Still

I think I've got a virus. Most likely a slow manifestation of the flu. Everything always drags out when it comes to me. If I have a cold instead of it lasting a week, it drags out for 3 weeks. It's shitty. So I'm feeling exhausted. All my muscles are aching and cramping. Makes it hard to work. My chest has random sore spasms. Yeah that's great when I'm carrying heavy things at work. Real good.For once I just wish I could sleep like a normal person does. Sick or not I don't get enough sleep. Most times it doesn't bug me. People always exclaim that they couldn't live this way. What way is that? It's the only way I've ever known. In my entire life there's only a few ocassions where I can remember having a really good sleep, a sleep that I awoke refreshed and ready to start the day.

Simon

I'm Disappointed

There are two people in my life that have been disappointing me lately.
The first person is making a stupid mistake. They know what they’re doing is wrong, yet they still do it. In the end someone, probably two people, are going to end up getting very hurt. I suppose its a matter of greed and weakness, but that isn’t an excuse. When you care for someone you don’t make bad choices like this, which I can only conclude indicates that this person really doesn’t feel as strongly about the other person as they care to believe. You can sugar coat it and make all the excuses in the world, at the end of the day its just plain wrong.
I’m not sure how I feel knowing full well what’s happening and not doing anything to stop it. It doesn’t feel right. Its really none of my business.
Second, and not entirely isolated from the first case, is that I don’t understand why a person would say a thing that they should know full well is going to hurt someone, only to repeat the same dose again a few days later. It can’t be stupidity, it really can’t, so it has me thinking that it might be something else.
The reality check from the other day really didn’t sink in all that well. If there’s any stupidity then its highly probable its on my behalf.
If anything it puts a whole dampener on the ‘trust’ thing, or at least my perception of it.
People just continue to disappoint.

Simon

Damn head cold.

Wednesday, December 6th, 2006
Written by: David @ 9:14 am
The last couple of days I’ve been suffering from one of those annoying head colds where everything in my head feels blocked. My is completely blocked off, and this morning I woke with a thumping headache to go along with it. After work in the morning, I went to the local pharmacy and bought some medication that I know is going to help, Actifed. For me its a powerful acting drug that clear my nose to some degree and gives a little relief from colds.
However, one of the side effects of Actifed is that it makes me become terrible irritable. I posted about it the last time I took it earlier this year. So I spent the day being miserable, not talking to anyone, and doing my darn best not to fall asleep. Of course almost every single class I had I did fall asleep, even if only for a few minutes, as a result most of my classes were a walk in the park for the students.
This morning I woke up feeling more congested so I popped in another tablet. I don’t enjoy taking them, but I don’t feel I have too much of a choice now.
And I want to go back to sleep now.
[Comments (0)]

A wonderful 24 hours.

