One year here

Hey so I thought I'd put up a quick post for those of you I won't be seeing over Christmas. First, regarding the whole "North Korea shelling the shit out of Yeongpyeong Island" incident, don't worry. It was a little tense on the day that it actually happened and there has been god knows how much speculation as to why those crazy bastards did it in the first place but regardless. Things are fine. I haven't seen any riots. It hasn't affected day to day life at all. Everything's the same as before. So basically what I'm saying is don't worry, it wasn't as much of a big deal as the international media would have you believe, and it's by no means the worst thing the North have done. War is highly unlikely.

Next on to brighter news. A few weeks ago Sheena's friend Randi and her husband were having people over to their apartment for thanksgiving. It was basically the same food as Christmas back home except instead of spending the day watching Christmas movies, we spent it playing flip cup, kings and various other drinking games with 15 strangers who became our temporary new best friends. Afterwards we went to Hongdae to bid one of our friends farewell as he was going back to the States for a while. Very messy business altogether!

Also Lokomotiv Goyang are back to back champions! We lost our final game in rather inglorious fashion but so did the team who were in second place so we still finished top of the league by two points. Unfortunately this means no more football until March. On the plus side, it gave us a chance to do some serious celebrating. The league banquet was on last Saturday in a new micro brewery in Seoul. After a few micro brew beers (that were really good!) we went to our sponsor pub Baby Guinness for a few pints of Guinness and a whole load of general alcohol-related mischief and shenanigans (for example, this old Korean guy came into the bar selling Santa hats. Within two minutes, he had sold twenty and was chugging beer from our trophy!). I'm pretty sure everyone had a good night and I'm also pretty sure everyone had a painful Sunday.

That's it from me until next year. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone!!

Almost over

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!

Chuseok and other notable merriments

Ok, so as promised, I have news at last. To begin with, my second natural disaster while I've been here in Korea; the typhoon. Personally, I slept through the whole thing but my friends were all woken up by rattling windows, banging doors and general destruction of property by crazy winds.

Second, the beer-fest. This was brilliant craic. Myself, Sheena and a couple of friends took the bus for an hour and a half out of Seoul to a riverside location for a day of all you can drink micro-brew beer, bands and swimming related nonsense. Just to get us in the mood for the day, at 9:30am Sheena iced myself and another friend Taylor (see definition 1 http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=icing) which wasn't the most pleasant experience. The sun was out, the beer was good and my friend Will even had the foresight to bring a frisbee. We spent the day swimming in the river, drinking nice beer (for a change!) and generally enjoying ourselves. It was one of the best days I've had in Korea so far.

The following weekend was the foreigner's football game. It was Sheena's brother-in-law Chris' birthday so we took him out for all you can eat meat (3 cuts of steak, bacon, pork , sausages and chicken) in a Brazilian BBQ restaurant. Afterwards we went to watch the game and met up with a bunch of guys from my team. Then to top things off we went to Hongdae to show Chris around a few bars that the University district has to offer.

The weekend after that, Sheena took me to Gangwon-do to go on a rail-bike. This is basically what it sounds like, a pedal powered cart that's set on some abandoned train tracks. For 7.2 km you can pedal through a valley in the middle of nowhere and enjoy the surroundings. This was a really nice getaway from the hustle and bustle of the busy city of Seoul and once again, we were blessed with the weather.

And finally; Chuseok. This is the harvest holiday that fell on my birthday. Sheena, my friend Jamey and I went to the south to get out of Seoul. We arrived in the port city of Tongyeong early on Tuesday morning and took the first ferry to a small island called Bijindo, about 30 mins away. Our two friends were nearby in the city of Busan and were supposed to come and meet us but that didn't quite pan out. Regardless we had a great time. The first day the weather was great and we spent the day swimming in the sea, playing soccer on the beach and later, having beers and Jameson by the campfire with a bunch of other foreigners.

The following day there was an announcement in Korean and some other foreigners told us there was a storm coming with high winds and torrential rain. We decided to pack up the tents and check into a Minbak (Korean pension). We then set off for a hike up the mountain before the storm set in. The hike was amazing with spectacular views of the surrounding islands from the top. When we got back it began drizzling. That was about as bad as the "storm" got and that night we were out by the campfire again. The third day was another spectacular day and we spend the morning swimming by the beach. In the afternoon we went to an area we found on the hike the previous day and went swimming again by a little cove we found. Guess what we did that night? The next day we begrudgingly left Bijindo and headed back to Seoul.

