Musing over the Noughties

In the last decade, I have:

gained 4 A-levels, a BSc and a Masters; had 5 jobs and 1 internship; lived in 10 houses in 5 countries; been held at the Mexican border and chased by Cuban military; swum with dolphins and been blinded by suncream; seen the Forbidden City, Sydney Opera House and the World Trade Center (before and after); taught hundreds of Korean teenagers to say “howya”; been lost in Pyongyang and Havana; discovered the value of true friendship and learned to appreciate family; appeared on radio and TV; eaten locust, horse and dog; experienced a Korean Christmas and a Hong Kong Halloween; jumped out of a plane and been tattooed (on the same day); and fallen in love.

I wonder what the next 10 years will hold.

Happy New Year to all who may stumble across this. I know it's been a while.

Oh I do like to be beside the sea...

 

Went to Brighton this weekend with Karen and Susan to visit Fruzsina. Twas lovely - the weather was amazing (if bitterly cold) and it was a joy to be back beside the sea. A nice break away from the city. Back to reality tomorrow though. I've just done part of my Korean homework - I baked a cake.

Random Acts of Kindness

Every now and then in this big bad city (London), something happens that restores your faith in human beings, and lessens the feelings of isolation that normally dominate. It can be someone helping with a pram or a suitcase, picking someone up if they've fallen, or a joke cracked in an elevator full of strangers that makes everyone laugh. Something like this happened today.

I had just got on to the Tube, on my way to a lecture, when the man sitting next to me got up and leaned across to a woman facing us. He handed her something, and initially, because I couldn't see what he had given her, I thought he was just another crazy.

But then I realised he had given her a couple of plasters; I looked down and saw that her feet were bleeding where her shoes had been rubbing the skin. I looked closer and realised that the woman had been - and possibly still was - crying.

And this one tiny act, whereby someone happened to have a couple of plasters, and he decided this woman was in need of a little bit of help, brought a smile to her face, through whatever sadness she was facing.

A reminder that even in London, a city notorious for being unfriendly and cold, unsociable and lacking in community spirit, people will still help out a stranger.




(I realise it has been over 5 months since I last posted, and that I haven't actually updated properly on anything since April. In a nutshell, Korea was awesome, I left reluctantly in August, and moved to London in September to start the masters. I'm now doing it part-time, whilst working in a restaurant - and looking for a new part-time job - and learning Korean. Will attempt to write about the more interesting parts of the last few months in Korea, and will hopefully be updating a bit more often about life as it is now. Although since it's been so long since I've written, I wonder if anyone will even notice I'm back!)

The stranger returns...

Greetings folks.

So I've been, er, a little bit slack recently...! I know it sounds like an excuse, but it is genuinely true that I've had so little free time - between work and travelling, and preparations, there haven't been very many relaxing lazy days for Jeni! I do hope to try and get updated sometime early next month...!

But the way things stand right now, I'm pretty much finished with teaching. I have one more week towards the end of August to work, but that's it. Tomorrow I head off on my holidays, and I'm in for an epic journey:

I'm taking a boat to the Chinese coast, then a train to Beijing, where I will spend five days exploring all the sights, sounds, smells and scaffolding of the city.

Then - and here's the fun part - I will be boarding a 1970s Soviet plane and heading straight for Pyongyang, North Korea. I have about 4 and a half days in the communist paradise, and then I hop on a train back out of the country, back to Beijing, a 24-hour trip.

The very same afternoon I arrive back in Beijing, I fly back to Seoul, then hop on a bus back to Gumi, to not only be back in time for school on Monday, but also back in time to go to the immigration office to extend my visa, so that I don't become an illegal!

It's going to be a very busy and very tiring couple of weeks, but it's definitely going to be memorable!

Then I have my last week at school, and then - here's the big news that perhaps some people haven't heard yet - I will be coming back to the Emerald Isle for a few weeks, before moving to London to embark on a Masters degree.

So I will be back at home on the bank holiday Monday (27th Aug), for anyone who is interested. I am excited about getting home - it will be good to see the family and anyone else who is around, and I'm looking forward to some relaxing! And, hopefully, some time to fill you in on my life over the last few months! I have so many observations about Korea and its people that I've never had time to write about.

I will also be writing about my journey in North Korea, and since I'm going for Liberation Day and the Mass Games there should be some good stories!

From September onwards, then, I will be living in London, attending the School of Oriental and African Studies, in an attempt to further my knowledge of the Korean peninsula. I have an understanding of the culture and people after a year here, time to get further into the theory. Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful in my attempts to get funding, so the "Future NK Expert, Jeni Gordon's Masters Fund" is now open for donations!!

Right then, that will do as an update of where things stand in the life of Jeni on the 6th August 2007. A very quick Happy Anniversary to my parents for tomorrow before I leave. Promise I'll come back safe!

I know it's been a while, and I know I have a huge amount of activity to catch up on, and I do apologise for my lack of bloggage. But I have been genuinely busy, running around like a mad thing. Between work and travel and preparing for moving, life just hasn't stopped. So, I apologise. Hopefully I may one day soon be able to update!

Until then, however, may I ease your obvious agony and partially fill the gaping hole left by my lack of blog, with a video, of me, jumping out of a plane! Yup, finally got my sky-dive film onto my computer, and it is now on YouTube! Enjoy (and, er, Mum? You might not want to watch it!)

