How are you, Grev?

In which I make one of those general posts about my life. If you're not interested, feel free to stop reading here. I won't be hurt. I wouldn't want to read about me either. For those of you still with me...

Work

This is more or less my entire life these days, at least Monday to Friday. As I've griped about previously, I get up, start working, stop and go to bed. Actually it's not that bad, but I would think by the time 2011 finishes I'll have put as many hours into professional activities as I did in two when I worked in England. This isn't a bad thing - a lot of those extra hours are put in voluntarily and are aimed at making me a better teacher, which is often a very engaging and enjoyable process, which doesn't really fell like work.

At school I am two days away from being finished for the semester. Realistically, I am already done, as I'm spending this week doing listening discovery exercises with episodes of The Simpsons. Not a very tricky way to spend a week. However, teaching never really stops here, as the following two weeks I have summer camps to work. Korean education tends to view quantity of education as more important than quality, so there's never much of a chance to rest for student or teacher. I shouldn't complain too much though, some of my Korean colleagues get no summer vacation at all this year.

Similarly my studies are winding down. I say winding down, they're more winding up, as I have a little under 4 weeks to produce my final project for this module. For once I have made a decent start already, and I'm already 3,000 out of 6,000 words in. This weekend I have to listen to and transcribe 28 student interviews though, which is not going to be a lot of fun. Still, I'm confident of coming out of it with a decent grade.

Life

I am still finding time to have a little fun outside of work. It's been raining on and off here for the past three weeks which has dampened things a little, and completely wiped out football. One of the times it rained on was Monday evening and I was 8 miles away from home on my bike. I don't think I have ever been out in heavier rain. I could barely see 50 yards in front of me.

This weekend I was out and about in Itaewon. That's the district of Seoul where foreigners are almost in the majority, and where many of the embassies are based. It's actually a pretty nasty place a lot of the time as it's where all the American army members go out, but it's sometimes necessary to go there as it's possible to get essentials like lime pickle and mango chutney that just aren't available anywhere else in Korea. It also has a surfeit of not-shit (I'm not giving the American fruity muck they serve any better than that) beer on tap. I stayed there drinking until the baseball hats indoors crew turned up, then I cleared off to Hongdae instead.

What is pleasing me these days is Korean. I'm still not much good, but I can converse pretty easily with my friends as long as the topic is simple, and get along fine in everyday life. My MA is seriously limiting study time, but I've reached that wonderful stage in language learning where you start to pick up things just through exposure, rather than having to study them. I still want to get much better though.

Staying in Touch

I know I haven't been particularly good at keeping up with this blog, or with people who I should write to. I'm afraid that isn't that likely to change any time soon either, though if anyone is moved to send me a message of any kind I promise I will get back to you. These days I seem to be tumbling into a maelstrom of social media, but it's part of the job. Thus, if you want to contact me, or just read about me, there are a number of ways to do it:

- Email is the same as always.

- I still spend too much time on Facebook, so you can always get me through there.

- I now have a Google+, and invites to give away. Add me if you like.

- I will endeavour to write a blog post here every couple of weeks. You can always subscribe and leave me comments.

- My teaching blog is at http://breathyvowel.wordpress.com -this is mostly stuff I've been up to in the classroom, but may have the occasional interesting / funny piece.

- There is also an accompanying Twitter: @breathyvowel - I'm planning to use this as a general one from now on, but there will be quite a few ESL related tweets.

I think that's more or less it. Visitors are still welcome here if you fancy an exotic Asian getaway.

Was this post a bit needy? Oh well.

Until next time,

A

미안 (Sorry)

It hasn't been often that I've had to start a blog post with an apology for not posting for a while. Pretty much every post I wrote in Guatemala was prefaced with "sorry", but up to now in Korea I've been a lot better (probably because I've been an awful lot more sober). Worry not readers though (and some, well one, of you did), I haven't slipped back to the bottle, I have genuinely been too busy with other things to post on here.

I'm now starting out on my MA research assignment, looking at the effect of making your learners experts (relative to the teacher) in non-linguistic content. This involves video-recording, carefully planning 3 weeks of lessons and an awful lot of reading, all summarised in a 6,000 paper. I know I've already written about the difference between this and undergraduate work, but tonight I started to write my introduction more than 9 weeks before my assignment deadline - an unheard of and salutary experience.

I've also been busy tending to my other presence in the blogosphere, over at http://breathyvowel.wordpress.com. If anyone's interested in what I'm doing professionally you'll find quite a lot of stuff on there. I'm afraid that blog has taken priority over this one as it might help me with the next step of my career, which will probably take me away from my little town in Korea with a very heavy heart. More on that in the future when I actually figure it out.

As per usual these days, I haven't really been up to very much interesting. I've probably said this before, but my life as an ex-pat is probably far less exciting than yours, coupled with the fact that I need a mortgage to buy a block of average-quality extra mature cheddar. My days still follow a familiar pattern of Study Korean / Work / Exercise / Study TESOL, with the only thing different being whether I play Futsal or go to the gym. It does mean that I'm in pretty good shape - I'm weighing in at a positively weedy 11.25 stone (158 pounds) and there is some evidence that there may actually be muscle under the layer of flab on my belly. With the summer now almost here, I'll be quitting the gym next week to play football almost every night, and hopefully breaking out the bike again.

