, and get nice and tipsy before the gig at FF later on. I'm looking forward to the debate. I did something similar when I was a citizenship teacher at a National Academy of Gifted and Talented Youth summer school and we had a day with Debating Matters. That was in 2006. Where does the time go?

Speaking of the passing of time, a friend posted a video called 'A Life on Facebook' on facebook (awkward...) yesterday. I found it really interesting and quite touching, to be honest. I do often wonder how long this social-media craze will continue. Will we be moving on from posting pictures of nights out, to videos of weddings (there have already been a few), baby pics (not unheard of also), mid-life crisis-inspired motorcycle purchases, divorces (what an optimist), health-issues.... death? Before I put a total downer on it all, check out the video for yourself (awesome choice of song):



To continue the 'keeping it light' theme that I have been admittedly struggling with up to this point, I heard writer and satirist Armando Iannucci on the Richard Bacon show on bbc radio 5 live yesterday. It was an engaging interview and, it was revealed, Alan Partridge is back! He's not on TV but they have made a series of short broadcasts that will go out on YouTube - strangely - sponsored by Fosters. The first one is beautifully up-to-date yet classic Partridge comedy gold. The next episode is out today at the fosters funny website but, in the mean time, check out the first episode here:



Brilliant stuff. "Any blind man." Hehe. I'm actually giggling away here on my fourth listen. Genius.

Alright I'm going to go before I start mentioning all the semi-grim things that have come up over the past day or two. Yes, I'll just leave it with Alan. I might write my 'fan-death' blog on Sunday, or you might not hear from me until Monday. Either way, have a great weekend everyone.

How The Mighty Fall

In November 1910, people were on the streets of London protesting for Universal Suffrage, whilst Sun Ya-Sen was planning an uprising that would eventually lead to the Chinese Revolution in 1911. The United Kingdom was still one of the most powerful and influential countries in the world, whereas China were being over-powered and out-maneuvered by their Japanese neighbours. 100-years-on, yesterday, I listened to British Prime Minister, David Cameron, delivering a speech to students at the University of Peking, Beijing. As I listened, I felt as though I was witnessing a historic landmark in both countries' recent histories.

Prior to this speech, speculation was rife among political commentators regarding just how far Cameron would go in highlighting human rights issues in China, considering how his immense trade delegation were aware of how much more Britain needs China than the other way round in today's global economic climate. At the very beginning of the speech he talked of the freedom he experienced during his years as a student in Oxford (people who go to 'elite' universities never seem to pass up an opportunity to mention it), and expressed his hope that they, as students at the University of Peking, were doing the same now. At that point, I feared that this was his weak, watered-down allusion to human rights abuses and failures in China. I was wrong.

I'm not sure how things will go for Cameron in the medium to long-term, but I have to say that I am moderately impressed by him thus far. Whilst being careful not to openly offend his hosts, he did go as far as saying that the UK has, "deeply-held concerns" and cautioned that, "the best guarantor of prosperity and stability is for economic and political progress to go in step together." Reports suggest that he has also raised the imprisonment of Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo. He did all this while acknowledging Britains' drawbacks in a tactful way that appears to be based on an appreciation of mutual respect and differences. It could be argued that it's all fine and well treating others in this way now that you are the weak party, but I'm happy that he raised key issues rather than putting economic factors ahead of human rights abuses without going there and forcing 'western values' down their throats. There may be arguments that he could have gone further in one direction or the other. For my part, I was impressed. It seems that people have been talking about how China "would be the global superpower" for years now. All of a sudden, this scenario seems to have taken a big step closer to realisation in a relatively short space of time. Once upon a time the British Prime Minister ruled over a vast empire where the sun never set. Now a British PM is having to face the fact that he has to stay on the right side of a country he has great political differences with. Take note, USA.

Speaking of the USA, I notice that the American Humanist Association are going on a big publicity drive to educate Americans about what humanism is, and encourage them to question their own religious beliefs. As a non-believer in god, I would consider humanism to represent my views better than any religion I have come across in life so far. In simple terms, humanists aim for an open and secular society based on respect for Universal Human Rights and global-interconnectedness. If you're interested, the British Humanist Association have a very accessible and informative website. Whilst I'm glad to see the debate being opened up, I was a bit disappointed with some of the biblical quotes they chose to compare with quotes about humanism. For example, "A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.” I Timothy 2 (New International Version) Humanism: “The rights of men and women should be equal and sacred—marriage should be a perfect partnership.” Robert G. Ingersoll, in a letter dated April 13, 1878." I get the feeling that examples like this are very polarising, and won't attract the attention of moderates who are probably the main target of this campaign. Still, I'm sure the advertising experts working on this have a better grasp of the issues than I do.

