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.

Not Quite Top Gear

Our experience of the first ever F1 Korean Grand Prix was a story of ups and downs, much like the race itself. First off, our free tickets did materialise in the end and we even managed to swindle one for Ji, even though she's not actually a 'foreigner'. We got seats in the E-c stand that were actually worth way more than I would have ever considered paying. Great seats, cracking atmosphere, no major hitches with the bus or 4-hour+ journey south (having stayed up all night for fear of not being able to wake up on time...), so everything was looking good. As it turned out, a slight drizzle put a spanner in the works. The track looked a bit wet from when we got there at around midday but it was a 20-minute burst from about 2.30pm that led to the race being started under the safety car. That lasted only for three laps before the cars returned to the grid for a 45-minute delay. Despite the disappointment, it had been an amazing buzz witnessing the speed and sound of F1 cars in person. I have watched the sport for a long time, but I never imagined how exhilarating it would be live. Even the 'slower' drivers at the back of the grid are achieving incredible speeds and appear to be driving to an incredibly high level, considering the challenges they probably face in their less-advanced cars.

The race finally got going as the track dried out and we saw Webber losing it and colliding with the wall before collecting Rosberg and dealing his own title hopes a severe blow. By that stage, we were wondering if the time we had been told to be back at the bus was still valid, as there had been so many delays. Infuriatingly, we did have to still go back at 5pm and missed the vast majority of the actual racing. Catherine, Ji and I still had an amazing time and it certainly whetted our appetite for future F1 action. If I'm still in Korea next year, I think the best option would be to just stay in Mokpo and make a proper weekend of it. There's no real need for me to go into the race in detail here - you can check out the report on the bbc here. Matt (of burnblog and The Outside View fame) will have been heartened, no doubt, by Suwon beating Busan to lift the FA Cup and secure a spot in the Champion's League next season. We had the closing stages of the match live on the bus as we edged through the post-race traffic.

Aside from Grand Prix, we also had a short gig in Itaewon on Friday night. Much like the F1, it was a case of the good and the bad that left a clear set of mixed emotions. I never usually get very nervous before shows, but this being somewhat new led to a few jitters among us all. Starting off the first song with barely audible vocals didn't help... Things picked up, it was fairly tight, people liked it, a few songs were particularly good, but... it's not going to be the way it was for a long, long time. It's definitely a case of re-setting our expectations and enjoying the process of getting back to the level of performance and energy we had in the past. We got straight back to work with a rehearsal on Saturday and took another big step. We need to keep it up because we'll only have two more sessions together before our firs show at Rocky Mountain Tavern in Itaewon on November 6th. We'll be nervous, but I'm determined to enjoy it.

Alright, Monday going ok here and hope it is for you too. I'm starting a new session with two new classes tonight so cross your fingers that I get off on the right foot with them both. I also have a work meeting so let's hope it'll be productive and not unearth any unwelcome surprises...

Must Dash...

Barely any time today (it takes a long time to do feck all). For those of you in Seoul, we have a gig tonight at Woodstock in Itaewon at 11pm for about an hour. Our set will look something like this:

Born to be Wild - Steppenwolf
Sunshine of your Love - Cream
Hey Tonight - Creedence Clearwater Revival
Paint it Black - The Rolling Stones
Otherside - Red Hot Chili Peppers
My Iron Lung - Radiohead
Ticket to Ride - The Beatles
Time is Running Out - Muse
Steady as she Goes - The Raconteurs
Hash Pipe - Weezer
Fell in Love with a Girl - The White Stripes

No original materials just yet. You gotta learn how to walk before you can run. Hopefully this marks the beginning of a prolonged period of gigging that runs and runs. Be good to see you there if you're in the area.

That's all for now (I'm already late for late lunch/early dinner with Tommy). Webber fastest in first practice for the Korean Grand Prix on Sunday. I'll try to get online tomorrow for a preview but.. you know the weekend generally goes. If I don't speak to you tomorrow, have a good one everybody!

No Such Thing as a Free Lunch?

