Sports Day

Sports Day in Korean schools is a big deal. Forget the egg and spoon race and jumping around in a shabby potato sack, Sports Day at my school was a cheorographed masterpiece that put the Mass Games from our neighbours in the north to shame. As Paul said previously, Koreans like to look the part, so the hundreds of children taking part were all wearing rather snazzy matching tracksuits and the teachers were strutting around head to toe in sports' gear, including visors. Quite the spectacle. Pics below.

Foreign Food

The ability to cook for oneself tends to abandon most ESL teachers in their time in Korea; eating out is just far too cheap. Chances are, therefore, when you do find yourself in the kitchen the last thing you want is more kimchi and rice cakes - comfort food is the order of the day. Foreign food can be fairly hard to come by, particularly in terms of good dairy products, but most Homeplus shops will stock some of your favourites from home - at a price. UK cereals will set you back around 7000 won, a box of shortbread 5,000 while things like generic pasta sauce will be double what you pay at home.

As such, trips to specialist shops become a fairly regular necessity. Regrettably Suwon's offerings, from what we have seen, are sparse; Indian restaurants have small but well stocked embeded shops, while some supermarkets will have underwhelming sections dedicated to imported food. Unsurprisingly, meanwhile, Byeongjeom is even less equipped for foreigners. Indeed this sign, near the train station, sums up the ramshackle nature of the area's miniscule "international district" rather nicely:

Most seem to favour Costco for comfort food shopping trips. The size of a small country, the fact that visits to these institutions (there are several scattered throughout Seoul) generally come on weekends and public holidays for ESL teachers means it's not a particularly pleasant shopping experience - on thes days they are as overpopulated as Korea itself. And to be honest, the result is not worth the effort. A couple of mammoth blocks of cheese and some frozen food, drinks and sweets from home, the fact you have to buy in bulk can be a problem. It's barely worth the effort.

Our shopping trolley after a trip to Costco. Highlights include a block of cheese, chewing gum, diced tomatoes, basil and Junior Mints.

It came as a relief, therefore, to finally find the Foreign Food Market in Itaewon a couple of weeks ago. Market is perhaps too grandiose a term for this humble little business, but it's a decent-sized shop with a reasonable selection of treats from across the World. Its biggest selling point is its ease of use, and there's little doubting it represents a far less traumatic experience than a visit to Costco. Furthermore they also do free deliveries to anywhere in Korea, all you have to do is email.

The shop frontage and some of the stock displayed outside.

If you don't know where you are going, finding the shop can be difficult. Your best bet is to depart Itaewon station at exit 4 and walk in the direction away from the unmissable Hamilton Hotel. Three minutes down the road you should take a right, roughly across the road from Kraze Burger, and walk a further two minutes. On your left you will pass a place mysteriously-titled Foreign Restaurant as well as an Ethiopan restaurant and you should come across the piles of foreign goodies lying outside. The place itself isn't spectacular - you're not going to uncover crates of Irn Bru and dods of haggis - but a big block of good cheese will set you back 12,000 won, while things like butter, pasta and spices are reasonably priced and in good selection. Indeed it doesn't just cater for the abundance of American GIs who frequent this area - you will find tons of Middle Eastern and African goodies ensuring the bases for the majority of Seoul's expat communities are covered.

The mart is also situated right next door to What The Book?, unquestionably the best English language book shop in the city. Another good reason to choose here over Costco.

What The Book? boasts a good selection of foreign magazines and books.

A couple of people have also recommended buying food online at various websites. G Market is spoken of quite highly but as of yet we haven't tried it. We'll report back when we do.

Cool things we have done in South Korea Part One

Since arriving in South Korea seven weeks ago we have done loads of fun and interesting things. Too many to go into much detail. So here is a quick roundup.

Visited Seoul Tower

Perched at the the top of a mountain overlooking the city, Seoul Tower can be seen from many different districts. Often when you least expect it. Go round a corner, look there is it. Gap inbetween two tall buildings, there it is. On our first weekend here, Paul and I decided to clamber up to admire the view. Most amusing sight was the Korean women trekking up the steep hill in their stilettos. It was then we learned out first important piece of knowledge about the local culture; Korean women don't take their high heels off for anything.

Sang in a noraebang
It's hard to explain exactly what makes a noraebang so much fun to someone who has never experienced it. A tiny dark room with only a karaoke machine, a microphone, a tambourine and some Korean beers for company, it's the most enticing place in the world at 1am after a night of boozing. It's influential qualities cannot be underestimated; prim Korean women are transformed into gyrating divas, businessmen belt out rock classics as if they are in Wembley Arena. The first time we visited one, Paul, who had planned to get through his lifetime never singing in public once, elbowed everyone out of the way to give his own rendition of Journey's "Don't Stop Beliving." Personally, I love the trip to the toilet, walking past all the other noraebang rooms hearing the different Korean renditions of classic songs.


