Week 1

Well, I'm here, and i've had the week in "quarantine", which means... just don't go to school for a week - you might have H1N1. But you're free to roam around and do whatever. So i have been ^^

I've joined a gumdo place and will start tomorrow. I'll also start going to work tomorrow. I've met some of the other local English teachers, and went to Seoul yesterday to meet up with some old friends. Here's a few pics.


Dinner with some local teachers on Wednesday night.


The co-teacher left a piece of paper at the school, when we were going to go to Suwon to get all my immigration stuff sorted out. I wasn't allowed to go into the school. I'm in "quarantine" holiday, remember? But, I was "lucky" enough to see this sign at the school's entrance.


3 buses go past my school. There buses are the ones I need to take to get to work, and to get back to my place in the afternoon.




Us at Dr Fish. After having some deeee-licious Samgyeopsal for lunch, we went to the Dr Fish cafe, got some yummy treats, and then out feet were the treats for the fish for 17 mins ^^ Very ticklish, but was good. Felt bad by putting the same socks on afterwards.

After that, we did a bit of shopping, and took a photo using some new touchscreeny camera things on the street. Was cool to meet up with friends again.

Other highlights and lowlights of the week were: going to Anseong hospital to get a medical thing done for my Foreigner Card, waiting for 1.5 hours at Suwon Immigration Office for 5 mins of time with a clerk for dropping in paperwork for my Foreigner Card. Going to noraebang 2 times this week, having my first "bored" day on Friday.

I think my first phase of culture shock is over. When I get into a regular routine next week, with work, and gumdo, that's when the second phase will kick in. I'll see how I go.

Weekend by Photos

Got off the train at Yeongdeungpo, but a friend i was meant to meet forgot all about it (not having my phone for a week mightn't have helped either), so got some lunch and went to a PC bang for a while, before going to Jongno to meet up with some friends.



Dinner was awesome, but the 아구짐 was a bit dangerous. Played 고스톱 until 3am with friends, lost only 10,000 won.


Lunch was at the Thai Orchid in Itaewon. Damn tasty. Then coffee and donuts in Suwon, then out to a party in Guro.

Sunday: Burritos and Books (and Kevin Bacon) in Gangnam...


...Dinner in Hongdae, and Zombies at a friends house...



...and last minute sticker pictures.


Awesome weekend *^^* Thanks everyone

Weekend + 1

Went to Seoul this weekend to meet up with some friends. Was meant to go to the International Car Show with K on Saturday at COEX, but it didn't work out (I think I didn't have his new number), so I just hung out in COEX, resisted buying some Apple stuff from the A# Shop. Then headed out to Children's Grand Park to meet up with GM, walk around, have a chat, have dinner together (the galbi was good, but a little pricey), and checked out Star City (a cinema and shopping place near 건국대입구), for some ice-cream and a bit of shopping. Then, while walking though e-mart, GM had the idea of "꽃민남 되자", and bought some skin care, and a "팩", walked through Konkuk Uni (건국대) to get to GM's place and had more of a chat, while becoming 민남들. ㅋㅋㅋ Talked about our lives recently, what we're gonna do after we leave Korea (i'm headed back to Australia, he wants to go to the U.S. to get his Masters) and a few other things. He's one of my best friends here in Korea, and I'll miss him a lot.


On Sunday, I met up with MH and went to Apgujeong had lunch and chatted. We wanted to see a Korean horror movie, 외툴이, but none of the cinemas we checked out were showing it. It was good to meet up with her, and talk about a lot of stuff we've experienced in Korea.

Since Apgujeong was closer to Yongsan than Yeongdeungpo, I decided to go to Yongsan and change my train ticket to get the train from Yongsan. I bought the ticket the day before, but at the time of change, the train was all booked out at the time. But, Yongsan to Yeongdeungpo is only one stop away. Then the confusion started, because she said all the trains for the rest of the day were booked out, and then she started to show me tickets for the next day. So then I asked her, is there really no space from Yongsan to Yeongdeungpo, and she just replied with the "sold out" line. It made me think, who has my seat from Yongsan to Yeongdeungpo? So, i asked, "are you sure that all trains are sold out?", because I saw the electronic billboard that said that KTX were available, and she said that KTX was available, so I just had to pay an extra 5,000 won to get KTX, which meant that I arrived in Jangseong at 7:55, rather than 8:40pm, which was okay.

