This is my first blog upon returning to the decadent west and my last blog about life in Korea. I thought it would be appropriate to conclude by thanking some people who I met on the peninsula. So a respectful gamsa hamnida and a solemn nod of the head to the following: To Soupy, first and foremost. As the recipient of an entire gushing blog in his honour already, I feel that there's nothing else to be said. "'What's that smell' Spot said." To Pieter, who, in his love of Korean lif...
On my way home from work yesterday, a smartly-dressed young man came bounding up to me, his floppy fringe bobbing up and down as he ran. " Hello, I'm Brendan ", he said enthusiastically, offering his hand in an untypical Korean gesture. As a foreigner in Seoul, I'm often accosted in this manner by complete strangers. But there was something about this man; his uncommonly good English, his use of a Western-style greeting, which tipped me off that he was after more than a brief chat. Within...
One of the aspects to life in Seoul which took a little getting used to was the sheer size of this behemoth of a metropolis. Travelling around the Korean capital can be a very time-consuming experience. Weekends often involve inordinate amounts of time spent waiting for buses, standing on the subway, or watching the taxi meter tick over. But, as time has passed, I've grown used to these long journeys and have even started to take pleasure in the little idiosyncracies of Korean travel. The...
One of the great things about Asia, as opposed to Europe, is the different attitude toward food here in the Orient. Back home on the western side of our immense landmass, eating out is a very occasional pleasure for all but the wealthy. To go to a restaurant one must have a reason: a date, a birthday, a celebration of some kind. Eating out is expensive, so it's expected that you dress up for the occasion (which, for some of us means putting on clothes which do not have holes). Each d...
I've read a few of Michael Moore's books and have managed to take a position on the Rotund Ranter which few other Joeusers seem to share - that of ambivalence. I don't detest the man but neither do I love him. Sometimes, I find his ideas thought-provoking. I remember once reading his anecdotal observation that it seems that there are more girls than boys being born these days. Perhaps, he speculates, Mother Nature is trying to protect her creation by reducing the proportion of the population ...
"Mi guk in" The child's index finger points toward the pointy-nosed, pale-skinned oddity strolling past. "Mi guk in" ("American"), he exclaims excitedly to his parents as if he's just seen some exotic beast, like a rhino or a unicorn. The "American" stops in his tracks, bends down and smiles at the little one "a ni yo, a il lean deu in" ("no, I'm Irish.") I've lost count of the number of times I've been mistaken for a US citizen. Sometimes the person making the assumption is old e...
My time in Korea is coming to an end, so this is the first in a series of articles reflecting on life on the peninsula: The till opens to reveal a huge wad of ten thousand won notes (about a fiver each). Altogether, the checkout operator must have several hundred pounds in her till. I could reach out and grab them, simple as can be. Even after a year here, this to me is amazing. I did a similar job for many years back home in Belfast. If my boss there had caught me with several dozen no...
I knew this would happen. I said this would happen: " Among those milling around Templemore Sports Complex after last Friday evening's count were figures such as Ian Doherty, a leading Derry businessman and long-time associate of Mark Durkan's well-heeled clan. Mr Doherty was one of those who signed Mr Durkan's nomination papers. Nearby stood Ivan Cooper, another prominent figure in Derry's business and political circles. Mr Cooper, a founding member of the SDLP, is well known for his b...
At times like these, one feels sorry for the owners of British off-licenses. I don't imagine that the champagne was flying off the shelves after last week's Westminster election. The Conservatives won more than 40 extra seats but couldn't shift their share of the vote from the lamentable 33% they won in 2001. The Lib Dems increased their overall vote but didn't gain significantly more MPs. Labour, although re-elected with an eminently respectable majority of 67, saw their share of the vote sl...
The voters of North Down are a contrary bunch, always prepared to buck the trend of unionist politics. For years, while other unionists voted for the DUP or UUP, the good people of Bangor sent Jim Kilfedder, of the laughably titled Popular Unionist Party, to represent them in the House of Commons. After his death, another one man band took over in the constituency, Bob McCartney's United Kingdom Unionist Party. Now, once again, the MP for North Down can hold meetings of her parliamentary ...
Even before I clicked on the election results on the BBC website, I knew it was good news. On the homepage was an electoral map of the UK. I paid no heed to the mess of red, yellow and blue in GB, but instead fixed my gaze on Northern Ireland (NI). And there they were, lime green splashes in the north-west and south-east of the six counties. On closer inspection, there was also a little green dot by the River Lagan. My party, the SDLP, had won three seats, holding Foyle and South Down, lo...
I've been lucky enough to travel and to live in different countries. Along the way, I've met people from various nations and cultures. But regardless of background, I find there are three characteristics which I look for in a new acquaintance: self-deprecation, intellectual curiosity and joie de vivre . I'm not a fundamentalist about this, it's great if you have all three (the grand slam), but I won't write you off if you only possess one or two. I myself lack joie de vivre , which...
Often, when entering a house in northern Taiwan, I would notice an old photograph of a soldier hanging proudly on the wall. When I enquired who the man in question was, I would typically be told: "This is my grandfather, he fled to Taiwan in 1949." Most of the old men who take pride of place in Taiwanese homes have now passed away. I wonder what they would have made of this week's visit to China by Lien Chan, the head of the Kuomintang (KMT). There is, at last, a reconciliation of so...
For me, observing the governments of China and Japan squaring off recently is rather like watching Manchester United play Tottenham. Isn't there some way, I ask myself, that both of them could lose? I say this as someone who has spent several years living in two countries, Taiwan and South Korea, which toil in the shadows of the East Asian giants. Along the way, I've picked up a strong dislike of the right-wing regimes in Tokyo and Beijing. This part of the world is beset by conflict...
In the past, Westminster elections in Northern Ireland (NI) were dull affairs. In the 1992 and 1997 polls only one or two seats changed hands. However, since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, politics in the north have entered a period of great flux. In 2001, many seats changed hands and there were tight contests in many others. Once again in 2005, there are thrilling, down-to-the-wire fights right across NI. It's going to be great craic, I'm sorry that I'll miss it. Any t...