Anyone up for a spot of soccer?

At the beginning of last week Ashli came to me and said she was going down to Gwangju to watch some soccer, Gwangju FC vs Daegu FC. She asked if I wanted to go with, and I did. This is the account of what was a highly entertaining weekend that involved a total of 7hours travelling to and from Gwangju.

On Saturday 5 March we took a train to Daegu where we climbed on the 10:00 bus bound for Gwangju. You may remember from a couple of posts ago that the bus ride is 3 hours. This was a 3 hours that was filled with Choc-Holic AND Blueberry Yogurt Ice Cream; A failed attempt to sleep which became a semi successful attempt at a nap, and of course Muse; Parlotones; One Sock Thief; Box Car Racer and Eagles of Death Metal. Before Ash and I knew it we had arrived@U Square – the location of the main bus terminal in Gwangju.

After a failed attempt to play a joke on Soekie, we hightailed it back to her place to drop off our stuff and then sped in the opposite direction to the Gwangju World Cup Stadium to try and catch the start of the game.

We actually found our seat about 7min in but it was all good. It was a dull 1^st half, no goals. We were sitting in the West Stand by the Corner flag. Good viewing ground.

The ground was not as impressive as Soccer City but to be realistic – it would take a lot to beat a ground that seats 90 000 and hosted the 2010 World Cup Final.  After more FAILS trying to find out where Soekie’s friends were sitting we closed that door and just decided to enjoy the game and see if they found us (Which in the end, they – Rachel, Krista, Jurgen and a new South African arrival to Gwangju: Amori... did).

Left to Right: Jurgen, Anne Marie, Ashli, Soekie, Rachel, Krista

Come the 2^nd half the game livened up and Gwangju took the lead through some shocking defending, only for Daegu to equalise and then take the lead in the space of 10min Things were going great for Daegu until roughly the 80^th minute where a goal against the run of play and then a penalty on 87 min lead to the game finishing 3-2 to Gwangju.

After a significant amount of indecision and mulling around we eventually got on a city bus bound for Downtown Gwangju where we had (well... I had) a lot of baked chicken for supper. It was there that I got to chat to and get to know, Jurgen – originally from KZN but has lived all around the country, qualified in carpentry I believe. I think the last time I got to have a “male conversation” solely about sports was back in August last year with Ian from England. It was great we talked about Rugga but mainly (and for obvious reasons) cricket. We did so for about 2.5hours in total that night, interspersed with darts (which I was terrible at) at Soul Train (a bar). Following Soul Train we went to Ethnic Cafe where we chilled for the rest of our night out.

Put simply, that was my past weekend in Gwangju – short and concise for all you avid readers.

My next post will be a re-cap of Sandy’s Birthday weekend. Her birthday is today so I dedicate this post to her :)

Have a good one brave and fellow intrepid travellers!

Stay tuned to Geoff’s Asian Adventures for more wacky fun

Daejeon with Sandy; Lisa and Deb

I had not been to Daejeon for a long time – since the Deli Tours Fest actually in October 2010, so I arranged with Lisa (who was joining in on the travels to Dageon from her city – Daegu) and Deborah to come through for the weekend to visit Deb.

A week or so before I was to leave, I asked Sandy if she wanted to join me as she had not been to Daejeon as yet so she came along as well. We left Yeongcheon at about 12:00 on the Friday afternoon and got to Daejeon at about 16:00, on a lovely sunny, if slightly chilly day. Having not planned anything for that night Sandy and I just found our Motel and then just explored a bit before going to Indy (an Indian restaurant run by Indians people, so the food was bound to be good – thus I was super excited about it, as it had been talked up so much by Deb and Andrea) for an amazing curry for supper. I had Chicken Taka-tak, which was a tomato based chicken dish with some chilli’s though not all that many. With it I had buttered Naan and Lassi. SO SOOOOOOO GOOD! After dinner we tried to find the cinema to go and watch “Black Swan”, but as it turned out we walked in the wrong direction to try and find it, so we ended up going back to the Motel where I was able to watch some cricket.

