Mad as a March Hare

So then there was March.

At the start of the month, we had to say goodbye to a good friend, Miss Fruzsina, who had decided – for various reasons – to quit her job here and head back to the land of greasy breakfasts and Pimms (ooh, Pimms...). So we had a couple of nights out in honour of her departure: one night in Daegu, for the girls, at the legendary Club Frog, and one big night in Seoul. It was sad to say goodbye, but wondrous technologies like Facebook make it easier to keep in touch these days, and we know we’ll see her again. Nights out in Daegu just aren’t the same anymore! Here we are, Char, Fru and myself:



Work started back in full swing; it was nice to be back with the kids again, as we hadn’t taught them for two months (ok...nice to be back with some of them...!) The new seniors look so much more grown up than they did last December, and our new first graders are so young and fresh-faced, and ready to have their souls crushed by the Korean high school system!

We also had some new teachers, due to the Korean system of constantly reassigning: teachers can only stay a maximum of five years at any one school, and most are reassigned after two years. They can be reassigned to anywhere within the province, and don’t always get to choose, so for many, it involves a move or a long commute. So we got a couple of nice new teachers, but lost my favourite one (and I didn’t get to say goodbye, as no one had explained this to me, and I chose not to go in on one day when they said it was my choice, and that was her last day!)

We were landed with all sorts of new demands during the first few weeks of school, so the time went quickly, and suddenly, there it was...St Paddy’s Day! There had originally been plans to go to Seoul, as they have a St Patrick’s Festival every year, but unfortunately, vacations had drained everyone’s finances. Nevertheless, the best celebrations are where there are Irish folk, and so I headed down to Gwangju to celebrate with Miss Califf and the ruffians in that neck of the woods. Char came down also, to celebrate her first St Patrick’s Day with "real, live Irish people"!

A great night was had by all, with much singing, jigging, and drinking of green beer (not really, hate the stuff!) Carol gave some Irish dancing lessons, which is her usual party trick, but was a bit more appropriate this time; we glared in disgust at the obligatory Americans dressed head to toe as leprechauns or Irish cheerleaders (??) because they "have Irish ancestors"; and we spent a good while outside the pub, singing a variety of well-known Irish, ahem, melodies, including a lesser-known one that Carol and I had learned that day, one that was kindly sent to me by my dear father, in which the chorus sang:

Red-headed lasses will ask you so freely is that your shilleleagh or are you glad to see me?
A rainbow and pot of gold wait round the bend, and if you’re not Irish, well you can pretend!

I fear it may be sung at every St Paddy’s celebration from now on!

The following weekend was another biggie...for it was time for me to admit the passing of the years, and face up to the reality that I am not, in fact, getting any younger. Yup. It was my birthday.

It didn’t start off too well, as the night before my birthday, I received an e-mail from Dad telling me that our beloved Pepe, the Labrador who has been with us for 12 years, had finally passed in the night. My brother Simon gives a much better tribute to her on his blog, the link to which is over on the right, so I won’t even try. But it’s hard to imagine home without a dog; there’s always been a dog at the Gordon household, in my lifetime, at least.

So the next morning, I didn’t start off too happy. And for a few silly reasons, my mood worsened during the first couple of hours of school. But it started to get better when Tony walked into the office carrying an ice cream cake for me; and then my co-teacher, Mr Lee, appeared in (having rushed home) with a gift; and then I went to my next class to discover that Tony hadn’t just run downtown for an ice cream cake, but had also bought a lot of drinks and snacks and had decided that we were having a birthday party with one of our second grade classes. There I am with the little dotes; I say dotes, because one of them, one of my favourite students, had taken a poster around for a bunch of them to sign, and had given me a few small gifts.



This student had written me a letter also, and I think it’s a letter I will keep forever. In it, she tells me that I have taught her how to be happy; that she always sees me smiling, and realises that it’s because I think positively. She says I have also taught her patience; that when she gets stressed, she thinks of how I would act, and it helps her to calm down. And she says she sees me as a true friend, as well as a teacher.

The letter was enough to make me cry anyway, but since I had just spoken to Dad, and we had talked about Pepe, it was difficult to remain composed in an office full of teachers and students!