You know when something just sounds too good to be true.... it probably isn't, right? Well, I find myself in one of those situations right now (as does CATHERINE MC GUINNESS, CATHERINE MC GUINNESS, CATHERINE MC GUINNESS!!!) with the F1 Korean Grand Prix coming up on Sunday. Some time last week I noticed a group on facebook (actually thanks to Ritchie and Stephen for pointing it out) offering FREE Grand Prix tickets to foreigners. I was, obviously, skeptical. Nonetheless I clicked 'attending'. What's the harm? What could I possibly risk by just clicking a button on facebook? As the days passed, the issue of whether or not this 'free' tickets scheme was for real became less and less clear to the point where it started becoming more of a hassle than a help. The guy who was organising it seemed totally unwilling to give any information beyond "meet at car park 5 (now 7) between 11.45am and 12pm on Sunday". For people who would be traveling at least four hours from Seoul to Yeongam, this wasn't much to go on. In the end up, it seemed as though we had left it too late to book tickets and transport and I had given up on the idea of going last night, which was extremely frustrating, and led in some part to a stupid row with Ji about us never doing anything, getting things organised, etc., etc.

However, it seems that today has changed things round. A guy called William Cho from Discover Korea seems to have taken the bull b the horns and got things moving. Not only is he organising a bus from Seoul (here), but he has made a few calls and, without getting too optimistic, appears to have confirmed the 'free tickets' story (here). The situation for us right now is that we have three seats on a bus to the circuit, the possibility of two free tickets (unlucky on being Korean, Ji) and I'll go 50-50 on a ticket with Ji on the day (if we can't wangle her in some other way first). Worst case scenario we get there, there are no free tickets, we buy tickets to the race, we have a potentially once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The upshot for you, if you're in Korea, is that it might just be worth taking a punt on getting a free ticket for yourself and getting yourself to the track on Sunday. Apparently the organiser got 65 tickets (approximately) but it now seems that the uncertainty of the situation has put a lot of people off going. There's a new event page (here) trying to get a better idea of the number of actual attendees. At the moment, it's at 225. Quite a discrepancy... It'll be interesting to see what happens on the day. Offering free tickets to foreigners only for the first ever Korean Grand Prix? Well, that's another blog all by itself...

10,000 hours

I was going over a few old music-related articles I have kicking around my place in the hope of finding inspiration for a REALLY good band name and came across something I used to be quite interested in. I remember reading about Malcolm Gladwell's book 'The Outliers' a couple of years ago that expanded upon the notion that it takes 10,000 hours practice in some certain area to become an 'expert'. It struck me at the time that it was encouraging to think that if I wanted to become say, a skilled guitarist, the only thing that stood in my way was a sustained period of hard graft. Another author I found interesting was Daniel Levitin and his book 'This is Your Brain on Music' which argued (what I had long believed) that musical talent isn't merely innate, but is something that can be significantly improved through targeted and appropriate practice. Great musicians aren't simply born, they have had to put a lot of work into their art. The Beatles and even Stevie Wonder are held up as examples. It also aims to explain why people are attracted to musicians, something I have to be thankful for over the years! Although Levitin is one of those 'pop theorists' that garner a lot of media attention these days by providing quick, easy-to-understand assumed answers to tough questions, taken together, the two provide some thought-provoking concepts.

Think about the things in your life so far that you have spent 10,000 hours doing (keep it clean, Craig!). At 28, I'd need to have been doing these things for an average of an hour a day at least to reach that mark. Does that make me an 'expert' scholar, reader, conversationalist, listener, perhaps even singer? Obviously that's a huge simplification, something both Gladwell and Levitin have been accused of. Surely HOW you practice is as important as HOW LONG you do it for. Just think of those 30+ years experienced teachers you had at school who had simply been doing the wrong thing repeatedly for their entire career. I get the feeling I could continue to mess around on guitar or with my Korean for 10,000 hours the way I currently am without getting significantly better at either. It'd be nice to imagine some mental countdown we could perform for ourselves as we edge closer to expertise (whatever that is), but obviously it isn't quite as simple as that. As far as my band-name-hunting was concerned, the best I came up with was 'These Glorious Illusions' or 'The Dopamine Fiends' so I think 'Dead End Friends' is still the best suggestion on the table.

