F-words!

So first of all let's start with the F-words "flavourlicious" and "frickin' amazing!" to describe the Baskin Robbins ice-cream cake Christy, Kiran, Heidi and I had a go at demolishing on the weekend. It had eight different flavours - one in each slice - and has by far been the most popular of my posted photos on Facebook :) As far as I can remember, the flavours were mint choc-chip, strawberry cheesecake, raspberry mousse, 'Mother's specialty', green tea, almond 'bon bon', shooting star (pop rocks in bubble gum flavoured ice-cream) and blueberry cheesecake (I could be wrong though). Yummy! Even though we didn't quite manage to finish it. (I don't have an 'after' photo - it was too sad!) And a great way way to celebrate my last weekend in Korea with my KBFF (II)^^

 Oh and just 'cos it's a nice picture ... :) 

Anyway, on to the main point - I found an interesting article in the Sydney Morning Herald (anyone remember my rant against "dumb bitch" female comedians?). I haven't seen material by all of the female comedians mentioned, but it's a good point and I guess not too far from the Slutwalks issue either. I'm actually kind of interested in going to the forum and hey, it's getting to the stage where I can actually plan on following through on events like this :) Anyone keen on joining?

From http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life/putting-the-fun-into-feminism-20120209-1rjyk.html#ixzz1mENZng00

Putting the fun into feminism

February 11, 2012

Pushing the boundaries ... not everyone is amused by Margaret Cho.

These new poster girls like their bras and know how to have a chuckle, writes ANNIE STEVENS.
''The first thing I do in the morning is brush my teeth and sharpen my tongue.'' Dorothy Parker

Women marched across London in December to protest against a matter of great concern to the female population. They were defending muffs: big, bouffant ones. The Muff March was against the pornography-influenced obsession with removing pubic hair and the rise in cosmetic gynaecological surgery. Some people came dressed in nude body suits adorned with cheerful patches of pretend pubic hair and signs that read: ''You've got my chuff in a huff.''

Caitlin Moran

If the spirit of the protest was light-hearted, the message was not. The event reflected the sense of fun sweeping through feminism - a subject not often thought to be especially amusing.

Women are no longer burning their bras. As British newspaper columnist Caitlin Moran wrote last year in her book How to Be a Woman, they like their bras. Moran has become the poster girl for funny feminism.
As she also writes in How to Be a Woman, ''We need to reclaim the word 'feminism'. We need the word 'feminism' back real bad. When statistics come in saying that only 29 per cent of American women would describe themselves as feminist - and only 42 per cent of British women - I used to think, What do you think feminism IS, ladies? What part of 'liberation for women' is not for you? Is it freedom to vote? The right not to be owned by the man you marry? The campaign for equal pay? Vogue by Madonna? Jeans? Did all that good shit get on your nerves? Or were you just drunk at the time of the survey?''

Tina Fey

In her memoir, Bossypants, American actor and comedian Tina Fey gives tips on how to be less like her 30 Rock alter ego, Liz Lemon, and learn how to make it in a man's world. These include not wearing tube tops or eating diet food in meetings.

Melbourne academic and co-author of The Great Feminist Denial, Monica Dux, believes such exuberance is rejuvenating feminism. ''It cuts through the bullshit and serves it back up,'' Dux says. ''When you're funny you can get people to listen. When you write about feminism, you're delivering bad news. What [Moran has] done is say, 'Look, here's a lot of the bad news' but she's done so in a way to make it accessible and to make women feel good about things that don't seem good.''

Sarah Silverman

Germaine Greer wrote in The Female Eunuch in 1970 that it would be highly unlikely for women to not have a sense of humour considering what they were up against. Four decades on, little seems to have changed: the wage disparity between men and women remains, ''raunch culture'' rules and for little girls, pink still washes over all.
Greer and Naomi Wolf will appear at the Opera House next month for The F-Word, a panel discussion that poses the question: is feminism is a dirty word?

