Boring News Update

Hello all :)

As I write you, I'm listening to Michael Jackson, the kid.... Amazing life journey, isn't it? I was fortunate enough to find a double cd of the essential MJ in a bookstore for about R114,00, a near steal, as I'm sure prices are gonna skyrocket worldwide now as everyone tries to get as much MJ as they can.

It is unbelievably hot here. Temperatures easily reach 27deg C by 07:30 in the morning, and continue to climb throughout the day. And to think, I was put off from working in the Middle East due to the heat! After Korea, I think I can handle the Mid East! Apparently, the ozone layer over Korea has been seriously depleted. I'm not surprised, especially when one considers the amount of waste and unnecessary use of plastic packaging. EVERYTHING gets sealed in plastic....even deodorants, condiments, like tomato sauce etc...the sealed bottles are wrapped in plastic, etc etc etc. Nice thing about the heat for the past 3-4 days, though, is that it has been hot and dry like CT summer, so easier for me to handle. And of course, staff room and classrooms are air-conditioned, so one only feels the heat when outside. But today, the humidity has started settling in, so sauna time again!

Last Tuesday, one of my colleagues - the lady who had invited me for supper 2 weeks ago - invited me to go hiking up the mountain before school Wednesday morning. I felt too bad to say no....so went walking with her at 5am the next morning, right to the top of the mountain! Needless to say, I was thoroughly exhausted for the rest of the week, right up until this morning (Sunday)! Don't mention how I could hardly walk for the next 3 days! Eina! But at least that means my body needed the exercise. She now wants this to be a weekly routine :( (I'm trying to find ways of getting out of it. My other Korean friends are thoroughly enjoying my dilemma - laughing at my pain. Bladdywell!)

Another Capetonian had invited me over to her place on Friday night for card games on the roof of her apartment building. She lives just outside Daegu in the opposite direction from me, so there was quite a bit of travelling involved, but I didn't mind, as the public transport system here is so efficient, that it's a pleasure after travelling SA's public transport system for so long. Everything just goes soooo much faster and regularly and on time! And it's cheap, to boot, even private taxi's. It was a beautiful evening, we sat on the roof and played cards by the light of the stars and tealight candles. Met some more people, including a nice girl from Puerto Rico, who is also working here as an English teacher. Nice thing was, 4 of us were Capetonians :) So it felt just like home.

I spent the night at the Regent Hotel again (now my favourite hotel in Daegu) and did a bit of shopping Sat morning before heading back to the country. I checked out another big popular department store, called Dong-A. And yet again, enjoyed shopping in Korea. Freebies, freebies. I bought vitamin supplements and got a free set of the latest food-storage technology in Korea. More facial freebies at Aritaum (cosmetic store), even though all I bought were some face masks - they have these paper/cloth face masks, pre-soaked in various treatments, which you place on your face, remove and dispose of. No hassle with tissuing off or rinsing hardened mask off your face :)

I just have to say, that although I have never considered myself a shopaholic - that's my sister's department, not mine - I have come to enjoy shopping in Korea! Many changes taking place in my life over here.....

Other than that, it's been a rather quiet time, and this week ahead is also gonna be quiet, thanks to exams, so I have tons of free time on my hands :) But after that, I will be working every weekend for the next 5 weekends on various English camps and teacher meetings, in addition to normal working weeks, even in the school vac. These kids don't get a break here. They have school in the school vac! What's up with that?

A normal school day already lasts until 5 or 6pm, daily late night study sessions till 10pm during normal school week, they also have a period 0 on their timetable for extra study - before 1st period of the day, plus extra period after school day for more study, plus some kids go to a private academy, called haegwon - after school, school every alternate Saturday, extra classes during school vacation.... Of course, the major focus is on maths, science and English. So for extra vac classes, my co-teacher and I will be teaching science in English! Of course, I'll have to study the science material before that, so it should be interesting - some of you will remember that at one time in my life, I wanted to be a scientist :). I also have to work on a short drama skit for the local county drama competition.