Saturday, December 2nd, 2006
Written by: David @ 11:25 pm
What a fucking awesome 24 hours I’ve had. Last night I went out with Aaron and my taekwondo teacher for a bit of Korean barbeque, some flavored soju, and some beer. While that in itself is nothing spectacular we managed to meet a couple of new foreigners in Andong who, apparently, had been living here for the past 7 or so months and not really met too many other foreigners. We talked for a few hours and they seem like nice people, so we exchanged numbers and we’ll catch up sometime next week for a meal.
I actually plan on organizing a little get together sometime this week before I head off to Australia on Saturday. Nothing big, just a few friends, and as it would seem, a couple of new friends too.
After our beers we walked home and noticed that it had snowed, lightly, but enough for significant amounts to have accumulated on car and roof tops. Being the juvenile so-and-so that I am I could resist making snowballs and pounding my taekwondo teacher and Aaron, of which they both fought back. And of course the night wouldn’t be complete without writing swear words in the snow on cars, both in English and Korean. Oh well, nice to see my youth hasn’t left me completely.
Today I got up latish, had a nice warm shower and went out to do a bit of shopping. As I had mentioned before I had planned on taking the girl out to a fancy restaurant out of town. After consulting with all my Korean friends, they told me that perhaps it wasn’t a good idea to rely on taxis getting there and back. Aside from costing a small fortune, you couldn’t guarantee that they would actually take me there to begin with.
So we spent the afternoon listening to music in the apartment before going out later on for a Japanese sushi meal (conveyor belt food!). She also, surprisingly, bought me a whole bunch of gifts for Christmas. I had told her before that I would bring her back something nice from Australia when I got back, and still plan to. I did buy her some very expensive chocolates and half a dozen beautiful roses. She was impressed.
We spent the rest of the night watching a movie and enjoying each other’s company.
You can just feel something in the air…
Tomorrow I have no plans. So I’m going to see if my cash card is working, for whatever reason I couldn’t take any money out tonight from the ATM, so its a bit of a concern.
Umm… and I might see her again… *going red*
6 Comments »
Hi David!Well, I believe this is my first comment on your blog, and I am quite ashamed, because I’ve been reading for at least a year(can’t believe how time flies…!!!)I’ve enjoyed reading all your adventures in Korea (including North) and China. It’s all very interesting to me, I’ve never been to any asian country except a few hours stopovers at airports on the way to Europe!Also of course read about all the ‘girl trouble’, and have wanted to make comments sometimes, but first of all it’s all quite personal of course, and secondly, I met my husband at 16, and am still happy with him 8 years later, ha ha, so I am very lucky indeed, and well, it’s a bit to easy for me to say something like ‘don’t worry, it’ll all work itself out!!Anyway….. congrats on ‘the girl’, and I hope it keeps going very well for you! And enjoy the trip back to Perth, and I see you have my blog in your sidebar (thanks!), so hopefully you’ll have plenty of fun stuff to do!Will you be here for the bloggers meetup, it’s on the 13th? You should go, and so should every other Perth blogger reading this :p I was thinking of skipping for once (have been to all in the last 6 or so months!), but it’s too much fun, and I never have anything on a Wednesday night anyway….
so, maybe seeyou!And otherwise have a great holiday!And now I’ve gotten past the hurdle of this first comment(silly me), I’ll leave a comment more often!:)
Simone
Comment by Simone — 3/12/2006 - Sunday @ 3:50 pm
No writing your name in the snow? You’ve obviously graduated beyond the most juvenile stage….
Comment by daeguowl — 3/12/2006 - Sunday @ 10:04 pm
Simone: Thanks for leaving a comment. Its always nice to have some feedback or hear what other people have to say regarding my posts and their own personal experience. Please feel free to leave as many as you like.
DaeguOwl: Only took 28 years…
Comment by David — 3/12/2006 - Sunday @ 10:35 pm
Woa! I remember when you were 23 turning 24!!! what the?!?! I feel really old! Though I know you’d definatley remember me turning 19 too!! (and I’m almost 24 now!! holy cow!). Funny thing - I don’t feel any different from when I was 20 (aside from perhaps my weight. Meh) do you feel like that?
Glad to hear you had a lovely weekend/date! Roses and chocolates! How romantic! I’m so jealous!
Comment by Paris — 4/12/2006 - Monday @ 8:10 am
Paris: All girls deserve roses and chocolates And yeah, I am an old git. Then again, only as old as the girl ……
Comment by David — 4/12/2006 - Monday @ 10:02 am
I shall make note of roses and chocolates and make sure I get them toot sweet!
Comment by Paris — 4/12/2006 - Monday @ 11:15 am

