30th of April: All settled in.

Two weeks on. Weather hasn’t really improved, but I’m feeling ever more comfortable in Sangju, since my mobile phone and bank account were set up. The Maekkoli and Soju festival in Gyeongju panned out in predictably raucous fashion, as I joined some familiar faces from orientation to gorge on Korea’s most notorious tipples. We started drinking at about two in the afternoon, so by about midnight, we were all the worse for wear. Apparently, I got lost while looking for a toilet, and was found half an hour later, wandering the street. Good times. Gyeongju seemed like a pleasant little city, well worth checking out more comprehensively during future visits (rather than just drinking myself into oblivion).



Again, I was slightly hung-over and run-down during the following week in school, and my condition was not helped by another epic session with some of the other foreigners in Sangju. Eager to make a good impression with my fellow ex-pats, I overdid the soju on the Wednesday night, and practically had to be carried home. My co-teachers took me out the following night, and introduced me to a hitherto unseen Korean custom. Three of us went to what looked like a normal noraebang (private karaoke room), but after a while, three attractive ladies walked in. ‘Choose one’, my co-teacher urged. Apparently, these ladies charged hourly for ‘company’ – basically, it was like renting a girlfriend for an hour, without the physical benefits. A strange experience, but at least I had someone to pour my beer.

I stayed in Sangju last weekend, going for a bike-ride with Joe to a monastery called Namjangsan, about five kilometres from the city. From there, we hiked to the top of a peak called (could be wrong about this) No-ak-san. I almost vomited during the ascent (having suffered a slight bit of ‘Asian belly’ earlier in the day), but I recovered sufficiently to enjoy the spectacular views. The peak was about 730 metres (put into perspective, Mt. Leinster is about 790), and it took about three hours, all round. I went for a meal with the Sangju foreign contingent afterwards, and thankfully kept my alcohol intake to respectable human levels (staying away from soju). I’ve had a bit of a cold this week, so I’m planning on taking it very easy this weekend.