Not much longer to wait now until I get the chance to do a bit of showing off, ass-shaking, saying lame things over the mic and, of course, singing! For those of you in Seoul at the minute, we'll be playing at Woodstock in Itaewon tomorrow night (Friday, 22nd) from 11pm for about an hour. We just have 11 songs in mind for the set so I have been making sure I know them inside out. No matter, I'm sure I'll muddle something up on the night anyhow. Only a couple of weeks later we'll play our first 'full' gig at Rocky Mountain Tavern in Itaewon (Saturday, November 6th) and I'm going to start booking other gigs right up until New Year's Eve over the next week or so. It has taken us longer than we had hoped to get up and running since U R Seoul's final gig, but hopefully now we're finally back in the game. I certainly hope so. Without a gig, weekends feel a bit empty and pointless to me, if I'm being honest. That might be a bit sad, but things tend to feel very repetitive just going to the same places or doing essentially the same thing (drinking) in vaguely different places. It sometimes gets to the point where you can play too much, but having 2/3 shows a month to look forward to really keeps me in good form. Although it can be a bit guilt-inducing always bugging friends to come to shows, those big nights are genuinely fun all round and bring a wider circle of friends together in one place better than anything else I can think of here. Once we get a name finalised, I'll be setting up a facebook group to help promote gigs, share photos and videos, etc. Please join up and support our new venture.

Predictably, my week off work is absolutely flying by so I better get on and do a bit of work on my dissertation background reading, get ready for my Korean class at 2, go over these song lyrics a few more times, and maybe have one last stab at arranging things for the Korean Grand Prix this Sunday (my attendance looking more doubtful by the day). I had been hoping to write this blog last night, but personal circumstances dictated otherwise. Perhaps I'll go crazy and blog again later today.

Dead End Friends, Ulsan, Week Off & Korean F1 Grand Prix

Last Friday night we got together for another band practice to help edge us that little bit closer to being ready for our first 'big gig'. We had to settle for a bit of a dodgy rehearsal room which had a pretty bad echo and the mics kept cutting out so it wasn't easy to work on anything especially detailed, but it was another step. Afterward, we sorted out a few dates for gigs, rehearsals and even a few band name suggestions. We're going to be playing at Woodstock, Itaewon, this Friday night (October 22nd) at 11pm. If you're in the area, come support us and we'll love you forever. We're that easy. It'll just be an hour set but the idea is to limber us up for our first full gig at Rocky Mountain Tavern, Itaewon, on November 6th. I'll get a facebook group set up to start pestering you all to attend once we have decided on a name. At the moment I'm favoring 'Dead End Friends' but we're not sure yet as a whole. Time is running out for your brilliant suggestions...

On Saturday, Jimbo and I did the 4-hour trek by train to Ulsan. Unfortunately, there's no KTX route from Seoul to Ulsan until next month, so we took a KTX to Daegu then a slow train East to Ulsan. We made a night of it on Saturday. Some of it was probably a bit too odd to mention here but I would recommend Ulsan as a fun night out. I even managed to get Jim, who has been very sensible of late, on the soju. Successful night all round. Weird, but successful.

I wasn't feeling the freshest on Sunday morning but we got ourselves out for the game nonetheless. As we were standing along the road waiting for a taxi in our FC Seoul shirts, some Ulsan fans picked us up to give us a lift to the stadium! Just like home, eh? Pretty damn friendly of them. Especially as we then went on to win 2-1, which was a MASSIVE result. There were probably around 300 FC Seoul fans at the game, which is pretty impressive. They were in fine voice for the full 90 minutes, even though a fair portion appeared to be missing the action in doing so... The goals came from Ha Dae Sung and Choi Tae Wook as part of a battling performance all round. Ulsan looked pretty good, but we had two goals ruled out for very marginal looking offside decisions and were good value for the win overall. With Jeju only drawing at Jeonbuk and us having a game in hand, our away match against them next week is now absolutely huge in deciding who finishes top and goes straight into the play-off final. It looks as though we'll be without Adi (fractured cheekbone), while Lee Seung Ryeol and Kim Chi Woo were also absent on Sunday, but we have to be quietly confident of our chances at this stage.

