The Wrap-Up

As promised, I bring you one final blog entry, concerning the most Frequently Asked Questions I've gotten since I've been back in Canada. If you have any questions I haven't answered, ask away!

What will you miss most about Korea?
The food is exceptionally good, mostly healthy, and very cheap. So there's that. I'll also really miss all the friends I made while there, Foreign and Korean alike - and of course, my students (or most of them, anyway).



What was the best trip you took?
That's not an easy question, because there were ups and downs on all trips. My favorite attraction that I visited was very easily the decaying section of the Great Wall. It was historic, challenging to climb, beautiful, and slightly forbidden (Since that section was closed to the public). Great mix!

The best overall trip, though, I think was Japan. Even though we had some disappointments, such as not being able to see Mt. Fuji (while it stubbornly stayed in a cloud all day), it was a fascinating place to just walk around.

The Euro-trip was quite fun as well, but traveling alone gets a bit lonely.

An honorable mention to Hong Kong, which was also quite cool.

Inside Korea, my favorite attraction was the famous Penis Park, (pictured to the right) that I visited way back in October (near the town of Samcheok). It's something that's really out of character for the normally conservative-Koreans - You just wonder who decided to come up with the idea 'Lets carve some Penises to appease the gods'.

Favorite overall trip (Inside Korea) was Gongju, which had a multitude of things to see and learn.

Do you think you'll go back?
I'm sure I'll go back to Korea sometime. It might not necessarily be to teach, but at least to visit (there's a wedding or two I plan to attend).

If I end up going back to teach, that will be because my job search hasn't yielded anything I'm satisfied with. If things don't work out here in Ottawa, then I'm planning for a Korean return around January (which practically means I'd have to restart the application process sometime in late November).

How's the food?
Spicy. A lot of it is spicy, but there's something for every taste. Korean BBQ (Galbi) and Bulgogi are not to be missed!

Go try some. There's an excellent Korean restaurant on Rideau called Korea Garden.

How much Korean did you learn?
Enough to order food, give directions, and generally get by. One of my regrets is not learning how to read - a little more communication with Koreans in their native tongue would've given me, I think, a better understanding of the culture. Still, I knew enough to realize the challenge that they faced when learning English - a language that is structurally incredibly different.

Who did you teach?
Who didn't I teach?

The most common ones I taught were adults and elementary-level kids (4 times a week). Two or three times a month, on Fridays, Kindergarten-aged kids. Once a month, High School girls (no boys!), and occasionally, mixed groups of middle-school kids.

I can't say I had a favorite group to teach. With the adults, it was great to learn more about Korea as I was teaching them. With the kids, it was great to see them having fun while learning, in a way only kids can.

That's all, folks.

Writing this blog has been a great experience, and it's probably the best Souvenir I've gotten from this adventure. Again, a big thanks to those that took the time to read it and all of those who sent encouragement throughout the year.

See you out there.

Home

After a 7 hour flight from Ireland, and an hour and a half flight from Newark, I finally arrived home on Saturday. To my surprise, even flights that are only connecting to the US have to go through their customs (meaning you have to pick up your baggage, pass it through customs, then drop it off again).

Of all places I've been to, it's the only one that operates like this. Kind of makes you want to avoid the States altogether.

It feels terrific to be home. Many subtle things have changed (Metro? Where's Loeb?), but most appears to be the same. It's really home - finally.

As for this blog, I'm afraid its run its course. I'm planning on keeping my ears open in the next few days for the most common questions about Korea, and post up a wrap-up Q&A sometime soon.

Many thanks to everyone that kept themselves updated, and sent me encouraging comments throughout the year - it really meant alot. If anyone from Korea still reads this, thanks for contributing to an awesome year.

See you soon.
Thanks for reading.

The Dublin Report

Having only two full-days to explore Dublin was not nearly enough to see all it had to offer, but I tried to make the most of my time. My hotel was about 40 minutes away from the city-center, so I had to access it with a tram (Dublin has no Subway system - the first time in a year I didn't have access to one).

