A Little Bit of Rain

Nathanael cooked breakfast. It was delicious. We had American style biscuits with pork sausage gravy. An American traditional breakfast food so I’m told. It was a good way to start a very unpredictable Sunday. I woke up at 7am and pulled the blinds up to reveal a very rainy Sachang. The rain was thundering down. Usually this wouldn’t be such a big deal, but we had big plans. The whole Sachang posse was planning to hike the tallest mountain in the province, Hwaaksan. Everything was set, I had bought lunch, we had arranged to meet at 10am, and everyone was excited about the climb. As I looked out of the window at the stormy skies I knew that most people were going to drop out. I knew that Nathanael would be as crazy as me and would decide to climb the mountain anyway.

By 9am it had been confirmed that everyone bar Nathanael and I had decided to stay dry. Ben was kind enough to offer us a ride in his car to the trail head. The trail head was about 6km outside of town past many military bases and farms. We exited the car into the rain and started the hike. The trail started out very promisingly, the path was easy but it quickly turned into suspicious concrete slabs and we ended up in someone’s garden with two dogs that weren’t chained up and that did not want either of us there. They barked their little faces off at us. They chased us around a bit. All of this, whilst we tried to figure out where we were supposed to be going. We had no idea. The trail just stopped beside a thunderous river and a bunch of farming fields surrounded by forest.  We tried to look for a trail whilst keeping our eyes on the dogs. We even waded through the stream to see what was on the other side. We had almost given up when I suggested we walk up to the top of a small hill above the fields as it looked like you could get some more perspective from there. Low and behold the small rise turned out to be the very trail we were looking for. By the time we started hiking we were both drenched, there was no turning back.

The trail got steep pretty quickly, wet tree branches kept hitting us in the face, the ascents were slippery and both Nathanael and I had several falls which covered us in a good dose of the sticky brown stuff. Mud. It was the mud festival this weekend (a popular Korean drinking festival in which you get very muddy), it’s safe to say that Nathanael and I had our own little mud festival in the blistering rain on the side of Hwaaksan mountain. The higher we got the cloudier it became; we were clearly walking into the clouds. The sound of distant thunder echoed and reverberated through the trees. We climbed over rocks, ducked under fallen down trees and eventually came to some flat land along a ridge line where we could catch our breath.

We had been on the trail for about two hours before we reached the first sign that we might be near the top. It was a small clearing. You could see the clouds moving directly in front of your eyes, by this point we were probably at about 1,000 metres. You could just about make out a taller peak in the distance so we caught our breath and trekked on. I was cold, I was drenched from head to toe, small droplets of rain were annoyingly and constantly trickling off of my hair, I was sure that the lunch in my bag would be ruined. It was another hour before we finally made it to the peak of the mountain.

There is a military base on top so you can’t technically reach the summit, however we felt incredibly accomplished that we had made it in such conditions. We celebrated by eating our soggy lunches, we felt the cold wind splash against our faces. We were up 1,400 meters and we felt pretty good about it. I was worried about the descent though, it was bound to be slippery, the water that consumed my clothing was very cold by this point and I imagined myself getting pneumonia and being left on the mountain with nowhere to go.

A short way into the descent it became apparent that we had taken a wrong turning, we trekked on regardless certain that we were at least heading in the right direction. At some point during the descent, I slipped. I grabbed a tree branch to save myself from the fall. There was a bee sitting on the tree branch that I must have disturbed as I grabbed the tree, it stung me right on the palm of my hand. I panicked. What if I’m allergic? The good thing about getting stung by a bee was that all of the pain I had been feeling in my legs was clouded by the pain in my hand. We picked up the pace and headed southward.

“Is that a road?”

“We’re saved!” I exclaimed, as we turned and saw a concrete road in front of us. We had been hiking for four hours and we were both physically exhausted, the rain was still beating down. We slid down a mudslide and joined the road. We hiked down the road for around half an hour, each corner we turned was a mystery waiting to be solved as we had no idea where we were. I joked that we’re probably on the other side of the mountain. It was pleasant to be off of the narrow forest trail, and the road got us down to the main highway pretty quickly. We headed in the direction that we thought the town should be in, we turned and read a sign letting us know that Sachang-ri was in fact in the opposite direction. We were on the other side of the mountain. How had this happened? When I saw a sign for the Hwaak tunnel I knew that we were still very far from home. We had no choice, I don’t think I could have made it, we stuck our thumbs out and within fifteen or twenty minutes a kind Korean man en route to visit his son at the military base in town, picked us up, and saved us from at least a 10 – 12km walk along the road, back home.