Back in the real world, I had better get some study done so that I can do a good chunk of preparation before my classes beginning at 6:40pm. I have been a bit of a "negative Nancy" (McGuinness, 2010) this week, so I need to grab the bull by the horns and make sure my classes are well-prepared but that I don't expect the sun, moon and stars. Unbelievably, it's already Thursday so only a couple more days until our next gig at Club FF, in Hongdae. We had a really good facebook response and turnout for our RMT gig last week. However, the listed attendees for the FF gig are currently: yours truly; Catherine (who I think actually isn't coming); Eddie (The FF owner), and Anna (who lives in Australia). No drummer, no bassist, no girlfriend? You have to laugh. There are quite a few 'maybes' but FF always has a good crowd of it's own so I'm not worrying. We'll be playing after The Koxx (wonderfully-named and energetic Korean band) and Angry Bear (check them out on myspace - lovely stuff), so there should be a good crowd and atmosphere. I'm looking forward to belting out ten cracking rock songs and, of course, taking full advantage of the 11-12 free 'cocktail' hour. Come along! We're playing at Woodstock the following weekend and I'm setting up December and January dates as we speak so don't think the pestering is going to stop anytime soon. Hope the day is treating you all well.

Korean Derangement Syndrome

I spent a good chunk of last night looking into the topic I'm going to try to write about on here in a bit of depth at the end of the week; fan-death. More on that later, but let me just say that it is way more of a can of worms than I had suspected. I did come across a pretty interesting (but polarising) article by George Hogan in the Korea Times. Apparently, George has been/was teaching "Korean social issues and current events" in southern Seoul. He blogs at www.asktheexpat.blogspot.com. It's polarising because he basically chastises all English teachers in Korea and accuses everyone of being narrow-minded and ignoring facts in favour of broadly criticising Korean culture and looking at things only from the point of view of their home culture. A subsequent article by Sandy Fortune correctly points out his over-simplified generalisations and some flaws in his research, but he raises some interesting points.

All too often in my time here I'm jolted by conversations starting, "All Koreans {insert wild exaggeration or vague, unsupported generalisation}...." It bugs me. A lot. Of course we can make generalisations about Korea (or any country, state, locality) that are backed up by facts and figures (as Burndog did on his blog regarding dangerous driving in Korea just the other day). However, what I often hear is unjustified dismissal of beliefs, cultures and attitudes based often on little more than "something I read". It doesn't seem to matter that this "something I read" was a forum post or one single article by a journalist living on the other side of the planet (or maybe even a blog!). It can be frustrating when we, as foreigners, are pigeon-holed according to stereotypes of our nationalities. That doesn't make it ok to do exactly the same thing ourselves.

Too often these differences are framed according to nationalities, instead of individuals. Just yesterday, I heard colleagues giving out about a Korean mother who threatened one of my co-workers after her daughter had been bitten by that person's dog. There seemed to have been general agreement that the Korean mother was wrong and had over-reacted. I'm not sure that would have been the general opinion had this event happened between two foreigners. If your kid was bitten by a dog off it's leash, wouldn't you maybe be a bit pissed off?

Anyway, I'm feeling a bit flat today so I'm going to wrap it up. Wednesday is my easy day so one more class and an hour of 'volunteer' writing lab sessions and I'm free to study for a couple of hours and then hang out with Ji tonight. Have a good one everyone. Oh and apparently today is 'Forget Me Not Day' (I have no idea what that is but they mentioned it on tbsefm this morning), so - call your Mum. Or something.

What the be-cheese-us!?

