Why should you never watch fireworks on TV?

Because it's a dangerous place to light them.

In my opinion, you should always take the opportunity to watch live fireworks if it’s within your means. I am lucky enough to have the prime location of all Busan’s biggest firework displays in my back garden.

Every so often there are firework shows on the beach in front of Gwangan bridge. I am actually able to see the fireworks from my apartment window. Despite this, I feel there’s nothing quite like surrounding yourself with friends and getting up close and personal with the spectacle. A group of friends and I headed down to the beach to reserve our spot for the show. We found our spot and made camp at 16:30… The fireworks weren’t set to begin until 20:00. It was necessary to arrive that early, and even by that time the beach was almost full. The beach filled with people all morning like the subway at rush hour. We passed the time with drinks, cards, and good chit chat. When it was time to watch the show, it did not disappoint. They were some of the biggest fireworks I’ve seen and each display was paired exquisitely with a song as if prepared by a chef for a Michelin star 8 course meal. I simply love the occasion.

The photos don’t do it justice.

The night before, I was able to drink again. Sober October was over and I had some friends over to celebrate. Everyone brought some wine that we each had been collecting, as we get given it as gifts from our schools to celebrate holidays in Korea. There was absolutely no shortage of grape juice because of it. It was a lot of fun and we played Secret Hitler again. A game I don’t see ever getting old. The drinking, however, I should from now keep to a low…ish limit if i’m going to run this marathon in a time that i’ll be happy with.

Since last Wednesday i’ve been running again and it feels great. I forgot how good the feeling is after you finish a good run. I’ve got my plan stuck on the fridge and sticking to it. It consists of two easy runs and one long run, Monday, Wednesday, Saturday respectively. With two gym workouts a week scheduled along with some home recovery. The easy runs are annoying as I just wanna run faster, and I feel silly running at a slower pace. But Coach Zeke tells me off if I run them too fast. “It’s early stages, just getting your miles in,” he says to me. I’m building the foundations so to speak. It’s good though and all helps towards reaching my marathon pace goal. Next month, I’ll be adding a tempo run into the mix, too. I also looked at the map of the race and I can’t help but think, shit it looks long. It’s all good though, bring it on.

School has been all right this week, the usual highs and lows. On Monday, Poplar Tree had another concert check which we were well prepared for. However, to throw a spanner in the works, I returned from my lunch break to find Zoe inconsolable, crying because she didn’t finish her lunch in time to draw in her sketchbook. All this just in time for management to come and watch our performance. Impeccable timing. It is the way of things when you work at a kindergarten. She was too upset about her lack of drawing time to say her lines, but she surprisingly still danced, albeit with a the saddest face you’ll ever see. I did tell her she didn’t have to take part, but she looked at me with a face that said, ‘the show must go on’. I respected it.

The only other problem is that Henry can’t sing… he screams. Usually, I have the problem of the kids not being loud enough. This year it’s the opposite, they’re almost too loud. Henry tries his best but never fails to utterly shatter my ear drums, to the point that I say to him if you scream any louder my ears will start bleeding. This is met with lots of laughter as kids just want to watch the world and their teachers burn. I decided to tell them a white lie that if they scream and shout too much, one day they’ll lose their voices completely. It worked and now they’re at a volume that doesn’t make me want to wear soundproof headphones each time we practice. I’m proud of them.

What did the dog say when it saw the firework go off?

Nothing, dogs can’t talk.