Some weeks have passed already since my short trip back to Germany. Not much has been happening since then, for the last couple of days I’m trying to get rid of a nasty flu (without swine), other than that work is keeping me busy and doesn’t allow much action during the week. On weekends I usually play some pool or foosball at Road King. The weather changed from sunny blue sky to gray and cold, sometimes it rains so I haven’t really been outside of Cheongju lately.
But I finally managed to go climbing! There is a bouldering gym only a five minute walk from Ramada Hotel with polished holds and strong climbers. Although communicating is rather tough they are all really nice and helpful.

Unlike the previous days the sky was clear and blue this morning. A shame that I had to return to Seoul to catch my flight back home. But the trip form Sokcho to Dong-Seoul was really stunning: Leaving the houses behind there were only hills, covered with this amazing patchwork of red and green and yellow forest. And above it all the granite towers of Seoraksan. I had this Idea of asking the driver to stop for a little while but quickly dismissed the thought because a: he wouldn’t have been able to do so and b: there was no way I could have made him understand me anyway.
Only two hours later I was back in Seoul, hidden in thick mist. I dropped some postcards off at the post office and went on to Incheon International Airport where I’m preparing some blog posts that I’m going to upload later in Dubai – unlike here they have working WiFi over there.

From Sokcho Intercity Bus terminal I took bus number 7-1 to Seorak-Dong. This small place is the gateway to the National Park and offers accomodation and basic supply – assuming you have cash, international ATM’s don’t exist up here. I checked into Han Gang Park Motel and fell asleep after a long day. | Read the rest of this entry …

Before leaving Korea for a short visit to Germany I wanted to squeeze in some travelling. It came in handy that I still had a free day due to my volunteer work last Saturday and my flight leaving late Tuesday. That basically gave me more than three days, enough time to visit Seoraksan National Park up north, supposingly the most stunning in whole Korea (North and South). | Read the rest of this entry …

As mentioned earlier we eventually moved to the Ramada Hotel which offers the comfort of large rooms, gym, pool and sauna and a great breakfast buffet. The helpful staff is very friendly and generally speaks some English, too. Located at the northern end of town it’s a 20 minute walk downtown or a taxi ride of less than 5 minutes. If you don’t wanna go that far then there’s a supermarket right below the hotel, a cinema in the same building and a few Korean restaurants nearby. Apparently there’s even a bouldering close but I haven’t been able to find it – yet.

Sounds pretty exciting, doesn’t it? That’s what I thought anyway when I found this alleged gem while browsing a map of Cheongju the other day. Paolo and I took a cab to the other side of town to pay the garden a visit and not even the ignorance of the usually omniscient Ramada staff could hold us back. When the taxi driver dropped us off we realized why no-one knew about this place: Instead of a garden we entered a shady shed where hundreds of tiny and even tinier plants were grown – at least they were really carnivorous. So I wouldn’t call it a highlight but they’re still pretty to look at.

Originally the whole team stayed at Grand Hotel in Chungju. But then a few incidents concerning the sanitary facilities were reported … for example, this toilet that stopped working – and got fixed in th ewrong room which from then on had problmes with leakage. | Read the rest of this entry …

On 1st September I boarded the aircraft at Zurich Airport, heading for Incheon International Airport in Korea, stopping in Dubai. Roughly 15 hours aboard the plane, followed by a three hours Bus ride to Chungju and another five minutes by taxi. Final destination: Grand Hotel Chungju. That was the plan, and despite some communication issues it worked quite well – there I went straight to bed just before midnight, exhausted but excited. | Read the rest of this entry …

Zwei Wochen Seminar. Zwei Wochen Gruppenarbeit. Zwei Wochen lang lernen, wie man eine Bewerbung schreibt? Zwei Wochen lang lernen wie man sich auf ein Vorstellungsgespräch vorbereitet?
Ein ganz klein bisschen skeptisch war ich anfangs ja schon. Aber nach der Einführungsrunde war dann eigentlich klar: das kann eine sehr spannende Sache werden. Und nachdem die letzten Formalitäten geregelt waren, gings dann los. Mit 13 wildfremden, mehr oder weniger frischen Hochschulabsolventen, die alle das gleiche Ziel hatten: Wie finde ich möglichst bald einen Job, der möglichst gut zu mir passt? | Read the rest of this entry …

Man hört es ständig in den Nachrichten: Victoria wird von den schlimmsten Buschfeuern aller Zeiten heimgesucht. Zeitweise mehr als 400 Feuer gleichzeitig haben bereits über 200 Todesopfer gefordert. Erschwerend wirkt das extreme Wetter; Anfang Februar wurde in Melbourne der heißeste Tag seit Beginn der Aufzeichnungen gemessen: 46,7°C im Stadtzentrum! Wenn dann auch noch der Wind mit Böen von 85km/h eine Temperatur von 40°C hat, kann man sich vorstellen, wie verheerend das sein muß.
Erschreckend für mich persönlich ist abgesehen von dem generellen Ausmaß der Tragödie, daß ich viele der betroffenen Orte selbst kenne, teilweise schon besucht habe. Und auch Freunde haben ihre Häuser verloren oder vermissen gar Bekannte und Verwandte.
Man kann nur hoffen, daß das Wetter bald kippt und ein bisschen Regen bringt, aber wann das sein wird kann lieder keiner sagen …