A piece of research I was reading today for my MA (Hugh Starkey: Language Education, Identities and Citizenship: Developing Cosmopolitan Perspectives) spoke of language teachers being pigeon-holed according to their nationality. I'm sure that strikes a chord with other people living somewhere other than where they grew up. "Oh you're from Ireland? Ireland is bankrupt. Irish people love to drink. Irish food is like Korean food (!!??)." etc, etc. "Your friend is English? He must be a gentleman." Need I say more? As a result of this, I keep a weary eye on the news from home. Please don't do anything to embarrass us! The recent story of a judge sending a man on a pilgrimage who shouted abuse at a Garda, for example. That'll sort him out! However, that story almost becomes complimentary when compared to what I heard on bbc 5live earlier. In these times of financial hardship, government unpopularity on an unprecedented scale, rising emigration among the young who can't get qualification-appropriate work at home, and a general sense of apathy, the Irish government have come to an ingenious conclusion. They know just what is needed! Incredibly, Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith has just announced that 1 kilo blocks of cheese will be made available to the needy for free "in time for Christmas". Not only is it internationally embarrassing, it is an insult to the intelligence of people who have had a lot to endure over the last couple of years. I'm certainly not in any rush to get home. Where do I sign that contract extension?

My day started with some proofreading work being thrown on my desk at the last-minute before it was needed. What a shocker. It was actually quite fun because it was an end-of-term course evaluation form for the English Department on campus. Most of it was what you might expect, related to the level of preparedness of the professors, quality of class materials, etc, etc. However, just thrown in there was the question, "Is Confucius Korean?" I'm not quite sure what that has to do with anything... More alarming were the mentions of cheating during exams. "Would you say there was a lot of cheating during the exam?" Possible answers ranged from "a lot" to "not much". I got the impression that a certain amount of cheating was expected, maybe even acceptable. Last week I informed the office that having marked the exams of two of my five classes without anyone getting 100%, there were then FOUR together in the third class. A little suspicious... The girls in the office just had a bit of a giggle. I do sometimes think about the possibility of doing my PhD in Korea in the future. Some of the things I've seen since I started working here make me worry about how highly-regarded such a qualification might be elsewhere in the world.

Before I go, a quick shout out for "The Outside View" podcast, which was absolutely top-notch this week. I'm looking forward to their play-off preview next week and it's great seeing the strides the pod has made recently. I've decided that I'm going to have one focus per week for my blog which I'll be doing a bit of research into with the hope of creating something a bit more substantive once a week, at least. A lot of my co-workers seem to have been speculating about 'fan-death' recently, so I guess that's as good a starting point as anything. Have a good day everyone!

Job Done!

There was tension, trepidation - perhaps even a bit of fear - but our gig at RMT on Saturday night went better than we hoped or expected. Our rehearsal earlier went really well, but I wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing at the time. It definitely left me feeling a bit more confident. There was a good crowd when we got there and the first half went with relatively few hitches - my collapsing mic stand and a bit of a hash of the intro to 'Jailbreak' excepted. We got through 'Babe I'm Gonna Leave You' unscathed and the positive feedback at the interval ensured we were all a lot more relaxed for the big rocky second set. It definitely feels as though we're up and running now. With the luxury of only playing 10 songs or so at FF next week, we're looking forward to rocking out and having a good time in front of a big crowd. If you're in Seoul, come along and lend your support.

Rounding off a top weekend was FC Seoul beating Daejeon 2-1 at Sangam World Cup Stadium. With a win guaranteeing top spot and a place in the play-off final on December 1st and 5th, it should have been a lot easier than it was against the K-League's third-from-bottom club. In reality, the visitors came at us and will probably feel as though they deserved a point. Kim Chi Woo came off the bench to score the winner on 87 minutes, adding to Jung Jo Gook's very early strike. The celebrations were understandably rapturous. Jeju only managed a draw at home against Incheon United, so we have actually wound up three-points clear. An unbelievable season of stunning home form, attacking displays all over the park, a much-improved defence... we were honestly a bit emotional at the final whistle. We have to make sure not to slip up now and take our first league title in 10-years, our first as FC Seoul.

OK, it's late on a Monday so I'm going to wrap this up here. For the Korean learners among you, I found this helpful (and free) site through another blog on Friday night. Let me know if you are aware of any other good sites. I hope your week has started off well.

Ajuma!

Hello all. Today's blog is thanks to one of my students, Chae Young, and her writing homework for my class this week. Ajuma, technically (I think), is Korean for a married woman who has already had kids. In reality, I think most of us think of the visor-wearing, no-shit-taking, subway-stomping, fear-inducing ladies (as pictured above). Anyway, Chae Young explains this life-blood of Korea much better than I could ever hope to, as a foreigner. Over to you...