Whether there is a ''right'' way to be a feminist remains a thorny topic. Melbourne comedian and author Catherine Deveny thinks humour has become the movement's Trojan horse.
''We tried hitting them over the head with it, we tried burning our bras, we tried engaging in an intellectual polemic and now we're trying it with humour. We're always attacking in different ways,'' Deveny says.
When she started doing stand-up comedy in the early 1990s, ''there were comedians and then there were female comedians''.

Catherine Deveny

''All [the female comedians] did stuff about, 'I'm so fat', 'I'm so single', 'Oh my period'. I just thought, 'I don't want to be thought of as a female comedian, I want to be a comedian.'''
Challenging people with her views on race, gender, beauty and sexuality is how American comedian Margaret Cho wins over audiences. For her, feminism is a no-brainer. ''Feminism is my life! It's who I am,'' she said in a 2009 interview. ''For me, it's just a logical way to be. It's the way I approach everything. I guess I approach everything as a feminist first and then I'm thinking about racial issues and then I'm thinking about queer issues.''
She's not the only female comedian pushing the boundaries of taste. A recent New York Times article dissected Sarah Silverman's rape jokes: ''For a certain strain of stand-up, dating to Lenny Bruce, it's essential to talk about what's taboo … Ms Silverman belongs to this tradition, under the guise of a shallow bigot. What she proved is that there are areas of aggressive, shocking comedy where women could go further than men.''
But does humour have limits in the feminist argy-bargy, where there are deeply unfunny topics such as abuse and the oppression of rights and dignity?
''Humour is helping to broaden the feminist message … but there are some aspects that are pretty hard to joke about [such as] child sexual abuse, domestic abuse,'' says author and academic Catharine Lumby.

''They're not funny subjects but then again, when people who are working in these areas get together, it's fairly uncommon for them to not find things to laugh about. It's that pressure-valve thing and there is a resilience there that is sometimes expressed through humour.''

For Melbourne journalist and blogger Clementine Ford, humour has not helped her find a voice as a feminist but has delivered the message in an easy-to-swallow way.

''You have to make your approach palatable to people because the simple fact is, they don't respond to 'shrieking feminists','' she says.

''Humour is a way of making indifferent people side with you, like-minded people laugh and opponents get outraged. I feel like I gently poke fun at people who can't see the inequalities that exist in the world. And sometimes I roast them.''

Not everyone agrees.

In an article for the New Statesman last year, journalist Julie Bindel wrote: ''These 'fun feminists', who have little or no idea about the theory or practice of this movement, take advantage of the benefits that radicals have fought long and hard for, whilst contributing nothing. In fact, they are damaging to other women and are destroying progress won by those of us who do not weep when men disapprove of our views.''

Perhaps the debate ignores that feminism is not a one-size-fits-all theory. As Dux says: ''Communicating to ordinary women is how change comes about.''
And far from diluting all that feminism stands for, making 'em laugh is a powerful rallying cry. If feminism has a new voice, it is still stroppy, still strident, still passionate. But in being knicker-twistingly funny, there is hope, there is a fresh sense of camaraderie and most importantly, there is heart.

The F-Word feminist forum is at the Sydney Opera House on March 4.

Putting my cantankerous pants on one leg at a time...

Since I know this is going to be a bit of a controversial topic, I'm just going to go ahead and rant about it anyway since it's something that severely annoys me and what the hey, this is my blog anyway.

