Lunar New Year intentions

And now attention turns to February. Tomorrow is pay day and it's probably the most eager I've been to get my money in months. I've been short of cash ever since I sent home a chunk of money at the beginning of the month. Christmas has been tough but I've made it to here and now I'm thinking of what I can do with my next two pay cheques. The talk at work is at times focused on vacations. One co-worker is spending the holiday season in Hawaii. I am pretending not to be jealous but it's pretty much impossible, given the seasonal weather. One co-worker also just won a free holiday to the Philippines. Another has a week off in February and is planning a trip to Thailand.

During the second week of February comes the Lunar New Year in Korea. This year due to it starting on the weekend we get one day off work (at my academy). I have managed to get a second day off so I can have a four day weekend to go somewhere. Lunar New Year, or Seollal (설날) is one of the big traditional holidays of Korea and is also a time where most Westerners go for a trip away from Korea. My wife doesn't want to go to China and I don't want to go to an Island for just four days. So what are my options?


For a start, staying in Korea is NOT an option. I badly want a holiday and to use my opportunity of getting off the peninsula and travelling but I don't want to go far and spend my vacation on an airplane. Hong Kong would probably be the best choice but we've been twice in the past year and want to try something new. Singapore and Malaysia are places we intend to go to AFTER I am finished working here. The same goes for Vietnam so all three are ruled out. This pretty much leaves Taiwan and Japan.

Taiwan is attractive because it's probably the cheapest to get to but I know little about the country and it's possible that some attractions may be closed (because they also celebrate their new year at the same time). Right now we're thinking of spending four days in Tokyo, Japan. I've been to Japan twice before and my wife has also been, but we haven't gone together. This may be the last chance for me to visit Tokyo so I think I'm going to take it. Japan is also very close, maybe one, two hours on a plane and we probably don't have to get the plane in Seoul. We can probably get a flight from Busan which again, save us time. It's not going to be cheap but it should be a great trip. I really hope this one comes off.

Once more, my plans are on the future and travelling. Seems like it's all I think about.

A Means to an End

Back to work. Back to normality. Back to boredom.

Christmas Day: Eating till I burst

Last years Christmas Day meal was a real let down so this year we were hoping for a relaxing time spent eating some good quality food while enjoying our own company. We certainly got that. Our choices were eating with co-workers, cooking for ourselves or going to a buffet in downtown Daegu. We opted for the latter at the Novotel hotel where we had three hours to eat as little or as much as we wanted. The price was 40,000won each (£20) so if the meal was poor then we'd feel a bit cheated but thankfully the meal was really good. I ate a lot that's for sure. I can't wait for next year and my Mother's home cooking because you can't beat home cooking.

Checking the wine menu

Wow. Pork, chicken, duck and salmon. All as good as it looks.

Our first Christmas together as a married couple. I'm so lucky.

More chicken as well as turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy.

My wife enjoying her seafood.

Don't want to waste any of the food!

Dessert. By this time I was feeling very full up. But must press on!

Grey skies on Christmas Day. Not a real snowflake in sight.

Two Father Christmas'?

She must have been a good girl this year.

We won a bottle of red wine in the after-meal raffle.

Up on one of the hotels balconies.

I was happier than I looked. Trust me!

Mrs Father Christmas apparently plays the electric violin.

No rest for the wicked. All the shops were open. Business as usual for these phone vendors.

Student Christmas messages

Two of my favourite students gave me Christmas cards this week. Here are the messages inside. They may have errors in them but the sentiments were genuine I think. It's the thought that counts isn't it? I'll have to try harder to help their English improve. I hope they had as good a Christmas as I did.

Korean Christmas sentiments

End of my temporary liberation

It's Thursday and I haven't watched TV for four days. A record for my time in Korea. It's not because I like Korean TV, its just that I like hearing the English language while I'm at home, particularly as I am trying to sleep. The reason for no TV is because of a change of apartments - my new place having a TV but not having cable (or a remote control). That's about to change. Today the Internet 'guy' is coming round to sort out my new Internet account and presumably to hook me up to a basic cable TV package. This week we have been preoccupied with the moving process and have spent a lot of time listening to music and talking about things while we eat so there has been no need to watch things, but come the weekend...

I can't say I have missed the telly too much. There has been a slight sense of liberation. For the most part Korean TV channels are full of repeats, some from around 2006. Korean programs range from OK to Oh My God This Is Diabolically Bad. This is why I mainly watch the English language programs or the film channels. I do miss being able to watch the news. Though I have had to settle for CNN I have become attached to being able to watch it, regardless of the quality of some of their segments or programs. Also I miss the sports channels. I really need to have live access to football games from the Premier League. Without that, I really would go crazy.

*Edit*

The Internet guy came, but the cable TV guy is somebody else and they aren't coming today. Guess I'll have to go through Christmas without this time.

Beatles poster in Korea

Fitzcarraldo kind of day in Korea

After about four days of cleaning and packing, yesterday we moved most of our things into our new apartment. The place had yet to be cleaned (done today, and what a great job she did) so we didn't sleep there last night, instead choosing to stay at my old place. Today was the day of actually starting off at a new place. For some reason this morning I decided that it would be a good idea to change mattress'. The idea based on my old place getting a new one just a few weeks ago and my ex co-workers saying that their mattress was worse for wear.

I convinced my wife to help me lug the mattress' to and fro to their 'new houses'. This sounds easier than it actually is. I have a new found respect for removal men. When we got the 'new' mattress to our new place we found that it was too small to fit in the bed structure provided. I can't fully explain how annoyed this made my wife. After much persuasion she agreed to move them back their original homes. At one point she did refuse to help me though and I had to shift the big mattress up a whole bunch of stairs. If you have seen Fitzcarraldo or the famous scene with the boat then you can picture the struggle I had. Despite all this, the move has gone well though and I hope to have plenty of things to say about how things are going.