Time-wasting

I'm at school right now, and although I do have many things to be getting on with, I'm sick (again) and so instead, I am taking lots of pointless online quizzes. This is my favourite so far though, about what country I will invade:

You will take over Vatican City using only the help of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

You have been warned.

The Irish of the East

I've heard it said a few times that Koreans and the Irish are similar: they both like to talk, sing and drink, and both countries were invaded and dominated by imperial nations. Here is an article from today's JoongAng Daily (English paper in Korea) about the two peoples similarities. The article asks if Korea can follow the example of the Celtic Tiger, Ireland's economic success.

The curious thing is, the writer is asking if Korea can be as economically successful as Ireland, when it is already one of the economic miracles of the last 15 years. And this is something many people aren't aware of; a common misconception back home is that Korea is undeveloped and backward, a third world country. South Korea was actually lagging behind the North economically until the 1970s, and yes, there was famine and extreme poverty. But since the late 1980s, the country has undergone a drastic transition, and is now in fact the world's 12th biggest economy, with international influences. Samsung, LG and Hyundai: you probably have something made by them at home or at work. All Korean.

Quite successful, I'd say, given that the country isn't much bigger than Ireland. So it strikes me as odd that they still don't accept their own achievement.

Bring on the rain

I would like to share a soppy emotional memory with you.

It was raining this evening as I left school at half nine. I don't mind the rain here, as it is usually a welcome relief from often horribly muggy weather; it breaks the humidity, and you can be guaranteed to get up the next morning to be greeted by a crystal clear sky.

For a second, as I was walking down the stairs at school, the smell of fresh rain took me back to summer holidays at Rossnowlaugh, on the north-west coast of Ireland (on Irish beach holidays, it inevitably rains four days out of five, and the sunny day is usually the day you go home!) The scent of summer rain brought back warm fuzzy memories, and made me smile the whole way home!


*PS I'm aware of the fact that this is how I should write my blog - update every time I have a thought or a story to tell. That's an awful lot easier said than done, however! Life trundles on, and maybe next week I'll be updating properly!

Teaching would be great if it weren't for the kids

Every now and again, a day passes at school when something is up with the kids. And it's something that runs through all of them, making them non-responsive or disruptive, and it's incredibly irritating. And there's usually no reason for it: we try to say it's the weather, or there's a holiday coming up, but there's no real pattern. Admittedly, the students have had a couple of very distracting weeks, so it could be hard to get them focused again, but it means I've had to shout and give punishment homeworks.

And I don't like shouting. But I do it a lot more these days. Maybe the extra classes are trying my patience, maybe I'm just finally realising that yelling is at times necessary, or maybe I'm just fed up with the whole teaching lark and it's about time I got out of it!

I don't really mean what I say in the title; the kids are great most of the time, and they do make me smile and constantly amaze me with their creativity and friendliness. But on days like today, I wish I could just make them all sit on their hands, like my teachers used to!

Tomorrow will be a brighter day. Hopefully travel arrangements for the mud festival will be booked by then. More on that later!

Apologies for the delay...

Greetings all my lovely devoted readers (all 4 of you!)

I know you are all waiting with bated breath for the next instalment of my blog, but I apologise sincerely for this will not be it. I know I can make all the excuses in the world, but nobody will accept them. But quite genuinely, I've been working 13 hour days, and then heading off every Friday afternoon for travels, and not returning until Sunday night; and then doing the whole thing all over again! I actually ended up ill for a couple of weeks because I've been going flat out - basically a very nasty cold, that was very difficult to shift, even after I'd been to a doctor and they gave me these five - yes FIVE - pills to take:





And there's no sign of it letting up. But fingers crossed, I'll get some updating squeezed in somewhere. Although I'm going to blame Mum also for the delay - I'm boycotting my updates until she sends me the photos from her camera from her visit! So if you want an update, go hassle my mother!

What I've been up to since the last update: there was Mum's visit, I've gone hiking and boat tripping in Busan, the boy Jonny came to visit for a few weeks - so it was some extra travelling for me - the Gwangju Two had a weekend birthday bash, I've seen pretty lanterns in Seoul, Buddha had a birthday, school had a dance and a sports day, and I've been to a Korean wedding. See, lots to look forward to...when I finally get updated!

Oh, I've also booked a trip to North Korea in August, and for those who don't know yet, I'm coming back home to start a Masters at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. So it's all go, really!

But to tie you over until a proper update, here's a video and there's one below, from my school's sports day last week: while the athletes were competing, their classmates cheered them on through organised chants and songs, and it's great to watch. Did also want to show you a video of one of their dance performances, but the file is too big - boo.





And here's a photographic taster:




Oh, also in the last week, I've got myself a new pet! Well...not really. I bought a Nintendo DS - a nifty little portable games console (that's pink). I know, I'm turning into my brothers, but it is great fun - and I've now got MarioKart in portable form, so that makes it the best thing ever. I also have a game called Nintendogs, in which you raise and train a puppy. So my new pet is called Ping, and she's a chocolate lab. Hey, it's the closest thing I'm going to have to a real pet for a long time yet! And look - isn't she adorable?:



But until I get blogging again, I hope you are all safe and well and enjoying life, wherever you may be. I have much to tell you, and I promise, it will be interesting. Bear with me. Ta ta for now.