This week has been pretty relaxed so I'm afraid we dont have any new photos to put up. We went to Shinae-Dong at the weekend with some friends. Shinae is another neighbourhood in Gimhae and there is quite a high population of Indian and Filipino people living there. This means that it is excellent for buying curry pastes and spices so we stocked up on some decent non-Korean food. There are also lots of clothes shops and second hand shops so we spent a bit of time browsing and window shopping. We have been venturing to DVD Bang fairly frequently and have recently watched I Am Legend, The Constant Gardener and Babel- the latter of which was well worth watching.
On Sunday we cycled to meet Sarah for coffee in the pouring rain and in the evening we went out for dinner with a few friends which was lovely. It is really good being able to eat out for such little money here. In England it was so difficult to be able to go out for dinner with friends as it cost ridiculous amounts- in South Korea the most you would ever pay for a really good meal including wine is about £10 per head.
We are settling into things at the school quite well. Two teachers are leaving in the next couple of weeks so our schedules will be changing as of next week. We're not entirely sure which classes we have yet but I (Kim) have volunteered to run a cooking class for 3-6 year olds (this could be the biggest mistake of my life....) I am told by the previous cookery teacher that it was stressful but good fun. I need to think of some simple western recipes- at the moment my repertoire consists of chocolate cornflakes and chocolate rice crispies. Let me know if anyone has any bright ideas!
Last week I (Kim) made the decision to join a Korean hip-hop dance class. It runs 3 times a week after school which keeps me fit and active. It's very hard and all the movements are typically Korean and very 'cutesy.' The dance teacher is about 4ft tall and as slim as my little finger and she moves so precisely. I, on the other hand- well, I'm sure you can all imagine....
I have included the link for the video of the incredibly gorgeous Korean girl who sings the song that I attempt to dance to in my class.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHmTwtK8IVY
In Korea there seems to be three stupidly catchy pop songs out at a time and these get played continuously in every shop, bar, restaurant, cafe, bank etc. It gets incredibly boring and repetitive and the most annoying thing is when kids sing them in lessons too. I have imposed a ban. Live music seems to be pretty non-existent here, it's all about the cheesy pop.
Sarah and I (Kim) ventured to a jimjjilbang (Korean spa) after dance class on Wednesday. It was my first experience in one of these places but it was really relaxing and enjoyable. We paid the equivalent of £3 and you can spend as long as you like bathing in one of the ten baths or so that are all at different temperatures. Some of them are like Jacuzzis and some of them are just really deep with mini-waterfalls running into them. There is one stipulation of using these places though and that is that you have to be totally naked. Fortunately we are both open minded ladies but it was still a little strange! Thank God the men and women's baths were segregated though.
This week Korea seems to have been in the news a fair bit (in fact there may have even been a Gimhae mention.) The ex-president, Roh Moo-Hyun, threw himself off a cliff very near to Gimhae at the weekend and his funeral is to be held after a 7 day mourning period. The circumstances of his death are slightly suspicious and all the Koreans that we have talked to seem to be pretty shocked. His supporters believe that the current president, Lee Myung-Bak, and some of the top officials drove him to his death. He was a really popular president and apparently over 80,000 people went to Bongha, his home village, to mourn on Sunday.
North Korea has also been in the headlines recently- first with its unsuccessful long range missile test on April 5th but more recently with the atomic bomb test. You probably know as much as we do, but it is pretty clear that the people here feel quite scared and threatened by North Korea. The international community (apart from Iran) have all strongly condemned the test, and there is a certain tension in the Korean peninsula now. The South Korean army have been placed on high alert since the test. It will be interesting to see the reaction of the UN security council in the coming days and also the effect that this will have on the Koreans around us.
Nevertheless, life here is going really well for us both and we are planning the next adventure!
No comments:
Post a Comment