Today, I found out that the boss told some of the kids that I'm leaving, so I started telling my classes today that I'm leaving in 19 days, and that October 17th is my last day. Feels good to actually tell the students. The main questions were "why?" and "what are you doing when you get back to Australia?". The boss asked me for my email, coz i think he's got a replacement lined up. I had the usual group of kids who wasted mine (and students) time in class, so I made them write some lines in Korean.

One student actually had the balls to say "yeah, i was wasting time, sorry", and started writing. The other was "you can't kick me out of class, because my parents paid money for it", so i just replied with "the other students' parents paid money, and because of your behaviour, their time is being wasted, because of you.". Like I give a shit about your parents money. Get a backbone and take some responsibility.


A t-shirt that I've designed before (the "Yes, I Know (dokdo belongs to korea) But, I don't Care!" t-shirt) had been printed up by Babo Shirts. Check it out.

Short Update #2

So, on Sunday, I went to Anyang (안양) to meet TJ. I hadn't seen him for almost 2.5 years, because he had to do his compusory military service. So, it was good to see him. We did a bit of shopping, had lunch, went to 오락실 and had some icecream. Then, went back to his house to meet his family (they were interested in meeting me, since they had heard about me from TJ), and that was cool.

Then I got the subway to downtown Seoul, and met HM and BG and had dinner, and had coffee. BG went home, and HM and I came back to Bucheon, and went to a bar for a few drinks. Met a decent girl in the bar, and had a chat. She asked for my cyworld, and I got hers. She's studying English Education, so her English wasn't too bad. The other bar staff (which were also good looking, and the uniform being sexy schoolgirl style was nice too) were a bit worried about English, but after they saw that I could speak some Korean, it wasn't an issue.

Yesterday, I went to 신촌 to meet JH형. I met him in my town, when I started doing 검도. He's a pretty cool guy. We talked about a lot of things, especially 검도 and his latest endeavor to get into the police force here.

Went to 건대입구역, to meet GY and a few of his friends. Most of them had an English speaking test the day before, and one will have it this Sunday. It was cool to see GY again, and to meet his friends too. They were all pretty cool.

Anyway, I'm getting a train from 영등포 (Yeongdeungpo) back to 장성 (Jangseong) today, getting the Mugunghwa train. Slow, comfortable and cheap. *^^*

Short Update

Work is closed for the 2 days after this weekend, giving me a long weekend. H was gonna come down and check out Gwangju, buht with summer and the rainy season and shit, she decided not to (which is understandable, travelling during Korean summer is totally not comfortable).

So, I decided to come to Seoul a bit early. Met up with K, and then later, met up with her friends in Sinchon, and hung out, had coffee, dinner and then 2 and a half hours at Noraebang. Meeting up with a few other friends, which will be my last time to see some of them.

When I was at Red Mango with K, I decided to check out my camera, but, found out that both of my battieres were dead! Not cool.

Anyway, after meeting up with friends, I'll be heading back to my place on Tuesday lunch time-ish. I wish I had more days off work. They make me feel more positive about Korea.

Speaking of positive, getting a Taxi from Guro to Bucheon last night, (a 12,000 won taxi ride), and I got it for free. Had an awesome taxi driver, and we were talking away in Korean. When we arrived at Bucheon station, he said not to worry about the fare, which was awesome.

Just when I am getting ready to leave Korea, all these good things happen. haha. But, Korea, I've been fooled by that before *^^*

Weekend in Seoul

I got a late message from my Geomdo teacher that there was no Geomdo this weekend. His elbow was hurting. So, on that note, i decided to go to Seoul earlier than planed. Only problem was the local bus being late, so I decided to get another but to Gwangju, and then bus it to Seoul (which i haven't done for a long time). I could have taken a Mugunghwa train, but decided against that. I thought, since I want to go to an Apple-ish store at COEX mall in Gangnam, it's easier to get the bus that is only a few subway stops away from there.

