It appears that only those who have eaten more than their RDA of carrots will be able to read the below description of Gatbawi.

I could fix it...

A weekend or two ago, Ian and I hiked up to Gatbawi. To save on typing I have posted a photographed description below. How smart of me! However, here is a brief rundown-
Gatbawi is placed atop one of the many peaks of the local mountain range and is a worship site for local Buddhists. It was rather tiring climbing to the top, but the eventual view was magnificent and we met so many kind people on the ascent. One family gave us oranges, others showed us how to trick the little birds to sit on our hands and we met a clinically insane old man who proved to be quite friendly. Perhaps we caught him on a non maniac day.

Anyway, below is the Buddhist image in acid rain polka dots















Here is a description of the above Buddhist image














And here is me with a view.

It was almost pathetic to see me mow down old ladies in my rush to get to the bagel stand at Wal mart tonight.

Although, perhaps even more pathetic was the idiotic grin I sprouted when I actually got to bring the bagels home with me.

I have been having some pretty bad reactions to the local cusine here, again. I thought I had built up some sort of an immunity to the burning red spice of death, but apparently not. I do not want to go through the pain I had last year, so I have decided to abolish certain Korean foods from my diet.

I give myself two days. Tops.

Snort.

We have a new teacher in our school, a very nice American boy. He has only been teaching a few days and so is still adjusting to the zoo like lifestyle of a hagwon, what with the incessant screaming, the neverending stream of questions starting with ,"But, why teacher?", and the ant like attention spans. Today he had to deal with a very excitable, young class that are oblivious to the sitting still concept and find rolling around on their desks far more entertaining. After this class, he strode into the staff room and flopped onto his chair whispering, " Birth Control".

Still though the kids can have their good days............... and is that a pig I see soaring overhead?

What on earth does Ricky Martin have to do with the Winter Olympics?
Isn't he from Puerto Rico? The Olympic Committee might as well have blown the entire budget on U2 instead. What with the Irish passion for snow......

I love the Eighties. Really. I do. What other decade could have produced such greats as Boston, Chicago, ( band names reached their creative peak during these illustrious times), Meat Loaf and Foreigner. How I mock those who admit their love of such shocking music, being screeched or crooned by a mullet sporting, rail thin, drainpipe jeans attired youth with the face of a two year old and the legs of an elastic band. How I have been forced to hang my head in shame as I have made these blasts from the past my jogging buddies. There is nothing quite like the crescendo of "More than a feeling" followed by
"I'd lie for you" with the rising tones of "Toto" to get me going at a pace not shy of a steady trot. Of course I also like to join in with the power choruses, so it is taking everything in me to not let out a few chords or indulge in some air drums.

Also the oldies who hurl themselves around the lake area each night are starting to recognise me so I am getting lots of cheery waves and "Hello!"s from those aged 60 and over who can still run past me. I think I might join them for tea and gossip mongering by the lakeside when the weather gets a little better. Should they prove themselves to be unhip and not with it, then I'll get just get accquainted with the team of guys who practice their breakdancing in a park near the lake. One of them is going to be spending some time in spine rehab at the rate they are going. They aren't very talented, yet think they are, so attempt all sorts of head for feet
poses that will result in neck braces for all.

For those of you wondering, the final picture in the previous post really does demonstrate the width of the hotel room. In Japanese cities, space is at a premium so many hotels, ( in order to meet rents etc) try to squeeze as many rooms as they can into their buildings. They do not reduce their rates for these rooms so they still make a mind blowing profit. I can honestly say that it really was the smallest hotel room I ever stayed in and it was an oddly fun experience.

I also saw a rat on the street. That experience is an entire blog in itself.


Barf.

Japan is mad.

Really. It is.

It is a place where the people are not happy with beer cans available in two sizes. They want a third option and hell if it looks like something you might offer to a minor, what the heck.






It is also a place where the oddest looking cars are the coolest cars. Evidently, they are very easy to park in congested spots like Tokyo so I agree that their compact size is indeed genius for city travelling, but what numbskull was appointed Head of Design?



Demonstrating the size of the hotel room in itty bitty Japan is Ian.

So I turned 26 a few weeks ago. I have been so depressed by my age increase that I have not been able to bring myself to blog. And had I blogged it would have been a melancholic musing on how old I am getting, people's expectations of what one should have achieved by the aged of 26,what I haven't achieved and what I really ought to get round to doing.

Mid life crisis no more. Crisis mode is hitting in your twenties.


Bugger.

My proposed Lap of the Lake has taken a little step backwards, not due to any laziness, but due to the little chill that I have. I went to see Dr. Software again and he confirmed that I was sick ( durr) and prescribed me a veritable medley of medication. Each morning and evening I am expected to take nine pills per dosage, plus two little teasers at lunch. I fear by Sunday I may have to phone Kate Moss to arrange a support programme.

Today in one of my kindergarten classes, the students and I were discussing the differences between weddings in Korea to those in the West. Throughout the discussion I noticed that the ususal noise machine, Andy, was oddly silent. When I asked him why he wasn't participating, he informed me that weddings were "yucky", kissing was "yucky", girls were "yucky" and that he would only kiss boys. The little sucker wiped the knowing "ah, but wait until you are older" grin off my face, when he grabbed one of the boys in his class and made lip to lip contact with him.

