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!