Something Clever

The last pics of my Camera

2008-04-04T02:09:00.003+09:00

My camera is broken, most likely beyond repair. These are the shots from its last moments.
The man with the guitar, Jonny, who left last week. The ladies, one of them is Amy, she left last week as well. Sarah and I, a shot of my neighbourhood and the friends back home, Jesse, Ryan L, and Dallas.

A new camera will be bought shortly and by shortly, i mean, a few months from now.

Back in ROK

2008-03-21T00:47:00.002+09:00

Here I am, back in South Korea for round two. It has been a good ride so far with the usual bumps and the usual ruts have come along with it. I like my new spot, the job is pretty straight forward. It's just a matter of getting used to a new routine. My apartment is about the same, my diet is about the same and all in all its pretty much the same grass just a different field. I will pst some pics soon, I am living near World Cup Stadium in Suwon. It is very nice as there are 3 turf pitches just behind it that, if I go at the right time, I am able to use it. So in short, it's just a matter of time before I am back to the usual having fun and enjoying myself with friends from the old and the new.

Pics

2008-01-15T15:21:00.000+09:00

The last few days Emiel and I had a friend, Adam, take some pics for us, enjoy.

Surfboards and Stiches

2008-01-06T04:28:00.000+09:00

I had a good holiday season, complete with many adventures and exciting things, my parents were here, i surfed some good waves and some small waves, and managed to get 10 stiches, not the best thing but it was nice that there was a doctor from Canada on the beach who was happy to stich me up. It was caused by my own board, which managed to be tugged away by the waves and then was snapped back by my leash and I forgot to protect my face and the fin gashed my face. I think it will make me look tough, you should see the other guy.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-23T05:20:00.001+09:00

Wishing Everyone, especially my Family and Friends, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Enjoy the snow for me and I will enjoy the sand for you.

I did not take either of these pictures. The tube was taken by Adam, and the other by Brad.

A day in the Life...

2007-12-15T06:58:00.000+09:00

I decided with no beard. Its too much like a hippie and i am not a hippie, so now, i am shaved again with sideburns, you know how it is.
For those of you who still read this bad boy, i will give you a glimpse of my usual day on the beach. I hope that this inspires you to travel to mexico or other beach like destinations.

8:00 am - Wake up, sit on the beach and watch the waves.
8:20 am - Make breakfast, cereal, fruit, a sandwich, and back to the beach to sit and watch the waves.
9:00 am - Wax up my board, put on my shorts and head down to the break and paddle into the ocean.
12:00 pm - Come back to the campsite, wash off the salt, make sur emy board is ok, then head to the restaraunt for lunch.
1:30 pm - Climb into my hammack, read, listen to music, nap or just enjoy some light conversation.
3:00 pm - grab a snack
4:30 pm - Get my board waxed, change into my shorts again and head down to the break and paddle out.
7:00 pm - head back to camp, shower up and head into town for dinner.
9:00 pm - back at camp, watch a movie, have some drinks, enjoy the cool breeze, sit in my hammock or just chat it up.
11:00 pm - into my tent and listen to music and fall asleep to the sounds of the ocean.

this is certainly a nice vacation.

Beard or No Beard?

2007-11-17T07:26:00.000+09:00

Tell me what you think, I can't decide, I can go for the "cast away" look, or I can go back to the clean cut and normal. I am curious to what people think.

pics of where I am

2007-11-17T07:21:00.000+09:00

Two weeks into it

2007-11-06T05:14:00.000+09:00

As of now, Emiel and I have been in Mexico for about 2 weeks. In that two weeks we have had many different experiences. I have had many i would like to forget and many i will remember for a long time.
It was a challenge for me to be here for the first week. We spent the ffirst weekend here hanging out with Emiel's friends, fortunately most of them speak english. They are very nice. I have met many people here so far and they are all pretty cool. Mexicans have a different way of life far from Korea or Canada. Life here is not as serious, people here are happy in there own right and seem to understand that things will get done. Unlike Korea where it seems you always have something to get done and it needed to be finished yesterday. Needless to say i like it here.
I have had trouble since coming here. I wallet was either lost or stolen I can't say for sure on either but what I do know is it is gone forever and ever. On te bright side, i no longer worry about having my wallet stolen. So for now life is rolling along. Also, i had a run in with the food. Seems Mexican food is a natural laxitive for some people, and I was not excluded. It hurt very much and well, i am very happy it is over.
Speed bumps are huge, they hurt my car, so we decided to raise the car for a decent price. an inch and half up and we should be ok. Of all the small problems we have had since arriving nothing seems to stick in my side telling meto go home, it has only taught me that things will pass as quickly as you want them to. Also nothing is really as bad as it seems.
The beach is nice, surfing is hard, the food is cheap and showers just dont seem necessary after spending 4 hours a day in the ocean. I am having my full share of hippie life, complete with long hair and a beard.

Surfboard, nana nana nana nana Surfboard

2007-10-22T07:25:00.001+09:00

I bought a surfboard. Emiel bought a surfboard. We are happy today.

Colima, Colima, Mexico

2007-10-21T02:48:00.000+09:00

We have traveled a total of 5000km. Just to give you a run down, Barrie to Pittsburgh was 6 hours and 600 km, Pittsburgh to Baton Rouge was 2000km and 17 hours, Baton Rouge to Laredo was 1000km and 10 hours, Laredo to Colima was 1400km and 18 hours, Monterrey and Guadalajara were impossible to get through, but we did it. So in total, 5000km, and 51 hours of driving.
We have gone through several major cities, and noticed many different kinds of roads and dead animals. The most amazing thing is how far away you feel when you drive. Passing through the states was much like passing through Europe, although i have not done that I am basing my knowledge on the experience of others. It seems that each state had its own culture and adapting to it was difficult. We weren't in one place for a long time but we did meet and speak to many different people. Pittsburgh was filled with scholars and people who feel the world is an academic playing field. Baton Rouge was laid back slow southern country style. Texas was huge and let everyone know it. I saw more American flags on the drive through Texas than I have my whole life. In a 1 minute drive I saw 12 flags. That was one thing consistant about the USA, patriots.
Mexico has been fun, don't drive at night, it is INSANE. We did it cause we didn't want to pay for a hotel, but we did take the toll roads, much better. We took the free road for the first 100 km and learned our lesson and stuck to the toll road.
We stayed in our budget and then some so we did well conserving and planning. Driving through the night to certain places was key to saing money. We stayed in one hotel just before the Mexican boarder. Just a little information, getting into the states is like getting into the hottest night club around, but its not that good and Mexico was like trying to get into a convenience store.
I am having a good time, I am excited to surf, its hard to wait knowing the ocean is so close.

The Trip So Far

2007-10-16T00:36:00.000+09:00

Barrie
Toronto
Niagara Falls
Buffalo
Erie
Pittsburgh = 600 kms.

Pittsburgh
Columbus
Cincinnati
Louisville
Nashville
Memphis
Baton Rouge = 2000 km.

We have also passed through the states of New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennesse, Mississippi and Louisiana. We have Texas to go through and then to Mexico. We think we are around the half way point of our trip.

This is more for me to keep track, but I hope you enjoy it too.

My bags are pack and ready to go......

2007-10-11T12:06:00.000+09:00

.......but I am not going to an airport. Tomorrow, being Thursday October 11th, the day after the election, my friend Emiel and I are leaving Canada and entering the USA. We are traveling to Mexico via my VW Jetta. It is packed up and the only thing that waits is the custom guy at the border. I am sure he is as excited as we are to see him, or her. I hope to post once a week, pics and stories. I will do my best. Enjoy.