The center is really where the bulk of the action happens, with countless museums, galleries, cultural centers, and general entertainment. I spent yesterday just waking around it, enjoying several museums. They are free, but most don't allow cameras.

The weather is pretty cold, hovering between 9 and 15 degrees, with a constantly strong wind. There's also sparkles of rain every few hours - nothing big, just enough to make those cold, underdressed, uninformed tourists pop-out from the locals (Yep - I popped out).

Today, I visited Dublin Castle, which was somewhat unimpressive; it houses a few exhibits, but is largely used as a government complex. There didn't appear to be much left from the original structure, which dates back to the 13th century.

The day was redeemed, though, when I visited the Guinness Storehouse - a 7-floor exhibition very near the Guinness breweries. It talks of the history of Guinness, the brewing process, advertising, and so on. This year, it's celebrating the 250th anniversary of the beer - which started in 1759. At the time of the creation of the complex, Arthur Guinness signed a 9000 year lease with the city - costing him a whopping £45 a year.

The place offered free 'tasting samples', as well as a free Pint at the end of the visit, while sitting in a bar that gives a panoramic view of Dublin. Needless to say, it was a terrific visit.




















Well, that's it.

Tomorrow I finally head home - I leave at 9:00am from here, and land in Ottawa (after a short stopover in Newark) at 2:40pm. Lets hope storm Danny doesn't give me too rough a ride.

Being able to say 'I'll be home tomorrow' feels incredible - I'm very excited, and will see all of you very very soon.

Happy Friday!

Ireland

Landed in Ireland safe and sound. Here's the view from my hotel.

I'll start the exploration tomorrow.

Cheers.

Juno Beach and Parisian Catacombs

Reaching Juno Beach was not very easy. The part of Normandy where one finds the allied beaches is a two hour train ride from Paris, followed by an hour and a half bus ride from the city of Caen (pronounced the same as - in french - Camp ou Quand).

Juno beach itself is located in a small town called Courseulles-sur-mer, which also houses the Juno Beach Centre. Surprisingly, I was the only tourist from Paris that seemed to make the trek - most other visitors were with a tour, or were just the local French people... though if I didn't speak French, I would've had a hell of a time finding anything.

The Centre was quite informative, and helped give perspective on the Canadian view-point during the Second World War. Since it's located in France, though, a substantial amount of it is used to teach basic facts about Canada - according to a guide, only 30% of the visitors are Canadians.

The beach itself was not really what I had pictured. I'd always had the movies-perspective of having to run up over a hundred-meters to reach the mainland. While that may have been the case at the time, it certainly wasn't yesterday (although I was told that the Allies attacked when the tide was low).

The few remaining Nazi bunkers have been mostly dismantled, and no longer have a good vantage point of the ocean, as giant banks of sand have been moved in front of them.

I walked for a few kilometers Southwards, to try to reach Omaha beach (One of two American landing points), but since I didn't see it after walking for an hour, I decided to turn back so I wouldn't miss the last bus back to Caen.

Trying to imagine the Canadian assault on Juno was difficult - It's a very peaceful region. But the few leftover signs of the War (including limited amounts of barbwire) gave clues as to what transpired on the beach. It was definitely a unique experience, and I'm glad I took the time to visit it.







Today, I went somewhere a bit closer (only a 20-minute walk from my Hotel), the Paris Catacombs (Thanks for the suggestion, Lis!). Due to overpopulation of cemeteries in the 1700s, causing disease, many of them were destroyed, resulting in having to exhume the (apparently indifferent) skeleton population.

They were placed in abandoned mines, under the city. There are just thousands upon thousands of bones and skulls to be found. It's a little creepy, but begged the question of whether or not one of them could be my ancestor.

I spent the rest of the day walking around the city a bit, and finally relaxing a little.