These poor kids are under so much school pressure, it's no wonder the teen suicide rate is so high here. But Korea actually beats the US with the level of maths and science at school. Anyway, I finish my last camp on Friday August 7th, and then hop on a plane to Hong Kong Saturday 8th! I'll be boarding that plane with a very big vengeance, I'm sure!!

So folks, that's all the news I have for you right now. A bit boring compared to earlier stuff, I'm sure.... But hey, I'm still communicating with y'all :)

Lots of love to all

Andrea

I'm a Speed Freak!

Hi all!

How are things going in the cold wet Cape?

My side, the heat is debilitating, a natural sauna. All the forests and steaming rice paddies, combined with the start of the monsoon season are enough to cause one to break out in sweat without lifting a finger! (And yes, part of my idyllic country existence is watching rice grow - fascinating experience! Rice paddies are mozzie heaven.....acres of stagnant water. It's enough to make one never want to eat rice again. LOL!) I have lost count of the amount of dead mosquitoes I've had to vacuum up from my balcony. I keep the sliding door closed as much as possible, only to find the latest hatchlings littering the floor with their dead bodies. Hence, the spiders are my friends...I keep them well fed in a way, only thing is... my spidy pets are growing alarmingly fat and big from all the mozzie food!

Sorry if this sounds like a National Geographic editorial. It's just that I happened to catch a documentary earlier on the Sky channel. A South African snake hunter, called Austin Stevens, hunting snakes in Cambodia. It was GREAT listening to his lekker local accent :)

Mind you, I hear quite a bit of South African accent on tv here, mostly nature programmes.

Anyway, this weekend I became a speed addict! I finally travelled on the KTX (Korean Train Xpress) = bullet train. 300+ km/hr above ground! IT WAS AWESOME! The train even dips and dives a bit, like a banking airplane. When we passed another bullet train, we were wind-whipped! What a mini-adrenaline rush! Now, all I have to do is bungee-jump! AAAAARRRGGGHH!

It's been almost 3 months since I first arrived in Korea. Before I left SA, I told some of you that I was looking forward to just being able to hop on a train and travel round the country, looking for adventure, etc. Well, there's not been much of that happening recently. But now that I am more settled, it's time to keep travel luggage ready packed and on hand.

Heard some sad and disturbing news this morning. The mother of 3 of my students was found murdered in her home on Friday. They live near me, across the road. Police are investigating. Everyone's in shock. My friend, Gyo Lim, is feeling quite affected by it, as one of the students is her home-room student. Plus, they are her neighbours, and the mother was a good friend and neighbour to her, too.

I'm hoping (not that this is good, but considering the alternative) that it was a case of a drunk, jealous husband, rather than a nutcase running round the countryside with a psychotic, homicidal personality. How do the kids recover from something like this? Lovely kids to experience something horrific like this at a time like this, just before big mid-year exams. It is so sad.

One of the things that attracted me to Korea was the low crime rate. How everyone says it is safe enough for a woman to walk around at midnight on her own. That is still true, as I had the joy of experiencing this weekend, travelling around the country on my own after midnight, on a weekend. What freedom and bliss. I'd never be able to do that back home. But it took me 3 months to reach this point of trust and feeling safe enough to do this. (Being conditioned the way we have in SA, takes a bit of time to undo.) And you know what the funniest thing is? Last week, the VP at my high school, told me he thinks I should cancel my trip to Thailand because of the high crime rate there! I had to remind him that I come from SA and have been well-trained to deal with high crime rate. And then something like this happens in our little sleepy hollow.

I'll keep you guys posted on the developments. And don't worry, I'll be careful. Won't go about looking for unnecessary trouble. It's just that one expects crime to happen in cities, not out here in the backwater. Then again, many Hollywood homicide/horror movies are set in the backwater, aren't they?

Ok, ciao for now....

Good night...

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

English Villages, Korean Seaweed, Australian Outback and Brazilian Shoes

Hi again!

I'm back, as promised. Thought you could rid of me, hey?! Even from the other side of the planet, I'm still on y'all like a fly on syrup!