On a trip to Mexico

2007-10-09T09:47:00.001+09:00

This is my last week in Canada for the year. I leave for four months to the country of Mexico. My good friend Emiel and I will be traveling across the USA down to the west coast of Mexico. It is a trip that will consist of Surfing and Spanish. Should be fun and nonetheless an adventure. I will post when I can and write much about the experience.

More pics of home

2007-09-27T02:06:00.001+09:00

Golf and stuff

2007-09-27T02:01:00.000+09:00

I have been golfing only a few times, but i have been to many weddings.

My Last Post in Korea for 2007

2007-08-23T11:33:00.000+09:00

I am coming home. The feeling is sad and happy. confusing. I will be back in Canada August 23rd at 6:35pm. I am leaving Seoul at 6:05pm. By my watch thats a 30 minute flight. See you soon.

Couple Shirts

2007-08-16T22:16:00.000+09:00

You may have heard or may not have heard but here in Korea the couples dress a like, and I mean same shirt, same colour, and in some cases everything is the same, from hats to shoes. So I was pursuaded, not by Heeoun, to buy these t-shirts, we couldnt match the colour, but you get the idea. I like the shirts nonethless, screaming popsicles. This is Heeoun and I in our couple shirt for one night only. Emiel, enjoy.

long time, no posts

2007-08-08T22:25:00.000+09:00

ok, so I haven't posted in a long time. I have been very busy. My schedule has gone from lots of time to no free time. I am working 11 hours a day for the summer intensive and of course my weekends I try and spend it away from my apartment. so until I get home or I find some more time, here is what i have done.
Work.
Hockey.
Soccer.
Jeju, which by the way is an amazing island in Korea. check out the pics.

28 days later

2007-07-26T08:11:00.000+09:00

It's true we aren't blogging enough. Soon I won't have to.

I HATE GUM

2007-07-08T23:29:00.000+09:00

Tonight I decided that I hate gum. I will do my best not to chew, buy, encourage, and/or promote the use of gum. For some reason people in this country who chew gum think its cool to spit it out on to the sidewalk where everybody walks. In the beginning I stepped on a few piecces and thought it was just a coincidence. I started to keep track, before Christmas I stepped on a total of 22 pieces of gum. The gum stuck to my shoes, sandals and even my bags. Tonight I have had it with gum. I stepped on about 5 discarded pieces between the station and my apt. Which by the way is about a 5 - 10 minute walk. So i encourage everyone to not chew gum, but if you must PUT IT IN THE GARBAGE BIN. Thank you.

HAPPY CANADA DAY

2007-07-01T23:22:00.000+09:00

Well it is July 1st here a little sooner than there. It is interesting as this holiday goes by, there were big plans in several parts of the country that I could of gone to, but instead I played hockey. We won 22-14, or so I was told. It was my best showing since I have been here, 7 goals 8 assists, and for those of you thinking all i did was play offence, my line had 16 goals for and 2 goals against, I am still wondering what the other line was doing. We played in Ilsan, which is north west Seoul, i live in Suwon, not part of seoul to the south east. it was a long trip. Anyway, I spent the day playing hockey, eating delicious bbq and finished the evening with my special girl Heeoun.

Nothing special happened, just felt like writing something in the spirit of Canada Day, oh yes Transformers was out thursday in this country. I hope to see it tomorrow or tuesday. HCD

Christina in Seoul

2007-06-26T00:31:00.000+09:00

OK, I went to see Christina Aguilera in Seoul on Saturday night. It was ok. The Pussy Cat Dolls were supposed to be there. No show, instead they put on the top Korean pop star and I think they told her that morning she was singing. She is a good singer but still pop music. CA looked like she was told two days ago, but hey, she is 3 months pregnant. She is a good singer but it is still pop music. Fit for drones, but what can I say, she has 90 000 won that I don't.

On the bright side I can say I walked the same path of thousands of athletes who performed and played at Olympic Park way back in 1988, which i learned the 1988 Olymics was the first time South Korea allowed foreigners into the country. It explains a lot of reactions from Koreans to foreigners. Imagine if the Natives in North Amercian did the same. But then again the Japanese had something to do with it as well.

Better pics

2007-06-22T12:16:00.000+09:00

I just realized that the top photo of Heeoun and me was not the best one to see all the time. It is no doubt a good one of her, but a poor pic of me so here are some better ones.
A nice cafe in Hyehwa where Emiel lives, he is recovering slowly but surely.
Amy and Heeoun. For all my friends and more so my Mom, it is pronounced HE EW NN, and for all my Korean friends 희운.

2007-06-19T01:54:00.000+09:00

Long story short, I got a black eye from a soccer ball, not Heeuon.
My hockey team, the Lucky Pucks, won the RMT Chiefs spring tourny.
on ice pic and off ice pic.
We had a bbq at a HOUSE in Korea, thats right a HOUSE with a YARD. This place costs about 12 000 cdn a month. I also just learned that this country is one of the most expensive places to live in the world, with only Japan being more expensive.
anywho, real grass, a real garden, I was in heaven for 8 hours, and it felt like home.
Well some of you may know, Emiel broke his jaw. he is ok now, well out of the hospital ok. I am sure most of you are reading his blog as well. He had surgery it went well except he almost went blind. He has had a rough go of health. He has to start getting hurt at home as Matt Wilson told him, its cheaper and easier to get fixed in Canada. All is getting better. we are both excited to be coming home, he sooner than I.

A Winning Weekend

2007-06-03T23:34:00.000+09:00

Holland 2 Korea 0
I was Dutch for the evening, Emiel has been Dutch his whole life.
My heart was wearing red, but my body was wearing orange.

Ottawa Senators 5 Anahiem Mighty Ducks 3
A good game, saw the first period, exciting, only 3 more to go.

The Lucky Pucks 5 The Dirty Sanchez 2
3 goals and 1 assist for number 14. We are in the final next weekend.

Seoul Celtic 3 Han River Harriers 2
2 goals for number 22. We are in hot pursuit of finishing second overall.

Matt Bell 1 Street Chicken 0.
Delicious.

Emiel ans Suyeon's Birthday

2007-05-31T23:10:00.000+09:00

We spent an evening of fine wine and perfect steak talking to friends and enjoying ourselves. It was a shared ocassion between two people. Emiel and Suyeon, May 23 and May 25 respectively. It was their birthday and on may 24th, Buddha's Birthday, we celebrated with them and had a wonderful tim.

What you might call a FULL Weekend

2007-05-22T12:44:00.000+09:00

1. Daves going away party
2. 1st hockey game of a tournament
3. Lunch on the Military Base
4. Soccer game
5. Lattern Festival and Parade.
6.Thought about sleep.