Saturday morning we had time to kill before we were to meet with Lisa and Deb at 13:00 for lunch and after a breakfast of Fruit waffles and yoghurt, we decided to visit the National Science Museum.

It was a very impressive place with all manor of things on display, from evolution and space travel, to Korean Army vehicles, Air-force planes and Korean ancient history instillations.

We spent the morning there and made our way back to Gallaria to wait for Lisa and Deb to arrive for lunch. At this point Sandy was not feeling herself so we thought it best that she head back to Yeongcheon to rest.

While I waited to the other 2 ladies to arrive I explored a little (mainly coz I was asked to meet them on the Beans and Berries side of Gallaria and I had no idea where that was :-P). Incidentally I never found but I did see both ladies approaching in the distance so I just followed their trail to meet them at the pre-arranged meeting spot. Lunch was a rather tasty sandwich from the food-court at the department store, where we sat and chatted and caught up for about and hour. At this point I thought… “I would like to do something else now” so I threw out the suggestion that was proposed while we were arranging the weekend – Dr Fish Café!

Here is a video montage of the weekend :) :

Dr Fish (which was actually called Trinity Café) is a place where you can go and dip your feet in a pond filled with Remora type little fishes that eat the dead skin off your feet. I had wanted to try a place like that since I got to Korea. At first it was rather ticklish particularly when I had about 30fish attracted to just my right foot, leaving my left and both Deb and Lisa rather starved (excuse the pun) of attention. I do think though that they just moved in order from foot to foot as while we were dangling our feet in the pond two other ladies joined us and eventually we had no fish giving us any attention until they left. I think we actually sat with our feet in the water, just talking for about 3 hours and after that we stayed at the coffee shop for another hour drinking coffee and catching up some more. It was great! I really think I have made good friends with Deb and Lisa. I really enjoy their company, so hopefully when this adventure ends and new adventures begin, we can all keep in touch.

A 4hr coffee time was followed by Dinner at… you guessed it – Indy! I never mentioned I had gone there the previous evening but was more than happy to go again, I loved the food so much! This time I had Mango Lassi with my Lamb Vindaloo and Buttered Naan. After dinner I walked with Deb as we saw Lisa off at the Subway stop (she was headed back to Daegu that night). I had thought Lisa was staying the night so we could share a motel room but that was no longer the case, so I decided to save myself some cash and asked Deb, who graciously allowed me, to stay at her place for the night. Deb lives far out of central Daejeon, in the area known as Techno Valley about a 30min bus ride out.

The Inside of "Indy"

I got to her place and like Soekie’s the previous week, I liked how she had set it up in very minimalistic fashion to save cash for Asian travels post her Korea contract. We watched “Law and Order – Special Victims Unit” and some cricket and then went to bed. The next morning was followed by much the same, however for the 1^st time in a 3 odd months it was raining! I left Deb’s at about 11:45 to get back to central Daejeon by 13:00 as I was meeting Sam and Ruth (two friends, I met doing my TESOL course last January, whom I had not seen since they left for Korea in June and August respectively, the previous year) for lunch. We went to Pascucci Café  and had a nice catch up and I was able to pick their brains about China (where they had been over Lunar New Year) as that is one of the places I want to visit.

All in all it was a great (and much less alcoholic) friend-filled weekend. Thanks to all 5 ladies for their company and friendship!

Stayed tuned for my next adventure right here on Geoff’s Asian Adventures!

6 Months well spent, with 6 months of mystery remaining!

So ladies and gentlemen, I have reached the half way mark of my time in Korea and what a time it has been.

Intimidating and exciting.

Fun and frustrating.

Depressing and uplifting.

Just 6 words (of many I could use) to describe my time here.

I have had the dead skin eaten off my feet by fish.

