Curtain

So much went on in 2004 in Korea that it passed by like some train ~ even though I was there, am I really qualified to talk about my impressions of this year? It's hard to describe a train as it flashes by you ~ ~ ~

Anyway it was a year of proper achievement. Which explains why it passed by so fast. At the end of it, it's New Year's Eve (a great night) and I'm telling Sebaldo my resolution for next year was to achieve a work-life balance ~ ~ Ah I miss those early 20s times, in the spring in Prague, 2003, when I'd go to sleep for an hour or two in my little apartment in Holesovice, then weake up, put on a John Martyn tape, and make myself this amazing cup of milky coffee. That was good. What is all this ACHIEVEMENT rubbish? Winning amateur football leagues, making money, doing an MEd, having a baby, putting on an art exhibition, writing a book ~ a good year but busy is the price.

JANUARY

It's a Winter Camp at Dong-A with teenagers which is taking up my time. We decide to stay in Korea for another year because of various things. One of them is that now I'm the head teacher at Dong-A, which filled my heart with immense pride for 5 minutes until I realised how little actual power I could wield. Still, it was a nice dream while it lasted.

Anyway here's me next to some of the teenagers I taught; nice girls, although I swear I'd never recognise 'em if I saw 'em in the street now.

FEBRUARY

Here's me with some Real Busan boyz ~ Sebaldo, Gino and Satan, after we killed the Seoul Jokers 6-3, that so called great team. How amazing are Real Busan? Living legends. What am I doing playing for them? Ha, that's what. Actually the joke was on us when we went up to Seoul and lost 5-2, thus surrendering the Seoul-Busan Cup on away goals.

The Seoul trip was the highlight of the month, which I mostly spent at home working on my MEd ~ I got the work in on time but I'm an acadmeic amateur at this point of my life and got a disappointing C for all my efforts.

MARCH

Real Busan win every game they play by a six goal margin, then go out and drink long and hard every time; I get Eun Jung pregnant but at this point neither of us have a clue about that; the two of us spent a lovely day out at Tongdosa, pictured here on the left; that's about it.

APRIL

At this point, Eun Jung knows she's pregnant; look how delighted she is. We move house to the Dong-A apartments round the corner, and right away she uses the "I'm pregnant" card to get out of any removal work ~ while I'm doing the hardest day's work of my life, she's there rearranging spoons or something. Enjoy it while it lasts, I tell her, 'cause as soon as she's able I'm sending her to the factory to earn her crust.

We also go to Geoje Island, which is stunningly beautiful ~ I'd like to think I'm going back there someday. And the pair of us try yoga for the first time. It was decent, actually, and I kept it up for about 3 or 4 more months of bendiness before quitting (it was too far).

MAY

Real Busan, Real Busan, Real Busan. The unbeatable, legendary Real Busan not only strolled the league, but won the Busan Cup final 8-1 against DMZ ~ ha!

JUNE

Here's Eun Jung with Kim Mi-Gyeong at Eun Jung's art show in Siminhoegwan. Very nice, and big place, and a decent show too ~ even though it did come right in the middle of a serious downpour. Art is meant to be hung on the wall, where passers by can come in and have some wine and look at it; shame exhibitions are such big work, otherwise we'd do them all the time.

Not a ton of work on at this time of year but Euro 2004 was on and at this point, we know our baby is going to be a boy. What are we going to call it? Probably Jerome. Or Osvaldo? Do like those visits to 'Sae Busan', the mums and babies clinic ~ if any place underlines that you are going to have a baby, that is it.

JULY

Here is Haeundae Beach during the summer. It's busy with tens of thousands of folk who go there even if the weather is rubbish. I'm mostly working on my MEd nowadays because it's that time of year again ~ where you get some time off but heartbreakingly realise you can't spent it on holiday 'cause you got too much MEd work to do ~ jjajeungna ~ !

AUGUST

Dan Hark and I got driving on our 'tabang tour' of southern South Korea ~ taking in Jinju; Namhae, including Sangju Berach and Boriam Temple; Suncheon and Boseong; Jogyesan and Songgwangsa; Hwaeomsa; Jirisan, including Nogodan; Namwon; and finally Daegu ~ splendid. Fantastic! Then right back onto the grindstone for the MEd work which pleasingly got me an A this time.

Oh, and it's hot ~ the hottest Korean summer on record ever. Eun Jung had Jerome inside her and it was even hotter for her but her ordeal will be over in a few months so what's she complaining about?

Real Busan disastrously fail to win the summer league ~ we generously gave away 4 points at the start over some technicality just to make things even, then too many guys left and we couldn't even field a team ~ now we're not the league title holders. How weird is that?