With the advent of summer, the opportunity to engage in one of my favourite pastimes comes around again, namely that of drinking outside shops. Many things in Korea are against the law, but tacitly accepted so long as you're not making a nuisance of yourself whilst doing it. Drinking in public is one of these. It's a very peaceful way to pass a summer evening, sitting outside your local supermarket with a 6 pack of beer and a tube of peanuts, and popping back in whenever you run out of anything.

I was reminded of the fact that I can do this by an old man sat outside the supermarket today. Due to the Confucian philosophy on which Korean society was founded, age is venerated, seemingly no matter what age is doing. In Korea it's not the juvenile delinquents you need to watch out for but the elderly ones, who seem to have license to do exactly as they please. This particular chap was taking advantage, and was sat alone with an empty litre bottle of soju and a pack or corn chips at least twice the size of his head. He appeared to be offering a running commentary on everything going on around him, to nobody in particular. This was going on when I went in to the store, and didn't appear to have let up at all when I reappeared 10 minutes later. One day, I hope to spend my idle afternoons in the same way.

I think that's enough words for now. I do actually seem to have some free time coming up, so I might manage a picturey post before the end of the weekend. If I don't, then I will at least try to post something soon, possibly pictures from the reprise of last year's camping trip, which I'm heading off on on Saturday.

Cheers,

A

Things ain't what they used to be...

I was looking forward to being a student again. The thought of rising at 2pm on a Sunday, going to the shop for a tuna sandwich and 4 cans of Strongbow and then settling down on the sofa for a day of Pro Evolution Soccer seemed an attractive one, especially because at no stage in that process did I envisage taking off my dressing gown. The reality isn't quite matching up to the dream at the moment. Turns out that a 40 hour week and an MA is quite a lot of work.

Given the amount of work I did at undergraduate level, I feel reasonably sure that I could have managed a 60 hour week, my degree and still managed to establish Bolton as the dominant power in European football. However, my MA requires me to do things completely alien to me like order journal articles from Japan, keep proper bibliographic notes and read things outside of those which I'm expressly commanded to read by my tutors.

This Sunday morning I rose at 10am (after a luxury lie-in having stayed up to watch West Ham's annual charity drive for Bolton's ailing goal difference) and after a quick breakfast and shower set to work reading about the theories underpinning communicative language teaching (Canale & Swain 1980). I stopped at 12 and caught the bus to Gangneung to purchase some knee supports, dental flossers and a jar of olives. I read Jeremy Harmer's Practice of English Language Teaching (2007) on the bus here and back. Then I got home and went back to work until 5, when I stopped and spent a couple of hours cleaning my apartment, during which I even used two different hoover attachments. I felt a bit studenty using window cleaner in lieu of furniture polish, but not nearly as much as I felt simply old. I hadn't even finished work either; take me back to Exeter.

All this work doesn't leave much time for having fun, so I don't have much in the way of photos of exciting stuff in Korea. I would have some cool shots of penguins and Linda feeding an otter, if I'd remembered to take my camera to Sea World with me last weekend, but I didn't. It also doesn't leave much time for cooking, so in a new feature I present Cooking With Grev #1: 10 minute Mandu-guk.

Mandu is the Korean word for dumpling. They're not so different from either Japanese or Chinese dumplings really, though Korea tends to fry less and steam more (healthy). Guk is one of many seemingly interchangeable words for soup. Mandu-guk is the cheap and warming lunch that gets people through the Arctic winter in my part of Korea. If you want to know how to make it properly, I suggest looking at Maangchi's excellent Korean cooking site. Here though, is the ten minute "student" version.

You will need:

2 cups water

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tbsp Korean beef stock powder

Salt & pepper

1 tbsp sesame seeds

6 largish frozen dumplings

Handful of sliced rice cakes

Handful of roughly chopped green / spring onions

1 egg

2 small sheets of seaweed

Steps

1. Add the water, sesame oil and soy sauce to a pan, and bring to a boil.

2. Add the beef stock, rice cakes and dumplings, plus a good slug of pepper. Boil for 5 minutes. While this is happening, chop the onions (if you haven't already) and beat the egg.

3. Add the sesame seeds and the onions, and boil for a further minute.

4. Take off the heat and then add the beaten egg. Stir gently otherwise it attaches itself to the bottom of the pan.

5. It should look something like this.

6. Pour into a large bowl, and crumble the seaweed over the top. That's it. Serve with kimchi and a saucer of soy sauce for mandu dipping.

There we go. I don't know whether there will ever be another cooking with Grev, but at least you know I'm not starving to death out here now.

Until next time...

