On Saturday I will fly to Toronto.

However, I have been forced to beat myself up mentally as I never bothered to get a second airmiles card last year and so have waved goodbye to thousands of points. But, I have managed to turn that frown even more upside down as I am participating in the worst activity in the world....packing. I am incapabable of packing light, and must admit that when I see people at the baggage carousel in airports swinging the little bag over their shoulder that contains a toothbrush and a thong for their two week vacation, I get jealous. I feel obliged to pack for all four seasons,all weather conditions and so what if it is the middle of August, it could snow and I MIGHT need that goose down coat.

I decided to leave all my washing until today, which means I have a mountain of ironing to do. Of course, there aren't any guarantees that I will actually do any of it. Not like I signed a contract with the iron. I'll reason a way out of doing it. Of course getting one part of me to reason/negotiate with the other part of me might the symptomatic of something much deeper.....

Today I went into town to get my Canadian dollars and was forced to deal with a weed of an employee. Disaster. I stood at the teller and explained that I was here to collect Canadian dollars and US travellers cheques under the name of E. O'Brien. The weed stared blankly at me and allowed a rather prolonged pause. Eventually after much pausing and staring at each other, he let out a rather large sigh, stared back at me and said, ( wait for it), 'Well I cant do much if you don't tell me who you are'. The security camera was nearly driven through the pea that resides in place of his brain. He was promptly given the 'You had better stop acting the maggot or I will have such a loud complaint made you will regret the day you ever encountered me' look. I rather calmly retold him my name and watched as he forced his bottom from its chair and puffed his way over to the foreign exchange area. He then returned with Canadian dollars and American dollars. I took the opportunity to mimic his sigh and issued the 'look' again and informed him that I had requested US travellers cheques. I might as well have hurled a bucket of cow pats at him such was the look of disgust on his face. He turned from me to stare at the whole two yards he had to retrace back to the foreign exchange area. I was tempted to offer him my bottle of water for the journey, but decided any further aggravation to the weed would have catastrophic effects on my travellers cheques.

Long story short, I got the dollars and cheques and am keeping them under lock and key. The weed wanted to know where I was going in Canada. I lied and said 'Vancouver'. They can have him!

I have finally mastered the art of tranferring pictures from a digital camera to a laptop without Ian's assistance.... and it only took me the better part of a month to learn. However, I have selected just a few pictures from the vacation that Maebh and I took to Hanoi in June of this year. During our stay in Hanoi we took a two day trip around the world heritage site of Halong Bay. The journey was magnificent as watching the enormous limestone islets shoot from water that ranged from blue to rather lagoon like green was awe inducing. The first picture was taken at 6am from the top deck of our junk boat. We slept over night on the junk, but due to intense heat in the cabins I got up early to get some air. The boats are those of local fishermen going to work, travelling through the inlets and bays of Halong Bay.

The second picture is one that I am particularly proud of and should I ever come across a photo competition for 'Those That Have Been To Vietnam And Have Great Pictures To Prove It', I have every intention of entering and winning. The area where I took this picture is the site of the our incident with the local armed forces. The dirt path was a long way off from achieving road status and barely wide enough for a honda 50, yet our tour bus and the army jeeps(we presume they were training in the area), decided they could of course make it down the path at the same time. It was not to be, resulting in the jeep and tour bus scraping sides. Not very enjoyable for the Danish guy sitting beside me (window side),as he was afforded an up close and personal view of the little lake due to the force from the army jeep, pushing our bus closer and closer to the edge of said lake. Of course, did the army jeeps stop after mangling the tour bus. NO. The result of that was seeing our bus driver give chase, disappear around the corner, leaving us alone, in the middle of nowhere with a bus. He eventually came back. Minus an apology from the army. At least my picture is nice.

Picture 3 speaks for itself really. It was taken at the Hanoi War Museum at the base of the Cot Co Flag Tower. What you can see in the picture is military waste. If I knew my war crafts I would list the names of those on display, but, I don't. I did read what they all were at the time, but I blame the heat for erasing all war related information from my head. ( I do believe there were MIG's there though............)

