Saturday 30 December 2006

Its been a funny old year!

Well I cant really argue with this year as it comes to an end, it started well and continued well throughout, so for someone so angry its hard to grumble!

The start of the year gave me a clean break from the hell which was Janda and I fell with good graces into Febland. They took me in well and in turn I loved, and now that Im back, still do love working for and with them. It might not be what I want to be doing for my whole life, but working on their web sites lines my pockets and gives me something to shine with. Lets just hope that the New Year brings the sales that the website sorely deserves!

I lost what I considered a good friend, but thanks to going to Korea replaced him with a real Canadian who's actually grown to become one of the closest friends I have. Hopefully the New Year will give me a chance to go visit him at some point!

2006 gave me half of it in Korea, so again I have nothing to complain about. Korea might not have offered everything I was looking for out there, or completely banquished my Asian fetish, but it really was a good taste of somewhere other than the UK. It has really been a good year looking back on it, one thats let me sort my finances out, get rid of a few demons and made me appreciate the things I have around me a little more. After last year it could only get better, and for that Im grateful.

So heres to 2007... a year that will see me turn 25 (the age I wanted to be a millionaire before... 7 months to go then!) and will hopefully continue in the direction of 2006! Hope you've all had a good Xmas and that the New Year brings all you want from it!

Monday 11 December 2006

Myers-Brigss Test : Whats YOUR ideal job?

So I'm just reading Digg, as you do in your general net surfing and found a link to a quiz, intended to tell you your ideal job... and guess what.. my is Computer Programming! Image

I had to laugh because given some of my responses I thought I was for sure going to be classed as unsuitable because i like random events etc etc but according to the website my ideal jobs are :

ISTP - Police, detectives, forensic pathologists, computer programmers, system analysts, computer specialists, engineers, carpenters, mechanics, pilots, drivers, athletes, entrepreneurs, firefighters, paramedics, construction workers, dental hygienists, electrical engineers, farmers, military, probation officers, steelworkers, transportation operatives, hitmen. With the ability to stay calm under pressure, they excel in any job which requires immediate action.

I have always considered myself as a possible candidate for the police force, and hitman.. well that would be a pretty cool job! Image If you want to take the test its here!

Thursday 7 December 2006

Lost friends, Lost memories...whatever Jesus!

In my imaginary world, my sharp tongue sometimes gets me in trouble and I once had a friend called, oh I dont know, Brian, (whom I miss dearly) that I no longer talk to because of. You see Be... Brian went to Au...America to fall head over heels in love with his internet girlfriend of 9 months and live happily ever after. I was ecstatic that one of my closest friends was going to be doing something for himself and force himself out of the hole he felt he'd dug himself into... maybe thats slightly off, but its close to the truth.

As you'd expect, contact between the two of us was limited as Brian made the most of his new life and having limited access to a computer meant our catch ups were brief at best. If I had only known about the brilliance of Skype before he went perhaps we would've stayed in better touch, but in any case we didnt hear from each other quite as much as we should've.

Then I get an email, addressed to a crap load of people, telling me that my once best friend was getting married and I should be blissfully happy for them both... but I genuinely wasn't happy so why pretend.

You see, I should also explain the bad blood that occurred between Brians internet girlfriend (lets call her Mrs. BIG - it seems fitting) and my circle of close imaginary friends. From this side of the globe it felt like Mrs. BIG had done everything she could to wheedle out some of Brians old friends and torment his soul about those that she didnt like with a mixture of lies, manipulation and spin, which seemingly worked as if drove a massive stake between a fair few people.

There were some things that just didn't add up at times.. one of my close friends had told me that Mrs. Big had been talking dirty to him, and by dirty I mean enough to cause concern several thousand miles away. A conversation would be going just fine then all of a sudden, like a schizophrenic outburst, the conversation would delve into the realms of dungeon porn. While some of my friends might enjoy and embelish this, this guy is a long standing friend of both of ours and I can genuinely believe that what he says isn't a lie, or even an extenuated story to tell to the lads. He would just close down his messaging service whenever she did this and ignore it straight away, as this was the start of how another imaginary friend was gradually weened out.