Well, last Wednesday, I went along with some Korean English teachers from my county - oh, big-mouth Geoff went, too - to a place called the English Village. Oh my word! What a set-up. The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (UCCS) has joined with the Korean government to build these English Villages all over Korea, as part of their English training programme for all Korean people. Un-freakin-believable! Here goes:

The one we went to, is located up in the mountains: they have built and equipped 'situation' rooms. There's an airport lobby and lounge, with signs and all, there's a real airplane - complete, full, real airplane - equipped with training equipment (tv etc), airplane seats, the works! The dorms are set up as though the guests are booking into a hotel. Then there's the gym, the restaurant, the post office, the police station, music room, bedroom, kitchen, transportation (buying bus, plane, train tickets etc), cooking classroom, science lab, art room, etc etc etc. Basically these villages are built to allow Koreans to experience life in English. Children from kindergarten through high school, university students, and working adults are encouraged to book into the Village for English camps. They are taught how to survive in an English world. Strange but true.

Then on Friday night, I had been invited by my neighbour (and colleague) - she lives in the apartment below me - for supper. Gyo Lim was also invited, to help interpret. (I'm so proud of her - her English is coming along in leaps and bounds, so much so that she is now my interpreter when needed! Her parents are also happy that she and I will be travelling together, cos I speak English!) Anyway, our hostess has an interesting story. She was widowed, thanks to a car accident, when she had 3 young boys, about 20 years ago. She raised her sons alone. They are all grown men now, and she is now also a grandmother. She is also a traveller, having been to a few countries herself. This summer she will be travelling to Russia and Mongolia. She just loved having us girls in her place. Like a typical mother, she kept on feeding us! All our protestations of being too full fell on deaf ears. I felt so bad, cause I couldn't finish all my food. She normally doesn't cook for herself, but in honour of her guests, she prepared a feast, which according to her was just a simple rustic meal. She gave me a huge bowl of rice, which had black beans in it (hello! already filling on its own!), a huge bowl of seaweed soup (the seawood's good, excellent fibre, but oh so filling!), she cooked a huge bowl of meat, plus a delicious fish dish, potato fritters - painstakingly decorated with spring onion, plus all the typical Korean side dishes: kimchi (fermented vegetables), huge jalapeno peppers, red pepper paste, dried chillies etc etc etc. Apples, peaches and persimmons for dessert. Chocolate and chilled plum tea. We rolled out of there. Fortunately, I could roll up the stairs and straight into bed!

The next day, I had a lunch meeting with another South African, whom Leonora had put me in touch with. She's been in Korea for a few years. It was wonderful being able to talk to another SA in person. We went to an Australian steak house (also a chain restaurant like Spur) called Outback. Had grilled chicken breast fillet and spare ribs AND chips! Real chips, like Spur chips, not McDonalds fries! Whooppeeee! (Can one get so excited about chips? In Korea, YES!) After lunch, Sanel took me shopping. I couldn't believe it. Here I was, struggling to find nice summer clothes that I could wear to work. Everytime I go to Daegu, I walk past this store, but it looked so expensive and chic, that I just assumed they only did Asian sizes and high fashion - not my style at all. WRONG! I bought 4 beautiful tops, in the style that I favour, in beautiful, bright Andrea colours! And they have such beautiful shoes! Imported from Brazil, nogal. They even have Indian tops! Apparently, this store (called ZARA) is also in the US. And they are NOT cheap! But after 2 months of looking, it was worth it.

