Korea!
I've been here for nearly three weeks, so I should probably find time
to put a proper update together.

The scariness of the language barrier is starting to wear off. I'm
learning hangul (the script in which Korean is written - its history
is pretty fascinating, look it up), and am almost at the point where I
can actually _read_ it, as opposed to a step-by-step deciphering of
some mysterious code. The Korean language is still utterly beyond me
except for a few simple terms. Hello (annyeong haseyo), goodbye
(annyong-hi kyeseyo), thank you (kamsa hamnida), train station (gicha
yeok), please (chuseyo). In dealings with merchants and waiters, we
rely on extremely elementary Korean, vague gestures, and English
baby-talk. So far we're muddling through, though we've had to give up
on a few enterprises through inability to communicate.

One such was when I bought garlic yesterday. It is not possible, I
report after several experiments, to buy garlic here in quantities
smaller than about a kilogram. We have a fruit bowl at home entirely
filled with the stuff. The cultural explanation for this is probably
kimchi. Kimchi is the staple of staples in Korea. It's some vegetable
(mainly cabbage), fermented in, amongst other things, chilli and
garlic. Lots of garlic. They eat it with every single meal and
constantly make vast quantities of the stuff. Fridges sold here have
between a fifth and a third of their volume set aside just for kimchi.
Our home needs are rather more modest, and we are thus overwhelmed
with garlic.

The city in which we live is Yeongdong-gun. It has a population of
about 50,000, of whom about eight are English speakers. I know this
because they were all at dinner last week. When only a handful of
locals speak your language you become pretty tight-knit, and we've
been inducted. Our main friends are Bryan and Denise, a Canadian
couple who've been here for three months. Their confidence is
reassuring, almost as reassuring as it is to learn that we have
somebody other than each other to talk to. Not that we lack for
attention - Koreans, especially out here where they don't see many,
are totally fascinated by Westerners. In fact, a Korean schoolgirl
just gave me a carton of apple juice. The other night in a restaurant,
the waitress (or possibly manager/owner) showed us photos from her
holiday in Europe. Anyone with any English wants to try it. A typical
interaction with a child at my school the other day went:

Child: Hello!
Me: Hello! How are you?
Child: Yes.

So that's the point we're at now.

Speaking of work: I work at Hwanggang Elementary School. Hwanggan is a
little town about 17 or so kilometres away; I can get the bus in, but
most mornings I get a ride with one or other of the teachers. The
actual teaching is pretty fun. I teach everyone from kindergarteners
to sixth grade, and am basically a classroom assistant for Mr Jin, the
real English teacher. I correct everybody, and speak English loudly
and clearly. The disappointing part of the job mainly comes in the
hours. Today I taught four classes, two hours and forty minutes of
work. I was _at_ work, however, for over _seven_ hours. I'm in by nine
and don't get to leave until half past four. I'm struggling to find
things to fill all this wasted time - I'm reading books, surfing the
Net, working on my Korean, but I still get super bored. It's a bit
irritating.

And now I'm out of time. Hopefully my next update will be more
coherent! It's doubtful.