University Life

Hello again,

At the end of my last post I promised to write again and share something of my new life at university. Here goes then.

The building that I live in is pretty amazing. It's an 18 floor orange monster that towers over pretty much everything around it, even in a society as keen on high-rise living as Korea. I actually live on the 18th floor, the penthouse if you like, and work on the 9th. Throw in the fact that the gym and the screen golf are on the 6th floor, a pool hall on the 3rd, a bunch of restaurants and cafes on the first two floors, along with a convenience store, a bookshop, a hairdressers, a laundrette and a doctor's surgery, and there's very little reason to leave. In fact, I managed to stay inside for 72 hours straight last week without ever really noticing. If this sounds unhealthy, I'd point out that going outside involves gulping down great lungfuls of industrial smog, and probably isn't really a good idea.

I'm very definitely going to get lazy living here. Not only can I get three meals a day cooked for me in the canteen for a minimal price if I want, I also just have to hang a sign on my door if my room's getting dirty, and a lady comes and cleans it. Plus, all my utilities including internet are thrown in. Not a bad deal really.

The area around the university really doesn't have that much to offer. We're essentially perched between two of the larger industrial estates in korea and a container port. There's the usual collection of fried chicken shops, barbecue restaurants, bars and singing rooms that will be depressingly familiar to anyone with exclusive of urban Korea. I am however in a golden triangle of E-Mart, Lotte Mart and Homeplus (Tesco), meaning that most of my ex-pat specific shopping needs can be quickly and easily taken care of.

Professionally things are going quite well so far. I teach 18 class hours a week (in actuality these are only 40 our 50 minutes each) to three classes of 20 students. In addition, there are up to 8 "cafe hours" a week, where students can come and have one on one conversation practice. The difference in teaching is huge here; I am able to do things that I am learning about on my MA course in the classroom, that I was unable to do with large public school classes because of student levels, motivation, our simply the dynamics of a class of 30 students. I'm able to follow a proper conversation driven methodology, and it's heartening to see most of my new students enjoying taking to each other in English. Let's hope it continues.

There's not a whole lot of news really. University starts again tomorrow - sociolinguistics, which doesn't greatly inspire me, but maybe will if I read enough. I've also found a football team to play for, which is definitely the most international I've ever played for. Current playing staff include Americans, Canadians, Guatemalans, Mexicans, a Spaniard, a Moroccan and a Korean who lived in Tunbridge Wells for a year. Mental.

Will try to post some nice pictures of something next time. Until then...

A

Leaving

Hi again,

This is the first blog post that I've written from my new home. Most of you know this already, but I've moved from my little town and little schools in the mountains of Gangwon-do, to the industrial suburbs south-west of Seoul to teach at a university here.

This of course, meant saying goodbye to friends and colleagues that I've made over the past two years in my little town, which was of course a tremendously sad, and incredibly drunken experience. It all started with an overnight teacher trip down the east coast of Korean, visiting caves, fish museums, and finishing up in a crab restaurant with a lot of soju and a whole crab each.

If you're wondering, this is a rock formation in the cave. 

Note the pretend microphone fashioned from two soju bottles and a pair of spoons. Classy. 

Following this was a "little" party back in Jinbu, at the marvellous Bar Cello. I have to say thanks to everyone (foreign and Korean) who came and made it an unforgettable night, that is at the same time very difficult to remember. Possibly the strangest part was fancy dress gear appearing at about 2am, as evidenced below. It wound up with an 8.30am walk home, and perhaps the worst Monday I have ever experienced. Worth it though.

After I stopped alternately shivering and sweating, began to be able to eat again, and the endless looping of Take A Look Around by Limp Bizkit in my head subsided a little (this was about Wednesday) I decided to get drunk again. Well, I say I decided; in actual fact my friends decided for me my inviting me to a barbecue in a carpenter's workshop. This did afford me one of those uniquely Korean experiences though - cleaning a barbecue using meat and booze. The procedure is as follows: light the charcoal (with a blowtorch, of course), and then put the grill top on. Once it gets nice and hot, choose some fatty bits of meat, and rub them all over the top of it, until you have a nice paste of dirt and hot fat. Then, throw a bottle of the local spirit over the top to wash this paste off and sterilize the grill. If you're lucky, you'll get a nice lungful or two of boozy steam as well (nb. I'm almost certain that this is not good for you). Korea, I think you should be worried when your national beverage is cheap and strong enough to be used as barbecue cleaner. Just saying.

Cleaning in process.

After we'd cooked the meat, we then engaged in some proper man cooking - making fried rice. This involves throwing rice, any leftover meat, and pretty much anything else that's lying around on the grill and mashing it all up (using what looked suspiciously like a plastering tool). It actually turned out surprisingly well, too.

Men at work. 

And then, sadly, it was time to say goodbye to my apartment, which while a little bit tatty, will be by far the biggest place I will have to myself for a while. It's also been the scene of a lot of happy memories - I'll always remember 성원APT 1동 1002호, it's name will always send shivers down my spine.

On the way out :(

Still, on to bigger and, err, smaller things. As with most jobs in Korea, my new one provides accommodation, though this time it's in the dormitory. Still, I've actually been pleasantly surprised by the size of the room. It's about 18 feet by 9 feet, and is well enough designed to squeeze in a bed, desk, dressing table, sofa, a wardrobe and large cupboard as well as a bathroom. All of my stuff fits comfortably in (although I threw a lot out before I left). I've also gone up in the world, moving from the 10th to the 18th floor.

Night view. 

Day view. 

 View from the door.

Bathroom. 

Sofa, bed, and as yet undisposed of moving boxes.

Dresser. 

Desk.

Right, that's all for now. I'll write another post about teaching and work fairly soon. Until then...

A