Went to the a# shop in coex, and bought a few things for my new mac. COEX is a nice place, but it just gets way too packed. I was glad I was only going there for one thing. I got out of there, messaged M, and said "do you wanna have some dinner before we meet everyone else's for H's birthday party?", and so, we did.

So, made my way to Sinchon, met up with M and G, and got some buritos, then went to Hongdae station, to meet another one of M's friends, J, who was coming to H's birthday party as well. J is a cool person, so glad I met her. So, we made our way to H's cafe, which where the brithday gathering was started. A few others were already there, so we joined them, and others joined as they came. We then moved on to a wine place, a park nearby, and then a galbi restaurant. By then, it was 2am, and G, H, J and myself decided to go back to M's house, and we played a game of Zombies (a really kick ass board game). J didn't make the whole game (was too tired), but G, M and I made it though, and then crashed at about 5:30 am.

We woke up at about 11:30-ish, and everyone went out for food, but I wasn't hungry (since i brought my Dr. You bars with me, and bought a bottle of orange juice the night before), but I asked M to get me a Big Mac (since they were going to McDonalds), and she was completely freaked out by the idea of not having the Big Mac hot. Anyway, when they got back, I had already had a shower, and we watched an episode of (something) that J brought (can't remember what it was, but i'll try to figure it out - it wasn't too bad), and then J left, so M, G, H and I played a game of zombies. H went to work, then M, G and I went to find some food (had this awesome Chicken Potato spicy thing). Made out way back to M's place, I gathered my stuff, and they walked me to the subway station. Got there in time to get the 9:25 KTX back to Jangseong, and got a taxi home.

Thanks for the awesome weekend guys *^^*

Trains, Friends and Stuff

On Friday, I went to Jangseong to get some train tickets for the weekends (the one just gone, and the next two). In May, there are two long weekends - both Saturday, Sunday and Monday. So, I got myself organised, in anticipation of stuff being busy. Koreans get bugger all holidays, and I know that they like to use them well. Koreans, in general, can be bad at organisation, but when it comes to their holiday time, they're damn organised. So, I thought I'd beat them to the chase, and get my tickets before hand. This weekend... Seoul.

More about Seoul later. After buying the tickets, I met BG. He used to live in Jangseong, but moved away for work, but he finished working, so he came back. We met up outside of Jangseong station and then went to Damyang. He insisted that there were no good restaurants in Jangseong (I don't know if that's true, because I've never eaten there before). He knew a good place that has Galbi (갈비) so we ate there, then went to Damyang Resort, a kind of public baths. It was good to go there, and we felt relaxed.


Just a couple of photos from work. Some kids hate having their photo taken, but with the way they act, they do it more for the reaction of the other students. Sometimes, some frogs like to get into the gaps in the window.


So, Saturday, I woke up, and got the local bus to Jangseong, to get the train to Seoul. This train only had 6 carriages, and I was in the 6th, so I took a few photos from the back window. The train attendant kinda looked at me strange when i was walking to the back (since there is nothing there), but when he saw my camera in hand, he got the idea.

I decided to take the Mugunghwa train (무궁화) to get to Seoul. There are three kinds of train to take in Korea: Mugunghwa (the name of Korea's national flower), Saemaeul (새마을 - directly translated "New Village") and KTX (the high speed one). KTX is okay. It gets me to Seoul in 2.5 hours (and 35,000won). But, imagine an airplane's Economy class on a train - no space, and uncomfortable. Saemaeul is a little better. There is space, but the chairs are uncomfortable. They have this massive seat divider between seats (and the shape of it is what makes it uncomfortable). It travels slower than KTX (almost as slow as Mugunghwa), gets me to Seoul in 3.5 hours, and costs 30,000won. Mugunghwa, is the oldest and slowest. It gets me to Seoul in 4 hours, and costs 20,000won. But, it is the most comfortable, with the most space.

Anyway, I got to Seoul at about 2:30pm, and made my way to City Hall station on the subway. My T-money card only had 1,000 won remaining, so I had to recharge at city hall. I was meeting 2 friends before I was having dinner with other friends, so time was tight. But one friend was late, and the other was on time, so we ended up meeting together. Then I met BG and her younger brother for dinner.

