Welcome to Staypuff.net, home of me, David, a twenty-something year old Australian bloke living and working in South Korea. I'm originally from Perth Western Australia, but decided my life needed sea change and moved to Korea, where I have been since the end of 2004. Have a look around the site, and please feel free to comment on any of the posts (constructively please). alternatively you can email me at: dehere(at)iinet.net.au

www.flickr.com

This is a Flickr badge showing photos in a set called Flickr Badge. Make your own badge here.


South Korean Standard Time


 

Please note: All comments are being monitored and IP filtered before they appear on the site. Its a small price to pay to keep the morons under control.

Powered By
widgetmate.com
Sponsored By
Digital Camera

Staypuff.net - Following the life of a Perth lad in Korea The Life & Times of an Australian in Korea
Category Icon
 Another long weekend for Buddha’s Birthday.
Friday, May 9th, 2008

The weekend is upon us once again after a brief 4 day week. And what would you know, we have another long weekend, this time celebrating Buddha’s Birthday (부처님 오신 날). I’m glad to see Jesus didn’t have a monopoly on all the birthday holidays here.

Seeing as we had a fairly hectic long weekend last week, we have decided to have a more laid back one this weekend. I also have a hundred or so student reports I have to fill out which I’m sure will be taking a majority of the weekend to complete. I try to get a lot completed during my break, but I’m lucky if I get 15 or students done in that time. They need to be completed by next Wednesday so its a case of bally bally (quickly quickly) for me.

We, the girlfriend and I, are planning on having a little picnic this weekend.  A bit of alone time together is always time well spent in my books. I might make some mini quiches, muffins, and others goodies, and take them down to the park just near our place. It’ll probably be swamped with kids and people (where isn’t it in Korea) but a day out in the sun will be nice. As long as the kids don’t beg me for soju, we should all be happy.

We also want to buy our rabbit a harness. The rabbit is super active and spends a lot of the day jumping and twitching around like an epileptic. With a harness we can at least take her out and give her a short run, not to mention give her some series outdoor lighting which I’m sure she must miss.

Millie in her new 'oudoor' furniture set.Actually, ‘Millie’ is doing very well. She absolutely adores Em and will come to her on command (most of the time). She also allows her to be picked up by Em and give her kisses. Its the sweetest thing you’ll ever see. She’s still a little cautious of me, but generally speaking isn’t afraid of me and will happily lay down on the bed next to me or come to me when I have a yoghurt rabbit treat.

She’s chewed on only one wire as of yet, Em’s notebook wire, but failed to reach the metal. If she had it really would have straightened her hair out. She’s also chewed a couple of the links between the blinds, but I can live with that.

As for the cardboard, as expected by many she’s managed to find ways around it, though surprisingly not by way of chewing. She’s either jumped over the smaller sections (which have since been upgraded to the point where they’re asking me advice for border construction at the DMZ) or found the smallest openings to get though.

By far the most telling indication that she’s settled in is that she’ll now splay down between her food and water and proceed to eat and drink from both without getting up. It’s the laziest thing I’ve ever seen from a rabbit. She’s obviously be catching some bad habits from her ‘mother’! ;) (Don’t worry, I’ll pay for that later).

So to all you Korean dwelling individuals, what will you be doing this weekend?

Written by: David @ 10:45 am
[Comments (0)]
[Link]
[General]
[]
 

Category Icon
 The finest photo I’ve seen.
Thursday, May 8th, 2008

20080508a

Isn’t this one of the most powerful and amazing photo’s you’ve ever seen? This magnificent photo was taken yesterday during both a volcano and lightening storm in Chile.  The volcano, 1300km south of Santiago, has erupted for the first time in centuries in spectacular fashion.

The volcano, whose eruption has forced the evacuation of 4000 nearby residents, is part of a string of volcanoes running along the so-called Ring of Fire - an arc of active volcanoes extending north from the west coast of the Americas across the Alaskan-Siberian rim and south to Indonesia.

Chile hosts the second-most active volcanoes in the world behind Indonesia.