Last month (during my mid-term exams) I was going home with my books and some clothes. It was really heavy. I was wearing a back pack, shoulder bag, and a shopping bag. There weren't many people in the subway, but there were no seats. I stood in front of an ajoshi (middle-aged Korean man). He offered to give me his seat. He said, "I'm getting out in two stations so please sit here - you have a lot of things". I was really thankful. However, at that time an ajuma sat in my seat. I don't know where she was. She stole my seat! She didn't have any health problems or anything. I was just frustrated but couldn't say or do anything.

There are lots of ajuma stories. In a restaurant or cafe there are two kinds of problem people - ajumas and children. Ajuma's high pitch loud voices fill up the restaurant. Sometimes they don't look after their children. It's really terrible.

Not all ajumas are rude but most of them do annoying things under the name of ajuma. Even my mom and aunts (she was a really nice woman). She takes lots of tissues in cafes. During discount sales in department stores she runs to the counter surrounded by many ajumas and asks for more free dessert. After she does it she just says, "That's okay. I'm an ajuma". I really worry about becoming an ajuma.

In Korea, ajumas power is important. I know that they helped Korea's economy and society, but I want them to stop being annoying. I hope that our generation changes our behavior and thoughts to make a better Korea.

Amen to that! I remember being on the subway with the U R Seoul boys maybe a year ago and Kev nodding at a few purple-haired ajumas and saying, "see every time you see a really hot Korean girl, just remember that's what she's going to turn into". I think he may well have scarred me for life. Here's a video (sped up for some reason) of an ajuma v teenage girl brawl on the subway that was a big talking point here recently. Please don't turn into this, Ji...

Tick Tick Tick Tick

Somehow, we only have two days left until our Saturday night show at Rocky Mountain Tavern in Itaewon. We had rehearsal last night, but Cheon (our bassist) didn't make it. He had one of those horrible work dinners that Koreans are often obliged to attend (and get wasted at, whether they like it or not) and just couldn't make it on time. It's hardly ideal, but it happens. I have been known to miss entire rehearsals myself or show up unbelievably late so I certainly can't go casting any stones. The three of us managed to get through quite a lot of material and Cheon tends to know what he's doing anyhow, so it's not a disaster. We have two hours to go over things one more time on Saturday but then it's crunch time. Honestly, I think we're still a week or two away from being 100% ready (if such a state can ever be attained), but we should be tight enough to get by. We needed this date as a deadline to motivate ourselves. We did the same with U R Seoul. Things always seemed to come together. If they don't, we still have to make sure it's a fun night for us and everyone in attendance. I'm a bit nervous and apprehensive, but I really can't wait!

Jim, Darragh and I headed to Shamrock n' Roll to watch as much of FC Seoul's visit to Seongnam as we could before we had to tear ourselves away for band practice. It was a good, strong line-up, which showed that players must have been rested last weekend against Busan with this encounter in mind. Lee Seung Ryeol put us 1-0 early on with a fairly fortuitous but well-worked goal. Unfortunately, the lead didn't last long as Seongnam leveled things before the 20-minute mark. Up step Jeong Jo Gook to stroke home what turned out to be the winner, after excellent link-up play with Choi Tae Wook, who has been sensational for us since his mid-season arrival from Jeonbuk for his second spell with the club (previously from 2000-2003 when we were Anyang LG Cheetahs). Jeong has been stepping up recently and, if we can overcome Daejeon on Sunday at home and clinch top spot, it will be largely down to him and his recent match-winning performances. The match highlights are here (although I'm not sure they're working right now). Huge game on Sunday to book our place in the play-off final on December 1st and 5th. 3pm - Sangam World Cup Stadium.

I have my language-exchange in 5-minutes so no time to chat about the Stoics, Socrates, Seneca and global citizenship, which I was reading about this morning for my MA dissertation. I'll bet you're devastated! I will leave you with my 'fact of the day'. In ancient Greece, small genitals were a plus, being a symbol of manly self-control. Large genitals, on the other hand (!?), were symbolic of weakness and a lack of self-restraint. So, there you go.

