Last weekend we stayed in Gwangju, as one of our very good friends is leaving Korea in a few days' time.We therefore went out on Saturday, to say our goodbyes, and have a few drinks.This is one of the downsides to our jobs over here.Most of us are here on a temporary basis (usually a year's contract) so people are constantly leaving, but on the flip side others are always arriving too.When travelling last year, we always knew that we would only ever be with people for a few days at a time, as everyone was following their own schedule.This was hard, as we were constantly saying goodbye, but we got used to forming transitory friendships.Whereas here we are with people for a few months, so get to know each other a lot better, which makes it all the more difficult to say goodbye.

In actual fact, there are 2 people leaving this week.One of my co-workers had a Scooter/ car accident a few weeks ago, and has broken her leg.She has therefore decided to go back to Canada, as she needs a lot of physiotherapy and rehabilitation, and would rather do this in the comfort of her own home with her friends and family around her.So, it's going to be a sad week of goodbyes.

On the up side, we met some great people this weekend.On Friday night, Graham ended up playing darts with some Korean men, who then brought their friends over to meet us.This led to a long night of chatting and drinking together, which was fantastic.We then met more new people on Saturday night, both westerners and Koreans, many of whom I'm sure we shall see again.

Graham experienced a couple of interesting things last week:Korean police and traffic laws.It would appear, to a new-comer, that there are few traffic laws in Korea.People park anywhere and everywhere, no one stops for zebra crossings and taxi's always run red lights.However, last week Graham was whistled at, by a police officer, for jay walking!We did not realise that this was an offence here, but apparently it is!They made him come back across the road, and then proceeded to talk to him in Korean, of which he understood nothing, so they let him go!Later in the week, he was out with a Korean friend, and a police car came down the street sounding a siren.This was to warn people that they were coming to tow away all the illegally parked cars.Our Korean friend quickly moved his, but others were not so lucky.Six tow trucks then came along; the cars were broken into to release the handbrake, and then loaded onto the tow trucks.As they towed them away, they then chalked something on the road where the cars had been (presumably instructions for the owners) however it then started to rain, so all the chalk got washed away!Apparently one driver came back and tried to attack the man who was loading his car onto the tow truck - not a common sight in Korea.

Maggie x