Nathanael talked to the Korean man that had offered us a ride and it turns out this was his first time in Gangwon-do. We joked about this and that, and before we knew it we were back in town. We had made it. My hand stung, I was dirty, I was dripping wet, my knees ached, my head ached, I was a happy young man! I got home and spent an hour in the shower just lying under the hot water. I was tired. I was also happy about what we had accomplished.  I have no idea exactly how far we hiked, but it was about five hours round trip in wind, rain and mud. Satisfied. That’s a good word.

I mean, really, it was just a little bit of rain.

Sunscreen

“If I could offer you only one tip for the future… sunscreen would be it… the long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists… where as the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience…”

If only I had listened to Baz Luhrmann. Then I wouldn’t be sat here two days after being exposed to the suns sizzling rays still feeling uncomfortable and itchy and still looking like a ripe tomato. I’ve rubbed copious amounts of Savlon into my back, I’ve looked up home remedies on some rather untoward websites in search of a quick cure for the burning sensation, I’ve stood in front of my air conditioner, I’ve basked in freezing cold showers, but still the problem persists. Min-gi one of my overly excitable third grade students thought it would be funny to hit me really hard on the back today. I can still feel his hand.

Ok, I’m over reacting. I’m not going to develop any tumours, but it bloody hurts and it was my own stupid fault. We went swimming down by the river again on Sunday. The sun was beating down. I haven’t been so hot all summer. When the sun dipped behind a cloud there would be a gentle breeze and the water would be cold, when that sun was out I couldn’t bear to leave the water. The river is deeper now, only two weeks since the last time we swam in it and the onset of rainy season is taking effect.

I enjoyed swimming in the river and I enjoyed walking to and from the river but what I didn’t enjoy is my back, shoulders and face being burnt to a cinder. It’s not even funny. Mr. Chae thought it was funny. The first thing he said to me on Monday morning was “you are an apple.” Students have been pointing and laughing asking me “what?” “why?” “teacher red.” “teacher tomato.” Hilarious.

I’m sure it won’t last much longer. It’s only really my shoulders that are painful now, but they are still painful. This week is going by quickly. Thus far I’ve had all of my classes and I’ve been given no indication that any other classes will be cancelled this week. Although there are some rather intriguing things written upon the monthly calendar in the office that makes me think that there might be a few school trips on the cards. I can dream. I wonder just how many classes I have left with my kids now. Each class could very well be the last.

I’m giving a summer camp that will last eight days that will start on the 25^th July. Although I have a distaste for anything Olympic and if I was in the UK I would no doubt be infuriating everyone I know with arguments against the hosting of the games, the Olympics have given me an easy theme for my camp. I have a few ideas about exactly what my classes will consist of, the Olympics opens you up to all kinds of different language lessons. It should be fun, we’ll make posters, we’ll play games and we’ll have a few of our own little Olympic events, egg on a spoon? Could get messy.

Everything is falling into place. Natalie will be here in just over a month and I’m very excited about her arrival. Three months is a long time to be apart. We’ll make up for it with our big vagabonding adventure and although everything is pretty much planned now I’m still scouring the web to look at things we can do and see and eat whilst we’re on the road. If you ever want to go on a trip and don’t want to plan it, call me up, I’d be happy to help. I can’t get enough of it.

I’m still undecided as to what I’m going to do on my vacation, I’m torn between the temple stay, a visit to Gyeongju to visit the UNESCO world heritage sites or a trip to Seoraksan National Park, I probably won’t make up my mind until I’m actually on my vacation.

