30 days left!

So I have exactly one month left in Korea. I can't believe that 11 months have gone so quickly!!
I have enjoyed my time in Korea a lot more than I thought I would. I was actually contemplating on my layover in Germany just hopping on a plane to Ghana, as that was my layover for Ghana too. To be brutally honest I would have quite happily not come to Korea and had a mild panic attack at Manchester airport.

However, I have actually had a pretty interesting, educating, enlightening and dare I say fun time. I will actually even... MISS... Korea!

Things I will miss about Korea:
The amazing friends I have made here.
My students - especially my adult class
Poker night every other Wednesday
Tuesday morning coffees at Bean and Bean with Alex and Izzy
Serviceeeee - The amount of freebie stuff I get at places
How kind and honest people are. I can leave my bag and purse, go to the bathroom, come back and it is still there
Couple t-shirts - you know who is with who, as they are wearing matching clothes!!
Having every argument dealt with by using rock, scissors, paper, stone
Cheap and easy transport - especially taxis
Free rent
The amount of hours I DON'T work!

Things I won't miss:
people hocking their guts and flem up every where
feeling like a big fat heffer and being told no largee size
names that I cannot even begin to pronounce!
having to remember to take toilet paper from the communal roll outside the bathroom stalls!

Things I will probably subconsciously take away from Korea:
Nodding and bowing at people
Offering and taking things with two hands (to show I am not going to kill them, with the one hand I am not using!)
Saying 'Assah!' accompanied by an arm pump, when something is great

Fish, fun and fabulous friends!

This weekend I headed up to Seoul.

I got in early on Friday evening as my last class didn't turn up.

I headed to Itaewon where a friend was singing. There was also another guy who was from he Chester area. He asked everyone to to write down a few random words and then free styled it into a rap He was REALLY good!

On Saturday we headed to Dr. Fish. Basically a load of fish eat all the dead skin off your feet. It is the most bizarre experience EVER. It is like being slightly eletrocuted on your feet!

After getting slighlty lost on the subway for 2 hours we finally made it to the COEX Aquarium.
We were a little grumpy by the time we got there but it was still fun.
One part they had the fish in different types of tanks such as:

There was even a 2 headed turtle!

Scam update

I have been researching the whole Spain scam a little more and it seems that these crimnal masterminds have done the same thing several times but used different but real school names.
They have even used the exact same email, sometimes the same name for the transfer.

Check out this forum with ESLbase.

I wouldn't say I am particulary guillable person, but I have to admit I was pretty close to sending the money.
ESLbase have some good tips on how to avoid scams. Check them out here.

Obviously this has been a great lesson for me in being able to identify job scams. I am actually getting pretty good at noticing them now! Yes, I mean you $3100 a month job in Abu Dhabi, that doesn't need a masters!

Oh Google, you are indeed a wonderful invention when it comes to trying to stalk....sorry research people!

Cherry Blossom in Gunsan

Spring has finally sort of started to appear. Last week, there was snow, Saturday was lovely and sunny and all of this week it has pretty much rained and been miserable and grey.

I finally managed to get over to Eunpa Park to see the blossom.

I took some night photos and went back before it got dark, however it was pretty grey so the photos are not as amazing as some I have seen!

So I was nearly part of a job scam. As annoying and disappointed as I am, at least I didn’t send any money and want to make as many TEFL teachers aware of it as possible.

I was contacted saying that they had my contact details on a TEFL website. I do have my resume up on lots of different websites, so this seemed fine. It was a German Private school in Spain.

I was asked to send my resume, details of certificates, etc. Again not unsusal.
I did that and was selected for a the second round.

There was a list of about 20 questions that I had to answer. There were pretty detailed questions asking about discipline, teaching methods etc. I was told that there would be no need to have a phone interview, which I found highly unusual, as surely they needed to hear my accent etc.

I was then sent the following email.
'This is to inform you that you have been finally selected to work with us.Our recruitment/employment procedure this year does not require a phone interview.That is why we selected only the candidates with the best qualifications.A detailed work contract is attached to this email.Fill your name and other necessary information carefully and sign at the space provided below.

