St. Paddy's Day and other events of equal social importance

Hey everyone. Right quite a bit has happened since the last blog so I'll do my best to be brief. First item on the agenda: fundraising table quiz. About a month ago, some of the guys from the team decided it would be a good idea to have a table quiz night to raise funds for the team. It was decided that it would be good to have some live music after the quiz and seeing as I had recently requisitioned a guitar, I was asked if I could play a few songs. Not being one to let somebody down I agreed on the condition that I get someone to sing with me. Ten minutes later an email was circulated announcing the quiz at which "Our newest teamate Niall is going to play a few songs". Thankfully I found a singer about a week before the event. Although I didn't win and the sound was terrible in the place, the night went down quite well, apart from two gay Korean guys who wanted to fight the entire team (all 20 of us plus WAGS, friends etc.) because when he asked my friend Eamon for a kiss, well, let's just say that Eamon told him where to go. They then proceded to follow us from place to place for the next hour which was pretty annoying but they eventually left. Idiots.

My cousin Mark was over visiting a couple of weeks ago and it was really great to see him. Being a pretty well travelled individual, I was pretty suprised at his take on Seoul, saying that it is not like anywhere he's ever been. I was quite shocked as I imagined Shanghai or Singapore to be similar but apparently not. Anyways, I did my best to show him around during the first day he got here and that night we went to some pretty cool pubs in Hongdae including one called Oi which is made out to be kind of like the inside of a cave. The next day Loko had our first game which we won 3-2. Afterwards Mark, I and the team went to an Irish bar in Itaewon for food and some liquid celebrations. Unortunately for the next few days I had to work so I left Mark to his own devices but we still went out every night he was here, much to the disgust of my brain the following mornings. Three days in a row teaching hungover and sleep deprived. Never again. After a few days of merryment he had to leave, bound for the Phillipines just as the weather here had taken a turn for the worst. To say I was a bit jealous would be an extreme understatement.
Loko have been in fine form, winning our first two games. Last weekend though we took a much needed break. Why? Well I don't need to tell you St. Patrick's Day was on the 17th of March. It fell on a Wednesday and to mark the occasion the ambassador had a reception at the Grand Hyatt with music, a buffet, free drink and celebrities (Minister of Education Batt O'Keefe, oh yeah!). My friend Pat's father was over from Ireland so after work I met the two of them there. I've never eaten so many potatoes in one sitting. It was a struggle to find space for the four Guinness I enjoyed afterwards courtesy of the Irish Association of Korea. Then we met up with a couple of other lads and went to Sinchon for a few more pints of goodness. This was only a taster for the main event though.

The following Saturday was the parade at cheongyyecheon in downtown and the team were marching in it. We were scheduled to play an Irish team St. Pats the following day and they graciously accepted our proposal to postpone the game to a later date. The parade ran for about half an hour before Irish related festivities (U2 cover band, Irish dancers, more free Guinness etc.)commenced. We spent the next few hours enjoying the craic downtown before going to the Irish bar in Itaewon which was full to the gills. The next few hours have all blended into about 15 minutes of memory and having had a long hard day of partying and drinking I found myself at home in bed by about ten. Great day though. I think...
Thw weather over here can't seem to make it's mind up what season it wants to be. The day Mark arrived, we were walking around downtown in sunglasses and t-shirts and the following Tuesday we went out to Itaewon in a full blizzard, trudging through the snow as we left the taxi. Then the weather got a little warmer again but then again on St. Patrick's Day, snow again. Also, on the day of the parade (Faux Patrick's Day) I was wearing a t-shirt when we were marching and then 2 hours later, was huddling around a heating vent with a load of other lads while wearing a ski jacket staring into the apoclyptic looking yellow sky full of sand blown here from the Gobi desert. On Monday we had snow ,yesterday and today it was 14 degrees. Celcius! Spring better hurry up and get it's act together. I think that's everything but if I've forgotten something I'll just lie, change the date and say it's happened between now and the time I post the next blog.

Beijing

Wow, where to begin? Well I suppose the beginning is usually a good place so let's take it from there. As I obnoxiously mentioned at the end of my last post, I booked tickets to Beijing some weeks back to head over with my friends Kieran, Dairin, Rick, Sophie and Cathy. As they all booked from the same travel agent I had to get an earlier separate flight but I had my trusted subway directions so all was good. Or so I thought. I had to make a connecting flight from Dalian which also seemed to be much more simple than it was. The initial flight was delayed which left me literally running to catch my connecting flight in Dalian but I made it in the nick of time. When I arrived in Beijing I got the subway to the first transfer station and spent the next 20 minutes staring blankly at the subway map until luckily the rest of my party showed up and we managed to find our way to the hotel. Success.

We met up with friends of Kieran and Dairin and went for a lovely Peking duck meal which we massacred until we were stuffed to the gills and also half cut. We rambled to a western bar to watch the rugby only to find it was empty and the only clientele were ladies of the night. We soon decided to forgo the rugby for a bit of craic and made our way to the hutongs to a really cool bar where we established ourselves for the night until the early hours (well early by normal standards, not Seoul standards) before somehow directing the taxis back to the hotel.

The next day after much confusion about a meeting place and taxis, me and the other lads went to see Mao's mausoleum and then somehow managed to find the girls in the vastness of the ugly communist landmark that is Tiananmen Square. Since the rest had been to Beijing before, myself and Cathy spent the afternoon exploring the Forbidden City before going to the Silk Markets to meet the others. After some haggling and the acquisition of some extremely cheap (and fake) clothes, we returned to the comfort of the hotel to relax. Before another night's excessive eating and drinking that is. That particular night was the last night of the spring festival so Beijing sounded literally like a war-zone with fireworks and fire-crackers going off each second every 50 meters or so for the entire night. Seriously, every parked car that had an alarm was ringing and on the street we couldn't hear each other. Crazy.

The following day myself and Cathy got up early to get on a bus and after taking us to some boring pottery factory and after listening to our guide spout endlessly about how Beijing is the greatest city in China (despite the fact that the only other "place in China" he compared it to was Tibet), we eventually arrived at the Great Wall of China. It had been snowing the previous day so despite the fact that it was pretty damn cold, it was breathtaking. I could have spent the whole day there but seeing as our time was limited, I guess the few hours would have to do. When we got back, we went out for another Peking Duck dinner before I dragged myself away from the group and retired for an early night. Why? Because I had to be up at 5am the following morning to get a flight back to Seoul....to go directly into work. Needless to say it wasn't a fun day but the whole Beijing experience made teaching with sleep deprivation completely worth it.