Well, it must be time to leave work now, the maintenance man is walking around shouting “te gun” (home time) as he does every day. It’s the little things like that I’m going to miss when I leave Korea. The sense of achievement on a student’s face when they read a word that they didn’t think they could, the look of overwhelming accomplishment when they get given some candy, the treacherous, deadly bus rides through the mountains, the lady who knows that when I walk in the door of her snack bar I’m after two rolls of gimbop… simple pleasures…

Trust me on the sunscreen…

Travelling or Teaching?

The relationship between travelling and teaching English is an interesting one. It is becoming increasingly more popular as more and more countries are requesting foreign English language teachers. Countries like Georgia and Saudi Arabia are taking more and more foreign teachers per semester and they aren’t paying badly either. However, whilst I don’t see a problem with ESL teaching, what being an ESL teacher has taught me is that if you want to be a vagabond, if you want a meaningful cultural exchange, then shockingly, ESL probably isn’t for you.

There are benefits. I’ve raised all of the funds for my round-the-world trip whilst teaching ESL here in South Korea. For graduates fresh out of University with no real sense of direction ESL is a good opportunity, an opportunity to pay off some loans and experience a different culture. In essence that’s what I want to talk about. As an ESL teacher your experience of any culture will be biased (seen through the eyes of an insider not an outsider) and thus will drastically affect your vagabonding experience.

There are three main ways that you can go about teaching English abroad, there are obviously more than three but for the purpose of my argument we’ll talk about the most popular. They are: public school teaching (usually being hired by a government agency, EPIK, or JET are good examples), private school teaching (this is probably responsible for most ESL recruiting across the globe) and private tutoring. All offer vastly different experiences, but all of those experiences will put the vagabond in a foxhole, a closed space that promotes cross-cultural exchange but in a restrictive environment. A nine to five. A one to ten. A job.

Most of the teachers I know are under the same contract as I am, you’re led to believe that every experience is uniquely individual but when I meet with other teachers there are always more similarities than there are differences. The differences will be mainly aesthetic but the heart of the experience is almost always the same, of course it has to-do with the kind of person that you are. If you align yourself with the philosophies of vagabonding then you are probably a creative, intelligent and open person. However, what you get when teaching ESL is a very hand-to-mouth experience. I’ve been teaching here for a year and at times it has been a mentally exhausting experience, stupid lessons, besieged by boredom and mediocrity. This isn’t a useful banner under which to experience a new culture.

No matter how you approach a new country and a new culture you are going to come at it with pre-conceived ideas and assumptions and these will no doubt impact on your experience of the country. It is hard to be fully open in the 21^st century as pre-conceived notions of places and people can be negatively affected by the media, by the internet and by globalization.

There is no calling to question the fact that from a hyper-globalist position the spread of English is a benign outcome of globalizing forces. Notably here in Korea in certain circles of Koreans can be skeptical about a kind of linguistic imperialism, that English teachers are rip-roaring through these countries, bringing their pre-conceived notions of ‘otherism’ with them, and whilst the spread of English is too complicated to be considered evil, the question stands, what impact does an influx of ESL teachers have on a country and its culture?

Phewey, big questions! What has this got to do with being a traveller anyway? Isn’t the point of vagabonding to infiltrate new cultures, to get under their skin, to understand them? Well, yes, and that’s kind of my point, how can you truly do that if you are experiencing the country through a teachers eyes and not through a travellers eyes?

I spend most of my days sat at my desk planning lessons, I spend most of my days looking at a computer screen, the time I am teaching I’m teaching English, I’m talking about my culture and my language. The time to experience this culture is reserved for after school, out on the streets, and that’s fair enough, don’t get me wrong, you do have time to get to know the place, but when most of your time is spent at school can you really call it vagabonding? How much of the experience is jaded through the eyes of your experience at school? I’m an expat. I work here. I live here.

It is not up to me to define what vagabonding is, what travelling is and what it isn’t. It’s not my place to question the motives of an expat community that is so vast and expansive that it becomes difficult to define. What’s interesting to me is the effect that English teachers have on cultures, how they change cultures, for better or for worse and whether an anthropologist, a social scientist, a traveller seeking answers to life’s big questions can find those answers when they become part of a global movement that is changing the lives of so many young people.

Food for thought.