In the last stages of our digital friendship it started happening to me.. she started talking about how she liked to pee on Brian in the shower and how it really turned him on at random intervals; I couldnt quite work out the psychology behind this, maybe she was attempting to tell me how comfortable they are together, appealing to something that I certainly had no interest in, but in any case it happened.

But back to my story, Brian and Mrs. BIG were getting married and that was that. I'm not against marriage at all, in fact my real life friend Tom had got married 9 months prior to my imaginary friend, and although I was a bit saddened not to be his best man (he played it safe and chose his brother! Image) I was genuinely happy for them both. I just felt like something didn't add up so I told him that.. and I felt the wrath.

Maybe I should've kept my gob shut, but Im not that kind of person so I told them how shocked I was to be told like this, and maybe we werent as close as we once were. I got accused of "making this about me" and "why cant I be happy for them like X and Y". Whatever.

In any case, I'd hoped we'd sorted it out in the end. I said sorry etc etc, we worked it out. Until about 6 weeks later, when Mrs. BIG skitzed out again and turned on me like a pack of ravenous dogs would. I apparently was no longer a friend of theirs. I made up the following MSN conversation for the purpose of this story:

[When I find the time I will make up the story and post it here! - Its on my other computer I find the time to be creative! Image]

I haven't heard from Mrs. BIG since, apart from during the World Cup when she reared her ugly head to rub it in my face that Japan had been beaten by her team (wait... America werent in Japans group..lol.. Image) from behind my being blocked, to only disappear once she'd gloated.


12/06/2006
15:58:12
brian
[βισςЌзδ] Dªν€ β
WE WON
12/06/2006
15:58:15
brian
[βισςЌзδ] Dªν€ β
WE WON
12/06/2006
15:58:16
brian
[βισςЌзδ] Dªν€ β
WE WON
12/06/2006
15:58:25
[βισςЌзδ] Dªν€ β
brian
yup
12/06/2006
15:58:37
[βισςЌзδ] Dªν€ β
brian
beat my favourite team no less :P
12/06/2006
15:58:46
brian
[βισςЌзδ] Dªν€ β
Japan? Why not England?
12/06/2006
15:59:10
brian
[βισςЌзδ] Dªν€ β
What an incredible game... we both jumped up and down all the way through it....
12/06/2006
15:59:10
[βισςЌзδ] Dªν€ β
brian

well i support england but japan is my favourite non english tema
12/06/2006
16:00:39
brian
[βισςЌзδ] Dªν€ β
Hey gotta fly.. just came online to see my (AMERICAN) friends and get all excited with them... man totally thought Japan had it in the bag....
12/06/2006
16:00:48
[βισςЌзδ] Dªν€ β
brian
yup
12/06/2006
16:01:15
brian
[βισςЌзδ] Dªν€ β
byebye
12/06/2006
16:01:21
[βισςЌзδ] Dªν€ β
brian
l8er

I mean come on... this is really really pathetic! 3 minutes to "jump online" (and by jump online I mean message me from beneath my blocked status) and gloat because I had changed my MSN comment to reflect the games result.

But in any case, I tried to keep in touch with Brian, and before I left to go to Korea he was supposed to come round just to catch up/just say hello-goodbye really. But he didn't. He was waiting for my call and he turned his phone off on the evening he was supposed to be visiting me. He knew damn well we had one weekend from the point of his return to my departure when we could meet up and he chose not to use it. He even went to see one of my closest friends in the weekend, and despite my being at home packing and sorting things out he didn't even drop in to say hi.

So I left for Korea, responding to his limp text (that said something about maybe in another life we could catch up) with a typically me response. I think even Amy sent Brian a snotty text as she drove away from the airport, she knew how disappointed I was not to have seen him.

