Getting Settled...

Hello again lovely people!

So, a lot has happened since my last message so I thought I would drop a line (or a few)...

Classes have begun. My last note mentioned that I had done introduction lessons and told my classes a whole lot about me... Well, I have since learned that they only understood about 20% and still to this day ask me where I'm from. To put it clearly they speak about as much English as a mole cricket (don't worry Sam - that wasn't a dig at you). The only expressions most of them know are "Hello", "I'm fine", "delicious", "best" and "handsome"... which they use repeatedly. In fact, there are different levels of these phrases including "most delicious", "most best" and my new favourite "most not handsome" - which is apparently easier to say than "ugly". I would like to clarify that this is never said about me - my eyes open more than 1cm wide so I am considered very handsome! :)

To put the positive spin on school - I have been having a lot of fun and the kids have started to speak to me even if I don't understand... I have been proposed to a few times - once by a male student, I have been compared to Wayne Rooney, Tom Cruise and pretty much any white person I put in a PowerPoint presentation and I have been laughed at for my lack of chopstick talents (which I would have sworn were quite good). Another great highlight was playing my dads song "The Park Hobo" to my high school classes and them following me around for half a day trying to figure out how to tell me that he is very good and they want his music...

As for weekend shenanigans: Alex and I spent the St Patrick's Day weekend in Seoul and got horribly drunk on Guiness and Soju. There were LOADS of Westeners at the festival with Irish bands, Irish beer and over-the-top Irish costumes! A weekend which should have been at least 2 days longer to allow for a proper recovery!

The weekend before that we spent in a little town (well, bigger than our town) called Yanggu for a newly acquired friends birthday! I'll let you guess what we did... That's Right! We drank too much beer and Soju, only this time we had awesome coffee cake to wash down! The birthday boy, Jarrett, showed us his Ukulele skills and by god they were something! Watch out "Korea's got talent" - a Texas boy is coming to make you all look stupid!

So, that leaves our towns... Inje and Wontong. We have really settled in and its mostly because the small communities of English teachers have been so welcoming. We have met new people, eaten new foods (Yes - we've drank more beer and soju) and learned a whole lot more about the culture in which we are now neck deep in. There is NO crime, you can leave a bicycle outside the market for an hour while you shop and return to find a fully functional bike with even your wheels still attached! Everyone has a smart phone - and they wave them around like a 5 year who has just found his 'little boy bits' - nobody cares or even thinks about stealing!

Our salaries came in on the 23rd and we are both officially millwonaires, which is actually quite disappointimg because the exchange rate is 150:1... but still, I'm RICH!!!!!! Bwahahahahahahaha (evil laugh).

The weekend coming up looks like it will be a goodie, with another beer and soju birthday celebration on Friday and a trip to our closest City (Chuncheon) on Saturday to do some much deserved shopping for some more western food stuffs and clothing...

Our general mood (insert salute here) is good and we are taking in all the beauty and weirdness of Korea!

So, this  is me signing off after hopefully getting you up to date with my life in the sticks of South Korea... I would love to hear from you too, so just drop me an email or a message on Facebook!


Love and Kimchi!