On Saturday, I went up to Daejeon to meet Mike. We had sent an application, and been accepted, to present some of our research at the regional KOTESOL Conference. It was a small, local one, but still a first step.
We met at Daejeon station and cabbed to Woosung University. I was actually really disappointed with the campus. After seeing so many great or historic ones in Korea, Woosung was just red brick in the middle of a run down neighbourhood. Oh well.
We went over our slides and had a few last minute changes. Darren came to watch us, and to be honest we thought he might be the only one to show. In fact we had almost twenty people there, though no one from KOTESOL was actually in the room at any point, a fact that caused some stress with a few technical problems. However, we solved it and delivered what I thought was a great presentation.
We had lots of questions and discussions and I actually had to announce that we were over time for people who wanted to get to the next presentation (again, no one from KOTESOL was there to do that). I really felt we hit it out of the park, and people there seemed to be entertained and genuinely interested. I certainly felt a buzz afterwards.
The highlight for me though was that Darren, who was running a bit late, walked in and went all the way to the presenters room without paying or registering. He wasn't trying to sneak it but just came up to where I told him we were and no one stopped him or posted signage to tell people where to go to register. While I love the conferences and appreciate the opportunity to present, it amazes me how disorganized KOTESOL seems to be.
Afterwards we made our way to Weisenhaus for dinner and some decent Pale Ales before I got the 1130 KTX home.
It was a solid achievement and I hope to do it again in the future.
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Long Mornings
With Yen at work early these days and my paper for school all but done, I've suddenly realised just how much time I have in the morning. Most days I don't start work until 3:30, this means if I am up at 7:30 I have a long morning.
I used to gym and paper, but with my arm injury and papers done I don't have that to do. The result is that I suddenly feel like I did my first days in Korea, with LOTS of free time.
Maybe I should join KOTESOL?
Seriously though, I think I will just enjoy my free time, as my dissertation is coming up next year and my shoulder will get better.... one day.
I guess some of that free time will be spent getting an MRI.
I used to gym and paper, but with my arm injury and papers done I don't have that to do. The result is that I suddenly feel like I did my first days in Korea, with LOTS of free time.
Maybe I should join KOTESOL?
Seriously though, I think I will just enjoy my free time, as my dissertation is coming up next year and my shoulder will get better.... one day.
I guess some of that free time will be spent getting an MRI.
Monday, November 24, 2014
Winter and Presentation
As always happens, November finishing up and it is cold. Not as cold as in previous years, but cold enough to need the heater at night.
It also means that the kids are all little germ bags, which of course has me down with a cold and cough to go with my arm injury that just won't seem to heal. But that is the bad side.
The upside is that this weekend is the KOTESOL winter conference in Daejeon, and Mike and I are presenting. Not a big deal but a good resume padding and an opportunity to discuss what we've been doing at school with a larger audience. Alas Yen is working on Saturday so she can't come, but I am still excited to do the presentation and have a last weekend with the boys before the worst of winter sets in and being outside is just an ordeal.
I have also decided to pick up my blogging a bit. My passion for it is certainly down from last year and the year before, but I feel like there is still cool stuff happening that I am not writing, and the truth is I have ample time to do it. Hopefully KOTESOL will give me more to write about.
It also means that the kids are all little germ bags, which of course has me down with a cold and cough to go with my arm injury that just won't seem to heal. But that is the bad side.
The upside is that this weekend is the KOTESOL winter conference in Daejeon, and Mike and I are presenting. Not a big deal but a good resume padding and an opportunity to discuss what we've been doing at school with a larger audience. Alas Yen is working on Saturday so she can't come, but I am still excited to do the presentation and have a last weekend with the boys before the worst of winter sets in and being outside is just an ordeal.
I have also decided to pick up my blogging a bit. My passion for it is certainly down from last year and the year before, but I feel like there is still cool stuff happening that I am not writing, and the truth is I have ample time to do it. Hopefully KOTESOL will give me more to write about.
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Catching Up with an Old Friend
I took last Friday off work to meet an old friend, who I first met in 2009 just before I left Ulsan and Korea (for the first time... sort of) and became friends with when working together from Oct-Feb 2010 in Daegu, David. David's now defunct blog was also the inspiration for this blog.
I first met David through Kris, whose last few months in Ulsan were my first few. Kris then left Korea for an extended period before returning to Daegu. His coworkers were doing a camping trip, and even though it was just a couple of weeks before I was leaving Korea I decided to go. We all went to Jirisan and had a great time.
