Grev takes to the (shallow) slopes.

Brrr. I've just checked tomorrow's weather forecast. It's getting down to -15C tonight, and won't get above -6C for the entirety of tomorrow. That's getting pretty cold, even compared to England's new status as an Arctic outpost. Still, I'm not too cold as long as I'm inside. Korean people seem to feel the cold worse than most. They've been complaining and banging the heating on since the temperature dropped out of the 20s this autumn, so the school is equipped with fierce sounding gas stoves in every classroom, and the teachers' room is kept at a sub-tropical temperature. The snow, however, is yet to become a regular feature.

This doesn't deter the Korean ski resorts around me, who have fired up their snow guns and been open for several weeks now. It's this can-do spirit that will hopefully see them land the 2018 Winter Olympics. It always amuses me to see Pyeongchang described as a candidate city, when it is in fact a tiny town of around 7,000 inhabitants. Anyhow, it seems a bit of a waste to live in the best winter sports area in Korea and not at least give it a try, so when fellow-teacher Tom announced he'd be out of town one Sunday I borrowed his boots, board, lift pass and goggles and headed for Yongpyeong to try some snowboarding.

I had my doubts about snowboarding. I tend to enjoy sports where I can make up for a complete lack of grace and finesse with physical effort. Snowboarding is definitely not one of these sports, seemingly requiring only balance, and the adjustment of downward pressure on your toes and heels to keep you pointing where you want to go. However, largely thanks to the Rudy's patient efforts to teach me, I was able to tackle a biggish beginners slope by the end of the day, turning both ways and being able to stop more or less where and when I wanted. Of course, I still managed to hit the ground spectacularly a few times, for which I am still paying now, but overall the fun I had was worth the pain, and I'll definitely be going again soon.

Here's the indisputable evidence that I was, at one point at least, on a snowboard:

Getting ready

Headshot!

Up...

Up...

And away!

Rudy's training methods get a bit ahead of themselves.

I didn't go up there. It looked terrifying.

This took a little while while they worked out what Yongpyeongs initials were.

On the lift. Proof that we at least went up high.

Smiles mixed with a hint of terror.

We went down here. As with the cycling photos, it's steeper than it looks. Promise.

Caitlyn in action.

After a hard day on the slopes, what better than some delicious Korean fare to warm the chill from your bones and the pain from your buttocks? We ended up in a restaurant in Jinbu that I'd never tried before. The menu didn't reveal much about each dish, and so I managed to persuade everyone to just pick something, in an attempt to expand my knowledge of Korean food. The restaurateur assured us that Do-ru-mok-jiggae was really delicious, so we rolled the dice. It turned out to be a spicy concoction of pieces of pregnant fish, with radish and onion. Interesting to say the least. In actual fact it wasn't too bad, but the eggs were a little chewy and didn't really taste of too much. My big complaint with Korean fish recipes is that the fish skin, bones, tail, eyes and everything else is simply chucked into the soup, meaning you spend as much time picking bits out as you do eating. Still, at least I know what Do-ru-mok-jiggae is now, and so do you.

Timing!

Friends

At the end of summer vacation I resolved to study Korean a lot harder. The time I spent schlepping around Korea brought home just how much I didn't know, and so I set myself a target of 6 hours study a week. I've kept to it, and my Korean has now jumped up a level from "serviceable in a restaurant" to "basic conversational". I still only understand about 20% of what anyone says to me, but I am at least able to say quite a lot these days.

The fact that I can now hold up one end of a basic conversation means that I've made the odd non-English speaking friend, as well as surprising old ladies in shops occasionally. By far the best of these is Jae-yeong, one of the Jinbu footballers. I say Jae-yeong, but when I remember I call him "Hyeong", which is Korean for older brother. In Korea names are rarely used for people older than you. Familial or professional titles are used instead, so all my colleagues at school are "Seon-saeng-nim" (teacher) rather than their names. It does have the advantage of meaning I never have to remember anyone's name.

Jae-yeong and his wife have a daughter, Se-ah who may be the cutest child I have ever met. Stacy and I have become her uncle and aunt (she has many of these) and now spend as much time as possible spoiling her and making her wink for us. The child is a born flirt and favours dancing and pretending things are telephones. She doesn't speak English yet, though I'm working on it.

Here are some of the photos of everyone.

The above are from the Sol Beach Hotel, a swanky resort on the coast near Yangyang. Apparently it's a favourite Korean celebrity hang out. Jaeyeong and I are thinking of hiring the whole place out for our shared birthday, though it seems like it might be a little expensive.

