Almost Friday *^^*

Another 3 hours at the gym today - Back, Biceps and Cardio. Will go tomorrow, but only for 2 hours. Tomorrow is my last day of starting in the morning for a while, since middle school students will be going to school as of next week. Work was okay. I had 2 students missing from my TOEIC class, because they were sleeping. They're mother called, and said just that... they won't come, because they are sleeping. 2 things come into mind: One: It's 6pm, unless you work weird hours, you don't sleep at 6pm. Two: Do they really want to get a good score in their TOEIC Test?

In the 6pm TOEIC class, I normally bring a snickers bar for students (and myself to munch on. With the book we're doing this week, it has a small practice test at the end of each section. If they get all the questions right, I give them a piece. If they get one wrong, they get half a piece. If they get 2 (our of 5) or more wrong, I eat it. Works out good for everyone. If they get 5 out of 5, it means they understand, and I don't eat the chocolate (good for my diet), if they get 2 or more wrong, then they know what they need to work on, good for their diet, and I'm not as hungry :p


Tonight's Dinner: Chicken Spaghetti. It doesn't have as many vegetables as I like, but got a small salad as an entree, and get all the pickle, gimchi and radish refills as you like. Only 6,000won ($6.80 Australian)

Weights, Freebies and Photocopiers

Item 1: Gym etiquette

This is a no-brainer, really. Not only at the gym, but EVERY-f**King-WHERE! If you use it, you put it back in the same place. Why? So that the person who wants to use it after you do, doesn't get pissed off, when he/she can't find it when he/she wants to use it. A great example of this lately, is the weights at the gym. I kinda noticed before, that the guys who work out at the gym (in the afternoon and evening, since I only go in the mornings) do not put the weights back where they are meant to go, after they use them. I don't care how heavy they are, how much your arms hurt, how far away they are, or even the excuse of "I pay to use these, so it's not my job to tidy up". You use it, you put it back. The previous trainer used to tidy things up in the morning, but the new guy is hopeless. I notice is more now, because I'm using the weights every day. I don't think that I should go looking around for the weights, if I want to use them. If the people who use them are being like 5 year old when they leave their wet towel on the bathroom floor, and expect mummy to pick it... um... wait... that's what they do here. If its not their mum, it's their wife that picks up the wet towel.

Anyway, every day, before i lift weights, I go on the hunt, find them, and put them in order. Maybe I'm being slightly obsessive-compulsive. But, its annoying. My way of dealing with it, is to just do it. Lol.


Item 2: Freebies

One of the cool things about being a Foreigner/American/외국인 in Korea (and yes, I know I'm not American, but I'm white, and in Korea, White = American) is getting free stuff from shops that you go to. In Korea, it's called "service". Today's freebie, was a cupcake from the bakery in the supermarket near the gym. I bought a jam donut after I had lunch, and got the cupcake for free. So, I saved the donut (will have it with breakfast tomorrow), and had the cupcake on the way to work.


Item 3: The Photocopier

Yesterday, this wonderful piece of office machinery that so many people have become dependant on in the modern world (including me) was a complete bitch. Today, It had completely forgot about the altercation yesterday, and pretended that nothing happened. And yes, it is a girl... I know those mind games that its playing. I wasn't born yesterday.

English Notebooks... Now with mistakes built in!

Is it spring yet?

Weather wise, last week was great. Sunny days, and weather not going below zero at night.. Until this week.


Not a bad frosting indeed, and not all that cold. Not enough for it to be a pain to walk anywhere, or to be slippery. Was able to make it to the gym with no problems. Most of it was melted by lunch time anyway.


Every now and then, I'll buy something sweet after lunch. These tasty buggers, are 5 calories a gram :p


First thing I do when I get to my classroom, is open the windows, to let some natural light in. The windows here are double layered. The outside windows are covered with yellow plastic, with the Hagwon's name on it. The inside windows are normal. I find that the lights in Korea give me headaches sometimes, so the natural light helps. This is the view out of one of the windows.