Ok, so I know that people who say this mean well, but seriously, don't bless me or offer to pray for me. If I don't share your beliefs it has no positive effect on me and in fact it's a bit insulting - it's almost like a threat sometimes and feels like you're forcing them on me, in the vein of "I'm going to do it whether you like it or not!" I know people often say it because they either don't know what else to say or do, or possibly that they genuinely believe that it works, although even as someone who respects belief in other people if not what they actually believe in I still wonder how often that situation could really be claimed to be entirely true. Maybe it's a way for them to still their own doubts. Or looking at things cynically, a way for them to relieve their own feelings of guilt about not actually wanting to do anything to help. But really, if I was a Satanist and said "the devil be with you" or "may you rot in hell as an eternal reward for your good works" I doubt people would take it as gracefully, even if I genuinely believed in Satan (or let's say Hades to try and avoid negative associations) as the creator of life and mediator of eternal justice. Even though if you're Christian you should at least know that God originally created Satan as an angel, who (like humanity) chose his own path and actually looking at it from a human perspective did pretty well out of it, becoming his own boss and owning his own Realm of Darkness compared to the other chump angels who stayed in Heaven. I'd say he's pretty happy with how his Eternal Reward is paying out. And if I said that to the average kind of person who tries to bless other people they'd be very upset.

Anyway, that digression aside, I can't fault hope and sympathy, but I can fault the hypocritical approach to respect that many religious people take, regardless of what that religion is - respect is something you have to give if you want to demand it. And sometimes I feel like people trying to bless one or pray for one who doesn't share their beliefs is kind of like a smoker blowing their second hand smoke into your face just because they want to share the lovely tar-filled joy of their habit with you. If you feel like the other person is in a hard or hopeless situation and want to lend your sympathy or even if, being honest with yourself, you are loathe to actually do anything to help, what's wrong with just saying "I'll be thinking of you" or "I'm here for you if you need to talk" or even offering to do something with them that will help distract them from their troubles for a while? Save the sanctimonious stuff for someone who will appreciate it much more or at least just say it quietly to yourself. Or at least don't act offended if you offer to pray for me and I tell you not to bother because there's no such thing as God and people only believe in him because they don't want to accept that this one life is the only chance they might have and they're probably worried that they've already blown it, but if you want to really help me you can buy me a Belgian dark hot chocolate from Holly's coffee anytime you like. You believe what you want and I'll believe what I want - I'm sure each of us is secretly pitying the other for it.

And hmm, thinking back I really should have tried to learn to say this all in Korean so the damn Evangelists downtown would stop harassing me when I'm trying to get somewhere. It's freezing cold! If I didn't want to stop and talk to you when the weather was fine why the hell would I want to do it now when it's -11 degrees??? That's not what sparked this off by the way, it's just an observation :)

And yes, this is also the same thing I feel about those stupid Facebook "repost if you support OOO" chain letter things. Sure it worked that one time when it was still a new concept but now they do nothing to help and the only thing they raise awareness for is for whatever gimmick they are running. If you want to help get off your arse and do something, even if it's just opening your wallet and donating $5.

Anyway, if this offends anyone, well you know how to close the window or unsubscribe from updates so I might as well go ahead and rub it in - suck it! ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Twice in one day? Phwoar!

.. you can tell I'm stuck at school deskwarming^^ Anyway the first was just pictures of random fat animals so I figure you can deal with it. And this might actually have some content - it's a reblog of a post by Burndog giving some credit to GEPIK (Gyeonggi-do EPIK) co-ordinators and telling everyone to give them some much deserved slack instead of getting their panties in a twist over mini-crises they don't have the common sense or mental wherewithal to deal with themselves. Now fair enough, there are some real problems that many teachers, both Korean and NESTs, run into in these jobs that require not only teaching skills but interpersonal skills and not a bit of cross-cultural understanding, but let's face it, a lot of the "horror stories" you hear from people teaching overseas are either greatly exaggerated, extremely biased and likely selectively told, or come about mostly because people are selfish idiots incapable of seeing things from someone else's point of view or because they have never lived away from home or by themselves before (and often certainly not together) and are just not at the stage where they can deal with problems on their own. And fair enough - we all run into problems like this in our daily lives, but it's a whole 'nother thing to take it beyond whinging to your friends (or the uncaring cyber world, hehe) and create such a fuss that it makes further problems for yourself and everyone else you drag into it, as well as making a bad reputation for other people in your situation who have managed to do ok.

