It's not all sunshine and rainbows

So it's been really cold the last few days and as a result it's beginning to snow. I've been walking to work for about the last two weeks because it has just been too cold to even get on my scooter even with winter gloves, a winter coat and a face/neck warmer.

On the upside, we may have a white Christmas here in Jeju. Many people are already on vacation or will be soon, especially those working for EPIK.

Everyone gets Christmas and New Years off, and some, like me, have been awarded consecutive four-day weekends. My holiday plans revolve around attempting to make some eggnog and putting together a deliciously home-cooked Christmas dinner with friends.

It's going to be a nice break, but there will be moments of grief as some people are nearing their last days here on the island. Just yesterday my long-time co-teacher Brian informed me that he will be moving to Seoul in the New Year.

He's been a good friend and has taken care of any work related problems that I've had with extreme efficiency. He's not the most outgoing person, but he is a wise teacher with more than 10 years of experience. I don't know what I'll do without him.

With his departure, I now move into the position of being the veteran teacher at my hagwon. I'm certainly not the oldest teacher nor do I have the most experience, but I have been with my school longer than any of the remaining teachers.

It'll be interesting to see how things unfold over the next few weeks. Saying goodbye isn't something I want to get used to, but I know that it's part of being a teacher and a guest in a foreign land. Nothing lasts forever.

"No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other's worth." ~Robert Southey

The golden isle of Chagwido 차귀도

My friend Muggs leaves Jeju for the Philippines at the end of December and will be returning to the U.S. after his vacation there. These are his last couple of weeks here and he's trying to make the most of his time left.

In an effort to continue our island-hopping adventures, we chose a more remote location this time around: the isle of Chagwido.

Located off the Western shore of Jeju, near Gosan, Chagwido is an unpopulated island that has several trails to explore, which take no more than two hours to complete them all.

We first chartered a boat out of Gosan port for 10,000 won each (where all the fishing boats are). Be careful not to get confused with the submarine tour office, which is on the opposite side of the harbour and costs 45,000 per person.

We set out on the boat, thinking that we should have brought some drinks along.



There were plenty of people fishing off the rocks near the island, which is a very popular recreation for locals and visitors alike.



The captain dropped us off on a cemented walkway leading up to the shore of Chagwido. The path leading up onto the island is a little steep and muddy, so you have to watch your footing. Boots are recommended.



Once you traverse your way up, you emerge onto a large grassy plain. There are several paths, all leading off into different directions.

We decide to head towards the peak on the isle to get a better aerial view of the place.



The sun breaks through the clouds and shines down upon us, transforming the isle into a golden sea of reeds and grass.

It's looks simply astonishing. It mesmerises you with its movement as it rolls along with the wind.

I'm drawn to explore more, and I break off from the group towards a small forest.



Silent and calm, the forest provides a nice shelter from the wind and an interesting trail to venture.



After taking a few shots with my video camera, I head back towards the shore. Other members of our group start to trickle back as well, getting ready to board the boat once again.

I decide that it is an opportune time to leave behind a sign of our adventure. Naomi and I construct a familiar Canadian sight, an inukshuk.



With our journey completed, we all get back on the boat to Jeju.

As short and brief as it was, I really enjoyed it. It's the moments like those that offer you the time to reflect, to really appreciate everything around you and the people you're with.

새 섬 Saesom at Sunset

The last couple of weekends, extending back before I left for home, I've been adventuring out to offshore islets with a few friends as part of an island-hopping adventure series. One of the closest and most accessible is the island of Saesom, located near the Seogwipo harbour.

Recently, construction of a bridge to the island has been completed and people can now crossover and walk around on the island. They've been building this bridge for as long as I can remember, to finally see it completed and be able to explore the island is a treat.



When Brian and I got there it was incredibly windy, like it is most places on and around Jeju. From the bridge you can get an impressive view of the island and harbour around it.



The newly constructed trail is equally impressive. With several resting areas with benches, a boardwalk, gravel paths, and night-lighting placed all around the trail in a creative fashion.



The trail goes all around the outside of the island and is about a kilometre and a half in length. From the backside of the island you can see Munseom clearer and closer than anywhere else on land.



With Halla in the background, the bridge in the foreground, and the sun setting on the horizon, you couldn't ask for a better scene.



Brian and I stayed around to watch the sun go down before heading off for a drink and a rest at Rosemary's, a popular drinking spot on the waterfront.



The trail is open until 10:00 pm, so even after dark you can go for a stroll. With the bridge and trail all lit up, it looks like it might be an even more enjoyable time to check it out.



It doesn't cost anything to explore Saesom, and if you're out that way I'd recommend checking out the nearby Cheonjiyeon falls or Oedolgae.

There and back again

It's been too long. I've been thinking about what to say about my reverse-culture shock, but my mind just keeps getting cluttered with too many thoughts for anything to really become clear and in-focus. So since I can't think of anything at the moment, I'll just write about what I do know now: my short, but sweet, visit home.

The first two weeks of November I had a chance to see my family for the first time in a year. I also got the opportunity to see some of my friends who were around home or in Ottawa at the time. Some were unexpected, but all very enjoyable encounters getting reacquainted with everyone.

