Almost Christmas

Hi Everyone,

It is starting to get very cold here in Korea. I have not been on the motorcycle too much lately. I don't know if I will ever get to have a long ride again before I will leave the country. School is starting to wrap up for the year now. The Korean school system is very different than ours. They will have a 2 month winter vacation starting at the end of December, which is also the end of the school year. So I am counting down until then! At this point,it looks like I may be home before the new school year begins in March! Well... either home or living in Thailand for a month.

I will have to teach at 3 English winter camps over the holiday vacation, but I should have some time for R&R over January and February. Jackie and I will be going to Boracay, Philippines from January 17-27th. It is supposed to be one of the best vacation spots in the world with the famous 'White Beach', which is where our hotel will be located.

A view from the water.


Ahh, so that's why they call it White Beach.

Plans for Christmas at this point are not decided. Although, a few friends and I have been talking about going to a ski resort for a few days. But, I have a feeling that many Koreans will be having the same idea as us, and there just may be no room at the inn.

Last weekend, there was an event entitled, 'A Celebrity in Korea and his Entourage'. The idea behind this was that a group of foreigners (who Koreans often confuse as celebrities anyway) would dress up in different roles. There was one rapper (MC Bright), his posse, his girls, security, personal assistant, Korean translator, and I was a reporter working for CNN. And these are the pictures...

This is in the staging area. MC Bright (center), his security, personal assistant and reporter.



MC Bright and his ladies.




The entourage moving through the city streets.



Oops! Busted... no pictures.




Security doesn't mess around.


The Koreans look curiously at our pseudo-celebrity.




He even had time for an autograph!



I was the journalist for the evening (I made the press pass myself). I was able to talk some places into giving me some free drinks for a little CNN coverage! I interviewed some people (through a translator). They look forward to MC Bright's new CD and his concert tour in Seoul in 2008.

In the spirit of Christmas, Jackie and I decided to spruce up my apartment a little bit one day when we noticed some Christmas decorations at a department store.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Tree, ornaments all for $10! There are already gifts under the tree. Thanks mom and dad.

Jackie and I proudly displaying our decorating talent.

Lastly, this is a video that I made when Jackie and I went to a restaurant here in my city. The sound is difficult to hear, but we try to show you all the different side dishes available at a Korean restaurant. And also, the fine art of how to put it all together. Korean restaurants area little different from restaurants at home as they bring out the food uncooked and cook it in front of you.

In case I cannot write another blog before Christmas. Merry Christmas to everyone and have a happy new year!

Burrr.... It's cold in here.

Hello family and friends,


It has quickly turned into fall here in Korea and I am realizing that I didn't consider the winter season when packing to come here in the summer. I will have to go shopping soon if I hope to survive the winter. Korean people are well-known (by foreigners) to enjoy the heat in the summer. Maybe they don't enjoy it, but they refuse to turn on air conditioners unless they are near death. This would lead one to believe that they enjoy the warmer temperatures. This logical conclusion is, sadly, false.



Although the temperatures are approaching the freezing point, Koreans do not push the little button that magically warms the room. Whether the venue be school, work, a store, or a restaurant, Koreans are either completely indifferent to temperature preference or everyone is too cheap to warm up the air to be a little more comfortable. It kind of reminds me of my Dad and how he wouldn't turn on the furnance until December, but to the extreme! "Just put on a sweater." Sorry Dad. It is so cold inside that no one bothers taking off their winter jackets once they get inside.




I think that sums up my rant on what currently bothers me in Korea. In other news, although the Chinese New Year is months away, I booked a plane ticket to Tokyo (from February 6-9) since we will have a 5 day weekend because of the New Year. I will be going with Jackie and a few other friends, so it should be good to see some new places with everyone. In Korea, it is always important to book extremely early for holidays that everyone else in the country has off. By December, there will be no seats available to leave the country. I will be looking forward to that trip even though it is almost 3 months away.



A former co-worker of mine (from the hagwon-SLP) will be getting married on Saturday. She has invited me to the wedding and I look foward to seeing a Korean wedding. From what I hear, they are quite different than what we are used to.