I have made a traditional mask and watched, LIVE, the most exciting F1 race in recent memory.

I have sang at a Nori-bang, gone paragliding and ridden the circle of death at an amusement park.

I have seen a 4D movie, been a hamster for 5 minutes, watched lanterns float away on a river, been skating, temple gazing, learned a couple of the Buddhist ways, oh... and taught some Korean Middle schoolers some English along the way.

I have done many many things but more important than all of the things I have done are all the amazing people I have had the pleasure to meet, all of whom I hope to remain friends with for many years to come. These are their names:

Lisa; Deborah; Ashli; Soekie; Andrea; Andreya; Lauren; Natasha; Jasmine; Alan; Jeff; Colleen; Courtney; Sam; Dan; Andrew; Grant; Dave Gray: Dave Wiley; Carey-Lee; Tarrick; Dirk; Libby; Joe; Matt; Melinde; Pips; Jacqui; Ian; Adean; Marelize; Alana; Emily; Barry; Brandon; The Three Brians; Cotie; John; Kristen; Michael; Pol; Jana; Rachel; Chris; Cassie; Ruth; Sean and Wynand.

And let me never forget that I have found Friendship, Companionship and a true bond with my girlfriend Sandy. Time remains the ultimate test for us but those are decisions to be made, just not for a little while yet. Whatever happens between us, I have made a friend for life in her spectacled self.

So what has the experience been like?

Teaching: 60%

Things started of all pretty and shiny and new. 6 months down the line, I know that this is not something I want to do for another year.

Why?

Well, I do not feel the Korean education authorities fully appreciate the expertise that native speakers can bring to the English classroom. We are used more as a party trick to keep the children occupied for 45 min. We are supposed to be CO-TEACHING and for more than half the people I have spoken too, this is not the case and we are being asked to TEACH ENGLISH when we have not necessarily been trained how to do that. This could be because their Co is not very good at teaching in any case and is taking time off. It could be that the Co feels they could better use their time than help you (which is supposed to be their job), or it could be that the co really just doesn’t care about teaching in any form any more. I am not saying anything about any of their character. In fact, as people I like all the co teachers I have, but as teachers, they should be doing better because of their years of experience. There are exceptions where wonderful people are great co-teachers (like the school I am at once a week) but I think that it is just that – the exception.

In the public school system the levels in one class are so wide ranging that it is difficult to know what to teach from day to day (no matter how much I like the children I teach). Even their textbooks have no fathomable structure and purpose to them. They just appear to be a random collection of grammar points and phrases that have been put together for the purpose of rote learning. No one in any Korean school ever seems to know what is going on, on a day to day basis and you get told your schedule on the day which creates havoc for your personal planning and scheduling.

The biggest let down for me has to be being used as a party trick and not feeling like a part of the staff (as much as everyone tries to be friendly to me).  To go through this professional environment for another year would not do me or the students I am teaching, any good.

Travelling: 100%

I have been all over Korea, from North (Panmunjeon on the North Korean border) to South  (Mokpo  for Formula 1 racing), East (Pohang – where 3 awesome Saffa’s, 2 grand Floridian ladies and one awesome Irishman stay) to West (Daejeon where the lovely Ms Brown stays… ok, so I still need to go a little more West but I will get there).

I have slept on floors, in sleeping bags, on ondol, under covers, on planes, trains, subways and busses.

All of this has been done in Korea. I really do feel that I have taken advantage of what Korea has to offer and still have so much to look forward to in the form of the: Cherry Blossom Festival, Mud Beach, Jeju-do, World Body Painting Festival and the IAAF World Athletics Champs.

For me to sit here and not say anything about the benefits of taking time for yourself and travelling (at least some of) the world to see the sites would be irresponsible. It has done wonders for me and my beliefs and maturity. Knowing that I can make it by myself 1000’s of km’s away from home for a year is bound to have a positive effect. You get to see and do great things and meet so many new people. Human beings are a social species. Without those who we have met through our lives, we would not be where we are today. I just happened to like the social aspect of travelling so here is to another 8 or so months (After Korea I am going to tour Asia for a bit) of great things, actions, people and places.

