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The parent company of the parent company of ECC organised a banquet for all the teachers. The venue was in Seoul, and Mr Choi arranged for one of the ECC school buses to take us all up there. Marc brought his guitar, and we had a really great time as we were all singing along for the first hour or so of the journey.
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A quick note on Korean traffic. It being a Sunday, the roads were packed with travelers, but we were a bus with more than 9 people, so we could use the bus lane, which was pretty much empty the whole way up to Seoul. The rest of the traffic was traveling at a good 20mph slower than we were.
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The venue, the Hyatt hotel, was very plush. We milled around in the hallway for a while, hanging around, waiting for those who didn't travel by ECC bus to turn up. There was even an ice-sculpture there to greet us. We signed in and picked up are name-tags (which I hastily stuffed into my shirt pocket), and entered the ballroom.
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There was an almost unbelievable number of tables. I had had no idea that I was working for such a large company. After a while, the speeches began, and a number of directors got up on stage and said a few words, all of which I've now forgotten, but I would guess they thanked us and congratulated us for being such great staff.
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Then we played a game. We got given a list of items that we had to bring to the stage. From memory: a belt, a tie, a set of nail clippers, a business card from a competitor, a pen, a sock (supplied by Jen's mum), and a few other thing. We managed to get all but one item, a newspaper, and Glen took them up to the stage, and returned soon after with a bottle of wine. A note on Glen. I have a number of pictures of Glen, and more than fifty percent feature a stunning view of his tongue.
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We sat at out table for perhaps 30 to 45 minutes staring at the bottle of wine and wondering how we were going to get it open. Then the talent contest started. Maria, the academic supervisor, had been pushing us to take part in the contest, which was the real reason Marc had brought his guitar. We were informed on arrival that we had to book in advance to compete, something we had neglected to do. We weren't really disappointed. While one of the more boring acts was playing (described as a fruity melodrama by those performing), I snuck off with the wine bottle and managed to get it opened.
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So, on to the group shot, taken by Jen's mum. Back row: Me, Jena, Marc. Middle row: Liam, Sarah, Victoria (and daughter), Diddy (and son), Stacey. Front Row: Sue, Glen, Jo, Jen. Following the talent contest (a fix, we though, won by some dancers) we got to watch the kitchen staff convey many meals past our table before finally getting some food. It wasn't bad food. The desert was fantastic, but tragically, feeling ill with a horrible Korean Cold (tm), I couldn't finish more than a couple of mouthfuls of chocolaty goodness.
After the meal came the entertainment. We had two famous (apparently) Korean artistes who got up on stage for us. One was a male singer, who didn't do very much, as his music kept cutting out and jittering. He attempted to sing "I believe I can fly" three times before finally giving up and apologising (I assume) in Korean. The second act was a young lady who danced and sang. It was bubbly, upbeat stuff.
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At around this point, Mr Choi rejoined the group. He'd been sitting at one of the VIP tables, and was now ready to leave, so he hovered for a while.
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I slept for much of the bus ride home, but it was also an enjoyable ride. We discussed who would win in a fight between Batman and Spiderman. Spiderman has superpowers, but Batman has more of a killer instinct. On balance, the consensus was Spiderman. Sarah and Liam finished off the wine between them.
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I wasn't the only one sleeping. Mark dozed for a good percentage of the time. On our arrival back in Daejon, many of the teachers were dropped off in Kung Dong, one of the night spots. I opted for going to bed and sleeping though, which I still consider to be a wise decision, given the nasty cold I was trying to shake off.
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