You never know what you'll find when walking the streets in Korea. These two were just married. I guess I will be seeing more of this next weekend.

This past weekend was a busy, but fun one. It included a few trips to the bar (which is a nice treat after a long week), watching a Korean professional basketball game (which is clearly unprofessional compared to NBA standards), playing my favorite computer game Starcraft (and convincing some friends to come along so it doesn't feel quite so nerdy), singing at a norebong (singing room), making and seeing a fireworks display, playing a game of soccer, and even eating some McDonald's (a treat that I can't get in the new city where I'm living)!

A view of the court from our seats. Our home can never seem to pull off a win. They were winning throughout much of the game but lost by 10 points in the end.

An international friendly game: Korea vs. Canada/USA/England. We win 2-0!

Singing at the singing room. I believe this was Piano Man by Billy Joel, a crowd favorite.

Mmmm. This wine box tastes good.

The weekend before last was Halloween as I am sure everyone is aware. There was a traditional costume party at 'Deep in'- the foreigner bar in Jeonju. It was a good time, just as it was last year with many outlandish costumes.

Arrrrrgh. Scaring the locals.

This is also scaring the locals, but in kind of a different way. That is one ugly lady!

Jackie and I were pirates for Halloween or as the Koreans say, "Jack Sparrow" because apparently all pirates are the character from the Pirates of the Carribean movies.

Home-made Star Wars costumes. They look pretty good!

My favorite Halloween costume. Perhaps it's because the mask has nothing to do with halloween at all or maybe because the horse has a look of shock on it, as in "What am I doing here?"

Work has been going well. Unfortunately, it has not been filled with random days off as it was in the beginning. Hopefully something will come up soon. The Korean school schedule is always a surprise (even to the Korean students and teachers I think). Apparently I will get a a week or two off sometime between now and February, but I don't know when. I am hoping to possibly return to Thailand. It was so good the first time, I don't think I could go anywhere else.


The month of November has been nicknamed 'Mo-vember' by some of my friends here. Mo being short for Moustache. The task: to proudly wear a moustache for all 30 days! So far, it's day 5 and I'm still going strong.

Nik, Jamie and I. All participants in Mo-vember.

Glad to see my Buffalo Bills have kept winning, 4-4 now and more wins coming! I hope everything is good at home. Drop me a line (aka a comment or an email). That's it for now, talk to you soon!

What's new in Korea

I have lived in Korea for almost 14 months now, but that doesn't mean I have had a chance to see all the things that the country has to offer. I have spent much of the past 4 days during the "tourist thing" in the Southern part of my province.

On last Saturday, October 6th, we went mountain climbing. It was an early morning as we departed at 730am and finally returned around 8pm. It was about a two hour drive from Jeonju. And it was freezing cold on the way there. I needed to stop just to try to warm up. We arrived to Jiri Mountain in a caravan. There were five people in this this car (the one I often drive to work when it is raining and is technically 'stolen' since the owner, my friend Lindsay is now in America.) I was on my new motorcycle with Jackie and my friend Jay was also on his motorycle with his girlfriend So Young. Altogether, 9 of us made the journey.

Here we are taking a rest and loading up on food and water before we begin the climb.

Jackie exercising in preparation for the mountain climb by giving my a piggy back. That's the sky and the top of a tree in the background.

We were driving up the mountain for a lot of the journey. That was the easy part.

We made it to the top! Just kidding. This was just a giant rock on the side of the road that we decided to climb.

Did I mention that I got a new motorycle? It much nice than my Korean motorcycle version 1.0. And a comfortable ride with the backrest and trunk attached,

Jackie and I going for a ride.

Kids, don't try this at home. An action picture when we are cruising through the mountains.

We stumbled upon a temple in our journey up the mountain. Notice the vast amounts of alcohol in front of the statue. Apparently, drinking isn't just a vice in this world.

We also found our way to a waterfall where we played for a little while before finally beginning our climb.

This is what happens when you get too close. I've fallen into the water. Helpful advice: green rocks= slippery rocks.

Hanging out near the water.

Stephanie and I hanging out on some slippery rocks.