It was good to see BG. Sometimes, when her boyfriend (HM) is busy, I will just meet her, and her friends. But on Saturday, I met her younger brother, OS. He is a cool guy. I was glad that I met him. He kind of reminded me of an animation character, especially with his facial expressions and the way he emotes - almost to the point of cute. haha. (if you've seen the Japanese animation "Love Hina" think of the main character "Keitaro Urashima" ㅋㅋㅋ). We had dinner and then moved to Starbucks for coffee and 얘기. Time went really fast. We talked about a lot of things, and before we knew it, it was 9:30pm, and I had to go to Bucheon to meet HM (BG's boyfriend). So, got the subway out to Bucheon, and met him there. After he met me at the station, we went to a restaurant, where him and his friends were hanging out, then went back to HM's place to continue the party and talking there. Compared to when I met BG and OS earlier, these guys were talking damn fast! haha.

Stayed at HM's house, and woke up in time to have a shower, and get going. I wanted to get to Itaewon to buy some clothes, and then was meeting M and G there for lunch. I f**King hate Itaewon. As weird as this sounds, there are too many foreigners. At night, there are too many drunk foreigners, and too many hookers. As soon as I walked up the steps out of the subway station, I could just smell the "dirtyness". I only go there to buy clothes, since I can't really buy clothes my size anywhere else. There is one shop that I always go to, since I always get good deals there, and the ladies that work there are kind, and speak English well enough (and speak Korean well enough for me to understand - not too fast, and not using difficult words). I bought 3 t-shirts and a pair of shorts... Actually, 2 t-shirts, one was for free, since it was old.

After shopping, I met M and G, and we made our way to an Irish Pub for a meal and a chat. I ordered fish and chips, and it was damn good there, considering that I haven't had fish and chips for 6 months. There were a large group of people next to us, and I was trying to figure out what language they were speaking, but I realised that it was English, with a very strong Irish accent, after some of the guys said "fucking" a few times. haha. I had to leave at 2pm, to get my train back to Jangseong, so I had to leave M and G there.

On the train, to and from Seoul, I was translating my Japanese Traveller's phrase book, that I bought here in Korea. So, its in Korean, then with Japanese, and with the Pronunciation, using Korean letters. I find that easier than using the English/Japanese phrase book I have. Since I heard that Japanese grammar and Korean grammar was similar, I decided to learn some Japanese though Korean, and I was able to notice some patterns in the words and sentence structure. One guy that was sitting next to me on the train was kinda freaked out (in a surprising way), that a foreigner was learning Japanese though Korean, so we had a bit of a chat about that.

The train was on time back to Jangseong, but the local bus back to my town wasn't. Finally got home at 8:30am, washed my new clothes and my worn clothes, and went to bed...

Weekend (long post)

Bags were packed, and I was ready to go for my weekend on Friday night. Got to bed at about 2:30am, and did wake up at the arranged time of 7:30am, but fell back to sleep. Woke up at 8:30am, and rushed for the shower, to catch the bus at 8:50am outside my apartment. I don't know why, but I haven't eaten, and then brush my teeth, after a while I feel a little sick, and I was feeling it on the local bus. For those who have been in Korea, you KNOW about Korean buses. For those who don't, let my try to paint a picture here.

As soon as you get on the bus, you have to hang on. If you're the first one on in a long line, then you have a small amount of time to get a seat, or to walk to another section of the bus. If not, hang the f**K on. The bus drivers here don't drive a bus like a bus. They drive the bus like its a small 4-door hatchback, and have just got off their Learner's permit, and this its cool to not use the break in a safe "the other people can't put on seat-belts because there are aren't any" kind of way. At least one hand to hang on to the seat in-front is mandatory. You press the button to alert the drive that you will got off the bus at the next stop, and this is when they use the breaks like there is no tomorrow.

