Centro Seoul

... resort to improvisation and find some tape and paper. Then from across the room I hear:

"Kevin Teacher! He, he, he, he" As Angelina holds up my sticky note pad and smiles at me from her part of the table on the other side of the room. I can't help but smile and love my job even more than I thought possible.

Thanks for reading.

... Our tour guide described them as uncomfortable. I don't know, how bout you quit making them then?



This lady was embroidering and of Lexy, who is just as bold as I am, took off her shoes, jumped right up into room, and was like 'take my picture with her'. I guess I took it with her camara, cause I don't have it.


Oh boy this is ...

... grabbed one and stuck this 4 or 5inch metal rod down my nasal passage and squirted something into my nose. I couldn’t believe how deep it went with out touching my brain. The worse thing about it is that he didn’t even tell me what he was doing. Before I knew it, it was over. At first I hated it because I had never seen a machine like that but it ...

... br>Yet, one of the cultural things that I do like in Korea is the sitting around a small, squat table (usually placed in the livingroom in front of the TV) with heaps of food on it. Usually soju added to the pile. And you just sit around chatting, eating and drinking. A lot of cheers and such. Really great!

Korea is more of an "outside" culture than doing things inside. It is more common to meet ...

... In Korea, during the monsoon season, you have to have your umbrella with you always. You never know when it will sprinkle or become a soaker. This was a soaker.

We went to "Mad for Garlic", an up-scale restaurant...but I was soaked. There, we met up with two other students. So, I was trying to ignore my wet feet and enjoy the evening. And it was. But not for the food...which was way over-priced, in my ...

... became familiar with some places. But NOTHING compares to living and working in a place. There is no substitute to the expat experience. Overall, I find Korean culture fascinating, and the longer I'm here, the more intrigued I am. But I also find many aspects of Korean culture extremely frustrating.

Korea maintains one of the oldest, continuous cultures in the world (and most homogenous). In order to maintain such a homogenous and in-tact culture, they've really ...

... Seems like those other Asian tigers - especially Malaysia and Singapore, have roared past poor Korea. The streets were drab and I was glad it was Sunday so the traffic was light. Koreans are unique all to themselves. Even 25 years ago they all wore face masks but now, with the swine flu, they wear bizarro custom masks. I should note that I was one of the few on any of the flights I was on without a mask. Asians, everywhere, love surgical masks. They even ...

... a young teenager. I was touched when he wrote a comment at the bottom of his last essay, thanking me for improving his English and being a great teacher. Tae hoon A lively character who was always fun to have in class, due to his repetitive comments such as "oh teacher, too much homework!" Often he was the only student in his writing class, so we could relax and chat about other things as well. He wasn't pleased when he found out that he'd have a different teacher next semester ...

... is fantastic here. The subway is so convenient and cabs are cheap...a far cry from things in Ottawa. Work has been going well. My Kinder class has been a real challenge. Aside from them not understanding basic directions there has been a head on collision, blood from scissors, one of the boys learning the word NO, and some friendship issues with a few of the girls. On the flipside they are picking up the letter/phonics A B C and ...

... to see that Korean reporters are unembedded and ambitious, collecting stories and images that would make any CBC news editor proud. A regular aspect of newscasts here is documentary reporting. In these segments, Korean journalists who have spent months on assignment get to tell the stories most other reporters can only dream of.

For example, one Korean correspondent in Iraq won an exclusive interview with the second-in-command to Muqtada al-Sadr. One remarkable ...