Just a view of the front of my classroom.


The 똥광 on my iPod. It comes with me to the gym, for when I'm on the treadmill. Lately, House or Boston Legal is what I watch when I'm on the treadmill.


Most of my students aren't too bad. It can get a bit roudy at times, but they know the basic rules. Some of them don't really have the best behaviour, compared to the students I have taught back in Australia of the same age. But hey, different country, different everything.

Weekend in Gyeonggido/Seoul

Isn't it nice when your boss gives you the option of finishing work 100 minutes early? I got that option on friday (most likely the best day if you wanna finish early), so took it. It meant I was able to get to Jeongeup by bus, rather than my Geomdo teacher driving all the way to Sachang to get me.
 Got to Jeongeup just after 8, then I shouted dinner. One of the best Galbi places I've been to in Korea, is in Jeongeup.


Woke up nice an early on Saturday, to get the train to Suwon, which left Jeongeup station at about 8:40. On Mugunghwa trains in Korea, there is a thing called "ip-seok", roughly translated, standing room. Yep, when the train is full, you can pay less, to get a place on the train (designated by car number) and you find a place to stand. They don't care where you stand, and long as you stand. Luckily, I've only had that once, an was for an hour.


Got to Suwon on time, and took the subway to the station closest to where the kids will be having the geomdo test. The reason why they have to go to Suwn for tests, is because soms other Geomdo teachers in the area decided to change companies, and therefore can't work togethet for grading tests. Anyway, got the tests done, and then had dinner with the people in the Geomdo office. I think it was "the office", because we were able to fix my card problems (name was spent wrong, and my nationality was listed as Korean).



Weather was too cold for the kids to check out Suwon castle, so we found a New Core Outlet (pronounced "owl-let in Korean) and did some shopping. I looked around at the usual Adidas, Nike an was even tempted by some Reebok stuff, but had plans for my credit card for Sunday.


Got the subway from Sanbon station to Bucheon station (basically going from south, to west, with a transfer at Guro) and took only 40 minutes, rather than the estimated 60, so I arrived in Bucheon 30 minutes early, rather than 10. Met up with HM and BG and has some dinner. BG decided to go home, so HM and I decided to go to a quiet bar and have a chat and a few drinks. I can drink a bit with the heart medication I'm on, as long as its not a usual thing, and not a lot.


Was tired from waking up early on Saturday, so went to sleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. HM had some studying to do today, so I went to COEX Mall alone. The apple store there was a bit disappnting. Didn't really buy anything. Just a protective cover for my sister's Nano. Checked out the CD store, nothing special, so decided to make my way to Itaewon to buy some clothes from the usual place I go to. The place I go to is small, bit they have a good range, and the two women who ate there, have good English, and can have a good chat with them, in English and Korean.



Made my way to Yongsan, where the real retail therapy took place. New video camera. Wanna do some view stuff, for my blog, for memories, and for other reasons. Went with a Sony, of course ^^





Also, went with first class on KTX. Wanted to try it out. For an extra 16,000won, I get way more space and legroom. And the fold away table would have no problem fitting my 15" Macbook Pro. Economy KTX struggled with that.


The train's about to arrive, so better get organised, or I'll end up in Mokpo.

Lemonade Recipe

This is a response to my previous entry, and to the comment from my friend Marie, who asked for my Lemonade recipe... but before I get to that.

Marie, you're right. Its now giving up, just a realization of the end. With my current job and situation in general, I need a break from Korea, so that I don't end up hating this country. I've had good times here, and because of those good times, I know I will be back in the future, to revisit the good friends I've made that will continue to keep in touch with me. Also to revisit places I liked, and to check out new ones. And I'll definately need some Bibimbap and other things. I've always said to myself, stay until its your time to go, and its pretty much my time to go.

