Hotel Ibis Ambassador Suwon

... who again thanked us for coming, and informed us that there were two types of wedding in Korea, a traditional and a western wedding, and we were currently at the latter. To be honest, apart from the bride's white dress there wasn't much that was western about it. Soon after Jin came over to ask us what we thought, and then the bride and groom themselves. I thought it was good that they did the rounds of the tables. Even though many of the people there didn't seem to be ...

... throat seems to have been scorched away by the devil chilli paste concoction on the meat... hastily paying the bill with my eyes watering and nose streeming I jog back to the hotel with my mouth aflame and buy an icecream on the way to try sooth my vochal chords.... having said that though, aside from the seering heat and pain of the chillies and the threat of being unable to talk or ever draw breath again, the meat was amazing!

... apartment. After settling in we went for a meal of fried potatoes and beer, where I was soon brought back down to earth. It seemed that although Pete was my boss, he didn&#8217;t call the shots, and I would have to wait a while for the school to reimburse me for my flight as promised. Actually, how the school hierarchy actually worked was a bit of a puzzle to me, with at least four different people above me with different roles.<br><br>Our first week in Suwon ...

... with an enormous light, laser and sound show indoors that was pretty impressive, but yet again incomprehensible.<br><br>If you thought we would end it there, you were wrong. Linda and I clearly didn't learn when to call it quits from Macau so we headed off to the nearby Hongik University district to meet Rob and his English teacher couch surfing host Andrew for some drinks. Once we had actually selected a bar things got underway with massive keg-sized jugs of beer and then soju and more ...

... a late one as we drank beer after beer, and played darts repeatedly - I was surprised to rediscover the form of my youth! They are a friendly bunch of teachers and it's a shame that we are often too busy to accompany them on nights out, although to be fair I have grown out of the clubbing phase. I spent the weekend cherry blossom viewing as I knew that it would be my last opportunity, beginning with a jaunt to Kyunghee University on Saturday morning. I'd found out about this ...

... a ham, onion, cheddar, and sweet potato casserole......ummm, lets just say I am forcing myself to eat it tonight. Nope!....no, I change me mind.....I am throwing it way! Damn ham! So, from this point on, I am only buying plain food that I know I definitely like! My home is supposed to be a place of comfort and weird pieces of collagen in my food is not comforting! Okay, the point of this rant is to tell you that I bought a ton of Western/pre-approved food at Costco the ...

... subway) and headed to my University to get my student visa. Unfortunately, I arrived at 7:30, only to find out that the office didn't open until 9:30. Thus, I just sat there because I had already hiked up the mountain to that place and was dead tired since I hadn't slept the night before. -9:30 am: Good News/Bad News/Good News---Good News: I finally got my student Visa; Bad News: I had to leave Hong Kong and have my Visa stamped on the way back for it to be ...

... fan to help the temperature. <br><br>So take a look at the pictures and let me know what you think. Its nice having the other teachers in the same building because it gives me someone to hang out with and someone to ask all of my questions to when I get completely lost. Oh, and the last best part is that I made drawers out of baskets and slid them under my bed. I am completely organized!!!

... for more than just mundane garbage disposal duties. Later in the afternoon it was on to our second game of the World Cup and Uruguay v Senegal surpassed all expections. Initially I was rooting for the African underdogs but upon arrival I found 2 Uruguayan flags and a bandana tucked under my chair and as Homer Simpson said: "Yes, I am the highly suggestible type". I can now fully understand how Tony Blair fights and wins Election Campaigns. Senegal's striker Diouf is ...

Not far from Seoul now, we stopped at Suwon for a few days to see another fortress. This fortress, named Hwaseong, is a World Heritage Site and greatly more impressive than Gongsanseong at Gongju. The sun was shining and we gave into temptation and tucked into several meals of KFC and Burger King. It's good to get some grease into your stomach after a diet of noodles!