I remember not being 100% sure if I wanted to come back to Korea in 2009 (though 80% sure). The biggest motivation to return was that I was still enjoying the lifestyle, but a second was that this was less than a year after the 2008 recession, and a job in Vancouver was not going to happen. So with a choice of Korea or eastern Canada the choice seemed simple (I was not then, nor am I now, a good winter person). While on the camping trip I talked to Kris and he mentioned that his coworker was leaving, and if I wanted the job I could probably get it. I said yes and a few weeks later left my job in Ulsan and left for a very extended vacation in Korea and SE Asia.
Six months later I was back in Korea at SEI. David and I got to know each other better and became friends. It wasn't until I was talking to David that I realized just how long it had been, and what a fateful decision that was to come back. At the time David and I were in very different places, he had been in Korea since 2004 and was ready to go but was staying so his girlfriend (and later fiancee) could finish school. I was new, excited and full of energy. He was living with a girl who is now his lovely wife and mother to his son, I was in a on again, off again relationship with a Korean girl (fizzling out in 2012). We got along but often disagreed on a few points about Korea and life here, which I am happy to admit now that I was wrong. Now in 2014 I get where he was coming from (because in 2010 I didn't). I have enjoyed my time here but I am very ready to go, and am staying because of my school. I live with a lovely girl who is certainly NOT on again, off again. In some ways, my life here has mimicked David's, which has probably led to me feeling closer to him than we actually are (in a strictly non-creepy way), so it was great to catch up.
We met up at Dunkin Donuts in Seongseo and chatted for a couple of hours about the old days. It was neat talking to him from the perspective I have now, and realizing how far I have come. Unfortunately we could only hang out for a couple of hours, but I really enjoyed it and hope to visit him in Beijing soon (though I have been saying that since 2011, but I feel like it'll happen sooner than later now that China has eased off its restrictive visa policies). He is in Seoul til Wednesday and then back to China.
It also renewed my interest in moving on, as it is clear it has done wonders for him. With that in mind I went home and finished my paper for school. I have one more 4000 word one to do and the 120000 word one, then I am out of school and Korea.
Hope to see David and Em (and Harry) on the other side of the Yellow Sea (with Yen) very soon.
I first met David through Kris, whose last few months in Ulsan were my first few. Kris then left Korea for an extended period before returning to Daegu. His coworkers were doing a camping trip, and even though it was just a couple of weeks before I was leaving Korea I decided to go. We all went to Jirisan and had a great time.
I remember not being 100% sure if I wanted to come back to Korea in 2009 (though 80% sure). The biggest motivation to return was that I was still enjoying the lifestyle, but a second was that this was less than a year after the 2008 recession, and a job in Vancouver was not going to happen. So with a choice of Korea or eastern Canada the choice seemed simple (I was not then, nor am I now, a good winter person). While on the camping trip I talked to Kris and he mentioned that his coworker was leaving, and if I wanted the job I could probably get it. I said yes and a few weeks later left my job in Ulsan and left for a very extended vacation in Korea and SE Asia.
Six months later I was back in Korea at SEI. David and I got to know each other better and became friends. It wasn't until I was talking to David that I realized just how long it had been, and what a fateful decision that was to come back. At the time David and I were in very different places, he had been in Korea since 2004 and was ready to go but was staying so his girlfriend (and later fiancee) could finish school. I was new, excited and full of energy. He was living with a girl who is now his lovely wife and mother to his son, I was in a on again, off again relationship with a Korean girl (fizzling out in 2012). We got along but often disagreed on a few points about Korea and life here, which I am happy to admit now that I was wrong. Now in 2014 I get where he was coming from (because in 2010 I didn't). I have enjoyed my time here but I am very ready to go, and am staying because of my school. I live with a lovely girl who is certainly NOT on again, off again. In some ways, my life here has mimicked David's, which has probably led to me feeling closer to him than we actually are (in a strictly non-creepy way), so it was great to catch up.
We met up at Dunkin Donuts in Seongseo and chatted for a couple of hours about the old days. It was neat talking to him from the perspective I have now, and realizing how far I have come. Unfortunately we could only hang out for a couple of hours, but I really enjoyed it and hope to visit him in Beijing soon (though I have been saying that since 2011, but I feel like it'll happen sooner than later now that China has eased off its restrictive visa policies). He is in Seoul til Wednesday and then back to China.
