Na Na Na Na N Na Na Na Na

Holy crap the weather is insane here today. I don't normally get bothered by thunderstorms but this one is unnerving me a little. I watched a huge bolt of lightning strike the building just opposite mine about half an hour ago and I'm sat on the top floor of mine in a room walled by mostly glass on one side... Safe...

More importantly than the precarious nature of my life, I had plans today! I was supposed to go cycling with Stephanie or, depending on the weather, hang out at least. We had to give up on that one. I'm also meant to go meet the boys after they finish playing screen golf (not quite up to that yet) for dinner but I'm not sure if that's going to happen either. The rain here is just like a blanket of water so, umbrella or no umbrella, you wind up getting drenched anyhow. The next time a Korean accuses Ireland of having bad weather I'm going to be less diplomatic than I usually am. Six more weeks and we'll be freezing our arses off for winter before an all-to-brief spring leads us back into a summer of sweltering heat. At least in Ireland, we know not to expect much...

Really fun weekend just passed. Friday night I somehow forced myself through the fatigue to head out with Thomas, Gerry (aka Tom and Gerry from Derry) and Jonny, another Ulsterman - nice to travel and meet new people, eh? Few drinks, pool, good music, bit of dancing on the wonky knee, lots of laughs - it was just what the doctor ordered -well, maybe not the dancing part. Someone actually told me I'm the WORST dancer they've ever seen, but I had my knee as an excuse. I'll show 'em! Saturday was productive (by my standards) because I met up with Ji, bought a second-hand bike and spent a couple of hours cycling the paths near where we both live. So, so nice and relaxing. We headed down to Hongdae for galbi with John, back visiting on a visa run for his new job in Mongolia. It was good to see him. His new adventures certainly fueled my growing desire to move on to pastures new...

Nice Sunday hanging out with John, bit of cycling (removing the tension built up by our 160 km/h on average taxi ride home last night...), bit of getting caught in the rain, bit of Man Utd V Liverpool. I'm not going to go on about football in this post (apparently I do so too much...) but it's amazing how easy it is getting to watch so much live sport live on your computer. Sites such as myp2p.eu show football, motorsport, cricket, rugby... nearly anything you'd like to watch is on there! It hasn't quite got to the point where I can watch Derry City FC in the comfort of my own home in South Korea yet, although I'm not sure that's a bad thing considering the results they've been having recently...

Working on Monday wasn't so bad. A lot more students showed up than I had expected but it was a pretty laid-back atmosphere with the holidays coming up. It was actually nice to have the opportunity to work with a smaller group of students and get to know them all a little better. I only see my General English girls once a week and I have nearly a hundred of them in total so that's not easy. I also got a W200,000 Chuseok bonus from my Uni, so I'm les inclined to moan about them than usual... What can I say, I'm cheap! After classes I met Ji and we cycled out of the city into a surrounding hiking trail and it was beautiful. I love living where I live. All the convenience of the city but the fresh air and ease on the eye of the countryside just a short cycle away. I love my bike... It's like being a teenager again!

After some confusion, we finally managed to arrange a rehearsal for late last night. It wasn't all plain sailing but we made a bit more progress and have another session booked for Saturday afternoon. It's all about building up some momentum at the minute. We might even arrange a short gig (maybe just one set) for Saturday October 2nd in Itaewon or Hongdae. Musically, it's all sounding good, but we're still a long way from the energy and atmosphere of U R Seoul. Maybe my best night with them (although Jim was out of the country so we had Craig covering on drums) was for the Seoul V The Beatles benefit in Freebird, Hongdae, the year before last I think it was. I'll leave you with a video taken from that night. Aaaah memories... Will I ever be in a band that fun again?...



Wow my hair was long....