Scotland rugby? Really?

So the Six Nations rugby kicked off yesterday. And I am trying to follow it over here. But I can't get any video as the copyright restrictions only allow video from BBC to be played inside the UK. Arses. I doubt Scotland will make any impact though.

School has been going OK. The kids seem really interested and I am starting to see who the bright ones are and who the little buggers are. I usually just hang about whilst my co-teacher's do their thing and then I do my part, usually a game or explaining something. It's pretty easy and doesn't stress me too much, but Im not cut out to be a teacher. I can see that now! Ha ha.

There is a new piece iof furniture in the flat! A sofa! Hooray. I can now get comfy in the evenings. It is rather special. It was a bugger to find though. We went to some furniture market in downtown and had a snoop around, and finally decided on this huge sofa. Trying to explain that we wanted it and where to deliver and how much everything was, was certainly a challenge. But it all worked out, and the shop even gave us a life home in the van with the sofa and coffee table that I decided to get with it. The tricky part was fitting it through the doorway and into the living room. It is a BIG sofa! But it is all in now and very comfy indeed.

The weather here is a bit random. For a while it was very cold. Then it heated up a bit and was quite nice. Then we got reports of the yellow dust coming and we had to lock everything down. And now it is cold again. I think the summer is going to get hot though. Watch out.

They stole my passport

Well not really. But today we were at the immigration office so I can apply for my Alien Registration Card. Which means I can legally stay here. For my sins. Anyway, it all went quite smoothly, filled in a form with my details and the multiple entry visa (which means I can leave the country and then be allowed back in, and not deported (if only!)) was free! Which was a nice surprise. It was all very fast and efficient. Then they told us to come back in a week, and they wanted my passport. I asked them what for. So they could put my visa in there. I wasn't too happy. If something happened to me, then it would be a pain without my passport. But it had to be done, so I took a quick photocopy and threatened the man under pain of death that I get it back.

So all this means that next week I can get the TV and Internet connected as I have an ARC to bill everything to. Hooray. I have been pilfering the wi-fi connection from the church across the street, and it is less than satisfactory. Very fast but a bit hit and miss where I get a reception. I am so going to hell.

Week-ender

So the weekend has been and gone and has been rather uneventful. Im not planning on writing this every day. Especially if there is nothing to write about. So.

Friday was another usual day at school, got the bus fine in the morning and in plenty of time, so can scale back a bit on when I need to get up. But for the most part not much happens at school. And in the evenings I generally just waste time and catch up on stuff. Make some dinner. The usual. Yesterday we went into Nampo-dong to have a look around, saw some very cute puppies in the pet shops. But they are all small dogs, and Im not sure it's the best idea to get one here. Will look into it though. Nampo-dong is quite nice. It has a couple of cinemas and is where the Busan International Film Festival is held each year, so I will look forward to that. But it is very busy and there are markets and a load of different shops. One thing about Korea is that every company has it's own store. Nike, Puma, Head, North Face, Columbia etc and it's not strange. But they are everywhere. And the subway station is like a shopping mall. In fact there are underground passageways for miles with shops selling all sorts of crap! It's like they live down there. Never seeing sunlight. Maybe they are vampires. Sunday is pretty lazy. Went for a shop and just did nothing all day which is nice. Im starting to get very tired. Which makes me not want to go out, which makes me more tired. Need to break this cycle.

Moving day

Today was moving day. The flat is pretty nice and everything is moved in. Most of the furniture. I still need to get a sofa. But the wardrobes and built, the bed is up, everything is connected and working. Except for the TV and Internet. Need to wait until I get my alien registration card until I can sign up to anyone. It ws avery early start as we had to move all the luggage to the apartment before school. So my co-teacher helped with that and it was accomplished in time to get to school and not be late. The days are starting to merge into one another and nothing really exceptional happens. I have classes, take a break, have more classes then lunch and then muck about all afternoon until home time.

So not much else to report on the apartment. It's quite bare so I need to get some posters up and some more furniture but it should be comfy enough for the next year. The underfloor heating does a good job of heating everything up. Unfortunately there are gas tanks out the back that need to be replaced when empty, but they seem to think it won't cost too much to use it. The decor is a bit ropey but it's a free apartment so I can't complain too much.

Shopping is for losers

Today was shopping day.