But Korea is a gay free environment...............

I, Eileen O'Brien, of sound mind and body do hereby declare that before, and not after, the end of May 2006, I will complete a full, non-stop run around Susung Lake. It is expected that the intervening months will be full of moaning, complaining, injuries, cuts, bruises, tears ( because the ajumma with the grocery bags ran past me....again)and heartbreak. The run is being made all the more difficult because the only time I can jog is at nighttime and the pavements and jogging areas surrounding the lake are full of more cracks than a builders convention. Therefore, tripping and falling are part of the drill. What fun! Also this is not a piddlin' little pond. It actually is a large(ish) lake...... not marathon distance mind, but a marathon in my mind. I also need to get this done before the intense heat starts to set in here. Portable air conditioning hasn't made it past R&D yet so lets not get me overheated. Ian has just been notified as to my big event and reckons that I will make the distance in 2-3 weeks and that I will probably be lapping myself come May.

I have become a very fussy coffee drinker. If there isn’t the correct level of milk versus coffee versus espresso shot, then I am most unhappy with my purchase. I refuse to purchase coffee from the Korean cafes, as it is more or less similar to upending a bowl of sugar into your mouth, while Seattle’s Best Korean division appears to have been on sick leave the day brand awareness was being discussed. Too long to get into this one, but I am of the opinion that most coffee being marketed these days is done so according to branding, not taste. Therefore, people are not just paying for the taste, but also for the name and the “experience” offered by that name”. Seattle’s Best has been struck from my Daegu Coffee Hotspots list. They are now serving their in house and take out coffees in dodgy white paper cups, office style, with what appears to be the corner of a cardboard box around it, supposedly to prevent your pinkies from being exposed to first degree burns. But seeing as the coffee there only ever reaches the startling heights of tepid, they might as well just do away with the cardboard altogether and save another few won. I was most outraged when I ventured in there a few weeks ago for a sit down coffee only to be thrust a white paper cup with luke warm froth and coffee that barely made it to the half way mar. I, of course, threw a suitable strop. So, I have been forced to turn to Starbucks and what a mixed bag of emotions it has proven to be. The two or three outlets downtown are being run by coffee nazis. Every coffee must be made half an hour ago and well and good if the right blend happens to make it to the correct cup, as long as ze queue keepz movin’ jah!! However, my Starbucks in Jisan is perhaps the best coffee shop in the world. The assorted staff are the happiest staff I have ever encountered, always greeting me with a cheery smile and odd pronunciation of “hello”, while doing all they possibly can to make the best coffee they can. I quite like when the new guy gets his quantities all wrong and I end up having to drink the excess before the lid will fit on the cup. I hope he doesn’t receive anymore training as I feel he is making a sterling effort and needs all the encouragement he can get.

Snort, snort, snorty, snort snort.

I am so irate. I have bought hair straighteners here twice and each time they have proved to be useless. It would be more effective if I put my hair between two pieces of hot toast. I decided that the only thing I could do was convert my hair straighteners from home, which are the be all and the end all of hair straightening. I brought my three pronged plug to work yesterday and I might as well have brought the lost treasures of the Sierra Estrella, such was the fascination shown. Everyone wanted to know what the third prong was for and by casting my mind back to Junior Certificate physics, I mumbled something about it preventing a person being turned to fried bacon of fried human and then claimed stupidity when asked to explain. Afer much inspecting and internet referencing, it was determined that my hair straightners would not be straightening anything. I was not deterred. The school manager got the things thrust at him and was told to work some magic on them. So, he brought them to some electrical store ( I am convinced he brought it to the guy who hides behind the paint shelves when foreigners enter his store), returned an hour later and said it couldn't be done. Now seeing as this is the country that claims there is no such thing as homosexuality I am refusing to give up on this one. If you hear nothing from me in the next few days, it means I bought an adaptor, plugged it on and promptly got hospitalised from the incompability of the three prong with the two prong.
Everyone keeps moaning that the worls is getting too small, globalisation is taking us over and cultures are being wiped away by the need for uniform living. NOT HERE. Why oh why do countries have different voltages and plugs and other electrical oddities. I have the appliance, I have many sockets, all I am missing is a negotiator

Happy New Year to one and all.

As I type, Ian is mashing the better parts of a cow into burger shapes so that we can have a drool inducing meal. If I can still move after considerably increasing my chances of CJD, it is off to town we go for parties and fireworks.

Enjoy and best wishes for 2006!

The following is a synopsis of the Sound of Music by one of my preschool students. These little kids have an amazing oral standard, but when it come to getting those thoughts from their heads to paper, they have a few issues. Each weekend the kids write a diary about their weekend activities and because they are kids, they try to cram everything in their heads onto a single page.

The following youngster made a sterling effort. I have not changed any of his mistakes and note that Koreans have problems saying the “v” sound and so “Von” had a “p” sound to it.