-2010 RANKING TEAM POINTS W D L F A GD 1 JEJU 54 16 6 3 50 24 26 2 SEOUL 52 17 1 6 50 22 28 3 SEONGNAM 43 12 7 5 38 20 18 4 GYEONGNAM 43 12 7 5 36 25 11 5 JEONBUK 42 12 6 6 45 33 12 6 ULSAN 41 12 5 8 37 29 8 7 SUWON 34 10 4 10 34 38 -4 8 BUSAN 30 7 9 9 34 33 1 9 INCHEON 29 8 5 11 39 43 -4 10 POHANG 27 6 9 9 35 44 -9 11 CHUNNAM 26 6 8 10 36 42 -6 12 GANGWON 21 5 6 14 30 49 -19 13 DAEJEON 21 5 6 13 25 45 -20 14 DAEGU 19 5 4 15 27 46 -19 15 GWANGJU 18 3 9 12 14 37 -23

After the match we were again having problems finding a taxi (the stadium was pretty much in the middle of nowhere) and kind of cheekily asked a couple in a car for 'directions' in the hope that they'd just offer us a lift. They took the bait... They turned out to be really nice and Jimbo and I had a further chance to practice our Korean. It's nice having Jim along for that because his Korean is so much better than mine so I pick up a fair bit from him. The couple spoke some English too. Apparently the man is planning to, "make a baby this year". How romantic.

I'm off work this week so I SHOULD be working on my dissertation and learning song lyrics for Friday night. However, so far I've just been getting up kind of late and doing a lot of reading and generally time has just been flying by. I did go cycling by the Han with Stephanie last night, which was fun and looked beautiful. The Han River at night always reminds you what a nice city we actually live in. I'm having dinner with Ji and her parents tonight. They're in the country for a family wedding and the fact that I 'can't' go has left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. However, I do understand it to an extent and will just have to pretend I don't mind, which I seem to be doing a lot of recently.

This weekend, Korea will host it's first F1 Grand Prix. It has always been an ambition of mine to go see one (if that can be called an ambition) and this seems like as good an opportunity as I'll get for a while. There's some facebook group that I, apparently, have a free ticket through but I remain skeptical. It looks as though there's a bus going down on Sunday morning and back after the race so that'd be perfect. The 'free tickets' are only for foreigners (controversial) so I'd just go 50-50 with Ji if that were the case. There are a few people who seem interested in going but I'm not sure how many of those are 100%. Anyway, if you're thinking of going and you want to book a place on a bus from Seoul to Yeongam (site of the Grand Prix) and back on Sunday, let me know and I'll give you the relevant email address. That's me over and out for today.

A Sigh of Relief

Well, today marks the end of one of our 'sessions' at work and this particular session has been a frickin' tough one, I can tell you. I taught 61 hours overtime and that doesn't include the extra thought, planning, rethinking, re-planning, marking and reporting that involves! Next block, I won't be teaching Brand English so that means I'll no longer need to be getting up at crazy o' clock in the morning and still be teaching at stupid o' clock at night. In fact, I'll be going from a very tough schedule to a pretty lax one. Very much looking forward to that. All work and no play makes Brian a dull boy and all that. The timing is perfect because I restarted my MA studies last week (although I haven't done much so far) so I need to start devoting a couple of hours a day to that soon.

I'm thinking of doing my dissertation on education for democratic citizenship in International Schools and the lessons that can be learned for national contexts. That, no doubt, sounds very boring but I think it'll be fascinating and, practically speaking, will help me learn more about and network with International Schools as I go on a serious job-hunt for next year. The actual submission date for the dissertation isn't actually until 31st August, 2011, but I have my first assignment for it due on October 31st coming. I'm officially set on trying my best to get a first overall and dropping this, "oh, I don't really mind either way" carry on. The work starts next week, as I don't have any classes to teach really.