The only problem with that, is knowing that you can leave any time. For me, it somehow makes things here seem not as real as they should be.

As for Lemonade, the main thing is, not to get all your lemons from the same place. Thats one of my main problems, I'm trying to save cash lately, so I don't have much choice for getting a varity of lemons from different places. Sometimes its might seem easier to keep getting lemons from the same place, but your lemonade will just end up tasting the same, even when you play around with the recipe. Sometimes, moving everything and starting again, just for lemons, can be stressful, but can be the best thing for your lemonade. Thats the one thing I regret about being here in Korea, I should have moved for the different lemons, but I decided to stay with the same, safe, familiar lemons.

I've still got some time left for some different Lemons. With some Japanese lemons in June ^^

Trials, Tribulations and Lemonade.

I came to Korea to challenge myself. That is the main reason why I came here. I wanted a challenge, and in the past 28 months, I have had one. The first year, things were good. The 2nd year, things were hard. But this year, is turning out to be the hardest of the three.

Knowing when to give up, is wiser than just giving up. But, its still giving up. I have learnt, changed and grown form my experience in Korea, but it has changed me in ways that I didn't expect, and changed me in ways that I don't like. So, I've gotta work harder to become the person I want to be, rather than the person that others expect me to be. Korea can be a very twisted, cold and dark place at times. Just gotta deal with, take it one day at a time.

I know that I have come to my time, when it comes to Korea. It is time to go back home, recuperate, rest and re-gather thoughts, and move on to the next journey in life. I've pretty much gotten what I want from Korea. There is nothing else left for me. I just gotta try to get the most out of a situation that doesn't have much left in it.

I've used all of my lemons to make lemondade, and I drank it all. Now, I could get a straw, and try to get the last drops of lemonade out of the cups. Or I could use the left over pulp and peal of the lemon, to fertilise my next endeavour in life. I've had enough of Korean lemonade. If the lemonade was in cans, I would be recycling the cans for what little money they are worth, rather than sucking the last drops of lemonade that is left.

Its time to move on.

I need a new flavour.

Found it ^^

Went to the gym Wednesday and Thursday, worked out enough. Was at the gym for 2 and a half hours on both days, so its all good. Work has been good as well. The new diet is all good too. Cereal and Yoghurt for breakfast, Dolsotbibimbap (돌솥비빔밥) for lunch, and a small dinner (tonight was strawberry milk and a few slices of toast). Not much happens during the week, so not much to write about. Received a few chocolates from students, ate one for a friend, who is on a crazy ass diet lately, but gave the rest to other students.

Here's 2 pics from my very small gym.

Has anyone seen my motivation?

The only thing about having a bad day, is that normally, the next day is a lot better.

And it was.

I slept in, but not intentionally. I missed my alarm at 6am to get up early and go to the gym. Woke up at 9am, and had breakfast, lazed around a bit. Really couldn't be bothered going to the gym. So, tidied up the place a bit, then had lunch. But, for some reason, when having a shower, I think I had panic attack. If it was a heart problem caused by what I ate, it wouldn't have come as suddenly. So, I checked up on wikipedia. I didn't have all the symptoms, but enough to make me think it was. It was a weird experience.

Anyway, I was able to calm myself down, and get to work. Work was surprisingly okay. The kids were a bit rowdy, but probably because they went back to school on Monday. They only go back for a week, then have another 2 weeks off, then start "real" school on this first monday of March. I don't see the point of it, but "this is Korea!" hehe. Had a kid try to give me some "unknown" chocolate in a class, but I could recognise it, by the color, and how students were reacting when they started to eat it. 99% Cocoa! I'm not eating that. If I'm eating chocolate (which I am not doing, from now), I want it to taste good.

