Well Christmas has come and gone, my first Christmas in Korea, my first Christmas away from my family, and it was a strange but enjoyable experience. Christmas is a massive non-event in Korea. In a very Christian country, with churches on almost every street, Christmas ranks below Thanksgiving, Lunar New Year, and even Children's Day as a holiday. All the shops were open as normal, most people went to work as normal, you would never have known it was Christmas Day. Our school was open as normal on Christmas Eve, and it was back to school as normal on Boxing Day. The foreigners all got together at a local pub to have a proper roast turkey dinner which was nice, though I did miss pulling Christmas crackers, wearing the paper hats, and reading the obligatory dreadful jokes.
On Christmas Eve, I had to dress up as Santa at school, and the kids had loads of pictures taken with a cardboard sleigh, some cardboard reindeer, a cardboard Christmas tree, and me in my big red suit standing behind them. One of the Korean teachers then grabbed me for a quick selfie;
I also had my students pose for a picture for me to put on a card and send to some friends, so you can see my kids in their mixture of school uniforms. The orange jumpsuit that looks like they're training to be henchmen in some James Bond movie is their P.E. outfit. Also note, the abundance of neckerchiefs, very popular in Korea;
As winter has started to bite, we've had temperatures hit -7C in the day, and I'm told that in the depths of winter, daytime highs of -15C are not uncommon. Yikes! We've also done some winter themed science work in school, analyzing the crystalline configuration of snowflakes and such;
In the sporting world, the Ashes has been nothing short of a disaster, so the less said about that the better. As most sports take a winter break in Korea, I have now started playing in a social 6-a-side football league for fear of suffering from sporting withdrawal symptoms otherwise. And am also very much looking forward to the Hong Kong 7s rugby tournament in March.
My last trip to Hong Kong to watch Manny Pacquiao fight was certainly an adventure. As my friend, who is a Hong Kong resident, did not take his passport to Macau, he was therefore refused entry, and escorted back to the ferry to Hong Kong. With time running out to go home, get his passport, get back to the ferry terminal, and get back to Macau (a one hour journey by ferry from Hong Kong to Macau) before the fight started, he sent me a message saying he wasn't sure if he could make it, although the helicopter only takes 15 minutes, and costs $4000. To which I jokingly replied in my best Arnold Schwarzenegger impression - "Get to da choppaaaaaaaa!" Which he did! Dedication to sport! The fight was excellent, with Manny winning a 12 round unanimous points decision.
I got to hear Michael Buffer and his legendary "Let's get ready to rumbaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal"
And sitting ringside were such luminaries as David Beckham, Paris Hilton, and one of the Baldwin brothers (it doesn't matter which one, nobody knows the difference).
Next up on my adventures will be a trip to Cambodia for new years, and a visit to Angkor Wat. I am sure I will write a blog all about it next month.
And finally, the Adventures of Tyrion the Turtle
Its been another exciting month for the little fella. He had another trip to school, where I let the kids take it in turns to hold him. Tyrion decided to wee on one of the boys, so I quickly picked him up, which was his chance to poo on the floor! This was greeted by much screaming from the kids, and much laughter from me! I will soon be testing his endurance and survival skills, as I leave for a week's vacation, leaving him free reign in my apartment. So here's hoping he doesn't host any wild parties in my absence . . .