After saying goodbye to Sanel, I still had to buy birthday presents for the trio-b-day party later that evening, and find a hotel for the night. The tourist info centre sent me to the Eldis Regent Hotel. I walked in with my little backpack and shopping, paid cash for a room, showered, changed, and hailed a taxi to the bday venue - rotating restaurant 200m above the city. (The same tower I'd been to a few weeks ago.) Lunch had scarcely begun digesting, and here was dinner! Seafood starter, teriyaki steak, red wine, cheescake, Aussies, Brits, Kiwis, Americans, Koreans and me, representing sunny SA! Lekker times! We saw a magnificent firework display over the city - no idea what the occasion, but enjoyed it nonetheless. They all went on clubbing, I wasn't in the mood, so went back to my fancy hotel room and big wall tv. And had an absolute blast! Ordered breakfast in my room the next morning, checked out, did a bit more shopping and back to my country home! I could SO get used to this kind of life!!! Yes, I am grinning rather smugly as I type this :)

And back to work this morning, which really isn't that much...

So, now I've updated you guys. I'll have to sift thru the pics but will save that for tomorrow. (By the way, I've sent 2 sets of pics already, but some of your email addresses don't accept them. So don't say I didn't send you pictures!)

Love you all....Please stay in touch

Andrea

My Irrational Holiday Excitement Explained...

Hi everyone!

Time for some news updates.... There are quite a few plus some pictures. Lazy-Bones Andrea has FINALLY uploaded her hundreds of pics, so be prepared for an onslaught this week.

Re my irrational excitement about holiday plans...allow me to explain....

A week ago, I had reached my 2-month mark here in Korea. I was not prepared for the effect this would have on me. At orientation, we were warned about the various stages one experiences here. (Actually, when I was reading up on working in the Middle East, similar points were made.) Basically, I'm talking about culture shock. First, you experience the 'Honeymoon Phase' where everything is absolutely wonderful, exotic, new, etc, etc. Yes, you all know I went thru my honeymoon phase already, from reading my earlier emails. The next phase is 'I hate this place!'. After approx a month, I began to experience a bit of 'I hate it here!' Now this was simply due to many little things not going my way. I had to remind myself on a daily basis that I am not in SA, but in Korea; that this is the East, not the West; that things ARE and WILL be done differently here. As efficient as some things are here in Korea, there are also those things that seem to take forever. My INTERNATIONAL bank cards were not working here. Now bear in mind, I am in a rural town. There's only one type of bank here, which has is origins in an agricultural co-operative! Before my first payday, I had to track down special INTERNATIONAL ATM's whenever I needed to draw cash. That meant a trip into the city. Thereafter, there were a few other little setbacks, like getting a cell phone and internet tv and pc set up at home. (Most of the tardiness was thanks to my MALE co-teacher. Need I say more? Us girls know that men can be oh so limited, and can only concentrate on one thing at a time....Now add to that, the foreign aspect, that I couldn't exactly blow my top with him, also, I have to s-p-e-a-k s-l-o-w-l-y, so throwing an Andrea-tantrum really wouldn't benefit me much except to maybe establish myself as a crazy foreigner in everyone's eyes! (As you can tell, I am learning patience and tolerance and self-control in Korea!)

Well, thankfully, things were eventually sorted out. Then a week ago, I tried to book my plane ticket to Thailand, online. Yet again, I felt snubbed by Korea, as they wouldn't accept my SA mastercard. Being in a rural town, I would have had to take a day's leave to travel into the city to go the Korean Air office, or the airport to book my ticket! Also, when I had walked into a travel agency to enquire about booking - when I was in the city - no one could speak English! In addition, one of my co-teachers was in a bad motor accident, the airbag saved her life, but her skin reacted badly to the chemicals in the airbag. So she was off work for 3 weeks. The substitute was ....aaargh! another man! This guy could hardly speak English (English teacher!), and he had a bad attitude. He caused me so much stress and caused damage in the class attitudes by joking with the naughty students, making derogatory comments about English etc while I was teaching. I was FURIOUS but said nothing, but the kids apparently could read my face, cause when my lovely female co-teacher returned to work, they told her that I was angry with the sub. Just goes to show, hey? Kids pick up on EVERYTHING! In addition to this fascinating week, I was having to deal with the Western Cape Education Department regarding releasing my pension funds to Old Mutual. Each party had a different story to tell me. I spent about 6 hours making INTERNATIONAL phone calls to get things sorted out. A few of those hours included being on hold for interminable lengths of time, thanks to people not being at their desk, not knowing how to transfer a call, not knowing the correct procedure in the event of a specific problem e.g. "Ok, just hold on...I don't know...let me see if I can find the guy who...." Ya well, enough said.... you get the picture. I eventually decided to remove some stress from my life and just gave up on my holiday plans to Thailand. Decided it was going to be much easier to just travel around Korea in the midst of summer vac when the entire country heads for the beaches, and roads are choked with travellers.

