Small mercies

And now the noise has stopped. So today the dog was only barking (intermittently) for six hours and not the customary Sunday figure of nine. It's 2:30pm and it's owners have come back from a day at church or whatever they've been doing.

I repeat my stance, If I had a gun I would seriously consider shooting that little fella' and then make some dog soup, or some mittens. I like dogs just not ones that wake me up at 8am on Sunday morning because its owners neglect to take it with them when they go out for long spells.

Even though being woken up so early on a weekend annoys me I still prefer it to the noise machine who used to live across from me in my previous apartment. Waking up early is not the end of the world especially if I've had a decent nights sleep - it's beats not being able to sleep at 3am.

Election thoughts

Watching CNN's inadequate coverage of the General Election I turn to my lunch and wonder if the future of British politics will be as disappointing as my 'Britain Style' sandwich.

Open class day

Today is Open class day for me at my academy. That means that for one class, the kids parent/s can come and watch todays lesson if they so choose to. There's no real 'pressure' but it would be nice if the air conditioner is on to take the heat out of the situation. Thankfully I've been able to choose the class that's being watched and it's my first one today and probably my best class of all. The students participate, don't speak Korean, are bright and are quite creative. I teach them three times a week and always have a lot of fun and like to think they enjoy it too.

Will anything happen if things go badly? I don't really know but if everything goes to plan I know nothing will be said - feedback seems difficult to get at present. Fingers crossed that all goes well but I don't anticipate any problems because it's just Presentation day where the kids recite a series of set lines they've studied at home. I don't know how many parents will come, probably seven or eight and it will almost certainly be only mothers in attendance. I've gone through this a few times so it's no big deal but I am just hoping the kids try their best and show how good they are. I just have to remember to smile more.

2010 Korean Herb Medicine Festival

Today I made my way down to the annual Daegu Yangnyeong-si Herbal Medicine Festival. It was the third year in a row I'd visited and this being the last day of this years event I made the most of my free time to check it out even though I knew it would be exactly the same as previous ones.

I'm still sceptical of the benefits of Oriental medicine but living in Asia has opened my eyes a little and I'm more willing to try things I would have dismissed pre-Korea. My wife hated the smell of the street we walked down but I loved the aromas which stimulate the sinus and make you curious as to what the products can actually do. The language barrier still exists so basically I couldn't figure out what most of the stuff does so I decided to save my money for some other time.

During the walk round we saw various stalls selling their wears and. Bizarrely, to me, there are various things on offer that have no relation to herbs or medicine. I saw various outdoor restaurants, a Nintendo Wii stall, a Korean version of Punch and Judy, people selling replica swords, a sketch stall and a place where you could make a wooden bow and arrow. All part of the fun of taking in the Festival especially getting some delicious Korean food. For more information here is the official website.

May 5th in Korea

Today is Children's Day in Korea. It's a National holiday and one of my students favourite days of the year. Often parents spend more time with their kids today and give them presents but from talking to students over the years a significant amount just want to spend their day playing computer games and not outside in the 'fresh' air. As per usual it's a day that I'll be working but I'm going to ignore any negative feelings and just try to enjoy the day and think of how much money my academy pays me to work for them.

It's already a great start to the day, my neighbours kids didn't wake me up which these days is a minor miracle. The temperature is a little cooler and I'm ready for whatever happens in the classroom. I expect quite a lot of my kids to not attend but I know there will be no cancelled classes. On a side note yesterday my school put on the air conditioning - one month ahead of when I was expecting. It makes a huge difference. Anyway because it's Children's Day here is a photo of one of my students who smiles all class long.

Summer?

Has Spring finished already? My taekwondo master says Spring is over and we are now in Summer and it's hard to disagree. Even though it's set to rain a little this week we've seen some glorious weather over the last few days with temperatures around 28°C. With blue skies, no clouds and a nice breeze this is some seriously great weather. It's a great time to be outside but sadly in the coming weeks it will change from warm to very hot and go up to 38°C or so and get very humid. My mood changes in the Summer months but this is my final one here so I'm trying to stay positive and think of some exciting things that are going to happen. So how long till Autumn, about four months? Can't wait.

Yap yap yap

It is 8:30am on Sunday morning and I am fully awake as I have been for thirty minutes. Next door neighbours dog woke me up and is yapping intermittently but loudly. Last Sunday it was barking on and off for nine hours until its owners came home. There better not be a repeat of that today. As it is their kids now wake me up every week day at 8:20 as they go to school. I need just a little more sleep than I am getting especially on the weekend but feel there is little I can do as my wife has already talked to the neighbours about things and dogs will bark won't they. This is what can happen when you live in a country where there is no space and people are packed in like sardines.

Positive reinforcement