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.