Day 133: The Refugee

The first thing I did today when I woke up was phone Poly and update them as to what was going on. Surely they must have some suggestions to help me get out of this horrible situation... There's gotta be a loophole I can escape through somehow, or a way that we can negotiate with that psycho Steven.

Unfortunately, they said there was nothing really that they could do. It wasn't their place to get in the middle of this, and they weren't going to pay him off. They suggested that I phone Steven back and try and do some bargaining - perhaps there was something else that I could exchange with him, or maybe I could talk him back to sanity.

So there I was, with having sole responsbility to deal with that mother fucking bastard who was screwing me over. I was actually feeling pretty level-headed and calm today, but suddenly this wave of anger - productive anger - went through me and I felt the strength and confidence to take Steven head on. If he wanted to play this stupid game, the only way I was going to win, or at least avoid getting deported, was to play along with him.

And really, who the hell did he think he was? Does he not realize what he's messing with here? This is the fucking S2H World Tour!!! AND NOBODY FUCKS WITH THE S2H WORLD TOUR!!! This is my project, this is my life, this is my dream that I've worked so hard to achieve, and had really only just begun. I wasn't going to let one greedy mother fucking bastard change all that by trying to screw me over and send me home. Uh-uh - I'm staying here in Korea, and that's all there is to it!

I knew that sacrifices would have to be made, and I was the only one who could give them up. I had to make a deal with the devil, and so I did. I phoned up Steven, and in my calmest, friendliest voice, offered him a deal in a polite and warm tone (while gritting my teeth and plotting his death silently...) I offered that if he gave me my letter of release, then he would not have to pay me my wages for those last 3 weeks of work that he still owed me. He said he'd think about it and get back to me...

Less than an hour later he phoned me back, and had agreed. I'd get the letter from him, and in return he wouldn't have to pay me the 1.5 million Won he still owed me. It was a huge price to pay (about $1500 CDN) but it was the only thing that I could offer him. And in reality, I'd probably have never seen that money anyways. He'd probably drag out the process of paying me that money long after I had started the new job, and in the end I'd most likely never seen a penny of it. It was a bitter, jagged pill to swallow, but what other choice did I have? He had me held over a barrel and he knew it - I had to offer him substantial enough bait for him to bite, and thank god he did.

Still, I was so angry, so bitter, so fuming with rage...why would he do this to me???

I phoned my parents to give them the update on what had happened in the last 24 hours, and they were as shocked as I was. Not long after I got off the phone with them I went to make another phone call, only to discover that my phone had been cut off...
WHAT THE FUCK, NOW??? Either Steven had decided to cut it off cause he's pissed or it's just a strange coincidence that it would suddenly, 'randomly' stop working today. On top of that, my cell phone had been cut off too. I now had no way of talking to anyone outside my house!!!

Thank God I still had the internet!! The bastard may have cut off my main lifeline, but I wasn't dead in the water yet. I decided that when Steven gave me the letter that evening, that was it, I was going to leave right away!! I wasn't going to wait until tomorrow to move - I wanted to get out now. Steven had originally offered to help me move, but had since decided that he was 'too busy' to help me anymore. I didn't care about this, cause to be honest I didn't want the motherfucker knowing where my new home was going to be. I wanted to run away, to escape from his clutches, to turn my back on that hellhole and never look back. And I wanted to be safe knowing that he'd never be able to find me or cause me more frustrations.

I emailed my friend Michael and BEGGED him to come pick me up that evening when he got off of work and drive me and all my stuff to Ilsan. I wasn't getting my keys to my new place until tomorrow, but I'd just crash at Steve's instead. I totally felt like a refugee!!! It was like I was living in a country when war broke out all of a sudden, and I couldn't escape cause they had closed the borders and my passport was in the hands of the evil totalitarian Nazi officer. I wanted to flee to a safe country, to the refugee camp waiting for me on the other side, but had no way to get to it. I had to get that 'passport' (the letter) and get the hell out any way I could. I would flee in the middle of the night with all of my belongings and run away to a safe place. I was the refugee, Shihung was the war-torn country, Steven was the Nazi, and Ilsan was my oasis salvation.

I spent all day packing up my belongings and downloading all my precious photos of friends and family that I had on the computer onto disk or my splashbulb site. I couldn't leave anything behind cause once I left I knew I was never coming back. And I wanted to remove all evidence that had I lived there. Luckily I don't own a lot of stuff here so it didn't take long for me to get all my shit together.

At around 7pm Steven came home and I went up to exchange my deal with the devil. I was terrified that he had changed his mind, or that he'd want more from me, or that he would find a way to try and milk more out of me. Surprisingly, he was friendly, calm, and polite when I met up with him. He had the letter already written out and handed it over, and then I had to sign a piece of paper agreeing that he didn't have to pay me the wages. And that was it - clean and simple and easy - but I was trembling inside. I kept expecting something else to go wrong, for that demon to rear his ugly head from inside Steven again. But strangely enough, as soon as we did the deal, he was back to his normal, friendly self. He had switched back to his old personality again, and was acting all chummy with me, as if he hadn't just fucked me over with his greed. He was apologetic again for having to let me go in the first place, and wished me well at the new school. He even offered to help me in the future if I ever needed it (like I'm ever going to contact you again, you motherfucker!!) and said that maybe he would help me move after all. He even suggested that maybe sometime him and the fam can come over to see my new place and have dinner in Ilsan together? I was completely confused and disturbed...who was the real Steven?

Whatever.

I've got my letter, I'm getting the fuck out of here!

I informed him that I was moving that night (he was surpised) and he seemed sad to see me go. I went back downstairs and waited for Michael to come rescue me. That was a whole other ordeal in itself... I've never had anyone come visit me in Shihung before, so I had no idea how to give directions to get there. There are no landmarks in my part of town, almost nothing is in English, and most of the streets don't even have names...

Michael and Gary eventually found me, but it took almost 2 hours of lost driving and wandering through both Shihung and Bucheon to find me. I have never ever been happier to see a friend as when I finally saw Michael in his car!! We packed up all my stuff and I gave back my key. Steven and the whole family came out to wave goodbye to me and I thought that Steven was going to cry. ????????????????

See ya, goodbye, adios, I'm outta here. Thanks for fucking me over. Have a nice day. Buh-bye! ;-)

Getting to Ilsan proved to be a challenge in itself as well! None of us had ever driven from Shihung to Ilsan (totally across the city from each other) and we didn't know which streets or highways to take. It took forever, and we ended up doing this criss-cross journey across Greater Seoul, including getting stuck on the Airport Express Freeway which brought us all the way to Incheon Int'l cause there's NO OFF-RAMPS, and involved doing some serious back-tracking... Finally we got to Ilsan, and I was amazed that I was able to find the apartment building in the dark.

By the time we got there it was after midnight and I was completely exhausted. But I had made it to the other side, reached safety, and knew that the worst was now behind me. You hear all these horror stories about teachers getting screwed in Korea, and now I've lived through one of those experiences myself. It's horrible. I don't ever want to get screwed over like that again. But now I just want to move on and forget about it. I've got a new life to begin, and I'm not going to let one bad experience ruin my whole adventure here in Korea. The S2H World Tour is bigger than all of that, and it's not gonna get bogged down by one (although significant) bump in the road!

I was sooooooo tired and was happy to go to bed at Steve's. I gave the biggest thank you hugs to Michael and Gary and said goodbye. I had escaped, I had survived - and I was *exhausted.* This refugee collapsed into bed and fell into a deep, deep sleep, happy that the day was over.

Day 132: Caught In A Nightmare

Isn't it funny how life loves to throw you a massive, cruel curve-ball your way sometimes, just when everything is starting to go well? You think you're in the clear, you think you've got both hands on the wheel of life and that you're in control, you think that it's nothing but smooth sailing in those waters ahead of you.

And then SHIT HITS THE FAN!

My, how quickly things can change from being so damn good to so completely, utterly, horribly bad.

I started off today thinking that I was on top of the world, that everything was falling into place, that I had nothing to worry about. And then I had the rug pulled out from beneath me. AND MAN DID I FALL HARD!

Here's how today went down...

Today's plan of action was to subway it from Ilsan to Shihung so that I could pick up my Letter of Release from my old boss Steven, and then subway it back again to Ilsan to deliver the letter to Poly. This letter was absolutely crucial for me to get - my entire life in Korea depended on that letter. The Letter of Release is what allows me to switch from one employer to another. Basically, Steven has to write a letter that 'releases' me from his responsibility, and transfers that responsibility (via Immigration) to Poly who become my new sponsors. Without it I can't get a new work visa with any school, and invariably have to go home to Canada as I can only remain unemployed in Korea for a very short period of time.

When I got into Shihung I phoned up Steven and asked if I could come down and pick up the letter. His tone was less than friendly on the phone, and he said that he wanted to speak to my new director at Poly first. I wasn't sure why, so I phoned Poly and told them to give Steven a call so that I could get my letter from him. Well I waited and waited half the day for someone to phone me back and let me know what the hell was going on, but finally I had to phone Steven myself. This is when Steven told me why he wasn't giving me the letter, and this is when my life completely fell apart around me...

Basically, Steven told me that unless Poly reimbursed him for my plane ticket to Korea, and paid him a fee of 500,000 Won, he would not give me the letter of release. WHAT THE FUCK??? Why on Earth would POLY have to give Steven a bunch of money??? I don't get it!!! Well according to Steven this was 'normal business practices' here in Korea, but it made absolutely no sense to me. When I talked to Poly they said that this indeed was not a 'normal business practice' and that it was just Steven trying to get some money, using me as his bargaining chip. And Poly wasn't going to cave in to his unrealistic, greedy demands.

Steven would not budge an inch at all, and no matter how much I begged and pleaded with him, he wasn't going to back down at all. He wanted that money, and he wasn't going to give up my letter until he got it. He knew that he was in a position of power, and he became so desperate and money-hungry that he was willing to fuck me over to get it. Either Poly paid him, or Steven wouldn't give up the letter, meaning that I'd have to go back home to Canada.

