Recent happenings

Ever felt really desperate to see some photos of drunk Koreans, baseball and bald men? I thought so which is why I'm on hand to satisfy all your cravings.

Every first year student in Korea has to go on an MT (membership training) weekend with their department where they are forced into playing silly games and bullied into drinking far more than they want to by their senior students. Our English department had our MT a couple of weeks ago, I was there to help make sure things didn't get too out of hand. I like to think I made a good job of it but to be honest I was far too drunk to remember anything much.

The students may be older this year but that doesn't mean they are any more grown up

Grilled meat and booze - it's what's made Korea great (that's my boss in the middle)

On the last night Joseph and his girlfriend celebrated their anniversary. Sweet.

Last Friday I went to watch a baseball game. To my surprise I managed not to spend all night complaining about how it was nothing compared to cricket (my friend helpfully punched me everytime I started) and actually managed to enjoy myself.

I still found this man's bald pate the most interesting thing at the game though

Random pictures of getting drunk with students:

I've found a lot more interesting food shops than I managed to in Gumi so far this year but fresh herbs are still in problem. Luckily I managed to extract some of Bryant's stash of seeds and have set the little buggers to work on my balcony. If it works I plan to be the local purveyor of rare herbs, standing on street corners whispering "ey mate want an ounce of basil?"

That's it for now, I know you're all pathetically grateful that I am posting this marvellous stuff but really don't thank me I'm just happy to be of service.

I'm back!

That's right I'm in Korea once again, with all new job, town and fancy camera to show you just what I get up to.

Since I know everyone must be quite literally dying to know what I've been doing since I last updated this page in November, here are some pictures to sate your curiosity, don't get too excited now...

I left Korea on Dec 1st. Good timing for a spot of Christmas dinner.

I followed that up with a trip to Rome and Florence with some friends for New Year's. Both places were very pretty and I got diarrhea.




So then back to Korea. Jobless. Luckly Bryant and Traci are living in my old apartment and they offered me the sofa for a few nights. Oh the fools. I ended up staying for 4 weeks doing nothing but scratching my arse while they went out to work all day Mwah ha ha

Whilst I was in England they had acquired a Kieth and a Jenny. Kieth is a genial Canadian, Jenny is a hot American but also a vegetarian and hence not to be trusted

Eventually I stopped scratching, got up and went to Japan. This was no mere whimsical trip though but a serious mission to obtain a Korean work visa in Fukuoka.

So that I could come back and work here - Konyang University (http://www.konyang.ac.kr/english/). I like it.

Konyang is in the small city of Nonsan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonsan). There are around 8000 students at the university spending their parent's money on beer

I have a nice new apartment to go with the job and a not so nice drunk old twat downstairs who bangs on the floor if I fart too loudly

I also have my own office where I do astonishingly little work

In fact I spend most of my time at our Daejeon campus distracting Moon Hee from her work while I wait for the rare occasions when I have to teach a class. (N.B. She wouldn't let me use the photo I took today because "glasses not pretty" and insisted on emailing me a better one instead. She will read this so I won't comment)

These uni students get younger every year! Actually the uni has me teaching this one class of kids. They provide a nice contrast to the hungover psychotherapy or management students who I spend the rest of my time with.

Nonsan's claim to fame in the world is as a strawberry producer. Last weekend saw the annual strawberry festival. Some friends from Gumi came, we got drunk and you are now up to date. Expect more photos as soon as I do anything interesting or (more likely) after I've done nothing of interest at all. Bye for now..

Autumn and stuff

Happy news for anyone who's suffered from reading all my rubbish: this is very likely my last post from Korea - at least for this year anyway. There is still the chance I'll inflict more inane ramblings on you when I return next year.

Anyways it's November now and bloody cold to boot. I've not really done a great deal recently due to my attempts to stem the flow of cash that seems to slip perpetually through my fingers but I did realise that I've never really posted any photos that show what we get up to at work so here are some of the Halloween party we had last month (there is also a truly horrendous video of me dancing in the batman suit but I'm not sure the public is ready for that). Korea actually looks quite nice in the Autumn so I've added a few snaps I took out on the bike the other day as well. And a few of my face looking fucked up that I made when I was bored. because.

Would you believe me if I told you they dress like this every day?

Elly cant decide whether to be an angel or demon

Erica knows she's safe in Gotham now

Sunny goes for some wierd witch/Dame Edna/Elton John effect

Charlie and Sally in special candy finding glasses

Autumn stuff

It won't be long before this snow plow is in use, glad I'm swapping it for an exotic Birkenhead winter

I cant help thinking this one makes me look a bit like a horse

Curry and Palaces

I do love a good curry. Unfortunately the residents of Gumi have not yet embraced the delights of cuisine from the subcontinent and so until last night I had been a full 10 months without even so much as a hint of a poppadom.
Saturdays are usually quite hectic here and yesterday was no exception as I sat on the sofa in my pants busily flicking between old episodes of CSI and Korean gameshows. Rob was in Seoul though, gloating about the Indian restaurant he was visiting in the evening and there's only so much I can take. I've never traveled for 3 hours before just for one meal but I'm happy to report that it was completely worth it, right down to the last morsel of naan stuffed into my distended belly.
Today then I was in Seoul with nothing much to do. I've never really done any of the tourist sights there so I wondered around Insadong, a nice area with lots of traditional shops and the best place to buy Korean tat and then went to Gyeonbokgung palace. It's very big and was probably home to some kings at some time or another. As it was an unscheduled visit I didn't have my camera so these are taken on my phone, sorry if they're a bit rubbish.