Me 'ouse!

Good day to you all.

As you probably know, I moved from Sunny Sunchang to... Inchy Incheon? Let's just stick with Incheon. Unseo, Incheon.

I am living in an 'officetel', which is an apartment in a building also used for commercial purposes. The building in which I live is essentially a small town, with at least four restaurants, a pharmacy, a doctor's surgery, a spa and public bath, a gym, a snooker/billiards/pool hall, a screen golf zone, four floors of apartments, a masseuse, a PC room, a karaoke room, and probably some other things hidden away. If I worked in there I could potentially never leave.

Sinseong House, where dreams come true.

My apartment is on the ninth floor and I have a good view of the town, my school and the airport. You are probably wondering if I can hear the planes, and were I not an expert at blocking out noises, maybe I would. My brother's pet budgie springs to mind here, with me and the men in my family having the ability to phase out his noise, while my mother and sisters were not in possession of this power. Writing this I can hear them screaming 'BOBBYYYYYY! SHUT UP!' quite clearly. This is in my mind of course as Bobby is quite dead now. In true Bobby fashion, he died in the most dramatic pose possible, wings akimbo. What a bird.

This isn't Bobby, but I can't find a photo of him. Have a duck in a bowl instead.

Where were we? Oh yes, no noise that my ears can pick up. The most prominent noise is a sneezing man who lives somewhere in the building and has quite violent outbreaks. For those who know me well, you probably know I am also quite the sneezer at times, so I feel this man is challenging me. Unfortunately, he is far my superior as even though he is loud, I am quite certain he lives at least two apartments away.

Sorry, where were we again? Apartment! I have all the basics. This time around I have a separate shower and sink too, so Evil Toilet Tube's reign has come to an end, for me at least. Now, unless I am REALLY confused, there is no danger of getting ready for school and then taking an impromptu shower. So below you can see a couple of pictures of my room which are quite self explanatory:

The pillars add just a touch of privacy to the bedroom, as you can see.

Hardly a dancefloor, is it? It will do.

So that is my house in Unseo, Incheon. I hope you enjoyed the tour, now GET OUT!

Gamsahapnida for reading,

Vice Overlord of the Sinseong House Pillar Decoration Committee


P.S. K-Pop by Insooni with Beautiful Girl

P.P.S K-Ballad by Insooni with Father (music starts at 1:10)

Bucket Listing #1

Hello.

Since I made my Korean bucket list for my second year, I have only managed to do of the things on it. You are getting an update anyway. This post will be somewhat lacking in photos, so here is one to make up for it.

Who's a pretty bird?

1: Visit the BK Plastic Surgery Museum

Plastic Surgery is one of the things that Korea is very famous for throughout the world, so it seemed only fitting to visit a plastic surgery museum. It was different to what I expected. For one, it was on the second floor of a plastic surgery hospital, and I was asked twice for my name for my appointment. While I was flattered, I was only there to visit the museum (you don't need an appointment for that).

When there, you can walk around and read about how they perform different procedures, what is popular, see pictures of before and after patients, and have a feel (or a squeeze if you are feeling cheeky) of  some implants, both front side and back side. They were on a mannequin so it isn't wholly inappropriate, though you feel like it is regardless.

It was interesting, but not worth a dedicated trip really. You can find the BK Hospital straight outside of Sinsa Station Exit 2, if you're interested.

12: Wear a 'Princess Leia' head towel in a sauna.

This seems to be quite the craze among the Korean spa goers, so I had to give it a go. With a helping hand, I was fitted with my new headdress and ready to become Spa Princess.

Forgot to wear the gold bikini, damn.

Gamsahapnida for Reading,

Hardly a blogger



P.S. K-Pop by TVXQ with 'Something' (song starts around 00:40)

Halloween! Halloween! HALLOWEEN! halloween. du du du du du du du du.

Annyeonghaseyo! Welcome!

Word got round that it was my birthday. It wasn't. I went with it anyway.

 

This post is coming to you from my school desk at lunch time. The writing of it is powered by leftover Halloween candy which SOMEHOW found it's way to my desk and from there into my mouth. Funny how things just happen sometimes...

Anyway, Halloween was fun and stressful. Being held hostage against a wall by a horde of children was interesting. Even after showing them I had no candy in my pockets they still felt the need to give me a pat down. I think that is the closest I have ever come to actually being mugged.