Having already done the 20+ hour flight from Canada to here, I knew somewhat to expect flying back home. I spent a lot of my time reading on the plane and between flights, waiting for my connections. As opposed to my flight here when I watched just about every movie available on my personal monitor.

One book in particular I really enjoyed was The Zanzibar Chest, lent to me by my good friend Brian.

At once a modern and a historic love story The Zanzibar Chest is also an epic narrative charting the fates of men and women who interfered with, embraced and were ultimately transformed by twentieth-century Africa.

It was a very good read and really made me interested even more in traveling abroad and expanding my journalistic endeavors. Adventure, passion, life lessons, who wouldn't want to read it? Anything with that much emotion and intensity put into it is bound to be good.

My time in Canada was split between my two homes: Ottawa and Cape Breton. In Ottawa I finally got to see my sister who has been away for almost as long as I have. She's been off battling for the greater good in the distant country of Afghanistan.

I didn't actually get a chance to speak about it with her, but I figure when she wants to, she'll talk about it. I have the utmost respect for what she's done. I didn't want to bring back any possible bad sentiments during what short time I had with her.

While I was in town I was treated to some free tickets to an Ottawa Senators game by my brother-in-law Jamie, who won them in a raffle at work. Not only were they free, but they were six rows back from the ice. I was ecstatic.

Here is some nice rebound work by Senators' captain, Daniel Alfredsson, to tie it up in the first period:



Even better was Jason Spezza's first goal of the season in overtime to win the game.



My sister also prepared an amazing Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner while I was staying with her in Ottawa, which we aptly named "Thank Christ" or "Christgiving"...I'm still not sure which one sounds more appropriate. Like most people while they're on a short visit home, I stocked up on food, new clothes and filled the rest of my time doing nothing productive.

As for my time at my actual home, I got to meet some new additions to the family. Lucy, a cute black puppy, seen here with her new best friend (and my parents' other dog) Nika.



The other newest arrival was a kitten found by my brother, which he named Buttons. She doesn't look it, but she's a feisty and fierce little ball of fluff.



This kitten is so cute I had to throw in another video of it:



Everyone at home was filled with questions about how my time in Korea was so far and what I've got planned for the future, which is to be expected, but I think I enjoyed things more when I wasn't the focus of attention.

I forgot how much I missed the small things. Waking up to a frosty morning, grabbing a cup of tea and sitting, staring out the kitchen window to a lake that's so calm it could be a giant mirror.



That image will be imprinted onto my brain forever. Waking up day after day as I kid I never realized how beautiful it was, and how lucky I was to see it everyday. Just thinking about it now calms my mind and puts me into a state of tranquility.

Walking around the property with my mom I got to see the other changes that have taken place while I was away. My cousins' families are growing. They're building new homes, renovating cottages and making new roads around our shared ancestral land.

I look off into the woods where my cousin and I had once built a mighty log cabin, of which nothing remains. My mother recollects how everything used to look when she was small, recalling that there was plenty of farmland.

My grandmother has told me many times how there used to be nothing, not even trees, which until recently, used to engulf the property. Only now is the forest slowly starting to be cut away, as my extended family grows and the land is divided amongst us even more.

I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, my family is getting bigger and we'll all have somewhere we can be close and share our time together. On the other, I'm seeing my childhood realm of imagination being transformed into an increasingly busy suburb.

Having visited as many people as I could, and gotten all the supplies I'll need for the next year (I hope). I drove down to Wolfville to visit my younger sister, whom I enjoyed dinner with before my flight back to Seoul the next morning.

I was a little concerned when people told me about their reception of United Airlines, considering all my flights from Halifax to Seoul were with them, but was surprised to find that it wasn't so bad. I don't know if it was because I read more, or that I was taking gravol, or that it was because I was going back to Jeju, but I felt at ease on my journey back to Korea.

Touching down in Tokyo I was welcomed by a spectacular sunset:



Always a good sign in my opinion.

Flying back into Jeju the next morning I had a feeling of coming home. I was looking forward to sleeping in my own bed, seeing my friends again, eating Korean Food, and getting back to teaching.

"Where we love is home - home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts. "

-Oliver Wendell Holmes

Singin' on the coast

The popularity of the Jeju Open Mic has definitely been growing strong. The weekend before last was the latest one, and showed some promising new talent to the island. Located at HaeByun Concert, near 용두암 (Yongduam or "Dragon Head Rock), it's a comfortable venue with a scenic location right on the water.

Although it was slower getting started this time, it had an interesting mix of performances and music.

One of the first to take the stage offered a unique poem recital. Respectfully, everyone kept their voices down for him.



It was followed by a classic: "House Of The Rising Sun" by The Animals.



Another classic, Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire," which was performed by yet another newcomer to the island.



There was some really good jazzy music which was accompanied by a trumpet.



They were all really good performances, and definitely something worth checking out next time 'round. The next scheduled Open Mic is on December 5th at 8:00 pm. You can find all the details on the facebook event here.