This weekend was full of excitement. First I actually did get to rest. Saturday began with a nice long sleep into the late morning. Which may seem unusual for me to call sleeping till late morning a long sleep, but i have changed a little. Saturday was nice to relax as saturday night to sunday night was full. Started out with Dave's going away party. We had some drinks at Johnny and Lauren's place and then went off to NB, a hiphop club in Ingadong. not too far from my home. It was a great time dancing and enjoying the time as another friend leaves the country. Sunday morning was much to early as I had a hockey game at 10. i had to struggle my way to the subway and made it in time for the game. It is all business now as we are in a spring fling tournament thing with all the Chiefs players. We tied the game 5-5 and I was exhausted. 1 goal 1 assist. Then from there i went to the Army base to meet up with Mandie and Peter who took me on base for an amazing lunch. It was like home but not quite home, more like a trip Buffalo. The base is very much Americanized, with the exception of an unusual amount of Koreans working and hanging around. I had a nice briskette sandwich with fries sided with enough ketchup to satisfy even yours truly. So full with an american style lunch I venture on to Apyujang, which is the rich part of Seoul where an elementry school has a turf soccer pitch. MONEY. We were playing one of the top teams and proceed to play as though they are a top team. We played well at the half we were winning 2-1. Then the second half came. I am not sure what happened but we managed to put in 6 unanswered goals. I had 5 assists and four of them were to one guy. I cant seem to score but i figure give the ball to someone who can, right. We won 8-1. not bad for a team that was in relegation 2 weeks ago. We have changed our plan and our attitudes and so we are looking for another victory this Thursday on Buddhas Birthday. After the game I headed to Hyehwa where Emiel lives and we got ready to go to the Lattern Festival, all part of BUddha's big day. We meet a few friends and headed on our way. Once at the Festival we met up with Hee Oun, the girl i have met here who is awesome. I am sure you can tell who she is. We watch the parade and enjoyed some music that was far to loud for anyone's good. It was an interesting but repeatative event, about 1 million lanterns were made and passed us by. I am not exaggerating. The parade was 2 hours long of people packed together walking with lanterns of all sizes. It was great. Afterwords we set out to nice Hof, pub, and ate some extremely spicy food, had some beer, plum liquor and had a great time. The night finished back in Hyehwa at a nice liitle bar called Sam Cooke. We had some wine and called it a night. I was a little tired so no all nighter this time. Monday teaching was not exactly my idea of a good time as I struggled to stay awake for the first time being here. I made it through and the kids know a little more english. No harm done.

나의 한국어 일기

2007-05-15T01:09:00.000+09:00

난 한국을 좋아해요. 구개월 동안 한국어를 배웁니다.
팔월은 캐나다로 갈 겁니다. 여기 한국에 친구는 많이 있어요.
나의 친구는 그리워 할가에요. 소녀를 만났어요. 그녀는 많이 예쁘고요. 그녀의 이름은 희운입니다. 희운이 좋아해요.
영어를 가르치는 것은 재미있어요. 영도에서 가르쳤어요.

I have been told that the Korean characters are not showing up on some computers. This is my Korean journal I recently wrote, I have been trying to write every now and then. This is my latest journal in Korean. If you see the characters awesome if not, sorry about your luck, perhaps i will translate it later on.

하피 머다스 다이

2007-05-15T01:01:00.000+09:00

That is Konglish for Happy Mother's Day.

To all the moms. happy mother's day, i know its a tad late, but I hope all the moms had a great day.

Yes Yongdo Trip

2007-05-08T23:34:00.000+09:00

This past weekend we went down to an island called Jeboo doh. It is a beach covered with sea shells and clams. They are crushed and broken so it's not a good idea to walk on it with out sandals. Many people go out to this island every weekend to look for clams and oysters in the mud as the tide goes out quite far. It seemed cool and fun at first but then I realized I was searching for something that was simply not there. I had two little shovels suitabe for only digging in mud. Good times I thought, but anyway, it was an interesting day as i learned that Koreans enjoy working even on their day off. Anyway, I found out why there wasn't any clams or oysters in the bay. Just look at the pictures and that should explain it.

Language and new thoughts

2007-05-08T23:25:00.000+09:00

Being in Korea has given me a new outlook on the English language. The ideas that these wonderful people come up with are always interesting and sometimes entertaining. My students always provide good conversation topics with my friends and fellow teachers after hours, but recently, I had a question asked of me, by my new friend 희운, that i thought was a little different. so take it for whats its worth.

"In Korea, you are very handsome man.................................are you still handsome in Canada?

still not sure how to answer that question. i know what she means and what she was trying to ask but the wording is always worth a story, short or long.

Spiderman 3

2007-05-02T14:32:00.000+09:00

Terrible.

Insights of Adolescents

2007-04-28T18:41:00.000+09:00

I mark a lot of essays, about 200- 300 a month. With that comes the ideas and thoughts of my young students. Some of them say normal things and others say what shouldn't be said and well, others give you a little insight to how our language can be changed possibly for the better. Such as making new concepts.

Teddy: "My job is to put the ball in the ball house"
He is talking about soccer, he is a striker.

Cindy. Essay Topic: Clothes.

"Every monring i am in agony about wearing clothes. I think "today, what will I wear?". Sometimes that is so annoying, but I think that is "Happiness Agony" because that means i have many clothes."

I guess we should all be happy for what we have. Happiness Agony, who would of thought.

Sunshine on a Monday

2007-04-24T00:00:00.000+09:00

We should all just be like flowers and enjoy the sun.

Ripples and the Tsunamis That Ensue

2007-04-21T16:24:00.000+09:00

The past few weeks have been a bit of a struggle for me. Everything is going well as planned, but I always seem to find myself in this state of “what am I to do next”.

I have come to the conclusion that exercising is my link to sanity. I fracture my foot here about 4 months ago and didn’t realize it or get it tended to until the end of March. I tried my best to stay off it, but the more I stayed off it the more irritable I became, and I began to make poor decisions. I suppose in a way I was simply making decisions that came as natural or my first reaction. Recently I made the choice to exercise anyway and screw the broken foot, although I could suffer years down the road but I am still taking care of it, just playing through the pain. Maybe not the smartest thing, I can see that, but at the moment it may just be worth my sanity. That is my ripple.

Friendships and relationships seem to hold a different position of importance here in Korea than at home in Canada. This rant of thoughts may offend some people, but it has to be said from my point of view, who knows, let me know.
I have been close with most people that I work with, but as time changes so do the relationships. We all try and do certain things but in the end we try and do things that will work for us and make us, or at least for the time being, happy. I have been brought up to be kind and polite to people, the problem here is that everybody has not been brought up to be that way. Some have been brought up to look out for themselves. Being selfish is an unfortunate offspring of taking care of number one. That may seem redundant, but it is possible to take care of you and be polite at the same time, it just takes a lot more work. Either people are lazy or they are being trained to take the shortest route to success. I believe it is the latter. In friendships and relationships there are always decisions made that can be a ripple in one mind and a tidal wave in the other. Some how it can never be reversed, why is that? If I say the wrong thing, I have decimated a friendship, but I said a thousand things to build it up before. It is amazing. A tiny stone destroys a beautiful sculpture. Now why is that? We take the negative too personally and the positive as a fabrication. It is unfortunate that being honest is usually seen as an ulterior motive or just a flat out lie. Anyway I have made the decision to just keep on moving, being myself and not worry about what is happening in the minds of others, but then that is seen as selfish, just trying to be a regular person being happy. Just another ripple in the pond.

Well as for decisions I have made in the past short while, it’s hard to tell how they will affect the rest of my time. There always seems to be 3 or 4 ways to handle a situation properly. It always seems difficult to use the most effective one. The decision that will keep everyone happy and accomplish what I need to get done. But in the end there is always a way to solve the problem, fix the solution, make it worse or just hope it goes away. Either way nothing is ever the same, I suppose that’s what happens with change.

I am going to learn to surf.

Tuesday Nights

2007-04-15T00:26:00.000+09:00

Me, Jin Hee, Milton, Ally, Dave, Bo Mi and soju.

Dave, Milton and a pony called soju.

Sometimes, we drink after work and sometimes we don't. This night we did, maybe enough for the whole week.

