Overall

Having had a week to digest this trip, I must admit that although it won't hit my Top 5 All-Time Best-Trips, it wasn't bad. Being in Korea as a tourist is a completely different experience, one that leaves you pretty satisfied on many levels.

As you might have guessed from my highlight on Food, the combined deliciousness and cheapness of it was, for me, a big plus. It's also something that I neglected to really pay attention to the first time around (when it's around you every day for many months, you don't really think of it as something to take pictures of).

The bonus of having many friends left in the Country with which to catch up on, drink and sing Karaoke, is great. It's also something most tourists wouldn't have, and that I was thankful for.

It was also great to see my old Kids (students), many of whom remembered me quite well - particularly the advanced ones. Some of my less-advanced ones also were excited as well, and managed to point to their current teacher to say 'BAD TEACHER' then point to me and say 'GOOD TEACHER'. haha.. Kids are awesome.

Another great thing was having so much reading material around me to practice my reading and speaking of Korean. I only learned how to read Hangul (the Korean letters) a few months after getting back to Canada, so putting the knowledge to practice for the first time was a definite highlight - and fun. There are so, so many words that are actually 'English' written out in Korean - so even with my limited vocabulary, I could make sense of a decent volume of text.

I also got to see a few more sights in Seoul I hadn't seen the first time, including a folk-village, a temple, and a few areas of the (enormous) city. To me, any trip where you learn and experience something new is far from a waste.

The jet lag has been somewhat difficult to deal with since I've been back - it took me a good 5 or 6 days to get my sleeping schedule back where it should be, but it's still not perfect. I suppose moving forward 13 hours, then backward again three weeks later will do that.

This will most likely be the last time that I venture to Korea, at least for the foreseeable future. After all is said and done, I still think it's an incredible country, and I highly recommend anyone to go and visit it should they have the opportunity.

Cheers