Mark it down – Thailand, China, Cambodia, India, Sri Lanka with maybe a stop along the way in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Vietnam

Life: 80%

It has been different and incredibly challenging. Being responsible for my own bill, has taught me budgeting and financial responsibility. The weather has given me coping skills in the most extreme of climates. The communication barrier has brought out new and interesting ways of exploration. Public transport has been a blessing, the food sometimes a curse. I look forward to going to the Korean restaurant in Rivonia (if it is still there) when I get back and knowing what to order and how to do it.

The sheer population density of Korea is something that has gotten to me a bit. Everything is up and on top of you. I will enjoy the wide open spaces of home when I do get there. Living alone for the 1^st time has also been a challenge. I have lived away from home to an extent when I was at Varsity but there were always a minimum of 4 other people around me in my dwellings. This is forced me to confront my fear of loneliness and to seek ways to ensure that it never becomes a force in my life.

It has helped me appreciate the unconscious things in life: cutlery, an adequate sewage system, baths, the South African climate, being able to read the contents and nutritional value on the side of the box of the food you are buying, and just starting up a conversation with someone at the bank or standing at the till in a shopping cue.

Finally it has begun to help me clarify how I want to go about my future.

Here is to clarity!

Overall Score of Korean Experience: 80%

The essence of what I am saying in this post is this

Life is short, so grab it by the scruff of the neck and just go for it! Never regret your decision!

I certainly haven’t

Stayed Tuned to Geoff’s Asian Adventure - next you find out what it is like to have fish eat skin off your feet and,  what it is like to watch a Soccer match in Korea ;)

Gwangju Times...

I would like to dedicate this post to Jade Fernely – on whose 23^rd birthday the 3^rd day of this epic weekend took place.

A little while back (2 weeks to be precise) I had some time to myself, so I hijacked some travelling that was being done by my friend Ashli. She had arranged to travel to Gwangju to visit our friend Soekie in the city of Gwangju. Sadly there were no trains there so it was (and I loathe even just typing this) time to take a bus trip.

To do that we had to get to Daegu 1^st and this is where yet another awesome fun weekend started.

Part 1: Deagu

Ashli and I left for Daegu on Saturday just before Lunch and moved to the Stage at downtown Daegu where we met up with Alana, a friend of Ashli’s from Orientation and subsequent friend of mine. Alana, you may remember joined me on my paragliding adventure. Lunch took place at the adequate Gorilla Burger and my world was so unrocked, I can’t even remember what I had to eat :-P BUT dessert was grand as we made our way to Holy Grill ad bought ourselves some “Sexual Chocolate” for dessert. Think Devils chocolate cake, with choc mouse pudding inside covered in Ice Cream. Hmmmmmm.... *wipes away drool from the corners of mouth*

Anywho, the excitement of going to Daegu to hang out with Alana was all about going to the baseball batting cages, which we consequently did.

The Set up...

Batting cages are like indoor cricket nets with a bowling machine, except the machine doesn’t aim for ground first, but rather your chest. The cages in question have 2 speeds – 110km/h and 130km/h. After a couple of warm up sessions so was presented...

The Bet...

1 person

3 alternating round in the cages

Which means 45 balls to hit

First 2 rounds, tipping the “pitches” counts

Last round only clean strikes count

Batter with the least amount of hits buys the 1^st round of drinks

Was I confident? Given my cricket background – just a smidge

The Outcome...

