Coffee Helps

I feel like a grown-up when… I’m walking home with shopping bags, and there’s something like leeks sticking out of one of them. I remember I’m not really when… I unpack the shopping and whoop with delight when I see the Nesquik chocolate milk powder I forgot I bought. I feel like a grown-up when… [...]

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So, remember my special needs class, the one that was driving me nuts when I first got here? Well, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that they’re now my favourite class, but other than a small incident involving me getting punched by an over-excited 8-year-old the other week, things with them are pretty [...]

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One of the most humbling things you will ever experience is finding that no one around you has ever even heard of your home country. Koreans, at least the ones I’ve encountered in Daejeon, are not aware of this “Ireland” of which I speak. When I received blank looks a few times, I switched my [...]

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What with the flurry of adventures and discoveries that came with my China trip, I never got around to telling you about one of the items I managed to cross off my 101 Things List. It was number 72: go on an overnight train journey. I love trains. I’m not the biggest fan of flying, [...]

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I need to have a rant, do you mind? Please note: this doesn’t change what I said in my last post, about enjoying my job and loving my life here, you understand. It just means that the communication issues and cultural differences must eventually come to a head and cause me to have a meltdown. [...]

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Today was the third Monday in January, the date that was, a few years back, officially deemed to be the most depressing day of the year. You know what? I had a pretty good day! One major plus point over the last week or so has been that I finally have Real Coffee. I’m sure [...]

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Although I’m known for being a bit of an emotional character, the thing that first caused tears to well up in my eyes as I read about the horror that is Haiti at the moment was a seemingly emotion-free sentence in an article about the aid effort. The neighboring Dominican Republic was the first country [...]

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Yes, well, we had fun. But boy, am I glad that’s over! I leave you with a video of the song that has been permanently lodged in my poor brain for the past couple of months. I think this is one dance routine that, like the Macarena and Saturday Night, I will never, ever forget [...]

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The English School’s Show is, as mentioned earlier in the week, underway. Every day, two classes have been putting on their singing, dancing, acting extravaganza for a gym filled with proud parents and camcorders. We have practised so much that I find myself singing the songs from the show, any time I let my brain [...]

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The school’s “English Show” is finally taking place this week, having been postponed back when we were all dying of Swine Flu. See you tomorrow! I called to Jennifer as I stuck my head round the office door yesterday evening, the night before the opening performance. Yes… and please to dress up! she replied. Drat. [...]

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