We were sitting nicely to take a picture and then Stephanie turned crazy on me. It must be those statues is the background.

We made it! Broken knee and all. I injured it playing soccer last week, but it is slowing getting better.

The view from the top. You can't see any cities from here. It's a panoramic view of mountains.

Everyone catching their breath and enjoying the view.

It is difficult to see, but if there were clouds on this beautiful day, we would be among them. The top of this mountain is almost 2000m above sea level.

One more group shot to prove that we made it to the top and it's back down for us.

I have had many days off from work lately. I can't remember the last time that I worked a full week. This is much different than last year! With holidays and exams and school trips, I always seem to have a little bit of a break during the week. This last Monday and Tuesday was middle school exam time. The school board decided to have a workshop over these two days. Monday was boring and filled with many speeches from 10am until 5pm.

Monday night, we went to a nearby city, Namwon. It is supposed to be historically significant. In order to promote group bonding I recommended that we go to a Norebong (singing room) with all the teachers. While it was a fun time and beer-filled, it made for a difficult wake up (which was 7am) the next day.

On Tuesday, we toured the city visiting historical sites and the place where a famous Korean love story supposedly took place. As it turns out, there are no really good Korean stories that actually took place, so this one was was created. That's kind of a sad past...

Here are some of the boys including myself in traditional Korean clothes, called a Hanbok. Apparently we also know taekwondo. We also learned how to play a traditional drum, learned ancient Korean torturing techniques and visited a museum. Quite a full day!

As I write this, I am enjoying a warm and sunny Wednesday off as my middle school students are busy writing exams. I feel sorry for them. I hope everyone had a good thanksgiving on the weekend. I am wishing I had some turkey but I think the birds are extinct in Korea. That just about catches up my life to this point.

One last piece of information is my phone number here. My new cell phone number is 010-2448-6985. From home you would dial 001-82-10-2448-6985. If you have SkypeOut: select South Korea and enter 10-2448-6985. Talk to you soon!

Back in Korea

Since I am back in Korea, I thought that I would give an update on my status here. I had a great summer back home and on my way back to Korea, I was lucky enough to stop over in San Francisco for a few days. My most memorable experience from that trip would be riding a bicycle to and across the Golden Gate Bridge. It is quite a long bridge, and windy up there too!

I began teaching on September 3rd. I am living in a new city, called Gimje. It is located about a 30 minute drive from my former city, Jeonju. It is a small city by Korean standards, hosting only 100,000 people. No Western food here, McDonalds, KFC, Outback, TGIF's. I need to go to Jeonju for that!

So far, I have had a mixed feeling of being back here. My apartment is great. It is new and much bigger and cleaner than my last one. However, the location is a bit of a drawback. There are only two apartments where I live. It is a 2 story building, with the apartments on the 2nd floor and a 24 hour fish restaurant (and Soju tent, aka drinking place) downstairs.

My work has been pleasant, but busy. I have had to develop curriculum for many different level students ranging from grade 5-9. I also need to plan according to their ability level, which in public school is usually widespread. My total teaching time is 22 classes a week. This turns out to be a lot less time than my last job because the classes are only 40 minutes for elementary students and 45 for middle school students. There are also delightful bonuses in the public school system. Standardized tests, sports days, assemblies make for time off and I've already enjoyed a random day off during my second week.

The Bad News: The downside to my experience so far has been my lack of support from my employer. It is such a large school board that I kind of get lost in the mix. Doing something as simple as calling the gas company to have hot water to cook and shower is not so easy. It took me almost a week to have that done. Internet, phone and cable came even later than that. I was also required to pay for my flight to Korea up front and I was told I would be reimbursed within a week after my arrival (which was August 26th). I was also to receive $300 in a settlement allowance to buy necessities for my apartment. The first week came and went and it is a month later, with not a penny (or won in this case) from the school board. My patience is beginning to wear thin as I have taken out loans with more people than I feel comfortable with.