A

UK Trip 2011 - Boating

Hi there,

It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted, but it feels more like a few days. Things are very, very busy here. I'm teaching 25 hours of classes a week, most of which I'm designing the materials for myself (or more accurately, getting my students to design them). I'm also studying pretty hard in the evenings for my MA course, which at the moment is really enjoyable too. Then there's getting myself back into shape in the gym and on the football field, expanding my repetoire of Korean and non-Korean meals and writing on my new blog. Oh yes, and I'm trying to keep up some of my Korean studies too. All this means that I'm becoming a little more creative with using my time. I walk to school listening to Korean podcasts, read linguistics articles on the subway, and get stared at using my laptop on the bumpy local bus journeys to my satelite schools. It's all good fun at the moment, and the harder I seem to be working the more energy I have. This may mean that after a few months I'm a burnt out wreck, but I guess we'll see. I do know that if I can make it to the summer things will be a lot easier as I'll trim a few classes from my schedule, which will make a world of difference.

Anyway, all this working has meant I haven't done much interesting stuff to write about since I got back. I do still have one set of photos to add from my UK trip though. When people ask me what I did on my trip home, I find it a little difficult to answer. The truth is I spent a great deal of time in the pub. Not that this was a bad thing, but it doesn't make for great holiday related conversation, particularly with my students. The one really notable thing that I did on my trip back was a boat trip around the canals and rivers of London on Laura's boat. This was an awesome chance to see a side of London not many people really know about. A chance to meet the lesbians, near vagrants and eccentric poshos who live on London's waterways (I'm not sure which category Laura falls into here), operate endless locks and desperately try to dislodge a sofa cushion which became entangled in the propeller. This really was a great couple of days, and has enchanted the elementary school classes I told about it. Thanks very much Laura!

The skipper

And her vessel, Summer Breeze.

Lock #1 of 475.

Going down.

Towpath wildlife.

The something cut. It's so long ago now I can't remember the name, but it leads to the River Lea.

Emily, Pie & Wine.

The Olympic Stadium

Emily, Laura and Canary Wharf

Canary Wharf again.

The ship's cat, who is actually a very proficient swimmer now.

Bedroom/dining room.

The "lobby".

The prow.

"Look Mum! I'm driving the boat!"

Islington tunnel entrance.

Inside.

Emergence.

Daylight!

That's it for now. Will try to find time to post more soon.

A

Me Update

Usually I prefer to use this dank corner of the internet to write about (semi) interesting stuff that I've been up to. There's enough wasted terabytes of mouth-breathers writing about their deepest feelings on the internet already I think. However, I do have some bits and pieces of personal news that may interest you. If not, feel free to vent in the comments section below, and be thankful I'm not shoehorning smug travel stories directly into your inbox.

Next Year

I'm now into my tenth week of semester two at Jinbu High School and things couldn't be going better. I sat down and worked out how to make my lessons a bit more interesting and relevant to my students, with pretty decent results. We've done a month of music videos, in which I got to play Arcade Fire to my kids, and have them finish the lines to Summertime by Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince. Now we're just coming to the end of a series of lessons based on Up (best movie ever), culminating in my students writing and performing an alternative script, one of which morphed into a musical, and will probably walk off with the prize of some cinema vouchers.

Things are going well at my elementary schools too. I've equipped my older ones with grammar textbooks, and they're now au fait with the intricacies of present simple vs present progressive. With the younger ones I'm working on pronunciation and basic spelling. This involves a lot of singing, running around and making letter shapes with our bodies.

All in all things are going really well, but I feel like my work is only just beginning, rather than entering it's final stages. Given that I seem to work in one of the most relaxed schools in South Korea, it seemed senseless not to renew my contract, so I will now officially be staying in Jinbu for another year starting March 2011.

Holiday

The good news is my contract renewal gives me a 5 week break during the winter vacation, so I will be coming home on January 24th, and staying until February 21st. This is at least good news for me, as it means I'll get a little respite from temperatures of -27C, and it may be good news for you, assuming you want to see me. I'll sort out some kind of schedule nearer the time, but keep some space free, yeah?

Educating Grev

I've been trying to do a bit of professional development of late, which has included joining KOTESOL, the association for English teachers here. I headed up to their International Conference in Seoul a few weekends ago, and was convinced that doing a masters would be a good idea. Having spent the weeks since researching various programs, I'm now in the process of applying to the University of Birmingham (The Midlands, not Alabama) to start an MA in Applied Linguistics in April. It's a distance learning course, so I can do it while I continue to work, without ever having to leave Korea and go to Birmingham, which is definitely a boon.

All that means that I'll most likely be spending a fair proportion of the coming years outside of the UK. I'm sorry if this is disappointing to anyone, but at least you'll always have an interesting holiday destination.

Soppy Romance Bit

Finally, after ten or so months of not doing so, Linda and I live on the same continent again. We've even managed to wind up in the same country. OK, she's over the other side (Incheon) but we are at least within commuting distance, and can see each other most weekends. I won't bore you any further, but expect the odd mushy photo in the coming weeks.

And that's all my news for now. I'll pop some photos up in the next couple of days from stuff that didn't really merit it's own post. I'll try to keep writing as often as I can, though my days seem to be getting busier and busier. I'm doing ok on 6 hours sleep a night, but I'm not experimenting with 5 for you lot's sake.

Sorry about that,

A