As you've probably gathered, I've had a great month. The weather's starting to get cold and summer's officially over. It's hoody weather but that's ok in my book. I'm not looking forward to the harsh winter but I do have something to look forward to this winter. My school were good enough to give me two weeks off over Christmas, so I arrive back in Dublin on the 18th of December until the 29th of December. I'm looking forward to Avemore milk, Brennans bread, local butcher sausages, real butter, Shaw's black pudding and going for a few pints of Guinness with anyone who cares to join me.

Nine months in....

Ok, so I've now been in Korea for nine months. This means I have another three months left in my contract so I have to decide what to do when I finish. Like most people who decide to come to Korea, I'm not just staying for a year. I've decided to renew my contract for another year with my current employer so break out the tissues cause I won't be home for Christmas (again). On the plus side, I'm still enjoying my job and we've just begun the fourth semester that I've worked here.

In case I didn't mention, my team Lokomotiv Goyang won our league last season. This was followed by a night of festivities, the details of which I wont go into (mostly because I don't remember.) We've had the whole summer off since to get drunk, out of shape and fat, and many of us have succeeded in doing at least two of the three. We then had a 5-aside blitz, hosted by us a few weeks ago where our team came second in a world cup style one day tournament of 16 teams. This was also followed by some revelry, where once again, the details of which I won't divulge. Also, the new season has begun, and as a result of our hectic summer and some players absences, we lost our first game and drew the second. Don't ask me how....

Apart from those couple of intense nights of partying, the summer has been a relatively relaxed one, working during the week and on the weekends I've generally just been sitting outside the 7/11 drinking beers and playing cards (not as 1920s gangster as it sounds, it's legal to drink in the street and the convenience stores actually provide you with plastic deck chairs and tables!), which has been a cheap (or should i say, cheaper) alternative to the bars. One thing I will say though is that I'm getting pretty fed up with crappy Korean beer. Max, Hite, Cass, Cafri, the label doesn't matter, they all taste the same. I'll never take Bavaria for granted again.

On the exciting side of life, I've lots of events coming up in the next month. This weekend I'm going to a Beer-fest held by a micro brewery, 14 hours of all you can drink beer and with 6 different beers on the menu, it should be a good day. Also, the following weekend it's foreigner day in the World cup stadium. Two K league teams face off and for 10,000 won (EUR 6) you get to watch a football match in the wonderful world cup stadium, and if that wasn't enough, you also get a free hot dog and a beer. All for being a foreigner......Cheers Korea! Then, on the 22nd of September (which just happens to be by birthday) is Chuseok, the harvest festival. This is a three day festival so most people have Tuesday - Thursday off work. My school were cool enough to give me Friday off too so some friends and I are going island hopping in the south sea islands. Basically what I'm saying is my next post wont be so boring....

Speaking of boring, check out these guys:

Boracay and Borneo

A brief synopsis of my holidays:

Last week my buddy Chris from back home in Carpenterstown, came over to Seoul to visit me on his holidays. He arrived on a Wednesday and with little haste, I brought him out to a Galbi (Korean BBQ) resteraunt and, more importantly, the pubs. I'm not usually accustomed to drinking during the week, so during the course of his first night here, I proceeded to get enormously inebriated. We played darts and pool as we hopped from one bar to the next drinking crappy Korean beer and talking absolute bollox. The following day in work was not nearly so much fun. The next night however, a friend of mine's brother arrived in from the states so we all decided to meet up. After a few games of cards it was decided that the best bet for the night would be a Norebang (Korean karaoke room) which was a lot of fun, if for nothing other then the ridiculous spectacle of it. Sufficed to say, we weren't sober leaving and the following day in work would be another struggle.

The next night, Chris and I boarded a flight bound for Manila. Seeing as we arrived in late and had a flight the following day, we decided to get some accomodation near the airport and just had a few beers near our hostel. The next day we flew to Caticlan and jumped on a ferry to the beautiful island of Boracay. We also bumped into a few American and Canadian English teachers working in Seoul whom we hung around with for the following two days and nights which basically involved a lot of swimming and drinking. Occasionally I will admit, the two paths did cross. The beach-side bars are a perfect way to kill a few hours during the day in gorgeous surroundings and the nightlife on Boracay would rival most places I've been to. Also, did I mention it's dirt cheap? A bottle of local brewed San Miguel costs 35 Pesos (€1 = 60 Pesos) during happy hour (4pm - 9pm, don't ask me why..) and an extortianate 45 Pesos after. In the words of the Terminator, I'll be going there again.
After our too brief stint in Boracay we flew to Kota Kinabalu (where I hear you ask) in Sabah in Malaysian Borneo. We had one night here and since we had another night here soon, we decided to take it easy and show the locals how to play pool over a couple of beers. After losing most of the games, we slumped up to bed to get a relatively early night.

