Sunday, January 09, 2005
Long week
My head's really not been here since I got back to Korea. I really didn't give myself the opportunity to dry out from Thailand and found myself doing midweek noraebanging - never a good sign. So this weekend has been my penance as my body has suffered. Plus the fortnight of hell has arrived - the two weeks of January in Korea when it gets murderously cold. Here I sit in my flat with the heating on full and I can't feel my fingers. Apparently it's about 10 or 15 below outside and I believe it. I wouldn't mind if there was a lovely white blanket of snow covering the ground to make it all silent and pretty but there hasn't been a single flake so far this year.
So anyhow on Thursday I was in the middle of one of my lessons when this very hot Korean girl burst into the room, jabbered something at me, then walked out. The kids translated, saying that she was telling me to "be ready." Two minutes later she returned with the largest camera I've seen, about the size of a small television or an adult terrier, and started snapping away. Oh, a photoshoot. I would have showered and shaved had they warned me.
The long and the short of it is that the school's putting adverts out in newspapers (and maybe even billboards) using my mug to entice parents to send their kids to the school. Hmm. Will it work? Find out soon.
Then went off to have some raw fish down in Depo market with Debbie's boyfriend Armin (he's a geezer who unfortunately flew back to LA yesterday). I've forgotten just how good fish can be when it's fresh and washed down with copious amounts of soju.
So to Friday, when one of the coolest Koreans in town, Kevin, was throwing a party to exhibit his art (he's a tattoo artist). No-one turned up! Well, about 30-odd people, but about 3 times that number had promised to come. I felt really bad for him as he's one of the best Korean guys I know and he's just too cool for this bumpkin fishing town. As Kevin himself said, he gets lumped with us westerners as an "outcast" for being too rebellious and un-Korean. That's just sad because he'd be a god anywhere outside of Korea. Sometimes the attitude of the people around here really gets on my nerves.
Saturday was a quiet affair. Hez was still ill (she's worried that she may have dengue), Debbie was taking Armin to the airport, so I just chilled and then went out for a quick nightcap downtown, where I bumped into Matt and found that Juliet (the sweetest barmaid in town) has returned to B&B. What a joy. Matt and I had missed her. That bar is really hard to leave when she's there - we didn't leave till 5am, although we were sober which is definitely a good thing after the last couple of weeks.
Work tomorrow, and the bitter bitter cold to contend with as well.
I need another holiday.
So anyhow on Thursday I was in the middle of one of my lessons when this very hot Korean girl burst into the room, jabbered something at me, then walked out. The kids translated, saying that she was telling me to "be ready." Two minutes later she returned with the largest camera I've seen, about the size of a small television or an adult terrier, and started snapping away. Oh, a photoshoot. I would have showered and shaved had they warned me.
The long and the short of it is that the school's putting adverts out in newspapers (and maybe even billboards) using my mug to entice parents to send their kids to the school. Hmm. Will it work? Find out soon.
Then went off to have some raw fish down in Depo market with Debbie's boyfriend Armin (he's a geezer who unfortunately flew back to LA yesterday). I've forgotten just how good fish can be when it's fresh and washed down with copious amounts of soju.
So to Friday, when one of the coolest Koreans in town, Kevin, was throwing a party to exhibit his art (he's a tattoo artist). No-one turned up! Well, about 30-odd people, but about 3 times that number had promised to come. I felt really bad for him as he's one of the best Korean guys I know and he's just too cool for this bumpkin fishing town. As Kevin himself said, he gets lumped with us westerners as an "outcast" for being too rebellious and un-Korean. That's just sad because he'd be a god anywhere outside of Korea. Sometimes the attitude of the people around here really gets on my nerves.
Saturday was a quiet affair. Hez was still ill (she's worried that she may have dengue), Debbie was taking Armin to the airport, so I just chilled and then went out for a quick nightcap downtown, where I bumped into Matt and found that Juliet (the sweetest barmaid in town) has returned to B&B. What a joy. Matt and I had missed her. That bar is really hard to leave when she's there - we didn't leave till 5am, although we were sober which is definitely a good thing after the last couple of weeks.
Work tomorrow, and the bitter bitter cold to contend with as well.
I need another holiday.
# posted by Stuart Reid @ 10:30 PM 