InsomniAAAAAA

I'm sure most of you have had those nights... There's no reason why you shouldn't be tired and ready for a good night's rest, you've wound down, headed to bed at a decent time, light's out, eyes shut but... sleep evades you... I was in and out of bed, back and forth to the bathroom, opening windows, closing them again, trying to read, checking emails... until 4am or thereabouts last night! For some reason, there are nights when I just can't switch off. I must have gone over the lyrics of 'Stone Free' (Hendrix) about a million times - and I bet I still muck it up on Saturday. And yes, calling one night of not being able to sleep 'insomnia' might be going a bit far.

I'm just listening to 'The Outside View' (K-League podcast) online now, and it's kind of annoying me today, to be honest. It certainly has it's good points. It has a good layout, some informative features, the hosts are personable and entertaining and it seems to be professionally put together. Unfortunately, too often I don't get much more from it than I could from just looking at the weekly scores, fixtures, league table, reading through people's posts online, etc. Ok, it's not easy to find K-League information in English but surely with so many knowledgeable fans on the forum at rokfootball.com, there's an opportunity to pool that expertise and put it together to benefit fans from all the different teams. I certainly feel as though I know more about Suwon Bluewings, because the guys definitely know their stuff on that front. However, the likes of Gyeongnam and Jeonbuk... still pretty much just names to me. At the minute, it's good but perhaps has the potential to be a lot better. Matt not being there this week didn't help - I'm not sure what the football puns for each of this week's upcoming fixtures were all about... In fairness, it should be said that these guys are putting in their free-time voluntarily and providing a service to the ex-pat community that doesn't exist elsewhere. It's certainly more positive than negative.

Staying with the K-League, FC Seoul play our game-in-hand over Jeju (currently ahead of us top of the league) tonight, away against Seongnam. Winning the match puts us in pole position to the the table and secure our place in the play-off final, with the second leg in Sangam World Cup Stadium. Seongnam have been a traditionally strong team in my time in Korea (owned by the Moonies, but the most successful team in the country in terms of league victories) and are having a strong season again this year. What's making me nervous is that FC Seoul have been missing a few key players of late (Adi, most notably) and our strength in depth is being stretched. However, we have been scoring quite a few from different areas of the pitch and, although not as solid at the back as we had been, are still leaking relatively few goals. In fact, 22-year-old Kim Dong Woo has come in at the back and looked quite assured on the ball, if not as positionally aware as I'd like for a centre-back. I'll be watching the first-half at Gerry's (Shamrock n' Roll in Hongdae) before having to tear myself away to go to band practice at 9. The sacrifices I make for my 'art'...

More Than You Can Chew

I've just been going over songs for Saturday night and, holy crap, some of them are pretty tough. I might just be aiming a bit higher than I can attain in terms of the vocals, at least. It didn't seem so bad in rehearsal so I'm hoping it's just a bit of an off-day... Otherwise, I should get in touch with RMT and make sure they reinforce the windows upstairs! I just sent out invites for the gig on facebook here. The best gigs are always the ones with the biggest crowds, so please get yourself out and support us if you're in the area. I don't usually get nervous before a show, but I definitely will be on Saturday. I can't even think about it for too long... 20 new songs all on the same night... eugh...

We were chatting about 'good and bad things about your country' in class last night, and again this morning. I'm probably not as brave as I should be in covering potentially controversial issues. The students have a tendency to go a bit strong on the positives and turn a bit quiet when we get to the negatives. They usually just need a bit of prodding, but I have to be careful not to be openly criticising the place. For example, one student reckoned she had nothing bad to say about Korea. A few prompts later and she was going on about the binge-drinking, the pushing on the subway, the hierarchical power structures, the concrete jungle, etc. Basically, Koreans dislike the same things that foreigners do, they are just much less vocal about them. It's ok! Talking about the aspects of life in your country that you're not crazy about is not a sign of weakness! Ireland can be a narrow-minded, racist, corrupt, rain-drenched hole, at times. It can also be a great place to grow up, breathtakingly beautiful and full of warm and hospitable people.