But such is life, and yet again I let it go and was willing to see through it. Until my birthday, where I got a rather half arsed email blaming his lack of, well... anything really, on the fact he was destined to become a "fucking selfish lazy arsehole". I was hammered from too much soju/it being 6am after a 5 hour norebang session so I was in the perfect mood to respond, quoting Bill Hicks' of his long lost lover that once told him she loved him to only leave, and that he hoped one day that she would be led underneath her 600lb husband and he has a heart attack and pukes blood and bile into her mouth, and at the point shes drowning under that warm flaccid monolith she makes Bill Hicks out on the Tonight Show. Genius.

..and I surprisingly havent heard a dicky bird since! I also pointed out in my rather blunt email that I knew I was on Brians blocked MSN list, being the computer nerd that I am, and since that I can now see him whenever he/she logs in on their shared MSN. Score! Image


So, I hear you cry, why, today of all days, are you dredging this up?! I don't actually know.. I felt like surfing his blog and it brought up a lot of memories, and I just wanted to get my side of things on the table. I genuinely miss my close friend Brian, and hate that there is now bad blood between us. My story is largely incomplete, fact devoid, and completely one sided but I hope its been an interesting read in any case! Image

Tuesday 5 December 2006

Back almost a month, a Great British review

Well, Ive been home nearly a month now and having no money in the UK really does suck balls. Even though Im back at work, I really did forget quite how expensive this country is; just visiting a pub seems to cost money these days, and a few tame nights out cost me the spare £100 or so I had in no time.

I had a job, then I didnt, then I did, then I didnt again.... now for the first 10 days or so, when I thought I had a job, I actually wasnt working, so once again Im going to be a little fudged for money for a little while, but hopefully, one day, Ill actually be sorted! Image
I've started work of my story of my time at Wonderland but given the current work and living situation (Im back at my old mans) Ive had less free time than I might otherwise have, and the time I have had has been frittered away catching up and trying to sort my stuff out. I've come back to an even smaller space than I had in Korea, and I actually have more stuff to boot! Check out Fuck Wonderland or Wonderland Sucks at some point soon for my full lowdown.

People keep asking me "is it good to be back?", half expecting me to be all enthusiastic and reaffirm that the UK is "the best place in the world" but in all honesty, Im not all that enthused. The UK is still the shithole I left 6 months ago, with the same ridiculous tax levels, scroatish general public and its endless grey skys; the only change is people seem "distracted" by the Polish immigrants now (note to the lazy, or the job insecure - if someone can do your job as well as you and is willing to do it for less money thats called healthy competition. Rather than looking at the people that are coming here to do the manual labour jobs most people on this cesspool island think theyre too good to do, look at those benefit cheats, tax dodgers and other leaches that are draining our resources and start pointing the finger at them.... who knows, we might be able to reduce our National Insurance contributions if we do!).

You see, living in another country you learn that this is not the only place in the world that one can make a living, and those manual labour jobs, you know... the ones that anyone can do if theyre not a fat, boneidle bastard, can be done by anyone! So the rhetoric of British jobs for British people doesn't wash with this guy, hence coming back to get back into my career, at that which I went to University to learn (and had to support and pay for myself thanks to that C U Next Tuesday Tony Blair).

In any case, there are a few things I miss about Korea, my good buddy Mike being the main one, but there were a lot of little things about being there that I really did like...hence the picture! I have no urge to go to the gym here because I'm surrounded by fatter, uglier (IMO) people.. I still want to go to the gym (given my current financial debacle its a way off yet), but I'm not driven to like I was in Korea. I miss skirts, shorts and knee high socks, even if its nearly freezing out. I miss being 20 seconds from a shop thats open 24 hours a day, 30 seconds from a cheap place to eat and 45 seconds from the norebang (Singstar just isnt the same... Image). I miss having all my wages after tax. I miss Yong San. I miss having a disposable income. I miss cheap booze, even in a pub (Rich & Hayley : Its £2.25 a pint in my local now!). I miss being able to ignore the adverts on TV. I miss a fast, unmetered internet connection. I miss skirts, shorts and knee high socks.

