Todays Mood: Zombified

I am sleepy. Sleepy and happy.

In other news; today saw an ice-skating field trip, there's only 6 lessons to go before a 10-day break and Mr Neil will arrive from Northampton on Friday for his Korean vacation. Dear Korea, expect some English over-politeness, appreciation of your spring weather, moderate leering at your short skirts and some alcohol fueled roadtrips...

I'm going for a nap.

Sweet dreams.

The right, the left & the now

If you were to carefully remove your scalp, here is a highly detailed scientific image of exactly what your brain would look like...Thanks to the continued free time of Monday to Friday afternoons, i find myself wondering and curious about many things. One day last week my curiosity led me to this website: TED Talks and ever since i watched this video: strokestudy i've been trying to make friends and spend more time with my right-brain.

Within the lush, green, comfortable and colourful right sided garden of the brain, activity is all about freedom, creativity and feelings.

The plain and uniformed left-sided office block of the brain deals in logical processes, facts, figures, reasoning and making strategies.

You and me, we both use different parts of our brains depending upon which situation or scenario is presenting itself at the current point of time. The predominantly autonomous choice of which part of the brain gets control in a given situation, is what defines our charactor and personality. However, the concious mind can only focus on messages from one part of the brain at a time. So, our actions can be labelled either left or right sided.

People who use mostly their right-brain are more likely to be; spatially aware, creative, imaginative, aware of a bigger picture seeing everyone & everything as one and be more focused on the 'now' & future rather than the past. Lefties shoudln't be classed as opposite in a negative light, just different. The left-side users are likely to be; better skilled with words, language, maths & science, logical & practical thinkers and able to focus on the now while equally comprehending the past.

The right brain says this is what you look like today:

In the same way that practises like meditation and tantra can 'turn off' the left-side of the brain, i think being in Korea is reducing the use of the left-side of my brain. Thanks to a generous contract, the life of an English teacher here in Korea is a nice one, dependant upon where you apply your attention, thus keeping either a positive or a negative outlook. Also, children are good users of the right-side of the brain, and for the English teacher who has no cirriculum or paperwork responsibilities, it's easy for them to influence me in my role as a happy cultural prop. You see, my job isn't really a job, i simply hang out with kids in the morning and read/study/relax/listen to music in the afternoon.

30th August 2007...
Memories of my first hours in Korea will always stay with me. Particularly walking into the place i now call my apartment for the first time. I didnt un-pack for 2 days as i wasn't convinced i'd stay. I'd never been so low or lonely as i was for those first 12 hours in my new home. My left brain was winning, i was thinking of the past and not the bigger picture. Since those 12 hours though, Korea has been the location for a personal journey of experience which has taught me the value of being positive, being open, being love and just being.

18th April 2008...
Love. That reminds me of a dinner last week. Mr Hwang asked me if it was ok to use the phrase "i love my students" when talking about his class. I said yes and that love has many-many meanings. We then talked about the 5 different words the Greeks use for love. We also talked about chest hair, Will Smith, spicy food, words wich rhyme with Mraz, stubble, the relationship between hangovers & production methods of soju Vs wine and North Korea. The food was spread evenly over 4 hours and washed down with a constant flow of beer (and soju). It could almost have been a meal with the good company and setting i love in Amstelveen. Right brain now winning.

"Paradise is anywhere you choose it to be..." (anon.)

It's easy to live in the 'now' as there are no worries, no stress and no negativity. For Mr Glenn, this 'now' will continue for a little while longer.

"To find peace in the present moment, one needs to either accept or act, never staying stuck" (John Kuypers)

For now... i accept, but in the not-to-distant-future, i'll act. I received some good news last week. It came in the form of an acceptance letter from Universiteit Maastricht in The Netherlands. From August 2009 i'll be going Dutch. Till August 2009, there's gonna be a contract extension in the Englishzone and the now will now include plenty of Dutch language study books.

Thank-you for the days...

“… those endless days, those sacred days you gave me. I’m thinking of the days, I wont forget a single day believe me.” Days, by The Kinks.

Yesterday was black day, it wasn’t endless and it wasn’t really sacred. Black Day is the third and final installment in the trio of Valentines related days here in Korea. Tradition states it’s the day where all the single people in relationship-obsessed Korea gather and eat ja-jang-mun (Chinese noodles in a black sauce). I politely declined; it’s tasty but it’s the messiest food you’ll ever eat. Imagine Bolognese lips multiplied by 20. And don't imagine bib, imagine wet-suit.

