Catch Up

I've slackened off with my writing of late, I'm aware. I have good intentions but simply don't have the same opportunities to write as I used to. My class schedule is such that the short breaks I do get these days I use for mental recouperation and trying to retell my recent events over the internet is too demanding. But - I'm going to make a concerted effort to improve, and write at least something every couple of days.

So, my new and improved lifestyle continues, with continuing stutters. Since I've decided not to drink heavily on Saturdays, I've managed to still get drunk 2 out of 3 Saturdays. Both times were accidental and ultimately it was the work of White Russians (the drink, obviously) that ended my good clean-living efforts. I'm managing to get up at about 7.30am each morning though, and although last week's studies weren't as good as the prior two, it still went well. I'm enjoying my Korean class a lot, and can now string sentences together, even if my conversation is still limited to saying "This morning, at 8 o'clock, I studied Korean" or "Today afternoon I watch movie".

I wasn't at the orphanage this weekend, and won't be at it next weekend either, but after that I hope to make it weekly. In a few weeks there's a football aka soccer tournament arranged to raise money for it, which I think I'm supposed to be taking part in. This is a prospect that terrifies me. As I think I mentioned before, my only other proper footballing experience was when I was goalkeeper for my university department team, and I let in 60 goals in 8 games. Ever since then I've harboured traumas about taking to the pitch again. These stupid little orphans better appreciate the sacrifice I'm making for them.

Talking of football, I went to my second Daegu FC game on Saturday. They lost 3-2 in a well fought game to Chonbuk Rovers, or something like that.

This weekend, oh dear me, I'm going to Seoul with Matt for what we both hope and hope won't be a repeat of our last Seoul weekend together, my first weekend in Korea, and a weekend we still talk about often. We're meeting with our slick ex-gangster friends June and Chung, or whatever the hell their names are, and I'll impress then with my longer hair and improved Korean.

Me and Matt are dead set on the trans Siberian express next year. About April time we'll take 2 weeks in China, go to North Korea for a week, then slowly make our way to Moscow via Mongolia and, if possible, popping by some crazy sounding countries like Kazakhstan and the almost vowel-less Kyrgyzstan. I've already warned Matt (who hasn't been drinking in three weeks, for very amusing circumstances that I can't tell you about) that he'd better drink like hell while travelling with me, because I don't damn well travel for the cultural experience.

Ok, so there's all sort of other details I've missed, but I'm going to try and write more in future because I don't like having months of my life undetailed. Now, I've got about 19 hours of straight teaching ahead of me, so I'd better get ready.

Teachers' Day

Apparently it's "Teachers' Day" next Wednesday. I don't know if this is just a thing with my school or a national day (Korea has all kinds of crazy national days, including one for a popular sweet) but it's definitely a good thing.

I can hopefully expect to receive socks, maybe food, and if I'm very lucky such commodities as umbrellas or even a coffee maker.

God Bless Teachers' Day.

Korean And The Orphanage

Another day in the ongoing transformation of me from being a useless drunken waster to a useful, productive and positive member of society. I'll be a Christian before you know it.

I slept in however, till 8.30am this morning, a rare slumburious luxury. I'd been out last night, not drinking but seeing a DVD with Matt (who had a very amusing tale which I'm sworn to secrecy about and can't possibly tell here, I'm afraid). We saw Cube 2, which was like Cube (1) but slicker and even more cryptic. I could watch endless films about people stuck in cubes, just shove them in there, film it, and I'm a happy, happy young man.

Anyway, so I got up, did some light revision and was at the YMCA for before 11am, where my weekly Korean class takes place. As you may know, all I have done in the last two weeks is hardcore studying of Korean. I've been up at 7am each weekday morning, do two hours of study, go to work, then do an hour or two in the evening after work. My social life has evaporated into nothingness, but I don't care. I'm hugely enjoying learning the language and in two weeks I've come from knowing almost nothing to now being able to (slowly) string sentences together, past and present tense.

However, I always get a bit nervous before the Korean class, because when you've devoted your week to learning the language you kind of hope the class will go well and reflect the work you've put into it.

And today went by brilliantly. I understood everything that happened. My written Korean isn't bad at all, and now I'm managing to transfer that to speaking, and now that I understand the grammar and sentence structure, it's just a matter of learning words. But after two weeks I feel I've made massive progress, and if I can keep it up then I hope to be able to hold a reasonable conversation by... I have no idea. I want to leave Korea being able to speak the language.