But I would never actually go back to Korea (not that I can on anything other than a tourist visa now). It had its bad points too but I still can't help feeling its good points are available somewhere else in the world. I just need to get off Treasure Island, the tax is just unbearable! I'm going to get my skillbase up in my field and then I'm going to be hunting again, aren't I... I think Japan or Hong Kong has a sock fetish too! Image

Thursday 16 November 2006

Guess whose back? Tell a friend...

Well after 20 hours in the air, and a total journey time of just over 24 hours we landed back in Manchester to the same grey day I took off too. We were worried about gting through customs with all our stuff, and getting landed with a C&E bill of a few thousand pounds but we just breezed through the gate to meet my grandad.

When we did get back we sorted the bed out and planned to crash for an hour or so and then go out for a drink, but like most plans, it turned into 14 and the next thing we knew it was 5:30am and we were wide awake. I ended up at the local shop buying things for an English breakfast (yes, including black pudding Hayley, and it was yummy!) and the whole thing was delicious! A nice cup of proper tea for the first time in 6 months went down a treat!

So after breakfast we proceeded to sort out our room from the bags of clothing we'd left to the clothes we bought to sell on eBay and alike for a few hours and some how I ended up in the garage tidying half of that up for an hour or so. We took three bags of clothes to the charity shop, all of it brand new stuff that was to inexpensive to justify selling on eBay thanks to their ridiculously overpriced fees on small items, and Royal Mails increases in postage costs, it didnt even warrant the time taken to list them... so Age Concern have bagged probably a few hundred quid easily, and although there are better "causes" of charity in the square, Age Concern is the best place to buy clothes! Image

We hit "Spoons" for a beer and a burger at lunch for £3.99 each, and tried to get the won changed, but all the exchanges were giving us rates of close to 2000 won to the pound, and although its "only" £10, it damn well is nearly £10 difference so I held on to them for the time being. I knew I shouldve changed them at the airport but after getting off the plane, it was the last thing on my mind. I may be sending them back to Mike to pick me up some games at Yong San over changing them for £10 difference - the postage costs would be the same as the fees and Id feel like that £10 was doing something other than lining some slimeballs pockets. Image

But I digress! We hit up the Legion to see Ken, but he wasnt working until 5 so we then went to the Cricket Club to meet Amys parents before finally ending up in the Links for the footy and a few more beers. We caught Dax coming home from work on the way to the CC, but he was practically on deaths door so we left him to have a kip! Phils fan belt snapped and he ended up not being able to make it, Dax was still KOed from the previous night and Jonny didnt show up in the end! It was only Adam and Heather (Amys brother and girlfriend) and Stef that came out, and Chris who was working behind the bar anyway. England drew in a soccer friendly against Holland, but I wasnt really watching it at all.

All in all, Im back and it still feels like the same old town I knew from 6 months ago. A few changes here or there, but in essence, nothing has changed. Whether thats a good thing or a bad thing remains to be seen, but for now, Ill be happy to be back. I guess I havent seen my mates yet so I wont be thrilled to be back until I do, but Ill peak up when "the boys are back in town"! Image

Again, if anyone has mailed me at my hotmail account and I havent replied, please resend it, or try to my Yahoo email (delmorphacease@yah00.co.uk with o's instead of 0's in yahoo, damn spam monkeys Image) - Im getting paranoid about my mail not arriving, or not getting to me now!

Monday 13 November 2006

More comical Wonderland BS as my time draws to an end here

All you can do is laugh it off and keep your head down as this crap is going on but for the second time in the last week period we have had a "fire drill" in our lunchbreak, neither of which were warned of to the teachers that the stupid woman was just going to randomly set it off.

This may sound like me complaining over nothing but its just another example of complete disregard for teachers at this place. The first time we were pretty pissed, none of us have had the fire procedures explained to us, and the fire alarm sounds like a bomb syren so you can imagine the panic and chaos when it was set off the first time, but today we were steaming. As Richard said, some tall buildings have special procedures for fire situations, like placing things over your head as you go down the stairs, and we havent even been told about any of this.