Here is a map for those a little confused on how to get there:

Recent Happenings

Having Monday off this week due to an island-wide hagwon strike was nice, but coming back to classes on Tuesday was a bit alarming when I discovered that a dozen or so students have gotten sick with H1N1, Swine Flu, at nearby schools in Sae-Seogwipo ("New Seogwipo" also referred to as "Shinsigaji," the area where I work).

The nearby elementary and middle schools have shown an increasing amount of cases of the sickness, and as a precaution, many parents are pulling their kids from classes just to be safe. Even one of my co-teachers was showing similar symptoms, even though he was told by doctors that it wasn't Swine Flu.

The fact that he's sick though just prompts parents to think that it might lead to their children getting sick and even catching Swine Flu, so a few pre-cautious parents have taken their kids out of our school for the time being.

My director has implemented regular body temperature checks via an ear thermometer (which he cleans in-between) as well as buying new microphones for the computer lab that will help keep germs from spreading. Along with a hand sanitizer dispenser and aerosol disinfectant cans for each class, I think he has made a good attempt to prevent the sickness from spreading.

In other news, I woke up Tuesday morning to find that my scooter was gone. Someone had stolen it, torn open the front grill, and cut the ignition starter out. I found it later down a road in a nearby orange grove.

I was upset to say the least, but I suppose I had it coming. I broke my lock a couple months back and have been just parking my scooter in my pension parking lot, which is easily visible from the road that connects down into the nearby village of Beophwan.

At first I thought it might have been just some school kids having a laugh, but the fact that they removed the starter and left the bike leads me to believe it's a nearby resident or farmer. There are plenty of people in the area with old scooters, so my guess is someone was needing a starter and mine was the perfect target.

It wasn't the best starter, in fact I've been having some troubles with it, but having to pay 125,000 won to get the grill and starter replaced isn't exactly my idea of an upgrade.

Anyway, my director gave me a big bag of Jeju mandarins that has helped cheered me up somewhat.

Fun in the Sun

Bright and early Saturday morning, the sun was shining down on the participants of the 2nd Jeju Furey Beach Volleyball tournament. With a scheduled start time of 8:00 am, many were feeling lethargic; myself included.

Not long after the team captains' meeting had concluded, teams began to gather around the courts, preparing for a day of battle.

Our team, Thunderbots (an amalgamation of the two greatest groups of cartoon heroes from the 1980's, Thundercats and the Autobots) comprised of several spirited and unique indivduals:


Kristin Mitchell, a newcomer to the island and first-time volleyball player. What she lacked in experience she made up for in enthusiasm.


Brian Miller, long-time veteran of Jeju and an Obama fanatic. He strikes fear into the heart of his enemies with his serve, shouting from the depths of his soul, "OBAMA!!!!"


Matthew Poll, a.k.a "Speed Racer," a.k.a "Capt. Faclon," a.k.a "Birdman." A mild man and teacher by day, wild and whimsical beer magician by night. He searches the land, sea and air for rare feathered creatures. He is guided by the way of the blue rock thrush.


Bridget Best, a Jeju-Northsider, measures up to her own name as her actions out on the court speak for herself. She plays with a fierce passion that any team would be lucky to have.


Niamh Nicholas, an Irish fighter with a heart of gold. After only a few practice sessions she has found her footing in the game and can hold her own.


Lastly, myself, team captain and spiritual motivator. An average-at-best player in the court with some hustle and a serve that falls from the sky like Thor's hammer, smiting our enemies.

Unfortunately, for all the spirit and motivation we had, we didn't possess the skills to go very far in the tournament. We didn't end up in last, but we weren't far from it.

Saturday was a long day with a few short-lived victories. Thankfully, there was pizza and beer to sooth our egos. The Jeju gods must have been smiling, as the weather turned out to be perfect again with another brilliant sunset.



Nathan would have been proud of the way everyone played. The tournaments were a big success and a great time for everyone involved. Hopefully it'll be a regular occurrence.

The season of colours

Today was the first day I woke up and it actually felt like fall. Sure it was sunny out and warm, but something in the air felt different, that old familiar feeling of a change in seasons.

Last weekend I got my first glimpse of the changing leaves up on Hallasan; this week I'm breaking out my heavy fall coat. Almost all the oranges in the fields are nearly ripe for picking, and in about another month the Jeju Orange Festival will kick off.


While some people may complain that it's getting too cold, or that there isn't going to be anything to do now that the weather is declining, I'm looking forward to the change of pace. It feels a lot like when I first got here, a sensation I have fond memories of.

On my drive into work today, everything felt just slightly different. I noticed a building which I've never seen before, but that has always been there, leaves that are starting to clutter the sides of my street and people dressing in more layers.

In defiance of the changing seasons, there is an upcoming beach volleyball tournament this weekend at Iho beach in Jeju-si. This will be the second tournament held in memory of Nathan Furey, with proceeds going to his family.

Having played in the first tournament, I knew how much fun it was, so I decided with a few friends to put together another team. It's probably the last beach event in a while, so I hope it'll be a good one.