So I left the 2 and a half hour class feeling great, had lunch with Tim and Ericka, then went back to my apartment before heading off to my orphanage.

Ah, the orphanage. My key to having a good CV, impressing girls with my sensitive and caring nature (already having an impact), my ticket to heaven and also a free meal. The food's crap but if it's free I'll eat anything.

Yeah, when I was asked by the Korean teacher in my Korean class what I was doing this afternoon, my answer (oh-hu eh - orphanage(I forget the Korean word offhand) - eh kayo) elicited what was almost a woo of wonder from the teacher and a couple of other young ladies. They seemed less impressed when I was asked how often I went and said "Every Saturday, as long there's not football on."

So, the orphanage was fun. Some slightly chaotic alphabet lessons followed by football, whereby I can pretend that my terrible ability is better than it is when surrounded by small children. For a rubbish player like myself, there can be no greater satisfaction than cruising through a field of players before rounding the keeper and scoring.

Unfortunately it looks like I may be in the orphanage fund raising football match in June. This will be against actual adults, and the sheer folly that is me attempting football will be impossible to mask. Some of you may recall I played - inexplicably - as captain and goalkeeper for my university department football team, something which looks far better on paper than on the pitch.

(I let in over 60 goals in 8 games.)

Here's some Korean for you. This would, of course, be written in Hanguel, the Korean script, but non-Korean computers wouldn't be able to recognise the characters so I'll transliterate to English.

eonul eoje yeol-si eh Matt chingu-lul mannayo.

That means, roughly: 10pm tonight I'll meet my friend Matt.

I can do much more but my mind is resting from Korean right now and will get back into gear tomorrow.

So I'm meeting Matt tonight, and join up with Eileen, Maebh and Denise. A few quiet drinks but I hope to be home by 2am at the latest, and I won't get drunk.

I don't know what's happening to me either.

Daegu FC match report

I'm still deep in Korean studying, and a little Spanish too, and am afraid this diary is taking a backseat right now as I don't have the energy for amusing anecdotes while my head is swimming with foreign languages. However, here is a match report for the Daegu FC game on Saturday that I emailed to a few people.


>Daegu FC 5 - Incheon Utd 0
>
>On a beautifully warm day that turned pleasantly cool later on, Daegu FC saw off northern rivals Incheon Utd five goals to nil, in a one sided match that demonstrated the devastating potential for the home team. Attended by approximately 4-5000 supporters, including five Westerners by the names of Nev, Eileen, Maebh, Tim and Sara, the match kicked off to fireworks and the match provided some fireworks of its very own.
>
>Brazilian Jefferson dominated proceedings and scored a fantastic solo goal before the end of the first half, after having a goal earlier ruled offside by the idiot referee who blatantly doesn't know the offside rule, unlike Maebh and all other fellow females (of course) who grew up with a detailed knowledge of the rule. However, the referee made up for his mistake by later sending off an Incheon Utd supporter, a decision deemed harsh by Daegu supporter Nev, who was quoted as saying "That seemed harsh."
>
>It may have been a turning point, as in the second half it was all one way traffic, as Daegu pushed forward towards where their dedicated and vociferous band of blue-clad supporters were. Jefferson contributed to another fine goal scored by some guy with a Korean name, before being viciously and cynicially hacked off the field by the brutal Incheon Utd players. Actually, it appeared he had a knee injury, and after another sterling performance all of Daegu city must be hoping for a swift recovery.
>
>In his absence, Daegu more than compensated by a fantastic team display that saw 3 goals in the last 20 minutes. The Incheon defence were to blame for a number, as Daegu penetrated them like... well, the similie is unnecessary. A glorious day for Daegu supporters, and it can have been no coincidence that the number of new Western supporters equalled that of the tally of goals.

Football and Korean

Have just watched Daegu FC beat Incheon Utd 5-0 in the 60,000 capacity World Cup Stadium (about 5000 people there). Before that I went to my Korean class and after a week of hardcore studying actually understood what was going on, and was able to speak and make sense. It's a lovely day again and I've got some sort of party in the evening, but I don't intend to get too drunk. So, it's been a very satisfying day so far. I'll write more, in theory, later.