And this is where my problem is - our EPIK co-ordinators and the staff at our Office of Education here in Cheongju for the whole of the Chungbuk province work really hard to help us and try and give us a good start to our lives here, probably more than they might feel obligated to were we not in Korea. And yes, that isn't always the case - you might be really unlucky and have a crappy co-teacher who has no interest in helping you and in fact hates and resents you (which is quite common) but there are most certainly also a good number of lazy bums working as NESTs with a huge sense of self-entitlement who are only here for the money because they couldn't get a job at home. And frankly, that's the major reason I came here when I did too, as did a lot of my friends, but the major difference there is that we all also had at least some vestige of a positive attitude and tried to make some adjustments to living here in another country and enjoy the things that worked for us, beyond soju and samgyopsal. Even those who never managed to learn more than "kamsahamnida" or get beyond trying soondae that one time they didn't really know what it was, the people I've actually stayed friends with have all done at least a year and stuck it out with varying degrees of success, and problems and crying and drunken rants aside, we've all had a generally positive view of some aspect or another of the experience in common. So there is a lot less thankfulness out there than is deserved, and people always seem much quicker to bitch rather than laud, so maybe if you haven't done it yet and are still teaching, you should take the time to write a quick thankyou email to your co-ordinator.

Not to gloat but personally, I think I've actually been really lucky and had a good school with supportive teachers. Sure there have been minor problems (14 hour teaching day anyone?), but nothing to blow out of proportion that I had to run crying to my mummy (the Office of Education/POE) about. I know this has been helped by the fact that I do speak some Korean, and the teachers here like that I can at least understand them a bit, which I think has also made them more forgiving of my quieter personality (i.e. why not all foreigners are as loud as most North American teachers), peanut allergy (a surefire topic for conversation at any meal featuring the dreaded nut) and inability to drink soju in large quantities. I've also had a great EPIK co-ordinator (by this I mean the head of the NEST liason office-y person), Mary Hahn, who I'm pretty certain is asked to do everything and anything involving English or English speakers at the POE rather than just what her job description says, and who has always done her best to help us resolve our issues and questions here, no matter how trivial. Case in point at our Orientation - someone asking why they didn't have an oven in their place and when the POE would be buying one for us (yes, I'm serious). Even though Korean apartments generally don't have ovens, we have more than enough money to spare to spring for a small one on our own and no-one has the room for a real one anyway. Mary calmly explained that our school sets up our apartments for us (which we had just been talking about) and recommended a few places we could go to buy one. Or the person who asked the same thing but about an air conditioner who seemed to think it was a life necessity rather than a luxury.

Well anyway, organising going home has made me think about all of this, as there is a new teacher coming in to replace me that I'm going to write a letter to (ala Lara-style! which I know Edithe was very grateful for) who I hope at least appreciates the teachers at the school and the things she has easy, as I know she's probably not going to be able to appreciate the students.
  
Anyway, this is the reblog - sorry for the rant :) I actually went off ole Burndog a bit and actually unsubscribed from his now main Tumblr blog as he apparently got a new smartphone or discovered Instagram or something because he started filling his blog with slightly wanky Instagrammed photos of pretty much nothing anyone else but him would have any interest in seeing (and even then I can't imagine him being thrilled to look at those pictures more than once), rather than the bile-filled but well written rants I quite enjoy reading, but hey, it's his blog. I'm sure there are people out there who rolled their eyes and instantly closed my blog page after finding more pictures of fat animals eating this morning too :)

Thank-you GEPIK co-ordinators!

Hello Burnchums...the below is a re-post of something I posted over on Tumblr...BUT...I decided that it's worth posting here too. For your reading joy.

Howdy Burnfans!