One definite positive about Korea at the moment is the weather. Ok, it's a bit chilly but autumn colours are beautiful and it's hasn't yet gotten to the point where you can't go outside without wrapping yourself in the equivalent of a duvet. Predictably, 'Korea's four-seasons' came up as a positive with my pupils last night. Inevitably, it was followed by, "Do you have four seasons in Ireland?" I suspect that if those two sentences don't exist close-by then there's some sort of prison sentence or you lose your Korean passport or something. Yes, there are four seasons in Ireland. They are:

1. Spring
2. Summer
3. Autumn
4. Winter

There are also four seasons in Korea:

1. "Ah the temperature is PERFECT and I better enjoy it because I'm going to be sweating my ass off in about a fortnight"
2. "Wake up, shower, go out, feel exhausted, shower, eat, shower, sleep (if you can get the right balance between air conditioning and sweltering humidity)"
3. "Wow Korea is beautiful, look at all this colour, get out and do as much as you possibly can because we have about a month before de facto hibernation"
4. "Wake up, remind yourself to buy more bedding, freeze, slip on your backside about a dozen times, repeat until April"

Ok I'm not being totally serious but I would LOVE to know where this 'four season' obsession came from. Disclaimer: I love Korea and living here. There's no harm in pointing out a few obvious cons from time to time, though... In order to assuage my guilt at being semi-critical, let me leave you with a photo featuring some 100% Korean autumnal natural beauty - and a snazzy FC Seoul cap!

Well done, well done

Oh yeah Halloween rocks. I'm still wrecked from the weekend but that can only be a good sign, as well as a sign of my old age... We managed to fit in everything we wanted to do, and I even threw together a lazy outfit (see left) at RMT - how last- minute is that! What made the night so good was the company. We were just laughing non-stop all night. With so much going on Monday-Friday (and assignments even to do on the odd Saturday) it's good to have weekends with good people to look forward to. People keep leaving, but I'm lucky to still have a good store of funny friends here.

After a lot of procrastinating, I got my assignment in on Saturday, although I wouldn't say it was the highest standard. I just couldn't switch on properly but it's still very early days and it's probably best to be making my errors now.

No rest for the wicked, even on a Sunday. We were up (relatively) bright and breezy to get over to World Cup Stadium for FC Seoul V Busan. We were missing a few influential players (a busy fixture list these days) so it was a bit more disjointed than it has been of late but we still ran out comfortable 3-1 winners. Goals this week from Jeong Jo Gook, Dejan and Choi Tae Wook. You can watch the highlights here. Wednesday's trip to Seongnam is crucial for us. A win and we are well on course to top the league and go straight into the play-off final (with the second leg at home). Defeat, and we might just have to settle for second and would have to face a semi-final. With Derry City FC returning to the top flight of Irish football on Saturday, I'm hoping for a clean sweep of league victories this season. Maybe that's asking a bit too much.

We had another busy band practice later on Sunday in Haebangcheon. With only days left until our first full gig at Rocky Mountain Tavern (Saturday, November 6th), we're still working at getting songs together and tightening other bits and bobs up. It's tough, but getting there. We're going to need two more rehearsals (so no trip to Seongnam for me on Wednesday) and I'm sure there'll still be some dodgy moments, but hopefully we can pull it off and have a fun night. If you haven't seen it already, our facebook page is here. All support is greatly appreciated!

Another Monday almost done, and not as horrific as they have been in the past. So glad to have nice classes that make work more of a pleasure than a pain. Hope your week is getting off to a good start, wherever in the world you are. I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of our Halloween party at work last Friday.

Prepared, As Ever!

Well, it's that time of year where for some unknown reason we all think it's totally normal and acceptable to dress up and look ridiculous for no particular reason. I love it! It's always a bad time to be away from home because the celebrations in Derry are hard to beat. Still, we always manage to make a night of it no matter where we are. I have some great memories of Halloween celebrations in Seoul, playing gigs, shocking innocent Koreans in bars who have no idea what's going on, etc. The year Jim and I (dressed as spiderman and 'superhero') walked into a Korean bar in Hongdae for a quiet drink and asked for scissors to cut holes to aid our toilet trips, before being politely asked to leave. Definitely one of my classiest moments.

Last night, we had a Halloween party at work which actually ended up being a whole lot less crap than I had expected it to be. The students had a small budget and about an hour to transform their classroom into a theme of their choice with activities for other classes to take part in during the party time. My homeroom opted for a ghoulish casino (might go some way to explaining my appearance above) and really pulled out all the stops to make it look amazing. I'll put a picture of their work up when I can. The actual casino games took a bit of a back seat to posing for pictures and wandering around the other rooms. It was amazing how great all the classrooms looked considering how little time (and money) they all had to do it in.