I went to Daegu Opera house.
There were many people.
There was a church.
There was nuns.
They prayed.
Maria go to mountain.
She sang.
She went to church.
Chief nun says “Go to Pontrap’s house”
We had a breaktime for 15 minutes.
We ate hot bar.
There was house
In the house there was seven children.
She went to house.
There was captain.
He said, “You have to respond the children”.
She said, “Do you know how to sing?”
The said “No”.
They learn how to sing.
Captain came.
Children said, “He will merry with new mother”
New mother said, “I will leave this home so he marry her”.
I t was fun!

There you go. A very concise summary, but I do think he may have drifted off at some point during the musical……

I noticed in the news this week that Hwang Woo Suk is up for Muppet of the Year. Seoul National University admitted that his findings were falsified. They have said that they are upset with this news and Korean people have stated they too are disappointed with their so called "National Hero". Disappointed? Were I a member of the Korean Government I would have two little horns popping out the top of my head, complete with insanity induced drooling, such would be the level of my anger. Particularly considering the millions of dollars handed out to Hwang to fund what he insisted was legitimate research. No money back guarantee.

On a lighter note, I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I did. The next day was not so great. Not when idiot here had to go to work after the Christmas Party of all parties. Thanks to Maebh and Ben). For my first class, I was capable only of giggling at the kids and not until I had inhaled a bacon double cheese burger at the Temple of Hope, commonly referred to as “Burger King”, did I feel somewhat ready to greet the remaining anklebiters.

However I got some sweet presents including enough Clinique stuff from Maebh and Sara to ensure I gain some transvestite NBF’s, a Frasier box set from Ian’s Mom and Dad and a Creative Mini from Ian. Ian has installed all the music and set up the play lists. I just listen to it and show it off to everyone who has the ill luck to run into me and is subjected to me showing off said player and my limited mp3 knowledge ( I actually have no idea what I am saying to anyone…esp when referring to gigs… I just copy what Ian says, accompanied with a “knowing-and-don’t-you-dare-question-my-superior-opinion” look. It has the masses fooled

Last night saw temperatures hit -13C. Fabulous. However, what was not so fabulous was the ice on the inside of the bathroom window, nor the ice on the panes of the washing room window or even the icicles that formed on the inside of the bedroom window. Koreans dont believe in insulation. The styrofoam between the walls and and the windows of my school testify to that.

Temperatures increased for a while today, so I decided to finish my Christmas shopping in snowy conditions. It actually felt like Christmas here with snow covered streets, everyone dressed in hats and scarves and the Koreans who seemed to think a blizzard was coming direct from the Himalayas with their ski ensembles.

Christmas shopping is more or less complete at this stage and there are fine amount of presents under the horrendously cheesy tree here. It is a flagship for over tinselling and overlighting. I love it.


In other more fasinating news, the Korean stem-cell researcher, Hwang Woo-Suk, has been accused of falsifying his "pioneering" work. Koreans are not too happy to hear about this, but he is determined to prove his work, despite being bombarded with accusations of carrying out his research in unethical ways and ultimately publishing untrue facts. Generally, Koreans are still supportive of Hwang, with some feeling that the attacks on him are down to jealousy beacause Korea is the leading nation in this field. Sour grapes perhaps

It's snowing and I am ecstatic. The northern part of the country has been battling the elements for the last few weeks and Daegu is finally getting its turn. It started in the early afternoon, and has gradually risen to a decent pelt of snow. However walking home in snow does have its disadvantges, what with getting a little damp and almost getting oneself the position of lead dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet due to some magnificent pirouettes. It's also wonderful to note that when a kids slips on ice, it is seen as "cute", but when an adult foreigner makes a show of themselves, it is comedy on a grand scale. Snort.

Cable and heat have been restored.

The cable was my fault. Had I looked behind the fridge I would have noticed that the cable plug was lying idly behind said fridge. Little sneak was taking an early Christmas holiday.

Heat is back in Ian's apartment. Lovingly restored with a hairdryer.

Korea has reached a new technological high

My cable is out. Not my fault. If the cable company bothered to send me any bills, or even a bill to the correct address, I might not be so outraged at the moment

Ian's heating is gone. It has been out since Saturday night and there hasn't been sign nor light of the repair man, who swore blind he was going to turn up at Ian's apartment between 10pm and 12am... we should have taken those blatant lies as a hint, seeing as the inconsiderate oaf never showed up. I really would like him to arrive soon seeing as the water that is coming from the sink and shower is ice cold, therefore in -10 celsuis weather we are getting tonight, it is a win win situation for pipes that are in the mood for freezing and, if they are feeling a little on the wild side,they could also fit in a quick bursting session.

Apparently the boiler repair men are being very overworked this season what with the weather being cold and all that. Why? Didn't they see it coming?!?!?!?! Winter is Winter is Winter here. It means sub-zero temperatures. It means ice cold weather. It means very god damn person in the country is going to turn on their heating, so why they are mystified by the sudden onslaught of broken down heaters defies me.

I must go teach some children in a building that doesn't have any burst pipes.