Here is a list of other Korean ‘days’:

January 14: Diary Day - Present your lover with a cute diary & a basket of flowers…
February 14: Valentine’s Day - When girls confess their love and shower the guys with gifts…
March 14: White Day - Time for the boys to return the favour…
April 14: Black Day - Loveless and single people eat ja-jang-mun…
May 14: Rose Day - Buy your lover a rose…
June 10: Yellow Day - If you didn’t participate in black day, today you should eat yellow curry rice…
June 14: Kiss Day - Lovers kiss to confirm their love…
July 14: Silver Day - Exchange silver rings as this shit starts to get serious…
August 14: Music Day - Relax and give your partner a home-made CD, or mix-tape if you’re retro…
September 14: Photo Day - Time for couple photos…
October 14: Wine Day - Drink wine and share love…
November 11: Ppeppero Day - Giving the gift of a Ppeppero cookie…
November 14: Movie Day - The day when lovers go to see a movie holding hands…
December 10: Hug Day - Give hugs to your loved ones...
December 14: Money Day - The day of spending generously for your lover...
December 24: Sock Day - The day of presenting socks ahead of Christmas...
(with thanks to: http://english.kbs.co.kr/index.html)

I still can’t decide if I like this quirky Korean-ism or not. There’s the obvious and slightly pessimistic school of thought that it’s simply a marketing ploy for advertisers working for Satan himself, but, on the other hand, its harmless fun and you don’t have to buy into it if you don’t want to (no marketing pun intended).

Money Day is definitely one I don’t buy into (again, no pun intended), that borderlines on immoral. The nicest cards I’ve received have been hand-made and as the song goes, the best things in life are free. For all the other days, they represent acts and gestures which I hope all couples partake in, regardless of what date & what month it is, but a gentle reminder can never be a bad thing, can it?

Korea really does seem to be that obsessed with couples and relationships though. Every time the school principal asks me, “Mr. Glenn, when will you marry?”, the puzzled expression on his face when I answer “I haven’t got a clue” always makes me smile.

Having been here for over 7 months, I’m delighted to say I’ve finally figured out who Principal Kim reminds me of. He’s really like the Christopher Walken character in ‘Wedding Crashers’.
Ok, obviously not so much in looks but the mannerisms are really similar. I shouldn’t think in a million years he reads this, but just in case, the following are all meant in a positive manor. I like him because he possesses a definite air of authority but is also as soft & sweet as your granddad, his facial expressions tell you everything, he often sits me down & makes me feel like a grandson as he tells various tales of Korean history, and when we talk, it’s very rarely about work. I like that in a boss. I like to think it means he’s happy, I’m trusted and life is rosey.

Life is rosey.

And April 15th seems to be “talk absolute rhubarb in a blog” day. Sorry.

I just deleted James Blunt

Living in a country which has four distinct seasons is a new experience to me. Korean spring is very much in the air these days. The dreary greys & browns of the rice paddies are slowly turning green & lush, flowers are blooming, animals are mating and I cleaned my bathroom.

In my humble opinion, with a new season (especially spring) should come change, in any shape or form and no matter how big or small. On a smaller scale, I got my haircut and I shaved for the first time in 3 weeks last weekend. And on a larger scale, I’ve nearly finalised my plans for September this year and finishing my contract here. At this point, the emphasis is on nearly so I’ll keep you posted.

Spring in Korea is invigorating. Exercise has moved out of the gym and on to Seolbong park or the football stadium as it’s a pleasant experience to be outside again. During the winter months I was crossing through each passing day on my desk calendar with black marker, but I haven’t done that for this month. It’s probably because I’m happy to live in the ‘now’ again and not be subconsciously counting down to the end of something.

The calendar was a gift to the Englishzone from a stationary company. The only notes I’ve made on its pages are ones telling me when the Korean national holidays are and when your birthday is. It’s Tuesday 8th April today, a very Happy Birthday to Sarah Latham. I hope this birthday is just as good as your 21st last year.

Birthday wishes are free yet meaningful, as are the following:

Hugs
Youtube
Weather
Gifts (received)
Manners
25% extra
Podcasts
Smiles
Google Earth
Walks around Seolbong Lake

Once you’ve entered your current mood on their mood chart, Musicovery (music + discovery) is also free. Musicovery will then plot an endless stream of music (until you change your mood of course) to accompany your work day, morning, afternoon, evening, study time, relaxing time, sexy time… whatever.

This afternoon, I’m feeling more energetic than calm, and more positive than dark, so I’m listening to ‘Technotronic – pump up the jam’. Earlier this morning I was more calm than energetic and I was prescribed ‘James Blunt’. I simply clicked on the delete button and Musicovery will never play me any James Blunt again. That’s smart.

I guess it’s like Pandora, but with a better presentation and it hasn’t been closed down.

Check it out: http://www.musicovery.com/


Happy Spring to you...

On the door of a toilet with Seoul

The bad news? I broke my camera. The good news? This was the last image it captured... These rules, on a poster on the door of Sk@ club's only bathroom, are obeyed each time we're there.