Jeokdeokdo

A couple of weekends ago we set off to do some offshore exploring among the islands in the West Sea, off the (air)port city of Incheon, where Linda lives. The most famous of these is probably Yeonpyeong-do, up in the north, which was the scene of a North Korean attack last year when we all got a little nervous. We eschewed this option in favour of the more southerly Jeokdeokdo, safely out of North Korean artillery range, but more importantly with nicer beaches.

We took an early ferry out of Incheon port, which at 44,000 won seemed rather expensive, but given that it worked out to 30 pounds return for an hour trip, probably just points to the fact that transport here is usually ridiculously cheap. This gave us the chance to have a look at the new Incheon airport bridge, which really is impressive. As you can see below, it's pretty long and must have been incredibly expensive. No wonder the Korean Highways Agency is tricking people into using it.

We get off the ferry and hang around in the port town for an hour or so, getting a coffee while we waited for a bus. This duly arrived, and we set off for the beach with about 30 other people. At the beach, everyone gets off the bus, and disappears. Linda and I are the only people on a 1km long stretch of beach. We're not really that sure where everyone went, but we assume it was to the pensions (houses you can rent for the weekend) up in the village. Wherever they went, it seems that these Korean people were not big beach goers.

The beach itself was really nice, a long stretch of sand, which turned into mud flats before the sea. There were many of the shells below around, which proved surprisingly mobile. The flats were also inhabited by lots of small fish, and huge crabs like the one below.

OK, so maybe not so huge, but interesting to look at at least. We also went for a paddle, and then just hung out on the beach. I wrote lovey messages to "Rinda" in Korean, and then we went off to get some Kalguksu for lunch. This turned out to be incredibly tasty, so much so that I forgot to photograph it.

After that, it was almost time to go home again, after having a quick beer in the park. There was time while waiting for the ferry to take a photo that shows what a nice day Linda had, and how much I hate photos.

I've just realised that this is a quite horrifically boring blog post. If you get this far I apologise. I will try to write something a little more exciting.

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