Most of May

As has been the overarching theme with this blog lately, I'm going to open with a comment on how terrible I've been at consistently adding content. It makes the task even more daunting as I can't fully recall everything we've done in the past three weeks!

My last post was after exploring Gurye and Jirisan. We then headed to Busan for a couple of days.

Here's what I'll do. I'll just make bullet points for everything I want to cover, that way I can stay sane while trying to get this thing caught up.

Busan:
- The day we got into town, we met up with our friend Lindsey that we met in orientation. She's from North Carolina / Chicago and we did our practice lesson at orientation with her. She's also in Chungnam province. We had Indian food, which was extremely nice as we don't have options other than Korean or Pizza here in Buyeo. We love most Korean food, but it was nice to have some more options!

- Later in the day we met up with another couple from Tennessee that we met in orientation also. They're in Andong. We get along great with them and really enjoy their company. We had Mexican food and then a great evening of drinks and good conversation.

- The next day we explored Busan.

- We walked along a boardwalk by Heundae Beach.

- We went to Busan tower and had a great view of the city.

- We went to Jagalchi Fish Market and were absolutely blown away by the size of it. Everything you could possibly want (seafood wise) is there.

- We went to the top of a massive department store (12 or 13 floors) and had a coffee in a nice park that is on the roof.

- We had more Indian food.

- The next morning we spent the morning at the beach, skyped with Mom and Dad Lafleur AT the beach and then headed for the Subway station to make our way to the express bus terminal and eventually home. We took the bus to Daejeon and then to Buyeo. It was about 6 hours of total travel time.

Friday the 15th:

In the evening we went up the mountain for a couple drinks at a pavilion and a view of our city at night. We came across a little performance and watched for a bit. It was a lady in traditional clothing singing some songs that everyone but us seemed to know and were singing along. We made our way up to the pavilion and enjoyed the view and then Skyped with Andrea, John and Sierra. It was very cool as we were able to Skype from the Pavilion on the mountain, and then walk down, through downtown and back to our place WHILE Skyping them! So they got a bit of a tour of our area.

Bike to Gunsan

Last Sunday (the 17th) we biked to Gunsan. Gunsan is on the coast and is about 60 - 65km to cycle to along the river. It was our first time out on the bikes together. It was a perfect day. The route is great because there is no traffic (except the odd car that finds it's way onto the path) and decent quality path with great views. Halfway along the trip, we were riding through a bit of a forested area when we passed by a make-shift restaurant set up with a tarp and some picnic tables and rudimentary camping cooking equipment. We were summoned over and decided to take them up on the offer of free Makgeolli. They were extremely kind and we had some great laughs even though there absolutely zero understanding of each other's languages. One other cyclist was there also and was from Gunsan. He had cycled to this spot and was heading back and asked if we could cycle together. Of course we obliged! As we cycled, we had a tiny bit of back and forth, basic conversation and he stopped us a couple times for photo ops. He eventually took us to the bus station in Gunsan where we waited for 3 hours to take a 2 hour bus ride home. We ate two meals as we were very hungry by that point, so the wait wasn't all that bad!

Day In Seoul

This past Saturday (the 23rd) we spent the day in Seoul with our friend Jane (English Name). She lives in Incheon and goes to University in Seoul. She was a student teacher at one of Julia's schools and they became friends. She showed us around Seoul for the day and it was a ton of fun. She showed us Insadong, which is an artsy area, a street with all traditional houses, a bit of Gangnam and Namsam mountain, which had great views of Seoul! Fun day!

Day in Nonsan

Yesterday (Sunday) we went to Nonsan. Before leaving though, we did our workouts. Julia went for a run in the mountains and Brian went for a 60k ride around the river area. It was hot. We wandered around Nonsan a bit, went to a cafe and then made our way to Home Plus, which was our planned destination for the day. Home Plus is a department store that has a lot of things that we can't find in Buyeo. We spent $300 and loaded up some groceries that are difficult to find in Buyeo, and some cheap clothes. :)

Happy Birthday Buddha

Today was another busy day! First we started with our workouts. Julia did a workout on the roof of our building and Brian went for a 17km run along the river.

We then walked to the Boys middle school and met a teacher (Mrs Yun) from Brian's main school, and her daughter. Her daughter is moving to Ottawa in August to attend high school. Her English is fantastic, as she spent last year in Arkansas. She will stay in Ottawa at least through the end of High School and possibly go to university there as well.