SEPTEMBER

Really nice time of year. Does Eun Jung look pregnant yet? Not at all! Work starts at Dong-A again, and PIFF is coming up ~ while we're in the bank buying tickets for this in advance this guy goes off shouting at the counter staff but right over our shoulders, so I uncharacteristically give him the biggest scolding I've given anyone in years. He had it coming though.

I have great energy ~ I have a baby coming! So alongside my work, my extra work, and my MEd, I start writing a book ~ DETECTIVE CHA AND THE DEAD MILLIONAIRE ~ mostly in Dunkin Donuts. I'm loving it ~ always wanted to write a book, and here's one flowing out of me. Best not stop while it's coming.

OCTOBER

Isn't this the best photo of Sebaldo ever? Real Busan are on the march again and are winning games ~ here we are winning 8-1, but at half time, Sebaldo and Gino differed in opinion over some silly thing ~ look at his face! For once, ever ~ dark!

PIFF came and went ~ it was great, we saw a ton of cool films and the festival felt much like a holiday ~ just as well, 'cause while I'm doing this MEd, I can't see myself taking one.

Eun Jung is showing at last ~ no denying we're having a baby now. I'm loving Pusan this October ~ my circle of friends and my time in this city feels mature ~ I go for great drinking with Tim, Gino & Sebaldo are stars, and there's Mike, Jim and Pete around too ~ what a lovely month.

And DETECTIVE CHA ~ I'm cracking on with it ~ has there ever been such a project where I see all things clearly? Having a baby gives me this amazing energy, this amazing ability, this amazing juice ~ right now, I could do anything.

NOVEMBER

I got this big, pregnant wife but she's still cute! Finally at the end of the month she goes to Daegu, 'cause the baby started his long journey out. Put her on the 8am train to Daegu while she was in deep pain ~ which, looking back, was a bit of a risk.

Anyway you want to see my energy! DETECTIVE CHA is steaming along and is in fact, pretty much done bar the fiddly things, which end up taking time.

Crisp weather, meaningful times for me and Eun Jung.

And Real Busan CRUSH the champions PSV 4-0 ~ and the closest pretenders the Shots 4-1 ~ to all but reclaim our precious title.

DECEMBER

Hooray there he is ~ JEROME FELEPPA! Born in Daegu at 6:02 on the 1st of December ~ what a brilliant little baby boy!

Eun Jung spends the month in Daegu, while I work down in Busan but go up there 5 times. Knackering but I mentioned my energy.

Real win the league. New Year's Eve was super ~ most of it round Richard's house with several Real Busan folk.

And that is that ~ 2004 in a nutshell. I worked harder than ever but it was amazing ~ in fact, writing about it brings a lot of it back to me ~ it seems I caught more than a glimpse of that passing train after all. 2004 ~ busy, but good shit~~~!