Where the hell did all of this come from? Where did this evil satanic side of Steven come from? This is the same man who's family would make me dinner often, would take me on family trips to amusement parks, who wanted me to spend Christmas with his family at a ski resort, who was completely nice and caring to me since the day I arrived. But he became blind with greed and seriously, it was like a whole other personality coming out. I couldn't reason with him at all. He kept insisting that this was 'not my problem' and that it was 'between the two directors', but he didn't seem to understand that I'M THE ONE WHO GETS FUCKED IF I DON'T GET THIS LETTER!!! I'm the one who gets punished in the end, not the schools!!!! Why the hell would he do this to me? What did I ever do to deserve this from him???

It made absolutely no sense as to why Poly should pay him off. They owed him nothing!!! Steven brought me over to Korea with the promise that I'd be employed for a year. He broke the promise, he let me go (with only 2 days notice, to boot), and now he wants my new school to pay HIM for HIS OWN MISTAKES??? It's not Poly's fault that Steven can't fucking run that school and is as broke as can be. Why should the employer who's offering me salvation - a new job - from the conditions that HE PUT ME IN BY LETTING ME GO have to pay him off?? If anything, Steven should be thankful that I've found a job and that I'll be out of his apartment soon!!! I just could not get my head wrapped around the whole thing. After 45 minutes of getting nowhere on the phone, and both of us getting more and more angry and flustered and exasperated, I gave up for the night.

I got off the phone and practically had a nervous breakdown. I phoned Ailish to vent all of this on her and almost started hyperventilating. My entire future in Korea depended on that one stupid letter, and the one person who could give it to me had turned into a sadistic, greedy, money-hungry, low-life fucking piece of shit scumbag!!!
What the hell was I going to do? I didn't want to go back to Canada (I'm having too much fun in Korea, I like living and working here) and even if I flew to Vancouver and then back to Korea I still wouldn't be able to get a new VISA. I had no hopes whatsoever for employment in Korea without that letter. What was I to do?

I was completely and totally and utterly and royally F-U-C-K-E-D!!!

On top of all this, I had discovered something very unsettling in my apartment. I had just sat down for dinner at my kitchen table when I looked over and noticed that there was something written on the table. There, in blue pen, written right on top of the glass, someone had written:

You Kill
You Die
Scott

WHAT THE FUCK WAS THIS!!!!!!!!?????????????????

Who the hell had written this? And how the fuck did they get into my apartment? AND WHY WOULD THEY WRITE THIS!!!??? Was this some sick joke, someone's idea of really bad humour, or was this a serious (death?) threat? What did it mean???? Whoever had written this did it when I was staying at Steve's earlier in the week cause I had never seen it before. The only person who has access to my apartment other than me is Steven. Occasionally him or Susan will come into my apartment when I'm not home to clean it for me once in a while, but what the FUCK was this about??? To add to the confusion it wasn't even Steven's hand-writing... It looked almost like a kid but not quite? WHO WAS WRITING ME SICK MESSAGES ON MY FURNITURE WHEN I'M NOT HOME???

God, I really *REALLY* need to get out of this place...

I tried to clear my head and go through all the options but there didn't seem to be many. How was I going to get out of this? Steven wanted the money and wasn't going to back down, and Poly was refusing to pay him off. It was a complete standstill, and I was caught in the middle. I decided to try and get some sleep and talk to Poly again in the morning. There has to be a way out of this hellhole...

Day 131: Falling Into Place

Today was my second day of class observations and it went much more smoothly for me today! Even just after one day things are starting to become more familiar and it wasn't so overwhelming as yesterday was, when I had to learn *everything* from the start.

I seem to be bonding with the kids already and they all seem to like me. I can't wait until I can start teaching the classes on my own for real instead of just sitting in and helping with them. The pre-schoolers will be fun cause they're so adorable, and my older kids will be great because they continually surprise me with their level of English understanding.

Poly is a school that caters to two types of students - 'Returnee' kids, and 'Gifted and Talented' kids. Returnee kids are students who have lived abroad in an English-speaking country for at least two years, so their English is obviously very advanced. Gifted and Talented kids have not lived overseas, but just have natural aptitudes towards learning English and so are much better at English than the average Korean child. This means that ALL my kids are *really smart* kids. Smart enough that the material we're teaching at Poly is actually the material they teach kids (of the same age) in the Los Angeles School Board!! My older kids continually astound me - most of them don't even have an accent and their English is actually...dare I say...BETTER than the average North American kid! WOW!!! Teaching them is going to be a really rewarding challenge as I'll have to raise the bar to keep them interested and still learning.

I also learned something really cool today - the apartment that I'm going to be moving into is actually BRAD'S OLD APARTMENT!!! WOW!!! This is awesome! Brad had a really great apartment and obviously I'm more than familiar with it - now I get to move in and make it my own. Steve lives just downstairs from Brad, and a bunch of my other coworkers live just around the corner. We all live in 'The Village' which is a great little neighbourhood in Ilsan not too far from Poly. I'm also going to be taking over Brad's old phone number, cell phone, and even his desk at work. Hey, I'm like the New Brad! ;-)

Today was an even longer day - classes went until 7:30pm - but it didn't seem as draining as yesterday was. I feel like I'm 'getting into the flow' of things at school. There's still lots to learn but I feel fully confident that I'm really going to enjoy teaching at Poly. Wow - great school, cool co-workers, an awesome apartment in a really nice city - everything in my life feels like it's finally falling into place!

After work today Steve, Amy, Kelsey, and myself went and saw SHREK 2 at the movie theatre at LaFesta. It was *absolutely hilarious* and I haven't laughed that much in a movie in forever it seems... It's going to be so nice to have stuff like shopping malls and movie theatres in close proximity to where I'll be living! ILSAN ROCKS! ;-) After the movie we all went back home and had another early night. Us teachers really do need our beauty sleep after these busy days!

Day 130: Information Overload

I spent the night at Steve's last night so that I could go into Poly for my first day of class observations without having to commute 2 hours to get there. I met up with Amy in the AM who also lives in 'The Village' and we cabbed it over to Poly. My first day - I was so excited!! :-)

Today was a crazy busy day - total information overload!!! Schedules to learn, kids names to memorize, class material to read, stacks of textbooks to become familiar with, co-workers to meet, it was GO GO GO all day today! The morning started with me sitting in on my pre-school class and they were great. When I start working at Poly I'll have my own classroom with the same 12 kids for pre-school every day. Jeanette is the teacher who's responsible for my class in the meantime so I just sat in and listened in on the lessons and helped with the activities. The kids are so cute and completely adorable. They're only 5 years old but have already learned quite a bit of English, enough to communicate the basic stuff anyways. They're actually well-behaved and polite to each other, as well as the teachers. They've been raised in an educational environment that has routine and consistency and it totally shows. My old school was always chaotic and seemed to change everyday, there was never a routine or consistency - as a result my kids hardly listened to a word I would say and were all over the place.

Half my day is spent with the pre-school kids, and it's split into four blocks everyday - Phonics, Sharing Time, Library or Gym or Computers, and Activity. Each block is 40 minutes long and the teachers are given a ten-minute break inbetween each block. After the third block we're also given 45 minutes for lunch so it's a really well-organized, quick-moving morning. My classroom comes equipped with all materials and supplies needed to teach - from scissors and crayons to music and paper. And everyday I have prepared lessons for me to teach. Each month the teachers are given a list of the English concepts/words/lessons that the kids are supposed to learn, and you're given total freedom to deliver it at the pace and manner that you wish. It's the best of both worlds - an organized curriculam with the freedom to teach in your own style. Wow!

The afternoons are a bit more confusing - there's six blocks to teach of elementary-aged kids, and they range from Grades 2 - 6. I learned that I'm going to be one of Poly's Reading Teachers which is great. All my lessons will be reading with the kids and helping them with vocabulary, pronunciation, and understanding the concepts presented in the books/reading materials. I get to make up supplementary games and lessons to make this material more fun to learn, as well as being able to apply the subjects/words to other situations. It sounds like fun - I can't wait. I also get to teach Grade 2 Science twice a week which will be a blast! These kids are so smart!!!

By the end of my day though, around 6:30pm, I was completely exhausted! It's a busy day that flies by quickly but is certainly a very long one. (This ain't the teach-for-three-hours-a-day-routine I was spoiled with in May at my old school!) ;-) But it actually feels like 'real teaching' and I'm excited for my second day of class observations.

When I got home I was so tired I fell asleep on Steve's bed while watching TV! Steve came home a few hours later and we had some dinner together and then both had an early night. Man, teaching can wear a guy out! ;-)

Day 129: Killing Machines

Today was the last day that Barbara and Ellie were in town so I wanted to hang out with them one last time and show them some more of Seoul. I've only known the girls a short time but I feel like we've all become good buddies! They're tons of fun and really nice people - I wish they lived here! :-)

We met up around 1:30pm and took the subway into Seoul. Our whole plan was to visit the Korean War Memorial but that was shot to hell when we arrived there. I had totally forgotten that all museums and palaces are closed in Korea on Mondays!! We arrived to see that the doors were locked - no museum tour today. However, it wasn't a complete loss... On one side of the ginormous museum is a large outdoor military display that's open even if the inside of the museum is not. It's basically a yard full off many 'military leftovers' from the Korean War. SO COOL!

We spent a good while checking out all the war machinery and it was fascinating to explore it and see it all up close. They had giant bombers and transports and fighter planes, as well as tanks of every size, shape and colour. They also had howitzers and missile launchers, and even a small submarine, all on display. A lot of this kind of war machinery I've never seen before up close, and even though it's all from the 1950's and therefore pretty outdated, it was fascinating nonetheless. It was definitely an example of how 'intelligent' man is, and all the creative ways that we invent to kill each other off. Kinda sad really when you think about it. So much money and resources go into these killing machines - what a waste! It's depressing that we live in a world that still needs armies and military forces - or maybe it's just a world where we're *led to believe* that we need these armies and military forces? Imagine what life would be like if the nations of the planet devoted as much of our time, money, and resources towards causes that actually IMPROVE human life, for all! What a different world we'd be living in... To be greedy and fearful and to kill is to be human?

After checking out the military stuff we decided to go and do some shopping (but a quick Starbucks break was needed first, of course!) Because I'm starting a new job soon and don't have a lot of work clothes that are comfortable for summer, I decided to do a little shopping for myself, for once. I bought a new pair of khakis and 3 new work shirts, as well as two fun T-shirts for myself - all at a really cool store called EigenPost (sounds German to me, not Korean!) After I did my shopping the girls bought some more gifts for friends back at home in Insadong, and then it was time for dinner.

