My contract that is. I only have one more month left on my contract which means I've been here 11 whole months. Holy crap! Anyway, the last month was pretty quiet on the Eastern front. Most of my thoughts recently have related to coming home for Christmas, who I'll get to see, what I'm going to eat, what to but to bring back to Korea etc. Also, I'm currently in the process of renewing my visa and resigning my contract so fingers crossed it will prove less stressful then when I originally went through this process. Three notable things have happened this month however.
The first of which was my trip to the DMZ. Sheena's football team had a game at the DMZ (demilitarised zone between North and South Korea) to play the army guys stationed at Camp Bonifas within the DMZ. We left Seoul early in the morning and upon arrival were treated to a free tour of the DMZ (which usually cost $100). This begins with a comprehensive briefing of the Korean War, armistace, and subsequent history of the DMZ from 1953 to the present. Then we were taken to the JSA (joint security area) where we saw North Korean soldiers on the northern side and got to step into the DPRK for 5 minutes. After this we saw a North Korean propaganda village, a big North Korean flag, the bridge of no return, and the site of the infamous 1976 ax murders (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axe_murder_incident).
After this stark reminder of the general insanity of the DPRK and it's close proximity to Seoul it was time for the football match. Since Sheena's team had only 11 players and it was a swelteringly hot day, myself and a husband of one of the girls on the team were asked to play in the second half. After the game we were brought to the soldiers mess hall for some awesome western food. Overall, this was definitely one of the most unique experiences I'm likely to have in Korea.
The second notable mention was our school's Halloween party. In one word, this was madness. In a few, I would describe it as a disjointed, disorganised, crazy mess of costumed children already overly excited before they all overdosed on sugar and proceeded to wear me out physically, mentally, and emotionally. Basically lessons were scratched for this day, the children arrived in their droves (many bringing along siblings and friends) in their costumes to collect candy (sorry, I know, sweets) and play games for the day. Some classes were lots of fun. Others made me want to beat my head against the wall for a some lobotomised peace. It was a mix of the best and worst day I've taught in the school so far.
The third piece of news is probably more exciting for me than anyone else. My football team Loko are in the first place of our league again. The season started poorly, as we lost our first game and drew the next two. The next few games were wins but most of them were 1 - 0 wins and not much to be proud of. We had bee trailing by two points for a long time but recently we've pulled out all the stops to coast to the top of the table by five points. There are only three games left so realistically we only need to win the next two to win the league for the second consecutive season. It's not all good news though, as we may be missing our centre back and vice captain Matt this weekend and our top striker Conor is out for the rest of the season, so with two big losses like that, it's all to play for.
If I've forgotten anything, I'll tell you all about it when I get home!
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