My Good Class and I Hate Hippies

A few people have commented on my last entry. Don't worry, I'm not becoming some sort of crazed hippy and I'm not about to become at zen with myself. I will still laugh when a child injures themself, enjoy drinking on the correct occasions and appreciate and often enjoy the corruption of people and the planet. I'm just stopping getting wasted regularly, and just for the hell of it. In doing that, much of my time is freed for other pursuits.

Anyway, I just had a very good class. They're young, rumbunctious or rumbustious, I'm not sure which is the correct word, if either, and they're using the damn awful and unusable New Parade book. There's 12 of them and they're quite a handful, because they speak very little English and are very excitable. They've improved recently, but the class can become chaotic if you're not on the ball.

But I absolutely had them tamed last lesson. It's easy to say and often harder to do, but the quieter the teacher you are, the quieter the class. I'm a very laid back teacher, and I don't shout, but often I'd find myself raising my voice just to be heard in that class. So today I reversed the approach, and spoke calmly and quietly and any child making too much noise would be approached and promptly hushed. It worked beautifully. They were attentive and obedient. I barely had to control them, they controlled themselves.

Maybe I am at zen, and my students are getting zenned just by being near me.

God, I hate hippies and zen and all that new age crap. I hate herbal remedies and auras and mysticism and spirituality. Especially spirituality.

I like pure mathematics. Pure, cold, hard, brutal science. I like a vast, empty, cold, unforgiving universe that exists for no reason or purpose except as a series of equations.

Anyway, better go, some toddlers to speak at.

Self Improvement

Something's happening to me.

I'm becoming clever again. I used to be quite clever as a child, went a little downhill in later secondary school, pretty much lost all my intelligence during university but managed to sum up one fantastic last bout of inspiration to get my degree before finally blasting my brain to pieces in the hedonistic years that followed.

But now, I think it's returning.

First of all, it's having to work weekdays in the morning, in a job that has mental demands. It means I don't drink heavily during the week. Recently, I've started taking a Korean class at 11am on Saturday morning, so Friday nights are out. But now, after last Saturday, I've lost the inclination to go out heavily at all.

Saturday night wasn't a bad night by any means, but just utterly standard. For the last 7 or 8 weeks, it seems I have some drinks in Communes, then finish off trashed out my face in Bubble Bar. It was fun for a while, but now I'm fed up. My Sundays are spent recovering from average and routine Saturday nights. This Sunday I woke at noon, and just sat and flicked through my TV channels all day. Nothing else. It was pathetic and a total waste of my day.

So I'm changing.

I'm on a language binge right now. I've started to really get into learning my Korean, and am getting up each morning at about 7.30am to study. On top of that, every Monday I've started to go to Spanish lessons that Kristi teaches (she was a Spanish teacher for 6 years). Plus, me and Matt have decided to learn Russian so are going to get a book and study it.

Getting drunk is just going to get in the way of this. I've decided that going out for a special occasion - a party or anything that sounds interesting - is fine, but just going out because it's Saturday isn't.

Also, I've got plenty of friends now, and I'm very happy with my group (the core: Matt, Eileen, Maebh, Kristi, Greta, Mik, Denise, Rebecca, Laura, Tim, Sara, Jesus Chris and associated spin offs). I'm with people not just for the sake of knowing people, but because I actually get on with them. Getting wasted on Saturdays in unnecessary, I prefer just to meet up with them for a drink, a film, a meal or something else.

There's also the orphanage which I started, and really enjoyed. Though my altruism may be questioned (CV/attractive girl motivations...) I got a real kick out of it. The kids were a little wary of this crazy bearded man at first, but by the time I was leaving they'd accepted me and I actually had the feeling I'd done something constructive. I enjoyed playing football, even though some tiny child totally outplayed me. The kids were all very sweet, and it was tragic to think they were orphaned or, more often, just abandoned. They weren't disruptive, far from it.

So, back to my new found intelligence. I've spent that last few years just enjoying myself and not really involving myself in anything too mentally demanding, so my brain was getting out of gear. But after a week or so of studying, I'm starting to sense it kick into action again. I'm understanding Korean, or at least when I'm seeing it, it no longer seem incomprehensible. Spanish, by comparison, is much easier.

Don't worry. I'll always be a drinker and a waster, but for the time being it's not going to be an active pursuit. It's time to learn a few skills and involve myself in something other than slow self destruction.