Holiday Inn And Suites Alpensia Pyeongchang Suites

... in her retro uniform came back and informed us it was 'tsch'inti - oh yeah i can definatly understand how she didnt get that. Diana's quote - "Daegu Tower ... putting the 'tsch' in 'gintini' since 2009"
Next stop was downtown for some well deserved food. We went down town to this amazingly delish traditional vege restaurant which was only 6000Won each and had the biggest feast of kimchi, fresh seaweed, bean sprouts and spicy soups and all sorts ...

... a few minutes the owner was already calling me grandmother because I'm 31, then decided I was like an American movie star (yay!), and then said I was not beautiful (no, no, no, no and making a big X with his arms in the air in case I didn't catch the 'not' part) but a 'cutie' because I was so smiley. Ah well, you can't have it all. We also talked a bit more seriously about the military service the son will have to do next year. Two years of it and visits home allowed ...

... special needs teacher said 'I know. I have noticed. I'm sorry'. Well, fair enough I suppose!

I completely forgot to write about Chuseok, which is the most important Korean national holiday. It was at the beginning of October, and we had 3 days off work for it, and the weekend in between. This was a big deal to me because I'm really missing flexi-days! I now completely sympathise with teachers in the UK and their insistence on half-term, but it's interesting that we don't ...

... was far too much for us but Su Jin still got some chicken delivered! I've also eaten a chinese with her in the kindergarten classroom one night, and last weekend I decided to work at school on the Saturday morning and the two secretaries turned up with, guess what, fried chicken, and some plastic gloves to eat them with. We sat and stuffed ourselves in our classroom then got on with some work. Fantastic!

Almost every weekend has been spent with some English friends. I ...

... for the strain on my calves. Furthermore, there were many older Koreans powering up, and I was determined to keep up with them. They were certainly keen, decked out in their North Face gear with walking poles, and I certainly felt the foreigner in my cargoes and t-shirt.

I reached the summit soon after 2pm where I was afforded a magnificent view over the southern part of the park. The autumn colours were stunning, and I could see why the mountain was ...

... for about 7 years, and he put me in touch with a recruitment agency. As things began to snowball I also looked for jobs in Indonesia and Greece and was offered a job in Martinique in the meantime (12 hours teaching a week on a Caribbean island where I would understand the locals…). However, the more I learned about Korea, the more convinced I became that this was the most interesting option to go for. People from the UK rarely visit here, yet so many people who do come end up ...

... oor see en strand. Binne geniet ons die bad en lekker groot bed met die namiddag rus.

Siende dat dit Saterdag en drienasies is stap ek ontvangs toe om uit te vis waar die naaste internet kafee is.Dis belangrike rugby wat ons nie graag wil mis nie. na bietjie se koprak en probeer besluit die man agter die ontvangs toonbank dat dit te moelik is om te verduidelik waar daar 'n internet plek is en veel makliker is om ons een van die lee kamers met ...

... and a little jungle fever)! We stopped at his favorite restaurant for lunch, Burger King. While there we had another hysterical conversation about the English language. As we were eating he looked at his sandwich wrapper, puzzled. He said (and i'll try to sound this out so you get the full effect), "Kebeen--why you say wopper? I think wrong. Look. W-H-O. W-H-O is who. Burger title is not wopper, it is who-pper. I now eating who-pper ...

I arrived at Incheon airport knowing this: Koreans are Asian, they eat fermented cabbage, and drink some strange rice liquor. And there are no waves in Korea. I found the man holding the sign with my name (cool, that's never happened before), and followed him, expecting a quick ride into Seoul, where I thought orientation was. Already in the van were 2 other teachers, Pete from NY and Mark from San Diego. On top of the van were, to my surprise ...

... of side dishes including kimchee and fruit. The next stop was a lighthouse which was used as a backdrop for a famous movie. From there we stopped at the Donghae Rotary Centennial Park. Next it was a traditional Korean lunch at the restaurant of one of our hosts and driver, Mr. Kim. We sat on the floor and were served wonderful specialties by his wife. The burners were lit in the center of the table ...