This job also requires me to have some method of transportation as I need to drive to 6 different schools throughout the week. Some of these schools are in very rural locations and take 30 minutes to get to. One of my clases has only 3 students! And it's a mix of 5th and 6th grade! I sort of "inherited" a car from a friend who is no longer in the country. It has been a little bit of a money pit thus far, with repairs, gas expenses and paying the taxes up to date. I would like to have some kind of reimbursement for this expense that I would not otherwise have if I did not have this job, but I will not keep my hopes up as it is difficult enough to get money that is already owed to me.

The Good News: I have settled into my apartment and have all of the comforts that I need. I also now have a Korean driver's license, which also allows me to operate motorcycles up to 125cc's. My classes have books and plans in place and there is a 5 day weekend this weekend! I also hope to be buying my new motorcyle in the near future so I can use the car only as a last resort when the weather is bad. This should keep its costs low and keep me out of trouble (since technically it is stolen and uninsured).

I hope to post pictures in the near future. I am at school now, so I do not have access to them. I hope everyone is well at home and I hope you will continue to read this blog as I continue my second year in Korea. Look for pictures and another update soon!

Korea Wrap Up

I came here knowing nothing about the country, the food, the language and teaching. Truth be told, I still don't really know that much. I can't believe it has actually been a year already. I can remember riding on a bus for four hours to Jeonju city and looking out the window wondering what this country would be like. Here I am one year later about to make that same bus ride, but in the opposite direction. A year is a long time, but there are still many things that I wanted to do, but not have done here. It's funny how fast a year can actually go by.

It is official. I have 7 teaching days left and then I will be on a plane on Saturday, July 7th. My arrival time in Toronto will be about 11:30pm local time. I look forward to sharing stories with everyone and seeing how weird everyone looks after not seeing you for a year. If I wasn't getting back so late, the first thing I would do is buy a Tim Horton's coffee. Since it's so late, I think I may go for a chocolate milk instead.

The Saturday after my arrival (July 14th), I will be having a bbq/party at my house in Welland. All dedicated blog readers are invited to come. Please call my parents at 905-732-0379 if you have any questions. I'm not really involved in the planning, but I'm sure it will be fun. Today, I shipped some Korean liqour known as soju so I hope that will arrive in time for the party. I look forward to seeing everyone soon and having a fun summer back in Canada.

See you in 10 days!

Rafting/Bungee Jump Weekend

A few weekends ago, I went white water rafting with a bus full of foreigners. It was a great time as we played paintball on Saturday and went rafting and bungee jumping on Sunday. Quite an extreme weekend. Here are some pictures to tell the tale:

Myself, Jackie, Shauna and Jay awaiting instructions (in Korea) on what to do when we are on the water. I'm sure it will be helpful. Everyone's eyes are a little squinty as we had to get up at 730am but didn't care much about that the night before as we partied at the motel.

All suited up and time for some more safety instructions. This time accompanied by a demonstration. A much better idea.

A group shot before we hit the water.

Our boat/team aptly named Team #1. (L to R) Shauna, me, Jackie, Evelyn, Jay (top) Matt, Jack, Angee.

Action shot in the water.

Paddling our way to victory. The air was warm, but the water was freezing (it was early May). We tried our best to stay away from other boats so we wouldn't get ourselves into a splash war.

Another group shot at one of the break points along the river.

And after a running start it's bungee jump time. This was in a city called Inje and it was a distance of 63m over a river that wasn't very deep, which was not very reassuring.

Woo hoo. The bungee cord is attached. It didn't feel like it was for the first two seconds.

Time to relax. The bouncing is over and its time to slowly get lowered back down to earth.

We also played some paintball on Saturday. Unfortunately I have no pictures of that as no one was foolish enough to risk bringing their camera into the war zone. I bought a new camera last week, so I hope I can post more pictures than before because I used to have to mooch other people's pictures. The last few weekends have been a little more quiet since the rafting weekend as I have stayed in the city. But it has been a nice break from never being at home on the weekends.

Next: I will be going to an international friendly soccer game of Korea vs. Netherlands on Saturday in Seoul, so hopefully I can take some good pictures there!

Hope everyone is doing good at home and starting to enjoy the warm weather. Talk to you soon.