At the start of January, I started making reports on all my students, and tallied the results last night. But, for this month, I'm using a small book to record it. Using the folder with every student having a piece of paper for things to circle and write, was getting annoying. Having a small notebook is easier. When I bought this book, I was looking for one that said "Seoul", but they didn't have any, only "Tokyo" and "Paris". Not very patriotic, Korea! hehe. Students are very curious about their results for January, so I stayed up a bit late, doing all that for them. i will print them out at work today.

The last class I had, which will change in a few weeks, because they are Elementary School Students who will start Middle school in March, were actually okay today. I've been using a book I bought from Australia, to use with that class, and they seem to be doing well. There was a section on adjectives, so we did a bit of a quick brain storm. One thing about Korean students, they know how to remember and regurgitate information. I coudn't write as fast as they were spitting them out. haha.

After work, I went to the supermarket, bought a few things, and then stopped at the mart near my apartment and bought a few things there. Its been crazy cold lately and I'm not a fan of getting numb hands and feet anymore. Also, I didn't want to eat a big dinner, so just milk and break for me from now on.

Woke up at 7:30am today, but went back to sleep. Didn't sleep well last night. Woke up again at 9:30am, and was almost ready to go to the gym... but, no motivation. Also, it was snowing. Its just too damn cold here. I dont know if it really colder, of if it feels colers, coz I'm thinner than last winter. haha. Knowing my luck, probably both. But, did use the weights in my house for about 30 minutes. Gotta go tomorrow. And, since my episode yesterday, which might not been food/health related, it make me thing, I need to be more healthy. Haha... which is ironic, since I didn't go to the gym.

So, made a healthy lunch - chicken salad (salad from emart) and some 고추 and 쌈장.

Barbarian = Foreigner?

According to English dictionaries, barbarian normally has one or two defintions. This is what the dictionary on my Mac has to say:

barbarian |bärˈbe(ə)rēən|
noun
(in ancient times) a member of a community or tribe not belonging to one of the great civilizations (Greek, Roman, Christian).
• an uncultured or brutish person.
adjective
of or relating to ancient barbarians : barbarian invasions | barbarian peoples.
• uncultured; brutish.

Fair Enough.

Lets check out what the Korean/English dictionary says:



Yep, that's what it says... A foreigner is a barbarian! Now, I checked two other dictionaries as well (a computer dictionary that came with my old Samsung computer in early 2006, and my diciontary on my mobile phone) and they said the same thing.

To get an idea about where the word came from, lets turn to our good ol' friend, Wikipedia:

The Greeks used the term as they encountered scores of different foreign cultures, including the Thracians, Egyptians, Persians, Indians, Celts, Germans, Phoenicians, Etruscans, Romans, and Carthaginians. However in certain occasions, the term was also used by Greeks to deride other Greek tribes and states in a pejorative and politically motivated manner.

So, we're talking medievil times. Korea, this is the 21st century. Get with the program. Some people could say that Koreans are barbarians, with the way that they treat/kill dogs for food.

Makes you really think and wonder, doesn't it?

But, after checking some sites, like Korean's Naver and Nate sites (Korean search engines), I have found that the word "외국인" has been removed:

bar・bar・i・an〔〕 n.
1 야만인, 미개인;야만스러운[야비한] 사람
2 교양없는 사람, 속물(cf. PHILISTINE 2)
3 이방인

━ a.
1 미개인의, 야만스러운;교양없는
2 이방의

Okay, so, 외국인 has been removed... but have a look at the word 이방인. Now, 이방 in Korean, means "foreign country"... so, does that mean that 이방인, means "foreigner"?

Sunday, Bloody Sunday

Slept in, which was great ;) Made it to Gwangju at about 2:40pm, with the intention of buying some books about Japan and Japanese, and also some new shoes for the gym. Sounds simple, right?

No dice when it came to English books about Japan. Specifically, I was after the Lonely Planet Guidebook for Japan, and Japanese Phrasebook. The book shop in the terminal used to have them, but since they opened, they have dramatically reduced the number of books they have in English, which i don't get, since Korea is crazy about English. So, decided to head downtown, to go the big ass bookshop there. Once again, no dice. Also, checked out two Adidas shops for shoes - lets just say, the salespeople were "keeping their distance".