Visa Day

It’s visa day. That basically translates into I just spent three hours filling out forms. The process still isn’t over. Things need to be printed, signed and sent to London. I can’t complain really. The agency that is processing our visas has been incredibly helpful and made things easier than they would have been with no agent. Now we just have to cross our fingers and hope that nothing is wrong with any of the forms. The Mongolian form that I have to print off isn’t working either, which is annoying. I get stressed over small insignificant things. I’m going to have to get my parents to print these forms for me as living abroad when applying for these kinds of things is even more complicated than it is if you’re actually living in your home country. I genuinely can’t wait until these arduous formalities are over and Natalie and I can get on with our trip.

It’s stupidly hot. Rainy season made its first real statement yesterday. It rained flat out from about midnight on Friday through to about 2pm on Saturday. The heat dried things up pretty quickly though and today the sun has got his hat on. I’ve been inside however. Making sure I wasn’t making any mistakes whilst filling out these damn forms.

There are only three weeks left of term at school now. Then I’ll have two weeks of either camp or desk warming, and then it will be vacation, Natalie will arrive and we’ll be out of here. Time will inevitably fly by.

On Friday I had to go to Hwacheon to watch an open class. An open class is where teachers from across the county are invited to watch a class and critique it. It is designed to share teaching ideas and improve the English education program. None of that really happens though, everyone is too nice to say anything negative so all that happens is mediocre, safe, overly rehearsed classes are performed and then given cringe-worthy appraisal. I was drowning in the bullshit that surrounded me. If things are ever going to improve here this needs to change. The problems with English education in Korea aren’t going to be solved or even discussed at these open class events. I was intending to write a critique and explain away these problems but I’ve decided against it. That’s not what this blog is about and to be quite honest I just don’t care enough.

Afterwards a few of the English teachers went for drinks in Hwacheon. We convened around a gazebo in Hwacheon and played beer pong in the hot and humid outdoors. It was good to talk to other foreigners whom I don’t usually get the chance to hang out with. It was really the only note-worthy thing that happened this weekend outside of applying for the visas.

I don’t want this to sound too negative though, it’s just been one of those weekends where I’ve had to stay in and get things done. It’ll be worth it in the long run and I have my fingers crossed that everything will run smoothly. Thus far during our planning process we’ve had no major hiccups so it would be nice if we could get through this with a similar outcome. Yes, that would be very nice indeed. 

Swimming in Sachang

On Friday evening I joined Ben, Russell and Deanna on a trip to Chuncheon. We had a KFC which has just opened in EMart, it made my belly cry. I knew there was a reason I didn’t like eating that stuff. We walked around EMart picking up necessary items for a BBQ that we planned to have on Saturday. This included beer, wine, sausages, burgers, and guns. How we ended up buying BB guns is way over my head. It was Russell’s fascination with the BB shotgun that probably spurred on the spontaneous purchases. He couldn’t wait to get back to the car and open up the box.

So, Saturday rolled around. We waited for Rian and Lanelle to arrive (they live in Hwacheon) and we headed out to the river. Deanna and Russell found us a great spot right on the river bank. There was sand, rocks and water you could swim in. We set up the BBQ’s, we cooked delicious meaty food, we swam in the river, we played Frisbee and we threw a ball, and we had BB gun wars on the beach. It was incredibly pleasant. Swimming in the river was especially pleasant. I really miss swimming; it’s something I used to do at least once a week back home. David and I would head down to the ocean and give ourselves over to its bitterly cold clutches. It was warm in the river and in the end everyone was swimming and having fun. It’s a shame we haven’t done more things like this in the time we’ve been here. There is still time.

However, the weeks are flying by, steadily, and, if I’m honest, not as fast as I might like. Responsibility really sucks. When my alarm clock attempts to wake me up in the morning (more often than not I’m awake and up before it goes off) I know that I have to do something. The something that I have to do is go to school. I like school. I like my kids. I like classes when they go to plan. They are even kind of fun when they don’t. What I don’t like is the fact that I have to do it. I ask myself, would I go to school if I had a choice? The answer is no, I would not. Does that mean I’m not passionate about it? I suppose the reality of it is that yes, it does mean that. That begs the question, what am I passionate about? That question is easily answered. Travel. How do I know I’m passionate about travel? Because I get a fuzzy feeling inside whenever I think about it, most of my free time at work is spent researching and planning it, it makes me feel happy and fulfilled, and it’s what I’ve wanted to do since my trip to America in 2009. This experience has been valuable and I’ve gained some important life skills but I can’t deny that the reason I came here in the first place was for the sake of travel and financing that travel.