Gina's Wedding

2007-04-15T00:01:00.000+09:00

Two weekends I spent my Saturday afternoon at a co-workers wedding. It was my first and quite possibly my only experience of a Korean Wedding. It was much different, much faster and in a style that most western folk would be insulted by. On the other hand it was quite nice and in Korean style. Quick and convenient. It was over in about 45 minutes then we proceeded to a restraunt across the street and there we ate and had no sign of the bride and groom until we left which is much expected.

In short, I left my place at 11:30. I arrived at the church by 12:45, took pictures, attended the wedding, ate lunch and was home by 4, might i add the 45 minute walk i took and the one hour train ride before and after. so all in all i spent a solid 2 hours for the wedding. Should Canada take a lesson? I think not.

I enjoyed myself and there is nothing like spring love to boost your spirits. Everything went well and the people looked beautiful. I had the chance to be in the biggest church in the word. Not as amazing as it sounds, sorry no pics. I think the biggest thing was seeing how under dressed everyone was for a wedding and how people chatted and walked in late throughout the entire ceremony. It seems, as I learn the culture, to do it quick and get back to work. I think I will have my wedding back home in Canada no matter who I marry from whatever country.

And so it begins

2007-03-30T00:14:00.000+09:00

It is the beginning of spring and so comes the rain. On March 28th at 3:30pm this is the view outside from my class room window. I am not even sure how to explain it.

Korea vs Uruguay

2007-03-30T00:01:00.000+09:00

This is beauty at it's best. I am not sure what to tell you other than it was an amazing night. Emiel and I met a bunch of people from my hockey team, ate some delicious pork and then made our way to Seoul World Cup Stadium for Korea vs Uruguay. We drank more than our fair share and at $2 a beer it was easier than I could imagine. Needless to say the game got more exciting as it went on. Korea put forth a valliant effort that was fruitless in the end as Uruguay came out on top 2-0. It was a shame, but the excitement was unforgetable. A good night, which was capped off with some dancing and a good bye to our friends Neil and Annette from South Africa. We will seem them in 3 months but they will be missed. Sorry no picks, as i forgot, silly me.

This is Chris

2007-03-24T11:21:00.000+09:00

Me, Amy, Sharon, Victor, Dave, and Chris, photo by Mandie.

The young Korean on the far right is Chris. He was one of my students who has an excellent English ability. He sort of worked hard but most of all he wasn't afraid to speak. He went to Canada for 2 months after Christmas and is now back. A few of us saw his pictures and heard his stories. He was more excited than i have ever seen a student. It was great to see him.

Now a little history, before the trip he did not want to go. He said it would be pointless and boring. Well not in those words but close enough. He just wanted to stay in Korea and hang out with his friends. His English was excellent for his level but by no means completely fluent. He is 16 in Korea, 15 in Canada.

And so the story goes, he stayed with a great family, or so it seemed, and he was put into a grade 8 class when he should of been in grade 10. I think who ever made that decision was very smart. Anyway to make this long story short, he loved his trip and wants to go back. I can't blame him. His English level has preceeded anything he would of learned at a Hagwan in Korea, unless I am his teacher again, which goes to show how much a little travel can change a person even if it is for a short time. I hope to see you again soon Chris, good luck in high school.

Unnecessary words

2007-03-23T00:59:00.000+09:00

Snow, Spring and Boarding

2007-03-23T00:39:00.000+09:00

Two weekends ago Emiel and I set out on a journey to any resort that a bus could take us. We left my place at 530am and with no bus reservation we took a chance, no a big one mind you but a chance nonetheless. We usually make a reservation with my councilor at work but she forgot, oooooor she didn't understand, more of the latter I suppose. I usually ask the more fluent Sunny who is great. I though I would give her a break from my hassling and so the story goes, stick with what works. Well we made it onto a bus headed for Phoenix Resort with some trouble from the bus driver but since we played handsome dumb foreigners we made it to the hill. Now imagine leaving a place that is far above 0 and without any sign of snow for a 100 km. And so we show up at a hill with some snow looking good enough to ride for the day. We approached the ticket booth and a young mad asked if we are paying in cash and as there is no other way for me to pay, here we are, YES, he says, I will get you 50% off, just wait. OK. done and done, we saved about 40 bucks cdn on the kindnes of Koreans. We made it, we are happy and ready to go. Now Emiel just got back from Columbia and I have to say I did not expect to see such aggressive behaviour on the hill from him. He was trying everything. It was great to see. We ended up having a great day of nice rails, nice jumps, hard falls and well, as the picture shows a lot of snow. we couldn't see more than 10 feet in front of us for about an hour, it felt like home. So with the day near an end. We tried a few more rails and as you can see in the picture it is a metal rail. My last attempt on this bad boy just about put me in the hospital. I approached, it looked good, but then I hit a wet spot, lost speed, my board stopped and i kept going up into the air and smack down onto the rail. Luckily I hit on an angle and my shoulder to hip took most of the force. I hung over the rail thinking how I should be out cold right now. I pulled myself off the rail and looked up, only to see white and more stars in the sky that anyone should see during the day. Emiel was in shock and didn't know what to do. But in the end I was ok, only my ego was slightly bruised. I spent the rest of the day drinking some hot choco and waiting for the bus to take us home. All in all it was a great day for two friends to spend together.

Kitty Cat By Accident

2007-03-23T00:31:00.000+09:00

To make a long story short, I was teaching the students about shadows and the sun. The eyes of this cat represent what will happen if you stare at the sun. The centre of your eyes will become black and you wont be able to see in front of you. The whsikers show how your shadow will move as the sun moves. The nose is a stick figure person to represent where the shadow comes from. The head is the path of the sun. And the bow is showing the sun in the east, and well i only drew two because I am lazy. The ears were added as mountains to make the neck as a giant shadow and that my friends is how you draw a cat using the sun and shadows. I will be here all night.

Sing Pics #3

2007-03-08T00:07:00.000+09:00

Part 3 Singapore

2007-03-07T23:34:00.000+09:00

There is a lot to say, I must say, so I will say the best I can say.
The hockey tournament I participated in this past weekend in Singapore was a great highlight of my time here in Eastern Asia. It is something that I never thought I would do. Playing hockey in Singapore with a bunch of cool dudes from Canada and the States. We played against teams from all over Asia. Thailand, China, Japan, Qatar, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Macau, Arab Emirates, Myanmar and of course, South Korea were all there to have fun and play what turned out to be some serious hockey. We played against 6 different teams by the end of the tourny. We played a round robin of 4 games and then we had two playoff games. We won 2 games and lost 4. it was a great tournament despite our outcome. I haven't played hockey like that since playoffs in Jr. C. It was fast paced end to end, although the ends were pretty close to each other. It was a different game than your normal 5 on 5, we played 4 on 4. It was a good experience for me. It was a difficult game to adjust too, it was not my style so changing it up and playing toghter was tough. Most of you know I am an open ice skater, I like the open ice style, but in the end it took a game or two to get used to teh tight checking and aggressive style. I scored 5 goals and had 5 assists and I feel I did well, I had lots of fun and met some cool people along the way. Our team did an amazing job of working together and staying positive when we were losing to an obviously more experienced team. In the end we all have a story to tell, we played well as a team and had a great time on and off the ice. All in all there was more hockey played than sleep was had and more beer drank than pucks put in the net. So, if you ask any of the guys from our team, everybody was a winner. I would do it again in a instant.

More Singapore

2007-03-05T00:55:00.000+09:00

It was hard to take pictures as it was raining a lot and well, we play 6 games in 3 days, so we were slightly busy, haha, but here is what I have. Enjoy.

