Silverware!

Well it's a momentous night because, in all the time we've been supporting FC Seoul here, they have finally got their hands on some actual silverware! Ok, it might just be the Posco Cup (the third tier competition here, equivalent to the League Cup in England) but beggars can't be choosers. It was a 3-0 victory away to reigning league-Champions Jeonbuk Motors who recently inflicted a 1-0 defeat on us in the league. Having survived some sustained pressure at the beginning of the game, FC Seoul began to assert themselves and new signing, Djeparov, should have put them ahead having been put through one-on-one with the goalkeeper. Unfortunately he choked. That guy could really be doing with a goal to help him settle and become the key player I believe he has the ability to become for us. Goals from Dejan (which we missed as the TV directors were still showing a replay of Djeparov's miss), Jung Jo Gook (going with the 'baby' celebrations again) and substitute Lee Seung Ryeol sealed a famous victory for the Sangam-based club. Let's hope they can push on from here and seal the championship. I'll be going down to Suwon on Saturday night for a huge derby match with our traditional rivals, who have been showing improved form of late, since their change in management.

I was intending to shell out the stg2,100 for the final installment of my MA today but, annoyingly, my Irish debit card wouldn't work for me so I'll have to do it tomorrow. It's a huge amount of money to pay out at once and I've certainly never spent that much at once before. In saying that, it's nice to have got to this stage of my education without incurring any debt, so I know it's a lot less than some others have to pay in the long run. September is going to be a painful month for me financially but I'll start recovering from October onwards only for Christmas to clean out my pockets again. Ah the continuous cycle of earning and spending only to necessitate the need to earn further for future spending - why do we bother!? No, I know the MA is, in a way, an investment and I hope it'll pay off in the long-term. As for Christmas, I just (finally) uploaded my pictures of Christmas 2009 to facebook and it's something you can't really put a price on.

I was a PE teacher for the day yesterday at APIS. As pointed out by my sole commenter (mainly), it was a welcome change from the books. The kids at that school are predominantly ethnic Koreans but all are native English speakers. They are well-behaved and enthusiastic, in the main, but it's not always easy to motivate them all to participate in games. I think PE teachers are all too easily admonished by their peers but it's a skill I'd love to know more about. No doubt, encouraging children and teenagers to be more active and spotting talent where it exists are worthy activities. I always enjoy the atmosphere of the International School and it further whets my appetite. Hopefully 2011 will be the year...

Band practice just didn't happen this week because we all had other things going on. Still, Jim and I were just chatting tonight that we still might be able to practice briefly on Saturday and try a short gig later that night. I was eager to play Friday so that a few of those leaving soon might be able to hear us first, but we haven't played together in over a month so I guess it's too great a risk. I'm really keen to get things going again and build up some momentum so that we can be playing full gigs by ourselves by October. Let's hope we can get everyone on side to do just that.

Rob and I said our goodbyes tonight so I won't be seeing him again until Christmas. Jess, Kev and Jo all follow suit in the coming days so it's definitely the start of something new for us here in Seoul. It's pretty late here so I'm going to head to bed and read a few more chapters of David Copperfield now. I should have time to blog again tomorrow and I think it's time to write about one of those other topics I mentioned that I have been avoiding so far. I'm not as worried about ruffling feathers as I was when I started this carry on.

It's just rock n' roll..

Be warned: I'm still a bit grumpy and off-colour BUT I had a brief respite when my new band (as yet unnamed - suggestions still welcome!) played not just our first but our first AND SECOND gigs last Friday night. We rehearsed in Hongdae (in a really psychedelic, chilled out rehearsal space) then decided over chicken and beer that we were ready for our first show. Aren't all the best decisions made over chicken and beer? A few texts later and we were playing our first ever gig at Club FF. It was an almost entirely Korean crowd, which isn't the norm for me here in Korea strangely enough. Nonetheless we had them up and dancing within a couple of songs. I even managed to wiggle about a bit in spite of my splint. Onstage chemistry seemed good. The guys are brilliant musicians. They really are.

Drunk on the atmosphere, we decided to taxi ourselves over to Itaewon and play a second impromptu show at Woodstock in Itaewon. A few of our friends were there (only my girlfriend made it over to FF given the short notice - she wouldn't have missed it) and there was a decent crowd even though it was very late on a Friday night. Given that we finished our set just before 4am, I can't say with any certainty how great/otherwise we were. Still, it was fun and we got plenty of good feedback. It all augurs well for the future. Jim flew back to England the very next day. What a trooper. Come back soon buddy. I had missed it so much. There is no better feeling. Ok, well, maybe I wouldn't go that far...

We headed out again on Saturday night and it was fun. Spent most of Sunday chilling out with Ji. Back into the routine of teaching and so on since then. My form hasn't been good but I won't bore you with that (again). Off to watch FC Seoul in their big Posco Cup semi-final against arch-rivals Suwon Bluewings tonight with a few friends. Good win away last weekend against Gwangju Sangmu. Ha Dae Sung scored a scorcher (his sixth of the season) and it was good to see Jung Jo Gook add a quality second. Check out the highlights here. Couple of key players returning to fitness (including Kim Chi Woo, who I'm a big fan of) so it'd be great to get into a final and push on from there.

Back to the hospital again tomorrow. Say a prayer, cross your fingers, sacrifice a cow, do whatever you think might result in me getting unexpectedly good news. There's a video from one of our shows so I promise to get that up soon with some pictures (the picture above is from an old gig with U R Seoul). I'll write more when I'm less likely to sound like a self-obsessed bore. Perish the thought! I hope you're all well.