Tomorrow I leave Paris, and head to Dublin, for the final leg of my year-long adventure.
Four more days 'til home.

Whee. Take care.

Paris: Eiffel Etc

I spent the weekend continuing my exporation of Paris, first starting with the Eiffel Tower. I was lucky enough to snap a very cool picture of a rainbow-cloud hovering right above it, early in the morning.

I had decided earlier that I wanted to take the stairs up the tower - Hey, after climbing the Great Wall, how lazy would I seem if I took the elevator, right?

As it turns out, that was a pretty sharp idea. Taking the stairs is half as expensive, and take a look at the line-ups -->

On the left: Elevator. On the right: Stairs. Best of all, there were two elevator line-ups.

I snapped this one from the first-floor of the tower. As you can see, there's a truth that's valid anywhere you are: People are lazy. Using the stairs was a bit tiring, but I definitely climbed faster than anyone who decided to use the elevators.

Afterwards, I headed to the Musée de l'Armée - a place that's pretty much the equivalent of the Canadian War Museum. There were excellent exhibits about the two World Wars, Charles DeGaule, medieval weapons, and most impressively, a cathedral that houses the tomb of Napoleon.

On Sunday, I headed for a few more notable landmarks - the Notre Dame cathedral as well as the Père Lachaise cemetary, which houses the remains of different ranges of important figures - from Molière to Jim Morrison.

I've really enjoyed the sight-seeing thus far, but the one I'm most excited about lies ahead - Juno Beach, where Canadian troops stormed the German front during World War II. I'll be heading to Normandy early tomorrow morning, to spend the day there. I'm planning on visiting the Juno Beach Centre, a museum that presents the Canadian point-of-view to the Second World War.

Have a good week!

6 more days 'til I land in Ottawa.

La France

After a long, long day, I arrived at my hotel, last night. I woke up at 7am (Korean time), due to slight nervousness on my part. Shortly after 10, I bid GEC goodbye for the last time, and headed off in the rain.

I took off from Incheon at 2pm. This was an 11 hour flight. By the time I arrived in Frankfurt, it was 1am (Korean time again). After a two hour stopover, I reached Paris at around 4:30am. By the time I got to my hotel, it was right around 7am again.

Thankfully, unlike in Japan, there were no screwups when it came to the public transportation. It actually feels quite incredible to be able to speak to people and understand signs again.

I really missed it.

This morning, I got up early and headed off to my first sight-of-choice: Le musée du Louvre. It's ridiculously large, and holds an impressive amount of things that are actually historic. You might already know that the Mona Lisa (La Joconde) is there, but I was surprised to find the Venus De Milo as well.

There's an incredible amount of history in that place. The Louvre was a former palace, used by French Royalty, and the architecture strongly reflects it.









Comparing the numerous Asian palaces and temples I've seen in the past year, they are not even close to the sheer beauty of what's found in the Louvre (which is definitely not to say that those places weren't beautiful).

With my first full-day winding down, I snapped a picture of my goal for Day 2:

















Cheers

Bye Bye Korea

Today's the day.

I'm flying out at 2pm, for a 15 hour flight to Paris. Because of the time difference, though, i'll be landing at 9:30PM local time.

I really hate flying.



I'll post something once I arrive safely in Europe - have a good one!

My Last Day

Alas, the year is done.

Today, Tuesday, I taught my final classes in the GEC. All day long, I kept saying 'it doesn't feel like the last day', right up until the end of the last class.

The feeling of really being done, though, is hard to describe. Sadness and excitedness sandwiched inside a happiness.. er.. sandwhich.

For the most part, the kids were a little sad, but didn't react a whole lot. The exception to that was the Make and Do class i've only been teaching for three weeks - One kid started crying, which made another cry, and another after that.. it was the mythical chain of pain.

