Joel: I returned to school on Wednesday to begin the first of the winter camps. It's nice to start with the grade 3 kids because they're probably the easiest to teach and they're also the sweetest - most of them that is. Two of the boys are proper little gremlins and there's a girl whose behavior at times resembles that of a Tourettes sufferer. All said and done though, it's been pretty easy to get back into the swing of things. For their final day on Tuesday, I'm going to do a lesson on "the family" and then show them "Lemony Snicket's - A Series of Unfortunate Events" in English with Korean subtitles. Rakhi and I watched this film just before Christmas and, like most good kids stuff, it's pretty dark. It's about three kids whose parents die in a house fire and so they have to go to live with their evil uncle who will stop at nothing to kill them and get his hands on the family inheritence. It's a PG but it might be a bit scary for some of them. If there are any tears I can always turn it off and stick some sesame street on. Oh dear!

At the risk of allowing this blog to become one of those in which the writers harp on about the minutae of their lives, as though completely everyday events were of any interest to anybody else whatsoever, something personally quite significant happened to me this week. I had a haircut! Ha ha! Rakhi recomended this guy she went to in Hongdae who worked in London for three years so of course speaks dead good English. Even so, I took a photo along with me and ended up with the works: a wash, a head massage and one of the best haircuts I've ever had - at least on a par with the excellent work that Mad Percy from Whitby village used to do for me.

Also, this week we've been detoxing. It's been pretty necessary, I think. We ate and drank so much rubbish over the Christmas period that I think my body needed a break. For five days we stuck to a strict vegan detox diet - not even any bread - just fruit and vegetables, nuts and beans. I feel like it sorted me out a bit really. That is, until Rakhi cracked on Friday night and roped me into popping out to Homeplus to grab a bottle of wine to go with her dinner. A leopard never changes it's spots!

Speaking of food, when Rakhi and I went to the kimchi making class a couple of months ago, one of the women from the cultural centre came round at the end to ask for suggestions for other activities that the centre might be able to organise. On the spot, I suggested a Taekwando class. When Rakhi had a look at their site on Friday, she noticed they had arranged an English language Taekwando class for yesterday at one o'clock - so we went. It was a superb experience. First we were given an insight into the philosophy of Taekwando and offered a demonstration from three highly skilled practitioners and then we were taught some basic moves - punches and kicks. I really enjoyed it. Near the end, one of the Korean Taekwando specialists challenged me to try a new super high kick and break a board that he was holding in the air. I was a bit unsure at first but gave it a go and managed to snap the thing in two first time. I couldn't quite believe it to be honest. And Rakhi managed to get it on camera. Jackie Chan, bring it on! Rakhi was pretty good too - especially with the kicking. I'm going to have to be careful not to upset her now. I wouldn't want to get my lips kicked off.