First Round Scores:         Ashli: 12/15; Alana: 4 or 5/15; Geoff: 14/15

Second Round Scores:   Ashli: 14/15; Alana 8/15; Geoff 14/15

Third Round Scores:        Ashli: 13/15; Alana 8/15; Geoff 13/15

The Winner: Geoff – Prize: Adulation of seasoned softball players and a free drink :-D

We had loads of time to kill so we decided to go and see a movie – “Unknown” starring Liam, He-should-have-been-the-next-James Bond-and-not-Daniel Craig, Neeson. 

Great action thriller along similar line to “Taken (2009)” though we not too fond of the ending. Dinner that night was Japanese which in the main was sushi with broth as a side and there were also some like deep fried pork type things, the name of which I just can’t remember. And so the drinking started...

We went to a few of the regular haunts in (for foreigners that is): Who’s Bob; Organ Bar; and of course we started drinking while we were at Holy Grill for dessert. I got the chance to play some pool which was great fun, though I lost 2 games on technicalities. I think pictures would best explain this section...

There was planning that had also begun about ending me on my birthday but I would rather choose to reflect on the things that didn’t kill me that night and not on the things that undoubtedly will come the weekend of the 24^th of March. I think at some point Alana put a hay-maker (punched) into Ashli’s gut for no apparent reason, I was given a shot of alcohol called B21 I think and Ashli had a rather vocal disagreement with a friend on the phone though I am not sure that there was anything to disagree too. With all the beer and cocktails and THE shot (which felt like fire all the way down my throat and settled warmly in my belly), needless to say I slept very well that night, only to have to get up at 7am to make sure Ash and I caught our 8am bus to Gwangju.

Part 2 – Gwangju: Day 1

The bus ride was 3 hours long with a 10min rest stop at some point about 1hr into the trip. It was a very unmemorable experience until we got to U-Square which is the main bus terminal in Gwangju.

Rough guide to the sms conversation that took place between Soekie and Ashli:

Ash: We r@the station. Where can we meet u?

Soekie: Meet outside Dunkin Donuts

10 minutes later after getting lost in this airport size BUS terminal

Ash: We r@Dunkin, waiting for you.

Soekie: So am I, wait…

Soekie calls Ash:

Soekie: Where are you guys?

Ash: Outside Dunkin, where are you?

Soekie: Same… Oh wait, are you at the BUS terminal?

Ash: Yeah, like I told you last night

Soekie: I am at the TRAIN station, like you told me last night.

Ash: No I said Bus didn’t I?

Soekie: *Laughter* No you said train – be at the BUS station in 15 min.

Downtown Gwangju in Panorama

A little while later, despite Ash’s continued support of her theory, Soekie produced proof that Ash’s (Drunken) sms sent the night before, actually did say train and not bus station. No harm done and it was a good laugh.

After dropping our stuff at Soekie’s place, which she has set up really nicely, we went in search of lunch which was going to be Shabu-Shabu but that place was closed to we went to Mummy’s House a little local place and I had a very tastey and cheap rice dish. That was followed by a trip to the 1980 Civil unrest Memorial where we hung out in 17 C sunny weather for the afternoon before heading to Soekie’s favourite hang-out spot (and subsequently my favourite place in Gwangju) – Ethnic Café. The place was set up like a bedouin cave drinking hole (even though it was just in the basement of some random building). The only thing that was missing were the hubbly pipes! 

It was great. This was where we began our drinking for the late afternoon/evening, with 2 jugs of flavoured Soju (Strawberry and Kiwi I think). I really think I could have stayed there the whole night and just slept in our little nook that we had nestled ourselves in. Ashli did actually drift off for a few minutes!

Thoroughly mellowed we went to a Shabu-Shabu place in downtown Gwangju, for dinner. Soekie’s friend Rachel – from Iowa – joined us. That was the 1^st time that I had had Shabu-Shabu and was seriously impressed. Hope to find one in Yeongcheon. 

