this is what i call a downward spiral!!!!

Tower stories

Gee wiz guys, I know we're all busy being great and all, but when did we forget to type a little note to say hi and give updates on our lives.

I too am guilty of this. So here is my update.

Life is still wonderful here in Asia. We had Chuseok (pronounced Chew sock) which is the Korean thanks giving day, which is determined by the first full moon in Autumn. We had a Chuseok day at school last Friday where we all got to dress in traditional Hanbok (Korean traditional dress). It was fabulous, take a look on FB at the pics of us in Hanbok and the little kids that I teach. They are soooo cute, but never forget that they are capable of mass destruction, tears and snot. Bless Chuseok because it gave us a week off, a much needed week off I might add. However my body decided to say a cheery 'hallo, come on over' to a cold and I was all clogged up in my sinus and feeling sad for myself the whole week and actually I'm still pretty rotten , but whatever, these things happen hey.

On Wednesday a group of us went up the Seoul Tower. oh.my.goodness. It is wonderful up there. I mean, you have to walk up a freakin mountain to get there, well there is the option of the cable car, but you would have to stand in a terribly long queue (wow this is a tricky word to spell) to get there and as much as I moaned on the walk up it really was worth it. Seoul is a fabulous city, and we walked up at Dusk so the light was all purple and hazy. truly magnificent. The further we trudged up the darker the sky became the more lit up the city became. Honestly words are so inadequate at describing how the light twinkled on the city line and how we had to peer through the leaves and trees to see the sky line. Seoul was framed by green leaves with a lilac and gold sky. I hope I never forget how stunning it was.

The Seoul N Tower is also a love tower. No kidding. Apparently you should go up there with your significant other and then attach a padlock to railing as a sign of your eternal devotion to each other. It is quite touching watching young couples trying to pick the best spot to attach their love lock. People were really agonising over this decision, I suspect that this process alone could make or break a relationship. As you can imagine the tower is just overflowing with locks, so to even find a space to stake your love claim is a mission in itself, but still endearing.

If you take the lift all the way to the top of the tower you get to wander around the tower and look over Seoul from an amazing vantage point. It is glass obviously and to make it a more memorable event for foreigners they have put lettering up on the glass of the countries that lie in the direction of your gaze. So I duly and excitedly walked the circumference of the tower looking for the South African country that simply must be mentioned. nope. I walked round twice in case I had missed it the first time round. It really isn't there, the only reference to Africa is Cairo.

Cairo.

I was so disappointed. There are at least 7 US cities mentioned. Canada even has 2 mentioned. But no Cape Town or even Johannesburg. At first I was sad and then I was just plain mad, so I threatened to write a strongly worded letter to the tower people...will get round to that at some stage.

I am amazed by this country and it's people every day. I didn't know this, which means you guys definitely did not know this, but every week end a very big street in Pyeongchon is closed off so that small children can hire baby play cars and ride around the street without their parents wondering if they will become road carnage. Isn't that wonderful? We went the other day just to look at all the little ones creating havoc in their cars on the street and the parents on their picnic blankets watching the happy mayhem. It was glorious. And just this afternoon I walked out my apartment block and was confronted by the strangest image. A mother and daughter were exercising on the street together. The mother was hoola-hooping and the daughter was skipping with a rope. I just had to keep walking, but all I wanted to do was stare and soak up the bizarreness of it all. I laughed silently to myself instead and said 'I love Korea' in my head.

Argh. So when you buy a computer in Korea it obviously is manufactured for Koreans who use Hangul. Hangul meaning the Korean alphabet system. So it has a dual functioning keyboard with abc letters and Hangul letters. To switch between the two you simply press the alt key and then hey presto this happens 랄갸ㅣ랴레ㅔ퍼ㅔㅐㅑ네. Which was funny at first but when you accidentally press the alt button and all your thoughts are now in Hangul it is very disorientating and annoying. Just so you know.

I do have many more anecdotes to tell, like how Danielle and I found ourselves being adopted by a Korean man, Mr Kim. Honestly, he said "think of me as your Korean dad" and we were like 'Ok, that's great". Mainly because he has an enormous house which is really an entire apartment building that he has just taken over and one floor is his private wine bar. But that story is for another session. Just to keep you hanging

So now for all your news. No excuses like you're too busy saving the world or anything.

love you all

This is Yi Heon - she is on her own planet - but oh so cute. She wants to be an explorer when she grows up!

Little Johnny has a sister?

Little Sally came home from school with a smile on her face and told her mother, "Frankie Brown showed me his weenie today at the playground!"
Before the mother could raise a concern, Sally went on to say, "It reminded me of a peanut."
Relaxing with a hidden smile, Sally's Mom asked, "Really small, was it?"
Sally replied, "No... Salty."
Mom fainted.

P.s. We are having a long weekend down here in SA, enjoy everyone!

Karaoke = silent orchestra

If the deaf started doing karaoke.....

Hope your weeks have been going swimmingly guys!

ciou for now

Bopping and jamming in public spaces...

On Saturday I was killing time while the very kind man in the computer shop was converting my new laptop from Korean to English, essential really, and so I found myself in a book shop. Why I went in there in the first place is a mystery as all the books were in Korean, but I did and boy was it fun.

