How Predictable

Poor old South Korea. Having displayed superior skill and tactics tonight against Australia in the Asian Cup in Qatar, they only came away with a 1-1 draw, and were probably lightly lucky to do so. The result will probably result in both teams qualifying for the knock-out stages, but it's these types of performances that really frustrate Korean soccer fans - not that many will be watching until (and if) the Red Devils make it to the latter stages. They are definitely unlucky in that Park Ju Young picked up an injury prior to the tournament, but their tendency to overplay the ball in midfield means that it's unlikely his presence would have altered the outcome of this one. It's not as though he's the greatest finisher anyhow...

It was great to see a good number of K-League players involved, and showing their quality. Ku Ja Cheol is now the tournament's top scorer having nabbed his third. However, it was provider Ji Dong Won (or Don Juan as the commentator kept calling him) who really caught my eye. At only 19, the Chunnam Dragons (Cheongnyang Dragons to the expert on the mic) striker looks assured and confident on the ball, although his finishing could do with some fine-tuning. I was delighted to see Yoo Byeong Soo come on as a sub, as I think we need him at FC Seoul. As it turned out, he was a largely anonymous figure before being replaced by Yoon Bit Garam after ten minutes. That must have hurt...

It would be great for Korean football if they could go on and win this tournament having not done so since 1960! On the evidence of the first two matches, they have a lot of ability and potential, but need to be more ruthless in front of goal. Lee Young Pyo and Cha Du Ri have impressed me so far along with Park Ji Sung, which almost goes without saying. I'd love to see a bit more from Lee Chung Young and we need one of the young strikers to start banging them in. Will it be Ji Dong Won or Son Heung Min who steps up to make his name in mainstream Korea. It doesn't look as though it'll be Yoo Byeong Soo; I'd be surprised if we see him again at all in Qatar.

Not much FC Seoul representation on show, unless you include the MANY players in the team who used to ply their trade with us (most notably Lee Chung Young and Ki Seung Young, the double dragons). I did notice that our goalkeeper, Kim Yong Dae, was sat on the bench. I'm an admirer of Jung Seung Ryeong, but he is definitely prone to the odd howler, as we saw tonight. He's still young and his judgement must be in question (it looks as though he's moving to Suwon, for instance!). If he continues to err, I'm sure Kim can step in and do us proud. It's hard to believe that the best team in the K-League aren't represented among their national team.

Enough football already, I hear you say! Especially K-League/Korean football... Well, a few more applications went out to International Schools in China, Spain, Bahrain and the Lebanon. Bite please, or even nibble. I also got in touch with a number of potential research subjects for my dissertation and am delighted to say that I already have three kind educators on board. Got back into my Korean class today too - really need to take that next step. This website continues to aid, but it's going to take more work on a more consistent basis if I'm ever going to move beyond Level 2. Later in the day we had band practice in Hongdae, and it was sounding good even if I do say so myself. Judging by the facebook page, it looks as though it's going to be a busy night tomorrow at Speakeasy and a real test of our set. I actually really can't wait. I think it's going to be the most fun Dead End Friends gig yet. My intensive classes start on Monday and I'm sure that's going to be a long, tough day. Not going to think of that right now though. Have a great weekend everyone.

Thanks!

Well happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends (yes, they exist) and I hope you're having a good holiday. I felt a bit sorry for my American co-workers who I had some dodgy Korean canteen dinner with a few hours ago. Not what they would be doing back home, I'd imagine. I've been enjoying everyone's 'thankful' status updates on facebook today, possibly because I'm in a bit of a sentimental mood these days. No particular reason. No particular reason not to either. My classes are all going really well and we're coming to the end of term so I don't have long to go before I'll be back home catching up with friends and family. I'm also really enjoying the musical side of things these days. Dead End Friends is going well for us. Our gigs have been pretty tight and we really had the crowd on our side last time out at FF. Our next gig is on Saturday night at Woodstock in Itaewon. It's at midnight so, although it's late, we hope to have a good crowd. We'll be belting out two sets including four covers we haven't played live before. If you're in the area, it'd be great to have you join us. To be honest, it isn't just gigging that's going well. We are rehearsing well and still getting to know each other and gel as a band. At the minute it's all good craic and we're getting on well. How long before the inevitable handbags I wonder...?

My dissertation is coming along quite well. I have to submit a draft literature review on Tuesday so I'll have to spend at least a portion of the weekend being sensible... Somehow I'm managing to work at it at least a little every day. For any of you out there contemplating doing an MA, or with a dissertation looming, I highly recommend Succeeding With Your Master's Dissertation by John Biggam. I'm reading it alongside my other research and it's really keeping me focused and making clear what's important in attempting to get as high a mark as I possibly can. It helps that the reading itself is pretty interesting and that my teaching schedule isn't taking up too much time. The problem is that I'm not spending enough time studying Korean so I'm just stuck in a rut on that front. Those of you engaged in the banging-head-against-a-brick-wall process that is learning Korean might find this interview with an American fluent Korean-speaker interesting. It could even be a bit of an inspiration! I'm hoping so..

I'm heading into Suyu now to meet Tom for bit of grub so I better sign off. Just wanted to write something as I have been falling out of the habit recently. Hope you're all well and I'll try to write again soon.

Tick Tick Tick Tick

Somehow, we only have two days left until our Saturday night show at Rocky Mountain Tavern in Itaewon. We had rehearsal last night, but Cheon (our bassist) didn't make it. He had one of those horrible work dinners that Koreans are often obliged to attend (and get wasted at, whether they like it or not) and just couldn't make it on time. It's hardly ideal, but it happens. I have been known to miss entire rehearsals myself or show up unbelievably late so I certainly can't go casting any stones. The three of us managed to get through quite a lot of material and Cheon tends to know what he's doing anyhow, so it's not a disaster. We have two hours to go over things one more time on Saturday but then it's crunch time. Honestly, I think we're still a week or two away from being 100% ready (if such a state can ever be attained), but we should be tight enough to get by. We needed this date as a deadline to motivate ourselves. We did the same with U R Seoul. Things always seemed to come together. If they don't, we still have to make sure it's a fun night for us and everyone in attendance. I'm a bit nervous and apprehensive, but I really can't wait!

Jim, Darragh and I headed to Shamrock n' Roll to watch as much of FC Seoul's visit to Seongnam as we could before we had to tear ourselves away for band practice. It was a good, strong line-up, which showed that players must have been rested last weekend against Busan with this encounter in mind. Lee Seung Ryeol put us 1-0 early on with a fairly fortuitous but well-worked goal. Unfortunately, the lead didn't last long as Seongnam leveled things before the 20-minute mark. Up step Jeong Jo Gook to stroke home what turned out to be the winner, after excellent link-up play with Choi Tae Wook, who has been sensational for us since his mid-season arrival from Jeonbuk for his second spell with the club (previously from 2000-2003 when we were Anyang LG Cheetahs). Jeong has been stepping up recently and, if we can overcome Daejeon on Sunday at home and clinch top spot, it will be largely down to him and his recent match-winning performances. The match highlights are here (although I'm not sure they're working right now). Huge game on Sunday to book our place in the play-off final on December 1st and 5th. 3pm - Sangam World Cup Stadium.

I have my language-exchange in 5-minutes so no time to chat about the Stoics, Socrates, Seneca and global citizenship, which I was reading about this morning for my MA dissertation. I'll bet you're devastated! I will leave you with my 'fact of the day'. In ancient Greece, small genitals were a plus, being a symbol of manly self-control. Large genitals, on the other hand (!?), were symbolic of weakness and a lack of self-restraint. So, there you go.