More confusion with our 'band that may never be' today. Apparently, Cheon has some dinner he has to attend, so Jeff canceled our rehearsal. Unfortunately, neither Jim nor I got wind of this, and only found out by chance this morning. Nevertheless, the three of us are going to meet up tonight to go over new songs as much as we can without a bassist. On top of that, a few of the dates I was hoping to play next month are already taken (by Jeff's other bands) so, all in all, it might be getting to the point where we have to start looking elsewhere. I can't explain how much I'm missing the buzz of performing, the routine involved, the bonding (that's bondING!), the craic, the seeing people you don't see as often as you'd like, the music, the dancing around like an eejit, the meeting new people, etc., etc., etc.... It seems like I've been saying we'll be up and running 'soon' for an absolute eternity. If 'soon' isn't November, it might be time to seriously consider our other options. Poor old Jim and I are chomping at the bit!

Tomorrow, we're heading to Ulsan for a bit of a boys night out and the crucial encounter between Ulsan Hyundai and FC Seoul on Sunday afternoon. I just this second found out that Stephen might not be going, to keep the recent trend of 'people-saying-they're-going-to-do-something-but-not-doing-it-in-the-end' going on strong. I know I'm guilty of it myself from time to time but keeping the lines of communication open would be nice. Frustrating. Either way, I'm going to head down. Big game for us and will be nice to get out of Seoul and do something completely different for the weekend. Being off next week, I'll be able to stay out on Sunday night guilt-free and watch the Merseyside Derby. I should go sort out my crappy fantasy football team for the weekend...

I was chatting to my Dad yesterday to wish him luck for a job interview he had (I still don't know how it actually went). He's hoping to become a driving instructor, and we all think he'd be really good at it. Amazingly, he has been in his current job (as a tour bus driver) for 13 years now... He reckons he might have met as many as 10,000 people in that time, all over the British Isles. At his age, no-one wants him to be away from home, trekking all over the place, doing crazy hours, taking flak from passengers anytime anything (even beyond his control) goes wrong. I really, really hope he gets the job. He's a great driver, intelligent, good with people, and a calming influence. Cross your fingers or pray to whatever or whoever or wherever it is you believe in people, will you? I can't wait to get back home in December and catch up with my old Daddy-o and Mammy-o. Not for too long though, of course...

Big old Friday feeling in my guts today. Started the day with coffee with my Brand English class to mark the end of the session, did a bit of marking, met up with two of my favourite students for another coffee, finished my marking, had a tough but fun language exchange with the ever-wonderful Na Ra, and now I'm here sharing it all with you and enjoying it all over again! I think there may well be a few drinks tonight at rehearsal and a few more over the course of the weekend. You can't beat the little tingly excited feeling you get thinking about what it might hold in store for you. I don't get it as much as I used to these days. No doubt there will come a time when I can't even remember the sensation, but hopefully there's life in this old dog yet. Have a good one, wherever you are, and I'll catch you up on Monday.

Fastest Week Everrrr

Wow the days are just flying by these days, it's crazy. I honestly feel as though I just posted something on here yesterday or the day before but I guess it has been a week or so. Not that anyone will have been too distraught, I'm sure! My most time-consuming class finished on Monday night past and I completed all the marking and so on for it today, so things will be much more relaxed for me for the next week-and-a-half or so. Ji is always reminding me how I hate being idle (when I whine about being too busy), but I looooooove having a bit of free time after a busy period. Cycling about in the nice autumn weather, catching up with friends and emails, actually cleaning my room and sorting out my desk at work so I might actually be able to find things when I'm looking for them! The small pleasures...