First of all there was a rack with toothbrushes and toothpaste on it. Does that strike you a weird? Because it deffinitely made me laugh loudly and then try to hide because people in the shop were staring at me. Why was that there? Did the shop owners feel as though the dental hygiene of their customers was important if they were going to read their books? Or was it simply a whim? I'm going with whim. And I jolly well liked it, not often you can buy books and toothbrushes in the same shop.

While also in this same wonderful shopping centre, which I might add spans an entire block and has a sports centre, a subway station and a four storey electronics market in it, I also meandered into the middle of this wonderous complex only to find an outdoor entertainment area full of chairs and screens and signs saying "Hong Kong festive". Still not sure what that means, but there was a fashion show and then a live band. It was the band that caught my attention. At first it was just a man on the stage playing a piano and singing a gorgeous song...which started to sound familiar. It was a fabulous song which I still cannot place but I did hum along in a manner which made people feel as though I knew it. Then he rocked the place with a rendition of Bob Dylan's "Knocking on Heaven's Door". I was in my element. I just sang along loudly (I was the only white person for miles and the only one singing, but I was too happy to care and continued to warble away) and swayed violently to the music. Never would I have imagined rocking to a legendary song like that in a shopping centre in South Korea, it was beyond wonderful and I am so happy one cannot predict random momentous occasions like that. However I do wonder what sort of impression I'm leaving in my wake as I go through Seoul. hmmmmm.

Not only do I sing loudly and jam in public at midafternoon concerts I have begun gently bopping on the trains. I cannot help it. Whenever I meet up with Christine it entails a 35minute train ride, minimum. Now this means I can get in some serious ipod time and I love my music. I am also incapable of just listening to music, my knees just start to bounce and then I'm gently nodding my head to the beat and sometimes I even forget that I'm not in my apartment by myself and I actually move my feet. Which is tricky when the train is full as moving one's feet more often than not entails moving in space and then one inevitably bumps into people...so while you were just quietly bopping and possibly being inconspicuous before, when you bump people you no longer retain the possibility of not drawing their attention to you and your strange behaviour. I am leaving a trail of weird stares and shaking heads in my wake. oh well.

While I am on the topic of dancing I may as well talk about my clubbing escapades in Seoul. There is a local club that we frequent called Clubby Bar Slang, it is situated in a neighborhood near me called Beomgye (pronounced Bum Gay - I kid you not! Honestly I guffawed so loudly the first time I heard that that I almost choked). So Slang as we affectionately call it has a mini stage as part of the dance floor and I dance on that stage like I'm a rock star. I like to pretend that I'm in a music video when I find myself on the stage. It is the most fun in the world. Now Danielle and I know the manager, Judy, and she likes us and she seems to love the way we dance, so she sometimes lets us get onto the bar and jam away for all the world to see. Now that makes me feel like a frikkin rock star. I am never so happy as when I'm on that bar jamming with Danielle. ahahhahahhahhaha.

Sjoe my life is just full of dancing at the moment. I am starting traditional Korean dance classes next week. I am beyond excited. They are private classes with a master!!!! (I just don't think I can add enough exclamation marks to that statement!) I pinch myself often when I think that this is happening, because I still can't believe I have managed this. I am going with a Korean friend, Mimi, that I made through a fellow teacher, Emily, and then Christine Balt from Rhodes who is now teaching in Seoul. So there will be the 3 of us and a master and Mimi will be the translater. Will keep you posted on this. Woop woop.

bloody poms :)

Have a great weekend everyone :)

Soju nights

Molweni

So in the words of my morning pre-school class: "Zoe teacha very very not good". I got horribly drunk last night with my co-teachers and fell into bed at 5:30 this morning, I duly set my alarms (please note the plural) and promptly fell asleep. FUCKING ALARMS DID NOT GO OFF! so at 10:04 my manager calls to ask where I am as my teaching day starts at 10:00 every morning. I ran around my apartment swearing profanely and rushed to school. And my class just loooks at me and Seung-Wan says " Zoe Teacha (not a typo, they say it like this;) very very not good" with this sly look on his face and then Robin goes "Teacha, Why?" oh my days. I was finished I just laughed and laughed. I think I was still drunk.

So that is my story. Will make a longer post this week end as I'm purchasing a lap top and will have finally be able to write from home.

franschoek

Guess what I did this weekend?

Franschoek Uncorked is a wine festival that Margot won tickets to, natch I was super keen to go, even tho I'm not refined enough to actually know the differences between wines or even, really, like them.
It was really fun tho and the weather was gorgeous. We sat on hay bales and listened to jazz in the sunshine :)

Legendary Chocolate Block wine, that tastes nothing like chocolate btw and really wasn't my cup of tea.

What did everyone else do over the weekend????

Casual day!

So its casual day here in sunny SA. This years theme is " dress for laughs"

I came dressed as Super hero Siqa, your BEEE choice!

Here are some other characters in our office!

spring day

So it's spring day in CT and it's rainy and cold, but this really made me laugh so I thought I'd share it will you :)