Tomorrow, I wrap up my affairs, finish packing, and say my last goodbyes. In a way, I'm regretting chosing to go to Europe a little bit, since I'm really looking forward to being home, but eh- how often will you get a one-way ticket around the world paid for you?

10 days 'til home - start counting down!
Cheers

Summer Sliding

As part of the summer 'Make and Do' class, a class outing to a pool and water-sledding place was scheduled last Friday. It was the first (and last) time i'd gone swimming in Korea, and it was a bit strange.

Everyone wears swimming caps (apparently it's a rule, though no one tried to reinforce it with me - I attribute it to my foreign-ness). Also, every 50 minutes or so, the lifeguards force everyone to get out of the pool for a 'break'. Not to check the pH levels, not to chlorinate the pool, but just for the sake of forcing a 'break' on everyone.

The sledding part was very cool though - there were actual sleds (ones you'd go down a snowy-hill on) that went down a hill that's constantly watered down. It was a great final-outing with the GEC crew, which somewhat made me regret having to leave .

Other than that, this weekend, I met with my very-first co-teacher Shine, to finally meet her baby (she gave birth about three months ago). Her newborn boy's English name is (who would've guessed?): Alex!

The weekend was otherwise filled with goodbye-meals, with a little bit of Karaoke squeezed in the middle. It's hard to believe I only have two working-days left in Korea (Monday and Tuesday) - I'm going to try and take pictures of my favorite classes before heading out.

Finally, i'm almost down packing up - I've bought a few gifts, but if there are any requests for Korean Goodies, now's the time to make them; Only four days 'til I fly out to France.

Have a good week!

51 Weeks Later

I'm now only a week away from my departure from Korea. It's getting a little bit more stressful each day, as I wrap up my affairs and at the same time plan my solo-trip to Europe.

Remaining on my To-Do list is:
-Pack (duh)
-Go to the Korean Pension Office, to get the pension money I accumulated refunded
-Go to the bank after I get paid, and transfer all that money to Canada.
-Buy whatever gifts will fit in my suitcase

..and, of course, say my goodbyes.

I know there's been some confusion as to when i'll be home, so lets bullet-point some dates:
-August 20th, I fly to Paris (15 hours - woo!)
-August 26th, I fly to Dublin
-August 29th, I fly to Ottawa

I'm really excited about getting home, and looking forward to catching up on all the great stories I missed while I was gone.

Cheers!

Gongju - It's A City

Last Sunday, I took one final inter-Korean trip, to a city named Gongju. Gongju is the ancient capital of one of the three kingdoms that eventually formed modern-day Korea. It's host to a handful of interesting sites - namely, old Tombs of Royal Families, a fortress, and several Buddhist temples.

Much of what was originally there had been pillaged and destroyed a long time ago, but is still being rebuilt. What I found interesting about Gongju is that it's not really a touristic hotspot, so they haven't had the budget to really revamp their historical sites. I saw a few 'ancient buildings' still under construction.

It is, however, a very beautiful region. The fortress is in an impressive location that overlooks the city, and a nearby river. The Buddhist temple blends extremely well with nature. We saw (and crossed) a very awesome bridge, pictured to the right - something that'd probably be shut down as 'unsafe' in Canada.

Well, my final full-week of work is underway now - I'm sure it'll fly by without me noticing. I got to have a last goodbye lunch with my (always awesome) adult class, where they gave me a handful of gifts and gave me an awesome farewell - this week'll be full of those.


See you soon.

Two Weeks

It's been a long week.

For the month of August, I have to teach an hour earlier (from 10am until 8pm), in exchange for some overtime pay. Everything about it is great, except for the working at 10am part.

It's the summer-vacation break for kids, right now, and GEC is hosting a summer camp during the early time-slot. I was asked to reprise my role as the 'Make and Do' teacher (the same arts and crafts class I had taught in January), in the aptly named 'Make and Do 2' class.