The reason it has been so busy is that when I'm not busy working, I'm busy playing! Last Friday night we took our homeroom students out for a couple of drinks to mark the end of our session teaching them. I have to say, I was VERY uncomfortable with the idea of taking them out to a bar. The image of one foreign guy in his late-twenties (eugh...) walking in with fourteen female students in their early twenties (or even one of them in her late teens!) just didn't sit well with me. In the end, I decided it would be counter-productive for me to be the only teacher not to take my class out. And, in fairness, it was a pretty civilized night with my lovely homeroom that ended at a sensible time and never got out of hand or uncomfortable in any way. Unlike one or two of the other teachers that stayed out until the wee hours.... Playing with fire... I'll miss that class. I got them all little thank-you cards with notes about their progress and they wrote me a nice little letter full of compliments. A damn sight different to teaching back in England...

We had an epic, monster, triumph of a band practice for four hours on Saturday. In fact, it was a big day all round for us on the band front. Songs are coming together, sounding great, gig dates are being discussed, new members are starting to understand us and each other, and we got a lot out of Cheon and how he sees things over drinks later that night. The fact that Jeff is in about a million other bands is still going to be a problem (we had to go back on plans for a gig penciled in for Friday night because he's already playing twice), but at least Jim and I can see the end (or beginning) in sight. We even have a couple of possible band names in mind. We had 75% agreement on 'For Our Souls' last Saturday, but Jeff was not impressed, to say the least. A blessing in disguise I'm beginning to think.

Football has also been taking up a fair bit of my time. I got up in the wee hours last Friday and again on Tuesday to watch Ireland's European Championship qualifiers at home to Russia (3-2 defeat) and away at Slovakia (1-1). We aren't looking great and will probably now have to set our sights on making the play-off (second place in our group) but at least we're still in it. I still always love the buzz of watching the games live, sometimes even on RTE (Irish TV), even though I'm living so far away. Someday I might even be able to do the same with Derry City FC, who got their title charge back on track last Saturday with a 3-0 home win against old rivals Shelbourne.

We were also at Sangam World Cup Stadium twice in the past week. First for FC Seoul's brilliant, battling 3-2 victory over Gyeongnam FC (highlights here) and again on Tuesday night for the international friendly match between South Korea and Japan, if such a fixture can ever be considered 'friendly'. It was a fairly scrappy 0-0 draw but an amazing atmosphere and the biggest crowd I've seen in my many visits there; I'd guess maybe 65,000. Incredibly, a lot of the seats in our zone appeared to have been sold twice, causing a lot of confusion and aggro, as you'd expect. I also had some dude in front of me telling me to "sssshhhh!" a couple of times, which is fairly incredible when you consider the amount of noise throughout the game. I believe my crime was reading through the squad list with Jimbo, trying to put names to the players on show who we didn't know. We did get a bit of pleasure from shushing him anytime he made a noise, which was usually just booing a Japanese corner-kick or something equally constructive. As Jim noted at the time, I guess he was just a grumpy old git. Being singled out for being foreign (let's face it) does get a bit annoying. Seeing some drunk guy have his head stomped on three times by another old drunk guy last night, and the ignoring/avoiding by passers-by which then ensued (aside from Ji, who called an ambulance, as the guy was flat out and not moving) are all adding to my excitement at getting home for a couple of weeks at Christmas and away from it all. Just for a bit.

Yet again, another day of life has slipped away (not to sound glum or anything...) and it's time to go meet Ji in Suyu for dinner. I don't have a terribly busy day tomorrow so I'll try to catch up on the rest of the week and some other things. Hope everyone's week has been going well. Get your weekly K-League update from "The Outside View" here and I'll chat to you all tomorrow, in the form of a blog...

EAL warmers, games, and activities (part two).

A lot of the ideas I wrote in the last post on this topic were class activities, rather than warmers, which was the request that originally encouraged me to write in the first place. So, the following activities are intended to act as warmers to get the students thinking, perhaps at the beginning of class, or in the morning, etc. A lot of them DON'T have clear educational outcomes but I have found that they can get people thinking and work particularly well with children and teenagers.