Today, I'm gonna re-post a Facebook status update that I wrote...and I'm going to add some shit to what I wrote. Anyways...here's what I wrote -

"As we enter the final stretch of the current school year...how about all of my GEPIK teaching friends spare a moment of their time to think of the great work that our GEPIK co-ordinators do. They get served shit sandwiches all day, generally dealing with the worst kind of teachers (both domestic and imported) and their stupid demands...YET...they always do their best to help us, train us, and make sure that we still have jobs! So...let's all say something that we humble teachers never seem to say...thank-you GEPIK co-ordinators...you're a bunch of champions and we'd all be fucked without you!

Sorry...but sick of the sea of negativity toward everything lately...especially when most of it is based on rumours, innuendo, or ignorance!"

Now...I'm horribly biased...I've been in Korea for almost four years...and I've only ever worked for one GEPIK school. When I first arrived at my school…I was very worried. I wasn’t told a lot about what was going to happen or how I was going to do my job, and to make matters worse, I had no co-teacher. When I decided to come to Korea, one of the great perks of the job was that an experienced and dedicated Korean teacher would be available to help me plan and teach every lesson. So, when I realized that my school had gone a different road, I freaked out. I spent most of my first morning looking for flights home, and most of my first afternoon on the phone to GEPIK. I was frightened. I was freaking out. GEPIK couldn't do shit to help me. The bottom line is that they can talk to the school and suggest that the school follow the more conventional model...but at the end of the day, the Principal decides how shit works.

What I got out of this situation was an understanding of how shit actually works, and exactly where GEPIK's responsibilities start and finish.

So...near the end of my first year, Dain Bae asked for people to volunteer to become GEPIK Reps...which was basically a system where people who have been with GEPIK for a year or more, make themselves available to new starters who need help. I wasn't keen to do it...but my best mate John wanted to give it a go...so I jumped on board! Now...the GEPIK Reps have been replaced by GEPIK co-ordinators...but here's an example of the kind of emails that I would get when I was repping -

"I am a ESL teacher in Suwon. I have problems with my Korean co-teacher, and not a soul to talk to about how to deal with them. In the recent past I have spoken to my Principal and Vice-Principal, but as far as I can see they just want to sweep the problems under the nearest rug. I am angry and depressed over my situation here; and feel so alone that I wish I could sprout wings and fly across the ocean. I asked the Vice Principal of my school to please provide me with someone I can go to, but I have heard nothing from anyone. I know they just wish I would just stop "being a problem". Unbeknowest to them I am not the problem, but she is Korean and I am not so to me that pretty much says it all. My Korean co-teacher has many people to discuss what she sees as the problem. I have no one, and I fantasize about just packing up and leaving.
I don't know what to do. Any suggestions?"

Now...that's just one email. Most of the emails were a LOT less dramatic. The above email doesn't really contain any information...the person asks for suggestions...but doesn't explain what the problems are...aside from the fact that the co-teacher is Korean. I ended up giving up an entire Sunday to go and have coffee with this teacher...and the problem was that they had told their co-teacher to 'shut the fuck up' in front of an entire class...and then when the co-teacher spoke...they slapped her (not very hard!) across the face. Suggestions? Well...going home seems a good one...or at the very least moving to a different job. Once you slap your co...there's no coming back.

Now...that's an example of an email that I received as a GEPIK Rep...here's an email that was sent to the blog a year or so ago...when I mentioned that I was going to be giving a speech at GEPIK Orientation -

"I am currently having a very hard time with the replacement Korean English teacher. She replaced a Korean teacher that I was working with for six months. She told me to my face how the Korean language is more important than the English language. Well, that is fine, but not in the English classroom. In an English classroom, English should be the dominant language.