The other annoyance was that both were in lunchtime, at a time where were doing our unpaid duty of feeding the kids. With them now drilling twice at the same time it shows the mentality of this hell hole, just wanting to screw the staff out of every ounce of energy they can, so long as theyre not getting paid for it too. Theyre even telling us that we now have to spend 15 minutes in that 50 minute lunck BREAK to make the children read workbooks! Image

Well F them... my time here is drawing to a close, and not a moment too soon really. I will give a further lowdown to you all when I get home, and a blog post about my full ordeal in Wonderland over a few beers sometime soon. My website, www.wonderlandsucks.com will be live shortly after my return!

------------------------------------------------------------

To anyone that may or may be pissed at me for not replying to emails they have sent please let me apologise. It would appear that I havent been receiving all the emails I should've to my Hotmail account as my grandad has sent me several that I havent received, so its plausable that I may have others too. I spoke to him last night and he has sent me at least 3 that I know of that I havent received, even in my Junkmail folder. So if you read this before I get back then please accept my apologies and Ill speak to you soon! Image

Monday 6 November 2006

All we can do is laugh

Sometimes you just have to blog these things as a reminder of the shite we have to put up with as teachers in a hogwon in Korea... there has been so many of them that I havent that in the dying period I have left I probably should get as many down on the virtual paper as possible. Today, thus far, has been one of them!

We had to be at the school for 9:15 for a mystery schedule change that we hadnt been informed of until leaving on the Friday, so it put a downer on the day. We all arrive to find we now have 2 block sessions in the morning for 80 minutes before lunch with the same class which is just hell. I had Berkeley first, the UC "HELL" A, a class that in my 6 months tenure as teacher, I havent taught once. To add insult to injury, the "lesson plan" is vague at best, so as soon as we find this out we're trying to form plans of action.

But before we can even get to the photocopier, the moody bitch tells us that we have to go down to greet the children as the get off the shuttle bus. Theres 6 teachers greeting 4 buses, plus the teachers/assistants as they get off the bus. Common sense isn't a Korean strong point. Its another dogs dinner of a decision, and more of the bull shit we didnt sign up for.

In any case, Berkeley were great and UCLA were a nightmare.. that class must die in a fire. I started to make a wildlife scene with Berkeley which was fun, and spent 80 minutes beating kids with my stick in UCLA. Then lunch, then the next piece of crap, another mystery art lesson...

I have 8 kids in Cornell and I was told that each one of them had a seperate art project to do in 40 minutes. What a crock of shit.. this "art" lesson includes finger paints, craft paper, scissors etc in a random amount for each child, and I have to help each one of them do something completely different! Oh the joys!! At least I had the oldest children, poor Hayley and Michael had 11 kids each in younger classes!

It was a painfully slow 40 minutes, and now, at 1:40pm I have my first break of the day.. lunch doesnt count as I have to work through that too. Stupid Wonderland... Image

Friday 3 November 2006

A painfully tepid week...

This week has been one almighty suckfest... its just crawled throughout and I have nothing interesting to report other than being bored out of my skull. My only saving grace is the thoughts of getting drunk tonight and playing some NHL07 with Mike, as otherwise its been pretty mindnumbing.

I seem to have aquired more frees than usual this week, that or time has been slowing down in the ones Ive had as Im quite literally bored of surfing the net. I find myself perusing the same sites over and over in the bleak hope for something interest but to no avail; Im surfing for surfings sake, and I cant really do anything "constructive" on this machine to kill time. I should really start bringing my PSP to kill time...

In any case, Im glad my time teaching is coming to a close... Ive given it a go and you know what, I hate it! I can hear the "I told you so"s now but to be honest I really am not bothered in the slightest. I had to give it a go, if anything just to say Ive done it rather than just dismissing it as "I could never do that" or alike. Some people take a year or so out after graduation seeing the world... Ive spent 2 years clearing my head of the coulda-should-wouldas and now I can look forward to the start of my career.

