What I Won't Be Doin' This Summer

Going Fishing.

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea towed a South Korean fishing boat to one of its ports on Thursday after the vessel inadvertently strayed into its territorial waters, a South Korean military official said.

Of course the vessel's crew might be able to watch a bit of home grown TV [Seoul Shinmun 한국어] with the KCNA apparently cutting together a montage of South Korean News and current affairs footage on unemployment and what not aimed at showing how crappy life is here in The Republic.

Additional reportage at RoK Drop and The Marmot.

90 Days / 2000 Days

It's funny how periods of time sound different when measured in days. Tomorrow marks 90 days left in my current contract and my subsequent departure from The Republic for a sabbatical in New Zealand.

Three months sounds longer, but either way I have a lot to do in that space of time. One of those will be to celebrate my 2000th day in Korea, which will be ironic as it is probably the same day we will say goodbye to Friend of The Bimbo, ScandoKiwi who is off to New Zealand, Hong Kong and ultimately Yemen at the end of August after his second year long soju sojourn in Korea.

Fear not though dear reader I will be trying to post as much as possible before the end of that 90 days. (For a start I need to save my pennies, and Blogging is cheaper than drinking) and  you'll note that despite often week long gaps between posts I have actually posted more this month than any other this year! Also plans are afoot for the birth of a New Zealand - type Bimbo.

Even if it is only 4 months 120 days worth.

Korea Times: Excellence in Journalism

For a change I'm not talking about the latest Jon Huer op-ed piece. (Although it is frakin lame). No it is again some of the little things that draw attention to he Korea Times, and not in a positive way. Ever noticed how there is a part of a html bracket on the top right of the Korea Times Home page (especially when viewed on Firefox)? You'll recognise it, it looks like this:

-->

Karl points out some further follies in the Korea Times html. See if you can spot the error:

<title>The Korea Times</title>
<meta name="description" content=
"An Influential English Daily in South Kroea">
<meta name="keywords" content="koreatimes, Korea Times,The Korea Times, Korea, South Korea, ROK, 

Nice. Very Influential.

SeoulPodcast's Staycation

This week's episode of The SeoulPodcast has "dropped" as the kiddies say. This week we speak to Rob of Roboseyo fresh back in town after a break in Canadia as well as Jessica Coyle from Waygugin Parade, one of a growing number of improv groups in Seoul.

We talk about vacations, and other stuff, and you can get it here . [mp3 96:59] I know! Just over an hour and a half. Wonders will never cease!

This is the last of The SeoulPodcast in it's regular format for a while. Joe is taking August off to take a well deserved rest, and plan for his upcoming wedding. That leaves Jen and I in charge (well Jen anyway), so we'll be doing an abbreviated show "SeoulPodcast Summer Nights". We'll be bringing you a lighter serving of news and issues and more fun stuff.

We are hoping to talk to someone who has just returned from San Diego ComicCon as well as talking about tourism to North Korea later in the month with Dave from Daegu.

Stay tuned.

Biannual Pilgrimage to Everland

Slated as the "Culture Trip" for this year's Summer Camp (Just as it had been in January for Winter) the middle mark of Summer camp saw we teachers along with our students trundle off to Everland for the day.

I know, not very edu-ma-cational, but frankly I think a well deserved day off, not for the teachers, but the kids, who endure the vacation not with more free time on their hands, but with less by way of Summer "camp".

'Twas a gorgeous day for the most part and I got a little sunburnt, which is odd in Korea considering the persistent hazy atmospheric conditions. As a result the images I took from my little point in shoot either look a little washed out, or are seen from behind a haze of water vapour being almost ubiquitously pumped into the park and it's environs to keep people cool.

My class lines up, chomping at the bit, ready to go in...

Only to be held up upon entry for a group photo.

I quite liked the look of this group, so took a photo of them too.

Everland's fabulous faux-mediterranian architecture.

The Boys. Teachers, Mr Johnson (USA), Mr G (Canada) and Mr James (UK).

The T-Express. Korea's largest Wooden Roller-coaster. While usually ambivalent to the thrills of said attractions I was feeling a bit Seedy on Wednesday morning and so let the rest of the teaching staff go on it while I had a cup of coffee and a cigarette in one of Everland's many hidden, cordoned off smoking areas.

Holland Village, note the Tulips and the windmill:

and from the other side...

After lunch there was a "parade" of Entertainment visa holding Russian bikini wearing women Summer Splash characters much to the delight of my fellow under 12 bystanders.

An hour or so later and up one Ferris Wheel ride we were heading back to school to end the day and drop the kiddies off.

강유미 한국인교사, Shelly Teacher (RSA) and Janina Teacher (NZL). Funnily the crowds surrounding this scene were not interested in taking pictures of the two foreigners and the Korean, well not until they started taking pictures of this trio:

Mr G, The Chosun Bimbo and James.

All I can say is I'm glad I wasn't paying, with prices apparently close to what you would pay if you were to go to Disney World in Florida. Nevertheless a good time for the yung'uns, and a reasonable day outside the classroom.