It all starts in August. I break up from school on July 20^th. There is a two week period where I’ll either have a camp, or sit at my desk and dream about what is just around the river bend. On August 4^th the two week period in which I still have to go to school ends. I’ll have two weeks of vacation from August 4^th until August 19^th. During this time I will do some travelling around Korea, I’ll tidy my apartment ready for its new occupant and I’ll meet Natalie from the airport. I return to school on August 20^th for one week. It’s the start of term and the new English teacher won’t arrive until the 25^th, I’m sure this last week will fly by and then Natalie and I will be off on the adventure we’ve been planning all year.

It all seems so close yet feels so far. We apply for our visas this weekend. We’ve had to wait this long to apply for them as sorting out visas for a TransMongolian trip across Asia is a bitch. It’s really hard work. Pathetically so. There is no need for these countries to make it this difficult for us to visit them. However, we have no choice but to comply. I’ll be spending Sunday filling out a myriad of paperwork and then it will be out of my hands. My passport will do its tour of the embassies and will in theory land on Natalie’s doorstep just in time for our departure.

In the meantime, I’ll be here in Korea. In exactly two months it will all be over here. That’s only eight more weekends. When I think back to a year ago it feels a lifetime away. It feels like I’ve been here for a lot longer than I have. When I left Heathrow airport I sat in the departure lounge directly opposite the plane that would take me here (it actually took me to Turkey for a layover but whatever), I looked at the plane and had no idea where I was going. I knew I had to meet some EPIK people when I landed, I knew I’d be going to some sort of orientation, I knew I’d be working in a school, but the details were unbeknownst to me. I was throwing myself in at the deep end. I don’t really remember what that uncertainty felt like now. I remember being driven to my new town by my co-teachers, I remember seeing Nathanael walking past the apartment block and feeling relieved that I wasn’t going to be alone, but that feels like it was more than a year ago. I mean, really? That was nearly a year ago? Wow! Everything is so familiar here now, so naturally, I’m excited about the next step.

Now everything is coming together I wanted to leave you with an updated itinerary of the trip. This will probably only be interesting to my family, so feel free to switch off if you’ve made it this far. The reason I’m posting this is because a few dates have changed since the last itinerary I posted and I also wanted to write in a few of the things we’ll be doing in each place so you can at least attempt to picture it a little more.  Bon voyage.

24th August – Last day of school and depart Saching-Ri for Seoul

25^th August – 27^th August – Seoul

28^th August – Depart Seoul for Bangkok, Thailand via Kuala Lumpa (Depart 09:35am – Arrival 19:50pm)

28^th August – 1^st September – Bangkok

1^st September – Depart Bangkok for Krabi, Thailand via overnight train

2^nd September – 4^th September – Krabi Beach, Ko Phi Phi Island

5^th September – 7^th September – Phuket, Karon Beach and Patong

8^th September – Phuket to Chiang Mai, Thailand (Depart 15:25pm – Arrival 16:35pm)

8^th September – 11^th September – Chiang Mai, Elephant Nature Park

12^th September – 15^th September – Chiang Rai, Crossing the bridge into Myanmar (Burma) 

16^th September – Ferry to Huay Xai, Laos

17^th September – 18^th September – Riding a boat down the Mekong River

18^th September – 20^th September – Luang Prabang, Bear Rescue Centre

21^st September – Over night bus to Vang Vieng

22^nd September – 23^rd September - Vang Vieng, tubing down the river

24^th September – 27^th September – Vientiane, Ban Na Tribe and Waterfall Jungle Trek

28^th September – Depart Vientiane, Laos for Hanoi, Vietnam (Depart 15:15pm – Arrival 16:25pm)

