Before-Beijing-Blog

Hi,

A class has been cancelled at my school today as some of the older kids are doing their mid-term exams so I thought I would seize the opportunity to do something constructive and post a blog, as promised, before we head to Beijing on Saturday.

Greg and I are both ready for the trip, we have our visas and accommodation booked, and I managed to borrow a Lonely Planet guide from one of Lisa's friends so that should help a bit. We are going to exchange money tomorrow at KEB and then that's us. We will have to catch a bus at 05:10 out to the airport (groan) but I don't care really, I'm so looking forward to getting away for a while, and seeing the sights of China's capital.

Since I last blogged, (if you discount the "all the jobs I've ever had" post) things have been a bit quieter as I have been trying to save the pennies for going away. A few Saturdays back I had a great day, Neil, Greg and I headed over to Ilsan (a suburb of Seoul, about 90mins from us) which is where Connor and Steph are now living. There is a big park there with a lake in the middle, so we took a ball and had a kick-about on the grass. It was also the first day I was allowed beer after my self-imposed Lent-style ban, so it was nice to have a few cold bottles as well!

After a few hours of mucking about there I quickly changed into a shirt and tie (behind a bush) and headed on the subway to the other side of Seoul to meet Lisa. We went to Seoul Arts Centre to watch a performance by the Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra. It was my first experience of anything like that, and I have to say it was an enjoyable one. The way they all play in harmony is amazing, and some of the pieces were beautiful. The conductor was called Jesus Amigo (appropriate given it was Easter Saturday) and we had great seats, on the 2nd tier right at the front. And all that for only 30,000 Won (15 pounds)! After some post-orchestra dinner we headed back to Incheon, tired but happy.

An afternoon in the park!

The orchestra getting ready to start.

The day after (Easter Sunday) we were going to venture down to watch/participate in the world's largest tug-of-war contest, but I awoke on Sunday feeling very strange, sort of flu-like and dizzy, so I was floored all day. I think it might even have been sunstroke or maybe an adverse reaction to the beer after being off it for so long! who knows.......

Marco, a Finnish guy who is an engineer here, is leaving soon after being in Korea for almost 3 years, so last weekend we headed to Seoul for a final night-out with him, although it ended up we didn't see him for too long. He is a really cool guy, and I will be sorry to see him go. He is being relocated to Germany, but it sounds like he will basically commute to work from Finland! Quite a long one!

The weather here is improving, we had the very brief cherry-blossom a week or two ago, and although it has gone there are now lots of other pretty flowers starting to appear, and everything is starting to become a bit greener. I have been going for occasional runs down by the Incheon 'river' and also playing a bit of badminton with the boys, which I really enjoy.

The teaching is going well, although honestly right now I am a bit preoccupied with going away so that is dominating most of my thoughts!

Lisa and I see each other at least one night during the week and at weekends, we went for some DELICIOUS ribs last Friday, she is off to Hong Kong for the holiday period so I hope she will enjoy that as much as I did.

And that's about it, I've run out of thoughts and time, my final class of the day awaits!

I'll blog when I'm back from China and Greg's birthday weekend/the DJ festival is over.