Whether thats a future in the UK is yet to be seen... it most certainly is for a brief spell at least, but the pursuit of my career is now my number one priority when I get back. Ive been "out of the game (s industry)" for a while now but after some intensive personal training I think Ill be ready to punch above my graduate weight again... I may have even learnt a few new tricks in the process! Image

I have a few things to chase up on the job front when I get back, and hopefully will have enough money to keep my head above water until I find a "decent" job. Sitting on my arse all day coding has never seemed so appealing until now!!

Im looking forward to seeing friends and family on the 14th or thereafter and will be in the pub before you know it! Image

Monday 30 October 2006

Mike wins a million........ won!

Yes, its true... we hit the casino on Sunday night and Mike, the lucky SOAB won just over a million won on the slots. Thats close to $1000, or just under 600GBP at the current exchange rate. He slipped and slided to take the jackpot on one of the slots to will a cool 10,000 credits playing the Seal Slide game (probably my favorite machine in the casino we go to, anyone who knows what the "Jazz Bee" is will know what I mean when I say this is a great feature! Its a Jazz Bee beater in any case!). They brought his winnings in a little plastic container, for which he had to sign for and got a hearty congratulations off the staff!

Other than that there wasnt really much in the way of "new" excitement. We hit the Norebang on the Saturday night after trying the bowling alley in this "city" they call Guri... it had all of 6 lanes and was completely full and we got told to go away. I pulled out "She Bangs" by the olde Ricky Martin amongst others, and Friday night we did some boozing in the apartment playing NHL07. We also sorted our flights out on Saturday, which we get full confirmation of today at some point. All I can say for definate is we'll be home soon! Image

Friday 27 October 2006

Beyond the Last Straw

In an amazing continuation of the turd ideas that come out of the head of those in "charge" of this hole, we were all blown away by the audacity of this woman! Its truely unbelievable!

We hadnt been formally told about the events on Halloween until this Wednesday... quite amazing seen as though the children knew, the parents knew and there was even a poster put up in the foyer advertising it. In any case they dropped the amazing "sleepover" idea in favour of a big party in GS Square on the top floor. Its a big events area, and is probably likely to net this woman some extra advertising and maybe some new kids but who knows. If anything it will show the parents the lengths the school is going for the kids, which in turn will be good word of mouth to their friends.

Good idea you might think, and I somewhat agree, but the best part is yet to come.... ;)

Given that the thing goes on until after teaching hours we were a little pissed. We even had to order costumes for it and weve all been allocated roles to do. Im in charge of an Arts and Crafts event, Michaels doing "Balls Eyes", which we can only assume is a piece of Engrish for Bullseye and Hayley and Richard have something to do with fish and cotton candy.

So we ordered costumes.. Mike and I are gothing it up, which should be pretty funny, but in the meeting we flick through to find a piece of paper with costs on. We all knew what was coming!

Mrs. Lee must think shes spent enough, and aparently had allocated us 10,000 won each for our costumes (thats about 5GBP) so Kim squirmed when she said she wanted us to make the difference up OUT OF OUR OWN POCKET NO LESS! Our jaws just dropped....

In any case we stood our ground - "If you want to put on this little show then she has to pay for our costumes, its not our decision to do this crap" was our theme. Kim said she would tell her, but we think she will pay the difference herself not to cause too many waves (the stupid bitch has already told Kim that shes too lenient with us... i mean WTF!!). We feel kind of bad that she'd do this, but at the end of the day thats her choice, we all know who should be paying.

The amazing this is the difference per costume is about 10-20,000 won. We were even told to pick a costume without telling us there was a budget, or saying about this crap until after they were ordered! The best part was the breakdown of the costs for the event prior to the page with this costume bollocks on - it was the equivalent of a picture of a puppy with big eyes, meant to cause the reaction of "ooh theyve spent so much money on this"... but if anything it made this seem even more petty.