It also renewed my interest in moving on, as it is clear it has done wonders for him. With that in mind I went home and finished my paper for school. I have one more 4000 word one to do and the 120000 word one, then I am out of school and Korea.
Hope to see David and Em (and Harry) on the other side of the Yellow Sea (with Yen) very soon.
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Starbucks. Coffee Shops
Well after three full years in Sangin in happened. Southwest Daegu finally has a real coffee shop.
I know people like to dump on Starbucks. Ordering a grande coffee is kinda the height of pretentious, but in a country with 500 coffee shops that don't serve coffee, having a real coffee shop is a godsend.
I have a long list of things that I will miss about Korea. Coffee culture is not one of them. Everywhere you go there are coffee shops, yet when you ask for a coffee they get a confused look on their face and say "Americano?" No. Coffee.
Moji... Americano
Coffee
... moji... Americano?
Coffee
...moji... Americano?
This has turned me in to a bit of a Starbucks convert. Mostly because I hate Euro coffee culture, which most Korean shops imitate. I want a big cup of black coffee. No milk, no caramel, no dainty espresso mugs that look like they were made for babies. A giant cup of black coffee.
Now at last it is here, and with the prices that many of these coffee shops charge for their piss water Americanos, it actually comes in at the cheapest option. Seriously, at $4.50 for a large coffee it is better value, and often cheaper, than most other shops Americanos.
I mean I still make coffee at home, but now if I do want to go out for coffee, I can.
I know people like to dump on Starbucks. Ordering a grande coffee is kinda the height of pretentious, but in a country with 500 coffee shops that don't serve coffee, having a real coffee shop is a godsend.
I have a long list of things that I will miss about Korea. Coffee culture is not one of them. Everywhere you go there are coffee shops, yet when you ask for a coffee they get a confused look on their face and say "Americano?" No. Coffee.
Moji... Americano
Coffee
... moji... Americano?
Coffee
...moji... Americano?
This has turned me in to a bit of a Starbucks convert. Mostly because I hate Euro coffee culture, which most Korean shops imitate. I want a big cup of black coffee. No milk, no caramel, no dainty espresso mugs that look like they were made for babies. A giant cup of black coffee.
Now at last it is here, and with the prices that many of these coffee shops charge for their piss water Americanos, it actually comes in at the cheapest option. Seriously, at $4.50 for a large coffee it is better value, and often cheaper, than most other shops Americanos.
I mean I still make coffee at home, but now if I do want to go out for coffee, I can.
Saturday, November 8, 2014
A Week Off
With my contract year at Moonkkang coming to an end, it came up that I still had five days of vacation that I had not used. Normally I would be trying to get as much vacation time as possible, but with school eating up so much of my money, I haven't been able to travel or do as much as before. The result was that I had five days, so I decided to use them.
It was a very quiet week off, dinner with Zeke on Tuesday, hiking with Darren up Palgongsan on Friday, though due to rainy weather I was unable to make it to Gatbawi, which is the only tourist thing in Daegu I have not done yet. I also managed a trip to the arboretum on Sunday and managed to get a lot done on my paper and finish up my dissertation proposal. Hardly a trip to Hong Kong or Macau but productive and relaxing. It also gave me a chance to head back to Fatima hospital, as I have managed to injure myself yet again (2014 has been bad for that actually). Looks like a partial tear of my biceps ligament. No surgery, but no lifting weights for the rest of November at least. Actually it is healing up nicely, though I still get lectures for not resting it enough :)
Anyway, here's a few pics:
It was a very quiet week off, dinner with Zeke on Tuesday, hiking with Darren up Palgongsan on Friday, though due to rainy weather I was unable to make it to Gatbawi, which is the only tourist thing in Daegu I have not done yet. I also managed a trip to the arboretum on Sunday and managed to get a lot done on my paper and finish up my dissertation proposal. Hardly a trip to Hong Kong or Macau but productive and relaxing. It also gave me a chance to head back to Fatima hospital, as I have managed to injure myself yet again (2014 has been bad for that actually). Looks like a partial tear of my biceps ligament. No surgery, but no lifting weights for the rest of November at least. Actually it is healing up nicely, though I still get lectures for not resting it enough :)
Anyway, here's a few pics:
Donghwasa
laundry day
Buddha
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