We went for our last meal together at TGI Friday's and had a great meal together. After that it was time for us to separate - the girls were heading back to Shihung and I was heading out to Ilsan for the night because I had to be at Poly bright and early the next morning. We said our goodbyes in the subway station and it was sad to see them go - I'm really gonna miss hanging out with them!

I went out to Steve's to spend the night and we stayed up late quizzing each other with trivia questions. Our appearance on The Contenders has been confirmed for June 30 so we gotta get ready for that! I can't wait to be on the show - it's gonna be a blast!

Day 128: Soccer

After a nice long sleep, I showered up and took the train out to Ilsan. Today was Amy's birthday and she was having an informal 'birthday lunch' at a restaurant in LaFesta with the whole gang. I met everyone at Rosenbrau - a German/North American restaurant with the best buffet this side of the Pacific! They had an aweseome spread of yummy food for a really cheap price and so we ate as much as we could! Mmm....

Our plan was to hit the soccer game going on tonight over at World Cup Stadium in Seoul, but we still had some time to kill before heading that way. Most of the gang went home for a bit to change and relax, but four of us decided to hang out at LaFesta - myself, Amy, Steve, and Kelsey. We then decided (well, my suggestion) to go to a board game cafe and play some Clue! Everyone was keen on it so we went and had ourselves a round of some sweet Clue action and it was good times had by all! Man, that game is addictive! Steve won but we all agreed that a re-match was definitely needed soon! (It's great fun to be a Clue Geek!) ;-)

We all met up as a big group again and took the subway over to World Cup Stadium. WCS is a *MASSIVE* stadium - one of 16 or so that were built for the World Cup that Korea and Japan co-hosted back in 2002. It's a beautiful stadium whose roof in built in the shape of a traditional Korean kite, and I don't know the exact capacity, but believe me when I say that it would hold A LOT of people!!! It was probably the biggest stadium I've ever seen in my life! WOW!

The game itself wasn't all that exciting (final score, only 1-1) but it was still a fun evening anyways. For about 17$ CDN we were only 5 rows up from the field, and a professional soccer game (aka: 'The World's Sport') is always fun to watch. We all remarked on how well the players were all in shape, and how amazing it is when they kick the ball like half way across the field!! And then they have a ball coming at their HEADS at 113 km/hr (yes they had a 'speedometer' on the field for the ball) they actually run and try and COLLIDE with the damn thing. Now that's gotta hurt!!! So it was a tie game between Seoul and Daegu (another city in central Korea) but we were still marvelled with the stadium (although it does have a severe lack of concession stands) and the athleticism of the players.

I was supposed to meet up with Ailish, Barbara, Ellie, and Mark at the game but they arrived late and had to sit in a different section from us. After the game my Ilsan friends headed home and I met up with my Shihung gang. The five of us were *absolutely starving* so we headed back to our corner of the city to get something to eat. After finding no restaurants to eat at Sindorim Station, we were forced to go all the way back to Bucheon Station to find something open. We had some Korean for dinner and then decided to go for drinks. We went to some bar just around the corner and had a good time just relaxing and chatting. Everyone was pretty tired so we had an early night after that. A good day!

Day 127: Write-Off

Today was an entire write-off!

I woke up at 1 in the afternoon and was pleasantly surprised to find that I wasn't hung over at all. Last night was such a crazy night that I was expecting to pay for it dearly today, however, I felt perfectly fine when I woke up! Hooray! :-p

I did absolutely nothing all day except lounge around in my underwear and chat with friends back home on Messenger. By the time I got showered and dressed, and had my first meal, it was nearly 7pm! Whoa!

No matter though, it was Monsoon Madness outside so I wasn't planning on going anywhere. What had started as a trickle last night when I was coming home from the bar last night had turned into a torrential downpour that lasted ALL DAY! It never let up for a second, and in fact, seemed to be getting stronger as the day went on! I had to venture out at one point to pick up some stuff to eat and I was nearly washed away in the floods that were pouring down my street. Water was running *everywhere* and every single street was completely flooded out. I haven't seen rain this hard in...I can't even remember when!

I was supposed to go out and hit the town with Austin tonight but we both decided to stay in cause of the weather. Neither of us felt like going into Seoul with such hard rain - it would be pointless - we'd end up just looking like drowned rats, even with umbrellas! It was definitely a good night to stay indoors. I relaxed at home watching TV and catching up on my blog and email and then went to bed at a half-decent hour.

Sometimes you just need an entire day to do absolutely nothing and feel good about it!

Day 126: Highs & Lows

Today was a really long, emotionally and physically exhaustive day. 22 hours of an endurance marathon, full of all the wonderful and depressing things that life can serve up in one single day. One of those days that feels like it was actually three days squeezed into one.

I was up bright and early today at 7:30am to get ready for my interview at the English Village (read English Cult) way out in the boonies. The school is built out in Ansan, but the interview was in Suwon, both of which that are cities that may as well be in Rhode Island, for how far they feel to the rest of the city. It was a long subway ride to get there, and then a ten-minute taxi trip before I arrived at the Gyeonggi English Culture Foundation Building. As I've mentioned before, I didn't really have any interest in this job but thought I should check it out anyways in case I change my mind.

The interview was short but it was alright I guess. I met one of the directors and several people who are all involved in the hiring process. Everyone was friendly and I'll admit that the project does seem kinda cool, but I know that it's not for me. Despite the awesome pay, I don't want to live way out in isolation. And I prefer to work somewhere where I can go to work, do my thing, and then come home to my own, *separate* private life. I like to keep work and 'outside work' apart from each other, and that would be really hard to do with this kind of job at the English Village. I left the interview feeling pretty confident that I still did well with all the questions, despite feeling like a bit of a liar for pretending to be interested in it.

I was DYING to find out about Bundang and was feeling so sure that I was gonna get it. So sure, in fact, that I took a bus from Suwon to Bundang so that I could hang out in Bundang until I got 'the call' (or 'the email') and then pop in to the school to thank them personally and sign all my contracts and paper work on the spot. No sense delaying things! They're eager for a teacher, and I'm eager to teach! I was gonna hang out with Austin to kill time until I found out but he was busy so instead I went to an internet cafe.

The first thing I did was check my email - no response yet. The anticipation was eating me alive inside!!! Just give me an answer, goddammit!!! I did receive an email from Poly Ilsan though telling me to let them know if I didn't get the job at Bundang. Hmmm... I chatted with friends online for a while until around 3pm when I couldn't stand waiting anymore. I phoned the school and asked to speak to the director. Why wait longer when you can find out for yourself right now?

I didn't get the job.

It hit me like a ton of bricks. More like a ton of bricks soaked in rancid dog shit and covered in burning oil so that I can choke on the smells while burning alive under the crushing bricks. In other words, it hit me pretty hard. :-(

Despite going for the other interviews, my eggs really were all in the Bundang Basket. Ilsan hadn't worked out, and no other job I had yet applied for did I want. What the fuck was I going to do now? Steven's been harrassing me all week, I told Cheungju I'd maybe go and work for them if I didn't get any jobs today, and now the worst-case scenario has gone through. Can I afford to wait much longer looking for other jobs? Should I just take something, anything and go with that? Am I being too picky? I've been turned down for two jobs this week...what's wrong with me? Am I screwing up royally in the interviews? Is the universe out to get me? Why has all of this been so difficult? I thought it was supposed to be easy to get great jobs in Korea???

It was a long subway ride home and I was totally depressed the whole way. But suddenly I was thrown into a high-stress frenzy upon checking my email when I got home. It was an email from my recruiter, telling me that the job in Hwajeong was mine if I wanted it, but I had to phone her RIGHT AWAY or it would be gone. So I was stuck in this dilemma, not sure whether I should take a job I was only partially enthused about or wait for something better to come along. But what if the Hwajeong job *was* the best job that was ever going to come along? Or what if I take it (out of desperation and disappointment?) only to regret it later? I literally only had minutes to make such a life-changing decision.

Before phoning my recruiter I decided to give Tim, the director at Ilsan, a call to find out what he meant by his email. I rang him and upon telling him that I didn't get the Bundang job (he was also really surprised) he told me that some things had changed at the school and maybe there was a job, afterall, for me at Ilsan. He said the school really, really liked me and wanted to get me on board, but he just wasn't sure if there was going to be a job right away. I told him about my Hwajeon dilemma and that I'd rather have the Ilsan job (if there was one) but that I'd most likely take the Hwajeon job if his answer was no. I only had a short amount of time to know because I was expecting an urgent call from my recruiter any minute demandind an answer on Hwajeong. He became really excited and tense too, so he said he'd talk to his boss *immediately* and would get back to me in an hour or so.

So there I was, caught inbetween two possible jobs, both of which could completely fall out any second. Would I be offered both, or lose the chance for either? Ilsan was my first choice, most definitely, but what if I lost Hwajeon while waiting to find out about Ilsan, only to hear 'no' and then have NO JOB? Fuck, the stress was killing me!!!

I decided that whoever phoned me next, that's the job I would take. It was the only fair, semi-sensible way to choose. And so I waited for the phone to ring, my fate in the balance, where would I end up?

The phone rang at exactly 7pm. Who would it be, and what would the answer be?

It was Tim, offering me a teaching position at Ilsan!!! I'VE BEEN SAVED!!! HOORAY!!!!
I was completely thrilled and so very very thankful to get that job!!! It may start even as soon as Monday, with me doing class observations, and I couldn't be happier about it. YAH!!!!!!!!!! Wow, I went from such a low LOW to such a high HIGH in just 2 hours!! Life is funny that way, eh?

I decided to go out tonight to celebrate. Me, Mark, Ailish, Barbara and Ellie went out to Incheon for a night out on the town and it was awesome!!! We first went to this bar called Africa and had some pre-drinks there. Then we hit Goose Goose which is the bar popular with foreigners in this corner of Korea. I've heard about it for a while but had yet to visit it. It was a really great bar, people there were super friendly and I met lots of cool people. We had TONS to drink and it was happy spirits all around for everyone. Life is grand!!! But man, can those Irish girls ever drink!! I COULD NOT KEEP UP WITH THEM!!! 4:30am came around and I was totally exhausted but the three of them were still going strong! Mark and I held out until around 5am or so and then gave in, we surrended, threw our hands up in the air and yelled out 'I surrender! You win! We give up.' haha! Him and I left the girls at the bar and caught a cab home. By the time I got back to my apartment I had been up almost 22 hours and the sun was already starting to come up... It's a very strange feeling to be going to bed when it's starting to get bright outside...

