I'm in shitty form these days so there's no point blogging with nothing positive to say. However, I just remembered that I used to blog on Bebo (remember that?) absolutely years ago. So, what I'm going to do is post a few of my early entries here and let you compare the tone of 23-year-old Brian and 28-year-old Brian. How did that happen...? Make of it what you will. It starts off during my PGCE, and the last post is from my early days in Korea, many moons ago. Don't I sound happy?
Drink free zone4/29/06Well, not had a drink for THREE WEEKS. That may not sound like much to you but, for those of you who know me best, it's a long time!! Must say it's bloody good too, believe it or not. I still go out, I still do the whole socialising thing BUT when I wake up in the morning there is the lack of that strange throbbing sensation (keep the thoughts clean...) in the head that used to mysteriously affect me following a night on the piss. There tends also to be a bit more cash in the pockets as, surprisingly, we non-drinkers (ah the irony) tend to not drink Coca-Cola at the same frequency as beer (or vodka, sambuca, whiskey, tequila, all of the above...). Seriously speaking I feel amazing. I recommend it. The only major flaw is that people constantly seem to feel that I would like to be reminded that I'm not drinking (alcohol) on nights out. It also seems to put people on edge. BUT interestingly no-one notices I'm not drinking until I tell them so. I'm not famed for being shy and retiring. I think I'm going to keep it up a while longer. It would be nice to just maybe have the odd beer or two on a night out, but I know myself too well. One becomes ten - simple as. Anyways, just thought I'd share my little social experiment with you all. We have Ofsted in school this week and I have my last (hopefully) Uni observation on Thursday so its going to be a busy one. Picked up a good quote from school; "Worry is like riding on a rocking horse. You can do it all day, but it won't get you anywhere!" Thought it was cool. Anyways, do be in touch,
Well I've been here four days now and it feels like I've done a million things already. First off I better say that I love it! My flat is ok, rough n' ready like but does the trick. It's a good size too. The school is really nice and the teaching is far from rocket science, although some of the younger kids are annoying I must say. The other teachers are dead on but as I'm the only foreign teacher I guess the conversation is limited, lol. We all headed out for dinner last Friday night and it was awesome - karaoke bar afterwards too was sweet!! My bosses couldn't really be more helpful if they tried. Met up with Rob that night too and spent a good chunk of the weekend laughing as a result. If he comes to Seoul in March as he is planning then it will be an amazing year.
Found the biggest market area I've ever seen in my life today and bought two pairs of shoes for about 11 stg, lol. Have already earned more than I've spent and that's impressive considering I've been buying one-off essentials like CD players, etc. Could save a fortune here this year and feeling rich for the first time in my life!
Anyway, just to let you all know I'm alive and feeling good. Keep in touch!
Things have settled down nicely here. The teaching is mainly easy to be honest. There aren't many jobs I've done that involve an hour in the morning, a four hour break and then three hours in the eve. But that's my story Mon, Wed and Fri so it's pretty sweet. Plenty of time to read, catch up with people at home, eat, etc. So yeah, the job is sweet.
I get on really well with a girl at work and we hang out quite a bit. Other than that I occasionally frequent the least Irish 'Irish' bar I've ever been to in my life in Itaewon (the English speaking area). Have met some sound people, some right eejits. So much the same as home really on that score.
Last weekend I met some people who live quite close to me and they are a very sound bunch. Few English, Canadian, etc. Get on well with them so head out with them quite a bit and will be spending Xmas, New Years, etc with them. Social side of things is pretty good here. Watching the cash a bit as my first pay doesn't arrive until Jan 5th but after that I'll be laughing hopefully.
Of course some days everyone suffers from the 'Seoul blues' where everything just gets on top of you a little bit but I've only had two days like that so far so I can't complain. Plus it was mainly drink-induced, lol. Being so far from Becca is far from ideal too but we keep in touch as much as we can and I think most of the time we're dealing with it quite well.
Tonight I'm heading out with Eunice (korean work-mate) to Suyu then meeting Alex (London lad), etc. in Itaewon to head out. Nights out here last until 6am at least, as that's when the subways re-open. It's a whole new lesson on 'pacing yourself' for me, lol. Being here for Christmas will be very strange. Of course I'd love to be in Cooley but so many people here are in the same boat so I'm sure we'll make the best of it.
Be sure to keep in touch. Most people I expected to are but some (Furey!!) aren't doing as well. My number is 010 6870 2470 if anyone feels so inclined over the Christmas I'm sure that'd be nice.
Hope you're all well and have a great festive period,
LBH is something I heard pretty early in my time in Korea from a Canadian friend who has long since moved on to bigger and better things. We were talking about the kind of foreigners you sometimes come across working here. Oh, I had no idea how accurate it was then as I do now. LBH? LBH = 'Losers Back Home'. In general, I've been pretty fortunate with the people I have worked with here, particularly in my first year when I was the only foreign teacher at my academy! But, there's no doubt, you see them around. Regularly on their own at Seoul Pub in the wee hours on a Saturday night. Constantly the first to pipe up and share their 'knowledge' of the sun, moon, stars or everything at any given opportunity. The only people who ever say anything negative (to our faces) at gigs, in the mistaken belief that criticizing makes it sound as though they know what they're talking about. All over the message boards on Dave's. Facebook's most vociferous, even though they seem as timid as a mouse when you occasionally meet them in person. Commonly to be seen on the arm of some beautiful Korean girl who, for some reason, can't see how much of an asshole her boyfriend is. Oh, if you live/have lived in Korea, you know who I'm talking about.