28^th September – 30^th September – Hanoi

1^st October – 2^nd October – Ha Long Bay Cruise

3^rd October – Hanoi

4^th October – Overnight train to Hue

5^th October – 6^th October – Hue

7^th October – 8^th October – Danang and Hoi An

9^th October – Overnight train to Nha Trang

10^th October – 11^th October – Nha Trang Beach

12^th October – 13^th October – Ho Chi Minh City

14^th October – Bus to Phnom Penh, Cambodia

14^th October – 16^th October – Phnom Penh, Killing Fields

17^th October – 19^th October – Siem Reap, Angkor Wat

20^th October – Depart Siem Reap for Beijing, China (Depart 11:10am – Arrival 20:05pm)

20^th October – 24^th October – Beijing, Great Wall of China

24^th October – Depart Beijing on TransMongolian Train

25^th October – Arrive in Ulaanbaatar, Monglia

25^th October – 26^th October – Ulaanbaatar

27^th October – 29^th October – Gorkhi Terelj National Park, Staying in Ger Camp, Horse Riding

30^th October – 1^st November – Ulaanbaatar or elsewhere in Mongolia (open ended)

2^nd November – Depart Mongolia on Trans Siberian Railway

2^nd November – 6^th November – Trans Siberian Railway

6^th November – Arrive in Moscow

6^th November – 12^th November – Moscow, staying with family

12^th November – Depart Moscow for Dusseldorf, Germany (Depart 17:00pm – Arrival 17:20pm)

12^th November – 17^th November – Dortmund, Germany, visiting Alex

17^th November – Depart Dortmund for London Luton (Depart 13:30pm – Arrival 13:55pm)

17th November – 18^th November – Home Sweet Home

Under The City

I saw a penis.

That’s not a sentence that you’d traditionally start a blog with is it? Especially one which your family read. I could just leave it at that. That would be funny. I should probably give it some context though. Let me start at the beginning.

This week at school has been rather tiresome. On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday grades 3 through 6 were all away on a field trip to somewhere I can’t pronounce. This left me at my desk with very little to do outside of giving classes to 1^st and 2^nd grade. Good classes. However, I had lots of free time. I did a lot of writing. I’ve written 10,000 words this week. I’m writing a new film. It’s called ‘Youth’. Trying to get my head around my second novel has been hard. ‘Youth’ has just come out of me, fully formed, which has been good. My attempt to document my Cape Cod experiences alongside a murder mystery in my second attempt at a book has been tough but screenwriting seems to be something that comes very naturally to me. I should have it finished this week. So, I guess not having classes does have its benefits, I get paid to do things that I want to do and as long as I do my job it doesn’t seem to be too much of a problem.

So, Friday rolled around as it inevitably does. This weekend I had to go to Seoul to get my Hepatitis B booster vaccination and change over my malaria tablets. Nathanael and I headed to Seoul on Friday night. My appointment was early on Saturday morning and Nathanael and I wanted to explore a tunnel underneath the Wonhyo bridge in the pitch black on Friday night. Very good idea.

Urban exploration is still very much a new thing here in Korea, it’s a place in which Korea is falling steadily behind the rest of the world. I’ve heard that the Japanese and the Chinese have embraced urban exploration and there are communities actively partaking in the past time in those countries. Not here. In Korea urbex seems to be a community that is almost entirely made up of expats. No matter.

The Wonhyo Bridge is one of many bridges that cross the Han River in the middle of Seoul. Its grey, it’s bleak and it’s industrial. The view is pretty good down underneath the bridge. There is a cycle trail, some tennis courts and a park. That’s not why we were there though. We were there because we wanted to explore a tunnel which runs underneath the north face of the Wonhyo bridge all the way down to Sam Gak Ji which is a good 2km away, underground. We slid into the tunnel unnoticed and walked along what might as well have been a path in the pitch black. There were some drains to step over and the further in we got the less path like our path became. If it wasn’t for the flashlight we had just bought the exploration would have been impossible. The further we got into the tunnel the scarier and more daunting it became. You could fit at least three double decker buses in there. That’s how tall it was. It was like a communist Moria. There were big concrete pillars supporting the tunnel. The river was running steadfast underfoot. The tunnel was wide as well. Really wide. There were actually two paths you could walk and we were to the far left. We walked so far in that you couldn’t see the entrance anymore. You could just hear the water gushing and the sound of the street from up above. I thought of my first novel ‘The Cave’ and how this tunnel reminded me of my cave a little bit. It was eerie, it was dank, and it was abandoned. There was nobody around, I was worried we would bump into some homeless types but Nathanael didn’t seem too concerned about this.