About 20 minutes before class ended, they started cleaning up WITHOUT ME HAVING TO EVEN ASK THEM TO! Not a week goes by without a reminder of how different it is teaching in Korea and teaching in England. I don't see myself staying here forever, but I'm certainly going to miss the respectful behavior and positive attitude of students here, as opposed to the teeth-pulling (and sometimes overt verbal abuse) elsewhere. No doubt, teaching here has softened me up a bit, but I'll cross that bridge when and if I come to it.

As usual, it's Halloween (or at least the night we'll be going out to celebrate it) and I have feck all organized to wear. I was some kind of zombie teacher last night so I'll probably go down the lazy route and be a zombie again tonight. Bit of blood, torn clothes, make-up, fuzzy hair... that should do it. I actually gave away my 'priest' costume to a co-worker so I wouldn't be tempted to wear it for the FOURTH time. I definitely would if it was still in my possession. More to the point, I have an assignment due tomorrow that I just can't get into the frame of mind to sit down and actually write. Hence the blogging, the costume planning, the tidying, the doing of the laundry, the calling everyone about tonight's plans, the doing-anything-I-can-think-of-other-than-writing-my-assignment...

Before I go and face the inevitable, a quick plug for my mate's new Irish bar in Hongdae. It's called 'Shamrock n' Roll' and is very close to the little park across from the main gates of Hongik University. We headed there on Wednesday night for their first night of business and were all really impressed. It's a good size, easy on the eye, has a good selection of drinks, easy-going bar staff, big screens, and, well - it's an Irish bar! We're planning on spending some of our time there tonight and, if you're in Seoul, you could do worse than follow suit. Happy Halloween everyone!

My Dead End Friends Again...

I'm subbing in Ji's school today ('teaching' history and media) but it has been a pretty straight-forward day so far. I love having the chance to do the odd day here and there and it gives me an insight into what my job will be like when I land an International School job (note the positivity). There is a volleyball tournament here today with a lot of the other International Schools visiting. It's interesting how ethnically Asian-based this school is in comparison to others. The boys were complaining about not having a nice range of girls to drool over. I had the same problem when I was at school, boys! It's also interesting to see how the ethnic-Korean majority interact with the minority students. I can't say they do so very well, from what I can see...

I'm hopefully going to have a chance to talk over some of my preliminary research questions with the head teacher here after school. Interestingly, the sample questionnaire I have for her touches on issues of multi-culturalism, diversity, and learning to live together. At this early stage, I'm only interested in getting feedback about the nature of the questions to aid my methodology, rather than being too concerned by her actual responses. I have my first assignment due on Sunday and preparation is going quite well so far. At this early stage, I'm interested in the topic and so it doesn't seem like a drag studying. I'm sure that won't last too long.

Straight after I finish here I'm going to have to go buy some more snacks and decorations for our Halloween Party in class tonight. The girls are going to set up a ghoulish casino and get the room looking suitably spooky. The girls in the office are going to go round taking pictures and I think the best classes will win some money, so they're pretty well-motivated for it! It a should be a fun night anyhow and I'm glad I don't have to teach having been here all day already. I still haven't gotten round to sorting out my own Halloween costume so it'll be pretty lame tonight. There's a big Halloween warehouse in Sadang so I'll go there and sort something out tomorrow. Prepared well in advance, as ever. I was tempted to just wear my priest costume for the fourth time or whatever it is at this stage.

Before I wind this up for the day, a quick plug for our new band and a request. We're working hard to have a good set together for Rocky Mountain Tavern, Itaewon, on November 6th. I just set up a facebook page for us today so please check it out here, click 'like' or whatever is, and we'll be able to keep in touch with everyone about upcoming shows and the like. If you could suggest the page to friends, that'd be even better. Have a fun Halloween everyone!

Same Sport, Different World

What is it that makes us care about one particular sports team over another? When you consider that some people will resort to violence, abuse and even murder to defend the honour of their beloved football club, how likely is it that that self same person could have ended up with a different allegiance if something in his/her past had just gone that little bit differently?