This place amazes me by the day... its not a matter of money; I spend 10,000 won on 2 drinks in the UK, its just the principle (or is that Principal, Wonderland... lol.. inside joke!). I'd rather smoke a bunch of 1000 won notes in front of this woman than help her make up the difference in her promotional events! Its beyond the straw that broke the camels back and Im counting the days now!


---------------------------------------------------------------------

In other news weve had a few problems with flights. Apparently you cant book flights the way we wanted to do it - the cheapest flight was a return flight for 420GBP, starting at Manchester first, which is what the problem is. If we dont show for that starting flight, we wouldnt have a place on the return flight, which is the only part we want any way.... and a one way ticket out of this stupid place is nearly twice as much as a return, or 550GBP for the same deal on a return but starting the journey at Seoul. Absolute bollocks, huh?! Image

So our dates have yet again changed and we have another plan. I will be able to hopefully confirm that on Saturday, so fingers crossed!!!! Image


ps. Excuse my spelling and poor English... Im having one of those days and Im sooo tired!!

Tuesday 24 October 2006

The Last Straw

So Im due to get on the shuttle bus this morning at 8:30 for my weekly shuttle bus duty that some "genius" here thinks will somehow promote the school and get us extra staff. We "get paid" for this hour of sitting there but as we are all still no where near our 110 hour limit to get paid extra it really makes no difference to our pay. I dont really have so much of an issue with it other than its a complete waste of my time, and means that we have one grumpy teacher thats had to be up about 90 minutes earlier than they would normally start a day but according to Kim, its only for a month (bullsh1t... Image)

Anyway, last week the bus was a no show for Mike. He was pissed and told them straight that it was bullshit and if theyre gonna make us do this then at least have the damn buses show up. This morning it was my turn...

Emily comes down at 8:55am and ive been waiting at least 30 minutes... were due to get picked up at 8:30am at the school and we were there at 8:20-8:25, coffee in hand, waiting. Mikes bus shows at 8:25 and he jumps on with the old man, mine this week is a complete no show.

I get upstairs to a sour faced bitch and shes trying to make out its my fault.. can you believe the cheek of some people. She tells me its "impossible" and "was I there at 8:30 on the dot". I practically feel like telling her to get f*cked right there and then... I sternly tell her that Mike got on the bus at 8:25 so yes, we were there at 8:20, a full 10 minutes prior to our supposed departure time. After a few more sour looks and squirming she calls the woman on the shuttle bus, 30 seconds later I get a broken sorry and it crawls back into its shell. I say nothing, smile crudely, turn and walk... *parents cover your eyes now* F*CK THIS F*CKING SCHOOL!

Mike got hugs and apologies and although fake as hell, its typical of the way I'm treated by her. I'm obviously too stupid to get on a bus, or even tell the time in her eyes... I mean like all foreigners out here that work, we must have fluked our degrees or something! I am done.... really I am!

On a lighter note Amy has sorted her visa extension... we just have to book something and take proof of the ticket back to the Korean Immigration Office and they will sort it for them. Praise the Lord... Image

Wednesday 18 October 2006

Decision on the horizon

Our decision is becoming clearer... utlimately were back to the UK sooner rather than later and its a decision Im certainly glad we've made. Dates are still a little uncertain but at the moment were hoping for a stop over in Hong Kong for a couple of days to a week and then coming home. We found that a new airline called "Oasis Hong Kong Airlines" is offering super cheap LGW->HKG and vice versa for GPB75 plus taxes (about GBP140 once the tax offices have taxen their cut) and a flight from here is looking at 280,000 won+ taxes, so getting home for about 300 notes each is plausable. Hopefully Ill even have enough left to buy my Wii.... Image
In any case there isnt really a great deal to report as of yet for definate, other than you're likely to see us both before Christmas for yet another indefinate period.