The following day we jumped on a flight for Gunung Mulu national park. This park is home to the largest cave passage in the world, made famous by the BBC's Planet Earth. In case you're wondering, it's the one in the episode called "Caves". As we flew in it was really spectacular, as there is nothing but rainforest for hundreds of kilometers. When we arrived into the airport (a runway and a tiny building) we were taken to our resort (which we had to book, as all the accomodation in the park HQ was booked up). It seemed really nice, though geared more towards elderly Dutch and German couples who seemed to be the only other people staying there. Needless to say, we didn't get up to much the first night.The next day we set off for a walk through the jungle to the canopy walk, the biggest one in Asia which goes on for about half a kilometer 30 meters above the ground. After the canopy walk we went towards Deer Cave (the big-un, the above picture. If you open it in a new tab you can see in the bottom left corner, the walkway in to the cave, to get some perspective on the size of it). Upon arriving there we were dissapointed to find out that in the last year, two larger caves have been found in Vietnam and Brazil. Still, it was spectacular as it is home to an estimated 3 to 5 million bats. You can hear them before you can see the cave, and let me tell you, there's a lot of guano in there. There are literally huge hills of nothing but bat shit and cave cockroaches. Quite the sight. After that we were lucky enough to see the exodus of all the bats from the cave before it got dark. After a long day we didn't get up to much, just had a couple of beers in the bar and left when the Germans started singing karaoke.
The next day as we were waiting for our flight, the heavens opened. It began raining so heavily, you couldn't see more than 15 ft in front of you. Unsurprisingly (in retrospect) the flight was cancelled. This basically meant that we were kind of fucked. We were stuck in the middle of nowhere, we had missed another night in Kota Kinabalu and worst of all, we had a flight to Kuala Lumpur the following morning which we had no chance of making. We didn't even know if the rain would stop and there'd be any flights the following day. The airline told us that they'd put everyone who missed the flight up in the reort and send details as they got them to the resort. So we decided to do the only sensible thing. We went swimming in the pool in the resort (we were getting wet anyway) and after our free dinner, we found a tin can shack beside the resort that sold beer and we got occified.

The rain eased off around 7am and we were lucky enough to get on the flight the next day back to Kota Kinabalu. We immediatly booked new flights to Kuala Lumpur. I was supposed to be flying from Kuala Lumpur to Siem Reap but decided to book new flights in case more flights were delayed and I'd miss a day of school. I booked an overnight transfer from KL to Shanghai and then on to Seoul. I departed Chris as we got to KL, changed airports and got on my flight to Shanghai. Safe at last. Or so I thought. When I arrived in Shanghai I had 1hr 40 mins to check in again to my connecting flight. But because of the morons in customs who entered in my wrong flight details, I literally checked in with 2 minutes to spare. If I had of missed it I was screwed, stuck in Shanghai with no money, no credit card (it expired that day) and no Chinese visa. After I went through to the boarding gate, I learned that although the check in counter closed on time, the flight was delayed by 40 minutes. Typical. I boarded the delayed flight and after 30 hours of travel, 5 flights, 7 airports and about 20 minutes sleep, I was eventually back in Seoul.
A great holiday but somewhat tainted by the stress of being stuck in the middle of the rainforest in Borneo. Although, when I put it like that, it sounds kinda cool....

Wrold Cup Fever and peninsular tension

It's that wonderful time again that only happens every four years, World Cup time! Though I'm still bitter as hell at those cheese-eating surrender monkies (aka France) at least living here in Korea, I have adopted a surrogate team to support (no, not Mexico....well, maybe Mexico a bit). Though both Koreas are in the World Cup, I think I'll choose the safe option and shout for the South, though I'm sure the DPRK will do just fine, I mean, they've a pretty easy group after all. I arrived at city hall yesterday in my Korean jersey with every intention of watching the game there. Only one small problem. Yes, it was raining but I was slightly more put off by the fact that in the plaza in front of city hall, there were about a million people (no exaggeration) so I went to a bar instead. Koreans....sigh...it's all or nothing with these people. In case you're wondering, in the picture below, I'm the western guy wearing the red.