Maebh and I also visited the Temple of Literature which was a magnificent example of Vietnamese architecture. Picture 4 is taken from the interior of one of the buildings. I was quite favouring the inside to outside pictures instead of the outside to inside ones, as the intense afternoon heat was playing havoc with little fragile me. So, I sought refuge in the cool (ish) indoor environment.

While sailing around Halong Bay we stopped at one of the caves that are quite common around the area. The cave that we visited was illuminated with a broad spectrum of colours, some so blinding it was rather difficult to see the rock facing. However, I have my doubts as to whether or not the interior of the caves are genuine, seeing as some of the rock formations looked rather unnatural and did not have the texture one associates with caves. Nevertheless, the interiors were certainly interesting to view. The final picture shows the orange illumination in contrast to the natural light stealing in from an opening.

Yesterday I saw the teeny tiny weener family. Grandad, dad and son tearing up and down the beach with ........well i was going to say with "everything hanging out"................ but ......well..........

It just does not cease to amaze how free and willing these men are to strip to their birthday suits and frolic in the surf.

Of course I cannot talk , seeing as I went out in high waves again, this time with a bodyboard and successfully lost the bottom half of my bikini twice....yes that was fun...diving under incoming waves praying to all the gods that it hadn´t been washed to shore.

Y viva Espana

And so I have been thrown from Korean mayhem into Spanish mayhem, but at least the Spanish don´t care. Today I went swimming in a red flag area because the waves were enormous and I wanted in on the action and did anyone stop me...........? No. Also in stark contrast to Korea are the number of penises (penii?) on display. The Spanish and German men just love to let it ALL hang out and take great pleasure in stripping to their birth state and let the wind flap it around.......

Joyfully it is hot, but not nasty Korea or Vietnam hot so I have taken to sitting out in the sun n the vague hope that i might oneday resemble a somewhat ripened tomato.

I also bought a little black dress here and was most upset when the idiot working the counter just dumped my dress into a bag and dropped my change on the counter. I created a little scene. Got the dress folded into a bag. The change was still thrown at me though............

I also keep asking how much things cost in Korean etc.... and I am most outraged that the Spanish have not embraced the Korean culture and perfected the basic words.

Still though, they seem to have accepted the Irish as there is a Super Value up the street. How I snorted when I saw that...............

Nothing quite beats the feeling of returning home after a long period of time, meeting up with old friends and disovering that your friendship hasn't altered in any way. It really does make you smile.


Tonight I went to a tapas bar in Cork with Aaron and his wonderful boyfriend, John. We enjoyed an outstanding series of tapas, although I must say my plate was particulary perfect what with the local cheese and smoked ham. I had forgotten how entertaining Aaron and his friends are and just how enjoyable it could be to sit with them in a cosy bar enjoying good food and wine, with no one bothered or upset by their flamboyant tendencies. We certainly are not in Korea any more, Toto.

I also blew a fortune on clothes this weekend, but that's another matter, although I am quite in love with my red, ridiculously high heeled shoes..........now to find the right occassion and the right surface to walk on, ensuring minimum damage to ankles.

And so it is all over.

My Korean experience, which was to last twelve months and not three years, is complete. I leave tomorrow for Hong Kong, then to London and then Dublin. I will stay in Ireland for a brief time and then onto Canada to be with Ian.

It feels so very strange to think that I may never see Daegu, my school or people I have met here again. I can't even put into words the feelings I have about leaving here. I presume that I will be a little emotional when the plane takes off from Seoul, but I do hope one day I will be able to return to the place that gave me so much.

O f course once I get to Limerick I will have been travelling non stop for 36 hours, if not more, so the only emotion that will be going around my head will be the love for my bed.

Maebh and I are in Hanoi and it is HOT! Not just hot, but very very very hot. However, it is a combination of very beautiful and incredibly hectic. So much so that Maebh is in her element participating in extreme road crossing ( there arent any lanes here and no one acknowledges lights so traffic is a free for all) and I shriek and scream like...well... a girl while clutching her arm as we navigate traffic. Yes, I am made of steel.

We are staying in an adorable hotel with a really nice room, complete with ants and lizards and fabulously strong Vietnamese coffee.

