So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night.

Dear all,

It has been a busy few weeks here in Jinju. We have been attending a number of box socials as many people have reached the end of their contracts and have set sail for their homelands. Naturally, there have been many parties and feasts in honour of our fleeing comrades.

I went out on a ‘womens' night out’ the weekend before last for the purpose of saying ‘fare-thee-well’ to some of the ladies who are soon to leave the fold.  Whilst at the pub I somehow managed to obtain a part as an extra in a rap video. A Kiwi guy who fancied himself a rapper was shooting an amateur rap video starring himself. He had a shortage of ‘hoes’ for the club scenes so he asked my friends and I if we would care to dance around in the background as he got down with his bad self. We agreed and we even got to take part in the chorus; when the rapper guy called 'annyoung ha seh yo' (Korean for 'hello') we had to wave our arms and respond with 'ho-o.' It was all wonderfully daft. :)

Last Friday we went to a place called ‘Wine Bar’ for a night of drunken debauchery. It is a unique establishment in that it looks more like a grotty sitting-room than a bar as it is strewn with discoloured couches placed around a large table. For some reason only foreign types seem to frequent said bar… We spent most of Saturday morning re-hydrating after the night's shenanigans and when we felt human once more we went down to the river for beer and barbecue. There were about 50 round-eyes in attendance at the bbq so everywhere you looked there were eyes as big as saucers gazing upon you. This displeased some of the local types mightily. The elderly ‘ajumas’ who were playing croquet a few feet away seemed particularly irked. (An ajuma is a very scary breed of elderly lady in Korea. They all have short permed hair, sport visors and pink anoraks and they generally don’t care for young people, especially foreigners.) However, as always, we had our fun and that’s all that matters. We went for dinner when darkness fell and then we went out drinking once more. Some of us ended up going to a traditional Korean pub where you drink rice wine known as ‘dong-dong-ju’ out of wee wooden bowls. The establishment looked like a hobbit hole so it was ever so quaint. :)

On Sunday night we attended a farewell dinner for our esteemed friend Rob. Rob is a wise-cracking Jewish stereotype from New York. He was one of our most prized friends in Jinju so twas very sad to bid him adieu. (No pun intended.) We shall miss his cheeky urchin face.

In other news, a new Gareth from Wales has arrived in Jinju. Naturally both Gareths could not be allowed to continue on with the same moniker as that would lead to pandemonium. Gareth was sporting a rather rapey moustache the weekend of the barbecue so consequently the new Gareth was challenged to a tache-off and the loser had to renounce the name of Gareth. The new Gareth accidentally shaved off his whole beard in an attempt to fashion a perfectly symmetrical handle-bar moustache. As punishment for his defeat he has been dubbed ‘other Gareth’ and must address the original Gareth by his proper title of ‘Gareth the 1^st.’  

We were summoned to a dinner organised by 'other Gareth' on Friday night and then we went on to another going-away party. We managed to lure some of the Korean teachers out with us too so that was nice.

We spent yesterday in the company of some of our peers. We went on an outing to the lake then we had dinner and decided to round-off the evening with a trip to a ‘DVD Bang.’ A DVD Bang is a room that you can rent out with your friends in order to watch a movie of your choice on your own personal big screen. A most ingenious establishment.

I am now lazing on a sunny Sunday afternoon before having to face the madness at work again tomorrow. Another teacher left on Tuesday and two more are planning to leave before the end of the month. I too am not long for this world. By which I mean my contract will be up in three months and I shall be free to leave this school of wrath and tears, not that I shall soon die. I shall be most sad to leave Korea but it will be a joyous day when I say farewell to the evil overlord who runs my school. :)