Left to right: The international symbol of Noraebang, my rendition of My Humps in a Hongdae noraebang, Paul and Willem do Piano Man

Good Noraebanging is as much about the tambourine work as it is about the singing.

Visited Hwaseong Fortress
The city of Suwon, just ten minutes from where we live, is home to the pretty Hwaseong Fortress. We took a walk to the top and admired the view

Enjoyed the Hongdae social scene
We've only been in Korea for seven weeks so we haven't had time to experience every district of the mammoth metropolis that is Seoul. However, our favourite area to go out in so far is, hands own, Hongdae. The university area, it is filled with laid back bars, quirky side streets and trendy boutiques but complete devoid of the irritating "wacky students" you find in Glasgow's West End. Itaewon is the other area in Seoul popular with ex pats but Paul and I are not too keen. It's close proximity to the US Army Base means it is regularly filled with drunk soldiers looking for fights.

Had the dead skin on our feet eaten by fish
Dr Fish, based in Gangnam, Seoul, is a cafe which offers a pedicure with a difference. Little beady eyed fish who munch on the dead skin on your feet, leaving them, if not silky smooth, a little softer than before. The most ticklish thing ever for the first few minutes, it soon becomes quite a relaxing experience. A fifteen minute session is only 2000 won but you must buy an overpriced coffee or smoothie from the cafe and wait your turn, which may take a while at the weekend. Finding Dr Fish can be a little tricky and from what we gather, the Hongdae branch is no more. The simplest directions are to head out at exit six at Gangnam Station and look down the busy street until you see the huge CGV sign which will be on the opposite side of the road. Dr Fish is directly across from here in a building which was, when we visited at least, going under a major rennovation. Head inside and take the lift up to the second floor.

Hiking in Seoul

Hiking is the favourite past-time of many South Koreans and while our own opportunities have been limited so far, we did manage a fantastic little walk in the north of Seoul. Again, without local knowledge it's a little tricky to find (we only knew of it thanks to our friend Brian who'd been taken before). From memory, you should take a train to Gyeongbokgung on line three and head out at exit two. You then head towards the overpass on the main road (leading to a small park with a few statues) and turn up a small side street. After this, it's pretty much trial and error but chances are whichever way you choose you will still end up with a fantastic view of the city. It took us around an hour to reach the summit, which is peppered with elaborate, climmable rocks. It's also a popular place for meditation so perhaps not a trail to equip yourself with a crate of Hite for, although we did encounter an extremely drunk Korean Del Boy on our climb. The view from the top is stunning and, for us, even better than the Seoul Tower.

Paul at the summit.

Seoul Lantern Festival
This spectacular festival takes place in and around Insadong and celebrates the birth of Buddha. Paul went in the morning and early afternoon during which time Jongno Street was packed with little stalls, live music stages and street performers. It was the first time we'd really seen tourists in Seoul (most of the foreigners tend to be soldiers and teachers) and thankfully the weather was absolutely perfect. Later that night, as Paul headed off to South Korea Vs Ecuador, I returned from my shopping trip for the memorable parade. A cross section of Korean society - from Ajummas (old ladies), school children to robe-clad monks - illuminating the street with their intricate lanterns. Truly a feast for the eyes.

Deokjeokdo Island
Long weekends are a big deal for ESL teachers in South Korea. It gives us pretty much the only opportunity to see more of the country we now call home. Many National Holidays fall at the weekend this year so Paul and I knew we had to make the most of our day off for Buddha's birthday on Friday. We left it too late to head anywhere south, as all the trains were fully booked, so we decided to join some of our friends on a trip to an island called Deokjeokdo on the Yellow Sea, west of Seoul. I'm really glad we did. It was the first time we saw how beautiful a country South Korea is. We managed to get an entire beach to ourselves as we didn't stay at Sapori, the biggest and most popular beach. Even our crappy 14,000 won (£8) tent collapsing on us in the middle of the night didn't spoil our fun. To get to Deokjeokdo, you get the ferry from Yeonan Terminal in Incheon. A taxi from Incheon metro station only costs 6000 won. The helpful man in Tourist Information, right beside the station, told the taxi driver in Korean where to drop us off. Be warned: we had to get the first ferry back on Saturday morning because all the others were fully booked so make sure you book in advance. There are no ATMs on the island.