So, went to my "used to be" favourite Adidas store in Sangmu - the other end of the subway line - in Gwangju. Found a nice pair, 70,000won, fit well and was comfortable. So, got out the credit card. No dice. The guy was telling me that there was something wrong with the card. So, I told him, that the card is fine, because I've used it in the store before, and used it last week in Lotte Mart. So, he tried again. Yep, you guessed it... No Dice. So, I asked him what payment method he was using, and he just looked at me. I've seen this look many times before. It's the "why is a foreigner telling me how to do my job" look. People who have been in Korea would know this look. So, I tried to tell him, that with my "foreign" card, that I can only pay for things in one payment, and not with the payment spread over a certain amount of months. He tried again. 주사의 없다 (Korean for "no dice"). He just handed back the card, and because I was getting frustrated, I just walked out.

Went to eMart to buy some groceries. One thing that I am used to, is how crowded places can be in Korea. One thing I am not used to (and will never be used to), is how stupid some people can be when it is crowded. So, I just did whatever any other Korean would do in a crowded place. Put my Mission face on, and did what I had to do, Korean style. Squeezing though people, moving trolleys, giving people the Ajumma elbows if I had to. I was not in the mood for tolerating stupid behaviour. When its crowded, you make the effort to keep out of the way. It's simple. I was hit a few times by people who just swing their trolleys around without looking. An evil side glance and the words 조심해라 (be careful) fixed that. It can be frustrating here at times, with the lack of common sense and common courtesy from some people.

Got back to the bus terminal, with 20 mins remaining until the bus back to My town. Forgot that it was sunday, and saw the soldiers already lining up to take the bus. Had to get my ajumma elbows out again, to push in, korean soldier/children (yeah, they push like children push here in Korea) to get a seat. Wasn't in the mood for standing up on a 45 minute bus ride, where the bus driver was gonna drive like an L-plater in a small ass car on ecstasy.

** ajumma (아줌마) is korean for middle aged woman. Ajumma elbows is what i call it when these middle aged ladies shove out there elbows, to get them through crowded spaces, but mostly end up hitting people in the ribs. Does make people move though :p

잘 벴어 ^^

I have been learning the Bamboo cutting competition stuff lately at Geomdo class. The plan is to at least try out in a competition before I leave in October. After a few weeks break from using a real sword (way heavier than any practice one), i'm doing alright.

Future Holidays

Today, I was thinking about when and where I would go for the remaining amount of holidays in my contract. I've had my sights set on Japan, mainly in Nagoya, because that is where my friend is. but, I've noticed that Osaka is kinda close to Nagoya. So, i guess things in that kind of range, would be okay to check out. My other idea was to go to Gangwon-do in Korea, but I can just do that on a long weekend. The next time I go to Gwangju, I want to buy a Japan Lonely Planet Travel guide, and a Japanese Phrasebook. Do some homework before I make any real plans. I'm not exactly sure when I will be going, but it will be the time just before middle school students have their exams, maybe June-ish.



Have any of my blog readers ever been to Japan before? Any ideas on what I should see/where I should go? I'll have 5 days, in late spring/early summer, and will need to be near Nagoya-ish. If you have any ideas, please let me know my writing some comments. Thanks.

Lunar New Year, Weather, Boredom.

새해복 많이 받으세요 ^^ Happy New Year ^^

Well, Boring New Year is more like it. I'm all for days off work, but not when things are closed. Like the gym. I would love for the gym to be open during days off. I could go there, without having to worry about getting there too early, to get a decent workout in before having to go to work. I thought about using the small mountains near my house for a good work out. Not when its -5 degrees in the morning, and 0 degrees during the day.

