My 25/26th Birthday!

See what I did with the name of the blog? It's a journey and Korean's are possibly the oddest people I've ever met, so a suitable title, I think! So, without further ado, he's my blog (I'm sorry)!

Well, I thought I needed to start a blog at somepoint. I doubt too many people will read it, with the exception of Father (or maybe not!) and the aunts, but still, as I discussed with someone, it'll be good for me to document my travels!
So, yesterday was my big quarter of a century, which was exciting - however I've kind of missed 25, as in Korea, you're born a year old, so here I'm 26. Lame, I don't want to be older than my years! Still, I'm glad to be in Korea for my 25th, I think the Mother would have been proud that I've finally got off my ass to travel and that I'm in the weirdest place ever would have amused her no end!
So, I woke up on my buffday day to the sound of the 'phone and had a lovely chat with the Aunt, who stayed up specially to call me, which was cute and then just as I got back to bed, I had another call, this time from Michael. We chatted for a while and he listened kindly while I talked utter crap at him and bemoaned that my birthday was not a good time for my hedgehog to die. RIP Broccoli Carrots! I'm actually adopting her brother now, which will be nice, I hope I don't kill him too, or I may be shopped to the Korean RSPCA. Bad times.
Anyway, back to it. After a special breakfast I headed in to work and had a bit of a party with my co-workers, which made me a little emotional and I have to admit I shed a tear when they all sang to me - loser! After that I opened my gift from the Nome, the only one that arrived in time and then had hours of fun sticking the stickers all over my kids. Haha! Surprisingly, the boys didn't like the rainbows, but the girls loved them. Well, the boys pretended to not like the rainbows, but somehow ended up covered in them!
After a quiet day (Tuesdays and Thursdays I have very small classes and even get a free period!) and a lot of cake and playing around, I met Amy and we headed to Suwon Station. We arrived after a bottle of soju that took up the bus journey and I helped Amy to our predestined meeting place, poor thing, she just shouldn't wear heels! Anyway, we met with Hollywoodz and two of his army friends and Faye (Ruby caught up later) and headed to the nearest galbi joint. Galbi, for those who don't know, consists of raw meat, usually, in my case, beef, being placed on your table, which you have to cook on a little bbq in the middle of said table and then, when that's done, you wrap said meat in either a lettuce leaf or a sesame seed leaf, add this really nice red sauce, pop in a bit of garlic and then voila! a bite sized parcel of heaven! You also get about a million side dishes to eat with it, the Korean's are a massive fan of the side dish, so expect to find Kimchi, which is fermented cabbage in chilli sauce, little fish, shredded cabbage, and a plethora of other stuff. Yum! At the restuarant we got straight on to the soju and played the 'flicking' drinking game, which is generally just flicking the twisted end of the soju lid - the person that flicks it off has to down a shot. Fun, but I think I lost a few too many times, as the rest of the evening is a bit of a blur and reports have it that I fell asleep in Crazy Ducks! A great night was had by all though and Amy now has a date with a Korean guy - way to go!

So, as you can guess, this morning I didn't feel too hot! Plus it was a Wednesday, so it was a busy day at school. A short run down of my classes, Monday, Wednesday and Fri, if you will:

IN2 - the cutest class in the world ever. They LOVE having tests and are always so much fun. They are all pretty smart, and love to teach me the newest Korean dance moves. IN2 always make may day happier and I wish I had more time to play a million games with them, not that they care though, 'teacher, test!' always prevails over, 'teacher, game'! Today, I got a card and some chocolates from Lina, which was adorable! The card was decorated by her and there were stickers and comments on the inside, a picture of Jun Pyo (I love him, he's a Korean actor) and she signed off with 'From your student, Lina'. Cute as.

S1/S1EA - used to be the bane of my life, the albatross around my neck, but now, since the departure of Mark (name synonymous with Beezelbub) one of my favourites. They're bloody active though, so we always have to play high energy learning games or they get distracted and Carter becomes naughty. They love games and making me run about like a loon, which was not something I wanted to do today, but thankfully had a lot of fun! Dean and Dave are the cutest kids in class, though Dave used to be a bad'un. Dean is just a bit weird, I think possibly the male, child, version of me. With different hair.

IN5 - Another awesome class. The kids are about 11 and they're so sweet. They love to talk and Andy loves to be naughty, but it's funny when I tell him off and he acts up a treat! I always move him and make him stand outside, which everyone loves and threaten to move Cindy for her incessant talking, which makes the girls scream, as it's crazy to even think they could sit next to a....BOY!!!

IN3T - Lively class. I used to enjoy them better, but with them growing bored of our homework game, I've kind of let the fun slip and they're being naughty as a result. Sally is constantly swearing in Korean and Nana, well she's just Nana. She tries to be cute, but she's annoying and I can't help but find her so. She's always touching my stuff and getting mad at the smallest thing, even though it's usually me telling her off for being annoying. Oh well. John is the class' saving grace. He's so smart and although he acts all cool, he's actually smart and respects Teacher, which is nice.

AD2/IN5G - dicks. I know you shouldn't say that about kids, but seriously, they are. They don't listen and then tell Sarah (my boss), when she questions them that they don't understand the material, which I know damn well they do, they're just lazy. They also refuse to speak, which is annoying, and they pretty much annoy the crap out of me. They're my oldest class and I think hormones are getting in the way, they don't want to be 'uncool' in front of the opposite sex! Still, they're getting a bit better than they were, but I'm looking forward to not having them to teach anymore.

IN3T2 - Lovely class! Tony is my favourite student in this class, but they're all pretty cute. Tony is so cheeky, he makes me laugh every lesson, for at least half the time. We fell about the other day about a monkey with a long head, but you had to be there I reckon.

So, that's my MWF class list. I'm pretty amazed that with the exception of 2 classes I love teaching. Who'da thunk that'd ever happen, me of the 'I hate kids' school? Ok, so kids are as bad at listening as Probationites, but they're cuter, by far, and generally haven't killed or raped anyone, which is a bonus. I also love my little flat. I've got a pretty large one, compared to some reports, which actually has a separate kitchen, yey! Not that I cook much. It's cheaper to eat out and my hob is stuck in the corner of the room, so I have to lean around my fridge to cook owt. I'm also missing having an oven. I got a tiny one from Patrick and Elaine, but I'm a little scared of using it, knowing me I'll blow it up somehow and end up ruining my little flat!

So, as it goes, so far I'm loving the Korean experience, though I wish I could drink slightly less, my waistline has gone to pot since I've been here! Ok, so some of that is the prevailance of food, but still. Plus, my liver doesn't like me anymore. I'll make it up one day though, and it had 2 months off when I was travelling! Anyway, I'm off to sleep off the rest of my hangover in an effort to get up early tomorrow and clean the flat. Fun times!
Laters!