However if one more person trys to sell me postcards I may be deported for commiting a nasty crime. It has gotten to the stage where Maebh and I are pretending we don't speak any English, but we really haven't perfected our art, as when we asked where we are from we are never too sure of what continent, never mind what country, we are from.

Today we are going to view Ho Chi Minh's resting spot... we are going there by motorbike. I hope to make it back in one piece, although the huge sign in the centre of Hanoi saying that there were 539 traffic deaths last year does not fill me with any hope.

Soccer, I mean football..no soccer...wait..


Some of you may be aware of a minor sporting even taking place in a little known area, I believe referred to as, Germany. Some call this sporting event, the “Beautiful Game”, others consider is a rather large bore and then there are the few die-hard Korean fans who eat, sleep and poop the game. Korea played Togo on Tuesday night, so a 4-way intersection with 12 lanes was closed down in Daegu, 4 super duper screens were erected and the odd enthusiastic fan ventured to the intersection to cheer on the national treasure. I have an enormous stash of pictures from the night, but my camera is missing the cable that magics shots from it to a computer. So, once again I have had to borrow some pictures from Maryanne. In case you are wondering, red is the favoured colour for the national team and the little red horns are not representing what you think they are representing. The Korean team players have been nicknamed the, ‘Red Devils’. Silly me thought the title belonged to Manchester United. I have some videos from the night, but it will be a few weeks before I gather my technological know-how and various essential wires and cables










Estimated numbers for those in attendance at the above intersection alone was 50,000. Yet, despite the volume of people, it was oddly organised. There weren't any visible police or riot staff, yet everyone behaved with great dignity. The most surprising aspect was that everyone sat on the street. The only people standing were those at the rear of each street. Standing was only permitted when a goal was scored and in case you weren't aware of the goal, fireworks were shot up into the air from the centre of the crowd! Organising officials were certainly optimistic, as at the end of the game we were treated to a 5 minute fireworks display. Pretty!

Richard, my brother and his friend, Sarah Jane arrived in Daegu on Friday night. We took them out on Saturday night and unfortunately, a member of our party got a little bit drunk and decided that the sofa in one bar was a perfect substitute for his own bed.

Ian and I indulged in one of my favourite dishes here. It is called shabu shabu and has its origins in Japan. The basic method is to place slivers of cold meat in a pot of boiling broth and cook them for a few seconds before placing the cooked strip on a lettuce leaf with some kimchi, rice and gotchujang. Fabulous!


Below is a board that was in the downtown area of Daegu. On each red ribbon are good luck wishes for the Korean soccer team. Koreans are a patriotic bunch so all hopes are being pinned on their soccer stars.
The lady at the bottom was doing face painting in Daegu during one of their street festivals. I liked her look. Felt she brought the ancient Orient into the modern environment with great success.

Every country has its ups and downs, its pros and its cons , ( as demonstrated by a previous post). However, Ireland has its own share of faults, although what this article lists, suggests a little more than a 'share'.

In other news Maebh and I will be going to Hanoi at the end of June.

Hurrah.

Nergh

There are certain aspects of the Korean people and their culture that baffle me. I have been here since 2003 and still I am perplexed and antagonised by some of their actions

1. The incessant giggling- whenever Koreans are embarrassed or unsure of what to say or do to a foreigner they turn to their nearest and dearest and giggle. Infuriating. Stop giggling and try to work with me!

2. The rubbish- there aren't any rubbish bins, wheelie bins or large French style communal bins. Instead, the street is considered a suitable dumping ground. A few yards from Ian's apartment building door is a pile of rubbish so vile and nauseating that it is becoming somewhat of a chore to walk past it. Of course you can't just throw your rubbish anywhere. There are designated spots. This basically means that the street cats and rats are guaranteed three square meals plus snacks a day.

3. The complete and utter lack of communication between employers, employees and office workers- 99.9% of the time I never know what is happening at my school. I have lost count of the number of times I have walked into one of my classes to find a new student that hasn't got a lick of English and is terrified of the foreign face. It seems unimportant to keep teachers informed of students. I am also amused at the demands often made to have lesson plans, exams, agendas and corrections completed by 6pm when you have been notified of said requests at 4pm.