So yeah, not feeling all that good after getting off the bus, so I bought my ticket for Jeongeup, and got a bottle of water, and waited outside for the bus. It was a decent day, weather wise. One thing I noticed on my natural mineral water, is that it said it had zero calories. It's about as obvious "be careful, the contents may be hot" on a coffee mug, a sign at a beach saying "don't swim when sharks are in the water" or an "i'm with stupid" t-shirt.

Got to Jeongeup and bought my KTX tickets for Seoul. I have no problem with sitting in a seat that faces the other way (half of the regular class seats in KTX face the other direction), and you get a small discount for asking for a backwards facing seat, so I got those. Geomdo was good. Went over 예도 1번 and 2번 and learnt 3번. Kinda changed the direction I wanna go in Geomdo. Not really phased about doing comps now. I'd rather try to get 2nd level black belt before October. And, with only 9 things to learn (and having done 3 already), I think its possible, and my Geomdo teacher seems to think so too. Also had a go at some archery after Geomdo, which is what the kids are getting into lately. I didn't do too bad for my first time.


Got the train to Seoul and was met my M and G, and we headed for Hongdae for H's cafe to have some coffee while she was on the way, but did make the effort to buy umbrellas, since the weather did turn a bit nasty. It was a nice cozy place there, and the iced caramel 마키아또 was the best one I've had so far (sorry for the Korean, I can't remember how to spell the English). After H arrived, we had a chat. We were all pretty tired from out respective previous 24 hours. We then headed for Jenny's, a small cosy restaurant that serves the best salads and spaghetti in Seoul (no joke).

Then got the bus to a place near H and M's place, and met up with one of their friends, Han, and went to Noraebang. I did cue up a Korean song, but when it came up, i just wasn't in the zone, so cancelled it. It was one of a few rare times at a Noraebang, where I actually had an awesome time. Definately has to do with the company I was keeping at the time. After our hour and 10 mins was up (I love "service" (freebies) in Korea), we headed for a bar for a chat. I was on water, due to tiredness and heart meds, but everyone else had a few drinks, and we all had a good chat about stuff, things and things that involved stuff (not to mention stuff that involved things).


Got back to M & H's place, and got out the 화투 cards and played some 고스톱. M was intrigued and G was a bit too tired to keep up. After M and G went to bed, Han, H and I kept playing, and then switched to poker. Warning: don't play poker with H - she will clean you out! We finished up at 4:30am, but I didn't get to sleep until 5am.

Woke up at 10:30am, with the intention of going back to sleep, but the body said no, so watched some stuff on my iPod. Everyone kinda rose in the afternoon. H had to go to work, and Han left too. M, G and I kinda relaxed around the house. G wasn't feeling all that good, so he slept it off, and I had a shower and then went to get some food. Found a KFC, but with the lack of sleep, lack of breakfast, wasn't a good idea for the heart/heart meds. So, got some KFC for the crew, and M got some sandwiches (which were damn tasty).

G went back to sleep, and M and I did a bit of sticker shopping. I kinda got some inspiration from M's compy, to decorate it myself, so I thought, lets go shopping. We found a generic 문구, and a Morning glory (yes, it's a stationery chain in Korea), and then a 10 X 10 where we both bought some stuff. Then got back to M & H's place, and M was finishing her packing for her visa run to Japan, and I was getting my shit sorted too. I was feeling out of it, with the whole 5 hours sleep and staying up late thing, and I'm sure that everyone else was too.

We made our way to Sinchon, and has some Mexican food. We had a bit of time, and danced the idea of going to see H at work, but I was way out of it, and just wanted to get to the train station to go home. We parted ways at Sinchon station, and I headed for Yongsan to get KTX.

At that time, I sent a message to a "H" in my phone. I have two H's in my phone (yes, they have the same name that starts with H), and I labelled them incorrectly when I got my new phone. So, sorry to both H's for all that. If the other H didn't call me Monday night and sort it out... well... it... um.. would have gone on for longer until one of them eventually told me. *^^*

Had a half sleep on the train, which kinda helped, but almost missed my stop. Luckily almost doesn't mean I did miss it, and got off the train, and got a taxi back to my apartment, which I am glad that I had budgeted for. Unpacked, set up a wash, and crashed.

Awesome weekend, thanks peeps *^^* Will have to do it again sometime soon ;)

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.