What a crazy, exhausting day today was. Man am I ever ready for bed!!! :-p

Day 125: Hwajeong

This afternoon was my job interview for that position out in Hwajeong. Hwajeong is right next to Ilsan and is another one of those 'new towns' that have sprung up from rice paddies in the blink of an eye. The job at this school sounded alright, I wasn't overly excited about it from what my recruiter told me, but again, I need to keep my options open, right? An interview certainly doesn't hurt, and it makes for good comparison with other jobs. The school is about 2 hours journey from my house so I left really early to make sure that I arrived there on time.

The director of the school picked me up from the subway station and she was a really nice lady. She was Korean but studied in the US for a while so her English was excellent. She was super friendly and seemed like someone who would be a good boss. First, before taking me to the school, she brought me to go and check out where I would be living if I took the job. Man, the housing was super nice!!! It was in a brand new building up on the 6th floor and was a totally modern suite - it even had a washer/DRYER!!! Definitely seemed like it would be a cool space to live in.

She took me to go and check out the school after that. The school is called Choral English College and it's a franchised chain of schools in Korea (just like REI and Poly.) It was a new and small school but apparently is growing. She told me about her plans to hire another teacher or two at the end of summer, in addition to this particular position, and that was relieving. In these days of English schools closing all the time, and with my own experience, I'm a bit paranoid. CEC seemed to have a fairly organized curriculam and the working hours were really attractive as well.

All in all it seemed like a good school, but for whatever reason I just wasn't excited about it. There was something I just couldn't place my finger on. There was nothing overtly wrong with the job or with the school, but I just didn't have the same excitement that I had when I interviewed at either of the two Poly's. I really don't know why. The vibe at the school was different, and I just wasn't itching to sign on like in other interviews. Perhaps this is a sign? Hard for me to say, I can't even fully understand it myself. I left the interview feeling a bit unsure about the whole deal...

I rode back into Seoul and spent an entire afternoon devoted just to myself. I spent over two hours in Kyobo browsing through all the wonderful books and CD's. I can spend entire days in book stores and never, ever get bored of it. I have so many books at home waiting patiently in line to be read so I'm not allowed to buy any right now, but I do love to browse. It brings me such joy and peace to know that there's more amazing books out there in the world than I'll ever be able to read in one lifetime. I think that's really, really cool. I then went into the music section of the store and listened to a couple CD's, and then ended up buying two - Atomic Kitten's Greatest Hits and the new Avril Lavigne album (could there be two albums more opposite than those two???) :-)

I then went to 'my Starbucks' to sit and read for a couple hours, something else I never get tired of doing. I just finished 'Life of Pi' a few weeks ago (a thoroughly enjoyable read - I highly reccommend it) and have since moved onto 'White Oleander.' I stole this book from my friend Graham's family collection they have out at their cabin a few years ago but only just now jumped into it. It's been addictive so far, the kind of book you can get lost in for hours. The characters are so rich and vivid and wonderfully complex and I totally lose myself in the story for a while everytime I read it. I'm only about a third of the way so far, but it's been a really great book so far.

Later on I met up with Michael, Eric, and Tim for dinner, along with Gary and Tracy who are visiting Michael from Taiwan. We all wandered through Insadong for a bit and then had a delicious dinner at a Korean restaurant. After dinner we went to a board game bang and had a blast! Koreans are all about 'bangs' (means 'room', and is pronounced like 'bong') and there's several varieties to choose from. There's norabangs where you go and sing karaoke, there's DVD bangs where you go and watch a movie with a bunch of friends in your own small private theatre, and then there's board game bangs where you hang out with friends and play board games in a big room full of people doing the same thing as you! They're all super cheap and tons of fun!! This is the first of the bangs I've tried and it was a blast! We rented Clue and the six of us had a great time!!! It was the first time playing Clue for everyone but Michael and I, and even for myself it's been *years* since I've last played it. I ended up winning 2/3 games and then had to head home on the train. A very good day!

P.S. I find out tomorrow if I get the job at Bundang and the anticipation is KILLING ME!!! Aaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 124: Frustrations

JOB SEARCHING SUCKS!!!

I hate having to wait to hear about jobs that I really want, and having to apply to jobs that I'm not all that enthused about just so that I don't 'put all my eggs in one basket.' Now that Ilsan hasn't worked out, I'm really hoping to get that job at Bundang, but I have to wait another couple days to know. I have a good feeling about it, but you never really know, right? The waiting game totally sucks, and getting outside pressure just aggravates me even more.

My old boss Steven has been pissing me off all week long. He keeps pressuring me to take jobs that I really don't have any interest in, whatsoever. That job out in Cheungju, for example, just won't go away. The director lady has phoned me a couple more times, hoping that I'll take the job but I have to keep telling her that I'm waiting on other jobs. She's super nice and so it's hard to be frustrated with her, but she doesn't seem to get it. Their new plan of attack (her and Steven) is that they want me to come work *temporarily* at that school in Cheunju, until I find a new job, and then go work for some 'English Village' out in the fucking boonies that Steven has been shoving down my throat all week. This 'English Village' is some experiment the government is building to help improve the levels of English in the province and involves working at a year round 'summer camp' conducting a variety of activities with the kids. The pay is really good, but it's REALLY REALLY far out and I don't wanna be isolated at some camp stuck living with all my coworkers and students in some dorm. Thanks, but no thanks. The frustrating thing is that I keep telling Steven that I'm looking at a number of other positions instead, but it doesn't seem to sink in with him. I've been really polite but maybe with the language barrier he's just not understanding.

And on top of that, I had a really bad first introduction to this English Village. One of the director ladies from the place gave me a call the other day, but it was a total cold call. I had no idea she was going to phone me, and when she did she didn't even introduce herself or tell me where she was calling from. I just answered the phone and she launched right into her questions in her terribly broken English. The whole time I was like "who the fuck is this" in my head while talking to her. Well I guess I was a little confused and flustered because of this, and I ended up stuttering a bit during our conversation.

Now all those who know me know that I have a bit of a stutter. I don't stutter all the time during normal conversations, but for some reason I tend to stutter more on the phone than any other time. This is something I've done all my life, but has improved as the years have gone on. However, when it comes to teaching, or presentations, or public speaking, or anything really important, I almost never stutter. It's like a different speaking side of me comes out for the things that really matter and it's almost never an issue. I've been teaching in Korea for 4 months now and it's never once come up - no one at school has ever noticed.

Well anyways this director lady freaked out because of my stuttering and phoned Steven to inquire about it as soon as she got off the phone with me. Apparently she was extremely concerned about my stuttering and demanded to 'what was wrong with me' and if I had any serious speech problems. Steven became concerned about all of this and then phoned me right away to ask what was going on. I told him it was because I was nervous and because I had a hard time understanding her poor English. He seemed okay with this answer, but then proceeded to go on and on about why I shouldn't do that and that it's not good to stutter in interviews. No shit! And to piss me off even more he's phoned me pretty much everyday to remind me about all of this, and to not be nervous during interviews so I don't stutter. It's made me extremely self-conscious and edgy. I know it's not a problem with the job for me, but if people are now looking out for it, waiting to nail me for it, it could happen again.

I know that Steven is just trying to help me find a job and that he just wants to look out for my best interests, but his approaches leave me frustrated, annoyed, and feeling shitty about myself. I also know that most of this is simply because of cultural and language barriers. Koreans are notoriously insensitive towards people who are different or have disabilities, and I know he means well but it just comes across as pushy and demanding because of his limited English. I just wanna tell him 'it's alright, I'll find my own job, thanks' but don't want to be rude and so I just hold my tongue during all of this (something really hard for me to do!) I can't wait until I find a job (MY OWN JOB) and then get out of this situation!

Day 123: On Tour With The Irish

So I received a bit of a disappointing email today. It was from one of the directors at Poly Ilsan and he was writing to inform me that there wasn't any openings for me at that school. They had already begun hiring some new people before I had applied and so unless any of them backed out there wasn't going to be any room for me. I was bummed out to hear this because I really liked Brad's school, but it was totally understandable. They had made commitements to people other than me and I respect them for honouring that. Ahh well, it just means that I really REALLY hope that I get the Poly Bundang job!!

I had offered to take Ailish's two friends visiting from Ireland, Barbara and Ellie, into the city to check out some of Seoul's attractions since Ailish had to work all week and I have all this free time. I met the girls around 11am and we headed into the city on the subway. We went for lunch at Subway and then went and hit Insadong head on to do some serious shopping. The girls loved all the stores in Insadong and bought tons of cool little presents for their friends back home. After that we went to Changbeokgung Palace on the English tour. The girls loved the palace and even though I've been there several times now (including just last month with Henry!) I still really enjoyed it.

After the palace tour I took them over to a big Buddhist temple not far from Insadong. I don't remember its name, but it's a magnificent temple that is currently under reconstruction. It's covered in scaffolding and tarp, but it's still a beautiful building. We quietly entered the temple and sat for a few minutes to watch the worshippers pray and just take in the atmosphere. After the temple we wandered back through Insadong and went and had some dinner at Bennigan's. The girls have been having a hard time adjusting to Korean cuisine since arriving so I tried to stuff them full of familiar Western food all day today! Bennigan's claims to be an "Irish/American eatery" so we all fit right in there, and everything on the menu was familiar. It was a great dinner!!

After dinner we cabbed it over to Itaewon to try and retrieve Barbara's lost shoes that she left at the motel (no luck!) and then did a little more shopping. After Itaewon we headed back on home to Shihung to relax for a while at Ailish's. Tuesday nights are solid gold when it comes to television - The OC and 3 episodes of Sex And The City. Right on!! We all stayed up to watch the shows and had a great time just hanging out together. Barbara and Ellie are great fun and super nice girls - I had a total blast hanging out with them today. I hope to see more of them before they leave back home for Ireland next week!