Source: News.com.au

I couldn’t let this day pass without showing one of best ever photos taken. Shots like these can’t be reproduced or manufactured. You simply have to be lucky enough to have your camera with you, and let mother nature do the rest.

Written by: David @ 11:54 am
[Comments (1)]
[Link]
[General]
[]
 

Category Icon
 Mixed meetings at school.
Wednesday, May 7th, 2008

Yesterday at the hagwon we had our first, of what seems like many, teachers meetings with the Korean teachers. You may recall (and I can’t be bothered linking to the hundred or so posts previously) that I’ve always thought Korean-foreign teacher meetings are a good idea, so I couldn’t be more happier having them now. Of course we weren’t actually warned of it till just before having the meeting, so I wasn’t really prepared for it.

The meeting didn’t produce anything unexpected. We went through a document outlining how we should conduct our classes, and while I didn’t agree with it 100 percent, it was at least nice to be given some direction. Actually, the way they want us to teach and the way I’m doing it now isn’t vastly different, so I have no problems implementing some small changes. I’m sure it’ll most likely benefit my teaching.

There were a few other minor issues, mostly relating to students behavior, that didn’t relate to me a great deal. The students here seem to have a good understanding of what they can and can’t do in my class, and really they’re all pretty good. Every now and then a student steps out of line, but a little discipline goes a long way. Maybe on the odd occasion I’ve had some trouble and a Korean teacher has always been more than willing to speak to the student on my behalf due to communication difficulties.

Homework is still an issue with some kids, but as long as the Korean teacher is made aware of the problem, there isn’t a great deal more I can do about it. To be honest, I don’t give the older middle school students too much grief regarding homework. They have enough on their plate as is, the last thing they need is me hassling them. As long as they participate in class, and of the most part they do, we all get along with each other.

Anyway, I’m glad to see this hagwon is being proactive and ensuring a healthy relationship between both the foreign and Korean teachers. It leads to a healthy working environment.

PS - I think this is perhaps what some of the other teachers are dealing with…

Written by: David @ 10:30 am
[Comments (0)]
[Link]
[General]
[]
 

Category Icon
 Going to WordPress 2.5.1… again.

I’ll attempt to update to WordPress 2.5.1 tomorrow morning. The last time I tried to update a couple of the plug-ins died on me causing the site to fail miserably.  Hopefully, with a few implemented changes and a complete back-up (how could I have failed to do this last time?) there shouldn’t be any problems.

Of course I don’t live in a perfect world, even less so when dealing with computers. If you see the site down, you’ll know why.

20080507

Note: The update seems to have gone smoothly. Nothings appears to have broken. If there are problems, please let me know.

Written by: David @ 8:28 am
[Comments (0)]
[Link]
[General]
[]
 

Category Icon
 I want to smack Djamilya.

Generally speaking there isn’t a great deal in Korea that bothers me. I mean I have my usual rants and bitch’s about certain things, but you can hardly blame Korea for that. Anywhere I live is going to produce its fair share of ‘annoyances’  and Korea is no expectation.

Korea does, however, have a unique set of annoyances that raises its ugly head now and then. Being here for 3 and a half years I’ve managed to shrug most of them off, but there are a few things that I just can’t help but feel pissed-off with.

DjamilyaBy far the biggest is a TV program called, Meenyodul-e Suda (미녀들의 수다 - sorry about the poor translation), or for you and me, ‘Chatting with Beauties‘. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this program before (God knows I should have) but every time I see it I cringe uncontrollably. Basically the format of the show is asking non-Korean people, ’sexy’ non-Korean girls, on their thoughts about all things Korean. Fairly harmless I hear you say. But the truth is these girls are a poor representation of foreign girls in Korea and are only selected on two bias qualifications; they’re ‘hot’ and they have to love Korea.

You’ll find most foreign women in this country hate it. Ever try dating a Korean man?

