genghis, part ii
after a delay in acquiring it, a delay which added 2 the recent frustrations as reported in the last entry, i finally started reading my new book yesterday. here’s hoping it’s as good as the last one. so far so good.
commute observation
my daily quotidian commute (a 5 minute walk 2 the metro station, a 3 minute metro ride, & a 15-20 minute bus ride) is only slightly less unremarkable when i’m not travelling during regular rush hour (double negative there folks). one would think the opposite.
no-fi
i haven’t had internet access in my apartment for a few days now. & of course i can’t call the isp (haven’t learnt korean, & even if i had of i don’t know their number or any account details) so i don’t know why. non-payment of the bill? maybe. actually, probably. the problem is i’ve never seen an internet/cable bill so i can’t say for sure. one thing i can say for sure is that my apartment sucks without internet access (& i’m ashamed 2 say so does life in general).
rainy
when it rains here during the rainy season (basically the hot sticky summer months of july & august) it really rains. unless you see it for yourself it’s hard 2 believe that a seoul street, in the space of 2-3 minutes of torrential rain, can turn into a small river. it’s even harder 2 believe, again unless you’ve borne witness 2 it, that that same street is as dry as a bone within a few minutes of the scorching sun reappearing, which it invariably does. it’s extremes, in minutes.
binned
a mundane point if ever ther was one - there is a new bin by the office water cooler. it’s smaller than the old bin but unlike the old bin it has a flip-top, meaning the corner by the water cooler now isn’t looking as unsightly as it used 2. the girls in the office seem 2 like the new bin better than the old one. i couldn’t care less either way (but did care enough 2 find myself wondering where exactly the old bin is these days… i liked that bin).
all aboard
speaking of the office, it’s more of a train station these days than an office. there are new people passing through, koreans of course, on a daily basis. they don’t hang around for very long; they enter, greet everyone, bow, smile, chat, seem 2 get what they came for (information, an envelope, a box, whatever) & are gone. everyone here seems 2 know all the visitors, & all the visitors seem 2 know everyone here, including me. it’s a bit unnerving that as yet i haven’t recognised any of our visitors, but then again after a while one unfamiliar korean looks like the next. i’m assuming their visits have something 2 do with the upcoming camps, but i can’t say for sure because nobody tells me anything (it must be 2 do with the air of neutrality that i give off). but that’s fine with me because they do @ least tell me things i need 2 know about, meaning they don’t bother me with things i don’t need 2 know about. is it any wonder i like working here.
it’s princess mel’s fake birthday this weekend. guess i’ll be busy.
safe hands
i’m pleased 2 report that korean doctors are on the ball, their penchant for dishing out copious amounts of pills for routine aliments aside. i went 2 the hospital yesterday for a hearing test (it was a follow-up 2 my visit last week after which i, unknowns 2 myself, robbed a pharmacy). after the requisite stint in the soundproof box with headphones on listening 2 myself breath, beeps of various pitches & tones, & the sound of the wind, it was revealed 2 me that the hearing in my right ear was “good” whereas the hearing in my left ear was “bad.”
“really?” i said.
“you mean the ear i had a mastoidectomy on when I was 15... that ear?”
i wanted 2 say, & in a tone suiting my present mood, that i could have told them that for free, as apposed 2 being charging 380,000 korean won (€215) for them 2 tell me, but i resisted. i feared the sarcasm would have been lost on them and that i would have came across as a dick foreigner. there are enough of them here already & i like 2 think i, & anyone i socialise with, don't/doesn’t fall into that category.
the cull
i’m still trying 2 cull 10 teachers, teacher who i’ve no doubt are busy preparing for their imminent departure 2 korea.
it’s okay, really
i’ve just received another e-mail from a teacher – unfortunately not one of the ones on the chopping block – querying the current status of the north/south ‘crisis’ & if it was ‘safe’ over here. one of the aspects of my job that i don't like is the fact that i have 2 make myself available 2 these people... & have 2 answer this sort of question. i’ve lost count of the times i’ve e-mailed some tormented soul 2 inform them that there ‘really isn’t anything 2 worry about,’ that ‘the whole north/south thing is getting more coverage overseas than it is in korea’ (that is, i do confess, a bold assumption on my part), & that ‘the south has been listening 2 the north’s heavy breathing since the late 1950’s.’
following hot on the heels of the north/south issue is, of course, swine flu. for that i appease them by stating, correctly i might add, that 1) it is having a minimal impact on korea, that 2) thus far there has only been one case of 15+ foreign teachers being put into quarantine (yeah, don’t I know all about it), & 3) that no one has died… yet. of course i put it in a much more eloquent way; eloquent & reassuring. if this job has taught me anything - & it has - it's that you can get away with anything if you use the right/appropriate words, in the appropriate way.
improving
mel's photographic skills are improving. she’s slowly making more of an impression on my blog photo album. i've told her numerous times that if the product she delivers is good enough then it'll make the blog. she seems 2 be up to the challenge. oh, & her drawing skills are improving too.
the end of sobriety
ryno gets back 2 korea next week a day earlier than planned. that’s only newsworthy due 2 the fact that i haven’t had a beer in 12 days, & am unlikely 2 indulge again until such time as an influence of the stature of ryno presents itself in front of me.
chop chop
i finally got a haircut. with my hairline one tends 2 shy away from haircuts but enough was enough; i had had my fill of looking homeless. it needed 2 be done & i’m please 2 note that thus far the reviews have mainly been positive. horray for a more younger looking me.
bills
i seem 2 be getting bills for my apartment on an almost daily basis. gas, electricity, water. they've been like busses recently; you wait forever for one & then they all come @ once.
16 twits
gototennis has just started following me on twitter. that's 16 sados & counting.
speaking of tennis. it would make my weekend if i got 2 see the wimbledon final on sunday, especially if fed makes it (of course he will). it wouldn’t make my weekend if murray won. would the brits ever shut up if that happened? i’m guessing not.
members of the south korean coastguard's special sea attack team abseil down a building during a training exercise in incheon, west of seoul
from the bbc's day in pictures, june 30th 2009
what I’m listening 2 right now
(saw these guys live @ buskerfest in canada. awesome)
