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!
Showing posts with label korea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label korea. Show all posts
Saturday, 30 December 2006
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!
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...
). 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!
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!
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...
). 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!
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!
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!
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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!
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!
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!
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...
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...
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!
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!
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!
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!
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....
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!), 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!!! ), 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...
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! 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...
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.
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!
), 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!!! ), 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...
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!
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...
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.
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