Singapore

2007-03-05T00:40:00.000+09:00

Well, I promised a great story and with a great story you need time, haha, so here are some pictures to wet your appetitte for the real deal. The past 4 days were spent in beautiful Singapore. Singapore is an amazing country. But for me it wasnt a vacation, it was all for a hockey tournament. I went with 14 guys from Canada and the United States who are all teachers here in South Korea. They are a great group of guys and we had a blast. It was really only three full days and trying to see any country in 3 days without playing hockey is pretty tough, even for Singapore which is about the size of Toronto. However, i did manage to make it the island of Santosa which is like a little tropical paradise that Singapore has worked hard to create. Only problem is the 20 tanker ships just off the coast which are slightly unsightly. The island itself is a magnificient piece of work. So these are some random pics from my short time, more pics and more stories to come.
The one pic of me and tigger is all about me winning tigger from 1.00 Singapore dollar playing the claw game, one try, one victory, it was excititng.

2007-02-26T12:12:00.000+09:00

20 days later

2007-02-26T11:00:00.000+09:00

It has been 20 days since my last post and i must say there is much to talk about. Many things have happened and all of them have been good. Snowboarding has been wonderful, my birthday was great and soccer has begun. My birthday weekend was very exciting. Let me tell you about it. Firday night after work, my friends and co-workers, both one in the same, took me out for some delicious Korean BBQ which by the way should make its way to all Canadian cities. Saturday, my actual day to celebrate my birth, I spent at Yang gi pine resort snowboarding away. It was a lot of fun and good times and pictures were made. Although, Emiel was not there, we managed to have a good time. On Sunday it was full of fun as well. I had a hockey game, the last before my special event. We played against the Incheon Iceholes. clever name. we lost 6-4. I scored a goal and one assist. It was a good game, great to play with these guys, the Chiefs are a great group of people who really love hockey which is fantastic when you win or lose. I will miss them come August. Anyway, after the game i made my way to the army base to play soccer with Seoul Celtic FC. We played an exibition game. It was great to be on the field again. I scored two goals and got an assist. it was nice, but we tied 4-4. Celtic seem like a great group of guys, except when they start talking fast, most of them are Irish and I cant understand the Irish accent very well. but nonetheless the games will be played and I hope to score many more goals for them. they have a keeper already and he is good so i have confidence in him, and that will be better playing up front, i need a break. I wonder if i will become accustomed to playing striker and never go back, we will see. It is a lot of runnng, thats for sure, but i am allowed to make mistakes as a striker. After the game i made my way home, exhausted and getting sore from carrying my hockey and soccer equipment on the subway. a "little" side note here, Hockey sticks are a novelty in Korea, which means 90% of people here have not seen or touched one. So when you are a foreigner and you have a hockey stick you become a side show on the subway. People stare and not politley. They stare with great interest, either facination or with anger thinking I am going to attack them. Either way you feel slightly awkward when you have 20 Koreans staring blankly at you. So anyway, I made it home and proceeded to go out that night, I was very tired and frustrated, but we had plans to eat dinner and party. And so we did, and SO WE DID. It was a great night. We went to VIPS, which is like The Keg but way better and much more food. We went there last night too. Fantastic steak, the best I have had from a restraunt anywhere. It also helped that I havent had steak since I was in Canada in July. So it was nice, after that we ventured without any real plan, we hit up about 4 bars and had many drinks and finally made our way to a Karaoke room and sang the night away, finishing it off with a great song, Love Buzz, by Nirvana. Needless to say Monday was a write off, I never left my place, although at the end of the day my place has never been cleaner and for the first time all my clothes were clean. So not all was lost that day. Tuesday came quickly but that is the weekend. We had monday off due to the Chinese New Year. And that my friends is my bday weekend.

This past weekend, Mandie, Neil and I made it to the largest resort in South Korea and by any means, I believe it is the biggest in Korea. I must say if you come to Korea and like to ski you must visit this resort. Oh yes in Korea they dont call them hills or mountains, they are called resorts. It was a good time, hit a few rails and boxes, the jumps were good, it was cold, and we all ended the day with smiles on our faces. Yangpyong resort is where they are pushing for the 2014 Olympics I hope they get it simply so I can say I skied the same hill as Olympians. That would be neat. I will be 34 when it happens, but I can say i did it.

Well next week I will have a great story for you, hopefully filled with excitment and cheer. Enjoy the snow back home for me, as I went through withdrawl here, no snow, except on the hill, not my idea of a winter. well till next time.

More Pics, See Below

2007-02-06T12:08:00.000+09:00

Good Pics, Good Times, Good Memories.

Weekend Adventures

2007-02-06T11:43:00.000+09:00

With great pleasure I bring you some wondeful shots, perhaps they can be better with cropping and time, but I do not possess the latter at this time. For now you have the best of what I have to offer. Emiel and I recently bought our own snowboards here in Korea and we are determined to get the most use out of them. Although money is a factor, its all worth it at the end of the day. We have met some cool guys and found a nice little spot called yongi pine resort. We have noticed that whatever place we go to its about the some price, the catch is distance. Sometimes it's better to pay nothing to get to a hill that is close rather than pay 24 bucks to get to a bigger, better hill, but in the end it doesnt matter to me I spend most of the day at the park hitting boxes and rails all day long with my best friend Emiel, a guy can't complain. its a good time for both of us. Although I am exhausted at the end of the day, somehow i get to sleep early and manage to get up and play hockey the next morning. It seems my love of hockey is surpassed by nothing. With that said I have some great news, but unfortunately it is not for public viewing some of you know, if you are interested email me, peace out

Pheonix Resort

2007-01-14T18:50:00.000+09:00

Good times snowboarding with about 40 000, or so it felt like.

Back in Korea

2007-01-05T20:38:00.000+09:00

I am back. I am safe. I am tired.
Right now that is all that matters. This has been the hardest week of teaching for me. But it was all worth it as I was home for 7 days. I apologize to everyone who i didn't see, it was a short time, too short and i miss everyone more now that I am back.
Here is an odd situation, I am in a colder country than Canada right now, how about that.
We dont have any snow here in Korea, but it is much colder than Canada is right now. Something is wrong with the world.
Well, my week has been short but tiring and I am looking forward to my nice weekend and relaxing and having some fun.
I am glad I was home, great to see everyone, "Things" is a great game indoor soccer was all that I remember and my niece is much more beautiful in person. Although i may seem terrified to hold her, even though I have heard that babies bounce. but still, a little nervous at times. well, till the next blog.

Christmas in Canada New Years in Korea

2006-12-17T23:00:00.000+09:00

Well, this time next week I will be in Canada enjoying the same weather we are having now I hope. Last night we enjoyed a good 10 cm of snow. It was beautiful. Made me homesick but that will be cured faster than any cold I have had hear. I will be home on Friday around 5pm I think. I am excited I hope to see many of you. I will be home for a short time, as I only have 10 days to do everything. I am only home for 7 days actually one of my ten is spent in the air. But nonetheless I am excited and looking forward to it. I hope that customs doesn't rob me at the gate or the throwers breaking my presents. Wish my luggage luck please. See you soon.

The Basement Arena

2006-12-08T11:56:00.000+09:00

Well here it is in all it's glory

Sunday Morning Trips

2006-11-28T00:15:00.000+09:00

the way to the rink. well a part of it anyway.

the arena, this is what I call home every sunday morning

A little closer

the beautiful people who look nothing like any Korean I have ever seen

The front doors

Inside and delightful, unfortunately on this day we did not play on this surface, we played in the basement. yes the basement, this arena has two rinks, the main floor and there is a rink in the basement. amazing. talk about making use of your space.