Dinner was followed by dessert which was pastries from Paris Baguette and then more drinking – we went to German Bar where some of the greatest quotes of the night came to life – here is where they follow (having context and “being there” helps to make them funny, but we laughed ourselves silly in this empty, German themed, pub that was playing American Country music):

So tonight in Gwangju I cried at a German bar, while listening to country music (Itami, 2011)

Geoff: Im white
Soekie: No your Caucasion
Ashli: Caucasion, THINK ABOUT IT COCK.... ASIAN!

What I’ve learned so far in Gwangju, Weizen Beer gives you wisdom and after consumption it turns to knowledge, BIG BUT please handle with care. Not for the faint-hearted.

With Downtown being rather quiet and a couple of other places we tried to go to closed, we headed back to Soekie’s place where we had 2 bottles of red wine and snacks between the 4 of us. One bottle (which I had bought to thank Soekie for her hospitality) was good…

And one bottle (bought 10min before at the 7/11 shop down the road) tasted a little like vinegar.

  

It was at this point in the evening (15:00 SA time I think) I gave a great friend back home – Jade – a call to wish her a happy happy 23^rd birthday. After that I couldn’t help laugh and record Ashli being show how to say “S**t, no one understands me” in Afrikaans. This is the Video Summary of the Gwangju Visit - in it is the Afrikaans lesson. Have a Laugh – I certainly did.

Rachel left us at about 1am I think and we went to bed.

Day 2 in Gwangju was a very fun day: Trick Art exhibition and ICE SKATING! The Trick Art was basically where art installations have been made and painted in such a way that the viewer can interact and become part of the art through photography. A couple of my favourite poses are below and that will be followed by a short slideshow of the rest.

We spent about 2 hours at the exhibition and then went in search of Ice Skating which we found at the Gwangju sports council complex – right next to the Gwangju soccer stadium (FNB’s Calabash is better :-P). For the 1^st time in my ice skating career, safety was taken seriously and we were required to wear helmets and gloves. It was also the 1^st time that I had worn skates that were 75-80% comfortable. Nice one!

Unlike Ashli and Soekie, I had to be back at school on Tuesday (for what turned out to be 1.5hours of desk-warming) so that meant that I had to leave Gwangju by 17:30 to allow me to catch the last train back to Yeongcheon at 21:00. Thus after skating we headed to the Bus terminal, had lunch and ice cream and I caught my bus back to Daegu.

Thanks Soekie and Ashli for a great time in Gwanju (going back there for a soccer match this weekend I think :-D)

Coming attraction: Daejeon with Sandy, Lisa and Deb; A 6month review of my time in South Korea

Stay tuned to Geoff’s Asian Adventure Fellow Travellers!

Where-san?, Why in ULSAN of course!

Over the Chinese New Year (Happy Rabbit Year to everyone) I took a trip a little closer to the coast, to Ulsan where good friends, Lauren and Andreya, reside. It is a big costal city with a small population. It had a bit of a PE or False Bay feel to it. I liked it. The day I arrived I met Cristy (Excuse the spelling if incorrect) (from The States) a friend of Lauren’s and Yepu – the Maltese puppy that the two ladies were looking after for a friend. Sweet dog, though I am still a big dog kind of guy. We went out for Korean Sushi which was fantasmagorical! Following that Lauren and I went back to her place where I dropped my stuff and we chilled until going to Namaskar (An awesome Indian restaurant) for supper with Andreya. While at Lauren’s I was introduced to a brain teaser puzzle that is used in Japan. The Idea is to get all 6 people across the river. The catches are: The robber can only be without the policeman when she is on her own, the 2 boys can not travel with the mother or be alone with the mother and the 2 girls cannot travel or be alone with the father. Give it a go:

http://freeweb.siol.net/danej/riverIQGame.swf

So Namaskar…It was here that I had my 1^st encounter with Lamb for 6 months and what a great dinner it way. Lamb kalla with Buttered Naan. Mmmmmm…

Let me stop you right there and state categorically – the 3 days I spent in Ulsan were very probably the greatest 3 food days I have had in Korea (from a “Food I miss” perspective)