Day 122: Big Trouble

So I had a job interview this morning that I was totally stoked about! It was with Poly (the company Brad used to work at) but only at a different campus - Bundang. Bundang is an affluent suburb in the SE corner of the city and is also where both Maeve and Austin live. I've only been to Bundang a couple of times but I remember it being really clean and green. It's one of the more prestigious places in the city to live in and is also a completely planned city, from the bottom up. I was being interviewed Jill, who was a friend of Brad's and who I've met on many occasions.

The interview went exceptionally well! Knowing Jill ahead of time made me really comfortable during the interview, and I seemed to answer each and every question bang on. I got a tour of the school and was again really impressed with the quality of the facility that Poly provides. Bundang Poly is a bit smaller than Ilsan's, but has great natural lighting and is really aesthetically pleasing. I also met all the staff who work there and everyone seemed really nice! The position I'm applying for is the evening shift, working with the older, more advanced kids teaching grammar. It's the same job that Brad had at his school and he seemed to enjoy it a lot. I got a great vibe from the school and really hope that I get the position!! WISH ME LUCK!!!

I was told at the end of the interview that I'd find out if I got the job on Friday, which means I have to wait five whole long days to find out if I got it or not. But I'm impatient - I wanna know now!!! ;-) I had plans to meet up with Austin for lunch so I gave him a rang and he came down to meet me near Poly. We went to TGI Friday's for lunch and it was really cool to hang out just him and I. He's a super nice guy and a lot of fun to be around. What's really cool, is that he's moving to VANCOUVER in December! Wow small world eh??? After lunch we hung out at his place for a bit watching 'Hook' that was on TV and then it was time for me to make the big journey back to Shihung (2 hours on the trains!!)

On the way home though I got myself in big trouble...but it's not my fault, I swear! I was on the subway, about half way home, and was on the Green Line which is *always* packed full with people. I don't think I've ever seen Line 2 NOT crowded, regardless of the time of day. Well I was just standing there, listening to my Discman, when these 5 Korean teen girls came on to the train. They saw me and were excited to see a foreigner on the train. Now people *always* stare at you on the subway, and I do mean everybody. You get used to the staring, but the teen girls always giggle and make more fuss than anyone else. Well the girls came over to stand next to me, and were amazed with my height (but isn't everybody??) ;-) They kept trying to reach up as high on the pole (to hold on to so you don't fall) as I could but (obviously) couldn't reach that high. They didn't speak any English so we weren't even talking to each other, but they were making a lot of squealing and such in Korean. They kept jumping and stretching, trying to reach as high as I could, all the while looking at me and giggling. It was all harmless fun, I didn't mind at all, and clearly I wasn't bothering the girls...

All of a sudden this old man from the other end of the car pushed his way through the crowd towards us and just started SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF HIS LUNGS in Korean at the girls! He screamed and screamed (God knows what, man I wish I spoke Korean!) but the girls got really quiet and looked all embarrassed and shy. Some of them sat down and put their heads down while others covered up their bare arms and shoulders (they weren't wearing anything overly sexy, even for Korean standards.) So the old man didn't even look at me once, he just kept yelling at the girls, but I knew that it was about me because EVERY SINGLE OTHER PAIR OF EYES on the train were all on me!!! I felt so mortified and I didn't even know why!

So I really don't know exactly what the man was yelling about, but obviously he didn't approve of their behaviour, and that somehow it was related to me. Maybe he was scolding them for 'flirting' with me, or maybe he thought their clothing was inappropriate. Maybe he thought they were bothering me, or maybe he thought they weren't acting what was 'proper' for girls their age. I have no idea. But I certainly felt bad! The train was absolutely silent after that, and people still continued to S-T-A-R-E at me for a while. I wish I understood and spoke Korean so that I could know what it was all about, and tell off that old man cause I sure don't think he had any good reason to yell at those harmless girls like that. Go mind your own fuckin business! Ahh well, I'm the foreigner here, I often don't understand what's going on or what's appropriate... Perhaps I need to learn how to better behave myself in public, and flirt less with giggling teenage girls?

Nahhhhh..... ;-)

Day 121: Rafting, Sans White Water

We all woke up today after a good long sleep, and surprisingly none of us had a hangover! We packed up all our gear and drove on out of town to seek out the river we had booked ourslves at for rafting. Our appointment was for 11am and we arrived just in time at the river! We met our rafting guide, the other 3 people who had signed up for this raft, and then got all suited up with gear. We walked down to the river's edge and were led into an exercise session to loosen up our joints for the trip. Our rafting guide didn't speak a word of English so Eric had to translate everything for us!
I had been rafting once before back home in BC and remember it being an absolute blast. This was going to be great fun!!!

The river's water was actually pleasantly cool (unlike the frigid waters we had swam in with the teen girls the day before) and the gorge was absolutely beautiful. Steep volcanic rock walls with waterfalls and dramatic cliffs welcomed us as we hopped onto the raft and set sail downstream.

It turned out to be a fun day, but not quite as exciting as we had hoped for... The rivers are really low this time of year, so there was pretty much no 'white water' on this waterway for us to throw ourselves down! In fact, the water was so shallow in places that we often got stuck on rocks! A few times, we even got stuck mid-rapid and had to GET OUT OF THE RAFT and CARRY OUR RAFT to deeper water! Where's the adventure in that? That part was kinda disappointing, but we still had great fun. The weather was hot, the scenery gorgeous, and we got to do some swimming and even some cliff-diving in the gorge. And hey for only $28CDN for three hours of being outdoors on a river who can complain? We all had good times and got REALLY SUNBURNED! My knees were crimson-red by the end of the day and hurt like hell. Feel free to call me Lobster Boy!

After rafting we were all starved but wanted to have dinner back in the city so we drove back to Seoul. It took about 2 hours to get back to the city and luckily traffic was fairly minimal. We headed back to Itaewon and then went and had a DELICIOUS dinner at an Indian restaurant. I've had some disappointing Indian food here in Korea, but this was sinfully scrumptious! We gorged ourselves on the buffet and then rolled on home afterwards. Rafting didn't turn out quite as we had hoped for, but we still had a blast this weekend. It just goes to show that often the most fun things in life are the times that are totally random and completely un-planned (like frolicking with teen girls in creeks, or dancing with Koreans at a BBQ under the stars!) Haha! :-)

Day 120: Teen Girl Fantasies Come To Life

Today was a perfect, beautiful, hot summer day! Soaring temperatures with almost no humidity and bright clear blue skies! Wow!! You can't ask for nice weather than this! Summer has arrived in full force in Korea and I'm loving the sunshine! (Now if I could just get rid of the humidity on all those other days...) Eric and Tim arrived at Michael's around 9am and the four of us drove down to Bundang to pick up Maeve. It was going to be the five of us for the weekend and we were all really excited about it!
We stopped at a grocery store to pick up snacks and ingredients so we could make our own batch of sangria that night, and then got Maeve and headed out of the city.

Our destination was a recreational area a few hours north of Seoul, nestled right against the North Korea border. Our drive up was beautiful and we were all hot and sticky and dying for a swim when we arrived at our destination town a few hours later.
Our rafting wasn't until tomorrow so we thought we'd find a place to stay for the night and then go seek out a lake or river to swim in.

All the resort hotels we had originally hoped to stay in were all booked up, but a front desk lady suggested we go check out a group of 'cabins' up the road that might have some space. We drove up this dirt road in middle-of-nowhere Korea and came upon this dusty virtual ghost town in this very scenic valley. We found the 'cabins' that we could rent and it wasn't exactly what we had expected... It really was just a big, empty wooden house split into two parts for tourists to rent out. It wasn't all that nice, but the price was right (80,000 Won, or about $80 CDN split by five) so we took it. We rented the smaller of the two parts but the grounds came with a BBQ pit so we thought that would be fun later on tonight.

We suited ourselves up and drove down to the 'big lake' just down the road. There aren't many bodies of water of substantial size in Korea so finding a lake really is a rarity. The lake unfortunately turned out to be a massive disappointment! It was less than half full of water and was surrounded by gross disgusting mud flats. The entire area smelled and looked more like a giant mud puddle than a lake. Certainly not the refreshing forest lake that we had hoped for! And on top of that, some stupid fair had set up on the shores, so it was swarming with Korean tourists checking out the make-shift fair rides, sad pathetic petting zoo, and the less-than-pleasant-sounding Korean bands. Forget this! We're outta here!

We drove up the road until we found a provincial park with a stream that you could apparently swim in (according to the gate attendant.) The stream was really small but appeared clean and uncrowded and refreshingly cool. We kept walking upstream until we found a trail that led down to a small pool formed by the creek. When we got to the pools we discovered that we weren't alone... Across the creek from us were about 10-15 Korean teenage girls, all around 16 years old. They all became very excited when they saw us five foreigners coming down to the creek. It was quite the welcoming committee for our international crew (a Canadian, an American, a Korean, a German, and an Irish girl!)

The five of us relaxed around the creek for a bit and just enjoyed the natural surroundings. This is when things got real interesting, across the creek from us... Apart from our original welcome the teen girls actually left us alone while we were lounging, but then they started to (unknowingly) put on quite a spectacular show for us...I'm still grinning in disbelief and amusement while thinking about it...

All of the teen girls were fully clad in their school uniforms - white blouses with plaid skirts - very Britney Spears a-la "Baby One More Time" video. Well they started to all get a little hyper so they began to chase each other around the pond, tickling each other and giggling uncontrollably. Suddenly the inevitable happened - one of the girls fell in to the water - school uniform and all. She emerged from the pond completely soaked and even more charged with hyperness. This is when all hell/heaven broke loose, depending on your perspective. Simultaneously, as if directed by some un-seen porn director hiding in the bushes, all the girls began throwing each other into the pond and engaging in explosions of tickling and horseplay in the creek. Water fights broke out, girls chased each other around the edges while other girls tackled each other and rolled around in the pond together, giggling and squealing the entire time uncontrollably. We all stared in complete surprise! It was right out of some porno! For anybody who has a thing for bouncing teen girls in soaking wet school uniforms tickling her 15 closest friends while wrestling in a pond, this would be like dying and going to cradle-robbing nirvana! Who would've thought that this kind of stuff *actually* happens in REAL LIFE!!!???