Weekend, Part 3

Met up with GY at Gangbyeon station just after 11am. It only took about 65 minutes to get to there, from Bucheon station. I was glad that the trains weren't packed, like last night. It would have been okay if I didn't have my big bag with all my stuff in it.

Anyway, I had a great time with GY. He's a pretty cool guy, and we talked a lot about many different things. Got some coffee, walked around his uni, and Grand Park, and then had some lunch at VIPs. Went to an Arcade game hall, and had some fun there, then some more coffee and chatting. He worries about his English, but his English ability is actually quite good ^^

Met M again at Yongsan for some dinner and walking. (Finally) found the Artbox that was there and checked things out. Loved the comedy value mug that says "Contence might be very hot"... considering that you have to fill it yourself ;)

Got KTX home, but was sitting next to this old guy, that had this way toxic breath, crossed between Gimchi, Shit and a Truckload of stale cigarette butts. So, everytime he coughed, it was like a blood vessel in my brain burst. Even the people sitting in the chair in front complained. Kinda was hoping to have a seat to myself... :p

Made it back home just after 10, sorted some out, and am about to go to bed. Have to work tomorrow...

Weekend, Part 2

It was great seeing M, even if it was only for a short time. We get along pretty well, and can talk up a storm. She's an awesome friend to have ^^

Well, I don't know how bad it was for M, but I think she got to her desitnation okay... As for me, haha! Its Christmas, Saturday night, and Seoul. For something that should have taken me 40 minutes, took me 90 minutes. I waited for a train with enough space, and when it did come, it was bound for Guro, and I needed to go a few more stations after that. I was getting pretty sick and tired of Koreans seeing that I've got a huge sports bag, with practice swords sticking out, bumping it, and getting in the damn way, and then giving me an evil look coz I accidently hit them. If you moved out of the FUCKING way, you wouldn't be hit. Lol.

So yeah, made it to Bucheon to meet HM and BG at just after 7pm. After Guro, i took a taxi, coz the subway was just shitting me. Traffic was as bad as the subway. But, I got there, and it was all good. We had 찜덝 (Not sure is that's the right spelling), and it was so damn good. HM and BG said that I am a 전라도사람, because it was spicy, and 전라도 people are good at eating spicy food (well, they're right, I can't really avoid spice food in 전라도 ㅋㅋㅋ). We met up with EJ afterwards, and talked for ages. It was good to see her again. She has this awesome smile that just radiates ^^

Came back to HM's place after that, and we sat and talked for a while. He has a test today (which he decided not to go to now, because it stayed up until 3am studying... 바보형). Going to meet GY later in 강변역, which is near Jamsil. Probably will take me about 70 or 80 minutes to get there.

Weekend is still a weekend, no matter how shit is starts

Well, was all ready to get the bus out of my town at 8:20am, when... Yep, nature called in a big way, as in, don't even think about riding a bus for 25 minutes kinda way. LOL. So, ended up getting the next bus, at 8:50 to Jangseong, got there at 9:15 and walked to the train station.

Now, I was meant to get to Jeongeup for Geomdo class, so while nature was calling (yeah, I've been known to text at that time ^^) I sent a message, to let them know that I'd be late. They didn't check their messages until I'm about 2 minutes to get on the train do Jeongeup, and called me. Now, I thought my Korean ability was okay, but I've noticed that people in Jeongeup have quite a different accent than what I'm used to hearing. At first, I thought It was only my Geomdo teacher, but I was sitting next to a guy from Jeongeup on the train, and I had a hard time understanding him. Anyway, the Geomeo teacher, his wife and their students, were going to go to some kind of hot springs thing, but pretty much at the same time that they're telling me, the train is coming, and they're gonna come to Jangseong and get me. It was just to hard to deal with, so they called me back after getting on the train and told me to wait on a PC room and wait for him to come back. Took me a few minutes after the phone call to figure out what he said, so I just sent a message back saying don't worry about it, and I'll come next weekend. I completely forgot about the going to the hot springs thing, but when we said that, it was over the phone, the geomdo teacher's wife was speaking Korean to me (even though she can speak English), and there was a maybe in there.