	JANUARY It's a Winter Camp at Dong-A with teenagers which is taking up my time. We decide to stay in Korea for another year because of various things. One of them is that now I'm the head teacher at Dong-A, which filled my heart with immense pride for 5 minutes until I realised how little actual power I could wield. Still, it was a nice dream while it lasted. Anyway here's me next to some of the teenagers I taught; nice girls, although I swear I'd never recognise 'em if I saw 'em in the street now.
	FEBRUARY Here's me with some Real Busan boyz ~ Sebaldo, Gino and Satan, after we killed the Seoul Jokers 6-3, that so called great team. How amazing are Real Busan? Living legends. What am I doing playing for them? Ha, that's what. Actually the joke was on us when we went up to Seoul and lost 5-2, thus surrendering the Seoul-Busan Cup on away goals. The Seoul trip was the highlight of the month, which I mostly spent at home working on my MEd ~ I got the work in on time but I'm an acadmeic amateur at this point of my life and got a disappointing C for all my efforts.
	MARCH Real Busan win every game they play by a six goal margin, then go out and drink long and hard every time; I get Eun Jung pregnant but at this point neither of us have a clue about that; the two of us spent a lovely day out at Tongdosa, pictured here on the left; that's about it.
	APRIL At this point, Eun Jung knows she's pregnant; look how delighted she is. We move house to the Dong-A apartments round the corner, and right away she uses the "I'm pregnant" card to get out of any removal work ~ while I'm doing the hardest day's work of my life, she's there rearranging spoons or something. Enjoy it while it lasts, I tell her, 'cause as soon as she's able I'm sending her to the factory to earn her crust. We also go to Geoje Island, which is stunningly beautiful ~ I'd like to think I'm going back there someday. And the pair of us try yoga for the first time. It was decent, actually, and I kept it up for about 3 or 4 more months of bendiness before quitting (it was too far).
	MAY Real Busan, Real Busan, Real Busan. The unbeatable, legendary Real Busan not only strolled the league, but won the Busan Cup final 8-1 against DMZ ~ ha!
	JUNE Here's Eun Jung with Kim Mi-Gyeong at Eun Jung's art show in Siminhoegwan. Very nice, and big place, and a decent show too ~ even though it did come right in the middle of a serious downpour. Art is meant to be hung on the wall, where passers by can come in and have some wine and look at it; shame exhibitions are such big work, otherwise we'd do them all the time. Not a ton of work on at this time of year but Euro 2004 was on and at this point, we know our baby is going to be a boy. What are we going to call it? Probably Jerome. Or Osvaldo? Do like those visits to 'Sae Busan', the mums and babies clinic ~ if any place underlines that you are going to have a baby, that is it.
	JULY Here is Haeundae Beach during the summer. It's busy with tens of thousands of folk who go there even if the weather is rubbish. I'm mostly working on my MEd nowadays because it's that time of year again ~ where you get some time off but heartbreakingly realise you can't spent it on holiday 'cause you got too much MEd work to do ~ jjajeungna ~ !
	AUGUST Dan Hark and I got driving on our 'tabang tour' of southern South Korea ~ taking in Jinju; Namhae, including Sangju Berach and Boriam Temple; Suncheon and Boseong; Jogyesan and Songgwangsa; Hwaeomsa; Jirisan, including Nogodan; Namwon; and finally Daegu ~ splendid. Fantastic! Then right back onto the grindstone for the MEd work which pleasingly got me an A this time. Oh, and it's hot ~ the hottest Korean summer on record ever. Eun Jung had Jerome inside her and it was even hotter for her but her ordeal will be over in a few months so what's she complaining about? Real Busan disastrously fail to win the summer league ~ we generously gave away 4 points at the start over some technicality just to make things even, then too many guys left and we couldn't even field a team ~ now we're not the league title holders. How weird is that?
	SEPTEMBER Really nice time of year. Does Eun Jung look pregnant yet? Not at all! Work starts at Dong-A again, and PIFF is coming up ~ while we're in the bank buying tickets for this in advance this guy goes off shouting at the counter staff but right over our shoulders, so I uncharacteristically give him the biggest scolding I've given anyone in years. He had it coming though. I have great energy ~ I have a baby coming! So alongside my work, my extra work, and my MEd, I start writing a book ~ DETECTIVE CHA AND THE DEAD MILLIONAIRE ~ mostly in Dunkin Donuts. I'm loving it ~ always wanted to write a book, and here's one flowing out of me. Best not stop while it's coming.
	OCTOBER Isn't this the best photo of Sebaldo ever? Real Busan are on the march again and are winning games ~ here we are winning 8-1, but at half time, Sebaldo and Gino differed in opinion over some silly thing ~ look at his face! For once, ever ~ dark! PIFF came and went ~ it was great, we saw a ton of cool films and the festival felt much like a holiday ~ just as well, 'cause while I'm doing this MEd, I can't see myself taking one. Eun Jung is showing at last ~ no denying we're having a baby now. I'm loving Pusan this October ~ my circle of friends and my time in this city feels mature ~ I go for great drinking with Tim, Gino & Sebaldo are stars, and there's Mike, Jim and Pete around too ~ what a lovely month. And DETECTIVE CHA ~ I'm cracking on with it ~ has there ever been such a project where I see all things clearly? Having a baby gives me this amazing energy, this amazing ability, this amazing juice ~ right now, I could do anything.
	NOVEMBER I got this big, pregnant wife but she's still cute! Finally at the end of the month she goes to Daegu, 'cause the baby started his long journey out. Put her on the 8am train to Daegu while she was in deep pain ~ which, looking back, was a bit of a risk. Anyway you want to see my energy! DETECTIVE CHA is steaming along and is in fact, pretty much done bar the fiddly things, which end up taking time. Crisp weather, meaningful times for me and Eun Jung. And Real Busan CRUSH the champions PSV 4-0 ~ and the closest pretenders the Shots 4-1 ~ to all but reclaim our precious title.
	DECEMBER Hooray there he is ~ JEROME FELEPPA! Born in Daegu at 6:02 on the 1st of December ~ what a brilliant little baby boy! Eun Jung spends the month in Daegu, while I work down in Busan but go up there 5 times. Knackering but I mentioned my energy. Real win the league. New Year's Eve was super ~ most of it round Richard's house with several Real Busan folk.

whatever happened to korea 2004 ~ ~ ~ ?