4.The World Cup- you can't move here for "Go Korea" shirts, jumpers, cups, hats, toys, blah blah... The kids are excited, the adults are excited, EVERYONE is excited for Korea's games. But ask any of them when the matches are being played, who Korea's opponents are and who the members of the team are and you will be met with very perplexed faces.

5. The attitude concerning the education of a child- dear lord in heaven someone needs to sponsor these kids a holiday. From the day of conception until the day they break free from the maternal hold (roughly aged 30), Korean kids are expected to be studying and absorbing as much information as they can so they can get high powered, respectable jobs and never have a childhood. Most kids here don't understand the concept of being bored, simply because their carefully planned educational schedules don’t permit it, most kids here don't understand playing for the hell of it, because again, playtime is to be done in accordance with the schedule and if they don't get any homework THEY REMIND YOU TO GIVE THEM HOMEWORK. I have encountered boys aged 6 that have had hysterical meltdowns because they saw a worm and children that can't play "catch”, because...well...they can't 'catch'.

6. The failure to "Think outside the Box"- Korean culture dictates that people operate as a group resulting in individualism being low on the ground. The Family Unit is very important, as is the notion of cohesive teamwork and uncritical acceptance of absurd office actions. In offices here, the boss is the be all and the end all. What he says goes and cannot be questioned or opposed due to the Confucianism system. Therefore, what the matriarch, patriarch or employer suggests or requests must be done without question. This makes life infuriating for the liberal Westerner who is accustomed to having the rules bent from time to time to accommodate their needs.

7. Working- Koreans are expected to devote their lives to their job, or if they have children, then they become the basis of their mother's actions. For the professional worker, their hours are ludicrous. Some start at 8am and can still be in their offices at 9pm that night. The hard-working westerner will point out that they too are sometimes subjected to these hours, but there is a difference. Work is not consistent here. Work is constantly being interrupted by naps, trips around the office, meal times, phone calls, meal times, texting, trips to the store, texting, moaning about exhaustion, texting and daydreaming. (I should point out that my school is a glaring exception to this as everyone puts in hard work while present). Koreans are all about 'showing face’ so even giving the impression of work is considered acceptable. Maebh and I cracked the rational behind this last year while touring the War Museum in Seoul. It appears that the North Koreans broke through the border into the South while half the Southern border forces were on their day off, so you can understand the fear.......... sort of. In fact vacation days are thin on the ground here. Ask anyone if they have been to a different country and most will reply in the positive. Push them further and you will hear that they "did" Europe in 5 days flat or they travelled from LA to San Francisco to Chicago and back again in the same time. They do not receive our lengthy holidays and are rather envious when informed of opposing actions in other countries.

8. Queue skipping- I can't even type about it. It is the best way to drive my blood pressure through the roof.

9. Xenophobia- very high here and unlikely to change for some time. Koreans are very very proud of their pure blood and do not want it tarnished.

Of course, it has been pointed out to me that actions such as those above, are not unique to Korea. Perhaps, being a foreigner, in a not so foreigner friendly country, has prompted such thoughts, but my observations are not isolated as a hefty number of people concur and have their own grievances. However, Korea is determined to be a power to contend with, both politically and economically in the near future, but its xenophobic attitude and unwillingness to change is curbing such actions. But then again, if Ireland was able to give itself an image overhaul noticed on the world stage, then there is hope for Korea.

I was marking a series of tests completed by the high level classes in our school on Friday and came across quite the gem. One of the questions asked the students to explain the significance of the stars and stripes on the American flag. One girl suggested the following, " There are stripes on the American flag because there are many zebras in America".

I gave her full marks for being ridiculous.

Long story short. Broke my five month old Zen player in a terrible air-to-floor incident. Distinct lack of Creative stores in Korea. Went mad from lack of music. Bought a shuffle... the smaller one. Laughed my way to the checkout as got it for a whopping E49.

Give myself another five months before I break this one.

This is my first contact with a horse since coming to Korea. I am ashamed to have indulged in the excitement around the poor animal, seeing as this picture is taken outside the main door of a department store on a footpath in the middle of a city. Friday was "Children's Day", and so horses were brought to my part of town with little kids placed atop them and paraded up and down the footpath. How cruel. How entertaining for children who have never seen, let alone touched a horse. Koreans are unaware of how to act around horses as their contact with them is minimal so it was understandable that they were unaware of the correct way to approach the animals. People were shocked to see me amble up to this little fellow and give him a carrot, without droopping it to the ground and running away like a woman possessed. The crowning moment was when I turned away from the pony and noticed that others who had touched him were greasing their hands up with hand sanitiser........