So a couple of weeks ago I had the Friday off due to a wonderful holiday called childrens day. The idea behind this holiday is that parents don't spend enough time with their children so this is one day a year dedicated to parents spending quality time with their children, and more importantly, keeping the little bastards away from me for a day. I decided to go back to Muuido island with a few friends. Only one small problem. Yes, you've guessed it. The place was mobbed by the time we got there but this did mean for a great night with lots of mingling, drinking and generally having the craic by bonfire with all the other foreigners who decided to spend their weekend in the same fashion as we did.

As for the soccer team, Lokomotiv Goyang are only one game away from vicory. We have a game this Sunday, the last of the season against a mediocre club we've already beaten 3 - 1. We're ahead of the league by 2 points and if we win this game, well, it's not really rocket science is is?

I've also booked my holidays for the end of July so anyone in the locality of any of the below places, gimme a call and we'll go for a beer:

23rd July Manila

24th & 25th July Boracay

26th - 29th July Kota Kinabalu

30th July Kuala Lumpur

31st July Siem Reap

As some of you may have read, there has been quite a bit of tension between the two Koreas recently. No, it's not because of a World Cup rivalry. You may have read that about the Cheonan, a warship that was sunk on the 26th of March off the coast of Korea, with a loss of 46 South Korean sailor's lives. An inquiry was launched and (suprise, suprise) it turns out the North Koreans were to blame. Pyongyang denied these outragous alligations and said that if the south imposed any sanctions, they'd go to war. Then the south imposed sanctions. Then the DPRK said "Right, that's it!".Then they did nothing. That was about two or three weeks ago and since then, unsuprisingly, absolutely nothing has happened. So in case any of you were concerned, that's basically a rundown of the Cheonan crisis.

Holy contorted conception of time...it's May!

So, it appears to be May already whch makes it five whole months I've been living over in this part of the globe. Obviously I feel more settled in then ever but I'm still constantly finding out more and more about this city (I now know where to go should I feel the urge to cook tagliatelle etc.) and the daily embarrassment of not speaking much Korean slowly becomes yet another mundane event in my existance in Seoul. Before, when I would get bashful at old ladies giving out to me in various situations, now I just smile, nod and get on with what I was doing.

I've been doing my best to try and find places in Seoul that I've never been to before and recently I came upon an area right beside downtown that's full of Hanok (Korean traditional housing). It was the most bizarre feeling, walking around these tiny streets with wooden traditional Korean homes, literally a few hundred meters from the busy hustle and bustle of downtown Seoul. The pictures here show what it looks like from both angles. It's really nice to find small little getaways from the busy city, within the busy city. I also recently went hiking up Mt. Bukhansan (836m) which is a mere 10 minutes on the subway and another 10 minutes on a bus from my apartment. Hiking up the mountain really makes you feel like you're so far away from the city.

The weather is getting really nice over here now, acrtually sometimes it's a little too nice. It was 25 degrees last Sunday and we had a game on a pitch larger than the one we're used to. Nedless to say it was tough work as the sweat poured and tempers flared but we managed to overcome all these antagonies to triumphantly win 0-0. The team are actually doing quite well, this nil all game actually put us second in the league, having been first as a result of a win the previous week to knock the title holders off their perch.Last weekend I also decided to take advantage of the good weather and make my way to the west sea islands off Incheon. On Saturday we got to Muuido at about noon from the ferry at Incheon that takes literally about 5 minutes and booked into a beach hut for pretty cheap on Hanagae Beach. At this point let me make something known about the Korean people, they do everything together, all at once or not at all. Since it's not technically the vacation season yet we more or less had the entire beach to ourselves, apart from another small group of foreigners. There were a few Koreans around during the day and an older bucnch of them looked like they were getting two teams of soccer together. Dying for a bit of beach football we asked if we could join them.

The next two hours was spent playing soccer-baseball and then running up and down the beach blindfolded, wearing hanbok (Korean traditional dresses) which is apparently a popular game with the Korean 40somethings. When they were leaving they gave us a case of beer and coffee as a parting gift. Just then we say some younger Koreans actually playing beach soccer so we challenged them to a game, foreigners vs. Koreans and won 37-3 or somewhere along the lines. I lost score at some point during the game, don't ask me why. Later, after some seafood we joined the other foreigners to mooch off their camp-fire, share some drinks and sing songs until late into the night. A great weekend altogether.