A taste of home???

Ok, the front page is killing these photos, just click on them for reasonable versions

Double post time Ok, so i found this bar about 30m from my place, well it was shown to me, i haven't been inside it yet, I'm little scared at what I might find, how could it be any more Kiwi than the signage (particularly the top right corner of the third pic)
-Sorry about the shitty photos, my camera's dying, on either this payday or next, I'm gonna go buy a new camera, a nice SLR probably, ahhh money
BTW a Hof is a beer bar pretty much, you go in, they give you plates of snacks and you sit and drink beer with your mates, haven't actually been in one yet, they dont sound like much fun. The word Hof is strange firstly cos the suffix for alcoholic drinks is ju (soju, mesilju...), secondly because there is no F in the korean language, (Buffet=Buppay)
N.b. The first picture is on it's side because this blog doesn't let me have it rotated (well it probably does just not easily)

Meat Buffet

Ahh, the meat buffet, we went out to celebrate Nick's birthday, on the other side of Seoul (a long way away).
We started with a meat buffet, not common, but they do exist apparently, now this place had a big buffet of raw meat, salads and so forth, you go up choose your meat then cook and eat it. (Cooking your own meat is the tradidtional Korean BBQ style, and is so fucking awesome, Ill explain it someday.)
We sat and ate constantly for 2 hours straight, it was awesome, so much meat, i tried everything, which I'm stoked about, the cow intestine was nothing to write home about, but otherwise good.
Ate some duck, baby squid, and Korean style chicken feet, in which you jusut eat the whole thing bones and all, given they are reasonabl soft, but there's still some nice crunchy bones in there.
Then ate icecream with chopsticks-awesome
We then went to this place- i hesitate to call it a bar, it wasn't quite a Hof, wasn't quite a noreban, I really didnt understand.
It was pretty much a basement, with noreban(karaoke) some chairs, a middle aged woman serving us, but ....i emphasize the but, it had a full band setup, coupla guitars, a bass, drums keyboard, and of course mics.
Turns out Nick is fucking genius on a Sax, it was brilliant, two guys out of his band and another guy he had tried to start a band with eventually got up on stage, played some jazz, it was awesome.
At the end of the night, after a whole lotta karaoke and a nice amount of scotch and beer, they jump up again, the guitarist jumps on bass, so i grab a guitar, and play a couple songs, reggae/bluesy music, it was fucking awesome, it's weird to think outta the 6 odd months of The Moment Killers we never really just had a random jam, and it was so much fun
And that brings me to the end of my story, another crazy Saturday nite, awesome, at least i remember this one.

Twelve Stops and Home

Ok, I'm now currently in the process of moving again, yes again, inching ever closer to my final place, this is starting to get quite ridiculous if i do say so myself, but at least this place is right next to everyone else, and right next to my final apartment as well so after tomorrow, no more subway rides carrying everything I own.
This new place is where I"m supposed to be living, but i told them i wanted to take the other place, and the other guy isn't here yet to fight me for it mwahaha
And again no idea if I'll have internet, but hopefully thursday night will see me in my final place, finally, and hopefully i can stay in this place til then, doubt it though, it's way too simple that way
One day...

The Supermarket

Ok, I've just had the most frustrating day, i get to work and Janet is like, oh yeah i was suppose to tell you to take the morning off, Grrrrr.. But since you're here give these two tests, Ok then I'm a good worker, but wait only one of them is actally here woot woot, don't worry here's another random person to do a test, Ok thats done, now what, well that's all yu can go but be back by 3 so you can work til 4.30 then go home.
Ok sure, ten to three and i snap outta my nap and I'm like fuck.. so i boot it down to work, 3:25 get there, managed to just miss the metro, anyway, walk in, grab the TWO tests i have to do for the afternoon and start at it, do the first one and lo and behold the other one isn't there hok then, so what now, you can go home, no wait i want you to go through the hundreds of tests and make sure you added all the numbers properly, i found one you got wrong, really where, i doubt it, i'm a freakin math genius, ohk you found you're right, i didn't carry the one, dont worry it wouldnt have happened more than once, seriously i have a brain like a calculator, you still want me to go through them, but i seriously am a freakin calculator, they'll be right {Language barrier block} oh fuck I'll do it anyway, oh you want me to use a calculator to add the three numbers on each test, nod and smile, 10 minutes and 400 tests later (use of calculator=~10 papers) done, go see boss or go watch random class for 20 min until 4.30, i choose option B avoid Janet.
4.30--> time to leave, yes, I'm leaving, no not lucky bastard i have nothing to do....myeh its better than doing tests
Subway, swipe card walk through, gate doesn't open, fuck it not in the mood, jump it, (Loudspeaker- Wan Karan.......) oh fuck is that me, look at korean kid next to me, yip its me, jog back to the booth pull out wallet, tell the guy in english "it worked" he waves me on, does not spek a word of english, not worth the 800 won to hassle me