Sigh.

Last Thursday brought with it our school sports day. Biggest child there? Me. Yes, twenty five year old me battled for first place with five year olds and I was letting no one beat me. Pathetic you say, and to your pathetic stance I do concur. Mind you though, we did get to go to the Children's Park in the city, which is a leafy escape from the incessant Daegu sounds and pollution. The weather was rather warm, but sun and sunburn held no fear for me, as I spent most of my time on the swings or the climbing frame and only gave into the pleads of the kids to push them, when I could no longer tolerate their puppy dog stares.

And before you ask, yes, I did sleep like a baby that night......

Below we see one of my preschoolers...look at him..all worn out. I should point out that this picture was taken we when we ARRIVED at the park. The walk from the bus to the mat apparently wore him out.


Another one of my little tots was more or less glued to the swing. My arms and back are still in tremendous pain from all the pushing.



And some are a little camera shy

I am so congested that with every intake of breath I revert to my snot laden, six-year old existence. It appears that I am not immune to the "Yellow Winds". Allow me to explain. Each year, winds blow from the Gobi Desert over Korea and Japan, bringing with them sand dust from the desert. However, these winds whirl and gust through industrial areas and offer free rides to all the pollutants and toxins they encounter and then drop them off at various hotspot destinations...Daegu, being one of them. Doctors warn people to stay indoors during strong winds. However, if you must leave the house then they advise the sporting of face masks, making everyone look like an ER extra on tour in Korea. Of course, the foreigner brigade is above such unfashionable facial attire,( in truth we are loathe to part with the W2000 to buy one), and instead prefer to battle our way to work each day, while inhaling a sandbox worth of dust. I can no longer breathe through one nostril and am going to have to ingest a packet of Actifed. It is expected that all my nuclear attack training will go to waste if there is a blast, what with my intended popping of coma inducing pills.

Gosh darn it.

Bah. Moan. Groan. Mutter. Complain.

Twenty five blasted degrees celsius today.

I am so unhappy. It's only the start of May and already I fear for those around me that will be subjected to my incessant twitterings about the heat.

In other news, I nearly crossed over to the medical side today. During one of my classes this afternoon, I felt a tap on my arm and looked up to see one of my little kids with his hands to his nose, with blood running down his wrists. I initially thought he had stuck his finger or a scissors up his nose. It turns out that he is prone to nosebleeds from time to time and this was one of those times. We went through an entire toilet roll trying to quell the bleeding. The kid and I were completely unfazed by the levels of blood, but some of the Korean teachers were in hysterics. So, to avoid nosebleeds on their parts, I took the kid to the bathroom and set about stopping the bleed. It was near impossible. Each time I took a wad of paper from his nose, the blood literally gushed from his nostril. His face and clothes were a pretty shade of scarlet and the bathroom sink and floor no longer appeared virginal white. Eventually someone suggested making little wads to block his nostril...this proved futile when the wads started to soak up blood faster than a sponge. I had never seen such a nosebleed before. It took a full twenty minutes for it to curb somewhat.

I am a responsible adult, so as he was leaving for home, I suggested he enjoy some red meat and broccoli for a health boosting meal.

I would imagine he is still getting his head around that one.

Today is May 1st. I have a mere seven weeks left in Korea. I have very mixed feelings about leaving here for good. When I first left here to return home last year, I was ecstatic. I could not hide the happiness and excitement I had for getting home and settling back into the comfortable western lifestyle. However, this contract has proven very different. I have more than enjoyed my time here. I have loved the school, loved being so near Ian and loved my neighbourhood. There have of course being ups and downs, but the ups have outweighed the downs.

I am not sure what to expect when I set foot on Irish soil and I am not sure how I will react to understanding everyone around me, not being pushed, not being yelled at in Korean and not undergoing a major struggle just to complete the simplest of activities.

Maybe it will be fun to be back.....