After one particularly rough morning encounter with the sub, I went to my desk, and for the first time in my life, put my head on my desk at work, and just cried, from sheer frustration and anger (quietly, of course.) Suddenly random people starting sending me messages and chatting on facebook, and Barry (Dianne's friend) phoned me. When I heard his familiar SA voice, I just started bawling again. This resulted in one of my colleagues calling me to her desk where she played Susan Boyle's audition on Britain's Got Talent for me. Now for those of you who've seen it, you can understand why it would make me cry yet again. Also, the gesture was so kind and thoughtful. She was trying to cheer me up. Then again, eventually everyone heard that Andrea was feeling homesick and had been crying, and I was subjected to staying after school for a special dinner which my co-teacher arranged for me. Everyone was making such an effort to cheer me up, and all I wanted was for the day to end and go home to disappear under the duvet! That was really a rough, rough time. I missed you guys like you wouldn't believe.

Then, a week later, on Monday morning, my Korean friend and colleague, Kim Gyo Lim (the one whose parents had invited me for a weekend), told me she would like to join me on my trip to Thailand! Problem solved! She found even cheaper tickets than I did, which also just happened to include a free trip to Hong Kong. She booked with her Korean credit card, which really made things soooooo much easier for me.

Hence, my irrational excitement. So, we shall head out to Hong Kong on August 8th for 2 days/nights of hectic city nightlife, then off to Bangkok, then finish off island hopping - longtail boats, tons of Thai massages and spa treatments..... hmmmmm. After all the stress, something to look forward to!

I think I am now moving into Phase 3: Acceptance. I have finally started thinking about what I'm going to do next year, once my contract here ends. Did some research re teaching English in Czech Republic and looked at some other options. Basically, it made me realise that I have a very good deal here in Korea. Excellent accommodation - which is free - , wonderful colleagues, some really special and beautiful students (not gonna find that kind of respect everywhere!), great pay, minimal teaching hours..... Do I want to give up a good thing so soon? Who knows? I might feel differently in a few months' time.

For now, though, I accept and enjoy what Korea has to offer me.... good and bad, highs and lows.

There's loads more news....but let's save that for tomorrow :)

Lots of love,

Andrea

Summer Holiday

Hi all

I'm really sorry to do this, but I'm too excited to keep it to myself. I have to let you know....

I'm going to ............. Hong Kong and Thailand!!!! Night life, island-hopping, Thai massages on the beach.... YIPPEEEEEE!!!!

I'll post more details soon, so you can understand my crazy excitement.

Love you all

Andrea

I WORK VERY HARD

Hi everyone!

Hope you all keeping warm and well in the cold winter I keep hearing about over there. Don't forget to take your vitamin C and stay dry and warm! Weather this side, is almost Cape Town-like. It rains a bit which cools things down - feels like the start of winter in CT. But then in a day or 2, the sun comes out and burns like a CT December, so the parasol comes out, then things heat up to the point where it becomes a bit humid, and then it rains again. So you see, not too different to CT but the worst is yet to come. July and August here get hot, sticky and unbearably humid. Definitely NOT looking forward to that! In the classrooms already, we have started switching on the aircon and fans. Without it, you might as well go home. And its not even the height of summer yet!

Usually, when people start talking about the weather, it's an indication of having run out of things to say. I fear I might be on my way to running out of things to say! (Heaven forbid!)