What really gets me is that these girls actually act more Korean than they do their own nationality (if one can actually ‘act’ accordingly to their nation) and the Korean public goggle it up. I once had a Korean teacher ask me why more foreign girls don’t come to Korea seeing as these girls were so happy here?

To be fair, some of the girls on there aren’t too bad. There’s one Japanese girl (gosh that’s gotta be tough) who I particularly like that’s starring on another show where she has to be ‘married’ to a Korean guy (now she’s experiencing the Korean culture!) while a few others have made special appearances here and there with their 5 minutes worth of fame.

One girl that has made the most of it is Djamilya, an Uzbekistani slut girl that acts more like a 5-year-old Korean child, and the Korean men just can’t get enough of her. Her famous line (actually its more a ‘word) Oh-baa (오빠) which I guess best translate to ‘older brother’ or ‘older guy’ is spoke mush like a child would and melts, well, whatever Korean have to melt (probably not much).

Okay, she is hot, but her character is obvious and it very quickly turns annoying. So annoying is she that she not only released a single, but she is now starring in a TV program called, ‘Sexy Mong‘ (색시몽). Don’t ask me what it means, but I’m assuming it has something to do with soft-core porn in Korea (which is lame).  I tried to watch both episodes last week, but fell asleep after 30 minutes on the Wednesday, and 10 on the Thursday. Keeping in mind there were plenty of half naked Korean girls to view, it illustrates just how thin the story line was. It was kind of a like a soft-porn Korean Charlie’s Angels. I won’t be watching again.

Just seeing Djamilya makes my skin crawl. I only saw the end of the show because my rabbit poked me in the eye with her nose.

But there’s plenty about both Chatting with Beauties and Djamilya on the net to hold most people’s interest.

Not mine (well… not after now). Happy reading.

Written by: David @ 8:00 am
[Comments (2)]
[Link]
[General]
[]
 

next page

 


RSS Feed

About Me

Read about me.

Categories

Adventures of Kimchi Man
Australian Pictures
Canadian Pictures
Chinese Pictures
General
Japanese Pictures
Korean Music Video's
North Korea Pictures
South Korean Pictures
Taiwan Pictures

Blog Roll

About Joel
ALMTTR
Andong Waegook
Aussie in Seoul
Big Hominid’s Harry Chasms
Blog Herald
Chosun Bimbo
Clique Communications
Cockeyed.com
Cranial Vomit
Crime Library
Enjoy Perth
Fear is Your Only God
From the Nakdong to the Yalu
Frugal Bastard
I’m A Seoul Man
iSketch
Joe Seoul Man
JoongAng Daily
Kenyon Post
Kimchi for Breakfast
Korea Beat
Koryo Tours - NK
Lori’s Cubes
Lost Nomad
Married for Life
Max Watson’s Asian Adventures
Message in a Bottle
My Korean Kitchen
North Korea zone
NorthKoreaDirectory.com
Paper Trap
PerthNorg
Seoul Selection
SeoulGlow
South Korea Directory
Spiceblog
Stuff I Know
Suddenly Susan
The Asia Pages
The Chosun Ilbo
The Gadget Show
The Grand Narrative
The Journey
The Korean Blog List
The Korean Herald
The Korean Times

Calender

May 2008
M T W T F S S
« Apr    
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031  

Admin

Other:

Login
Register

Archives

2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001

 
 
  Blog Directory
 

Powered by WebRing.
 

All text on pages within the [staypuff.net] domain is Copyright unless otherwise stated. All icons, artwork and other graphical images within the [www.staypuff.net] domain are Copyright StayPuff.net unless otherwise stated. StayPuff.net tries to ensure that information contained in these pages is accurate and up to date. However, before acting on any matter you are advised to check the accuracy of the information. No liability whatsoever is accepted for any damages arising from reliance upon information contained in these pages or any other information accessed via this site. StayPuff.net is not responsible for the contents or reliability of any linked website and does not necessarily endorse the views expressed within them. Listing shall not be taken as endorsement of any kind. We cannot guarantee that these links will work all of the time and we have no control over availability of linked pages. StayPuff.net 2002-2008