But before we get to that, I had my first classes today. I was just observing which got really boring after four classes of the same thing! And I had to give a quick introduction to myself which went OK. I told the kids where I was from and what I like to do, and showed them pictures of me climbing in the snow. Which they all laughed at. The co-teacher is pretty nice and seems to handle the class well, so it should go well.

Then after lunch we went shopping for stuff for the apartment. I had to make a list of all the stuff I needed and then they would try and cost it up into the budget they have to spend. So off to Home Plus. Ahh, yes, Home Plus. This is the Korean Tesco which sells some half-decent Western food, so hopefully I won't starve. But they also have a lot of home ware stuff. So after mooching around the store filling up a trolley with everything we made our way to the checkout, and were actually under the budget. Hurray. Even got some stuff didn't really need but is nice to have. On the electronics front, they got a TV and toaster oven. Then the usual cutlery and utensils, drying rack, brush, duvet and pillows which is all nice. Another teacher from my school has sorted the furniture to some degree. So a bed, closet, table and chairs and a TV stand. So all this should be delivered by the end of the week and then move in!

Apartment viewing

Today was another quick day. Again it was spent mostly in the comfort of the teacher's lounge. But in the afternoon we escaped to go and view a couple of apartments. The first one is really close to the school which is a bonus. It's a good size but has no appliances and is in a bit of grungy looking building. Not amazingly clean but I'm sure I could sort that out soon enough. The second one I viewed was a bit better. This is the vice-principals choice as he knows the owner. Not a good start. But it is being renovated and has all new appliances and new doors and actually looks pretty good. So we all decided on this one. It's a little further away from school but is an acceptable distance really. So the move should be able to go ahead by the end of the week which is nice. At last something is getting sorted.

Tomorrow we go shopping!

It's like my first day of school

Today I had my first day of school. All over again. As usual with Korea nothing is quite ready and everything is up in the air. We got the bus in from the hotel and it was quite easy. I was a bit nervous as I didn't know where to go, or what to do, or who to see. But luckily I met my co-teacher in the lobby as I was changing my shoes. Most of the morning was spent meeting people like the principal and vice-principal and then sitting in the teacher's lounge and waiting for documents to be processed. But we also had an opening ceremony for the school which involved me being made to give a small speech to the students. I'm sure nobody understood what I said but they all clapped anyway. And then the rest of the day was spent waiting around and looking at the books I will be using for the next year. All in all a quick day. We will be going to see some apartments tomorrow so I hope this will be successful.

Taejongdae Park

I was at Taejongdae Park today. As we had another free day before school starts tomorrow we decided to make the most of it and head down to Taejongdae Park which is on the south of Yeongdo island.

But first of all we headed down to Nampo-dong to grab some pizza from the one and only Mr Pizza. He really does love women. Sunday seems to be when the buses are on some sort of half-timetable. We waited around for a while and finally got a bus which took us to the end of the line. Yeongdo has no subway line yet. After a death defying bus trip along the clifftops we arrived at the bus terminal. The bus drivers are crazy here, they work on a basis that the number of times they do their route, they get paid more. So they risk life and limb to get to the next stop. The streets of Busan are like a bus race circuit.

So Taejongdae Park is really quite nice. There is a memorial to the soldiers who died in the Korean war, and then after a steep entrance you reach the main area where a rather splendid Mack truck turned fake train is waiting to transport your lazy ass around the waterfront road. Of course you could walk it but we were on a bit of a schedule and it was really cheap. The first stop was an elevated walkway which overlooked the ocean. Amazing views out to sea, and it was great watching all the tankers which are anchored before coming into docks. Then there are the small pleasure cruisers milling around. Back onto the truck and the next stop is the lighthouse. Lots and lots of steps led us down to the another deck for viewing and then even more steps led us down to the rocky beachfront where you can sit and enjoy the view. There are even dinosaur prints here apparantly! Im sure I saw one roaming around in the undergrowth.

After that stop we jumped back on the truck and were back to the entrance in no time. One thing I did notice is that everyone has a super sweet camera. Not surprising as they are all made here. But even so, there were Canon's and Nikon's with big lenses everywhere!

And then we ran for the bus which was just leaving, and made our way to Seomyeon for dinner. After some chow I headed back to the hotel as I was speaking to my folks via video chat. Oh, the wonders of this Internet thingy.

Well, school tomorrow. Dun, dun dunnnnn.