So the day got better, and Tony and I had some ice cream cake after lunch (we were going to share it with the other teachers, but they all disappeared!) I keep talking about Tony, so here he is (self photo):


The following day was Charlotte’s birthday, so we had a whole weekend of Daegu shenanigans planned. On the Friday night (my birthday), Char, Carol and I met in Daegu. I arrived first, and got the hotel sorted, and Char soon arrived at the door, bearing gifts! Birthday presents, a cake (my third one of the day!) and a princess party hat, that I was made to wear around town all night, attracting many stares and comments! The three of us went for pizza, and had a bit of a catch up, but, as we are prone to doing, ordered far too much, so practically a whole pizza went back to the hotel room. When we got back, it was time to open presents, eat cake and sing Happy Birthday (first to me, then to Char when midnight had passed – a time which also saw the passing of the birthday hat!) It felt like the sleepovers I used to have when I was a teenager. Ah them were simpler days!

The next day was the big celebration day; firstly, we were going to a bull-fighting festival. Just 30 minutes outside Daegu, the town of Cheongdo holds a festival every year. And I’m not talking about the man versus bull fights that you might be thinking of; these were bull versus bull. It was a great festival: we saw a few bull fights, although sometimes they were reluctant to fight, but more than that, it was all the extra side shows around the festival that made it so fun. There were traditional Korean crafts, games and sweets, and we could go and look at the bulls taking part (my grandfathers would have been so proud!) There were some mighty angry looking bulls, but I’m not surprised! I suppose it was quite cruel, the fights did often draw blood, and they’re forced to fight.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have much time at the festival, as we had to get back to Daegu, buy some last minute essentials, and then start getting ready for our big night. For it was Korean Night!

I know what you’re thinking: "She lives in Korea, what’s so special about it being Korean night?" We planned a Korean themed night: that meant crazy Korean fashions (think bows, frills, short skirts and leggings, and cutesy); Korean drinking style (can’t pour your own drink, must use both hands when pouring or accepting and must drink turned away from your elders); and Korean photo poses (the victory sign, making a heart shape with the hands, or a heart shape over the head). Any slip-ups entailed a drinking penalty.



Char and I were impressed – and flattered – not only by the turn-out, but by the effort that people had made. We had twenty for dinner (Korean, of course), and more for drinks and dancing afterwards; and almost everyone had made a massive effort to look and act Korean. Also, we had Susie and Mike, and Amy and Sarah, who had to drive nearly five hours to even get to Daegu! Plus, we had Kirsty and her Korean boyfriend, Gil: there is a trend in Korea for couple clothes, ie couples wearing matching bracelets, or t-shirts, or entire outfits. We managed to persuade Kirsty (an Aussie) to give into this trend for just one night; so she and Gil appeared wearing matching hot pink t-shirts with bright yellow hearts emblazoned across the chest, and black jackets. Fantastic.

It truly was a fantastic night, and I was just deliriously happy that so many people had come, and some from quite far. Plus, the gifts that we received were all very Korean-themed, which made everything even more fun. We ended up in our usual Daegu haunt, Club Frog, and I’m not exactly sure what the actual Koreans thought! Actually, I was told by a few Koreans that I looked very Korean, so I must have got my outfit just right! It was fun, but that skirt will never be seen on me again! So, in regards to the last photo in my last blog entry, my Korean outfit explains the glasses, and the bunny ears were a gift.

The next morning, we slowly pulled ourselves out of bed as we had a noon check out time. There were five of us piled into our usual suite, and – all of us being girls – the place was a bit of a bomb site, with clothes and make-up everywhere. So, when noon rolled around, there we were...in pyjamas, eating cake with chopsticks.

We finally made it out, and then quickly dumped ourselves in a restaurant for lunch, where we spent another few hours trying to get the energy to move further. And then…I had a date. With a Korean.

Now my first Korean dating experience was nowhere near as amusing as Char’s a week earlier, so I shall refer you to her blog, listed on the right, for that story. Mine was a fairly standard experience: dinner, and coffee, and very stunted conversation. Thought I’d just see how things go, and it was nice of him to call me when I got home to make sure I’d got back ok. When he called three more times and texted four times that night, however, even after I had said I was going to sleep and I wasn’t answering, I started to have my doubts. Nearly a month later, during which I haven’t answered his (many) calls once, and he’s still trying! He’s stubborn, I’ll give him that.

Thankfully, I had that following Monday off school, so I was able to recover a bit. It was a day off because it was the school’s birthday. I love this country!

That week, we had some great thunderstorms, which entertained me for hours as I stood at the window watching. Not much else happened for the rest of March; except for going to Daegu to have lunch with Char and her parents, who were visiting, I stayed home that weekend to prepare for my next excitement: Mum’s visit!

Which I shall write about tomorrow. For these two entries have taken me all day, and now it is late, and I am tired, and I want to read my book.