Snow

We had our first proper snowfall here on Friday, and given the fact that there was never very much snow on Iona (apart from the winter of 95'.....what a couple of weeks....Rocky and Smooth anyone?) I made sure I got out to throw a few snowballs and mess about like a big kid. I had a bit of break at school in the afternoon so me, Paris and Yogi (their English names) went down to the elementary school opposite the academy to see some of the kids. Here are the ladies setting off.

As soon as I arrived I was duly pelted with snowballs. Fair enough, I am a teacher, and I am Western. I tried to fight back but it was me against 20 kids so snow ended up getting pretty much everywhere! Here are a couple of pictures of the fun.

Poor Jerry on the right was on the recieving end of a snowball to the nether regions in this one. Nasty!

Probably my favourite photo in Korea so far. Sean had stuffed some snow behind his glasses, so I thought I'd get a funny photo. Meanwhile, someone in the background saw the opportunity and hurled a snowball our way. I love the mid-throw pose, and the snowball coming towards us. It's amazing what a battered up old Nokia cameraphone can get!

We then made what could be the world's worst snowman. Here he is:

I put my hat on to keep his head "warm", used two 100 Won coins for eyes, a 10 Won coin for the nose, and my gym membership card for the mouth. We also got a couple of twigs for arms but as you can see they were a bit long.............. Immediately after this photo was taken the poor guy was set upon by several children and reduced to a pile of handy sized snowballs.

After a bit more snowfighting and an attempt at a game of football (I only managed to hit the post) we headed back to the academy to warm up. Here is us crossing the road:

It was a brilliant afternoon. I am so glad I got to enjoy a bit of the snow and also spend a bit of time with some of the kids outside of the classroom. We had a quiet weekend, and today I was back at work. I am now doing Monday and Wednesday at In-Dong (10am-6pm), Tuesday and Thursday at Nam Dong (2pm-9pm) and on Fridays I am moving to a new school that my director has just opened (2pm-9pm). It will be good because the school is brand new and there is another Western teacher there, but it means I finish later on a Friday and I don't get to be at In-Dong as often. I like the staff there, we get on really well, so I hope that continues even though I won't be seeing them as often.

Some other news of note, myself and Neil have booked flights to Osaka in Japan. We fly out with Asiana on the 2nd of February and are there for 6 nights, coming back on the 8th. We havn't sorted any accomodation yet, but i'm keen to spend at least 1 night in a capsule hotel. So until then, I'm going to take it easy spending wise so I can enjoy myself there, as Japan is a bit more expensive than Korea.

Right, I'm away to watch Deadliest Catch. Big fan these days!

Love, Neil