Skip to main content

Baby Steps


Life is getting busier here in Korea and I have been quite tardy - not posting for almost a week! So to make it better, I thought I'd post a picture. This is a little area I walk towards when I'm going to the gym. I find it so peaceful and calming.

A few things before I rush off to another class:

Class: We have had another class added to our schedule, twice a month as we will rotate, so not that bad but this does mean less preparation time for classes. I will be happy when the schedule is just SET but perhaps this is what I'm learning about teaching - it is never really set.

Triumph 1: I had a mini triumph on the weekend. We went to the large grocery store which has a food court at the top on Saturday. We needed lunch, so armed with my handy list of food in English and Korean (c/o good ole mom and Lonely Planet) I spent a good 10 minutes looking for bibimbap - in Korean. I had the hangul symbols memorised (don't ask me them now, but I had them then) and guess what??? I SPOTTED IT! Ordered it. Ate it.

Here is the proof (notice the HUGE stack of kimchi to the right of the big bowl..yummmy!!!):

Triumph 2: I managed to look at a map of my small town, located an area I wanted to go to, hop in a cab and speak to the very nice female cab driver in the EXACT way to get us to the EXACT market we were hoping to get to. I am getting GOOD AT THIS!! (ya, and not too full of myself at all)

Triumph 3: I FOUND PANTS! Well capris pants that I have been searching for everywhere and I ended up finding exactly what I was looking for in my small town. AND THEY HAD MY SIZE!! Which, by the way, if you're Western, is 'largey'. Pretty direct translation eh?

There goes the bell. Time to practice how to say 'th' a million times with the little squirts.

Comments

Anonymous said…
GP and MS here.... We LOVE the picture of your route to the gym. Glad to hear the Lonely Planet came in handy. Post a comment to say hello. Sox aren't doing so well :(

Popular posts from this blog

They Started a Heat Wave

(sing) a tropical heat wave.... (White Christmas fans? anyone? c'mon..) Yes, there is a heat wave, with warm sun and highs of 30 but NOT HERE IN KOREA. Yes, it is warm and humid but there is no sun. Do you want to know where the sun has ended up? BELFAST!! Lucky bastards....I wanted a tan by August gosh darnit - I should have stayed with the Guinness. And, it wouldn't have been a day on this blog without some reference to the weather. The weekend was a nice long relaxing one but super panic hit on Monday night and I was ready to get out of the house. I was freaking out yet again about the garbage (what the hell is wrong with me?) and didn't have a great sleep. There is something to be said for cooping yourself up in your house to watch English speaking DVDs for a day. But I think this only stops you from experiencing the culture. I did venture out on Saturday by bus (whoa, crazy bus drivers) to Pusan where the open markets you can barter and get cheap shirts - thanks to my...

I'm baaaack!

Hard to believe that last entry was almost three years ago! Many moons ago, I set this blog up to chronicle our journeys. Once we were grounded a bit more, it kind of lost its way. I spent some time working on my writing offline, taking on different projects and working full time as a technical writer. It was difficult to keep this blog up. Not for any real reason I can articulate. Just had my words redirected to other avenues for awhile. But, I'm pleased to say, after over a decade away, we are back in the UK, living and re-experiencing a place we enjoyed in the mid-2000s. Social media has certainly changed the way we look at blogs. I'm excited to navigate this new world, explore just what people post, what people read. What's better on one of the many new platforms and what's still appropriate for good old fashioned blogosphere. For now, here's a peek at where we're staying -- in a pretty little village just outside of Oxford. A temporary home ...

Korean Drivers Manual

1 - First and foremost, you are the only car on the road. Please drive this way. 2 - Be sure to keep a tally of the number of pedestrians you hit. 10 points for old ladies, 20 for young children (they can run faster you see). You can also add 5 points for each near miss and pat yourself on the back for trying. 3 - Red lights can tend to get in the way of your driving. Simply proceed through them if you need to. Honk your horn to make sure the cars that actually have the right of way know you'll be sailing through the intersection. 4 - Signalling is recommended but your car does not have blind spots. Just go ahead an change lanes. 5 - It works best if you keep one foot on the gas and one foot on the brakes at all times. This will allow you to continually pump the breaks all the way down the street avoiding 'other cars' while still revving your engine and going at the speed of light during those intervals when you are not slamming on your brakes. (By 'other cars' I ...