May 18th, 2009 Killian Byrne
After a hectic week with lots of things happening, I was left with happy thoughts on Friday as it was Teachers day where teachers get rewarded for their efforts. With lots of free pizza and icecream in the staffroom followed by drinks with staff afterward who couldn’t be happy… possibly a pair of socks was the best present from a student of my kindergarten. 
One of my best weeks so far teaching-wise as all children were on their best behaviour–quite amazing and surprising really.
The weekend came quicker than expected and after the social in the local with other teachers, I was soon on a train early Saturday morning-the main highlight being a football match on Sat afternoon at the World Cup stadium in Seoul… Bohang Steelers Vs FC Seoul at what seemed like an almost empty stadium with only a couple of thousand seats filled of the 60,000 available.
First visit to Cinema brought us watching the latest edition in the Professor Langdon series-Angels and Demons… an enjoyable day despite the rain.
With quite a short search for accommodation, we spent the next day in Tower 63-60 floors plus 3 basements.
What a view!!! Bit of a hazy day… but could see a fair bit from up that high…
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March 30th, 2009 Killian Byrne
Early on Saturday Morning, we ran to the train station to catch the first train out of Hongseong, and it didn’t take long until we made it to the USO Camp for our DMZ trip.
Not long after hopping on the bus did we see the barbed wire and the military huts demonstrating our closeness to North Korea.
Dora observatory was the first where we looked out over North Korea and photos were very restrictive. We then saw the 3rd tunnel, walked down through it with our builder’s hats and learned of the reasons for all the Tunnels and the discovery of the tunnel by the south Koreans so many years ago…
However the highlight was when we transferred bus at the Security location and were brought along a private road, the only way known to visit the border… They brought us to the room where the Amistice meetings were held and the truce following the civil war was agreed to.
The middle of this particular table marking the border between North and South with the Korean soldiers of ROK. Tension can strongly be felt as a North Korean soldier is constantly on guard spying with his binoculars every minute or 2 and any move by a tourist out of place is met with a karate chop… or should i say taekwando chop?
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January 1st, 2009 Killian Byrne
After an exhausting first week, I was in much need of relaxation…
This came in the form of Christmas Dinner at Paul and Rachel’s… A friendly English couple who i’d only met recently and were friendly enough to invite me over… Was a pleasant surprise… glad to spend Christmas with good friends as being without family was a first…A great day was had by all with songs provided by Paul’s youtube collection and Rachel’s cooking kept our bellies full…
Peace and quiet remained in Hongsseong wtih the exception of a few nights in Seoul.
One of these was New Years Eve. Jo, a great friendly English girl with a hint of sarcasm on her tongue and the travelling bug in her tummy was on the way back from Japan and met Viro and myself in the train station… like meeting in the olden days… No mobile phone communication!!!!!!
Jo was full of beans that night and couldn’t wait to tell us her news about where she’d been as we gobbled up some Mexican food with friendly atmosphere and attentive English speaking waiting staff.
We legged it to the nearest night life spot and managed to hit the club minutes before midnight to wish each other a happy new year and spent the night dancing away…
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December 24th, 2008 Killian Byrne
First day being a teacher and not having a clue of expectations, what to wear… much more relaxed and casual than I first thought…
Monday and Tuesday…watching in on Jen’s classes all day… tiring enough without doing any teaching…Jen was a friendly South African girl who I’d met briefly at the weekend but got to know more as the week went on :)
Wednesday saw me starting classes with 2 mock practice lessons and it was the end of the week before I knew it!!!
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December 17th, 2008 Killian Byrne
Still in a daze, I was taken from the hostel at the ungodly hour of 8:30 to find my new apartment and the building where i’d stay…
I quickly met the other foreign teachers and ran off to the shops to stock up. However it wasn’t long before I was back in the apartment and had the whole weekend to kill without having direction or knowing what was in the town. A walk around found me wandering the streets all day and it wasn’t long before I got lost among the Korean characters.
Met the others the Sunday evening and a much more pleasant experience became clearer…
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December 16th, 2008 Killian Byrne
Day of arrival in a strange and new place never escapes the mind and this was no different…
It felt like being a celebrity as I saw my name on a placard. After 20 hours of no sleep, I waved and dosily trundled over to greet my hosts who I quickly realised had no English and communication quickly ended as my knowledge of Korean language was very limited to about 2 words…
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September 25th, 2008 Killian Byrne
Today, I didn´t waste any time about doing activities, something had to be done. No sooner had I asked about tours had they booked one for me… Vila tatajuba. Amazing time going up and over the sand dunes
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September 24th, 2008 Killian Byrne
After spending so long in pipa I finally decided to go yesterday. The transport from there to JeriCoacoara was the most difficult of all travels so far. I hopped on one bus to natal, hopped off that and bought my ticket to fortaleza. 1.5 hours waiting in the rodoviaria and I was on my way, before finally reaching there the next morning, to buy the next bus ticket to jeri which gave me 3 hour wait in the rodoviaria of fortaleza. I finally arrived at bout half 4 to see the sun go down.
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September 17th, 2008 Killian Byrne
As I woke up, I realise it was still early, but I got up anyway, had breakfast and booked in to some buggy driving around the beaches in the southern direction. This was cool, seeing the different coloured rocks in one area, the erosion that was clearly evident in some places and holding a crab was cool too. Lovin the landscapes of Brazil, especially the north and northeast
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September 16th, 2008 Killian Byrne
As I got off the 14hour long bus journey, I Arrived in the rodoviaria of Joao Pessoa, a bit out of sorts not having a clue where I was, until everyone was getting off the bus. We reached our final destination, Joao Pessoa. A nice beachside town with some activities to do.
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