We went to a temple in Oesan (where Brian also teaches at a school). It was busy with people visiting as it is Buddha's birthday, and so a National Holiday. We walked around the temples and learned a lot. We were then treated to a delicious lunch of Bibimbap, Acorn Jelly and Panjeon. We also ran into a student of Brian's who was excited to see him.

After lunch we headed to Boryeong and met up with a group of people that Mrs Yun plays badminton with. They were spending the day hanging out in a park along a river. Extremely beautiful and peaceful. They were nice people and offered us some drinks. One of Julia's students was there as well as she is a member of this badminton club and apparently a very good player! We will have to get lessons.

Leaving there, we went to a sculpture park (also in Boryeong) and looked at some art, sculptures and animals. There were sheep, a deer, a couple pony's, ducks, rabbits and more! It was a very neat little place. Very busy though, because of the holiday.

Now

We just got home and I felt compelled to write this, so I did.

We are about to head back out see what there is to see, maybe make our way to a temple that is on the backside of Busosan Mountain. Apparently they light the lanterns in the evening and it's beautiful!

A New Year, A New (Ad)Venture

With 2015 comes what will prove to be another massive year for Julia and I. We're not shy about taking risks and going on adventures, but this one is certainly the most 'life altering' to date.

About a year ago we committed to teaching English in Korea. It's a great opportunity to travel (especially in Asia) while having a very rewarding job. We know countless people that have done and and / or are still doing this and we've heard nothing but positive experiences. Julia has a cousin that has been over there for nearly 6 years now and has been able to travel and see and do things that would make up a lifetime of experiences. I have friends that went 10 years ago and had a great time, people we know from our time in Australia that teach in Korea and China still (5 years later) and countless others. We knew that it was a 'now or never' sort of scenario, as we had just bought a house in Ottawa, both have great jobs (which doesn't make the decision very easy) and  the next 'logical' step was to start a family. Maybe that's what we're 'running away from' ?? Who knows.

We decided that to play it safe and apply through EPIK (English Program in Korea), as this is the government run program in South Korea and would be our best bet for our first year overseas. After we get to Korea and fulfill our contract with EPIK, we could choose to re-sign with that program or perhaps teach at one of the many hagwons (private schools or academies) in South Korea. Alternatively, once we gain some experience, we could look at moving to Japan and teaching a year there, as part of either the JET program (similar to EPIK) or more likely, a private school. There are opportunities in China, Thailand, Taiwan (all of Asia really), the Middle East, South America, Europe etc... Essentially, anywhere in the world where English isn't the native language, there is opportunity for ESL teachers to find employment. We'll be teaching in an elementary school,  however we're also taking a specialization in teaching business English, which would offer more opportunities to teach a different type of student altogether.

The process was long, and at times very confusing, but as it stands now, our contracts are on their way from Seoul, and certain details are still up in the air. We originally applied as a couple. This means that they place you in the same school, or within very close proximity and you get a larger apartment. As it turned out, all of these positions were taken and we had to continue with our applications as individuals or withdraw. We continued as individuals. That being said, our coordinator at EPIK knows we're a couple, they have our marriage certificate on file and as it stands now, we've both been placed in the Chungnam province. The only thing left to find out is exactly which city we're in and how close our schools are to each other. The absolute worst case scenario is if we're in opposite ends of the province (it's about 3 times the size of Ottawa). If we're placed very far apart, we'll have a decision to make. Likely, one of us will accept the position, and the other will look for employment at a Hagwon that is close to where we will live. We'll wait though to see if this concern even comes to fruition, and if it's the case, we'll deal with it at that time.


 Chungnam Province is located southwest of Seoul, and is the furthest point that is still serviced by the Seoul metropolitan subway system (bonus!). It has a total population of a little over 2,000,000 people. There are 8 cities in Chungnam and the biggest is Cheonan, with nearly 600,000 residents (it's a big drop off from there). Chungnam is the 'wealthiest' province in South Korea. We originally requested to be placed in Busan, but are by no means disappointed to be placed where we were! We're also quite close to Incheon International Airport! If all goes well, we'll be taking off for Korea in roughly six weeks!

That's it for now. I'm going to do my best to keep up with this blog as we travel over the next however many years... and if you haven't already hooked up with us on social media, do it now!

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