It's amazing how time flies and much has happened since May 13 which was the last time I hastily posted a blog.

Around the world there seems to be chaos and mayhem and especially here in China. The Sichuan earthquakes were massive and although the relief response has been and continues to be equally massive the trouble is not yet over. It seems now likely that several quake lakes that have swollen may burst and flood some big cities. The government are now set to evacuate over 1 million people downstream, so there is more drama to unfold yet.

On the school front I'm happy to say that after much wrangling I managed to get a relief appeal going at the school and together we raised nearly 10 thousand in five days which was pretty good and also I started a clothing drive which was well supported. Sadly the Korean management at the school haven't really got behind this and although many students and families gave generously many Koreans view their Chinese neighbors as second class citizens both covertly and overtly. From a sociological perspective it is interesting to witness first hand that even now in the year 2008 some races genuinely feel they are superior to another race. From a personal perspective it makes me feel sick and helpless to be surrounded by such ignorant prejudice.

Opportunities to hopefully "educate" the Koreans about this issue happen regularly and I have no qualms in pointing out quite colorfully to some of the bigots the error in their ways. The western teachers who I work with are all of a similar mind so there is always an issue or two simmering away. Other than that and also the management of the school, which are collectively the most useless bunch I've ever seen, continuing to find new and improved ways to annoy people, disrupt, mislead and generally fuck everything up. Apart from that school is going really well. I've got a fantastic rapport with all my kids and genuinely look forward to seeing them each day which is great.

After school I've been playing soccer every Thursday plus tennis twice a week. I haven't been to the gym for a few weeks but on average I get there once or twice a week too so overall I'm feeling fit and fresh.

Socially there has been a bit going on with a couple of bar nights and day trips in the past month or so, but mostly life in general is entertaining enough with a new sight, sound or experience occurring daily. Teachers day back on the 15th of May was pretty special though. It was just a half day at school in the morning and the afternoon off which is good enough. All classes were canceled however and the students of each class with the help of some mothers prepared special treats for all the teachers. Our job was to roam from classroom to classroom sampling food and just hanging out with the kids which was fun.

My homeroom class were fantastic and they all made me a card with a heartwarming letter inside plus an amazing array of chocolates, flowers, health drinks and also a stuffed toy puppy dog which is very cute. The parents too also gave me a nice card and a gift voucher from a local department store which kept Sarika happy the following day. All in all it was very touching and very gratifying to be honored and thanked for just doing my job. We also had a nice trip to the beach last week with the kids which was hell to organise but fun on the day. Here are some photos of my Teachers day flowers and apartment on the first slideshow and the second is the little darlings at the beach :)



Last weekend was cherry picking week out in the countryside. So Sarika, her classmates and myself spent a few hours picking and eating cherries at a local farm. It was good fun and together we all had lots of laughs.

The week before was entertaining, exhilarating and exciting too, as I attended my first (of hopefully many more!) international car show. Amazing, girls everywhere and more than one or two were genuinely pleased to be getting their photo taken by the tall, balding Australian with the slight limp. The cars however were still the star attraction and there were all the big names on display.

Thats about it really for a recap of the past few weeks. The weather's warming up and I'm going to check out the beaches in the next week or two so stay tuned.

Here's a couple more slideshows. The first is a teacher from school's birthday party and the second is Sarika and my trip to the park during the short and a little underwhelming (coming from Jeju-do) spring cherry blossom season.
Enjoy :)