So that was my day at work...ish

Oh yeah the supermarket, I just have a picture, I saw these and had to have them, this is forgery gone too far, Ok every second woman in korea has *that* Louis Vuitton bag, seriously every second, but this is just funny


Sitting right next to the Kit Kats, ahh, the chocolate itelf instead of KitKat has Tit Bit on it, awesome. After some deliberation, i decided they musty be edible, not too bad, they have a bit of a metallic tinge to them though
Oh and the supermarkets here are so different anyway, they always consist of at least 3 or 4 floors and there is a shop attendant standing at the end of each aisle constantly yelling, no idea what though, the produce and meat depts are so incredibly loud.
And they sell everything in three-packs, stuff that you just want one of you gotta buy 3, 3 capsicums, 3 rolls of paper towels, 3 rolls of glad wrap, sorry clean wrap, good old clean wrap, you gotta love the Konglish
Oh, and they've got their milk colours back to front, blue = trim, green = full, oh the humanity

Casino Royale....

Ok I just got back from the Korean casino, and i use this term loosely, as the possession of Korean nationality forbids you from entering, yes people foreigner only casinos, weird, hmm
Me and a couple of the guys went up there for a freeroll poker tournament, and i managed to get knocked out before the blinds got raised, woot woot, i think i play a little too riskily.
Though I was well up and just gt fucked over by lady luck, losing all in on pocket queens to AK. Then going all in with what i had left with KJ, and the fucker having AQ and no table cards above a 9. Grrr, it was good fun, a little annoying that i lost both hands to the same guy.
It's every week so i might make a hobby out of it
Apart from that nothing exciting today, it was one of the teachers, Nick's bday today, congrats to him, I got to eat cake the way koreans do, with chopsticks out of cups (seriously) it was hilarious
Nothing else to say

안용하세요

I'm a Millionaire

Ok, today is the first day of the rest of my life, i am officially a millionaire, granted i spent 30,000 on groceries on the way home, my bus cost 800 and I have been carrying over a million in my pocket, I am still technically a millionaire, now let me enjoy this glory (Haha Cameron, I beat you)
In this country the largest denomination is a 10,000won note (worth about $NZ15) so i shud have got like an inch of notes but turns out they have a 100,000won cheque/note thingy so no wad of notes, but still it feels good cos i was almost outta moola another $NZ1500 helps alot(in case you can't work it out, the exchange rate is 2:3000)
Ok now to my random rant for the day, actually i have nothing though i have to mention one kid i gave a test to today, she was about 7/8/9ish but she was so ugly i couldn't look at her directly, actually to be truthful, everytime i looked at her i had trouble not laughing, she looked exactly like the aliens out of the movie Bad Taste, I hope you've all seen it, it's a NZ classic. I know that's a horrible thing to say and I'm gonna burn in hell for saying it, but hey, it's a child, she must get teased mercilessly anyway, and as a consolation she wasn't very smart at all either

Now I'm gonna start a new thing called, do what I say, ya know just cause i'm not there doesn't mean i'm not there in spirit.
Now that I have opened with that, this week (or pretty mch til i get round to it again) anyone who hasn't watched bad taste must either A)hire or B)download it and watch it, no questions, so that's my movie of the week, and as a bonus i think everyone should download and listen to "Damien Rice - Woman like a man", i mean really listen to the lyrics, it's awesome, and i dedicate it to Scotty-boy.
Well that's ot for now, i gotta go do my dishes and shit, luckily tonight was only leftovers so its only a couple of pots, though my rice pot is messed up, i hve no idea how to cook rice on a stove, lets hope for a good movie on tv, last night was Con Air kickass

