Last Saturday, 8 of us took an early bus from Gwangju up to Seoul, for the St Patrick's Day Festival.We decided to go for the luxury bus, with the big reclining chairs, so we could sleep, and it was only about 14.00GBP each for a single.The bus got there early, so it only took about 3 hours and 15 minutes.We met a couple more people there, and the 10 of us checked into our hostel.Surprisingly this was our first time sleeping in dorms, but it was really clean and comfortable.We were staying in the Itaewon district and could not believe how many westerners we saw.It was like being back in London, and what seemed the most strange was seeing western children around.Not only are there lots of teachers and tourists in this area, but the US military are there too, as it's one of the only areas where they are welcome!

After checking into our hostel (IS@K Traveller's lounge) we went to Gecko's bar for some proper western food!The Steak and Ale pie with mash was amazing - I was in heaven!They even served Hoegarden on tap.It was a little expensive, so we started with one of these, and then moved on to the cheap lager whilst playing a few games of darts (proper ones this time, not electronic) but I was still pretty bad at it.

We took taxis into the centre, and followed the crowds to the festival, stopping to look in a few shops on the way, and picked up some beers from the 7Eleven.We also met a guy who's name was 'Patrick Saint' - he showed us his alien card to prove it! There was music and dancing at the festival, a guy with bagpipes and even a Korean U2 tribute band.I also managed to bump into my friend Colm, who I went to Uni with and have not seen for over 10 years!Such a small world.After the festival we took a ride on the subway back to Itaewon, to continue the celebrations.The Irish pub was packed, so we did a bit of a pub crawl and found a great bar that played 80's and 90's music.Many westerners are put off by the Bulldog Bar as it is full of US soldiers, but they tended to stay around the pool table, so we spent the night on the dance floor requesting song after song.The DJ had an amazing collection of British music, so we had a great time.There was also a big TV screen so we could watch the Bolton Man U match, as one of our friends is a Bolton fan.The bar even had its own Nuraebang room, so me and my friend Shannon went in to sing GreenDay's 'Basket Case' before returning to the dance floor.We also met up with our friend Emma, who has been living near Seoul for nearly 2 years now, so it was a great day for reunions!

The next morning we were woken up at 11.30am and told we had until 12 noon to get out of the room.It felt like it was the middle of the night, but we all made it up, had some of the free toast at the hostel and then headed out for a proper breakfast.We went to the Wolfhound Irish Pub for a Full English, which was expensive, but good, however the service was terrible.We have noticed since being here that Koreans are very intelligent, but have difficulty thinking for themselves.They are taught the answers to certain questions, which means that they find problem solving difficult and tend to panic!So, when one of our friends asked for his breakfast with 'no beans' this caused a major problem.The staff brought him out 3 breakfasts with beans, followed by a plate of chips, before they eventually got it right.We had all finished our meals before he had got his.So, the lesson is, never ask for something different from what is on the menu, as they just don't get it - and neither will you!There were also a few other problems with the bill, so we won't be going back to this bar in a hurry.

We had a fantastic weekend away in Seoul and took the luxury bus back to Gwangju later that afternoon.That gave us a chance to catch up on some sleep and then 6 of us went to the First Nepal Restaurant for curry when we got back.The food is amazing in this restaurant and the staff are so friendly, but more importantly there are no beans!It was nice to get back to our little apartment that evening and chill out watching some TV.

This morning we have been to apply for Graham's spousal visa and alien card.I have mine now, and hopefully his will come through next week.Graham has just gone out for his daily run.I forgot to say that a couple of weeks ago he saw a suicide victim on his run.Korea does have a very high suicide rate, which we knew about; he just wasn't expecting to see it so close up.He thinks a guy had jumped from one of the apartment blocks.There is so much pressure here to succeed - for kids to do well at school, for adults to do well in their jobs, and they get very little time off.There is also much pressure to marry and have kids, as this gives you a higher status.Mental illnesses are also kept very quiet here.I think they see it as a weakness, so there is little support for people suffering from stress, depression, etc.

Sorry to end this blog on a sombre note, but it's one of those things that makes up the culture here.

Hope everyone back home is doing well.

Maggie x