I managed to get the day off for tomorrow (Friday) - I have to make a run to the Incheon immigration office, to ask for an extension on my visa. You'd think there might be a one-week grace period, once your work-visa ends, to allow you time to wrap up your business, but apparently not. Even though I'm leaving on the 20th, since my Visa is up on the 18th, I need that extension.

Ah well. 14 days until my departure from Korea. 7 Work-Days left.
Oooooohhhh.... Canada.

Tokyo: Part 3 - Mister Alex vs 17 Ninjas

We continued our Tokyo excursion early last Thursday, where we had booked a tour to Mt. Fuji. The hotel-pickup was at 7:20am, but we didn't depart the city until 9:30 - only then to take a three-hour bus ride toward the mountain.

We were finally able to 'spot' it at around 11:30am - and when I say spot, I use the term loosely. It's in this picture to the left. Can't you see it?

Neither could we.

The outline of Mt. Fuji is absolutely gigantic, but unfortunately, we never got to see the top-part of it. While the weather was good, the summit was unfortunately, at all times, surrounded by a gigantic cloud. We went to two spots: the highest-point that you can drive (about 3km up), and a very nearby mountain, accessible by cable car, that serves as a lookout point for a beautiful view.

Apparently.

This is a picture of the entrance to the lookout point, only a few meters away from the cable-car dropoff point. A few feet away, we were attacked by 17 Ninjas, which I quickly fended off with my Karate skills.

Afterwards, we made it back to the city by Bullet-Train - a 3 hour bus-ride turned into a 30-minute train ride, which was really cool.

Once we were back inside the city, we went to see one final landmark: Tokyo Tower. Tokyo Tower is somewhat similar (yet much more obscure) than another world-renowned tower. It gave an excellent final view of the city, and was a nice way to end a very good trip.

Overall, it's hard to rank all of these trips around Asia. Between Hong Kong, China and Japan, China had the best sight, by far - The incredible Great Wall. Japan, on the other hand, had the nicest, most courteous people.

Hong Kong had the best balance of both.

Of course, I can't really compare any of these places to Korea - to live somewhere, and to visit somewhere is completely different. Korea is easily my favorite Asian Destination, though, if you're ever looking for my advice.

With that, my sights are now on my final departure from Korea - a little over two weeks away. Again, it's hard to believe how fast this year has flown-by.

Have a good week.

Tokyo: Part 2 - Seeing Sights

We began our second day in Tokyo early, and headed to the Imperial Palace, located in the center of the city. The Palace is still the living residence of the Emperor of Japan - Tours are offered twice-daily, but are booked weeks in advance.

I was lucky enough to remember to sign up for one, at the beginning of July.

With a Japanese-only guide, we were shown around the premises - and explained a bit of history, with the help of an English audio-book. It's a bit sad how almost every building's explanation began with 'This building was rebuilt in 195x, after being destroyed in 1945 during the Second World War'.

Still, there were a few original buildings left - like the one above, which was evidently built sometime in the 1600s.

Once the tour finished, it was time for lunch.

Japan is regionally recognized for its Pork Cutlets, which are quite good. While in Japan, we had Cutlets, Noodles, Chicken, and Sushi, and the cutlets are easily the winners of the prized 'Alex's choice-food' award.

We spent the rest of the day exploring electronics markets, along with some popular districts of Tokyo (Shinjuku and Shibuya) - the latter of which is the home of a popular intersection. The intersection in question is what's called a pedestrian scramble; where traffic is stopped from all directions, and people can walk to and from any corner of the street. Really cool.

Toward the end of the day, we decided to have dinner at a Sushi restaurant, where the Sushi-chefs yell in a hilariously-overzealous tone to greet each and every person going in and out. I only remembered to take a picture of the Sushi after we'd had most of it -suffice it to say, it was an interesting meal.

While i'm a fan of the raw-fish-that's-stuffed-inside-the-rice-with som- vegetables... this kind of Sushi? Not so much. It was just different types of fish sliced on little slabs of rice. Not terrible, but not something I think I'd have again if I had the choice.

