My colleague is leaving for a ten day trip to a big debating tournament in the States., where is chaperoning and coaching two female Korean High School debaters. I am a bit jealous, as he is going to an English speaking country, with Western food a plenty and clothes shops with Westerns sizes. Also, he gets ten days away from the asylum, while I cover his classes.

My jealousy is moderated somewhat by the fact that his destination is Wichita, Kansas. Ahem. Hardly the most glamorous metropolis in the US. Kansas generally does not inspire excitement, Dorothy was so desperate to get out that she dropped a house on a Wicked Witch to get away. Furthermore, twentysomething American debate coach with teenage Korean girls, sounds far too much like a tabloid headline waiting to happen to me.

I went down to Insadong last evening with Phil who was buying gifts for his family. Insadong is a nice little area of Seoul, with cobbled streets and arty and knick knacky stuff for sale. A brass band was playing so it had a nice little ambiance going on. For dinner we went for a cheeky wee curry and cheeky and wee it certainly was. In fact it was a fairly crappy curry. It was supposed to contain chicken, but it was mostly made up of vegetable. In fact, it was very much like a poor mans version of the fine vegetable curry my mum makes. After the first few bites, I was wistfully reminiscing about the curried treats on offer at Charing Cross in Glasgow. Whenever I actually get home, a good curry with naan bread will be one of the first things I go for.