I spent another quiet weekend at home since I was absolutely exhausted from a long stressful week. There was a get-together in Seoul with African drumming in a park somewhere, but I didn't have the energy to make the trek up north. A quiet weekend in the country was just what the doctor ordered, and boy, what a difference it made! On Saturday morning, I went for a walk and ended up in the cosmetic store, bought some products, ended up having coffee with the saleslady in the store. We struggled our way through a mini-conversation. Fortunately, some of my students popped in to use the sample eyeliner (teenage girls are the same the world over!) and they could assist with our conversation. LOL! And yet again, I was baptised in piles of samples!

Back home and I spent the rest of the day vegetating in front of the tv, dozing, eating....ya well, just being a lazy slob! Best medicine ever!

More of the same on Sunday, but this time, I had some prep work to do for the following day. Even then, it was pretty chilled.

I had a demo class yesterday morning. Teachers sit in your class, as well as the Vice-Principal and the Foreign Teacher co-ordinator from the local Education Office. The whole thing is recorded on video. It went very smoothly and was a huge success, enjoyed by both teachers and students. Now before, you all start praising me like the good friends you are....it was a joint effort. The lesson was meant to demonstrate how co-teaching works between a Korean English teacher and a Foreign English teacher (me). We came up with the lesson plan, together and worked well, together.

After that was a feedback session, conducted mostly in Korean; whenever I started drifitng off in my own little world, focussed on the tempting smell of the biscuits and chocolates placed before me, the Education Office guy would start talking to me in English! Darn! So I couldn't relax too much! Plus, the inevitable camera kept snapping away, so I had to look more interested in what he had to say instead of more interested in the food!

Then it was lunch. We went out for lunch, which included beer and soju (spirits akin to vodka). And this in the middle of a school day! My co-teacher and I were 10min late for our next class together, but we managed to keep it together, barely! Needless to say, I was extremely sleepy for the rest of the day! Thank Goodness, I only drank the beer and didn't touch the soju, despite my VP insisting I drink soju! I am now beginning to dread outings with him...he is convinced I just want to drink soju!!! Koreans will drink alcohol at lunch, during the day, anytime, no problem, even at work, and still go back to work after that! (Then again, their beer is very light, nothing at all like SA beer, which is why I can drink it. Its more like a cider back home.)

Anyway, so as you can see, I am integrating very nicely into the Korean culture: drink alcohol with your lunch, go back to work, sleep it off at your desk!

Ya well, no fine!

Till next time..... (I have to attend 3 birthday parties this weekend - fortunately they managed to co-ordinate things so everyone can do a 3-in-1.) Hectic party weekend coming up!

Love you guys....

Stay in touch,

Andrea

Food News

Hi all!

Sorry for the late news update. Here goes...

This past weekend was nice and quiet, peaceful and restful. On Sunday, I went to Costco (like Makro). It's in the US and Australia, too, I believe. Electronics, homeware, foodstuff, bakery, meat, fish, etc. Basically, its the place to go when you want Western food products.

Such a pity, I couldn't buy meat or chicken cos of my long trip back home. But it was heartwarming to see skinless chicken breast fillets!!! And steaks imported from Australia! I ended up buying a big pack of salami from Italy (just for you, Di!), a sizeable block of proper cheese from the USA, a tub of basil pesto, parmesan cheese and dried basil.

Koreans don't really eat cheese. They have those horrible, artificial processed cheese slices. Then they also have 'pizza' cheese (mozzarella) which is also grated and pre-packed. That I can find at my local supermarket. But REAL cheese, has to be imported. At Costco, you can find Belcube, Laughing Cow, Brie, Camembert, flavoured cream cheeses, parmigiano, gruyere, emmenthaler, mozzarella (sigh... cheese lover's paradise.)

Then, there's the cold meats, proper ham (even the Korean 'ham' is processed plastic stuff), salami, russians, frankfurters, etc etc. Bulk packs of bacon! Proper bacon! Koreans have pork belly, which looks like bacon, but the cut is thicker and it's not smoked. I actually found bacon at my little supermarket - not bad, but definitely not the same as back home. It's much thinner and it's been cut into smaller portions.