I went for a walk before, with the intention of making a video, and to get out of the house. With the cold weather, and not using my camera for a while, the batteries where very unreliable. They're currently de-charging now, so I can charge them again, and try to make another video.

It's just too damn cold. I need REAL weather.

No Gym, Work... Boring!

The gym is closed in my town until next Monday, due to Lunar New Year. With all this time off, I'd love to spend it at the gym. But, with my 850cal workout yesterday, I was a bit tired, so it was good to sit down and relax this morning.


One of my students, a 14 year old, is learning TOEIC. Basically, in Korea, TOEIC is used as the standard for how well you know English. But, in the real world, TOEIC is used for business purposes. TOEIC only assesses reading and listening capability, and how well you can color in a small circle with A, B, C or D in it. So many people study English in this way, learning grammar, vocabulary, and "how to chose the correct answer" techniques, but then complain that they can't speak English (and the worst thing is, not figure out why). Some of my Korean friends, who are better English Speakers than I am a Korean Speaker, are actually jealous that after 2 years of being in Korea, I can speak better Korean than them, than they could after 2 years of English study. I just wanna quickly say way: I don't study Korean. I am surrounded by it every waking moment in my life in Korea. I have the opportunity to learn Korean in a natural environment. There are almost no natural environments in Korea to learn English. Korean society is very good at putting things into units that can be compared in one way or another. If I sat down in front of a Korean test, that is similar to TOEIC, I would fail. If you put be in a taxi with a decent enough taxi driver, I can start a conversation and get him laughing by the time I'm at the destination. If I had to learn Korean the way that Koreans are forced to learn English in Primary, Middle and High school here, I would end up hating it like so many Koreans do.

I had one student out of ten, hand in their homework that I set on Friday. It was one day late, but still, that is a shit ratio! One out of Ten! On Monday, there weren't any students who returned the homework. The student who did return it, is one of my best middle school students. I wasn't expecting all to return the homework, but I wasn't expecting none. Anyway, I'm disappointed, but at least I know how the students consider homework from the foreign teacher.

i've got 5 days off, and fuck do I need them. Since the gym is closed, I've gotta make other arrangements to exercise. I've also gotta find something to do for these 5 days. I've got a few ideas up my sleeve, but will have to see how things go. I've been wanting to make videos for my blog, but nothing exciting really happens in my life all that often to make videos about. Will see what I can come up with over the 5 days.

When I wish English lessons were real lessons

A lesson I wish was real - Korean students being able to clean up their own mess! haha

Monday, Razor

So glad that this week is a short week. Moday was okay. Got to the gym at about 9:40am, worked out on the machines for about 50 mins, then got on the stepper, and then a treadmill with an episode of House on my iPod. Pushed myself to 850 calories today. Spent about 2 hours 45 at the gym. Going to the gym in the morning is good for me, since there are not many people who go there.

I promised some middle school students, that if they handed in their homework today, that they would get a chocolate bar, so after the gym, I stopped by the supermarket, to get some Twix bars for them. Also, Its a student's birthday on the 7th, and since that day is a public holiday, had the party today. So, bought snacks and drinks for the party as well (was able to restrain myself from eating to much, so it was good ^^). So, got to work with 2 big bags of shopping, went to my classroom, put the shopping under my desk, and checked my homework box. Nothing. Next time, I won't even bother wasting my time and effort for students to do 20 mins of homework. I'm always really shocked by how lazy, and sometimes, how stupid some of the students are. I wasn't expecting many students to do it, but wasn't expecting no papers to be handed in. Normally, in February, the boss takes Grade 3 Middle school students to the beach, play some games, and do a bit of travelling for one day. Not this year's Grade 3's. hehe.

Went out for dinner with the boss and his family, since one of his sons came back for Lunar New Year. Never really liked raw fish, but the fish we ate tonight was alright.