Zip Zap Boing
Ok, this isn't going to be easy to explain... Firstly you need to get your students into a small circle in the middle of the room. I don't recommend more than 12/14 students in one circle so you may have to divide the class if it's bigger than that. You need to let them know what a 'zip' is, what a 'zap' is and what a 'boing' is. Put your hand into the shape of a gun and point to the person to your RIGHT and clearly say, 'zip!' The student should do the same to the person to their right and so on until the 'zip' goes around the circle and comes back to you. Then you need to explain a 'zap'. Clearly point your 'gun' at a student ACROSS the circle and say, 'zap!' That student must then 'zip' the student to their right and so the game continues. You need to make it clear that you cannot 'zap' a 'zap' - only 'zip' to your right. Finally, you need to explain a 'boing'. Send a 'zip' around the circle and when it comes back to you, face the person who 'zipped' you and shout 'boing' while doing a star-jump. That student should then send the 'zip' in the opposite direction. You need to make it clear that you cannot 'boing' a 'boing'. You can either 'zip' it or 'zap' it. Have a couple of practice rounds to get the students used to the rules but the best way to learn it is simply by doing it. Students are 'out' if they make a mistake or hesitate. The aim of the game is to have it as fast as possible and ensure that the students' movements are big. The best way to do this is to lead by example. The last two remaining students are the winners.

Splat Bang
This warmer is similar to Zip, Zap, Boing in that the aim is to get the students going both mentally and physically. At first, you should be 'it' but after the students understand the activity, one of them can do it and you can simply adjudicate. Again, arrange the students into a circle in the middle of the room. Whoever is 'it' should stand in the middle of the room, and put their hand into the shape of a gun. That person will choose a pupil at random, point the gun, and shout "splat!". The student who is pointed at should duck (to avoid the 'splat') whilst the two students either side point their guns and shout 'bang!' at each other. The student who was slowest to 'shoot' the other student is out. You can also be out if you are 'splatted' but fail to duck, or make another mistake. Again, the two students remaining at the end of the game are the winners. This game tends to get better the more you do it, as students get smarter about how they can catch other students out. If you want to decide a winner between the final two, you can have them stand back to back and give them a count. With each count they should take a step apart (back-to-back) until the moment you choose to shout 'splat!', at which point they try to outdraw each other.

Numbers Game
I can't think of a better name for this one... Very simply, have the students walk around the class at a brisk (but safe) pace, constantly changing direction and avoiding contact with each other. Tell them that when you shout 'one!' they should touch the ground (and then continue walking). Try this out a couple of times until you're sure that they understand the basic premise of the activity. Then introduce other numbers (in order, up to five), and corresponding actions. It can be a good idea to review some things you have been doing in class (verbs, body parts, etc.). Some things I usually say are, 'do a star jump', 'change direction', 'shout a color', 'twirl around', etc. I don't usually turn this into a competition but, if you wanted, you could eliminate pupils who make a mistake. The main aim is that the students keep moving around and that the numbers you call out are suitably random and muddled out to get them focused and concentrating before the start of the lesson proper.

That's it for today but there's plenty more where that came from. Please share any ideas you have or give me feedback on the suggestions I have already made.

Bit of a Catch Up

My days have been pretty full recently so I have been neglecting my wee blog, and never did get around to putting up the aforementioned EAL activities follow-up post. I will, perhaps after I get over my recent teaching slump and don't feel like such a hypocrite suggesting approaches to others. Let's get everyone up to date on the 'important' things in life; work, football, music, reading and the old social life.

My ex-girlfriend, Annie, was visiting Korea last weekend. It was the first time I had seen her since we broke up in Buenos Aires in 2008 so there was obviously some trepidation involved. Added to that was the fact that I'm now seeing someone else, and this visit was probably something she'd rather hadn't been happening. All the same, Annie was the same old Annie and it was fun having someone back amongst us who was a big part of our big crazy first year in Korea. Back then, everything was new, we went out far more than we do now, we did things we simply couldn't even consider these days (well, maybe Stephen still has it in him). It was a crazy weekend by recent standards in that we went out on both Friday and Saturday nights as well as having an FC Seoul game to go to on Sunday (with accompanying beers and galbi, of course). I was glad to find that Annie is doing well, that she's happy and that she had a good visit. I'm also glad that everyone I knew back in 2007 has moved on from the people we were back then. Otherwise, we might look like a certain bar-owner in Itaewon by now...

