Joel: I can't believe Simon managed to write his guest blog without mentioning his newly discovered skills both at norebang AND baseball. He walked around in something of daze on Sunday clearly unable to contemplate how he had lived to age of 27 without this self-knowledge. Or maybe it was the alcohol. I've never seen anyone given a 100 by the computerised norebang scorer before, nor have I witnessed the spectacular event of someone hitting two 10/10s in a batting range. Perhaps he's too modest to big-up his achievements. Anyway mate, no-one can take these wonderous feats away from you. And I'll always stand as your witness.

We had a fantastic week with Si and Rachel. We both had to work but I was given Friday off for the anniversary of my schools opening so it was nice to be able to spend it exploring some of Seoul's sights with the two of them. They struck gold in getting to see perhaps the best game I've seen at the World Cup Stadium so far last Wednesday. I've been aware of this Park Choo-Young character for a while but last season he was given little chance and often sat on the bench despite being hailed as the wonderkid of Korean football. Now though it looks like the new coach rates him and last week he played an absolute blinder. I'll put a link to match highlights up for anyone who's interested. Click on CUP and then on the TV by the 4-1 scoreline. And put your money on a move to a big European side for this boy next summer.

After the norebang on Saturday we somehow dragged ourselves up and out to “Seoulland” the theme park. I was feeling a little dicky and made a quite stupid move in letting Rakhi persuade me to board the pirate ship. I lost my voice shouting and had turned a shade of green by the end of the ride. It took me about an hour to recover enough to be excited about the prospect of the corkscrew and the double-looper. But excited we were! By half seven the crowds had dispersed and we were able to get on the double-looper twice in ten minutes. Quality.

I definitely damaged myself a bit at the weekend though. I had a bit of a sore throat and now I'm now trying to shake of a cold before Neal and Lyndsey arrive tomorrow. It's been thunder and lightening all day today - the worst weather we've witnessed here - so I really hope it calms down and their flight isn't delayed. I've got the morning off so I'll be up bright and early to get to the airport to meet them. We're hoping to head to Everland with them sometime, the only one of the three themeparks Rakhi and I haven't made it to and perhaps the biggest. There's also go-kart racing and a water park there so should be a good day out. Also, they're well up for a trip to the DMZ - the zone between the two Koreas where there are still troops standing off. If we can find the time, it could be a really interesting day trip. Strange, but interesting. Anyway, it's going to be top to have them here.

School's going ok. There are so many changes going on now and the plans for the changes seem to be changing everyday - I'm starting to feel a little glad we're leaving. Tomorrow afternoon I'm off on a trip with Seon-Yeong to chose a textbook for the new special class course. The students now have to pay for the classes so it has to be more of an organised thing than last year. Which is a bit of a shame. Both that they have to pay and that I'm no longer able to come up with lesson plans of my own that I think would be useful to teach. But then I'll only be teaching here for four more weeks so it's not a decision for me to make.

Right then, best get some sleep. I've got a half five start tomorrow.

Oh, and cousin Phil. Please let me know if the Spam reached you in one one piece.