The 22nd of October was quite a while ago.  A very long time ago, especially in blogging terms.  I have no real excuse for the silence, a few reasons but no real excuse.  Sometimes it's hard to find the inspiration to write, especially when you think nothing all that noteworthy has happened.  Little things get in the way, and after a few weeks I seem to forget that I actually like writing and that updating my blog isn't a chore, it's something I enjoy doing.

Anyway since the last time I posted, here's what I've been up to in a nutshell:

On November 3rd Nick, four other friends and I, competed in a Spartan Race in Seoul.  An obstacle course not known for its ease, I was quite happy to complete the course, albeit with a penalty of 90 burpees due to three failed obstacles!  Apart from Nick who had to do none, we all had to do 90 which provided a nice amount of solidarity on the day!

Pre-race wanna be Spartans!

Inner Mongolia...in China!

Yup! Inner Mongolia is in China!  This had us somewhat confused as we walked along the Great Wall (which granted was just over three months ago now) only three hours outside Beijing and were told "China's on this side of the wall, and Mongolia's on the other".  How far had the bus just taken us? Were we really at the China-Mongolia border?  And if so, why the hell were we going back to Beijing after the wall-walk to get a bus from there to the Mongolian border??  Seeing the looks of confusion on our faces, the next sentence was "Not real Mongolian, China Mongolia".....Ah right, that clarifies it alright!  So there you have it, Inner Mongolia is in China!

Back to work, back to reality!

Or a reality of sorts anyway!  My timetable has changed slightly this semester, same number of hours but now I have Mondays off instead of Fridays and I've taken on a few extra hours on Saturday mornings as well to help with the savings.  Still though, a fairly nice reality to come back to after what was a great nine weeks off!

Summer time and the livin's easy..

...Or so the song goes anyway.  One of the first things I promised myself when I started this new job, teaching English to college students, last March was that I wouldn't fall into the trap that so many others seem to.  I would not complain.  I work a mere 14 hours a week and I have three day weekends every week.  I also get 20 weeks holidays a year.  The job is not stressful and complaining about it to other foreigners living in Korea who are not as fortunate job-wise as me, and who work much longer hours both daily and weekly,

A Few Days in Osaka

Japan, or at least the small part of it that I was in, was very different to what I was expecting.  I'd been told from a friend that used to live there that it'd all seem very similar to Korea, and maybe because of that, I was astonished at the differences, which to me seemed infinite and everywhere.

DMZ: Demilitarized Zone or Domestic Money (Making) Zoo

Hyejeon College turned 30 on the 30th April, a while ago now I admit, and we all got a day off to celebrate.  The college held a ceremony, the students drank soju and Nick and I went to the DMZ!

We'd been meaning to go for ages.  It's one of those places you feel you need to see while you're in Korea and an unexpected mid-week day off seemed as good an opportunity as any to go and check it out.

Coming of Age

The number of 'National Days' in Korea for this, that and the other never ceases to amuse me.  They seem to start with Valentine's Day, a 'holiday' we're all used to.  Although here, it's a day for the boys unlike at home where it's predominately a day for the girls.

Next, comes 'White Day' which is the same as Valentine's Day only it's one month later and it's a day for the boys to be spoilt by their other halves.  Same date, another month on, is 'Black Day' which is, from what I can gather, a bit of a depressing day for singletons when they are supposed to eat black noodles to highlight their single status!

A Week Off to Procrastinate?

Last week at work was review week. A nice handy week, spent going back over things I'd already covered, answering questions from panicked students about the content and difficulty of the impending mid-term exam and then breezing out the door at lunch time on Thursday, not having to be back in until next Thursday, when they'll be sitting my exam.  I was expecting to be bribed with a tonne of presents from my students, in exchange for the promise of a good grade, but presents were disappointingly lacking.  All I got was an orange!