Ch ch ch ch Changes

It has been more than a month since my last post and what a month it has been. Jisan was one of the craziest weekends of my life (who knew that Suede were still so good?) and the bunch of us that went down did a lot of drinking, laughing, and shouting of random obscenities. What could be better? The week that followed was a lot of packing and tying up of loose ends. It was horrible leaving Korea. I loved it there and I have left a lot behind. I want to sit down and write about it properly someday, but I can say for sure that it'll be a long time before I'm 'over' Korea. Thankfully, I'm not too far away...

From Korea it was Barcelona for a major bout of reunions. Charlene and her boyfriend, Stephen, surprised me by showing up on the Friday night and we had a great few days with Rachel, who kindly put us up at her place! There was a bit of a Seoul reunion too, with Kevin, Jo, Jim, and Rhiannon all in town. Way too much to write now at the end of a long day, but it was epic. Barcelona is a must if you're looking for a quirky, laid-back and affordable European city to kill a bit of time in.

Home was great but there just wasn't enough time to fit everything in. Lisa was an angel helping me out with visa issues and the like in Dublin before I surprised Mum and Dad with an unannounced visit that I think my Ma might still be recovering from! Roisin's wedding in Sligo was absolutely brilliant. Definitely made me less cynical about the whole event and I got to catch up with a few old faces, most notably Kirsta who is headed back to Korea for a killer job this year herself. Roisin is one of those special people you meet once in a while and, on the evidence of that weekend, she likes to surround herself with more of the same. The only down side was that Annie didn't make it over. She was in Africa at some meeting. Come on Winterface, sort it out!

Other highlights from home were the long drives around Inishowen, beers with old friends, and an epic late-night jam with the one and only Sean Furey. You can't beat being home. Soon enough though, it was time to hit the road again and pack the bags for China. I haven't been here for two weeks yet but I simply don't know where to start in telling you all about the place, the job, the people, the quirks, the stories... Considering the fact that I've been up since 6am, it's 9:35pm now, and I have it all to do again tomorrow, perhaps it'd be better to leave it for another day. I just wanted to check in, say hi, and get the old blog back in action.

How The Mighty Fall

In November 1910, people were on the streets of London protesting for Universal Suffrage, whilst Sun Ya-Sen was planning an uprising that would eventually lead to the Chinese Revolution in 1911. The United Kingdom was still one of the most powerful and influential countries in the world, whereas China were being over-powered and out-maneuvered by their Japanese neighbours. 100-years-on, yesterday, I listened to British Prime Minister, David Cameron, delivering a speech to students at the University of Peking, Beijing. As I listened, I felt as though I was witnessing a historic landmark in both countries' recent histories.

Prior to this speech, speculation was rife among political commentators regarding just how far Cameron would go in highlighting human rights issues in China, considering how his immense trade delegation were aware of how much more Britain needs China than the other way round in today's global economic climate. At the very beginning of the speech he talked of the freedom he experienced during his years as a student in Oxford (people who go to 'elite' universities never seem to pass up an opportunity to mention it), and expressed his hope that they, as students at the University of Peking, were doing the same now. At that point, I feared that this was his weak, watered-down allusion to human rights abuses and failures in China. I was wrong.

I'm not sure how things will go for Cameron in the medium to long-term, but I have to say that I am moderately impressed by him thus far. Whilst being careful not to openly offend his hosts, he did go as far as saying that the UK has, "deeply-held concerns" and cautioned that, "the best guarantor of prosperity and stability is for economic and political progress to go in step together." Reports suggest that he has also raised the imprisonment of Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo. He did all this while acknowledging Britains' drawbacks in a tactful way that appears to be based on an appreciation of mutual respect and differences. It could be argued that it's all fine and well treating others in this way now that you are the weak party, but I'm happy that he raised key issues rather than putting economic factors ahead of human rights abuses without going there and forcing 'western values' down their throats. There may be arguments that he could have gone further in one direction or the other. For my part, I was impressed. It seems that people have been talking about how China "would be the global superpower" for years now. All of a sudden, this scenario seems to have taken a big step closer to realisation in a relatively short space of time. Once upon a time the British Prime Minister ruled over a vast empire where the sun never set. Now a British PM is having to face the fact that he has to stay on the right side of a country he has great political differences with. Take note, USA.

Speaking of the USA, I notice that the American Humanist Association are going on a big publicity drive to educate Americans about what humanism is, and encourage them to question their own religious beliefs. As a non-believer in god, I would consider humanism to represent my views better than any religion I have come across in life so far. In simple terms, humanists aim for an open and secular society based on respect for Universal Human Rights and global-interconnectedness. If you're interested, the British Humanist Association have a very accessible and informative website. Whilst I'm glad to see the debate being opened up, I was a bit disappointed with some of the biblical quotes they chose to compare with quotes about humanism. For example, "A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.” I Timothy 2 (New International Version) Humanism: “The rights of men and women should be equal and sacred—marriage should be a perfect partnership.” Robert G. Ingersoll, in a letter dated April 13, 1878." I get the feeling that examples like this are very polarising, and won't attract the attention of moderates who are probably the main target of this campaign. Still, I'm sure the advertising experts working on this have a better grasp of the issues than I do.

Back in the real world, I had better get some study done so that I can do a good chunk of preparation before my classes beginning at 6:40pm. I have been a bit of a "negative Nancy" (McGuinness, 2010) this week, so I need to grab the bull by the horns and make sure my classes are well-prepared but that I don't expect the sun, moon and stars. Unbelievably, it's already Thursday so only a couple more days until our next gig at Club FF, in Hongdae. We had a really good facebook response and turnout for our RMT gig last week. However, the listed attendees for the FF gig are currently: yours truly; Catherine (who I think actually isn't coming); Eddie (The FF owner), and Anna (who lives in Australia). No drummer, no bassist, no girlfriend? You have to laugh. There are quite a few 'maybes' but FF always has a good crowd of it's own so I'm not worrying. We'll be playing after The Koxx (wonderfully-named and energetic Korean band) and Angry Bear (check them out on myspace - lovely stuff), so there should be a good crowd and atmosphere. I'm looking forward to belting out ten cracking rock songs and, of course, taking full advantage of the 11-12 free 'cocktail' hour. Come along! We're playing at Woodstock the following weekend and I'm setting up December and January dates as we speak so don't think the pestering is going to stop anytime soon. Hope the day is treating you all well.