So every Sunday morning I wake up with the local church folk and head to the subway. Some Sundays are earlier than others. This Sunday was about average I suppose. I was up at 8 and as I walked to the subway I always ask myself why am I doing this. Its too bad I find the answer an hour or two later when I step on the ice and think ah yes, this is why. I have found out that I love hockey more than I thought. I get up Sunday morning at 730 or 8 am every Sunday to take a walk 30 minutes and take a subway for one hour all just to play hockey. Pick up hockey at that. Although the walk is quite nice and I do find time to read or study while aboard the large underground metal worm. So this weekend was nice. It was the first time I have played against another team other than the guys affiliated with the chiefs. I was excited and tired. My skates did not fit and hurt my feet before I put them on, nevertheless I dawned the size 9's (I am a size 10) and stuck it out. It was worth it. Without dragging this on it was a good game. Fast paced and energetic. We won 7-5. I had a short handed goal. But my favourite moment didn't really count. At the end of the game we had 10 minutes left and decided to keep playing in a friendly manner. I had the puck across the blue and made a slight move on the defense and the goalie gave me about six inches between the cross bar and his shoulder. I lifted the puck and off the cross bar into the side of the net. Goal. At that moment I realized why I woke up and travel 3 hours just to play for 90 minutes. I had fun all morning and felt great. It was a good day. My feet were numb for a good hour but I had at least 60 minutes on the way home to sit and get the feeling back. That's hockey in Korea.

Scared or Amazed?

2006-11-20T10:50:00.000+09:00

Emiel. Need i say more.

한국 On my Mac

2006-11-20T00:11:00.001+09:00

Hello,
it has been a while since I have written. But with good cause I had no continuous access to the internet. But anyway here is a run down of the last two weeks
Sport,
My hockey team won the RMT Chiefs tournament, we pulled out the last two games to win it. We won the first playoff game 4-1, I had 3 goals and 1 assist, and then we won the Final 7-2, I had one goal and 5 assist. I am very happy. But on the down side, I broke a skate blade magically, although this is the 4th time this has happened to me. In Korea they don't have skate blades on hand like we do in the great north. So I must wait until Christmas to get them fixed. But on the bright side there are p;plenty of guys offering there skates to me to use.
My soccer team has all but folded. The last game we played we lost, to say the least. 21-1. Yes that is not a typo, I didn't make any mistakes. We had 5 original players and so we wouldn't forfeit we pulled two folks from the side, Mandie and James, as James has been injured with a bad foot for some time and well, we did the best we would. On the up side I scored our only goal as I played striker and James went in net. And once again, my shoes broke. A cleat fell off, I must say the ground here is not to my favour these days. So this weekend we cancelled all our games and as the season comes to a close it is all but over for me and inter Suwon. It was a good run.
School is going well, nothing much to say but it is still fun and the kids are great. November is moving faster than I can comprehend. I am going home for 7 days in about a month and well, I am at the least overly excited.
My computer. The 'n' key on my computer has broken off twice since I came to Korea and so I decided it was time to get this really fixed. So I gave them my computer to put all new keys on, and now I have an English Korean keyboard. This will come in handy as I now can type Korean when I feel the need too. And just so you know I am learning, MATT BELL = 매트 벨.
I will type more as I learn.
So I have gotten sick and well I think just about everything that can happen to me has happened, good, bad, and the ugly. Life goes on. I am still having fun and still enjoying it. Life is good, even when its bad and ugly.
So above you will see some pics from various events throughout my time in the last two weeks, enjoy.

Macalicious

2006-11-08T13:19:00.000+09:00

I won't be online for about one week. Thanks to the wondeful and amazing Mac that broke. One key on my board broke off, twice. Now i have to wait a week for it. The bonus, I dont have to pay for it or clean it now, and I also get a little souvenir of Korean characters along with the English ones. Yeah. Well, hope to chat with you soon.

Happy Halloween

2006-10-31T11:11:00.000+09:00

to all of those who are slightly more ambitious than I am,

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

I hope your costumes look amazing and whatever you do remember to brush your teeth or you may really look like a goblin or a witch. And we wouldn't want that now would we.

Late Nights and Long Thoughts

2006-10-26T02:31:00.000+09:00

I miss the good times back home sometimes. I am running out of memories that make me smile. For the first time in my life I wish I had more. I suppose that's why we keep going forward. To make more memories that will make us smile. I found out today that my negativity has cursed me here at times. I have found that we are in a balance. We sway into the feelings that we lean to. We are responsible for our own happiness. We make choices how to interact with others and how to perceive our world surrounding us. If I have one request of everyone I meet, this is it, smile my friends, you never know who is frowning back.

Deukjeuk Do

2006-10-14T00:54:00.000+09:00

A Beautiful Island
here are some pics from our chusok adventure, we spent three days on this small beautiful island and I must say, it didn't feel like Korea at all.

Foreigners

2006-10-11T12:58:00.000+09:00

At home i don't have much contact with "foreigners" on a grand scale as much as I do in Korea. Here, I am a foreigner. So with that comes experience viewing a new world outside of history books and internet pictures. The people of Korea on a majority scale are extremely nice. They do occasionally stare but it seems to be a stare of awe and interest not in the "get the hell out of my country" attitude that others may exude elsewhere. So with that said the following is my frustration and enjoyment of what I have experienced with people who are here to teach among other things.
I have recently spent a wonderful trip with friends off the west coast of Korea on an island which is beautiful, but to most Koreans does not exist. Every Korean at my place of employment does not know where Deukjeuk do is or have even heard of it but I do and about 50 or so other foreigners, I guess for this moment that's all that matters.
The trip was a success all except one foreigner who chose to insult my friend and I as they walked past. I will not give the dialogue as it was harsh. this display of disrespect for others made me think about my time here and all the people I have met. there are three kinds of people here, the good, the bad, and the ugly. the good folks are easy to spot and easy to get along with, they are fun and will most likely remain your friend no matter what. then the bad folks who seem to think since they are from a "better" country they can do what they want, you can only imagine where these folks come from. they aren't that friendly for being in a spot lacking friendly white people. they usually go about their day not interacting with many and seem to be content waiting out there time to go home. then my friends, there are the bad, people like the ones we briefly encountered and chose to insult us instead of saying hi. I don't understand these folks, they say disrespectful things about Korea, other foreigners and pretty much anything they can think of. bad attitudes do not receive a good reception. but I suppose I could be just as bad for writing this too. unfortunately negativity rubs off on everyone. I have made some judgments and if you are offended then you probably would fit into the area of not so much fun to hang out with, and if you agree then I am happy to know there are some positive people out there.

Although my time has been short here, I must say I have met some amazing folks who have changed my perception of people. made think a little more and made feel ways I could not experience at home. No offence to my friends at home. I love all of you the same. New people who have left home to travel, get away from something, new experiences apparently change people. I hope when I return home I have changed for the better. my goal here is to remain positive no matter who I meet or in the lesser extant be insulted by.

Keeping the Sanity Alive

2006-09-18T01:04:00.000+09:00

Greetings everyone

well as you know I have been here for some time. I am starting to settle in nicely. Now I feel I can tell you what I do on an average weekend. So here goes.

