Crossroads

This weekend has been rather...wet. Saturday I went to Gwangju, the principal city in the province below mine in the hope of buying some Korean paintings. I spent 3 hours wandering around trying to find this specific street (Art Street) as many Koreans didn't know where it was, including the taxi drivers. I went to the tourist information office, who could do no more than tell which bus to get on, and to look out for a particular Girls High School. Despite keeping my eyes peeled, I did not see a roadsign for the school (schools are always signposted) and ended up out in the sticks at the intracity bus terminal. 20 minutes later I was able to flag down a bus, and got off at some shopping streets that I spotted on the previous bus. I wandered around the streets and eventually asked a mobile phone shop assistant for directions. He drew me a map which proved to be useless (probably due to my impatience and stupidity). While all this was happening it was raining...no, bucketing. My umbrella did little to prevent me from getting absolutely drenched from head to toe.

At 6.30 I got throughly fed up and went home, anxious to be back in good time to celebrate my friend's birthday. The evening was fun and entertaining, I met an interesting Canadian, who was a thespian as well as an English teacher. However I didn't stay long, so after 3 shots of soju I went home to bed.

The next day (Sunday) I went to Wolmyeong Park to play badminton with KNC Hagwon boss and Matt, and faced more concern and critism (from boss) over my flailing health. What makes matters worse I am not used to intense excercise at 25 ㅇC. After badminton I went to a tradition Soolchip (bar) with a low roof made of mud and rudimentary wooden furniture. I felt like a hobbit. The owner was dressed in traditional clothing and sang a Pansori, which I really enjoyed. (I want to go there again, when I have a camera!).

After listening to the pansori, the denist used a strange method to determine which food is good for my health. My left forefinger was placed between my eyes and my right little finger and thumb where brought together. He tried to prise them apart, which was impossible. Next he made me turn my left forefinger the other way round. This time my finger and thumb were easy to pull apart. The "test" being satisfactory, my left hand was placed over different foods that were on the table. If my thumb and finger were easy to pull apart, the food is bad for me, if if was difficult, the food is good for me. That day, bread, Kimchi, soju and carrots were good for me, while most of the Korean foods were bad for me. He next did this to his friend. At first the initial test did not work, but after removing his watch and taking his phone out of his pocket, he passed the test. It was all very strange...it seems to work using electromagnetic waves of some kind, but I could not work out what or how.

At my suggestion, we all went to the Noraebang, and a Korean friend of mine joined us. After noraebang my friend and I went back to mine for pizza and a video, where he told me that he wants to be my boyfriend...it seems that the language barrier does not put him off, so I am very wary of his intentions.

...

My life is at a cross roads...probably the biggest one I have encountered so far. It is likely that Choo-young/Frank and I will set up a hagwon of our own. The more we talk about it and explore the options and obstacles, the more it seems viable. If I go ahead with this, it means that I will be based here for the rest of my life. If the business is successful (and it probably will be) I will get more job satisfaction and more money than I can ever dream of working for someone else. Teaching..management/business...everything. Choo-young feels the same way. It would be extremely stressful, but worth it I think. With the money I earn I will be able to fly back to England more regularly, and be able to pay for peoples flights when they come to visit me. Choo-young's family are very positive about this (esp his brother in law who used to own a business).

His brother-in-law wants to put some money towards it and drive the bus to pick up the students, his sister wants to man the reception desk and Choo-young feels that he may be able to recruit some Korean English teachers from fellow English students. Meanwhile I am spreading the word amongst my colleagues , ex-colleagues and friends, so they have the option of working for me if they choose. It saves advertising fees...but we will probably need to advertise anyway. I also need to find out what kind of visa I need to set up my own business. There so much to do, it makes my brain ache!