Spring

So Spring is definitely here, and I have to say I'm quite the fan. I never really knew what spring was meant to be about - even in Melbourne I just remember it as the weather getting warmer. Well here it is very distinctive; first came the cherry blossoms, which only lasted a couple of weeks but were so pretty while they were here. Then came pretty much every other flower you can think of, and finally we're getting some greenery again. It's amazing how dead everything looks in winter - if it hadn't snowed it would have been really ugly. It's been raining heaps, but when it's not raining we have beautiful sunny days - but super windy days too. Some days everyone wears masks to school and shuts all the windows because it's a high 'yellow dust' day; yellow dust is this stuff that apparently comes from Mongolia and causes cancer and other bad things. I feel weird about the masks, but I do keep the windows closed - which is really sad when it's a beautiful day and you have 35 smelly grade 6's in the room.

Best of all it's getting warmer again; I actually left the house in a sleeveless top the other day, which would have been suicidal only a couple of months ago. Unfortunately this revealed how incredibly white I have become - I don't think I have been this white since I was a baby to be honest. I'm dreading the day I have to wear a skirt for the first time - my legs are definitely a shade unseen around here. But other than that I can't wait for some super warm weather again - beer drinking weather! Unfortunately I haven't found anything resembling a beer garden around here which makes me sad :-(

Things to know about Korea

Okay so after a slow couple of weeks I thought I’d put this post together to show that I’m not just sitting around having fun here in Korea, I’m learning stuff too. Actually, I took all this stuff down in January with the help of my friend Mick and one or two pitchers of beer (hence the belated photo of Mick in my favorite duck restaurant). So here it is;

Things I’ve learned in Korea!

1. Don’t get into elevators naked.

You may think that this would go without saying, but no, I found myself in all seriousness suggesting that Mick had better not do this. This is what happens when you have multi-storied jimjilbahngs, and you have to negotiate floors carrying only your toiletries and a towel a little smaller than one of our tea-towels. It’s better to take the stairs – that way you won’t arrive anywhere unexpected too quickly.

2. Don’t sing karaoke when your friend’s holding a video camera.

This shouldn’t need further explanation, but if it so happens that you are silly enough to break this rule, then don’t complain when said video is brought out every year for your birthday thereafter.

3. Learn Korean for “where is the toilet?”

While charades will get you a long way in Korea, you might not want to use them for every situation – although kudos to Mick for his unflinching demonstration of how to take a leak for the benefit of a rather bemused barman.

4. Be suspicious of overly attractive women who want to hold your hand.

Not all the bars that Mick and I stumbled into were entirely on the up and up.

5.

6.

7. These were all various points made on the hazards of drinking too much, that can pretty much be summed up by saying that it is not entirely necessary to finish the entire bottle of scotch/5^th jug of beer/insert drink of your choice in one sitting.

8. Don’t be the person with a Dong Chim story.

This might take a little explaining. There’s a fun little tradition here in Korea known as ‘Dong Chim’. I don’t want to go into too much detail, but to give you an idea, the literal translation is ‘poo needle’. Whilst I haven’t experienced this myself (I’m glad), many a foreigner has had the unexpected shock of bending over – usually to put on/take off their shoes – and receiving a little Dong Chim surprise. Basically, you don’t want to be the person who can say, ‘oh this one time…”