I actually had to raise my voice and shout. I have spoken to not only the Vice Principal but also the Principal of my school with her and without her. Along with a hard copy writing about what she did. She is more than mean and she said that I do not even know how to do word processing. That was more than a problem comment. My old job was in the computer industry and my fiance is a computer developer. He does not like how she has been treating me also. Along with, the computer that she made me have is in all Korean (since she has the computer with the English programming and words that I use to have). I can not read Korean. I have had to ask her for simple things regarding the computer and I feel as though it was not fair at all. Her bad flow is now starting to affect/effect my fiance's work. I do not want that to continue. That is not fair for either of our futures.

Lastly, she knows that I might be pregnant. The doctor told me to wait until August to come back in until then. Since having this new Korean teacher (she only has a year of teaching under her belt before here), I have been sick a lot more than usual. How much abuse do I have to put up with? Her actions make me sick. I am bi-polar and am being treated for it. She did cause it to act up after being stable with high fluctuations. That is not a joke. That means loss of money somewhere. Along with, she definitely loves to feed off my cousin who was a Vice Principal in Illinois and my other cousin who was born in South Africa. Oh, plus my family members who actually do have a lot more than she will ever make. Know what, that is fine if she wouldn't be such a for real bitch. She even used a ruler on the students right in front of me in class. Who is going to pay for all the backlashes from that? The school district?

She decided that she wanted my room painted and wanted me to move everything. Well, for real I don't feel like I should be moving everything. Should I be pregnant, it is considered high risk since I am over the age of 35. She does not seem to understand that since she already had a child at an age of 24. Some of us were not so lucky at that age. She continuously smirks and is not even close to being nice.

Please respond when you have a chance. Oh, I can not always remember here either since she definitely does not watch the flow like I have always had to.

Lastly, someone stole $1,800 out of my bank account. Magically, it disappeared and within one week - my Dad did have a heart attack. Oopsy, that money would of covered him to not have the heart attack.
Not exactly fair, administrators from South Korea even. Not even nailed down to Gyeonggi Province since the Principals wife had cancer. That cancer might spread somewhere not good if that Korean teacher doesn't start behaving. That I did learn from the doctors in my family and from the other doctors that I am required to assist. Don't really want to help her anymore at all. Not even a little bit. I did hold my tongue for four months also with her."
Now, if a humble blogger can receive an email as loopy as that, can you even begin to imagine the sort of shit that the GEPIK co-ordinators get every single day? See...the trouble is...when we think of GEPIK co-ordinators and the questions that they must be asked...we think of the perfectly reasonable shit that we think about. For example...I don't know whether or not I'm gonna need a TESL or TEFL or TESOL or whatever it is, next time I renew. I have NO IDEA! I don't even know who to ask. The question that I have...is perfectly reasonable...so I imagine that everyone else is reasonable...BUT...they're not. There are a lot of nutjobs out there...and the GEPIK co-ordinators get calls from foreign teachers, Korean teachers, and recruiters and administrators...all with questions, queries and complaints. What a fucking life hey?

Well...why not add into the mix the constant shit pouring downstream from the government reducing funding, demanding more training hours, changing paygrades, and altering hiring requirements (all of which GEPIK gets criticised for by NETs who somehow think that GEPIK hates NETs)? Why not throw in teachers who do selfish and stupid shit like midnight runs, that have a huge negative impact on the students and teachers at the schools that are left behind? Well...it's a lot of shit to deal with isn't it?

Now...I'm not entirely sure why I decided to write this. I mean...I'm out of here in the not too distant future...so there's no real reason for me to care about this stuff...but...I guess that I feel like there's a lot of shit that gets said about GEPIK, and there's not much that gets said on GEPIK's behalf...so this rant is my way of trying to get people to understand why it might be difficult to get their GEPIK co-ordinator on the phone whenever they want to, and why the co-ordinator might sound a little wary when you do get hold of them!

