Just an update...

I've been a little slack in updating this regularly mainly because I'm not doing quite so much sightseeing as I did when I first arrived in Korea and have checked off a good number of touristy things around Seoul and Bucheon. I am very excited as I will be having my first visitor from back home soon as the lovely Lisa is coming to stay for a fortnight at the end of July. We're going to travel down to Busan to spend a few days by the beach, hopefully venture over to one of the islands near Incheon and spend some time in Seoul.

I was off work for 4 days with tonsillitis, but luckily the antibiotics cleared it up. Being ill in a country where the most people don't speak English was an experience I'd rather not go through again, but I was lucky that there is an information desk for foreigners and the nurse there helped me through the process. I had a belated birthday night out on Saturday. I met Robyn, Dara, Janice and Keith for pizza, then we went to WB Bar for cocktails before going to Double, a club near Bucheon station where we saw a Korean hip hop band called Supreme Team and watched bemused as the Koreans went mad for them!

I'm trying to get in a routine of keeping fit. I walk round the park near me a few times a week and have joined a softball team which meets up for the first time on Saturday. Let's hope it doesn't get too hot for a little while! We've had some glorious weather recently which has been a good excuse to stock up on some summer clothes. Most of the summer stuff I bought with me was holiday clothes, so I needed some skirts and sandals for work. I haven't had too much trouble finding shoes and clothes here, although a UK size 6 is the largest standard shoe size here! There aren't many decent clothes shops in Bucheon, although I've discovered a large Uniqlo concession in the GS Square Department Store! Apparently July and August are very hot and humid. I had a little taster at the weekend as it rained all day on Saturday and then got very warm and humid on Sunday. Thankfully it has been much fresher today. I have air con in my apartment and at school - I think its my favourite ever invention!

I'm still enjoying teaching and the majority of my students are great. The preschool students are continuing to pick up English at a quick rate. It amazes me how well some of them are able to communicate in English when 4 months ago, they could barely speak a word of English! Today, I had an open class when the parents sat in on a lesson. It was pretty stressful as some of the parents complain about anything. One girl's mother complained that her daughter wasn't getting as many stickers as her friend (the students are given sticker sheets which they can exchange for a gift when completed). This is the same mother who complained about art class a couple of months ago, so I'm sure she will have something to say about the open class! I think I had my revenge though as the students made flower trumpets in art class today which I allowed them to take home with them and they were very noisy!

I've not taken many photos recently, but I was walking around the Jongno area in Seoul the other week and thinking to myself that often Korea doesn't feel very Asian when I came across some little alleyways which felt much more Asian than all the towerblocks and shopping malls.

Sadly it seems that these little alleys nestled in amongst Seoul's high rises are becoming increasingly rare. Not far from here, the area of Pimatgol, a tangle of small streets, has recently been demolished as part of the 'urban renewal' process. It seems a shame that these little characterful areas are disappearing to be presumably replaced by more homogenous office blocks.