Chuseok, Tennis and Birthday Celebrations

Normally, my silence can be taken as a signal that I'm in a mood and not in the form to bother writing what I'm up to and what's going on. In this instance, it's simply because I've had better things to do than update the old blog. It's nearly a week since I sat right here, looking out at an insane thunder and lightning storm and rambled on about whatever I was rambling on about.

Last Wednesday was Chuseok (Korean thanksgiving) here. I was honored to be invited round to Ji's grandmothers' house for Chuseok lunch with her and her family. It was a big thing to be invited into someones home on one of the most important family occasions of the year. We brought over a bit of a gift and, in return, I was stuffed with more food than I could comfortably eat. It was a case of not wanting to seem as though I didn't like the food so eating as much as I could BUT constantly having my plate refilled as soon as I started making any kind of impact on it. I can think of worse problems. After lunch, Ji and I took the subway to Ansan to visit her other grandmother in hospital. This woman is 90-years-old but still as bright as a button. It was the first time I had met her and she didn't know Ji was bringing company, so she got a pretty big shock. A lot of people here talk about Korean families having a resistance to foreign partners, but Ji's grandmothers (80 and 90 years old) could not seem to care less. They are both unbelievably friendly to me - the elder grandmother barely let go of my hand the whole time we were there. It seems she's just glad Ji has a boyfriend - she was worried that she was too short to find one! Funny stuff.

It was a bit tough for Ji seeing a change in her grandmother and hospitals are always fairly grim places. The woman in the next bed has Alzheimer's and her wheelchair was actually tied to her bed to keep her there. Looking around and seeing what is probably in store for most of us in the future, well, it's downright depressing in a way. I suppose it's just a reminder that the things that most of us worry about in our everyday lives aren't worth much in a place like that. When you look at someone like her, 90-years-old, a single mother since losing her husband in the early 1950s, living in such a changed society that she wonders how Ji and I even met, bright and at peace at this stage of her life, it's hard not to feel a little strengthened.

We had an unplanned and unexpected late night on Wednesday night so didn't get up to much on Thursday. By pure accident, Thomas stumbled upon the Hansol Korean Open Women's Tennis tournament in Olympic Park, so a few of us went to watch the quarter-final stages on Friday and again for the final on Sunday. Both were beautiful sunny days and, although the players on show weren't the very best in the world, we saw a lot of great tennis. I finally got some sun, too, although that has only led to my students asking me what's wrong with my face today, was I drinking soju, etc., etc...

It's Ji's birthday today so on Saturday we organised a bit of a surprise birthday dinner for her at Los Amigos (Mexican restaurant) in Itaewon. The food was great, the company was great and, most importantly, she had a great time. We had tennis to go to the next day so we headed home fairly early. Somehow, we still managed to get fairly well-on though!

Ok, I feel as though I have gotten up to date on the past week or so. I'm hoping to get back regularly blogging this week. Lot's to talk about: the new Labour leader in the UK, renewed threats from Irish nationalists, my two-cents on 'David Copperfield', and of course, all that's new and ongoing with FC Seoul, Derry City FC and the EPL. Hope the start of your week has been as painless as mine (so far...).

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....

It's not that I can't work it, it just doesn't work!

Oh, technology has never been a friend of mine, I'm not going to lie. I'm the kind of person who gets an iPod when they're old news (got my first one in July - and didn't buy it to myself, of course), didn't have a mobile until I was 19 (a fair while after everyone else, a hand-down) and prefers to do things the way I know how to do them, rather than taking the small step of learning how to use something that could probably save me a fair bit of time. We all take the piss out of my Dad for refusing to embrace anything that has it's origins beyond the 90's, but I know I'm going to be the same. In saying that, technology is NOT all it's cracked up to be. Tom Hodgkinson in How to be Free, uses the example of the much-heralded dishwasher. Oh what a godsend! No more horrible washing dishes by hand! Instead, damaged dishes, cleaning the washer, buying detergent, less space in the kitchen, another thing to buy, another thing that can/will break down PLUS the fact that it doesn't clean the really horrible pots and pans anyhow.

His thoughts came back to me earlier, as I battled, unsuccessfully, with the projector in three of the classrooms in the language center here on the second floor (I live on the sixth, classes on the second, faculty office on the first. Confusing, I know...). I had put together a lovely (I hope) lesson based around thanksgiving, with Chuseok next week in mind. I prepared the TV show I'd need (a once-in-a-blue moon event in my classes), picked out the vocabulary to cover, made an activity to do so, wrote up some comprehension questions and an activity to identify the speaker in a selection of quotes. I selected some discussion topics that I could get the students to expand upon if time allowed. Easy! All I had to do was check that I could get the episode I needed from my laptop onto the projector with sound. What could go wrong? I've used it so many times before, it was just a matter of being sure (to be sure). Right? Wrong. An hour and a half I spent plugging in sockets, untangling wires, trying different rooms, different laptops, doing things in a different order before I swallowed my pride and asked for help. Unfortunately, (or, secretly, I was glad as I could deflect the blame onto someone else) she (one of the girls from the office) couldn't work it out either. I'm sure we'll find a way round it before I need it (7.30am tomorrow morning), but my war with technology rages on regardless.

Other than that, it has been a nice, productive day (so far). Eight hours of sleep last night. What a luxury! With enough sleep I'm a slightly moody but manageable person; without sleep I can be a negative, self-immersed, grumpy little shit. Aside from getting my lessons prepped for tomorrow (but not yet for tonight, as is my logic), I made it over to the gym and did a bit of cycling to start building my leg muscles up again, as advised. So far, no pain, although I'm sure that won't be the case in the morning. The gym here is a funny experience. One of the perks of the job is free use of the Uni gym abut 2 minutes around the corner. The strange part is that it consists almost entirely of females. Hmm.

We might even be finally sorting out some rehearsal time with the band for next Monday. It has been so frustrating not being able to get it off the ground, but maybe this, our latest new dawn, will create some momentum. With John coming this weekend, I've been thinking a lot about how much fun the U R Seoul days were. I even searched for us on youtube and found this old video that I didn't even know existed. Having a band to look forward to on the weekends, you just can't beat it. Cross your fingers for me (and Jim, equally eager to get back on the road again). The quality isn't good, and that's not our regular drummer, but it brings the memories back...



There were other things I had intended to write about today but time waits for no man and these lessons aren't going to create themselves. Thank you for your recent comments be they public, private, online, or in person. Keep letting me know what you think, what you like, what you don't like, etc. If you have a few spare moments today I recommend that you check out Matt's blog because he has been dealing with facebook updates, something I often chuckle about myself. I'm not expecting to be too busy tomorrow so I'll tie up those loose ends I mentioned before the weekend. I hope you're all doing well, wherever you are.