Let's all just be nice to one another hey?
I seriously could barely even understand what that bi-polar woman was talking about. It makes me annoyed that people who can't even write coherently are English teachersㅠㅠ

Some cute pictures

Just because :)

 

Change of plans

The <3 of my (bipedal) life

Coming home on the 18th of February rather than the 3rd of March as originally planned. Or actually that's not right - I originally hoped for the 11th of February, then decided the 3rd of March, and now it's back to the 18th. So I'll be home then, a little older and sadder, but happy to be back with family and friends and maybe even some sunshine by then. Christy thinks I have SAD (Seasonal Acute Depression) and I think she's right - there's nothing like snow to make me mopey and with everything going on right now it's hitting me pretty hard. Not quite the same as last year - last year it was a lot colder, there was more snow and I hadn't been home for a year, so even with Lala around to cheer me up and force me to be social I was still generally irritated by everything and toeing a fine line between unhappy and angry. Now that the home date is in sight, it's definitely reminding me of how happy I was to finally step off the plane, change into my Havvies and rush through those arrival gates into the arms of my family and my old familiar life. Not so great that I still haven't found a job at home and have to sort out mundane things like a new phone contract, re-starting my health insurance, renewing my driver's licence and passport, buying a car and finding a place to live, but hopefully keeping busy with things like that (and jobhunting if I can get organised and give myself a sufficiently good kick up the arse to get moving) will at least stop me from missing things in Korea. Now if only the exchange rate would comply so I don't lose so much money when I transfer it all home! Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that our economy is doing so well, but it's a pain in the proverbial nonetheless that I'm probably going to lose at least a couple of thousand one way or another.

Freakin' scary view from the top of the Rainbow run

Anyway, I'm not one for a big farewell (after all, I like to entertain the somewhat sentinmental hope of seeing close friends again at some point and in this day and age, there's really no excuse not to if you're determined enough), so I'm planning on copying dear Lala's idea of eating my way towards a goodbye. I've pretty much done or can do everything else that's a must before I go. I went snowboarding on the weekend at Yongpyeong (where the winter Olympics will be held) and am proud of myself for making it down the green circle/black diamond 1.5km Rainbow run TWICE without serious injury and without having to ask to be towed down. I may or may not have had to walk the last 100m (which should be re-named 'Super Icy Death Alley') on the second run, and wondered once or twice why the hell I'd decided to snowboard it the second time after almost shattering my tailbone and winding myself three times the first, but that's besides the point. Sadly I probably won't have time to go to my beloved Spaland in Busan before I go, so I'll guess I'll have to make do with the Dreamplus one and keep Spaland for next time. Foodwise, these are on my 'must-eat' list:

Bossam

     -Jja-jang-myeon (black bean noodles)
     -Bossam (steamed pork and cabbage bundles)
     -Jogae-gu-i (grilled shellfish)
     -Naengmyeon (cold buckwheat noodles)
     -Dalk-galbi (sauteed spicy chicken)
     -Samgyetang (spring chicken soup)
     -Soondae (pig blood noodle sausages), preferably with ddokbokkie (stirfried chili rice-cakes)
     -Haejangguk ('hangover' pork bone stew)

Naengmyeon

     -Soondubu-jjigae (soft tofu soup)
     -Samgyopsal (barbecqued pork)
     -Makkolli (a sort of yoghurty-beer-flavoured rice alcohol)

Most of these I can really make at home, but it's nice to have the real thing without also having the washing up :) Hopefully there's also some magic way I can eat all of these without putting on all the weight I've lost recently, especially since I'm also sure to pig out  when I get home too ㅋㅋ

Anyway, on that note I'll leave off. The teachers at my school were supposed to all go hiking today at the fortress, but with it being a balmy 3 degrees outside right now and all - now being 12pm so significantly warmer than it was three hours ago when we were all supposed to set off - only the pro hikers appear to have actually gone for it. I guess they had no choice after turning up to school in their serious outfits and all with all their kit! I think the rest of us are just going to meet them for lunch (which in Korea also means alcohol of course) and defrosting somewhere soon. Happy Monday all and for those of you at home, see you down undah sooner rather than later :)