After watching the Korean version of Christina Aguilera's 'Dirrty' unfold before our very eyes, we decided to go for a swim ourselves. We stuck to our end of the pool so as to not encourage the girls to ask us a million and one English questions, but I couldn't resist. Being the incessant flirt that I am, I swam on over to their end of the pool. I wasn't even half way there when they all noticed and started to get very excited. A chorus of "What's your name?" "Where are you from?" "How old are you?" "Do you have a girlfriend?" erupted from the bevy of teen girls in my direction. I stayed swimming in the pool, but a couple of them waded back into the creek to chat with me. Suddenly one of the more feisty girls splashed some water on me and that was it. Less than a second later and I was engaged in a Wet 'n Wild World War Three Water Fight with the teen girls! All I saw was a flurry of drenched plaid skirts and SOAKED WHITE BLOUSES as the water fight escalated to an even more-heightened pitch than what the girls had done before on their own. Water was flying everywhere, girls were squealing, hell I was squealing too! It was nuts! Where's a video camera when you need one?

After over twenty minutes of water play-fighting, English conversation lessons, and many marriage proposals to me, I swam back to my friends who teased me FOR THE REST OF THE WEEKEND about being such a big bad flirt. Hey I'll admit it! What can I say? I just can't help myself...hehe! ;-)

After our swim/soft porn auditions, we were all starved so we headed into town to buy a bunch of ingredients for our BBQ. We drove back to our cabin and got our BBQ pit all flared up. We ended up having an absolutely delicious dinner of burgers, chicken, and grilled vegetables while sitting under a perfectly clear starry night. WOW! In Seoul you just don't ever see the stars with all the light pollution - I had practically forgotten what they looked like! We also made up a giant bucket of sangria and we wasted no time in diving into that!

We also discovered that the other half of the cabin had been rented too by a big group of late 20's/early 30's Koreans. They were engaged in their own BBQ and were blasting English pop music out of their van and dancing under the stars while doing shots of Soju. A few of them spoke English and invited us to join them. Turns out they were all on some 'corporate retreat' for the weekend and were happy to meet us foreigners. We were a bit shy at first but after some more sangria and soju we joined our new friends and we all had this big outdoor dance party! It was awesome, to be out drinking and dancing under the stars with my friends and a bunch of Koreans!! Another random totally crazy Asian moment!! haha!!!

Eventually the Koreans left to go and find a Norabang room (karaoke) but the five of us stayed behind to continue drinking and dancing away. It was so warm and beautiful outside - gotta love summer! Maeve broke out her digicam and of course the requisitve silly drunken photos ensued! Oh, there'll be a very large stack of incriminating photos against me for one day when I'm rich and famous. Future tabloids will never, ever run out of embarrassing material to print against me! LOL!

We had such a busy day that we were all pooped out pretty early, and so we were in bed before 1am. We all crashed in our little cabin and enjoyed our sangria and soju-induced dreams all night long... :-)

Day 119: Running Around...

...like a chicken with my head cut off!

That was the best way to describe what my day was like today!

I had a million and one things to do today and they all had to be done RIGHT AWAY. Having been gone for so long from my home, I had a lot of stuff to take care of regarding job searching. I had resumes to mail off, jobs to apply for, phone calls to recruiters and schools to make, plus drop in at my old school to pick up some documents. Because I'm going to have to get a new work visa when this new job comes along, I'll need all my original paperwork so I can jump through all those hoops one more time. I went down to REI and was shocked to find that Steven had actually been able to find all my papers for me - WOW! He's normally so unorganized I was terrified that he had lost them. Thank God I have them now, safe and sound, in my own possession.

When I got home from the school, I also had two loads of laundry to do, dishes to wash, and I had to unpack all my luggage from Jeju/staying out in Ilsan. Whew! No rest for the wicked! After all that, I had to re-pack a bunch of luggage to prepare for my weekend away. Yes, another weekend away! God when am I ever going to see my own bed? haha!! Michael had invited me to go white water rafting this weekend and so I was going to crash at his place tonight so we could have an early departure time tomorrow morning. Sounds like great fun!

During dinner tonight I got a strange phone call... It was from the school in Cheongju that Steven had originally wanted me to take that I turned down. Well the call was two of the foreign teachers who work there phoning me to talk about how great the school and city is and why I should move there. After that the director of the school got on the phone and practically pleaded me to come take the job! Apparently they're going to one teacher short in just a week and are starting to panic as their last teacher backed out at the last minute. It was kinda weird to get the cold call without any warning (I didn't even know they had my home number!) but I have to say that they were all super nice. They actually all seemed like cool people and yeah it would be a good school to work at, but still way too far out for me.

I caught a subway into town to meet up with Michael for the night, and ended up joining him and Eric at Gecko's Garden for some drinks. They were already through a bottle of red wine by the time I got there, but we ordered a big ass pitcher of sangria and enjoyed the night sitting out on the outdoor patio. I ran into Meighan at Gecko's while there which was pretty cool - small world! It was nice to sit and unwind with my friends after a busy day. It's gonna be a really great weekend and I'm really looking forward to it.

Day 118: Sad Goodbyes

Today was a really sad day! It was the day when Brad and Andrea left Korea to fly back home to Canada. Brad was going to pop in at his school for one last time to say goodbye this morning, and he invited me along to meet his coworkers and boss, and check out the school. Apparently Poly Ilsan is hiring some new teachers and Brad has put in a good word for me with his bosses - maybe I'll be able to get a job there? I wasn't too crazy about the idea at first cause I wasn't sure if I wanted to live way out in Ilsan. My whole plan was to get a job right in Seoul but it doesn't hurt to look anyway. Within only a few minutes, though, I was completely converted! Poly is SUCH a nice school - a school with money and resources and actual organization! They have a library and a computer lab and all the rooms are fitted with books and school supplies. WOW!! What a contrast to the harsh ghetto Stalinist Russian conditions I've been working in! I was totally blown away!

On top of that, I got to sit in on two of the classes to see how they ran. Once again I was completely (and pleasantly!) surprised! The kids are not only really well-behaved and listen to their teachers, but have a really advanced understanding of English! I was sitting in on a class of 7 year-olds and they were learning about all the different cloud types - cumulus, cirrus, etc. And they totally understood! Wow these kids are so smart! What a treat they would be to teach! After this I got to speak to one of the directors for a bit and he was really nice. I made sure to let them know that I was interested in a position there. Who knows, maybe I'll be working in Islan soon?

The rest of the day was spent helping Brad and Andrea do all their last-minute packing. Man, they have a lot of shit to pack up!! Brad's apartment was total chaos and full of clothes and books and paper and old food and odds n ends here and there and everywhere. But, slowly but surely, they got it all organized and packed away to get ready for the long plane ride home. I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY'RE LEAVING! One of Brad's students even stopped by to say goodbye - he was so cute and seemed really really sad that Brad was leaving too. And then it was 4:30pm and their ride to the airport had arrived, and now it was my turn to say goodbye. It was very sad and surreal - it just felt like I was saying goodbye for the week and that I'd see them again next weekend. But a small part of me inside knew that this was going to be the last time I'd see them for a long time. Goodbyes totally suck! I've never been very good at them. I rarely ever get emotional during goodbyes, it tends to sink in more later on... One last big hugs to my two best buddies here in Korea and then that was it. They were gone. Even just walking through their neighbourhood to catch the bus back home things felt emptier already. My life in Korea just ain't gonna be the same without them. :-(

When I got home I called my friend Ailish. She had some friends in town from Ireland and they had invited me to join them for a night of drinking in Anyang. I wasn't gonna go cause I was sad from the goodbyes, but thought that just sitting at home sulking would be pointless so I went out with them. I met up with Ailish and Anne, and got to meet Ailish's friends visiting her from Dublin - Barbara, Eleanor, and Chris. The six of us caught a cab to Anyang where we met up with Hannah and Bernie and a few of their friends at a bar. We all ordered some dinner and drinks and had a great time just chatting away. It's fun to hang out with a large group of people from another country - after a while I think I could even *understand* most of the Irish accent! haha! We only stayed until around midnight or so as were all kinda tired. I caught a cab home with Anne and went to sleep right away.

Day 117: The Swarming

Today Andrea and I decided to go and check out the south coast of Jeju Island. We got on a bus and only an hour later were in Seogwipo, the second largest city on the island.
Unlike the first two days of our trip, today was bright and sunny with clear blue skies, and REALLY REALLY HOT outside! It actually felt like we were on a sub-tropical island today!

We decided to go and check out Cheonjiyeonpokpo which is a trio of tropical waterfalls that plummet in a series of dramatic dropoffs in a spectacular river gorge. You have to hike down a looooong stairwell into the gorge and it feels like you're climbing down into Hawaii or Thailand or Tahiti or something. The forest is all thick jungle vegetation and the waters are the brighest turquoise colour that you have ever seen! The gorge is made of sheer volcanic cliffs and it really does look and feel like paradise! We spent a good hour exploring the trails through the gorge and took time to reflect next to the three beautiful waterfalls that gouge the canyon. Man, it's great being an unemployed tourist in Korea - haha!!!

After the waterfalls we walked down to the ocean. On the way there we enjoyed the hot sunshine, the lush smells of all the tropical flowers, and the cool sights of the tall skinny palm trees lining the city streets. We were about to walk over a bridge over the canyon when we looked down and saw this poor, lonely horse tied up all by himself down below. There was absolutely no one around so Andrea and I went down to go and visit the horse. The poor horse was stuck on this short rope in the hot sun with no shade and no company. He had a big bucket for water but it was completely empty. We pet the horse for a while (he was really friendly and tame) and then decided to give him some water. We took out our giant 2 L bottle of spring water and emptied it into his bucket. The poor guy drank it all up in about 15 seconds! He definitely seemed like he was still thirsty so we went down to the river and filled up our bottle a couple more time with water. It was our Good Samaritan deed for the day, and the horse sure seemed to be happy about it!