Finally, we ended the day by going to a Japanese Pub, and having some Saké. The taste is pretty decent - it's like a very watered down and flavored Vodka. On the other hand, Soju, Korea's cheap-drink of choice, is probably about twice as strong.

I'll wrap-up the trip's wrapup sometime Sunday or Monday in the exciting conclusion: 'Tokyo: Part 3 - Mister Alex vs 17 Ninjas'.

That sounds promising.

- Happy Birthday Émilie! -

Tokyo: Part 1

I just arrived back from Tokyo, after spending the last four days in that remarkable city - It was a great trip, marred with only a couple of hiccups. Unfortunately, the first one occured just as we got there.

The main International airport to Tokyo is called Narita. It's over an hour away from the city, and while there are multiple means of transportation, most are not well-explained in English. We decided to take the train-system, for which we purchased a (quite expensive) ticket.

We were told to simply go down a tunnel and get in the train. With no clear signage, though, we got on the wrong one. Two very long hours later, riding along who-knows-where, we somehow made it to the city, and were momentarily relieved.

But then came the Subway.

This is the Tokyo Subway map. You might recognize the random colored-lines as something that you drew when you were three years old. For someone to properly read it, they almost need a PhD (this picture is only a partial Subway map).
Long story short, it took:
-Some friendly people
-A lot of head-scratching and
-A ton of luck

...but we finally made it to the Hotel in one piece, roughly 4 hours after landing in Japan. Whee.

We stayed in an area named Ikebukuro, in a neighborhood called 'Sunshine City'. After our trek to find the hotel, we decided to only explore the nearby area, but were pleasantly surprised.

I might be a geek, but Japan is the land of geeks. Very near to us was a vibrant pedestrian-mall, where there were (among other geeky things) several 'Game' buildings - gigantic buildings that are essentially just huge arcades. When I say huge?

They each had at least 8 floors. Fourty to fifty machines per floor.

Geek heaven!

Each floor is dedicated to some type of gaming - The first floor in this building (which was owned by Sega) was only crane-games. There were floors for token-games (where you could win tickets), floors for racing games, floors for card games, and even game-floors that were women-only.

Men could go in only if accompanied by a woman - The sign at the entrance said that if a man was caught without a woman, he would be asked to 'prove' that he was a woman.

I don't quite want to know what they mean by that!

That arcade-floor wasn't the only thing that was Women-only. This picture is from the Subway - the first car, between 7:30 and 9:00am is Women Only.

It's a tough world we live in.

I'll update you on the rest of the trip a little later - Stay tuned!

Things to Think about

Things that have happened since I left:
-World Economic Crisis
-OC Transpo Bus Strike
-Crappy winter
-Ottawa Senators missing the playoffs for the first time in a decade
-Rainy as-heck summer (thus far)

Clearly, it's a direct correlation with me being away.

Sorry about that.

Picture Snatching, Movie Watching

I managed to snatch pictures from the GEC public hard-drive (where the 'official' GEC photos are kept) - many of them showing us 'in action', such as this one here, during one of the parents meetings.

I'd been trying to think of how to get them on my computer for a few months, 'til it occured to me that I could just upload them directly.

Picasa is awesome.

This past week was the last of two Foreign Teachers, as well as one's first week. From here on out, there will be people coming and going almost weekly - it's going to be a very strange last few weeks.


To try something new, I went and watched a Korean movie in theatres today - no subtitles. I think the edge that foreign-language films really have is that you really can't tell how deep or shallow that dialogue is. The story itself was decent enough, and everyone around me seemed to enjoy the film (It was themed on a theoretical Tsunami hitting Korea).

The genre was kind of strange, though - it seemed to be a light-hearted, comedic movie for the first half, then becomes very tragic and sad, then ends on a lighter note.

Two days 'til Japan!
See you when I get back - I'll try to avoid Ninjas.