Like I said, Se-ah enjoys pretending that things are telephones. In the case of the above photo, it's my camera case.

These were taken at my apartment after we'd been out for dinner. I think that Se-ah is going to be a K-pop star when she grows up. As proof, there's a video below of her dancing. Sadly, some halfwit is drunkenly singing My Way in the background, so you'd best watch it with the sound turned down.

I think that more or less covers it for this post. More adventures coming soon.

A

Reassuring Words

Most of you will be aware that last Tuesday North Korea fired "dozens" of artillery shells at Yeonpyeong island, a South Korean territory close to the disputed maritime border between the two states. The barrage killed two soldiers and two civilians on this island, and the political repercussions are still echoing between the two Koreas, America and China. What you might be wondering is whether this means that I will be coming home rather earlier than I previously stated. Well, the short answer is no, not unless things get a lot worse, and the aim of this post is to give some of the reasons why I believe they won't.

Firstly, and most tellingly, no-one that I am acquainted with in Korea is really worried about this. South Koreans are used to this behaviour from their neighbour, sadly. Back in March, the Cheonan was sunk (allegedly) by North Korea, killing 47 sailors. This from a country which has also blown up airliners, murdered defectors on South Korean soil, and generally behaved with the lowest standards of decency or regard for human life, yet the truce (technically the two Koreas are still at war) still holds. By all accounts there is more public outrage here than with previous incidents, but most of my colleagues at school simply dismissed the incident with a sad shrug. Nobody here wants to go (back) to war, and I suspect that if it came to a vote there would be little appetite for conflict.

Secondly, from my understanding of the political situation, none of the interested parties (with perhaps the exception of Japan) stands to gain from a war. Let's deal with the South first: a war would be hugely costly to the South. While in terms of hardware and technology South Korea is way ahead, and has the support of the US who would step in to help, a war would be unlikely to end quickly, and certainly not before Seoul had suffered major damage. Following the almost inevitable victory, South Korea would then have to deal with the remaining North Korean population. People here always tell you they are in favour of reunification, but would the South really want to take on 23 million starving, poorly educated and possibly brainwashed citizens. I've read a little of the difficulties that North Korean defectors have to adapting to life in the South. This would be the same but on a huge (and hugely expensive) scale. The war and the aftermath would cost trillions of dollars, with neither the South or the USA keen to pick up the bill.

China certainly doesn't want a war. I don't think they would actively fight against the USA (though they may provide other support for NK), and if they do the conflict would quickly escalate into a global conflict, and we're all for it. However, if they leave North Korea to lose, then they invite US troops on to their doorstep, which they couldn't countenance.

The biggest loser from a war though, is Kim Jong-Il. Whatever doubts you may have over his sanity and humanity, what is surely not in doubt is his ego and his sense of self-preservation. If he starts a war he is signing death warrants for himself and his political dynasty. The Kim regime will not start a war that it is almost guaranteed to lose. It does however benefit is from instability. The threat of conflict can be used as leverage to clamp down further on dissident elements who are a threat to the transfer of power currently taking place, and also to force more food and energy aid from the South and China, which the country needs more desperately than ever.

I, and most people I have spoken to, seem to feel that a normal course of action will follow. Korea and the US will put on a show of military strength, the North will make some threats, everyone will find a way to back down without losing any face, and more aid trucks will cross the border for a while. Things will go back to normal, I'll get hopeful when my won creeps up in value, and then they'll do it again. At this point, my colleagues will once again shrug and say "Mr Kim. He is crazy."

So don't worry about me. If things look bad I'll come home, but for now life here is far to good to think about quitting for the sake of an infinitesimal possibility of war.

A

I love to ride my bicycle

Without a doubt the best investment that I've made since I've been in Korea is my bike. While it was a relatively large investment it's more than paid that back. Not only does it cut a good ten minutes from my commute to school, it's been priceless in allowing me to discover a lot of the countryside surrounding my town, and also further afield. I think I have probably cycled over a thousand miles since I got my bike in April.

There have been some memorable, and lengthy trips to mountains, beaches, forests, springs and towns and cities. I've racked up almost 50 miles in a day, and had several weekends where I've topped 100km. Sadly, this has wearied my bike a little, and it's no longer the proud steed that she was when purchased, but a slightly more rattly vehicle, and the maker of several worrying squeaks. Still, she's now in semi-hibernation for the winter, and hopefully a trip to the bike doctor will see her well set again in the spring.

