Wales is rainy and wet like usual and really puts me off going anyway but I did make some sort of effort. I wanted them to see some Welsh history and also took them to see the sights in London.

20061227 UK Castle Coch
This castle was actually rebuilt and it is kept fairly built up unlike some of the other ruins in Wales (although they are breathtaking too). It gives a nice impression of how people might have lived in the past. Anyway we went on a grey day to find some of the castle covered in scaffolding unfortunatly. Still the castle was nice enough to walk around. It’s smaller than I thought though. When I was a child this fairy tale castle seemed much larger.

20061228 UK London
One of my visiting friend’s hadn’t been to London before so we took a day out there. We did the tourist thing and saw all the sites there including Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, houses of Parliament, London eye, Tower bridge, a walk on the river etc. We wanted to see London Dungeon too but when we got there the queue was huge and the lady said even if we waited in line we probably wouldn’t get in. After all the sights we headed to a restaurant that my other friend suggested but we had to wait for 40 minutes to get a table but the food portions were large. A tiring day all in all.

Another set of shots from my time in Korea that don’t fall into a titled set. I actually uploaded these a while ago but forgot to write up here. Anyway…

20061224 Killer Kimchi
Eating syabu-syabu with friends; another empty subway carriage; religious art; a BMW-mini on a roof in Insadong or a model at least; soju guys on stilts; eating pizza with friends while a friend draws on the place mats and makes animals do inappropriate things; seasons greetings on the way home; drinking coffee with a friend; the empty carriage again; the Autumn leaves in Yonsei; a friend cooking for me and my room mate; Crown Bakery sign in Korean; a friend getting friendly with a pole on the bus; pictures with people from school and my class; level 6 graduate from the Korean course; a view of Seoul from a friend’s apartment’s rooftop and the rooftop buildings; a shopping centre all decorated for Christmas and the picture area out front of it.

My friend called me up and invited me over to his new place in Bristol, England. So me and another friend hopped across the border and after some time spent in a lost state we found his house. He’s secured himself a newly refurbished house that looks and feels very nice. He’s also got himself a good job. All my friends seem to have done the same - graduated Uni and got a job. Sometimes I feel I should have done just that but in all honesty I’m glad I didn’t. The inspiration I’ve got from travelling is priceless and I’ve learned a lot about the world and myself. Anyway that night we hit up a bar and drank the bar’s own ale. Actually the bar had a variety of ales that they have brewed. Each with a different taste and colour. I mostly enjoyed the wheat ale. It had a tang of vanilla and banana while being surprisingly easy to drink. After drinking and catching up we headed out into the cold winter night. Interestingly the Bristol city council have put urinals in the street for drunken men to relieve themselves in and they were in good use!

Bristol city centre like most other city centres is pretty messy (see pic) but amongst the mess was some nice architecture, design, parks and traditional style pubs. I’ll have to pop back to Bristol another time and take it in all without my beer goggles.

Anyway after drinking on the way home we ate some delicious pizza before crashing out on my friend’s spare futons. Actually I had a really good sleep with a minimal amount of dreaming. Lately I’ve had way too little sleep so it was nice to relax knowing I had no plans to wake up to. The next day we entertained ourselves playing Nintendo’s latest box of tricks - Wii. Wow, it’s really impressive. The movement sensing controller works really well and really does add an extra dimension fun element to some games. I’m glad I had the chance to have a go on that before I head back to Korea. Yep, a fun couple days in all.

