Kurt & Katie - Gwangju Visit – June 23-25, 2006

I made it down to see Kurt & Katie in Gwangju…finally. It was a good visit. I got to see a bit of the city and see the difference it has from Seoul. There are so many foreigners here in Seoul that you see them all the time. There were not many visible foreigners so you know you’re getting stared at by curious Koreans all the time.

We spent Saturday relaxing on a pagoda with a view of the World Cup Stadium. We walked about in the evening and went to a ‘pet café’, a definite first for me. The place has dogs and cats walking about and you can order coffee or some light food…..ummm…no thanks, I’d not feeling having a dog pee on me while I sip a cappuccino.

I had flavored soju for the first time. It was great, makes me want to get a blender for that sole purpose. We went to a couple of places at night. I loved when 20 or 30 of us converged on a bar and got the bouncer to let us in for only 5 bucks each…sweet.

COEX Aquarium – June 2006

Every month we take the kids on a field trip somewhere. This month it was off to the COEX Aquarium. It’s the second aquarium I’ve been to in Korea and I have discovered that I love them. This visit firmed my resolve to have a wall size aquarium in my house when I make enough bread. Who doesn’t like seeing sharks, turtles, crustaceans and a million types of fish?

Soju Is The Enemy! – June 2006

One day a few teachers from school went out Korean style. We hit up a bulgogi (grilled pork) place then went to a norabang, a karaoke room. It was awesome. I’d always heard of how the most reserved Koreans bust it out at one of these places…and it’s true. It was a blast to butcher songs off-key and watch everyone dancing about. Of course soju helped the night along. But one day, soju, you and I will have to scrape outside!

Being A Tourist - May 19-20, 2006

The past few weeks have been alright. I went through a stressful time at work. We just had an Open Class where parents come to the school for about an hour to see mini lessons and observe how their kids learn. No biggie except it’s made into a huge ordeal where you practice songs and lessons for a month beforehand. It’s just good to have that behind me.

I finally went up the N. Seoul Tower. In all my time in Toronto, I never went up the CN Tower so I feel like I’m breaking that lethargic cycle of thinking that things are always there. A friend of Chris was visiting so we took him around one day. It was great to finally have that ‘tourist’ day. We took the cable car down from the tower, went to a palace, went to the World Cup Stadium, walked around and went out at night.

Sorry to everyone for being a bum and not responding to any emails this past month. Not really sure why that was, just a temporary phase.