Pre-Japan blogtime

Hi,
To make this post a little more exciting (can a blog be exciting...of course!) I'm going to set a challenge to you, the reader, but also to myself, to test my writing skills and imagination. Yesterday, Neil, Greg and I went to Seoul and met Tom Cruise. Pics and a video are below, but in my post today I'm also going to try and include as many titles of films he has starred in, or will star in, in my blogging. Your mission should you choose to accept it, is to identify as many as possible and then leave me a comment with your answer, or for those of you who don't have Blogger accounts, a Facebook post would do. For those of you have neither....answers on a postcard. Mission Impossible? I think not.

So, the last time I blogged it was New Year's Day I think. Unfortunately, I had to work the next day, the firm I work for decided they would not give us any easy rides over the festive period, so all the young guns were ready for their English lessons on the Friday, but I was not! The last few weeks have been all about being reserved and trying to save cash, I feel I know the color of money all too well right now, such is my attention to how much of it I am spending. The Won-Yen exchange rate is pretty poor right now, which means I will have less to spend in Japan. I am hoping it will improve and I have been hanging on to try and get the best rate, but that in itself is a risky business. It's a shame because I really wanted to buy a Samurai sword this trip. As it turns out, Samurai swords have been flying off the shelves recently, my friend Gordon who lives in Kyoto got caught up in it on his way home from work the other day, as many Japanese people were rushing to a store to buy the last samurai they had left in stock. Sounds pretty mental.

Greg and I are preparing for our trip, we still have to get our passports stamped with a re-entry permit so we can get back into Korea, and also buy our rail passes before we leave. We fly out with Korean Air on Friday, I joined their website to get discount tickets, I get a flyer pass at the silver level, but unfortunately I am not a goldmember yet. Maybe if I do a bit more travelling I can achieve that! the rough plan is to do Kyoto on Friday, then meet Gordie (legend) on Saturday and have a night out with him, and then head up to Tokyo on Sunday, and then back down to Osaka on Monday night. By the time we head back on Tuesday morning, I am anticipating being pretty tired, so I will probably want to sleep on the plane, but I also have a window seat, and I love looking at the view. How to see the view but also sleep at the same time? I suppose I'll have to have my eyes wide shut ha ha!

Anyway, back to Korea. I have been doing a bit exploring of the Yeonsu-Gu area, I went for a nice walk the other day down by a kind of river (more like a storm drain really), here is a photo looking up the river.



It was bitterly cold that day (the river was frozen over) and it has been for the last while. I used to think I liked the cold, and ice and snow, but these days i consider myself to be more of a rain man. Roll on the days of thunder and lightning, and long hot summer days!
Today, Greg and I took a trip to the Incheon landing memorial and then climbed up the hill and walked back to Yeonsu-Gu via the trail. I think Greg enjoyed seeing the various pieces of military hardware from the Korean War era. I am glad I wasn't in Incheon at that time, it must have felt like the war of the worlds back then. There is still the threat from North Korea of course, but if both parties make all the right moves another crisis can be averted I'm sure. For now, both sides still seem to think they are top gun though. Anyway, here are a couple of photos from today.



It was a shame the visibility was so poor, very hazy, with a sort of magnolia/vanilla sky, that although meant we couldn't see much, was beautiful in itself.



Me at the top of the hill. I was losin' it a bit at this point, due to my fear of heights. Ahhhhh!

And so, onto the highlight of the year for me so far (early days yet!). Yesterday, Greg, Neil and I went to Yongsan CGV and awaited the arrival of Mr Cruise, in Korea to promote his new film. There was already a big crowd gathered by the time we arrived, but being three big Western boys (some might call us the outsiders) we were able to make our way to almost the front of the masses so that when he arrived, we were in prime position. Tom has a reputation for being very good to his fans, and he didn't disappoint. He must have spent almost an hour singing autographs, posing for photos and talking to fans, including us. I think he was genuinely surprised to see some Western faces in the crowd, and exclaimed "what are you guys doing here?" when he saw us! We had a bit of banter about some of his films, and told him that "Scotland loves you" to which he replied "I love Scotland". So there you go, for those of you north of the border, Tom Cruise loves YOU! We had all brought along DVD's for him to sign (we would have been happy with one, but having one each provided some collateral), and despite me dropping mine (thankfully, there are a few good men in this world, and one of them gave it back to me), he signed them all. We also got to shake his hand and when we left he said goodbye to us, and he seemed genuinely happy to have seen us. I was certainly happy to have met him.
Here are a few pictures, a video (loud!!!) and also a couple of links for pictures and a video taken by a Korean company in which you can hear us and see our arms!








http://tv.jknews.co.kr/article/news/20090117/8580075.htm (the Korean video with us)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=206137&l=697ec&id=777495416 (my facebook album of TC)

A good weekend is almost over, and now I have four days of teaching left before Japan. This time next week I will be far and away in Tokyo, maybe sipping on a cocktail, but definitely drinking in all that Japan has to offer. Until then, goodbye.

HELP ME.......TO HELP YOU.