P.s. i really wanted to put a bad taste pic up but my internet is ass, i can't really complain cos its stolen but i will anyway, so search for it yourself, and then imagine a preteen korean girl that looks the same then laugh your ass off... good good

Edit: Ok found one good old stolen internet at work

Oh, you want a title do you?

Ok so I've got my camera going again, here's a photo out my window, sadly its incredibly smoggy today, yesterday i could see the mountain range out in the smog, it was awesome.
Anyway here is my view, really is quite spectacular


Click on the picture to get a much bigger version

So today is the Lunar New Year, so i get a day off work, however, absolutely everything is closed, in fact most of Seoul isn't in Seoul, everyone goes to see their families, millions of people just ditch, it's quite cool wandering round the streets and not being constantly bumped into, yesterday was the same, it was t-shirt weather and there was just the right amount of people on the streets.
Given, i had a killer hangover but it was euphoric.
I actually don't remember parts of the night, but it was great, did the Korean version of karaoke, i think its called noruban or something. And somehow at like 2.30 in the morning we stumbled on a korean BBQ place that was open 24 hours, i think there was 8 of us and we all just got inside got the food then spent like an hour in silence scoffing our faces, mm korean bbq, lucky for me i woke up in my bed, i honestly have no idea how but its always a bonus.

Now complete change of topic I'm going to illustrate where i live:

Image courtesy of Answers.com

Ok firstly here's a map of Seoul, see the far right Gangdong-gu, thats where i live,i work in a suburb which is below and right of that (not pictured)
Itaewon the foreign district is around yongsan-gu and i'm pretty sure the heart of Seoul is seongdong-gu/jung-gu, don't quote me on it though
Well i hoped you enjoyed your geography lesson, now if you actually want to know anything i suggest you look it up yourself cos i am a poor resource,
For reference i live in Cheonho, Gangdong-gu

And that is all...

Hit Counter

Ok so i got i bored last night, so i put a hit counter at the bottom of the page, so at this moment i've had 7 hits since then, and considering 2 of them were me, before i told it not to count me, that's 5 hits in 14 hours, woot woot i'm popular
I made my own breakfast this morning, so happy, ok i had no pepper so the scrambled eggs weren't perfect, but it's better than corflakes
I'm off to go grocery shopping in Itaewon now, special foreigner supermarket, i'm hoping for vegemite, fingers crossed

P.s. Cam do you have a phone number yet, it'd be good to give you a call,
Cheers

My(ish) New Place

Ok, so I'm in a new place, temporarily sadly, cos this place is pimp, hopefully my final place is similar, I'm on the 20th floor of this building, and at the foot of the building, is what the other teachers affectionately refer to as meat street, not in a dodgy way, it jst has lots of pretty good restaurants, we went to dinner at the place outside my doorway tonight, had some boiled pork, and had my first taste of good kimchi, the texture still bothers me a bit but it tasted good.
Oh and i can hijack wireless internet on one wall of my apartment, so free internet til they realise.
Here's a couple of photos, sorry about them my camera's dead and my battery charger is with most of my stuff at another teacher Oona's place, fuck moving it all in one trip. So here's the best i can do with the macbooks isight















Ok it is a nice place and this photo doesn't do it justice, particularly since my stuf is thrown everywhere, don't worry mom it's gonna be tidy eventually :)

And out my window, now these were not easy shots to take





























Well that's all for now
Ciao (no, i don't know korean for goodbye)

