Goodbye Jeremy 2/Lucky escape

Saturday night was quiet but a blast. Went to K-One to met up with Jeremy, had a couple of orange juices and met Kathryn (Some Koreans like to adopt western names for themselves). Afterwards we went back to Josephs apartment and sat around chatting, eating take away chicken (yes, it was definately chicken), and in the case of everyone with me as the exception, drinking. (See my Flickr). Jeremy and Kathryn insisted on going to one of the Singing Rooms, and despite the Bronchitis, I went with them. The first song I sang went ok, "you must love me" Madonna/Evita, but it went down hill after that. Despite this I had a fantastic time. It is the first time I have done Kareoke, so I was feeling pretty proud of myself; I think I will go again once I am fully recovered.

Sunday was spent writing another 80 reports while listening to music. Late afternoon I went to Paula's and watched the Basket Ball Diaries, and Waking Ned, after doing an illegal rubbish run while the guards weren't watching.The Korean's are picky about the way they dispose of rubbish. Everything has to be seperated for recycling in different bags, and placed in specific bins. I got to see Jeremy again for the last time when he showed up to watch TV with us (he even watched Sex in the City, and I am so proud!). Paula and I helped him with his rubbish so that all he had to worry about was packing. One the way to Jeremy's apartment, we found a shopping trolley in the corridor. I jumped in while Paula raced me down the length of the corridor, smashing me into the wall. It came in useful for getting all of the rubbish from Jeremy's apartment to the bins in one go.

This morning I went back to the doctor's/Hospital. I described to the doctor how weak I was after him seeing me last. Even though I did have the occassional burst of energy, he said that if it had carried on for another couple of days, I would have been in hospital attached to a drip. I am very lucky given how low I sunk to have then turned around so quickly. I must be tough! I still have Bonchitis, but I am definately on the mend, and the doctor did not bother giving me anymore pills.

Lucky escape.

When I left work yesterday it was throwing it down. I did not have a brolly on me, so I really did not want to wait at the bus stop for 20min. This thwarted my plans over saving money. The taxi costs around W3500 or 1.80, while the bus costs W850 or 45p. W3500 may not seem like much, but it is when you only earn around 900 quid a month and half of that has been taken from you this month as a deposit for the flat. Given that I have little choice but to use some kind of transport to get to the school from where I live, you need to times that amount by at least 10, and then you start to get the idea. When I got back to my flat, I had a craving for Lotteria (Korean equivalent of MacDonalds, except that you wait 5 min after ordering the food). Such was my dedication, I walked 15 min in the pouring rain with the tail end of Bronchitis just for a bag of chips and a burger. But, oh, it tasted so good!

After Lotteria, I spent the next hour or so writing the reports that one of the English teachers gave me to complete. That is 140 kids so far, and counting, as this week is my first complete week at the school; Wednesdays was spent at a different school as a favour to The Boss's friend (Younger Brother/Older brother, as he always refers to his friends). I estimate that next month I will be writing 180 reports, and still be expected to know all the names. I dont even know the names of my closest colleagues. When it comes to Korean names, I have a mental block. I don't know why. Though I have heard that Westerners find it a struggle to remember Korean names. I dont have a problem with Indian or Pakistani names even, just Korean! Weird.