How many did you get?

Festive Update

Hello,
First of all in the true style of any 'publication' I would like to wish all my 'readers' a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. It was lovely to receive some cards and packages from some of you, anything waiting in the postbox when I return from school is always great.

I am writing this on New Year's Day, sitting on the couch in my apartment. I bought a wireless keyboard/mouse last month which means I can basically sit on the couch and control everything from there. So lazy, but so good too! I have now got my apartment pretty much the way I want it, it is still messy and cluttered in a typical Neil Jardine style but I like it, and I have everything I need.

So, since the last time I blogged, December and all associated with it has been and gone. It is a good deal colder out here now, the gloves and hat are utilised most days, and we had a reasonable snowfall a couple of weeks ago. Here's a couple of photos from that day/night. Beautiful in a funny sort of way I think.






What else in the last month? Well, as we all know and love (yes........) it was St. Andrews day on 30th Nov so I went to huge lenghts to celebrate and hungoverly (word?) hung a Scotland flag out my window. I doubt many people noticed, and even if they did, maybe they wouldn't know why, but any excuse to be proud of Scotland is an opportunity I take, and I actually think it looks quite cool in the picture.



I have been playing a little bit of football, just 5 or 6 aside mess-abouts, but unfortunately in mid-December that was put on hold as I went over on my ankle quite badly. I stupidly kept playing on it, but by the end of the day i could hardly walk. A visit to the doctor and some x-rays the next day revealed that thankfully there was no break, just ligament damage, so i was fixed up in a splint and went for a couple of physio sessions involving ultrasound and various other devices that I have no idea what they were and whether they were doing anything useful. One in particular involved various suction cups that were placed on my foot and then sort of pulsated. I can only imagine it must be a similar feeling to have several small puppies constantly nibbling your foot. Very strange.
Just before Christmas it was my brothers 21st back in London which I was sad to miss. I spoke to him on the day and passed on my birthday wishes, but I would have much preferred to have been there in person. I guess that is one of the downsides of working abroad, events and celebrations back home are missed, and I do feel bad when it happens. All the video calls and fibre-optics in the world cannot replace being able to give someone a hug in person. Hopefully in Stewartie's case I will get to do that later this year if he comes to visit.

And so onto Christmas. It had been decided quite a while back that we would return to the Seoul Hilton on Christmas Day, so I set about creating a Facebook 'event' and invited a few folk. A few folk ended up being a few more, and then a few more, until I found myself frantically calling the Hilton about a week before to see if they could get us a table for 24! All credit to the staff, they were brilliant, and, on the day, we arrived to find one huge table to accommodate us all. Here are some photos from the day. Those of you who read the blog from last year's Christmas may find some of the backgrounds in the pictures familiar!





We tucked into a delicious buffet, then had a couple of drinks downstairs in the Oak Room (I had a wee Glenmorangie...only 6 quid!) and then briefly visited the adjoining casino to waste some money. I then caught the subway (yes, the public transport operates as normal out here on Christmas Day) back to Incheon and had a reasonable early night, as we had to work on Boxing Day. All in all, another very nice Christmas in Korea.

Of course, Christmas is only one half of the festive period, and last night it was back to Seoul again for New year. I didn't take Hogmanay off work like I did last year, so after finishing at 8pm it was a dash back to the flat to get the kilt on, and then into Seoul. We got there about 11, and made our way down to Bosin-Gak, where we went last year to watch them ring the big bell with all the crowds. It was another amazing spectacle, with lots of fireworks, music, Thai lanterns and some peaceful protesters unhappy with Korea's president Lee Myung Bak. I read today his approval rating is 34%. I wonder how much longer he'll be around for......
After the bells we caught a taxi over to Hongdae and saw out the rest of the night there. Here are some pictures from the night.

Greg and I. Greg doesn't have a kilt, but he does have a kilt towel. So, with a few safety pins and a belt, this was the result. I think it looks brilliant.








By throwing a few baseballs at some wood I managed to win this delightful 'Hello Kitty' stuffed toy. Here is said toy, myself and Kebab man striking a happy pose.



Unfortunately, Hello Kitty was bad company, always ridiculing Greg and I for our outfits, ordering expensive drinks and generally misbehaving. So....by the end of the night, she had taken a bit of abuse. There really is no excuse.....and I was full of guilt when i awoke this morning. Sorry Kitty, wherever you are.



And so into 2009 I go. I have no idea as of yet where I will be this time next year, and right now that doesn't worry me. In the short-term, myself and Greg have booked our tickets to go Japan at the end of this month, hopefully Neil will join too, he has just returned from a week in Thailand with his girlfriend but hopefully we can all head to the land of the rising sun together. Other plans include a possible ski-trip and going to see Tom Cruise when he makes an appearance in Seoul later this month. In the meantime, i will spend my days trying to keep warm and continuing to educate Koren children the difference between 'coffee' (the hot beverage) 'copy' (replicating something from one original) and 'ko-pee' (the Korean for nose-bleed)

All the best for 2009.