Hotel Alps Daejeon

... went back. it is 3 hours from seoul by ktx (the fast train) and right on the ocean. the night life is great. not as large as seoul but some of the same shopping and food options. the winters aren&#8217;t as cold (no snow), plus there is the beach. <br><br>kangyang , the northeast of korea is also beautiful. (or gangneung - there are so many ways to write korean words in english they recently changed the system so a city's name could have multiple ...

... the whole place was completely deserted, apart from the monks who stay there. It was quite eerie as the sun went down, as all you could hear was the gentle tinkling of the bells, and a rumbling drumbeat caused by one of the monks, although I don't know the exact reason for it. It started raining at 9pm, but I didn't mind at all as I was safely inside, enjoying a huge meal that the guesthouse owner had prepared for me...a great end to the day!

I'm a big fan of these sappy K-dramas, but why must someone always die? why is it really so difficult for a rich person to marry someone who isn't rich? why are mothers always so overbearing? why is falling in love and proposing marriage so easy just a month after meeting someone? I'm a fan, but I have questions. This will be continued.

... to hold it all together and stressing over the camp foreign teachers we're employed to manage, specifically their inability to stick to informative schedules, the very same informative schedules we spent the weeks before drafting. It beggars belief but they seemed to find that harder than walking 10, sometimes less, obedient Korean kids in two lines. But that was last week and even now, 2 and a bit days into the second camp ...

... somewhat Hooray! We went out for beers last night with a few of the teachers and for a few hours at least it felt like the good old days again; shared pitchers of beer, friendly banter and clock watching to ensure we were back before curfew (yes, even head teachers are subject to a curfew). We're going to have some sort of get together tomorrow night (New Years Eve) but it'll be a tame affair, and, unless the rules I'm ...

· Jochiwon, South Korea · GMT +8:00 hours A strange Christmas As I type it's 4:30pm (7:30am in Ireland, 2:30am in Canada) on Christmas Day and this, I can say with certainty, is the strangest Christmas Day I've ever spent... following on nicely from the strangest Christmas Eve. We worked up until 6pm last night before hopping in an 11-seater mini-van with 9 Koreans to spend the next 5 hours driving to, from and around Daejon ...

... South Africans and Brits thrown in for good measure. No Irish, of course, and not even a Scott! What that means is I'll be the lone ambassador for the Emerald Isle (fear not oh Motherland, you'll be sold well). I am grateful that there isn't any of my old CK cronies amongst those 46 teachers, as any one of them would no doubt wait for the perfect opportunity to get me to recite, in front of everyone "thirty-three and a third" Ahhh yeah, never fails to get a laugh.

... the ruler in<br><br>the endeavor of leading by moral example. Koreans see law as something given from above, not created by the people. Koreans mindset hasn't changed with democracy to figure out that the laws are created after debate by people who are elected. Laws don't govern life as much as relations between people do. Laws are simply a last resort. That is why networking is vital and people rely on family, alumni and hometown friends. Even politicians cut to ...

... They have to take pictures and argue about whose fault it is. It basically means a mess for traffic. Because of construction, accidents and simply heavy traffic many people drive scooters. These allow people to zig and zag through the traffic easier. Even though it is more difficult for cars to cut to the front it is possible. If there is a white line for where the traffic should stop for a red light, most people stop there. However, 2 or 3 people at ...

... social arenas. They were not allowed to speak Korean, schools were taught in Japanese, Korean women were taken as prostitutes by Japanese soldiers and no martial arts were allowed to be practiced. They were not allowed due to fear of strengthening an uprising against the government - apparently in North Korea it is the same right now. Previous to this the Buddhist temples practiced martial arts that were influenced by the previous invader, China. So anyways, I am getting to a point ...