I still have not found where I can buy fresh chicken in my town. The supermarkets in my town have mini-butcheries at the back of the store where they sell only pork and beef. You purchase your meat, which gets cut for you. Unfortunately they don't seem to mince meat, but they do have little beef strips, pre-cut, which they weigh and you pay the butcher directly. Last week, the butcher asked me how I was going to cook my beef strips. When I told him I wanted to make curry, he immediately put it away, went to the walk-in fridge to fetch a cut of beef and had almost begun slicing it up when I stopped him. It was the end of the day, I was tired, just wanted to get home and cook supper. And then I was kept waiting by this man trying to teach me how to cook! He said that the beef strips were for soup not curry! I eventually told him that it's FINE, that's what I want! Yes, I know...when in Rome (Korea), do as the Romans (Koreans) do. But aai yaai yaai yaai yaai!

There are chicken houses, though, most of which seem to be chicken specialty restaurants, or so I think. I'll get my students to take me there sometime. In the meantime, when I'm in the mood for chicken, I just go to a nearby chicken and pizza place and order take-out. They do really great sticky ginger and sesame chicken. Very yummy. And I don't have to cook it! Only thing is, Koreans cut the chicken up in strange litle bits and pieces. The only recognisable portions are the wing and drumstick. Included in a box of sticky chicken will be a neck, and small bits of breast and what I assume to be portions of thigh portions! Don't get me wrong....it's enough chicken to last me through 3-4 meals. Just like everything Korean....it's small. The nice thing about Asian culture, though, is what they call 'service'. 'Service' is a little free gift you get when you buy something. When I buy my cosmetics (facial cleanser, toner, moisturiser - I'm using a Korean brand which is actually very good - apparently they really spend tons of money on skincare research. Beauty and appearance are right at the top of the Korean list.) Anyway, I can't keep up with the samples that they pile on me. At this rate, I don't need to spend money - I can just use all the 'service' samples! At the chicken/pizza place, too, I always get a Pepsi thrown in. Buying plants at the florist, they will wrap things up as though its a gift, when it's only for me. Last time I was there, they gave me a beautiful long-stemmed red rose. I remember back in SA, when I was staying with Fran in Lansdowne, I went to a nearby Chinese clothing shop one day. Bought some tracksuits, and they gave me a choice of jewellery or socks as 'service'. It's a lovely heartwarming aspect of Asian culture.

Back to Costco: one can also find fresh fish like salmon at Costco. They have DelMonte fruit juice, herbs and spices, Heinz ketchup, Mailles mustard, Ceres fruit juice, Kellogg's Special K, kettle fried chips, Evian water, etc etc etc. There's even Oral B dental floss. (I was searching for dental floss a few weeks ago!)

I am now looking forward to finally cooking Italian in my own South African kitchen in rural Korea! With fresh farm produce on my doorstep (brinjals, tomatoes on the vine), and spaghetti and macaroni in my local supermarket, my Italian salami, parmesan and basil pesto.....mmmmmmmm. Laugh all you want, you don't know how good you have it back home! Just being able to go to any supermarket and find almost everything from around the world.

I said it before, when I went to Amsterdam....us SA's complain too much about what we have/don't have. Even Amsterdam couldn't come close to the wide range of choice we have in SA. And that was back in 2002!

Of course, you can find anything here in Korea. It just takes some time and patience hunting and tracking things down. (By the sound of that, I could be on safari in the African bush! LOL!)

On Monday, I had invited my Extra English class over to my apartment for English movies, pizza and ice cream. How nice it was. The kids showed me how to find more movies on my Internet TV, they wouldn't start dishing until I had been served first. (Again, no one eats until the eldest person has begun eating.) It was so nice, being waited on in my own home. They even cleaned up, washed dishes, cleaned the floor.... Too sweet!

Hope this satisfies the weekly news craving, especially those of you who have been nagging me for the latest instalment! You know who you are! Especially you, Mrs Knight!

Love and hugs to everybody....

Andrea

PS Can someone please go out and play in the rain on my behalf?