Work has been tough enough of late and, as I mentioned, I've had a few lessons recently that weren't exactly my best. In this job, it's important to get the balance right between keeping the lessons creative and interesting whilst covering the material that is necessary to allow the students to improve and be prepared for their TOEIC Speaking test. That involves constantly coming up with new ideas and approaches to covering, quite often, fairly dry topics. This week, I just haven't had things come together the way I'd like, although I may just be being too self-critical. I don't have night classes on Wednesday so I'm looking forward to a good full night of sleep so I can come at it from a new angle tomorrow. Amazingly, I only have three more classes with my DDE2 girls. Nearly there...

And now to the wonderful world of football... The new 'The Outside View' podcast is up and available here for an overview of the past weekend's K-League action. There was a great crowd in attendance for FC Seoul's 2-0 victory over Incheon United last Sunday. It was a line-up that I have been espousing of late (including all of Lee Seung Ryeol, Choi Tae Wook, Ha Dae Sung, Dejan and Djeparov) and followed a pattern we're becoming accustomed to seeing at home. Lee and Djeparov scored the goals (check out the Djeparov celebration - another reason I'd like to see him score more often) so we remain four points behind Jeju United with a game in hand. This weekend's home encounter against third-placed Gyeongnam is a must-win fixture if we hope to secure the top spot that puts us straight into the play-off finals (with the second leg being played at home). Derry City slipped up away against Wexford Youths to put their promotion hopes into further doubt, whilst Man Utd continue to stumble as Chelsea march forth. My hopes are all pinned on FC Seoul for football glory this season. Come on boys! I'm not forgetting Ireland. It'll be a late Friday night for me coming up with a home tie against Russia and then an away match against Slovakia next Tuesday. Hopefully I can find good online streams for both.

The band is still stuttering along whilst getting there slowly but surely. We had a bit of a communication breakdown with Cheon the Saturday before last, as three of us turned up for rehearsal but he hadn't heard anything about it, apparently. We got some work done but there's only so much you can do at 75% capacity (with me singing bass-lines - not recommended...). We have a monster four-hour session booked in for Saturday and we're hoping that'll put us in a position to play a low-key set at Woodstock (Itaewon) the following Friday night. I hope it comes together because some of the songs we're covering should go down really well, I think.

I started the dissertation section of my MA earlier this week so I won't have much time for 'fun reading' anymore. In saying that, I've been reading 'Hard Times' by Charles Dickens and, although it's not in the same league as 'David Copperfield' I've been enjoying it and finding it interesting how it crosses over with some of the big debates in education. The MA is going to be tough this year, but I'm looking forward to the challenge. Also, if I'm being honest, I now really want to go all out for the 'first'. I'm in a good position and I'd be left kicking myself if I let it slip at this stage. Still not 100% sure what topic I'll write about but I have a few decent ideas in mind...

Oh! You'll be glad to hear that THIS IS THE LAST I'LL EVER MENTION OF 'THE KNEE' ON THIS BLOG!!! Well, I hope so anyhow. I saw the doctor yesterday who gave me the all-clear. One more physio session tomorrow and then I just need to build the leg back up at the gym. There'll be some pain for a few months but, crucially, I won't need surgery. I'm glad that episode is over. Please let me not be speaking too soon! Now I'm looking forward to a few fun activities over the next few weeks; Seoul V Gyeongnam this weekend, boys trip away for the Ulsan match the week after, possibly a Placebo gig on Thursday 21st before the Korean Grand Prix that weekend (assuming the circuit is passed safe before then). I'll get the other EAL ideas up during the rest of the week and reply to comments when I have some spare time. Remainder of the day = General English (second of the day), Writing Lab, Language Exchange, class preparation for tomorrow, and a well-deserved early night.

PS

CATHERINE MC GUINNESS!!!