Oh and I had a Mango Lassi to drink - *wipes the drool away from the side of his mouth*

Dinner was followed swiftly by an early night, as we were both dog tired, and that early night turned into a late morning as we rolled out of bed at around 10:30. This was the day that Lauren suggested taking me to Old Downtown Ulsan too see the market and we could go to the Cat Café (which I had hear about and Sandy went to one in Seoul, but I wanted to check it out for myself). With it being one of 2 major holiday in Korea, the place was pretty deserted, which all told, I quite liked as it gave me a feel for Ulsan without all the hustle and bustle. We had lunch a deliciously cute … urm… *drops voice an octave or two* cute, I-talian place where I had the seafood Risotto and Lauren some creamy chicken pasta. After wondering around the market for a while we eventually went to the Cat Café and hung out there for a couple of hours before we met up with Andreya for supper.

The Cat Café was interesting. About 10-15 cats just wondering around, sleeping, running crazy like from one end of the room to the other, and just sitting, staring as if trying to take control of your mind and make you there servants. All the cats were very well cared for and groomed. We were asked when we got out coffee and flap-jack to not feed the cats. This proved a challenge when they are all over you trying to get the cream off of the flap-jack. I had lifted a piece up to my mouth and suddenly *SWIPE* the cream was gone. It appeared that the cat had actually got the cream (I hand credit to the clever yet obvious pun, to Lauren). Overall it was nice to be among “domestic” animals for the 1^st time in 6 months, though as was pointed out to me, the cats are probably a little feral. This was evidenced by an incident where I was given some fish to give the cats several cats were literally walking all over me and one took it on themselves to leap and try and snatch the fish out of my hand, getting 2 of it’s claws hooked in my thumb in the process.


Some fun for Cat Lovers everywhere - enjoy this little animated short film that explains cats perfectly:

At some point during this day I was exposed to the 1^st of 3 enduring memories of my 1^st visit to Ulsan; that being: Lauren taking me up on my offer to tie her shoe laces because they were CONSTANTLY coming undone.

Supper on this night was meant to be Vietnamese and then Thai but both places were closed so we wondered the streets and eventually followed a few Koreans to what looked like a Japanese restaurant. “Bugger! It only opens at 19:00. What are we going to do for an hour?” What we did was head to Andreya’s home away from home – Starbucks – and had some coffee while we chatted about our Korean futures and waited for the place to open. When we did go and eat, boy did we eat! Between the 3 of us we ordered a giant bowl of flavoured 2minute kind of noodle, 8 croquettes, and a salmon dish for mains.

Normal fish, not prawns, shrimp, octi, squid or muscles, is something that I have not at all much of in Korea. In fact, it is a popular dish at one of my schools but I choose ot to eat it because I struggle with the amount of bones in the fish. When I saw Salmon on the menu of this place I got very excited because it was fish that I was more familiar with. Together, we 3, travelers of Asia, decided to share it and boy was it good! ZERO bones and superbly cooked! It was a great day.

Endearing memory number 2: When it was time for the bill for our meal, Andreya took over. Her attempt at asking for the bill brought 1^st smiles, then giggles and then laughter between the 3 of us. In Korea the students are know to say “finishee” when they have completed something. Andreya did the same when it came time to trying to tell our waitress we were “finishee” and wanted the bill.

