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

Food For Thought 2: Think Harder

Home is Where the Heat Is.

Holy cow, Ottawa. Way to welcome me back with sweat.

Apologies for being lazy with the blogging on this trip. Will do a handful of post-trip-blogups, followed by Pizza.

The Sidekicks

With every meal in Korea, side-dishes are served.

This.. is their story: *cue Law & Order theme*

The Cheonan

Interesting times to be following the news in Korea. As you may have heard, there was an incident here back in March, where a South Korean warship - The Cheonan -mysteriously sunk. The tragedy was unofficially blamed on the North, and there has been much anger over the loss of 46 lives.

All men in South Korea have to do two years of military service, so whenever these types of losses occur, it really is something that cuts deeply to all Korean families. These 46 could have easily been anyone's brother, son, or friend.

Today, the official report from an international-body of observers concluded that the blast was from a North Korean torpedo, emerging from a submarine. This leaves the South in the difficult situation of having to form some sort of response (not only to quell anger, but as a detterent to the North), and yet not escalate this conflict. The last thing anyone wants is to respark fighting between the two Koreas, but given the volatility of the North of late, there is a possibility it may come to that.

The Huffing and Puffing continued, as the North declared that they would "respond to reckless countermeasure with an all-out war of justice" according to the BBC. 

The mood around here does seem to continue to be indifferent, though, (at least, in regards to those threats). A lifetime of threats will probably do that to someone - Lets just hope that the no-all-out-conflict 'streak' continues.

(Will be back in Canada in five more days)

Food For Thought

Rosie

Seoul Return

Early in the week, I returned to Insadong; a sector within Seoul known for its traditional Korean goods. Bought a few gifts, and toured some popular sights I'd seen before (including the hard-to-pronounce Cheonggyecheon stream).

Did a bit of hiking yesterday, which was fun. It's funny; any Korean you see on the 'Trails' (which are not all that challenging - picture below) are fully decked out in almost identical, hardcore mountain climbing gear, so I got a few looks for my dressed-shirt + black pants.

At the end of the trail is a shack with a view that would be quite beautiful of the region, if only it wasn't so smoggy. On a clear day, there are these great mountains in the background to be seen - but those days are unfortunately rare.

I'm not exactly sure what lies ahead at this point; the temple stay is most likely a no-go (which sucks). Can't say this trip is turning out quite as planned - I may be headed for an early return home.

In the meantime though, I'll do my best to try and enjoy myself.

Cheers

Building Pedestrians

Jeju Island

Spent the weekend in my last un-visited touristic hotspot in Korea: Jeju Island. Jeju is a popular destination for Korean newlyweds, as well as for Chinese and Japanese tourists.

It's historically known as having an abundance of three things: Rocks (It was formed by a Volcano), Wind (It's an island), and Women (???). From what I could tell, the only industry other than the Tourist one that works off of this island is agricultural. Jeju Juices and teas are quite popular among Koreans.

This trip was with Semi and her two sisters, who conveniently had rented a car to facilitate our journey (evidently, the Public Transit on the Island sucks). We started the adventure off at a few popular beaches, though it was deemed too cold to go for a swim; obviously 15 C is more than warm enough for any Canadian, though, but I didn't want to one-up anyone on their home turf.

Next, we came upon a gigantic field of the plants used to produce Green Tea. Accross from that was a tourist-centric factory explaning the process of harvesting, drying, and redrying tea leaves. Though it seemed like it was very involved, there was unfortunately very little English actually available. This is not uncommon in places where few English speakers will visit, though it does allow one to use their imagination. If I chose to decide that Korean Green Tea is made by mixing the leaves with tears of hardened criminals (to give it that tough taste), who's gonna tell me I'm wrong?

We proceeded to visit a few scenic places that became popular through Korean dramas. That's where I learned that my new camera has a Panorama feature! :

Sunday, we went and did some Kayaking (Photo not found, for fear I'd accidently do a panorama of the river-floor and be unable to rescuscitate the camera); It wasn't a very challenging course, but it's been awhile since I was in any kind of canoe, so it was quite welcome.

Finally, we visited a Folk Village that explained how the inhabitants of Jeju lived 100 years ago; It's amazing to think how recently these 'matress' and 'electricity' things actually reached some people; not to mention the Internet. It would be interesting to explain Starcraft to a Korean Hunter of the time.

Flew back in early enough this morning (it's about a 50 minute flight); All in all, a satisfying trip-within-the-trip. Posted below are a couple of videos from a very.. er. Unique meal, if you're interested.

Not quite sure how the rest of the week will play out, but Saturday will be the anticipated Temple Stay at a Buddhist Temple!

Have a good week.

A Moving Dinner

Tomatoman

In my absence, a new hero has risen. Plastered all over Won Dang (my old school's neighbourhood) are signs of the new Korean Saviour: Tomatoman.


It's definitely strange to be back; The athmosphere is a bit like going back to High School after all of your friends have graduated. Things are mostly the same, but feel slightly off.


The flight from Vancouver to Incheon was uneventful, though painfully long. Had time to watch four movies, five TV episodes, the entire new 25-Track Broken Social Scene album, as well as attempting to nap for three or four hours.


Will be spending the weekend on Jeju Island, which is off the south-western coast of Korea. Should be fun!

Vancouver!

Now awaiting: Vancouver - > Incheon.

Safe and sound so far. I severed three toes and four fingers, but a 5 hour flight was more than long enough to reattach them. Nothing else to report.

See you tomorrow.

The Toronto Surprise

Was off to a merry start this morning (Waking up at 4am to catch the Ottawa-Toronto flight at 6). Got to Toronto, and I didn't have a seat assigned for the following Toronto-Vancouver flight; As it turns out, Air Canada likes to overbook. Out of the 250ish people in that plane, I was one of only three turned away. Nevermind that I booked back in February.

The flight couldn't even be rebooked for today, so now I have a surprise day-long layover in Toronto. There is a compensation package, though: Free hotel, three meals, and a 500$ travel voucher valid for one year.

Not bad - but it still sucks; I'd rather be there on time.

C'est la vie.

22,464,000 Seconds Later

There's a website for everything.

Evidently, by the time I land back in Korea, I will have been gone for (roughly) 22.5 million seconds (thank you, timeanddate.com).

Between May 5-23rd, I shall be playing Tourist in my former country-of-employment. My old school has graciously accepted to allow me to stay in the school dorm during my stay, which will include visits to new-sites and re-visits of old ones.

FEATURING:

--Jeju Island ------- a Temple Stay--------Karaoke----













and, of course










One more month.

May

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.