34/18. Two weeks have passed since my last blog. Did you miss me?

I have everything and nothing to say. Since Buddha's Birthday, it has been back to normal - i.e. 5 day working weeks. A few minor changes at work and a few issues regarding organization. Around the usual schedule, I have been helping some kids practice for the upcoming speech contests. This includes making wmvs (movie files) for them to play on their computers at home. They listen to my voice (intonation) and try to pace their speech at the right speed. Then they practice in front of me for around 25 minutes twice a week. That's the theory. In fact, some are highly motivated and others are not, and are s*** scared of standing up in front of random Changwon parents and American judges. Anyway, there is a semi-final (rather like the Eurovision Song Contest) on Wednedsay, followed by a showdown at the YWCA next Saturday. I am pinning my hopes on Yu Gi-won pulling off another victory for Jungchul.

Last Friday, I visited the Clayarch Gimhae Museum, although it is actually not far out of Changwon. The brainchild of Shin Sang Ho, it includes many works of pottery, fired colored tiles and architextual ceramics. It also features an exhibition entitled 'Dream of Africa' which has many, many colored animal heads. My guide was Park Hanna - who i met at MS Echo Study Group, the previous weekend. It all went a bit Neil Young at the study group the following day, as Kim Jun Hwan gave an impromptu acoustic performance of his favorite singer, actually Korean Kim Kwang Shan.

I am currently writing this in Holly's Coffee, Myeong-Dong, my 6th visit to Seoul. Also, my second time visiting Lee Eun-Jung. We found a lovely Thai restaurant, last night, called Saebilly, in the Hongik district of the capital.

I am off to meet Anna Jeon shortly, for a business lunch. I finally completed my promo video for her yesterday morning, see below for the link to the film! and I sent her a draft the night before. It is a promo video about teaching English in South Korea and she is going to embed it onto her new website, which goes live next week sometime. I will give you the link to her website when it becomes live - it is still in BETA testing at the moment.

I took the KTX (higher quality) train to Seoul this time, rather than getting the bus. But only after mistakingly getting on a Mugunghwa (medium quality) at Miryang - see photos, which is still in the south, and got on the completely wrong train and ended up at the massive terminal of Dongdaegu. So, in reality it took longer than it would have done by bus. Oh, well, we live and learn!

I was going to write a blog this week purely about the Korean 'dating game', but I have gone off the idea... I think Garry should ghost-write it personally, as he is having a more interesting and direct experience. I like intimate one to ones, he prefers something a little that resembles a meat market(!) Suffice to say, dating is a national pastime here and young people do it regularly, usually in groups. Individualism is on the up, but being single is still frowned upon and is considered a bit of a problem that needs tackling.

I went to Namsangol Hanok Folk Village this morning and there was a traditional wedding about to take place in the Seoul sunshine. After meeting Anna, I will going to visit the An-guk area of Seoul and find some interesting shops, with Eun-jung... maybe try and purchase some basil. We desperately tried to find a jjimjilbang in the centre of town last night, whilst avoiding hundreds of young, frightened looking police officers, and a fair number of 'meat-wagons', in readiness for trouble. There was a bizzare looking demonstration going on about the imports of American Beef - this is a current hot topic - but it looked more like a vigil.

It is apparently illegal to demonstrate in South Korea after night falls. What potential demonstrators have to do, therefore, is to organise what looks like an event, with music and dance etc. People wave candles as if it is a peaceful gathering. This massive rally in the centre of Seoul on Saturday night was a bizarre sight for any westerner. The reason behind it was the current 'hot potato' of accepting beef from cows from the USA which are over 30 months old. There is a minimal risk, but still a risk of those cows containing Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). As part of a free tree agreement between the US and Korea, these cows apparently have to be accepted, so the protest is directed mainly toward the Korean government.

Anyway, gotta dash. Got to get persuade Anna to give me a free lunch for every new recruit she gets because of my video.

to see the new promo video on YOUTUBE before it is embedded on the new KGC website go here:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBeJUD7hbnA