Either way, we were in and out and we had the experience of seeing a part of Seoul that not many people get the chance to see, unless they watch the movie ‘The Host’ of course, as parts of that movie were filmed right there in the tunnel under the Wonhyo. I stood on the sand alone (as Nathanael talked to some Koreans) after exiting the tunnel. I looked out across the Han River. I saw the metro trains travelling over a bridge in the distance. There were couples holding hands walking along the cycling track, the moon made the water sparkle. Seoul was alive all around me. I took deep breaths and listened to the river. It was peaceful. I felt empty and full at the same time. Nathanael came back over and we decided it was time to leave.

So, we needed a place to stay right? It was getting late and I had an appointment in the morning. This bit is about the penis by the way. In case you were wondering if I was ever going to get back to that, here we go. We stayed at a jimjibang. That’s code for Korean bath house. I don’t know why us foreigners call it a jimjibang and don’t just call it a bath house. We don’t call a mountain a san (Korean for mountain), do we? Anyway, Korean bath houses are a little like health spas or really cheap hotels. 8000 won was the actual price. I didn’t take a bath. I didn’t want to get naked in front of a bunch of strangers, or in front of Nathanael for that matter. I just wanted to get some sleep. There are penises everywhere though. I guess that’s what you get at a bath house. You walk in, you pay your money, you get given a locker key, you walk round the corner and boom, asian penises everywhere. I walked to my locker offloaded my stuff, used the bathroom (not the BATH room and went upstairs to a small capsule (reminiscent of Japanese capsule hotels) and went to sleep. It was a pleasant sleep on a Korean style bed. A floor with a mat on it. I slept really well. I got up, went to my locker, got my things and proceeded to my doctors appointment. I saw some more penises on the way out.

I got my vaccinations. It didn’t take long. Afterwards we went to Namdaemun market and haggled with some Koreans over some backpacks and I finally bought myself a backpack for my trip. It’s blue and black and it’s 45L. I didn’t want to get a massive bag; I wanted to restrict the amount of things I’d be taking with me around the world. I mean, with the amount of travelling we’ll be doing the last thing you want is to be weighed down. I’ll write a blog before I pack my bag and I’ll take some photo’s of exactly what I’m packing for the big trip. Less than you’d expect is what I’m hoping for. The market was humming with people and once we’d scored a good deal on backpacks we got out of there. We had some Vietnamese food which was delicious and we caught the afternoon bus back to Sachang.

It’s Sunday now. Last night I shot some people. Sean, you really do keep throwing out the most inappropriate sentences. What I mean to say is that I played some video games with Ben that involved shooting things. I got up at 6:30am this morning. I just do that. Once I’m awake I can’t stay in bed. You only get a certain amount of mornings in your life and it’s your job to make sure you don’t waste them. So, I cleaned my bathroom, I made some breakfast, I did some writing and I watched a movie.

I also have to make a gibbon experience decision. Here’s the predicament. The gibbon experience is a program in Laos where you head off into the jungle for 2 days and live in these high rise treehouses that you get to via zip line cables. I’ve been excited about doing it for nearly two years now. Ever since I first heard about it. The problem lies in the time of year that we’ll be in Laos. It’s going to be wet season and the hike to the treehouses can be pretty treacherous from what I’ve read. Part of me likes the idea of the adventure. Part of me doesn’t want to slip up and break a leg. It’s looking more and more likely that we’ll skip out on that experience and find something else to do. I’ll keep you posted.

Things are all falling into place now and the week after next we’ll be applying for our visas. The last stage of the very long planning process. Once that’s’ done we can relax as there will be nothing left to do outside of packing our bags and boarding our plane. Time is going by very fast and I only have two months left in Korea. The sun still shines and the humidity is getting irritating. I go running and listen to the frogs down by the river at night.

