Well, I got a wakeup call the other day. I finally received my documents from my new school, and it held lots of surprises. What was previously supposed to be a high school position somehow morphed into a middle school position..."surprise"....Not only that, but what was supposed to be in a location close to Kangnam where I previously worked had changed geographically into the second last stop on the Bundang line...."surprise".... We'll have to see how my "people" working hard on the reasoning behind these changes get back to me....I'm not holding my breath waiting for their replies to my questions. Don't get me wrong though - I'm not necessarily complaining; my school's been helping me out with some other stuff outside of the contract, so we'll have to see if these new wrinkles will leave me worse off, or, hopefully in the long run, better off.
The other thing that surprised me was the whole visa process. This being my second run at doing the whole visa application process, and doing it the legal way (no, I unfortunately am missing out on doing a visa run to Japan - I requested one, but they wouldn't budge). However, I don't remember paying 65 Canadian dollars for the first visa (I could be wrong on this account) - however, what really surprised me is that they now list that it could take as long as three weeks. Three weeks-"holy-super-fast-Batman....!" I remember back in the day, that for my first visa application, I had it back in three days, and that was sent using Xpresspost... hence my shock that this time its taking longer...
Well, with this recent delay, its now looking like I'll still be a week or so before I get there...until then, I'll continue to procrastinate, and get even less work done than before.
take care all
me

Well, welcome to the new look and feel of "A Canuck In Korea".....somewhat of a work in progress; I'm hoping to add quite a bit more to it - such as a sidebar, a new menu, and some other features. Some of the stuff you might remember from the old menu might be back; if I can't get the site to look how I want it to, then I'll revert back. For this site however, feel free to pull down on the "baggage tag" for a few features to pop out...its kinda slick. So please bear with me while I try to make sure that all of the previous features of my old site are dragged, some willingly, some unwillingly, over to the new format. I hope you can still enjoy the experience. For those of you wondering where to leave comments, look right beside the date at the top of the post, find the number (likely a zero) and comment to your hearts content. As for if you'd rather have the old blog back, tough beans; this one's sticking around for good...
me

Well, in less than three weeks, I'll be doing my second stint in Korea - here I figured that this blog would somewhat fade into obscurity. I've accepted a position with the public system, teaching high school English in Bundang. I'm really excited, which for those who know me amounts to about as much as a "yay", and then I realize how much I'll miss sleeping in, always having food at my disposal at home, and all sorts of other free "amenities". As much as I'm looking forward to returning to Korea, I'm really going to miss home. When I first came home, I wanted to go back to Korea right away; the longer I've stayed, the more its become harder and harder to go back, even though I've verbally committed. However, that's life, and I need to work; and although I saw this now, I only want to stay for only one year this time; I missed watching my niece and nephew grow up, and I miss my friends who are living here.
Last week, I was lucky enough to visit two great friends of mine in Portland, Oregon, and Austin, Texas. Both cities were gorgeous, and made me want to live someplace else other than where I live; I could easily see myself working in either cities. Porland is beautiful, because it has a small-city charm, while still being big enough to hold the nice larger-city conveniences. Austin is beautiful, and doesn't seem very "Texan", which is a good thing (although, I've only visited in the winter, so I'm sure that I would hate the hot summers).
Other than that, not much is new. I'll post more information about where I'll be when I find out where I'm teaching, etc. I've never actually talked to an ESL teacher whose taught in a public high school (I've talked to many elementary teachers, some who swear by it, and some who swear "at" it), so I'm looking forward to the new challenge. If anyone who actually reads this blog teaches high school ESL, I'd love to hear from you, so I can pick your brain, and ask you a few questions; otherwise, I'll have to experience it on my own, and let you all know how its going.
I hope that all is going well with everyone out there.
Don't work too hard, and God bless,

me