Busy In Manila

It's now less than a week until my wedding and I've spent the last 6 days with Wheng and her family who live in Manila.

Here's a list of things I've been doing or dealing with....

• The heat - When I left Korea it was -15C and dry, now it's 30C and humid. I haven't worn anything thicker than a t-shirt since I arrived while Wheng's dad has been complaining about how cold it is.
  
• Avoiding mosquitoes - they love me, plain and simple! My body, especially my arms and feet are under constant attack and I cower at night underneath my mosquito net.
  
• Traffic - Manila's traffic congestion is horrible. Everyday I squeeze into a jeepney, taxi, train or tricycle on my way int metro Manila and everyday I inhale massive amounts of toxic exhaust fumes.
  
• The LTR during rush hour - forget the Seoul subway. The Filipino version is more physical and rather scary.
  
• Noise pollution - I'm not sure what's worse, jeepney's or tricyles? Either way, I think I'm going deaf.
• Pre-nuptial pictorial - A 12 hour day at Wawa dam with some stunning pictures taken (will post soon). We had to hire someone just to make sure our belongings weren't stolen.
• Interview with our priest - Was actually quite fun as our ceremony priest just asked me a few standard questions since I'm marrying a Catholic.
• The smells - hard to describe, but most of them are very unpleasant.
  
• Meeting Wheng's friends - 'Nose Bleed' is a common phrase Filipinos use to describe how hard it is to communicate in English. Nevertheless, Wheng's friends have been very friendly.
  
• The wedding coordinator - thanks to her, I now have a better idea of what I'm meant to do on our wedding day.
  
• Government bureaucracy - you need time, patience and money to acquire documents for a inter-cultural wedding here.
  
• Meeting the immigration agent - I feel more comfortable about getting Wheng into Nz now, but so I bloody should do considering the fee I'm paying them.
• Lady boys - Seem to be very prevalent in Manila?
• My tux - is very tight at the moment. How much weight can I lose in 6 days?

Ok.....my butt is sore from sitting on this wooden chair. Catch-ya

Murray Camp Winter 12' Class Pictures

Yeah! It's all over people. No more teaching for the foreseeable future.

Today was the last day of winter camp and my last day of teaching in Korea - I hope.

Following tradition, I made my students pose for the customary 'end of camp class photo'. Here are a few mug shots of my students.

My 'advanced' class of middle-school students (1st graders) .... all 28 of them! This group was a pleasure to teach which is something I haven't said too often.

My advanced class for periods 3 & 4 (same age as above). Not a great class but they did what I asked of them (but nothing more) and generally behaved well.

A Few Winter Pictures

Tuesday night brought wild and windy weather along with the first decent snowfall of the season here in Wonju. On my way to work I took a few pictures before racing of to my office to escape the -13C frost.

The carpark at 6.30 am.

Minimal vision.

Slippery street.

Frozen rubbish.

I've always struggled to read Hangul.

Not much action on 'Kiss Road' this morning.

Cold Feet

The sun creeping down the hill.

Welcome to Yonsei.

David In Andong?

Well done to the Aussie Cricket Team who thrashed and whitewashed the Indian's 4-0 during a recent Test Match series on home soil. Always nice to see the Indians get thrashed.

As a side note, a true Aussie legend of the game, David Boon, was spotted in Andong recently and I was lucky enough to snap a picture.

David Boon, during his playing days. (source)

David Boon in Andong. Glad to the see the mustache has finally gone. Looking Good!

Farewell Dinner

A big thank you to Darryl and his wife, Kiri, for treating Gordan and myself to dinner and drinks last night.

Being our (Gord and I) last weekend in Korea, my fellow kiwi colleagues wanted to say goodbye in their own way by treating us.

Such a gesture would also be nice coming from our Korean employers, but that's never gonna happen (year of service and loyalty is just expected).

Anyway, we all had a great night.

Kiri, Darryl and Gordan tucking into some tasty Korean beef. For me, its been a very long time since I've eating at a Korean restaurant so I appreciated the experience all the more.

The 'terrible two'

After dinner snacks....yummy.

Winter 12' Camp Starts

It's that time again of the year when 100's of middle school students invade the campus while they attend the 10th Murray Camp.

This camp is designed to give disadvantaged students in Gangwon-do Province (those who live in rural areas)a chance to receive some English lessons and to experience what it might be like to attend university here.

For me this camp represents my last teaching stint in Korea and a bit of extra cash.

Over the years I've spent so much time in the classroom with adults that I usually find it difficult adjusting to working with younger students. Yesterday we leveled students and when many can't answer questions like "what is your name?", then you know as a teacher you're gonna have your work cut out.

This is my fifth Murray Camp so nothing should surprise me but you never know.

I'm meant to be teaching the advanced students but I won't believe that until I check my class this morning.

This camp is also shorter than normal (8 days instead of 7) but to be honest, all I really wanna do is get to Manila and help Wheng with our wedding preparations.

Friendly Cat

In the 5 years that I've been in Korea I've never come across a cat that wasn't petrified of humans. Admittedly many of these cats were either feral or abandoned by their owners, but the fact remains that all the cats I've seen in Korea have been shit scared of humans.

Why?

Well I've also seen my fair share of people throw stones at cats (mostly teenagers) and I've witnessed several people chasing and attempting to kick them (and other animals) simply because they were in their vicinity.

With these experiences in mind, I was totally surprised yesterday when a scruffy-looking cat ran towards me at pace while I was walking outside the Campus Sports Centre and demanded that I pat it.

It wasn't even remotely timid or worried about being being handled and seemed to love the attention. Further, once I left it followed me a good 200 m down the road before it finally turned away.

I'm fairly sure it lives somewhere under the campus bridge and based on the poor condition of its coat, I think its been living there for a quite some time.

Animals like these make me miss New Zealand all the more, where its relatively common for cats to approach random people on the street looking for affection.