I am quite conscious that this blog is supposed to partly function as diary of our time here in Korea... but since I don't have the time to sit and write it every week, it is proving difficult to always recall what happened when, with whom and where...
I guess I will go back to the middle of May and go from there - and casually try and piece together what has transpired from there on... (if I can remember!).
The last day I wrote was during my school's Physical Testing for all grades, partly in preparation for the school's Sports Day the next day. This meant there were no classes at all for 2 days and so I was left preparing for the coming weeks and popping outside every so often to provide support and encouragement to the students, though the hot weather limited my input there to merely taking photos.
The day started with the strangest all-grade warm up exercise - which I think was an absolute waste of the students' time as none of them did it with any shred of intent - where stretching down to touch your toes was met with arms falling down by their sides and a general look of 'yeah, like I'm going to embarrass myself by bending over'.
I think the only people that actually did try to do the whole exercise with some conviction were the staff who were resigned to the back of the classes where they could follow along without the cat calls from any of the students who might catch them in action.
One of the most comical elements of the day was the array of slogans, names and titles that the students had printed on their shirts. With the usual football stars from across the globe, titles such as 'champion', 'the best', and 'winner'; there was also a few that don't quite have the same meaning in English as they do in Korean.
The best, and cleanest example of this, comes from one of the Grade 3 students below:
The Korean meaning is 'as strong as a horse' but the more direct translation is 'muscle of a horse' which in the Western world has a slightly more phallic innuendo to it.
It was a great day and lots of fun - though I did nearly kill myself by playing in the Student vs Staff football match during lunch... too warm and fully clothed was a sweaty experience - I've yet to learn if I can wear shorts to school yet.
The week was topped off by our male staff making it through to the finals of the Chungju Volleyball Championships - which meant school finished after the 4th class on the Friday... but that did not mean I got to go home. Danielle's female staff team had also made it to the main event but were put out early on the Friday much to their dismay but it did mean they had added time to enjoy their BBQ and allowed her principal to get torn into the soju and beer quite early too. My team didn't have such luck...
After making it through to the final after a tight win earlier in the week we were faced with some very close matches that ran on and on as the points remained close together. I had figured that since I'd shown my face I had therefore displayed some commitment to the school and could then leave but my wife had other plans as she got more and more into the game and screamed support for my school from the sidelines with my staff - though the look of despair wouldn't make you think she was enjoying herself!
The day ended at about 6pm with our team narrowly missing out on the no.1 spot to a very strong team with an ex-National Champion playing for them. But we all enjoyed ourselves and it was a real school bonding experience despite my wanting to leave early!
Weekends have settled down for us here... we are successfully not gallivanting around the country or up and down from Seoul each weekend. Instead we have been going to the park or a Saturday or Sunday and relaxing with friends, playing sports and generally letting the world revolve and time pass.
This does allow us to get some colour (or burnt) but we can't complain... and yes, we have now bought some sunscreen, lotion and aftersun as Danielle was so sore from sunburn after our last weekend doing nothing in the park!
Last weekend was a long weekend off, Korea was celebrating Memorial Day on the Monday, so we decided that we should head off for a long weekend somewhere. The plans had been to go to Busan and enjoy the beach there but despite our best efforts and hours of translating websites into English we were unable to secure any accommodation. In the end we opted for going to Daejeon, a place we have been before, for a quiet weekend of doing not too much other than go to a couple of sites and have a look for a Hanbok dress for Danielle.
The hanbok didn't really happen - and the one site that we really thought we'd enjoy turned out to be a bit of a horror. We had planned on spending most of Saturday in O World, a zoo, theme park and garden park in one... but after going around the zoo we had completely lost all heart. We were annoyed and sickened by the conditions that some (most) of the animals were kept, from dirty enclosures to those without any water at all. This also extended to their attempts at the humane enclosures that they had for their safari sections which were just too small for the number of animals enclosed there. Maybe its too much of watching
Longleat on tv but we felt dirty having been there! This place was only opened in 2002 so it should have been uptodate, cutting edge, the pinnicle of modern zoology but it was far from it.
Overall we had a lovely time with just the two of us... and also got to see X-Men: First Class at a very nice cinema after a small tour around the city. We headed home on Sunday and settled down for a nice quiet night of relaxing and enjoying each others company - what we do best!
Yesterday was our 1st Wedding Anniversary... it really doesn't feel like it has been a year at all - especially since we haven't really stopped anywhere long enough to get bored or for time to drag along so everything has kept moving. I guess we had imagined that we would be in Korea but we didn't have any idea what it would really be like... or indeed that we would even definitely make it here. We had a nice quiet evening with a couple of friends, food and ice cream which was just what we wanted... not sure whether we will be here in Korea for the next one or not yet but I'm sure we'll be happy all the same.
If married life goes by as quickly as this year did then it is definitely going to be an easy life for us...
Finally, I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone who has wished well or sent us their love for our anniversary - it is greatly appreciated and even if we don't respond to each of you individually then know that we mean it nonetheless.