The fog has been really bad recently. So much so that planes aren’t taking off. I took a picture before the fog got really dense (click left image). I wasn’t sure where my car was and finally it appeared from deep in the fog.
When we learned the vocabulary about fog in Korean class the teacher asked, “Which country is famous for a lot of fog?” The class all agreed the UK. Fog can be a problem though for example I was driving on a familiar road but I hadn’t driven that way for a year now due to living in Korea. Anyway, I accidentally took a wrong turning from a round-a-bout. “Fine”, I thought I’ll just turn around and take the correct exit. However it was one of those turn-offs where you have to drive half a mile or so before it’s safe to do a u-turn. By then the fog was extremely dense and the opposite side of the road went a different direction to that of my side of the road. I turned to the other side and followed it best I could but due to the fog I couldn’t read the signs and ended up missing a slip road to get back on to the round-a-bout. So I was driving around completely lost until I saw a sign pointing me to a motorway that I knew. Thankfully I found my way home from there. Ah fog, I love it’s eerie atmosphere and the sense of silence that comes with it but it can be hinder progress. I long for a lonely walk in that fog to feel it’s presence and the mood change that comes of it.

My English quickly broke back into a Welsh accent and I’m speaking normally again. It’s nice knowing that even if I’m out of an English speaking country for a long time when I do come back I’ll always be able to readjust real quickly. Wales seems kind of boring after being in Seoul so long. All the shops here close at 5pm, it gets dark from 4pm, everything is really expensive and there’s not a lot to do but I have met my family and my friends. Also this week a friend I first met in Korea has come here for a few weeks. I think he’s a little bored too but it can’t be helped. We have a bunch of stuff to do in the coming weeks though so his trip should be nice. In between all this I need to find the time to study for a listening exam and get some exercise done. It’s possible.

The city is under major construction now. Apparently some huge golf tournament is coming this way so the council is taking the opportunity to fix anything that needs fixing and to redevelop some areas. It’s sometimes frustrating we have to wait for a major event before the council will pay out. Anyway there is new bridge that looks like a big crane or something. It’s pretty ugly and as of yet it doesn’t actually go anywhere significant. Apparently there will be a new University campus built along the river bank so it’ll be complemented by that. We’ll see.

I guess it’s nice to be back in Wales. I miss my live in Seoul already but it’s nice to have some stress free days and taking the time to sit back and listen to some good music without a care in the world. The weather here is grey and rainy but it’s just the weather I grew up with. It’s amazing how my mind has just snapped back into Wales life. In Seoul I’d be searching for an umbrella and hoping not to get wet but here if it rains I just go out, get wet and feel completely normal.

Yesterday night I hooked up with my best friends here. We headed to the capital city, Cardiff, for some drinks. It was nice to hear native conversation and catch up on what’s new. My friends personalities are the same as ever but there appearances have changed slightly. Some have lost weight, others have gained and their hair… well. Change is usually a gradual process but while I have been away change seems rapid. Not just my friends and family but the cityscape too. Buildings have been flattened and a new bridge has spawn over the river. Life goes on even if I’m not here.

I’ve been away doing exams. My results were pretty good actually. I had my lowest speaking score for a while but I got my highest writing score ever. Korean language takes a lot of effort to get good at but I can see the direction I need to head so I expect to improve quickly from now on. Not much else has happened the last few days. I’ve been drinking with friends, various places for shopping, hanging out in the local area and preparing to go home to Wales for a month.

Actually this term I learned a lot. I do feel I have improved especially in understanding correctly what people are saying. This term “practice makes perfect” couldn’t be more true. Next term I intend to meet my Korean friends more often for the sake of listening and culture. In addition I will practice long sentences.

I helped a friend today. Firstly we went to another friends building and up onto the roof. From there you can see all over Seoul with it’s high rise buildings, smog, mountains and recognisable landmarks (see the pic). It’s quite a site and I would have loved to spend some warm summer nights up there drinking and chilling to music while satisfying my eyes with the night view. Anyway we went into the apartment and he packed his bags. Basically my friend is storing his stuff at my place over the break. It didn’t look like too much stuff to move at first but his bags somehow spawned into so much that we needed an extra pair of hands to move it all. When we got to my building the security guard couldn’t be bothered to open the door for us even though we had no free hands between us. He was just yelling instructions of how to open the door best in our situation. If he had stretched his arm he could have pushed the door open. How’s he going to take care of the building if he’s that lazy. Anyway tonight I will relieve all my stress by drinking with my classmates.