Just up the road from there, on the way to our next stop, we passed through the massive brand new convention centre that the Koreans have built to attract visitors to the island. While walking through the convenntion centre, Andrea and I encountered an entire class of middle school boys out on a field trip. Given the fact not many foreigners live on Jeju, we proved to be quite a fascinating sight for these boys. Within thirty seconds we were completely surrounded by at least 30 of the school boys who stared at is in wonder and curiousity. Like a pack of velociraptors, each of them would approach and ask a question in English while another would come up to the other one of us from a different side and do the same thing. Andrea and I could only spin around and around and answer question after question. I've been approached by groups of friendly and inquisitive students before, but never by a group as large as this! It was fun, but a little intimidating at the same time. So many students, so many questions, so many eyes fixed upon us! After ten minutes or so of the question and answer period from our young teen fans we headed out of the centre and towards the coast.

We walked on over to Jusangjolli Rocks. Jusangjolli Rocks are one of the biggest attractions on all of Jeju. It is here on the south coast where lava from Mount Halla poured directly into the sea. The combination of the super hot lava meeting the super cold sea resulted in instant cooling, causing the lava to form into giant hexagonal pillars that stretch for kilometres along the coast. The lava rock looks like giant vertical honeycomb! These jagged columns are identical in size and shape and form a rugged yet refined wall of pillars that are fascinating to look at. They look almost man-made, but are shaped completely by Mother Nature alone. We took quite a few photos and then wandered down the trail. We came upon a stairwell that actually ran right down to the water next to these uniquely-shaped rocks, and spent a good hour or so climbing up and down the terraces of lava pillars. It was great fun and a totally cool experience to be able to see these things up close and personal. Climbing over lava rocks on an island off the coast of Korea - how cool is that!!??

We then decided to go and find a taxi to take us back to the bus terminal so we could get ready to head back home. We went back to the convention centre to call a taxi, and this is when 'The Swarming - Part Deux' took place. Only this time it with a ferocity never before experienced by this humble Canadian boy. When approaching the centre we ran into several bus loads of...teenage girls. Oh God! The giggling! The crying out of joy and excitement! The fawning!!! For a good 20 minutes or more Andrea and I (well, mostly me) were surrounded by hordes of teenage girls who were absolutely fascinated with us. They fawned over us like we were pop stars at a concert. They yelled out questions and "You are very handsome!!!" in a chorus of squealing and laughing. Group upon group of these super-hyper teen girls came up to have their picture taken with me. I'd put my arm around one of them and they'd all *SCREAM* with excitement! Seriously, I felt like a world-famous Hollywood celebrity! There were flashes of cameras everywhere and I can honestly say I've never had so much attention directed towards me in my entire life. We were completely and utterly and helplessly swarmed by these teenage girls (and I loved every minute!)

After the 'Meet n Greet' time with 'our fans' we finally jumped into our taxi that arrived and sped off. Some of the girls practically ran after the cab and tried to get more pictures of us through the windows. It was crazy! (But SO MUCH FUN! hehe!!) We caught our bus back to Jeju City and went and checked out of our motel. We then went and had PizzaHut for dinner and then took a cab over to the airport. Our flight took off just after 7pm and we were landing in Seoul at around a quarter after eight. Our short 3-day holiday came and went so fast but it felt like we had travelled so far to some distant exotic land! Wow!

It was Brad and Andrea's last night in town so there was a big goodbye dinner for them in Ilsan. The entire gang showed up and we all had an awesome dinner at a really great Thai restaurant. It was fun to socialize with everyone and hang out as a big group one last time. We then headed back to Brad's place where Brad and Andrea continued their last minute packing. I crashed at Steve's again so that Brad and Andrea could enjoy their last night of romance together before heading back to their respective hometowns in Canada. I was really tired from three very active days of touring, but what an amazing trip I had. Andrea and I had such a blast together (we're great travel buddies!) and Jeju was more beautiful than I ever could have imagined! I'm so lucky to be able to experience such cool things! How awesome is my life??!! :-)

Day 116: Mulder? Scully? Is That You?

Today was Day 2 of our Jeju Island Adventure. Andrea and I woke up bright and early and took a cab to the nearby ferry terminal in Seongsan so that we could catch a ferry to Udo Island. Udo is a very small island just off-shore from Jeju and is very rural, but is very beautiful as well and something not to be missed. The ferry ride was only about 20 minutes long or so and when we go to Udo we were a little unsure as to how to tackle the sights of the island. Luckily some Korean guys who operated a bus tour of the island solved that problem for us! For only 4000 Won (less than $5 CDN) we got a 2 hour bus-tour of the island that stopped at three scenic points of interest on the island. What a deal!

The first stop was these massive cliffs that rise up high above the rest of the island. We could see all of Udo's lush green pastures from the top as well as Jeju in the near distance. What's really cool about Udo is that the whole island is full of graves! The Koreans bury their ancestors just about wherever they feel like it on Udo, and mark the grave with granite tombstones, but what's really unique about these graves is how they're guarded. In order to keep wandering livestock from trampling onto the sacred ancient graves, small stone walls made of volcanic rock have been built around the gravesite. The result is a landscape full of green pastures dotted by stone squares with a grave in the middle. Very eerie, very cool.

After that we went to a beach that was made up of black volcanic sand just like the one we saw the day before. On the way to our third site I experienced another one of those random "OMG I'm in Korea moments!" that seem to hit me like a tsunami now and then. We were on the bus, which was filled entirely with ajimas (older Korean ladies - average age probably around 50 or 60) when the driver decided to put on some K-pop (Korean pop music) at full blast. Suddenly the ajimas started to cheer out in excitement over the music and they all began to clap and chant in time with the song! It was completely unexpected, and so funny to see a bunch of old ladies rocking out to cheesy techno pop music!

Our third stop was a beach made up entirely of CORAL! I guess storms and ocean currents wash up all these shells and coral from the strait separating Udo from Jeju and its apparently one of the only coral beaches in the whole world! This coral beach is pure white (quite a contrast from all the other black beaches on the island) and it was really cool to walk around the beach and examine the coral beneath our feet. You almost feel bad about walking on top of it, but surprisingly none of it breaks under your weight. All the coral pieces look like tiny white brains when examined up close - quite a curious sight. After exploring the coral beach for a while we got back on the bus which returned us to the ferry terminal. We boarded the boat again and headed back to Jeju.

We left Seongsan and travelled back west across the island until we reached Sangumburi Crater. Sangumburi is unique amongst the island's craters as it is the only one located in the middle of a field and not on top of a small mountain. Its also supposed to be the widest of all the craters and really beautiful. Unfortunately we didn't get to see any of it! We hiked up to the edge and looked out...but all we could see was FOG! It was a super foggy day on the island and this crater is notorious for 'collecting' fog that roams across the island. All we could see was a wall of grey. It was a bit disappointing but ahhh well, you can't control these things.

We then decided to head back to the capital. We caught a bus and cruised into Jeju City and got another motel room for the night. It was only late afternoon so Andrea and I decided to go and check out Mysterious Road. Oh, the magic and marvels and mysteries of...Mysterious Road...that lay waiting for us....sooooo strange! On Jeju Island are two roads where a very strange phenomenon occurs - something that exists in only a few odd, random locations scattered around the planet. These are sites where the laws of gravity are defied before your very eyes, and that challenge you to question the so-called notions of physics. Mysterious Road is one of these sights, and let me tell you it is SO WEIRD to watch what happens when you're there...

Mysterious Road is on a hill, and the perplexing phenenomon that occurs there is that if you drive to this one spot on the hill, and put the car in neutral, it will ROLL BACKWARDS UP THE HILL!!! I KID YOU NOT!!! It sounds crazy but I saw it for myself! You stand on the side of the road and watch as people pull up, put their vehicles in neutral, and sure enough, each and every time, the car or truck will roll backwards up the hill. It's only a 200 metre stretch but it's the freakiest thing to watch! Even TOUR BUSSES that come get pulled UP the hill! What's even freakier is that when you're standing in 'the zone' where this occurs you experience strange headaches! You feel drowsy and tired and disoriented - almost dizzy - but as soon as you step out of 'the zone' the headache disappears instantly. HOW WEIRD IS THAT!!!???

Apparently the truth behind Mysterious Road is that its an optical illusion. The cars *appear* to be rolling uphill, but in reality its actually downhill. But it sure is a convincing sight otherwise let me tell you - it damn well looks UPHILL to me! It's a totally freaky place - you can even try the experiment in other ways. If you pour water on the road it flows in the opposite direction you think it would. And if you drop a plastic bottle onto the road it pauses for a second or two and then also rolls up the hill. WEIRD WEIRD WEIRD! Andrea and I thought the whole place had a very 'X-Files' feel to it. We kept expecting Mulder and Scully to show up to investigate! As a joke we had me lay down on the road and pretend to be 'sucked up the hill' by the supernatural forces of the hill, all the while screaming in mock fear, and Andrea filmed the whole thing. SO HILARIOUS!!! (and yes I'll do *anything* for the camera, it seems!)

After our encounter with Mysterious Road we headed back into town to grab some dinner. We went to a nice Western restaurant that was right on the waterfront and had a delicious meal. We tried to go and see a movie after dinner, but there was nothing in town playing that we wanted to see. Instead we bought more cookies (we're ADDICTED to these Pepperidge Farm cookies that are sold only at LG25 convenience stores in Korea) and went back to the motel to watch a movie on TV. We watched 'Planet Of The Apes' (not bad actually!) and then went to sleep. Another awesome day!

Day 115: The Irish Hawaii Of The Orient

Today was the beginning of a great three day odyssey!

Andrea and I woke up bright and early and cabbed on over to Gimpo Airport to catch our flight to Jeju Island. Gimpo was Seoul's old international airport, but since the new one opened up in Incheon a few years ago, Gimpo has been rendered to handling domestic flights only. Even though it was only 8:30am in the morning when we arrived at the airport and we had had hardly any sleep, Andrea and I were as giddy as a couple of schoolgirls looped up on a bucket of sugar candy! We were totally excited to not only go to Jeju, but just the fact that this was a TRIP that involved FLYING somewhere made us climb the walls with excitement and anticipation!

Our flight to Jeju International Airport on KoreanAir was such a deal for us - only about $170 CDN return! Since the flight is just under an hour I was expecting to board a small jetliner or maybe even just a prop plane to Jeju - boy was I wrong! We were ushered onto a gorgeous AirBus A330 - the same size jumbo jet as the one that carried me from Vancouver across the Pacific! The plane was totally full too - WOW - *everyone* wants to fly to Jeju! The flight was smooth and comfortable and so short - we were up in the air and then landing at Jeju in no time at all it seemed.