I bought a new razor the other day, which has 6 blades, and is battery powered, for vibration. Reminded me of this clip, which is from "the Late Show", an Australian skit/standup comedy show in the early 90's.

Geomdo, Friends, Shopping.

Woke up at 7am Saturday morning, which was good. Was having my first Geomdo lesson in almost 3 weeks. Gwanjangnim (the polite Korean word for martial arts teacher), had a plan after lunch, so we just practiced some stuff, coz i didn't do it for a while, and then had lunch. Well get back into competition stuff next weekend. He's also gonna buy some new Bamboo to use.

GM was going to come to Gwangju at about 4:30 to meet me, but since Geomdo was finished early, and GM messaged me to say that he'd be late, I decided to get the bus back to my apartment, and clean up a bit, for when GM arrived. So, got the bus to Gwangju to meet GM, and then we went to Grandmother Won's Bossam (원할머니보쌈) in Sangmu for dinner, and it was so delicious. I went there last weekend with SJ, and GM really wanted to try it, and he ate so much!



Saw this on the way back to to the subway station after dinner. Toss English. Had to explain to GM what toss meant, and why it was funny. Why would anyone call their chain of English learning places "toss"? (For the people who don't know, click here then scroll down to meaning 21c)

Then, we stopped by Geumho World. I wanted to get a new Mighty Mouse because mine is out of warranty, and also on its last legs. But, the Apple store was out of stock, and it seems that almost all of Korea is out of stock of Might Mice. Korea seems to get a pretty raw deal with Apple stuff. No Airport Extreme in Korea! So annoying!

When we got back to my place, we kept talking an GM gave me a copy of his thesis that he wrote last year for graduation. It was a present for me, helping him with English. He wrote all of it, but I helped him with making it sound natural. When it comes to helping friends with English, I prefer that they do all the hard work first. If they don't do it first, and then ask me all these questions, it gives me the feeling that they didn't try hard enough at first. When I am using Korean, I will try myself first, and then try different ways. Then, if I can't figure something out myself, I will ask my friends. Slang isn't in Korean dictionaries, so sometimes, Korean can be hard to learn, and there are also different dialects in different parts of Korea (just like there are different accents in different English speaking countries), so when I travel, some places can be harder to communicate in than others.

Anyway...

Woke up at 7am again, had breakfast, and got the buses to Gwangju. GM had to be back in Daegu by 2pm, to go to church, so he got the 10:05am bus. After he left, I want to the English book store near Uncheon station (운천역), but it was closed. Doesn't open until 1pm on Sundays.

So, decided to do my shopping at Emart first. Bought some stuff for classes, and for the new year. Needed some food in the fridge since there is a super long weekend next week (so glad that the 3 days off for Lunar new year are not on the weekend ^^). If you check out the pic, you can see that I can buy Australian cheese here. But, also, check out the price: 250 grams of Bega (which is pronounced "begger" here, because they didn't translate the name phonetically - another problem with Korea's English), would cost me about $8 or $9! Sorry, I went with the German cheese, which was about $5. I don't buy Korean cheese. It tastes disgusting, and is more rubbery!

After shopping, decided to get Loteria. Loteria is a Korean version of McDonalds, with their own Koreanised sauces, etc. Generally, it tastes terrible. The only good thing they do, is a shrimp burger. I bought A (an American friend, who used to live in my town), some Design United shirts. He absolutely loves that brand here in Korea. Also bought him a Korean Language Study book, since he wants to continue to study Korean. I went to the bookshop at Gwangju Terminal, which USED to have a good selection of Learning Korean books for foreigners. They don't any more, but I managed to find one.

It snowed again lightly again this afternoon. The only problem, was the wind was so damn cold. My big bro in Korea, and I mean BIG, is getting bigger... and is also helping out a friend lately. So, I've been helping him out, while he's been helping his friend out. He wrote about it in a blog entry (along with a latest pic of him - looking good, bro ^^). Check it out (February 2nd).