The reason I bring it up now is that the only real complaint I ever have about life in Korea is complaining foreigners. I know, the irony isn't lost on me, don't worry. At times, it actually infuriates me. The absolute worst thing is foreigners complaining about the Koreans offering their services but not speaking English well enough for their liking. WE LIVE IN KOREA! THEY SPEAK KOREAN HERE!! Often, the person who says this has lived here for a fair few years, but (like myself) hasn't bothered to learn the local language to the point where they can do all their dealings through it. Another is people complaining about the amount of work they have to do or unfair expectations from their employers. No doubt, some people are royally screwed over here. I can't argue with that. But I have some strong opinions about the qualifications necessary to teach here. If I had a child and found out that his/her teacher had, for example, a 2:2 degree in a subject unrelated to what they teach, well, I wouldn't be happy. Would you? Nor do I buy the TEFL/CELTA argument. Having done my PGCE, TEFL and CELTA, I can tell you that the latter two only really need to be completed, they're not exactly taxing. They don't necessarily improve you as a teacher. A year-long PGCE doesn't even slightly prepare you for the range of scenarios you might have to deal with in the classroom. There's no way a 100-hour (or similar) certificate can claim to do more than serve as a very small first step. For those reasons, I think teachers here should count ourselves very lucky to have been able to get jobs that are, in general, straight-forward, relatively well-paid and fairly secure. That's not me saying that teachers with fewer qualifications can't be good, or that those with more qualifications necessarily are.
Some people here have legitimate gripes, I don't mind them. It's the majority who are basically complaining rather than facing up to their own inadequacies that do, sometimes, really bother me. Please let me NEVER turn into that. Living in Korea has paid for my MA, my trips over the past 4/5 years, given me teaching experiences beyond those I could have had in England, given me the opportunity to sing with great musicians and introduced me to a lot of people I know I'll know for years to come. I could complain, I sometimes do (and will), but we shouldn't. I think it's totally disrespectful to the place we live and the people who live here. Rant over.
Haven't been blogging due to a heavy workload and what I think I can accurately refer to as sleep-deprivation over the past few days. I, perhaps unwisely, got up at 3.30am on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning to watch Ireland labour to a 3-1 win at home to Andorra. Brownie points if you even know where Andorra is. McGeady was better than I have ever seen him for Ireland (which isn't saying much) but the cautious Trapattoni approach can be SO frustrating to watch. Nevertheless, we are top of the group after two games (20% of the campaign already). After we have welcomed Russia and visited Slovakia (their conquerors last week in Moscow) next month, we'll have a much better idea where we stand. I loved my time in Poland last December. How sweet it would be to go back to watch Ireland there in 2012.
Like I said, work is tough these days but I'm enjoying it. I'm probably putting more time into preparing the lessons than I need to but the classes are going really well and, to be honest, I love the satisfaction of creating a lesson from scratch with an end goal in mind and watching it all fall into place the way I wanted. That doesn't always happen, but when it does, it feels good. Some of my students are so earnest and hard-working that they make me want to prepare even more so that I can squeeze everything I can out of them. Sometimes that has resulted in me pushing them too hard, but I guess you have to learn from that. I have the added pressure (in my own mind, at least) of sharing my DDE2 classes with probably the best teacher here. I know I need to be at the races to avoid looking anything other than rubbish in the eyes of the students in comparison to him. Reading back, I see I need to get a bit of balance back into my life too. What would Tom Hodgkinson say!?
On that note, I'm looking forward to tomorrow, Friday, hopefully meeting my friend's girlfriend, dinner with friends at Hollywoods on Saturday, free tickets (I hope) to FC Seoul V Daegu at 7, and whatever happens after that... No band practice this weekend due to unforeseen circumstances but here's one of the songs we're planning on covering at our earliest convenience. Classic...
I'm a 28-year-old teacher from Ireland living in Seoul, South Korea.
I'm planning to blog about my interests in education, politics, football, music as well as life in general...
Drink free zone4/29/06 
Well, not had a drink for THREE WEEKS. That may not sound like much to you but, for those of you who know me best, it's a long time!! Must say it's bloody good too, believe it or not. I still go out, I still do the whole socialising thing BUT when I wake up in the morning there is the lack of that strange throbbing sensation (keep the thoughts clean...) in the head that used to mysteriously affect me following a night on the piss. There tends also to be a bit more cash in the pockets as, surprisingly, we non-drinkers (ah the irony) tend to not drink Coca-Cola at the same frequency as beer (or vodka, sambuca, whiskey, tequila, all of the above...). Seriously speaking I feel amazing. I recommend it. The only major flaw is that people constantly seem to feel that I would like to be reminded that I'm not drinking (alcohol) on nights out. It also seems to put people on edge. BUT interestingly no-one notices I'm not drinking until I tell them so. I'm not famed for being shy and retiring. I think I'm going to keep it up a while longer. It would be nice to just maybe have the odd beer or two on a night out, but I know myself too well. One becomes ten - simple as. Anyways, just thought I'd share my little social experiment with you all. We have Ofsted in school this week and I have my last (hopefully) Uni observation on Thursday so its going to be a busy one. Picked up a good quote from school; "Worry is like riding on a rocking horse. You can do it all day, but it won't get you anywhere!" Thought it was cool. Anyways, do be in touch,