Our plan upon arrival was to try and see if we could rent a car to travel around the island. However, we were soon shot down in cold blood by the totalitarian Hertz ladies who wouldn't rent us a car without an international driver's license. We sorta saw this coming, but we thought we'd give it a shot anyways! ;-) We sat down and worked out a basic itinerary about what we wanted to see and do on Jeju, and decided to get out of the capital Jeju City right away to go and explore the eastern side of the island. We caught a bus and cruised towards the town of Seongsan.

Jeju Island is an incredibly beautiful island, and definitely the most scenic part of Korea that I've seen yet! It doesn't feel like you're in Korea at all - it's only an hour away but we felt so removed from the rest of the country. Not only is Jeju's culture different because it's so far off-shore from the mainland and therefore developed in a relatively isolated manner from the rest of the country for centuries, but in a physical sense the landscape is very different. The best way I can describe Jeju is 'Ireland meets Hawaii.' It has lush green rolling fields and pastures with stone walls dividing the properties and dramatic cliff shorelines (like Ireland) but it also has volcanoes and palm trees and tropical vegetation not found anywhere in the world this far north (like Hawaii.) SO BEAUTIFUL!!!

We got a cheap hotel room in the seaside town of Seongsan (less than $30 CDN) and made a b-line for our first island destination - Manjanggul. Manjanggul is an enormous undergound lava tube - at just over 13 km. in length its the longest known lava tube in the world. The tube is absolutely enormous - large enough that you can drive a transport truck through most of it! Only about 1 km. of it is open to the public to walk through and it was an amazing experience. The lava tube is just underneath the surface but is dark and wet and feels like you're DEEP underground. It's a blast to walk through it and check out all the hardened magma that once ran through the tube when the island's volcano last erupted about 25,000 years ago. The walls are perfectly round, jet black, and still look like they're wet and gooey. Half way up the wall of the tube are 'racing stripes' that the flowing magma carved into the rock while flowing through the tube. For geography/volcano buffs like me, this was the coolest place ever!
There was even a giant chunk of lava that looks like a turtle, and at the end of the walk is a hardened pillar of lava that once flowed from the upper chamber of the tube down into the main lava pipe - a frozen magma waterfall! So cool!

After the lava tube we walked down the road to a hedge maze that some British guy built on the island a long time ago. The maze is in the shape of the island and Andrea and I had a fun time running through the maze trying to find our way out. We were in one of our silly moods again so we filmed a couple hilarious videos of us pretending to be in a music video - turning and spinning through the maze while gesturing to the camera - think Loreena McKennitt meets Madonna's 'Nothing Really Matters'. Too much fun!

After the maze we headed back to Seongsan to chill out and relax. The weather today was really cloudy and grey with misty clouds rolling by - it was actually really beautiful and gave the whole island a very 'midevil' feel to it. We still had the energy to do more so we decided to tackle Ilchulbong, or more commonly known as Sunset Peak. Sunset Peak is a MASSIVE volcanic crater rising up right next to the town, and its steep jagged cliffs plunge directly into the cold grey sea. Halla Mountain is the principal volcano which formed Jeju and is centred right in the middle of the island, but throughout Jeju over 360 smaller parasitic volcanic cones are found. Sunset Peak is one of these many smaller volcanoes that once fed off of Halla Mountain, and definitely the most beautiful of them all. A trail leads up to the crater's edge, and we were eager to climb to the top.

It took about 45 minutes or so to climb up to the top of Sunset Peak, and the views while climbing rewarded us with breathtaking sights of the town below, the waves crashing into the shore far down below, and a sweeping vista of the whole eastern half of the island - I could see at least another seven volcanoes dotting the landscape! WOW! When we finally got to the top we both just stopped and stared at the magnificent sight that lay before us - an absolutely massive volcanic crater completely filled with the greenest, lushest grassy alpine meadow that you can imagine. The crater is shaped like a giant punch bowl and its rim is guarded by jagged rocks which stare down at the five or six lonely trees that grow in the crater. The whole top of the volcano has a very 'Jurassic Park' feel to it, like as if you sat still enough you could see a pod of Brontosaurus' trek through the crater or that a Pteradactyl would swoop down from above. Amazing! It was definitely a view I'll never forget as long as I live.

After our hike up Sunset Peak we ventured down to the small beach that is wedged beneath the volcano's peak, just under the cliffs of the island. The beach is made up entirely of pure black volcanic sand and giant chunks of rogue lava pieces the size of Volkswagens lie scattered in the sand along the far end of the beach. And all through the cliffs dozens, if not hundreds, of caves beckon into the dark stone - like blackened swiss cheese that could be the gateway to hell - very menacing looking! These caves are apparently home to hundreds of thousands of bats. Andrea and I were hoping to see some bats but we had no luck there. We even ran around the beach screeching in the highest frequencies we could create with our human voice boxes in an attempt to draw our nocturnal flying mammal friends out of their cliff-side condiminiums, but it was to no avail.

We returned to town to have some very greasy fried chicken for dinner, and then went back to the motel room to gorge ourselves on cookies and watch TV. We were pretty exhausted from our long day so we went to bed fairly early. What an amazing, incredible day!!!

Day 114: Destruction? Yes!

Today was our last full day that the four of us got to spend together ('The Core Four' as we describe ourselves!) It was again really hot and humid outside - this certainly encourages lethargy and can make it hard to be motivated to do much or go anywhere. We slept in really late today and were sooooo sloooooow in getting ready to head out into Seoul. Soooooo lazy we were!

We went to Insadong and had lunch at Spaghettia. Once again Koreans' version of 'meat-free' meals strikes again! I ordered a linguine dish (on the menu this came with a meat or no meat option) and was disapointed to see when it arrived that it still contained little itty bitty pieces of beef in the sauce. I guess the menu should read "Some-Bits-Of-Meat-Snuck-In-Linguine" and "Lots-of-Meat Linguine"!

I was super excited today cause we were going to see THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW! I've been waiting to see this movie for like six months and finally my day had come! We bought tickets and went and enjoyed the movie. It was awesome!!! Hail ripping apart Tokyo! Tornadoes clear-cutting Los Angeles! Tidal waves washing over and drowning Manhattan! There was disaster and destruction left right and centre and I loved every minute of it! It was sort of a 'check your head at the door' kind of movie (but aren't all disaster flicks?) but it was entertaining and exciting regardless! Unlike typical disaster movies, this one actually had a message though which was cool - take care of Mother Nature or she's gonna get real pissed off and cause a global ruckus! It was great fun anyways - bring on the disaster flicks!!!

After the movie we (of course) went and had ice cream at Ben & Jerry's, which the Core Four unamimously agree is far more superior than BaskinRobbins! (Unfortunately there is only one Ben & Jerry's that we know of in Seoul, whereas there are BaskinRobbins on EVERY corner in the city.) After ice cream Brad and Andrea went and did some shopping in Insadong while Steve and I headed to Kyobo to hang out in the bookstore.

We had a quiet night at home tonight. We just ordered some pizza and hung out at Brad's for a while watching TV. We went to bed pretty early because Brad and Andrea had a bunch of packing and cleaning to do, and Andrea and I were getting up early the next morning to head out on my trip to Jeju Island. Steve and I played more trivia then went to sleep.

Day 113: Encounters With Communists

Wow am I ever behind on my blog!!! It's gonna take a while to get it all caught up - this last week has been so busy! But be patient my precious bloggers - good things come to those who wait! ;-)

Steve, Brad, Andrea and I were going to go camping this weekend, but instead we decided to just do a day-hike. We really hadn't planned out the details for camping at all, and plus it was so hot and humid outside that we didn't feel like dragging tents and stoves and all that other camping gear up the mountain! We took a bus over to Bukhansan National Park and started up the trail.

This was supposed to be a leisurely, relaxed hike but it was a lot more gruelling than we thought it would be! It was quite steep in a lot of places and the trail we took went up and over a big mountain peak providing astounding views of the forest and city below. It was SO HOT outside that Andrea and I really didn't think we were going to make it when we first started out, but we soon got into the groove of things. It was a five-hour hike and probably the most scenic one I've been on yet.

Brad found a really gawdy, hideous-looking picture/clock frame made up of sea shells by the side of the road at the beginning of the trail and thought it would be funny to drag it along our entire hike so we could take silly photos all day long. The picture was quite large and cumbersome and I didn't really believe that he was going to haul that ugly thing up and over the mountain, but the boy did! We took lots of hilarious photos with us and the photo in all kinds of silly poses - too much fun! We got a lot of strange looks from Korean hikers who were passing us, that's for sure! Early in the hike we also came across a field of rice paddies with some cut-outs of Communist soldiers for god knows what reason placed throughout the field (target practice? a sober reminder of what dangers lies just a few kilometres north at the border? Korean-styled-scarecrows to keep the birds away? Who knows!) This was way too good to pass up so we took more silly photos of us with the cut-outs, and Andrea even filmed a hysterical video clip of me sexually-harrassing/dry-humping the Commie soldier. ("What's that you fuckin' Commie? You don't fuckin' like democracy? Well here's what I think of your fucking Communism! Ughh...take it bitch! Who's your daddy!? Yeah bitch, democracy always wins out! Take that, you fuckin' Commie!) Yes it was completely un-PC and perhaps rather insensitive to all our Communist friends out there (I really don't have a problem with Communism - honest!) but it was really funny!! I guess you had to be there?

The view of the city from the mountain peak was absolutely breathtaking! Bukhansan is right at the edge of the city and so from the top of the peaks you can see the entire city sprawling out below. It was so surreal - from high up Seoul looks like SimCity! Rows and rows of apartment towers spreading out in infinite direction, with freeways snaking through the labrynth of streets below. Astounding! It looked like Seoul was a 'sea of city' washing up against up the slopes of the mountains, as if the tide had just come in and was now going out... It's really hard to do it justice with words.

After our hike we went to LaFesta and had a yummy dinner at TGI Friday's. Then we went back to Brad's to hang out for a bit and relax after our physically-active day. I ended up crashing at Steve's instead tonight and him and I stayed up late quizzing each other with trivia cards from Trivial Pursuit. Since Andrea has to leave back to Canada next week Steve is now officially my future partner on The Contenders. (No word yet on a film date - stay tuned!) All in all, a great day!