Friday
worked till ten pm. That's PM one word. The crew, as I like to call them, went out for dinner and we had a delicious Korean BBQ. It was a new place as our usual Friday night diner decided to change over night into some other BBQ spot and it was packed, although there weren't any dancing girls, who dance outside to promote a new store women's rights are different here, but it was still no place for 8 foreigners. We found a nice place with delicious food just around the way. It was Duck. Fantastic.
So from there, Dave and I went to a little going away party which I thought would be a nice way to finish off the week. Have a drink and be in bed 2 am, maybe 3 am. That's AM, one word. Around 1:30 in the AM, the neighbour freaks out as we are being to noisy. Rightfully so, the nieghbour that is. After this man stood in the door way of Tess and Frans apartment, Fran is leaving, until we until we left, all of us did he let us be and went back to bed. From there we made it to Cass Rock. In Korean it is CassUH RockUH. We had some Soju and beer and chatted and drank the night away. Little to my awareness, we did drink the night away. We left the bar around 430 or 5 in the AM. The walk home which usually takes 15 minutes, took us a good half an hour, and not due to the drunkenness state that most of us were in. Just a relaxing walk back home, or the home as it is said in Korea. To make this short, I made it to bed by 7 in the am. It was a good morning.

As Saturday has already started I will tell you about after I woke up. I got up around 12 which is pretty good I think. I went down to Suwon station which is about a 20 minute trip. It was a good trip, I managed to make it to the adidas store well and fine. I did my business there and moved on, the interesting part here is that the had this huge lift, not sure of the exact name, on the side of the road and they were moving things back and forth over traffic. Picture a giant back hoe lifting and moving things over a busy road, say the 401 for example. Amazing.

When I returned to my place, I change and headed off to play virtual golf. Koreans love golf more than Texans love guns. I found myself with Dave and Neil in a good size room with three giant screen and a few others looking for a round of nine in the comfort of home feeling complete with air conditioning. Now I have played golf for a while now and felt pretty confident. What is left of that confidence was left as I paid for my round and went home. I was plus 45 for 18 holes. Virtual golf is more like golf on a big screen inside for people who cant afford 200 dollar rounds on out door courses. So with that said, I will become a pretty good virtual golfer. My excuses for the bad round. New clubs, the tee was too high, I slept maybe 5 hours, you cant really judge the distance properly, and the thing is in metres, also the water was green tea water. But with that said I did out drive everyone when I did hit the ball. Well.

Saturday night, Poker. I won one round and lost horribly the second round, in short I come out a winner, made 4 dollars. That's 4 milkshakes in a bag.

Sunday. Well Sunday was a good day. I played two soccer games and had a wonderful time doing it. I played with two totally different teams. One negative and one positive. I have to decide. It is hard, but it must be done. I played well even though I played striker. But I must add this quote, and I quote and you can quote me on the quote that I am quoting. :

Suwon player "so are you guys from England"
Emiel "no"
Suwon player "Ireland then?"
Emiel "no we are from Canada"
Suwon Player "no way"
Emiel "well I am Dutch but I grew up in Canada"
Suwon Player "But you guys are good at soccer, how can you be from Canada"

So the night ended, first game lost 4-1, second game tied 1-1, Emiel scored, I did not but I played well I think.

and so tomorrow I go back to work completely sane, enjoy the pics.

The Feeling of Safety

2006-09-18T00:58:00.000+09:00

If you can tell me what this is I will bring you back something Korean, you must be correct, exactly correct.

Good Luck.

A hint, only cause Stephanie asked. The title is a hint.
Also they don't need arch supports in this building.

Family doesnt count cause I will bring you back something anyway.

Brianna Dawn Cordingley

2006-09-14T10:31:00.000+09:00

This is a picture of my niece
she is beautiful, I must say

A New Addition

2006-09-08T13:25:00.000+09:00

Greetings
this post has nothing to do with Korea,

On September 7th at 10:37 pm EST, back home in Woodstock my sister gave birth to a wonderful baby girl,
here name is Brianna, she is a little premature but doing well and is being taken care of at Woodstock General Hospital.
I am very excited, it will be hard to teach today as all I want to do is go home a for a day or so.
It is an exciting day for our family, I hope you may feel some of our joy.

Love can reach around the world as today I am filled with joy.

Living and Culture

2006-09-04T12:41:00.000+09:00

hello everyone
it is monday afternoon and i am about to start my first full week of regualr classes. after teaching an intensive session throughout august it now seems that regular classes are quite easy. i have much more time to do everything. the days are nicer and not as hot but it is still sweating like a pig weather. the only difference is that it is not as humid, which in korea feels like walking through sweat. i have found korea to be a nice place to live. one of my goals of living here is to learn the lorean language. it is pretty easy to learn hot to read it, but the hard part is understanding it. if i were you i would wish me good luck. anyway, speaking of living here, i have come acustomed to living in such small quaters qhich feels a bit larger than my kitchen at home. but on the bright side i need no more than what i have. it is cheaper and well easy to keep clean. if something is messy it is in the way. so i clean it.
As for differences in this country, so far i have encountered many old men who confidently will approach me and tell me i am handsome. that is fine with me, old men have experiance and are repsected to high degree, meaning they can almost do whatever the please. but recently i was in a small area of seoul called Dungdaemoon stadium, which is a market for shopping. anything you need you will find it. i was on the search for a nice side bag, a small one for carrying things back and forth to work. as one of my colleagues describes it, a man pruse. i like it either way. as i was looking at a few bags none by the way looked like purses, a young man about my age came up quietly and non threatening and waited patiently as i looked through the many bags in front of me. i thought at first he was the salesman of the little hut. as i continued to search he didnt say anything and let me do what i wanted. he wasnt trying to sell em anything. so i thought to myself there is nothing i like here, so lets move on. as i went to walk away the young man, came a little closer, said "hello, you are very handsome man", i said "thank you' and we both went on our way, he in one direction and i in another, i looked back in amazement and saw that he was no shop owner and in no discomfort at what he had just done.
in Canada i am sure he would be in the hospital right now recovering from a severe beating unless of course it was me he said that to and i have yet to actaully hit some one for something they have said to me. nevertheless he was a young man with good intentions and meant no harm. it made my day as it was nice to know you can be honest about someones looks and not be seen as hitting on someone. so that is my first culture shock story for you, i hop eyou enjoyed it.

the pic you see is the view from my apartment. it is a nice one. i stare out almost every morning between emails and msn messages.

more japan pics

2006-08-30T00:26:00.000+09:00

these are the good ones
the sunset is my fav, it is in Mitoma

Japan

2006-08-29T23:48:00.001+09:00

Here are the dates
August 22 - August 27
my vacation, after one month of working as a teacher for YesYoungdo
so my first day of vacation consisted of me lugging a suitcase from suwon to migeum to help emiel move. and for those of you wondering what that is like: take a large suite case, and take a subway with about 40 people in car about 10 minutes then take a bus from London to waterloo, and then walk about 10 minutes through rush hour traffic in Toronto. That's what I did late Tuesday night. I helped emiel pack and had a good night sleep, we woke up early the next day to do the same thing, but through Korean rush hour, which is insane, but this time we had two large suit cases, and two backpacks, full and heavy. an adventure I would like to forget, but at the end it was worth it. emiel moved successfully from one end of Seoul to the other.

