Canada Calls
Happy Holidays! I went to a little party last night and met a lot of nice people from all over the world; New Zealand, the United Kingdom, America, Canada, South Africa and of course Korea. It was kind of funny, earlier in the day I was thinking about how I need to get new slippers/shoes for the bathroom. You have to understand that bathrooms in Korea are different from Canada. For one thing they don't usually have bath tubs (though I lucked out and have one) and they don't use shower curtains, just a drain in the floor. So, as you can imagine the bathrooms tend to get quite wet; so you wear special shoes when you go in. Cut to the secret santa at the party and me winning the secret santa game and getting first pick; and what do I find but a brand new pair of shower shoes!

I just got off of the phone with my mom; it was really nice to hear from her. I'm thinking a lot about family and friends, especially at this time of the year; but I'm keeping busy. There is a hardcore/punk show happening in Seoul on Saturday that I'm looking forward to. A couple of positive youth-crew type of bands are playing. The Korean punk scene is a real breath of fresh air; there doesn't seem to be any bullshit and the music everyone is creating is really positive. For example one song that I'm really into is simply about buying records and there's another one about how everyone is welcome at shows.

I'm also looking into going skiing sometime this winter. There are a lot of great ski hills in the mountains. The whole country is at my finger tips, to go from the Northern tip of the country to the Southern coast only takes about six hours. It's really something, I was talking to a few fellow Canadians who were also amazed by this; I think it's a Canadian thing... Here are a few photos I snapped from last night.

                                                 Planning China
Well, I have my Chinese Tourist Visa. I'm going to Beijing, China for my winter vacation in mid-February. From there I am travelling to the DPRK for a five day, six night tour which will end in a train ride from Pyongyang back to Beijing through DPRK and Northern China. As it stands now I'll have three or four days in Beijing. It will without a doubt be a trip to remember.

I've been invited to a little party on Christmas Eve which I'm looking forward to. It'll be a pretty small gathering. There's also a big Christmas Eve get together for all of the English teachers in Daegu; but it's sounding a little too big for comfort, so I'm relieved that these smaller plans have come up.

When all of this is over I'm thinking that my passport is going to be pretty full with visas and stamps. I'll be posting some videos of some bicycle adventures pretty soon; stay tuned.

                                                      Under The Sea
Traditional Korean food at its best. You pick the meat right off of poor Mr. Fish with chopsticks.

                                                               Tour!
What I've been up to since arriving in Daegu, Korea / apartment tour pt. 2 + travel dreams.

                                          Japanese Yen & Neil Young
I picked up some Japanese Yen today in anticipation of my trip to Tokyo in January. I'll be spending four days in the city during the Lunar New Year celebrations (Jan 24th - 28th). I'm busy making itineraries with everything that I want to see. I'm also trying to figure out how I'm not going to buy my weight in records while I'm over there. It will be a challenge.

I found the downtown area yesterday. Well, that's not exactly true. I knew where it was and have been there before via subway, but I thought it was much further away; it turns out it's only about twenty minutes walk from my flat. It's quite the place, the streets are closed off to traffic so there are hourds of people walking and shopping. I'm not a big consumer but I did end up buying a nice scarf while I was there. It's getting colder in Daegu these days, down to around 15C in the days but in the evenings and mornings it often drops below 0C. I walked into a nice looking little store and was immediately confronted by an excited saleswoman. Before I knew it I was getting dressed in scarfs, and hats and gloves and coats. It was a pretty comical scene as all of this was done while I was trying to explain in broken Hangul/English that I only wanted a scarf, while the friendly saleswoman was throwing clothes at me left and right. I managed to catch my breath and settled on the scarf. I'm officially ready for the Korean winter.

I've been listening to a lot of Neil Young and Sam Cooke these days.

                                                  Let's Go Exploring!
I was led through the inner workings of the Post Office by a friendly Korean woman who didn't speak any English. We ran up stairs and took elevators and sifted our way through crowded rooms filled with letters and parcels and people busily working and looking up on occasion to smile at me. I was a like kid in a candy store. When we finally reached our destination I signed on the dotted line and walked back to my flat with a large box sent from Canada under my arm. I love my mom.

It's exam week at school and I'm making travel plans. Today, I'm thinking about the Trans Siberian Railway.

                                                A Song For My Family
I'm going to Tokyo! I booked myself the airtickets the other day. I'll be going during the Lunar New Year at the end of January. I'm pretty sure that I'll be buying my weight in records. I found a really cool underground guide to Tokyo which I'll be relying on to have a real Japanese experience. I'm really looking forward to it. A few weeks later in the middle of February I'll be spending ten days in Brunei. It's a little country on the northern coast of Malaysia. It's quite something with beautiful mosques and museums, a water village, and 70% natural rainforest. I'm going to have a blast. I decided against Cambodia for this time because I already have plans to go there with Aileen in the fall, so a double trip wouldn't have made a lot of sense.

Today I had an review of one of my classes. Once a semester members of the Daegu School Board make the rounds to all of the schools to sit in on the English classes. I had a lot of fun during mine, I did a lesson on time and had the kids up and about doing activities and having a great time. I received a glowing review; they actually mentioned how they wished I was staying longer than a year which was really nice to hear. I can't believe it's already been three months since I first arrived in Seoul.