Please print out the contract,then sign,scan,attach and return the signed contract to this email address.At no.4 of employee's personal information,you will see CONTRACT PERIOD,just fill 7thJuly 2010 to 7TH July 2011.

Please be informed that you are expected to arrive on the 3rd of July in order to attend the orientation programe prior to job commencement.Kindly send thepaymentthrough WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER.Receiver's name: DAVID FREEMANAddress:Apartado de Correos, 318Marbella,Malaga,Spain.

Please send the transfer details to: info@colealemanjuanhoffmann.comAs soon as the finance department confirms your payment,we shall reserve your accomodation and commence the processing of your travelling and working documents. Only non EU's are advised to send both the accomodation reservation fee and the visa processing fee.EU's are expected to send only the accomodation reservation fee.NB: At your leisure,do not forget to fax a copy of the payment slip/receipt that was issued to you after the payment at the WESTERN UNION OFFICE.It has to be kept in your record for future reference.Our fax number is found on our website www.colealemanjuanhoffmann.com and on top of the contract paper as well.Congratulations!Daniela'

They wanted me to send 900 euro via western union to secure my accommodation. I was told that I would be reimbursed during orientation.

The money was to be sent to DAVID FREEMAN
Address: Apartado de Correos, 318 Marbella, Malaga, Spain.

Even when moving to Korea, I did not have to send any money. I asked for an email address of someone who was currently working there and was giving the email address 'georgephilip70@yahoo.co.uk'. I googled this and came up with this social networking website.

I was still wary and searched for the address online and it came up on this scam website. There is also a post on Dave's ESL about it here.

This is the schools real website - http://www.dsmalaga.com/

The scammers use this website - http://www.colealemanjuanhoffmann.com/.

They have even created an ESL page. That wasn't there a few days ago. The 2 websites are identical and the scammers have just replaced the real email addresses with their fake one!

The email addresses used for communication are
info@colealemanjuanhoffmann.com
cajhdocuments@rediffmail.com
director@colealemanjuanhoffmann.com

I am trying to include as much information as possible so that if anyone searches for them, like I did, this post will come up.

Again, it seemed to be a busy week socialising.

Monday, I was helping Jo do a friends son's homework - why he couldn't do his own, I am not sure. We ended up roping Saint into buying some beer and coming over which resulted in me chucking 2 very soju sodden Koreans out of my apartment at 4am.

Wednesday, a group of us had dinner at Elizabeths, which was as always a fun time.

Thursday, Jo, Saint and I headed to Daechon Beach in the evening and bought some seafood, then headed to a restaurant that prepares it all for you.

We had shrimp,

Some weird shell thing and oysters

Some type of fish soup

and crab.

We also had octopus, the kind that is cut up yet still moves. I have tried it before. I was going to try it again, but after having problems just pulling it off the dish as the it had suctioned itself to the the dish, I decided against it!

Friday, Jo and I went to see a movie, then met up with some friends for drinks and ended up at Saint's apartment eating sushi, that his room mate had caught fishing til 4.30am.

Saturday, It was some friend's birthdays and a leaving party which involved flip cup, beer pong, fire shows, free shots - a typical night in The Goon!

Sunday, I went to a house warming party. Alex and Kenton have a really nice place and a baby, so I spent most of the day playing with her and trying not to feel broody!!

I don't seem to have done anything this past week but I seem to have been pretty busy. Lots of lunches with friends, dinner, drinks, shopping and socialising. Getting in as much time with people before I leave!

The weather is finally starting to get nicer. Although the other day it was raining and I was on my bike to work. I was waiting at the traffic lights to cross the road. An older Korean lady saw me waiting with no umbrella and came and stood with me until the lights changed. It was the sweetest and also slightly uncomfortable thing! The traffic lights take a while to change here and my Korean is so limited that we couldn't really talk! So we stood awkwardly until they changed!

It has also become ritual at spinning classes for the whole class to be introduced to the weiguk and the whole class has to turn round, wave and say 'Hi Joooss!'. A little embarrassing but I am getting over it.

There are also lots of new teachers arriving in Gunsan because a new school year started recently. It turns out that a new guy is friends with my old neighbour in NYC!! Talk about a small world!