Anyway, I didn't want to inconvenience them, so just cancelled. So, when I arrived at Jeongeup, just got a ticket for Seoul. Had to get special class Saemaeul, which is no different than the regular part of the train. Took 3.5 hours and cost 31,100won, and got to Yongsan at about 2:10pm. Called M while I for some lunch (Loterria was such a bad idea, it messed with my heart), and called M. While waiting for her, went for a walk along Cheonggyecheon, and bought a new Nike bag at Dongdaemun Market. I got sick of carrying around my Geomdo uniform, my practice swords. Dongdaemun was such a bad idea for shopping, and carrying a huge bag.

M's just turned up at the coffee shop. Will blog later. She deserves my full attention ^^

I went to Seoul, after watching the Geomdo black belt test on saturday morning. It doesn't look as difficult as I thought it would be. I just have to practice hard, and do my best. One thing I worried about, was that the ceiling was too low in the Geomdo-jang we went to. I am too tall to use a sword there. hehe.

So, after that, all of us went to Gwangju for lunch (Gimbap Heaven - 김밥천국) and I had Gimchi Cheese Omurice. It was really nice ^^

Gwanjangnim dropped me off at Geumho world, where I went to the Apple Store to pick up the new iLife 08. Its really cool. I bought it beacuse I use Garageband a lot to make and remix music, but it also has the new versions of other programs that come with the Mac as well. I could have waited until the new Mac OS comes out, but that will probably have some problems with it, like all new OS's do these days when they are first released. Also, my computer isn't 1 year old yet, and is still running well. Maybe, I will buy a new Macbook Pro before I leave Korea (like the 17" model ^^)

So, after Geumho world, I got a bus to Seoul. It took almost 4 hours, because the traffic was pretty bad from the Seoul tollgate. After getting off the bus, I went to my favourite clothes shop in Itaewon, and bought some new stuff there. The women that work in the store there are really kind, and always give me discounts when I'm there. I got a 20000won discount this time, and I bought a lot too ^^

After that, I went to Gwanghwomun, and met Bogeum and her friend Yeong-uk. Yeong-uk was really great to talk to, she was very friendy and fun. Bogeum is too. We had Bossam for dinner (it was really nice) and went to "The Place" for some coffee afterwards. We were having such a great time, but we had to leave to go to rest. So, I took the subway to Gangnam, to stay in my favourite yeogwan (40000won a night, a bit pricey, but always clean, and free wireless internet ^^)

In the morning, just got up, had a shower, and went to the bus terminal. There was a little sandwich shop at the bus terminal, that sells REAL sandwiches (not of the weird crappy Korean sandwiches), so I bought two different ones, and they were both good ^^ Got the 11am bus back to Gwangju, and got home by 3pm. Sweated so much walking home! Feels good to be home, to be able to rest for the remainder of the weekend ;)

I went to Seoul for the weekend, it was okay. Was good to see Kenny (my friend), and go to COEX and do some shopping ^^ I bought something for my sister's birthday, which is near the end of July. I want to buy something else to go with the gift, so I will go to Gwangju tomorrow morning ^^

Back in Sachang

Never thought I'd say this, but it feels good to back in Sachang. Travelling and seeing my friends is good, but it does get rather annoying to carry all my stuff all the time.

Well, just an update of what happened in Seoul. I stayed at my friend's house in 방학 sunday night, and met one of his friends (a korean guy), who's English was 100% fluent. He was a pretty cool guy.

On monday, I went to meet a friend in downtown Seoul. I bought some new shoes, but I had some problems with my credit card. Well, for some reason, I couldn't use it. They tried 3 times to use it, so I could pay for the shoes with cash. But, when I looked at my back records on line, the 3 attempts to pay for it on my credit card have appeared on my bank statement! I emailed the bank, to see if they could do something about it, but they haven't replied yet.

After I met my friend, I went back to 방학 and collect my things. I couldn't stay at his house any more. All he did for the holidays, was drinks soju, sleep and smoke. he didn't even leave his apartment, so, all my things smelt like cigarette smoke! Also, i couldn't sleep well there, because of the smell... So, I had to leave.