Stocked up on food and ready to go, we went to one of those trick photo booths and this was the result – good fun :-D

Day 3 was a visit to the beach which was unimpressive and flat-DO NOT LET THE PICTURES FOOL YOU. Up high it was pretty to look at but not much from the ground. This beach – Ilsan Beach – was located in Andreya’s area and for the afternoon was walked around the point taking photo’s – it was a really nice day and a nice setting for photo’s. Here is what I mean:

Enduring memory number 3: Every family, couple, group of friends that was talking a photo, Andreya offered her services to take a photo of the whole group – no matter how big or small. She was Ilsan point’s unofficial photographer. Her reasoning was based on sound principles of Karma: “When I am in Spain and want photo’s with me in them, this will come back to me and people will offer their services to be my photographer”

That evening we went to a Duck barbecue place and again a picture speaks a thousand words or rather a thousand mouthfuls:

Great food + great wine + great friends = great fun

Food was followed by some festival games where I scored 814 where the top score was 874 on the Hammer machine. Andreya proved to have skills as an assassin with the target shooting and Lauren found a new friend in “Jin-Ho” following her dart throwing exploits. I also had a swing or 3 in the batting cages.

…and yet THE EVENING WAS NOT OVER!

Lauren and I went back to her place for a bit of a breather and then met Cristy and the very cheery and stereotypically gay man I have ever met – A Korean chap who asked me to call him Cherry. Really nice guy and we all tried to party it up until about 01:15 when we realized most places were just filled with drunk foreign and Korean guys just trying to pick up Korean girls, so we went home and I traveled back to Yeongcheon the next afternoon. It was a thoroughly enjoyable 3 and half odd days with some really god friends.

Stay tuned for my next installment on Geoff’s Asian Adventure

One of the reasons why I am travelling…

So, train ride back from Daegu after buying my cereal was a lot more enthralling than I originally planned.

I got to my seat and was listening to my music as I normally do when I was joined by a Korean gent who asked me to cal him Ray. He is a University Student in Deagu and was on the train home back to Gyeonju where he lives with his family. He is studying computers and management, hoping to revolutionise shopping malls. Or at least this is his end goal. We just chatted the entire 35min back to my stop in YC. He enjoys talking to foreigners as he wants to improve and practice his English. He learnt his English from the TV, Radio, Movies and going to private academies. He was a very nice guy. We talked about politics and Education in SA and Korea and he told me some of the history of Korea – the most interesting of which was the origins of the Mugunghwa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibiscus_syriacus) and Saemaul trains in Korea. The former is the national flower of Korea and the latter is a social movement that was started in the 1970’s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saemaeul_Movement) meaning that you can only help yourself be prosperous but the community is there to help you so in working for yourself you should help each other. We talked about Why I came to Korea and that we both want to travel and where we want to travel to.

It was a really enjoyable train ride at the end of which we exchanged email addresses and have already exchanged an email or two between each other. VERY COOL!

This has been Geoff’s Asian Adventures – Adventures to come: My Trips to Ulsan and Gwangju to visit Lauren Andreya and Soekie, My Birthday Weekend, the arrival of new friends, and so so many more. Stay tuned folks :)

The Great Cereal Hunt of 2011

The date was 27 Jan and Sandy was on her way back from Vietnam with Ashli in Thailand. It was Colleen and I holding the fort in YC. But on this date Colleen was going to meet her parents in Seoul, who were coming to visit. I went through to Deagu with her in the morning with 2 goals: to Hang out and to find Home Plus a shop chain here in Korea.

Why did I want to find this place? Well, I was taken to it by Ashli at one point and it was there that I found British Brand TESCO – cereal of which I am now a dedicated fan. I wanted to find and know where Home Plus was so that I could buy cereal when I was in Daegu.

The 2^nd goal proved a little elusive while Colleen and I were looking but after she had gone, I approached tourist information at the train station and asked them to direct me, which worked perfectly and I not only bought 3 boxes of cereal but all 2 slabs of Chocolate. With 2^nd goal achieved, what was I to do? Well I decided to hang out in because I had to breathe during the 1hr 40min screening of the movie, I high tailed it out of the cinema and caught my train home. This was all in an effort to catch up to the two hours of my life that had escaped me while I put myself through that sorry excuse for an action superhero, comic book, based movie. That was Daegu and this is another enthralling train ride home…

Geoff’s Asian Adventure continues shortly…