Hite, Heartache and Harry.

Hite:

One of South Korea's national lagers, it is bearable but full of chemicals. The other two main ones are Cass and OB Blue. If I am faced with a choice, I will go for OB Blue, but unfortunatley most of the bars only serve Cass or Hite on draught so I have to make do with those "make-jew" (maekju). The national drink is Soju, which is basically a vodka-like drink which I can only describe as pure evil. Koreans generally drink soju when they go out for a meal, which is very often. It is only around 20% vol, but it likes nothing more than to erase your memory and serve you up a big headache should you over-indulge. Koreans seem to be able to get through several bottles EACH in one sitting, which I will never be able to acheive, nor want to.

Heartache:

Those of you who are in Scotland or have an interest in football will know that Scotland played Italy at the weekend, with a win gauranteeing us a place at Euro 2008. I embraced the fact I was Scottish, and headed into Seoul in my kilt. Cue MANY staring and laughing people on the subway, but once we arrived in Itaweon (a heavily westernised area) I felt more comfortable. It was one of our group's birthday, so we went for an Indian (slightly bizarre, but very tasty) and then went to an Irish bar who were apparantly going to show the game. Kick off was at 2am here, but at around 1:45 word came that they were not going to show it, so we rushed across to another place. No-one had satellite feeds, so they were trying to stream it over the internet. Because of this, by the time the bar sorted it out we missed the 1st 20 mins, and Italy going ahead. However, after I poured some half time shots of Irn-Bru for all us Scots, we were rewarded when Scotland equalised thanks to Bazza boy! The place went mental!

But, it was not to be, as a DODGY referee decision handed Italy victory in the dying seconds. We were all so down after the game that none of us were really up for partying, so we headed back on the subway pretty soon after. Still, on the positive side, at least we will be in a good group for the world cup in 2010.

Harry:

After Bubba passed away a few weeks ago, Harry seemed to relish being king of the fishtank. However, in the last few days,he too has been looking a bit dodgy. He has been spending a lot of time upside down, which I can't help but think is not a good sign. I thought it might be that the water was too cold, but the temp has gone up and he is still out of sorts. If he does die, I think I will give some fish a try. I have the tank, so I may as well!

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So apart from the above, what other tales from South Korea?

Well, it has got pretty cold here. I'm not exactly sure, but I think its now hitting below 0 every night, and we got our first flurries of snow yesterday, although it didn't lie, and was followed by a massive thunder and lightning storm. I invested in a pair of gloves today, and when I get paid on Friday I think i'm going to buy some more winter-style clothes.

I took some photos on the way to work last week to show you what my neighbourhood is like with an autumn feel to it. Even since I took these, a lot of the trees have lost all their leaves.

Here you go:

The walk to school. The leaves are all coming off the trees now, even since I took this photo there have been a lot more detatched.

An intersection near my flat. The building on the right was not there two months ago, yet now is nearly finished. The pace of work has been astonishing. I am still not sure what it will be yet....but I think it might be a wedding functions hall.

The view South-East from outside my school. Those apartment blocks on the right are part of a HUGE complex which is still under construction. Unlike the UK, the high-rise flats you can see here are quite expensive, and if you live in one you are relatively well-off. When I go to my other school on a Tuesday and Thursday I get a bus which goes away down past the red light. You can also see in this picture that the haze/pollution that day was pretty bad. It seems to vary from day to day, so not every day is all smoggy like this one.

My classroom at Nam-Dong Gu. I've got a whiteboard, and a projector which I can use with my laptop (when it works!). I also have an internet connection so I can show the kids things like Google Earth and Youtube. The kids desks are quite close together, which can make for some challenging lessons as they like to turn around and talk to/swap things/hit each other.

A dodgy group photo in the subway after the Scotland game. We all don't look so happy!

Right, my laptop is playing up and I fear I may lose everything I have just written if I don't finish now so I will say bye.

Love to all, Neil.