I planned to meet friends in 강남 that night, so I took all my stuff with me, and stayed in a motel in 강남.

Tuesday, i met a friend for lunch, and it was really good to see her. We walked around 용산, and had a look there. Where did the Apple stores go? Then, KTX back to Jangseong. I have to work today, but i'm glad its only for 3 days ^^

I'm going to Daegu for the weekend... it will be good ^^

I'm in Seoul now, staying at my friends' house in 방학. I arrived yesterday, and then went to Itaewon, and bought some new clothes - a new jacket, some new pants, and 2 t-shirts. Then had a subway sandwich, and came back to Banghak. My friend smokes way too much, and never opens windows, so, i feel sick at his house. He wakes up in the middle of the night, and has a smoke, and it wakes me up. I am in a PC방 now, and it smells cleaner than his house ^^ haha

Today, I just relaxed, and worked on a song I've been remixing. A guy at a music forum liked a remix I did, and was wondering if I would do a remix for a friend of his, so I said I'll try. The song has kind of turned out like "Dance 4 Life" by Tiesto... Which is what I had in mind anyway.

Later in the day, I walked around 방학 and looked around. Bought a few things from Homever, and I took my notebook with me, and worked on the remix in a park new my friends house. I bought some strawberries at Homever, and ate a few while I was using my computer.

First Weekend in Seoul

I can feel it already... especially in my arms... The pain is coming! hehe ^^

Monday is stretching day in Komdo. It will help me with my fitness ;) hehe. Tennis and Komdo every day (from monday to friday).

I got back from Seoul today as well. Got the Subway from Yeokgok to the Express Bus Terminal. I got lost a bit, looking for the actual Express bus Terminal, to buy a ticket back to GwangJu, but there was a kind man who helped me. Thank you very much ^^ hehe. I bought some Cd's in Seoul. I listened to the Epik High album on the way to GwangJu. It's very nice ;)

I bought the SonyM2... Its a very sexy camera. I got the white model, which isn't as popular as the black & silver model. But, i think it looks cooler. The Sony price, just for the camera, was 649000won. I got the M2, 2 Gigabyte memory stick and extra battery for 740000won. Not a bad deal I think.

When I get a notebook computer (hopefully in 2 months), I can then upload my photos, and make DVD's to send to family and friends in Australia.

Seoul was a great experience. It was nice to see HM and DS again. It felt a little weird to see them in Korea, after seeing them in Australia only a few months ago. But, it was good to see my hanguk hyong and my ilbon hyong again ;) We went to Yongsan (I bought the M2, Daisuke bought a MP3 player), and then Itaewon (I bought a baseball shirt, sandles, some gifts for family for christmas). Had dinner with HM, DS and their flatmate SH.

Sunday, DS and I went to Incheon, and had a look at ChinaTown there. So much better than China town in Melbourne! HM had a TOEIC exam, so he couldn't make it. In the afternoon, DS and I met up with YM1 and YM2, they took us to Cheongyecheon (I hope that is right), a small river in Seoul, which has had work down, and is now very popular. Kyobo is a large underground book/music/marketplace thing, bought a few things there. DS wanted Pasta for dinner, so we found a place near there, and got Pasta and Pizza. When we got back to the flat, DS and I went shopping in Home Plus (that is open for 24hours) nearby, and bought a few things. I bought a 2 movies, and a korean book ;)

Bought some soju to drink with HM and DS for the last night I was in Seoul... On friday, saturday and sunday nights, got to bed at 3am each time. It cought up with me monday morning, since I had to get up at 6:30, to get an early bus back to GwangJu, so I could make it back to work in time. Choosing the Udeung (deluxe) bus was a good idea... more comfortable seats!

So, got back to SaChang with enough time to get home, unpack, start a load of waching, have a shower (I had a shower before I left Seoul, but for some reason (which I dont know) the heaters were on full blast on the subway and bus, so I was a bit yucky) and get to work with enough time to get things organised.

After Work, and after Komdo, I am waiting for the school bus to arrive, so I dont have to walk home in the cold windy weather. Will I get up and play tennis at 9am tomorrow morning?