so know our vacation begins. we used three forms of transportation. KTX bullet train, hydrofoil - boat and of course a bus. great times. we made it to Japan in about 7 hours total, we did spend a night in Busan, which was nice we visited the beach and a closed surf shop. we took a few pictures but nothing to special, I just tried to figure out how to use my new camera. anyway we found the beach and a nice little local restraunt to eat at. we thought we were being dragged down a dark alley way, which we were, but to our surprise it was a great little place.
to sleep, 5 of us crambed into a hotel room and slept well for about 30 each.
so up in the morning emiel and I left early to catch the hydrofoil first thing, we met a very friendly American girl who spoke with a very American accent, the brunt of a few jokes after she left our presence later the next day. but we made it to the Korean consulate in Fukuoka, Japan and had a good trip despite being separated from the rest of our group for the first part of the day.
from there we ventured further in Fukuoka and found a nice hotel for a reasonable price, about 41 each, again we crambed into one room. so that night we found hookerville Fukuoka by pure accident so we stopped at a liquor store bought some tequila and made our own bar on a small bridge close to our hotel and chatted the night away.
the next day we found our way to the beach in Mitoma, it was a beautiful beach with no one on it. emiel and I spent most of the day trying to buy surf boards while the girls spent there time enjoying the heat and the water, but after a few hours of debating we realized the boards were to small for us and moved on and enjoyed the beach a little more. I have an amazing sunset pic.
so that night we had another enjoyable time and debated if we should hit up another beach or go to Hiroshima, being young and tired, we chose the beach in Nagasaki. so three hours on a bus we are in Nagasaki. our hotel was traditional Japanese style, amazing experience. we went to the island Io. it was nice and quiet exactly what I wanted to do. we ended up at a nice beach on the pacific and swam and enjoyed this quiet little nook in the south end of Japan.
so over all, we basically headed back to Korea over the next day. so yes I spent four days in Japan, no Tokyo, Hiroshima or did I eat sushi, I did have sake, and it was good, made me a little hyper. but it was a good trip for all of us. good time, no souvenirs because I didn't have a million dollars, Japan = money.

enjoy the pics.

Off to Japan

2006-08-21T23:58:00.000+09:00

Well I am off to Japan on weds, I am pretty excited about the trip
we will be staying in Busan and then off to Japan for a few days, our plan is to go to Hiroshima one day out of the 4 and then hit the beach and enjoy some time off. Well look forward to some stories and new pics from my new camera, yes a new camera.

My classes during August

2006-08-19T11:49:00.000+09:00

these are my classes
S3 - J5 - J1

One more small step

2006-08-17T23:55:00.000+09:00

as i write these little stories for you i have to catch up to where i am now. so please forgive me if you feel like i am missing a detail.

my first week was interesting. i spent most of my time observing. which to Koreans means watching other teachers for a few hours so you can become like them and teach the way youngdo wants. luckily for me that wasnt to difficult. youngdos methods are all about getting the students to talk and do tests. easy enough yes?

the students are no different then students back home. they are good bad and even ugly. i like most of the students. some of them were a little quiet at first as i was the tallest guy there and well, the newest so they didnt know what to expect from me.

oh here is a little bit of story for you. my second day at youngdo, although i a wearing a shirt and tie with some dress pants and decent shoes, i feel like crap. after the first break i am sitting in the staff room and trying to remember everyone's name and who is cooler then the guy with the headphones on. when i am asked to come out of the staff room and enter the foyer of youngdo to be greeted by about 25 students with cameras and cell phones looking for that good shot of my weary face. i though it was a bit odd that no one was stopping this, but i just picked up my step and made a quick pace to the nearest class room and sat down hoping the heard would go to their respective classes. this was not what i wanted on my second day in Korea. but hey a good story yes?

so back to teaching. it is good and it is fun. i just finished doing about 30 report cards which i though i would never do in my life. but here i am, half a sleep and ready for bed.

Korea has been good to me so far. foreigners are instant friends unless they make a point of not talking to anyone and well lets just say that they become the brunt of most jokes. dont be a jerk in Korea and you will never have trouble making friends that was my week one lesson from a few teachers.

so the teachers i met are very nice, all except one who wears nothing but soccer jerseys and oddly enough he carries the soccer attitude as well. at least the stereotypical one anyway. so the staff consist of two south africans, four canadians, an austrailian two americans and one korean. it is a good group. i am very lucky to have these people as coworkers. they have helped me in many ways. i only hope i can do the same one day. the pictures you see are of my class having a little bit of fun, enjoy.

Korea and me

2006-08-12T13:29:00.000+09:00

Good afternoon everybody.

well, as some of you may know or are just finding out now, i am in South Korea, or as it is also called the Republic of South Korea.

So i have made a pretty big decision to move to Korea as i have left many things at home that i miss a lot.

To start this little adventure I first had to say goodbye to my family, including a new member on the way, she will be known as Brianna. My sister is pregnant, which was the hardest decision of all as it is a once in a lifetime deal. But i think being a part of her growing up is a little more important then just being there for the birth. It will be all the more fun and exciting when I go home in a years time. Also i am missing my friends Jesse and Shannons wedding, and that for sure is a one time deal.

Well, Korea is fun--it is a nice place with very little crime in the area that I am in. People are generally good to you and keep to themselves, although when you try to speak Korean they look at you like you are still speaking English. Emiel suggested the reason is probably because they have never had people butcher their language the same way that people butcher the English language--Korea is a pretty culturally isolated place. Because canadians have heard just about every accent and try and speak some kind of broken English, so with that in mind, there is no broken Korean, it is either perfect or you look like a dumbass. I am trying to not sound like a dumbass.

I have much to tell but i think will do it in spurts, if thats alright.

So I got here after a 17 hour trip, well probably more like 20 by the end of it, door to door that is. I left bright and early on monday July 17th, left around 530am from my house and I arrived in Korea on tuesday around 4pm. I arrived to my apartment, which by the way isn't much bigger than my kitched at home. That was around 6pm. Then I met the councilor that is was supposed to take care of me. She stands at the door of my apartment and says you go to sleep now, rest yes rest, and see you tomorrow. So I am standing there fully rested with nothing to do but look at my whole apartment from the door. I do not want to sleep and need to figure out how to get some food. Plane food sucks by the way. So despite her best efforts to leave me hanging, she did manage to introduce me to a girl named Mandie, who ended up being an angel from America. She did everything short of holding my hand while I got everything done, food, drink, found the school, the washing machine, how to turn on the aircon, the hot water and even to get to the train station and meet up with Emiel. And yes you may be laughing but you come here and try to figure out the hot water on your own. Yeah not easy, well it is easy but when you dont know you feel pretty dumb.

So we have become good friends now and she has managed to change my opinion about Americans in general, so that is one good thing so far.

So, now i am standing in Suwon Station which puts any station in Toronto to shame. Not that i have been to them all but think, 10 million people who want to get to seoul and that station does it. Enough said. So Emiel knows I have no idea how to get there, or how to find him once I am there and have his phone number or in Korean, han pon. haha Konglish is hilarious. So we are both in Suwon Station but have no idea where each other are. So after many phone calls and heated conversations about who should know what we embrace and said hello, good to see you so far from home, and for the first time korea, it started to feel like home. There were four of us, Emiel, Jolie (e's gf) Mandie and myself, walking in the rain, an not the typical shower we have at home, a steady down pour that felt like walking through a swamp. We did manage to find a nice little Korean BBQ spot just down the way from the entrance of Suwon Station. It was delicious.

The first meal I had in Korea was pretty amazing. We sat cross legged on the floor, eating cut up pieces of meat wrapped in lettuce with many other items inside such as kimchi, sprouts, bean sauce and garlic to name a few. It is probably the best thing to eat here. So in the end I was full and happy. I slept well that night with no worries but how I was going to teach. You would think this might worry me enough to keep me up but the jetlag took care of any sleep trouble that might have arisen otherwise. I slept well.

So that is it, a little bit of my first experiance here in korea. It has gone well so far. And last night will be a fun story, when the time comes.

2006-05-20T08:30:00.000+09:00

this is my first post about working
i would rather not be