Packing up

I've spent most of my free time recently trying to clean my room and tidy up ahead of this weekends move. How did I let my place get so messy I wonder. As I was taking all of my stuff off the walls I noticed how dirty and how damaged they were (the wallpaper is ripped in many places). I feel a touch sorry for the next teacher living here. They will have to spruce up this place greatly - I'm sure I'll get the blame even though it was like this when I moved in two years ago. Today we started packing. As you can see, my room is a mess. We're nowhere near finished and there's still the kitchen stuff to sort out. I expect to be slowly unpacking and moving stuff around for most of next week as we settle into our new place. Fun times ahead. Christmas can't come quickly enough.

Would you order a meal from here?

On the move

Finally some good news about my apartment. There have been two years of downs but mainly ups but I've lived in partial darkness due to a lack of natural light, put up with noisy neighbours and had a break in. I am on the move and I couldn't be happier. I'll still be working at the same English academy but I'll be changing apartments. This will mean that I will have three actual rooms instead of the one room that I have now. Yes I live in a one room apartment (though there is a small kitchen and bathroom too). The move will cost me a little but only 100,000₩ a month, about £50. Well worth the price.

The move will take place on Sunday and Monday so I have to clean up and tidy my apartment as well as figuring out what I want to take with me and also packing my things. Luckily my new place is just thirty seconds away from where I am now. My wife is even happier than I am about the move. My new place is where my now ex co-workers Mitch and Cordia live. It will be strange to live there at first but I am more than happy to hear that their apartment building is quiet. No noisy neighbour there right now. Touch wood. Christmas should be very special for my wife and I.

New Asahi beer in Korea. Style Free and taste free

Being in Korea, for a drinker like me, means a limited choice of decent beers. There are convenience stores seemingly on every street corner but they are littered with a poor selection of Budweiser, Miller and Korean beer which is, FACT, the worst quality of beer in the world. Big chain convenience store will have Heineken, maybe Hoegaarden and usually Asahi and from time to time different lagers or even Guiness. It's the supermarkets, particularly the bigger ones where you find a decent selection.

I have to say the selection is light years ahead of what it like just four years ago, so I am thankful. Browsing the local Lotte Supermarket I found this beer over the weekend - Asahi Style Free. Here I point out that I prefer Sapporo infinitely more to Asahi but I haven't found Sapporo in Korea for nearly a year now, much to my great sadness. However, Asahi does produce a few quality beers.

Intruiged by the packaging and the name I bought a few to try. Sadly the name should be Taste Free. It is similar but not as bad as Korean beer, having many of the problems of Hite, Cass etc etc. Some research into the matter and I find out that it is sugar-free and seemingly not made from malt or hops. What demographic does this fall into? Who buys beer based on its sugar or lack of? It is also only 4%. No style and no substance. Despite this I am eternally hopeful of stumbling on more beers in Asia that I haven't sampled before. I wonder where my drinking will take me?

Hapkido 2nd dan black belt at last

A day of contrast. Today was my first day wearing my 2nd dan hapkido black belt. Usually there is some kind of ceremony but because of swine flu scares this was abandoned and I simply picked mine up as I was leaving last Monday. No fuss and to be honest it didn't feel the same as when I picked up my 1st dan. It was something of a let down. After today's Taekwondo success I headed for Hapkido in two minds. One the one hand I was buoyed with how things have been going at Taekwondo. On the other, as I cycled to my dojang in the freezing cold at 11pm to practice alone, not for the first time I kept asking myself why I keep going.

Thankfully another great session made me again realise how much I enjoy even the hardest days. I feel the sacrifice is worth it and it is a sacrifice to go especially now when the nights are getting colder. I will probably quit some time around March-May next year so in that respect I won't be too hard. I have to say I really enjoy wearing my new belt. At times I can't believe that I've reached this level. For nearly two years I had longed to get my hands one and now I finally have it. Now there is no real way of progressing through the ranks, barring a few sub-levels I cannot reach 2rd dan level because it would take three more years. From now on it's learn, practice, improve and most importantly, enjoy.

My name on the new belt

The name of my Korean dojang where I train

Septembers 'best of the best' trophy and my new belt and certificate/folder thing

Inside the certificate/folder. I also have a card/license proving my dan level

Me with the 2nd dan belt (yellow stripe)

Taekwondo: First test

I started Taekwondo just two weeks ago and already I've had my first test. It seems like my Master is tailoring the classes to meet our 'standards' and he's already satisfied with how we're doing. Even though I am a 2nd dan hapkido black belt I don't feel any awkwardness or frustration starting from scratch in Taekwondo. If anything it has taught me humility and to realise though I may know some moves in Hapkido, I don't know it all.

Afterwards he told us that it usually takes two months for kids to be able to take this test (the same as it takes me to test for hapkido) so our progress is well under way to getting the black belt. We are the first non-Koreans that he has taught so it's an experience for both of us. I couldn't be happier with how classes are going - fun and relaxed - and I think my co-worker feels the same way. As you can see from the pictures we all passed. Onwards and upwards.

Adios white belt

Diana and the Masters wife, who also started classes when we did

Me and the Masters wife and my favourite kid who practices there

Diana with the kids who want to play Rock, Paper, Scissors with me every time they see me

Group shot

Korean co-worker wedding

I have written about Korean weddings before so won't bother this time. However this was much the same as many of the ones I've been to previously. The bride seemed to enjoy the day though more than the previous weddings I'd been to. Congratulations to the couple.

10 to go

A look at my calender and I realise I'm already two months into my new contract. That means there are just ten (scheduled) months left before packing up and leaving Korea perhaps forever. I say ten because there is a chance that I would try to extend for one more month depending on circumstances next year. We shall see. Signing for another year or even six more months would be the biggest mistake I could make. I'm not even entertaining such thoughts even though going through my mind constantly are thoughts like "Do I have enough money to last back home", "How difficult will life be back home without a job for while" amongst others.

We're over a third of the way into the month and I know it's December, I'm not blind, but apart from buying and talking about Christmas presents it doesn't feel like it. Is December supposed to feel differently? I have lost touch in things like this, living away for so long. This will be my fifth consecutive Christmas away from home and my family. At least I have my wife with me. We've/I've made the decision that I don't want to cook on Christmas Day so we'll be going to a hotel to have a three hour buffet. One hope is that the food is better than the restaurant we went to last year. It should be, judging by the price of our tickets. Despite a temporary mini-malaise there are plenty of things to look forward to over the next few months starting with tomorrow.