Wednesday 14 July 2004

Quick Update On The Last Few Days

Today's my easy day, as after the incessant series of classes on Monday and Tuesday, I get a few breaks today. It's still 8 classes, which is a hell of a lot, but it's broken up into bite-size chunks.

My past few days have been relatively interesting, and you may all be either shocked or relieved to hear that I managed to get drunk last Friday night. Not especially so, but this guy Craig that I know invited me and some others to watch left-wing ranter Michael Moore's prize-winning and apparently controversial documentary "Fahreinheit 9/11", about evil US President Bush and the helpless Al Queda. Or something like that.

Anyway, it was very good and let to an obligatory discussion about the war afterwards. Because there were a number of people I don't know - including a non-drinking vegetarian for God's sake - I was very diplomatic and didn't give my real opinions about the war. Which are that it was great fun to watch on TV.

I ended up just drinking with Craig for hours afterwards, until about 3am, whereby I was in full control and could easily have driven a lorry, maybe even two, but perhaps just not legally.

As a result, I missed my Korean class for the first time in months on Saturday. I was feeling lethargic and was quite glad that there was no orphanage teaching that day, for some reason or another. I took a short wander into downtown and bought some books and CDs, and also a return flight to Laos.

That evening, the Gin Girls called by for their lesson. I taught them to say "Now, Mr Nev, can you feed us gin and we will both get naked." Actually, I didn't teach them that, I concentrated more on stuff like "He is in the kitchen", "She is in the garden", "They are eating."

They're quite fun though, and it's extremely useful to have people I can practice my Korean on and iron out various little flaws. And big flaws. They're coming round again tonight as they're away this weekend, and I've also been invited to a picnic in the mountains in a few weeks time.

After three weeks I now know their names too - Hyo-Ju and I-Na. I think I'll just stick to the "Gin Girls".

Sunday was a trip to Seoul to buy a cheap 2nd hand computer. No real excitement except that I got to use the new KTX Bullet Train. It goes at 200km/h, or something. It wasn't quite as fast as an actual bullet, but it was fairly fast nonetheless. Faster than a car, but slower than a jet, roughly.

That's basically my weekend. The last couple of days have been standard enough. It's been raining a hell of a lot in the last month, but it's always very warm.

I also managed to explain that my camera was broken to the shop I bought it from, and ask to get it fixed, entirely in Korean. I'm sure I sounded like a disabled child with a speech impediment, but it was a proud achievement nonetheless.

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