When we were in primary school in Ireland, lunchtime games would soon turn into 'Man Utd V Liverpool' and the race would be on to claim the identity of your favourite players for the duration of our precious free-time. At the time, it didn't occur to us that we were slagging off the British in one breath, before claiming allegiance to a British team from a city most of us had never even been to with the next. The 'Irish links' would be talked-up (legends such as George Best, and lesser greats like Irwin, Houghton, Aldridge, etc.) but none of us ever seemed to be too interested in the clubs we had right on our doorsteps, such as Finn Harps or Derry City.

My connection to Man Utd stemmed, very simply, from my uncle Peter supporting them. I have no idea why he liked them, in particular, and we have no geographical ties to Manchester or anything like that. Still, they were the team I defended to the hilt during corridor football talk. I wanted to be Lee Sharpe, Ryan Giggs, Eric Cantona - Barnes, Clough and Rush were dirty words. Over the years that built up to the point where Man Utd were the only club I cared about really, even though I couldn't explain rationally why...

My earliest experiences of football were at Derry City matches with my Dad, his friend, and his son who was around my age. I guess I was there during our glory days, without even realising it. At the time, I wouldn't say that I paid much attention. I remember the stands being pretty packed, and the kids just wandering about the place probably getting into trouble (which I'm sure I simply watched from a safe distance...). It was only as I matured and became more critical and socially aware that I questioned my loyalty to a foreign team I had no physical link to, and started to identify with the local team, a place I could actually go to and witness my club in action regularly. So started my real relationship with Derry City FC, still going strong today.

Then, just to complicate things, I move to Seoul. Early in my time here I went to K-League games with friends more as something to do (and an excuse to hang out with mates and beers under the pretense of doing something 'different') rather than something I was actually interested in. Yes, the stadium was amazing. Yes, the fans were colourful. Still, I didn't feel anything for this club. If they won, we cheered. If they lost, we didn't exactly need counseling. The quality of football at the time probably didn't help. In that first year, we only ever seemed to see 0-0 draws! And not even the exciting type, at that.

Somewhere, at some undefined point in time, something changed in me. I started to get to know the players, the style, the history (albeit VERY short) and the passion of the fans. I felt myself REALLY looking forward to games and being hungry for information regarding transfers, injuries, gossip, and so on. The real clincher was meeting Adi and Dejan at COEX (mentioned in an earlier blog) and then Dejan giving me his sweat-soaked shirt after a game. NOW THIS IS A FEELING! This season has been incredible. It helps that we're playing good football and being exciting, but the real link comes simply from the fact that, wherever I have lived in Korea, FC Seoul has been my 'local' team. It took time, but now I really feel a part of what they're doing. Perhaps as indicative, I have started to really dislike our traditional rivals, Suwon Bluewings. When they won the FA Cup on Sunday, I found myself cursing the competition as a backdoor to Champion's League football. I'm never ever going to get to the point where I hate the club (just as I don't hate Finn Harps or Liverpool), but I'll certainly always be clear about where my loyalties lie.

So, when I look at the world of football these days I see it from three distinct and varied perspectives. Whilst I might roll my eyes at Rooney's latest antics and grumble about the role of money and agents in the game, I know that that is part of the attraction. We love the Premiership precisely because the stakes are so high and if they weren't, stories like that simply wouldn't occur. Whereas the star striker at Man Utd is a millionaire with his private life sprawled across the world press, his equivalent at Derry City went to school with me. He lives down the road from my family home. He kissed my ex-girlfriend around the back of their school when they went to primary school together for crying out loud! Their counterpart at FC Seoul is a Montenegran international who has somehow wound up playing on the other side of the planet in a stadium and in front of capacities he could probably never have hoped to have achieved had he stayed playing in Europe, never mind being adored by some wee Irish teacher he, no doubt, can't even remember having met.

With Derry City on the verge of promotion back to the top-flight of Irish football, FC Seoul vying to win their first championship since 2000 and Man Utd recovering from a stuttering start to the season over-shadowed by off-field antics, each teams' fortunes will affect me in varying ways. I don't think I have to justify or prioritise my attachments. I'd never get to the point where I did something for any of the three that I would regret. No matter how many mindless quotes are repeated and celebrated, it is just a game. In saying that, it really is the beautiful game. I will enjoy the highs and suffer the lows, still reminding myself that under different circumstances, I might well have been cheering the opposition.