I'm so glad I chose Korea, and Ill be so glad to get back to get into computing. I think if Id've been teaching in Japan or Hong Kong I wouldve wanted to stay longer but this way I know teaching isnt my "cup of tea", Ive cleared debts that wouldve taken me a lot longer to in the UK, got a 6 month holiday for free and Im coming home with my 360, my new Nikon D70 (..oh yeah, I bought that this month! Image), a new 300GB hard disk full to bursting with new TV episodes, music and alike (and possibly another one before I come back ... anyone want anything downloading before we come back just let me know!!! Image), and Ive met 3 new close friends that I can tap up for breaks in foreign lands when were bored of the UK! So yes, 6 months away from home has been good for me...

..but Ill somewhat be glad to be back! Yes, Im still going to be grumpy about paying all the UKs stupid taxes (but it now gives me a good excuse to finish my book!), the shitty weather (we _do_ have some of the worst weather in the world.. the world isnt all shades of grey!), the deal with prices being pounds not dollars but Ive grown to appreciate some of the things we do have, like being thousands of miles away from the nearest psychopath! Lol... Image
Theres nothing quite like the threat of a nuclear war to get you thinking of...

A quick list of things I want to enjoy when I get back...

1. Pint in the Links... on Jonny! A game of darts and a few quid in the bandit... its stupid but thats home... slagging off the gay lord quiz master, whether thats the Racoon or that other Knucklebeard and then not really being all that bothered about it.
2. Boys nights...OiOi with eBoy and the lads.
3. Talking science with Phil
4. Snooker night!
5. Steak night at Spoons.
6. Mixed Grill and a pint of Bods at the Fairhaven.
7. Driving a car... any car!
8. Poker Tuesdays/Thursdays
9. Knowing my games consoles are all there...
10. A TV thats less than 10 years old.... probably again, at Jonnys! Image 11. Sitting in the sand dunes.
12. Having more than one room in my house.
13. Tescos for bits and bobs at 1am when Im in one of those moods!
... too many little things to counts really... moneys a nice thing to have, and tax is a nice thing to avoid, but without the small things it can be a little empty... until you have enough of it not to be bothered about the little things and can just do what you want all day!

Oh, and the gyms going pretty well... still just about doing between 90 minutes and 2 hours a day 5 days a week and you can totally see the difference... its a small start but its certainly in the right direction, so a gym membership is a must for me when I get back! I hurt my neck which put me out for 3 days (that hurt in more ways that one) but Im back on course now... Image
Right, thats another free period done... I will post again once we have a definate plan of action! Take it easy y'all!

P.s. RIP Paul Hunter - I only just found out today that he passed away. People die of cancer ever day but he was a great player and a sorry loss to the world of snooker.

Wednesday 11 October 2006

New, Clear Decisions to be made!

Hey y'all! Its been a while but its been a crazy few weeks so I thought Id update quickly and post a full lowdown of events later!

In light of the recent nuclear tests we're in discussions about our future in Korea at the moment... the cash is nice, as is the lack of tax but its not really worth it if a nuclear bomb is iminent to be dropped in our faces now.

Reading today on the Guardian website, the US has proposed sanctions for NK to the UN and a 30 day deadline for action after the date it is agreed so that gives a minimum of about 2 months before anything could "really" go down if it was to go through... and knowing the UNs actions, they wont be any great rush to decide on a millitary solution, so personally I feel our only real threat to stability is Gee Dubya doing something stupid (these aren't odds I would be backing)... Image
In any case, it does feel a bit weird here now.. its always been a little questionable and unstable in this part of Asia, but it now feels even more so. So were coming up with a few plans to worst case scenarios, other plans for just in cases, or whether we want to just say balls to it and its not worth the risk.

Amys visa here runs out on the 5th November so she will have to either find a job, go on a day trip to Japan, or she'll be heading back to the UK in less than a month. Im sure a lot of you would like the later option so please get in touch and let us know your thoughts.. we're a little concerned were not getting the "full picture" on the news out here!

Whatever our decision is I will let you all know as soon as its set in stone! Image