This blog has been a little disjointed. I’m making fish and chips again tonight. I’m becoming a master of the meal.

…for there will be fireworks and they will light up your eyes and you will feel more alive than ever before…

The Shape of Things to Come

It’s June now. Did you notice? I did. I seem to be becoming more aware of the date on a daily basis. With only ten weeks left until I leave Korea I can’t’ help but countdown. It’s not like I’m wishing the rest of my time away, quite the opposite, I’m trying to make the most of the time I have left. I’ve said this one thousand times now, but, it is hard not to keep counting down the days in glee as Natalie’s arrival approaches and as each day comes closer to the day when I’ll be free of any irksome obligations and responsibilities and I finally hit that road.

School is still busy. Whilst the second semester has been a lot harder than the first I’ve gotten to know the kids a lot better and I’ve certainly become more confident with the materials that I prepare for my classes. It’s still a pretty easy life, albeit a sometimes stressful one, stressful because it’s hard to know what is going on. Most people seem to know when their vacations are going to be now, and what days their summer camps are but I’m still in the dark. Not only am I busier this semester but so is my co-teacher and that has left me even less informed than I used to be, although, I’ve gotten better at judging things and working things out for myself.

I’ve been trying to decide what I’ll do with my two weeks off (whenever they may arrive) and I’ve decided that I’m going to do a temple stay in the countryside just outside of Daegu. Daegu is a city somewhere in the middle of the country, nearer the south than the north and the temple is about an hour outside of the city in the countryside. I’ll probably only do a two-day temple stay there and then maybe I’ll head out to the cultural heritage sites near the east coast. I’ve never meditated before and don’t really know much about Buddhist rituals so it’ll be worth the early mornings to have the experience.

School should break up somewhere around mid-July and then if my camps are anything like everyone else’s I’ll have two weeks of working camp in late-July and then have the start of August off and come back for the first week of the new semester before packing my things and heading off with Natalie to new horizons. Speculatively. I don’t know how anyone can do this gig for much longer than a year. Perhaps it’s just me and my innate desire to always be moving on and doing something different, I always get itchy feet whenever I’m in one place for too long.

This weekend I went hiking with Nathanael. We hiked Changan Mountain again but this time we went up a different trail, a trail I much preferred as it felt more rustic, it was all overgrown and smelt of pine which reminded me of Maurice’s Campground on Cape Cod. We sat on a picnic table halfway up the trail for quite some time talking about this and that. It was peaceful and it was great to get out of my apartment for a while. We exchanged stories of the hikes we enjoyed in our home countries and thoughts of the New Forest flooded my mind. David and I used to go hiking every Wednesday (that we both had off of work) in the forest and I miss it immensely. Natalie lives in the New Forest and my memories of our time there make me realise how in love I am with that place. Oh, how sentimental. It’s strange how travel makes you think of home in totally new lights, totally new perspectives. I look forward to rediscovering it.

Next weekend we’ll be heading to Seoul. I’ve got to pick up the malaria tablets I was supposed to pick up last time, and I’ll also get my Hepatitis B booster vaccination. The joy. Nathanael’s coming along and we’re going to go to a night market, I’ll hopefully pick up a bag for the big trip. I’m thinking about a 40L. There’s also an Iranian restaurant in Hyehwa that I’m pretty stoked about.

I’ve been in a pensive mood recently. June has been quiet and nothing major has happened. Time has been spent planning lessons, giving classes, and just hanging out in Sachang on the weekends. I’ve done a lot of writing, a fair amount of socialising and a lot of relaxing. I plan to do some more exciting things in the coming weeks so there will be a little more for me to blog about but I thought I’d better update so you lovely folks know that I’m still here, I’m still breathing and I’m still enjoying myself. 

My bus was late today for the first time since I've been in Korea. I wondered what was up as the bus lady was just speaking gobbledygook at me. It turns out the bus I would have usually taken broke down as I saw it being toed away as I pulled up into town. I guess I can forgive them for that. Well, the smell of the fish and chips that I'm cooking is beckoning me. I'll see you out there, somewhere...