The problem with cycling is that I don't get to take too many photos. This is a great shame, as the landscape around here is rarely less than spectacular. It's mountainous nature means that I'm usually either wheezing my way up a mountainside or risking my neck coming down it at enormous speed. Normally I don't stop to think about taking snaps.

So one Saturday morning I set out with the intention of photographing one of my favourite routes. In the mountains around where I live there are plenty of roads which see almost no traffic, and wind their way vertiginously up the sides of mountains. These, I've discovered, are the best roads in Korea, and the one I set out on is my absolute favourite. The route map and stats are here, but if you can't be bothered to read, it's about 2000ft of climbing all in all, but about the same in descent. Here are the photos, and some video that I took of it.

Jinbu farmland. The mountains in the background are more or less where I'm headed.

And more. It's pretty around here.

This road is almost new, but doesn't seem to go anywhere, and isn't used by anyone, except me.

Water is absolutely everywhere in Gangwon-do. Not that that's a bad thing.

No danger of me breaking the speed limit in this direction.

Goin´up.

And up.

And around.

And back.

And finally off-road up to the peak. I came up that road you can see.

The top for the first time.

The other side. I'd be nuts to go down just to cycle back up again, right?

So that road there is the way back to the top, from the other side. I'm a dumbass.

Eurgh.

This doesn't make it look nearly as steep as it is.

This is a bit better.

Genuinely. It really is this steep. My bike is ridiculously low geared, but even so I'm in first here. And sweating.

Almost there.

I came that way.

And here we are, the top again!

So really the whole point of going up hills is so that you can come down them again. When they're extremely steep and full of hairpin bends it's even better. It sometimes makes me want to strap my camera to the front of my bike and film it. So I did. Really the first clip is the most interesting, but the second two give a nice account of what Gangwon-do mountain scenery is like. Here they are:

Bike Descent 1 from Alexander Grevett on Vimeo.

Bike Descent 2 from Alexander Grevett on Vimeo.

Bike Descent 3 from Alexander Grevett on Vimeo.

And finally, there she is. My trusty-ish steed. Still in one-piece at least.

That's it for now. More stuff to come as soon as I've learnt to speak Korean, Spanish and applied for my masters.

A

Bits and Pieces

Digging through my camera's memory card in search of blogging material, of which there is plenty to come, I came upon some interesting photos that don't quite deserve a space of their own, but might be interesting to you nonetheless.

What are you eating?

Yes, this might not look too appetising, but I promise you it's good. This is Doenjang Jiggae. This is one of the most traditional Korean dishes. You can put almost anything in it (I used vegetables and tofu here) and then just add soy bean paste, garlic and an anchovy and you're more or less good to go. Serve with rice, and a selection of kimchi (four types above, all provided by my co-teacher).

The real beauty of this dish is the dish (sigh). The ceramic pot that this is in goes on the stove, and you cook the stew in it. Once it's ready you just pop it on a wooden block and carry it to the table. Your food stays hot for longer, and it halves the amount of washing up you have to do. Beauty.

What are you up to with your kids?

These are my kids in grades 1 to 4 of one of my elementary schools. I realise there aren't many of them, but there are only 30 kids in the entire school. We spent a couple of after school classes translating their Korean names into the Roman alphabet, and then making them into masks. I took these photos to help me remember their names. Not my greatest brainwave, given that none of their faces are visible.

How's the weather?

Right now the temperature is plummeting, as we head towards the bitter mountain winter. Apparently last year it got down to -27C here. Chilly. I bought a pair of tights the other day to wear under my trousers when it gets really cold. I somehow feel like less of a man, though probably still more of a man than I would if I didn't have the tights and certain important parts of my anatomy froze off on the ride to school.

The phot's above were from a couple of months back, when a few days of biblical deluges turned the trickle that passes through Jinbu into a raging torrent. This is maybe 6 times the size it normally is.

How about Korean aesthetics?

Bewildering. My friend Stacy and I went for a walk in the buckwheat fields, and came upon a gaudy bench and a plastic pillar box. Beats me who put them there, and why.

Probably about to throw in some awesome fall scenery then?

Yup.

What were you saying about Korean aesthetics?

That they're mental. Feature this London bus sitting in the grounds of the Kensington Stars Hotel in Seoraksan. Complete with all original signage. Almost made me pine for Willesden, but not quite. Quite why a country with such a beautiful natural landscape has stuff like this dotted about is still beyond me.

Get to Seoul much?

Not if I can help it, but with a girlfriend living just the other side of it it's getting more difficult to avoid. This sunset almost makes it look nice though, and I did feel good at this point. Mostly because I was going home.

Adios,

A