New Years eve and beyond

On new years eve I met Cherry in Gangnam. It was so good to see her. We went for Dak Galbi and sat and chatted for ages. We decided to go to Itaewan for a drink. The traffic was awful, we sat around for so long! We suddenly realised it was six minutes past midnight! OMG! Seeing the new year in stuck in a traffic jam is so uncool - no new year snogs for me :(

We eventually arrived in Itaewan and decided we were hungry again, it was the trauma of the traffic jam that made us hungry. We looked for a bbq restaurant, we passed a few by cos they looked dodgy but it was so cold we became very unfussy. I swear it was minus 15! We were huddled together like two old ladies, shivering up the road! we dived in a place that wasn't too crowded and ordered our Samgyupsal. It was heaven.........to have my two favourite meals in one evening was a dream. After eating and chatting some more we made our way to Almaz. It was good to be in there again. lack of table space forced us to sit at the bar. That was no problem as the view was better! we ordered hot chocolate but then I thought 'It's NYE, one drink won't hurt' That turned into half a dozen JD's! We had a great time and ended up leaving at 5am. I went back to cherry's and stayed there sleeping until about 1pm. We then took Charlotte to the Kids cafe, which is a brilliant place. For a very small fee you can relax and drink coffee while your child plays and is looked after by play leaders. Such a brilliant idea! Although as I sat there my teachers eye started to pick up on all the health and safety issues!

after a couple of hours Andrew met us and we went to Emart for dinner. I had really nice sushi.

I managed to walk the dogs once which was really nice and the next day Andrew dropped me at the station so I could go home.

The first day of camp was really good. My children are great and the other teachers are really nice. Hanna has made me head teacher! I felt a bit bad because there are other teachers that have more camp experience than me but she said I am the best and she knows I will help her. At least I can explain things to the other teacher for her and I've already been able to help some of them with the paperwork. They have to come to me with problems and I have to liaise with Hana for them. The CA's are really nice and have worked really hard preparing things for us. I saw two of my children from summer and it was nice to get hugs from them. Steve the CA from summer popped in and we had a chat - he's got even more handsome. Min the tech guy (aka sexyboy!) popped in so that was nice. I had a really good laugh with two of the other teacher Claire and Jess. They are really funny and I'm glad they are here. The other teachers are nice but two are Korean ladies and are a bit more reserved and one is a Canadian guy who thought I was Australian. he seems ok but got a bit of an attitude with Hana over something and I thought 'Oh no - not another Henry!' Hana and I have his card marked !!!

I'm really tired as 9 - 6 is a long day and we didn't leave the office until 7, but I have 5 word list ready and I'm starting to think about the end of camp tests already so that feels good. I feel like I've got off to a good start so I just hope it continues that way. I really love doing this camp, it's hard work timewise but the children and staff are so pleasant and that makes it worthwhile.

Here at last!!!

I'm here! I am so flying direct again. No hassle changing planes etc. I struck lucky on the plane, sat next to a young Korean man who was very quiet but friendly - and he didn't snore! Don't know if I was very impressed with Asiana. The plane was comfy and clean but the entertainment was dire! I didn't manage to watch a good film because there weren't any good films. The food was ok but the cabin staff didn't speak very good English and seemed scared to communicate with non Koreans. As ever Incheon airport was quick and efficient and I seemed to wait no time for my luggage. Immigration and customs was really quick. I found a cab quickly and with a cabbie that spoke English.

It took 2 hours to get to Bucheon on account of the traffic being horrendous. A bridge serving the Bucheon turn off had caught alight a few days earlier. This was because a fuel tanker had crashed and caught alight underneath it. Everyone going to Bucheon was using the same turn off. At one point it took us 30 minutes to move 200 meters! Luckily my cab driver let me use his phone to call the office to let them know and he was friendly so we could chat. I know everything about his family now!

Finally I arrived in the office and was greeted by screams and hugs from Hanna. there have been staff changes but the new staff are really nice.

I am lucky to be staying in the same room as in the summer. Not many changes there - oh except new washing and drying machines that I have to work out how to use. This time I have decided to use the kitchen a bit more and have bought some microwave meals (I didn't say I was actually going to cook!)

My room is really hot. I can't go barefoot as the underfloor heating burns....

Talking of heat...it's bloody freezing outside!!!! It's going to be -10 tonight. It was about that last night and it snowed last night. When I came out of the airport my heart sank to see snow :(

One good thing is that the paths and roads are kept clear. I could hear them clearing it at 5.30 this morning. Pathways are cleared along pavements so people don't slip and the Uni grounds are also cleared regularly - god bless Ajjushi's.

We had orientation today and that went smoothly. Mr Park seemed pleased to see me but he was also sad that Jaron couldn't be here. There are 3 other teachers here so far. Two Korean ladies and a Canadian man. 3 more are arriving on Sunday. They have only just found the last teacher today (Jarons fault - ha ha!) Horrid Henry from last year rang and asked for a job but they turned him down - thank goodness.

We met the C.A's and there were two from the summer so that was nice. Mine is a young boy called Alan. He looks a bit shy but I'll soon sort that out!

I've been working all evening, sorting out my books - I've even finished 5 word tests! It looks like I'm using the same books as one of the other teachers so I shall do my Christian duty and share my word tests!

I'm going out with Cherry tomorrow for dinner and to celebrate NYE. I'm going to stay there the night and hopefully walk the dogs in the morning. It's just after midnight here now so I'm going to go to bed. I didn't really sleep much on the way over so I have some catching up to do.

Obsevations: Korea deals with snow much better than we do.

Korean traffic is horrendous!

Nobody here seems remotely worried about north Korea, as my cabbie said 'That man - he is an idiot!'