Korean New Year

Ok monday is the Lunar New Year, blah blah blah, 3 day weekend, Woop, and all the kids were dressed up in brightly coloured traditional dress it was hilarious, and we get random bonuses, can't complain, got 20,000won on wednesday and another 30k today, yay booze money.
I'm not sure if I've mentioned but I'm not teaching school students so much as kindy, from 10-3 and then elementary from 3-6.30, and I've actually had a full day teaching today, though i still did the tests in my breaks, i had to fight to get a break now, it really feels like I've earned it
I'm about to fall asleep, a room of 5yo saps the energy, i only made one cry today, one less than yesterday, not good enough.
I'm moving into a temporary apartment tonight, its a step in the right direction at least, one day i'll get my own place, gah
Really just wanted to bitch, I had to work since 1 and i'm shattered, i think i might hafta get a little drunk tonight, but i think everyones saving themselves for tomorrow

Well this post was more of a journal entry than a blog, incredibly boring and uninteresting, i'm sorry to anyone who's read it

OK here goes

I don't even know where to start, so i decided i should start some kind of record of my trip, mainly for me, but I suppose it's a good way for my legions of fans to here what I'm up to :)

Anyway where to start, well I arrived last Tuesday night, after a 12 hour flight, (Korea is 4 hours behind NZ btw) had an interesting taxi ride, and got put in what is known here as a "Love Hotel", porn on the first channel of the cable, down a shady alley.
9 days later i'm still in there, i'm moving to an apartment tomorrow hopefully, though only temporarily, I get my actual apartment on the 27th hopefully.

Aside, Seoul is great so far, my first day was a little frightening, the first time i walked into the supermarket i wandered around for a while and couldn't find anything i wanted, and couldn't read a word.
A week later however, I can easily call this place home

My job is quite good, there's a couple of bad points but nothing major, add to that the fact that all the other english speaking teachers are awesome and I love it, a social life in a can, luckily they're all quite partial to some good partying so I feel really comfortable already.
The job itself at the moment is pretty nothing, the new school year starts at the start of March so i don't have class per se I've just been giving level tests constantly for a week, which is alright, but can be a bit boring and frustrating at times. I got to teach a couple of classes today which was good, but i was completely unprepared, 2 outta 3 i had to pretty much make up n the spot, which went better than expected but still nothing spectacular.

Haven't seen much of the city yet, just a bit of my area, a bit of the other guys' area, a bit of the school's area and a short walk from the subway to the bar in Itaewon (the foreigner's part of town). It's all crazy neons and bright signs, though i don't think korea has heard of colour shades, all the signs are stock primary colours, red yellow blue black and a bit of green in the true crayola sense of the words.
The food here has been pretty alright so far, not a big fan of kimchi yet but it'll grow, most of it's quite basic, but it's hella cheap.
I did have an awesome meal on friday, a korean BBQ, fucking A, cooking meat in front of you, rice vegetables, and large quantities of soju and this random bamboo spirit, twas an incredibly drunken night, good times had by all

I think that's all I can think of right now about me, I'm fitting in real well (well into the foreigners anyway), so now I'm gonna list a lot of random generalisations I have come up with whilst trying not to fall asleep while a kid is trying to explain that their dad cleans buildings.
Firstly after way too much cable, i've noted a few things:
They have a channel devoted entirely to showing LAN games of Starcraft (seriously, 24 hours a day), actually i think it's devoted to LAN gaming, but 9 outta 10 times i flick through it's Starcraft, i've seen counterstrike a coupla times as well.
They have 3 channels devoted to teaching useless English ("can you run that by me again?")
The Discovery channel is the only true english channel - it's not real discovery, it has west coast choppers on it
Koreans must dress up as girls in comedy skits, it's not funny otherwise,
Alias, CSI:Miami, Dark Angel, Sex and the City and 24 are the top of the line American shows
British Pimp my Ride is the saddest excuse for anything ever, seriously every second is painful
But luckily there's always at least two english movies on at any time, I've managed to watch half of lotsa movies, the original superman, chronicles of riddick, alien vs predator, the mummy 2, rules of engagement....
Now away from TV,
SPAM IS A LUXURY PRODUCT IN KOREA, seriously they love the stuff, it's everywhere in the supermarkets,
Actually that's about it for me, i got class again in 10 minutes, but that is an excessive post, I'll fill it out over time cos I know i have forgotten stuff
Hope you're all well
Love you all
Brad