They weren't too impressed with my picture of a pumpkin vomiting into a toilet, either. I had to explain to them many times that it wasn't a pumpkin that was due to be eaten after it's trip to the loo. 

'TEACHER! DIRTY!'

And after a week of Halloween, I am thankful to say it is all over and I am back to regular curriculum. In class today, we have been doing a role play about a travelling band of musicians who just happen to be animals. The students' favourite character was the singing rooster. He was mine too.


Gamsahapnida for reading,



P.S. K-Pop by Lee Jung Hyun with 'V'. It fits with the Halloween theme, too.

P.P.S. K-Pop #2 by Spica with 'Tonight'.

The Korean Bucket List 2013/14

Hello,

I didn't do very well on my previous bucket list, so this year I am going to endeavour to do as many of them as possible. I had good intentions last year, but some I changed my mind about (temple stay), whereas others didn't come to fruition as the season passed (skiing). Others were just difficult (catch a dragonfly) or very strange to do as a planned activity (sleep in a pagoda).

So here is the new list for 2014. It includes things I missed last year, things I have added and things I have changed. Any suggestions might be added.

1. Visit the BK Plastic Surgery Museum.
2. Go skiing.
3. Do a baseball/soccer game 'The Korean Way'.
4. Visit the Seoul Museum of Chicken Art.
5. Win 3 games of Cart Rider in a row against a full set of competitors.
6. Order food for delivery and actually get exactly what I ordered to my door.
7. Meet a Korean celebrity.
8. Go to three different classes at least once.
9. Visit a drama filming location.
10. Go to one of Korea's film festivals.
11. Make kimchi!
12. Wear a 'Princess Leia head towel' in a sauna.
13. Fish through ice.
14. Get acupuncture.
15. Go to the Jindo Sea-Parting Festival.
16. Catch a dragonfly (without killing it in the process).
17. Go camping!
18. Cook a good (big) Korean meal and serve it for others!
19. Visit a hot spring.
20. Have a conversation with a Korean in Korean.

Entries that are confusing will be explained upon my completion of it.

Gamsahapnida for reading,

Princess of the universe.

P.S. K-pop by G dragon!

Another year, another update.

Good morning!

Three weeks ago I landed in the land of the morning calm, or for me, the land of the frantic morning rush to get ready. It doesn't quite have the same ring to it though does it?

After my two months of living as a socialite, I started off my new year with just one more week of the high life (for good measure) before attending a week long orientation (no crotch wetting incident this year: see my blog post 'One Step Closer' to find out more).

After orientation, I met up with my new co-teacher and came to school. The problem with having clothes in three different places is that you might not have enough clothes to wear to school yet. Cue the 'Daniel wears a blue suit at work week'. I did have enough shirts though. A co-teacher did ask if my tie was my favourite tie. Well, I suppose considering at the time it was my only tie, then yes, it was my favourite tie. I have since DOUBLED my tie collection. I can almost hear you gasp.

I also, to add to the classy impression I am sure I am already giving you, managed to find some street furniture to make my room seem a little cosier. While me and my accomplice were carrying a reclining chair back to my apartment, a security guard shouted us from down the street and we thought 'Oh, maybe this wasn't trash after all'. He walked slowly up to us, and then tore off a sticker on the side of the chair and bade us farewell (in Korean). The problem with living in a small town is that people might see you occasionally carrying furniture around and you might get a bit of a reputation. I would imagine my current reputation is somewhere around that of Mr Twit. I am waiting for the day when a student asks "Teacher, part time job is moving furniture?".


I also went to the Seoul fireworks festival this year and ACTUALLY got to see some fireworks. HOORAH. We managed to position ourselves just on the other side of a bridge and a tree to the fireworks, but we shuffled and made people uncomfortable and they shuffled and therefore we had more room to shuffle. By the end of all this shuffling we had quite a good view.

Incheon, the new city where I am living, is exciting and in close proximity to Seoul. I'm  looking forward to a good year here! I am currently in the process of making my 2013/14 Korean Wishlist, so the next blog post will be about that.

Sorry for the lack of photos, I don't know where my memory card is for my camera. What I do have though is a picture of people queuing (QUEUING!?) up for some squid, a mega treat for the Koreans.

Once he had seen this truck, there was no going back for Oliver.

Gamsahapnida for reading,

Unofficial and picky trash collector of Yeongjeong Island.

P.S. K-Pop by Crayon Pop, with Bar Bar Bar (Does anybody else hear something else in English for the second line?)