First Snow of My Life

Another week rolls around and now its merely 1 week before I head off home. Today, apparently, was also the first snow in Andong. I know this because my Australian friend just outside of Andong sent me an SMS this morning saying so. I quickly looked out the window, and while I didn’t at first see anything, I noticed something small drifting down from the sky. Now it was either a very small snow flake or my eyes were playing tricks on me, but for her sake I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt and say it was snow. So here we are, December 1, and the first snow of the season.
My weekend is looking interesting, without being too hectic. I still have a few last minute (week) things I need to do before I head off home, but nothing too urgent. I’ll be traveling light taking only my large backpack and not the suitcase as I did last year. Now that was a hassle on the subways!
On Saturday I’m taking the girlfriend to a nice romantic dinner at a restaurant I know just outside of Andong in Pungsan (풍산, about 20~25 minutes). I plan on going by taxi with her, but getting back may be a different story altogether. I asked one of my Korean friends if you can call a taxi, as you would in Australia, and she said you could, but its very expensive. Not that it would deter me, but I wouldn’t want to pay a huge fee for a short 15 minute ride back into town. I could hire a car, but I don’t have my license and it would cost probably 2 or 3 times more regardless.
The bike is another option, but is that really romantic? And, I don’t really want to ride with someone on the back, its just too dangerous, especially if its going to start snowing on me. I wouldn’t even go into how cold it’ll be!
Sunday, well, I’ll just take that one as it comes. I’m hoping for a relaxing day. Maybe walk around Andong’s small town square and see if there’s any last minute shopping, and catch a movie or two.
Oh, I just saw online that regular Apple iPod earphones are $48. $48!? you’ve got to be joking right?
Today is also Day 1 of the second Test between Australia and England in the cricket. After the first Test (which for the most part was lob-sided) I expect a much improved English performance, so fingers crossed that Australia can start off well. I’ll be getting right back into the cricket when I get home and have already penciled in a few games to watch back home at the WACA.
Ok, time for a nice hot shower!

David

1 Comment »
Now she’s being referred to as “the girlfriend” - the cat is out of the bag.
Apple must use a very expensive brand of white paint for everyone to look like an idiot. Or tosser. Whatever.

Comment by Hammy — 1/12/2006 - Friday @ 8:39 pm

Korean Keyboards

I got up early this morning with the intent on doing a couple of things. During my hot, morning shower I stood there weighting up the option of going out in the cold, or staying home in my nice, warm apartment. I really didn’t want to go and deal with this silly cold weather (see, I’ve become even more lazy since quitting taekwondo!) but I convinced myself that once I was outside then I’d be alright and be happy that I made the effort.
What I needed to buy was a Korean keyboard that I could use back home while I was back home in Oz (that I mentioned before) and walked down to the road to a computer store. The actual computer store burnt down 2 or 3 months ago, but I do recall seeing a new sign in an adjacent building and figured they had relocated there. They hadn’t, but it was just full of boxes, no doubt left over stock from the burnt shop. The new shop is currently being built and probably won’t be open for another few weeks. That wasn’t going to help me.
So I tried another computer store about 10 minutes in the other direction from my apartment. When I got there I noticed that it was closed, and had only realized it was 10 past 10 in the morning, and most small shops were still closed. Instead of hanging around, seeing as it could open within 5 minutes or a couple of hours depending on how the owner felt, I moved downtown to a computer store that I knew would be open. I popped into a random crap store (one I had never been to but had passed many time before) on the way there, resisted the urge to buy anything (I could have easily walked out with a hundred dollars worth of crap) and managed to pick up a cheap $10 (AUD) keyboard. Nothing special, but it has, as displayed in the picture, Korean characters.
You try typing Korean without them!
The day went relatively quickly. I’d like to personally congratulate our head teacher at the school for, once again, after promising changes to all classes, and giving me a break (for when I do get back from my trip), not delivering in any of them. Not only are we all keeping the same classes, but she’s made changes that have even made some of the other teachers raise their eyebrows. Moving a troublesome student from a small, manageable class, to a large, rowdy class for one. Her reason; she thinks I can manage him better then any other teacher. Pfft. Not in class of 12 missy!
I can’t help but think what the hell she does with her time. Not only did she not make noticeable changes to classes (aside from the one above, questionable at best) but she’s moved a few classes down books when they need to go up. I don’t know, I shouldn’t care, but I do. Hard not to when you see the kids almost every day for the last 2 years.
Oh well.

David