For my summer trip back home to Toronto I had to get to Incheon Airport in Seoul for my flight. Last summer I was able to fly from nearby Busan but this year there was a big price difference so I chose a Seoul flight. The three ways to Incheon Airport are bus, train, and plane. I figured bus would be the easiest as no carrying lots of suitcases all over the place. I was able to buy my tickets online and best to book ahead as even when I checked on Monday most of ...

During summer and winter school breaks public school native english teachers are required to teach camps at their or another school location. Camps are to take precedence before the booking of any vacation time. This summer I taught three camps, one at mine, and visited two other local schools. The last time I taught camp at another school was Jan 2011. Last summer I had too many vacation days so was travelling, last winter nobody asked me to come to their school...

Here is the latest installment of the ongoing cultural battle of koreans having prejudiced stereotypes against foreigners. This time a group of foreigners had a beach party at Wando Beach in Jeolla province, a small coastal town. Aside from getting drunk, they were running naked on the beach, broke into a locked washroom under construction with no plumbing, relieving themselves causing an unhealthy mess, and left lots of trash on the beach Locals have said they d...

I thought I was done exploring the local temples in my neighbourhood before I move end of next month but then I found another one. As I was teaching summer camp at another school I could see a large complex in the distance by the mountain so I wanted to check it out. I was teaching at Guam Middle School which is close to Hamji High School. At first I thought it was the lotus temple I had already visited but the size and pattern didnt seem to match. Despite the 30...

As I'm moving out of my neighbourhood in a couple of weeks I decided to bike north into Gyeonguk Province and Dongmyeong which I havent the entire time I've lived here. I heard there was a nice temple along the Mount Palgong trail I wanted to check out. I live on the northern end of chilgok and biking north a few minutes I reached the city limits and the sign markers for the start of Gyeongbuk province. Some of my students live here and come by bus from Dongmyeon...