Nothing to report.

I don't have much to say, since I'm still waiting to find out when I leave for Korea. I've sent out all of my information to Korea, that they need, about two weeks ago so that my work visa could be processed. All I know is that my stuff has arrived there. Now I'm playing the waiting game. I'm getting pretty anxious waiting around to find out when I leave. This weekend is the second weekend in a row that my friends here have taken me out to party and wish me goodbye. I could get used to this...

Here's an example of how my friends and I passed the time in university. My roommate, Rob, and myself made our own wine. Since we were too cheap to buy a proper wine making kit, we just used a water bottle. With the tap on top, it worked pretty good. It tasted like someone did something very wrong to the wine, but after a bit of drinking it tasted just fine. Wine on tap!

I'm bored.

I really don't have anything good to say. I'm still waiting to find out when I'm flying out of this cold country to the slightly less cold country of South Korea. I don't think that I'm going to bother bringing a winter coat; either because I'm a complete idiot or because I couldn't be bothered and think that it'll be warm enough not to have one. I'll bring my leather coat instead, because chicks dig leather. Yeah.

Since I have nothing else to say about crazy adventures in Korea, this post is finished. Who wants to read about someone elses life unless it contains interesting, funny or shocking stories? Not that mine doesn't have those...I'm just too lazy and inebriated to think of them right now. If you really want to read something interesting, funny and shocking, then click this link.

This is a picture of the sweet-ass computer that I won right before Christmas. I sold it for $2500 this week. I am rich. I could probably afford a small island in the Pacific with this money; possibly Japan.

There's some sushi that I made when I was bored one day. It took three hours, a hell of a lot of rice and most of a 26er of the Captain. I rule.

...and still I'm getting job offers.

I forgot just how many recruiters that I applyied to teach in Korea with. I'm still getting random job offers from here and here. It's interesting to see what's being shoved down my throat and read all of the different contracts; comparing them with the job that I am accepting. So far none of them are as good as my contract in Ulsan. The only bad part of that job is that it's 1.9 million won a month. It'd be nice to have 2 million+, but I'd rather work 2:30-8:30 than the 9-6/7 that just about all of the other contracts state. That's equal to about $120 CAD less a month (100,000 won = about $120 CAD). A fair trade for the sweet hours I think! If I want to stay for a second year, I'd try to get more per month then.

Just about all of the offers that I'm getting are located in Seoul (probably because that's where I stated where I wanted to work...), but I've been getting so interested in the Gyeongsangnam-Do region (Busan, Ulsan, etc.) that I've completely lost interest in Seoul. So for everyone that looking into working in Korea, take a look at the Busan area! Perferibly in Bugok Village (not to be confused with the Bugok Village near Seoul). Why? Because I'd like to have a free place to stay when I go to soak in the hot springs.

Marijuana and book burning.

I regularly post on a message board called Christianforums. It's a huge messageboard site open to anyone of any religion, but it's run by Christians and holds Christian standards (ie. you can't talk badly about Christianity, although you can debate it). Well, today I thought I posted a pretty darn good post in response to a "thread" called "Would you burn your favorite secular albums if:", that I made me laugh as I was writing it. Here it is, for anyone curious enough to read it.

The original post:

Would you burn your fave secular albums if:

1) The artists got busted for child abuse or downloading kiddy porn from the Net.

2) They admitted to having an affair with their manager's wife.

3) They believed they were bigger than Jesus or wrote songs that defame Jesus.

4) They were previously on a Christian label and signed with one of the big four labels with a UPC on the back.

5) They showed off their breasts in a magazine or at a live concert (or for a guy they get out their penis on stage).

6) They call the Queen a ****.

7) They abuse an airhostess and/or pretend to hijack a flight to New York.

8) They support the death penalty and cutting down acres of rainforests.

9) They do a benefoit concert to support abortion and same sex marriage rights.

10) They call for the decriminalisation of cannabis and the harder drugs.


My response:


1) The artists got busted for child abuse or downloading kiddy porn from the Net.

I'm guilty. I admit to downloading naked kiddy's often when I'm bored. Meow!

2) They admitted to having an affair with their manager's wife.

Does my best friend's wife count? Guilty.

3) They believed they were bigger than Jesus or wrote songs that defame Jesus.

I don't think that Jesus was a muscular as I am, so I definetely believe that I'm bigger than Jesus. Guilty.

4) They were previously on a Christian label and signed with one of the big four labels with a UPC on the back.

I stuck a label from Labatt Blue beer to my forehead once; it had a UPC on it. I was walking around the bar all night with a UPC bar code on my forehead. Guilty.

5) They showed off their breasts in a magazine or at a live concert (or for a guy they get out their penis on stage).

I showed off my breasts at a concert a number of times. Running around topless is fun! I also went skinny-dipping once. I hate leeches. Guilty as charged.

6) They call the Queen a ****.

Calling the Queen four-stars in just too far! Even I'm not guilty of that one. With those teeth, I couldn't give her more than two-stars.

7) They abuse an airhostess and/or pretend to hijack a flight to New York.

I try to abuse airhostess' as much as humanly possible. What else am I going to do on an airplane when beer costs $26 for a cup? Guilty.

8) They support the death penalty and cutting down acres of rainforests.

I support the death penalty and live in a house made of wood. So does Jesus; who was also a carpenter that obviously was responsible for the cutting down of many trees. Deal with it. You hug a tree and I'll cut it down. Guilty again.

9) They do a benefoit concert to support abortion and same sex marriage rights
What the heck is a "benefoit concert"? I don't know if I'm guilty of that or not.

10) They call for the decriminalisation of cannabis and the harder drugs.

I call for the decriminalization of cannabis as well. Wait a minute! My country has already decriminalized it! I'd much rather see my tax money go to something other than imprisoning people for commiting petty crimes, thank you. "O Canada..." Totally guilty dude.

What I don't support is the abundant and easy to obtain supply of over-the-counter drugs; many of which are proven to be much worse on a person's body than the compound known as tetra hydra-cannibal and even the total effects of smoking a marijuana cigarette; with or without filteration.I also think it's hypocritical for any nation to outright ban marijuana when it promotes the sale of things such as alcohol and tobacco cigarettes; both things which have high death-rates attached to them. The total death count attributed to marijuana is significantly lower. When you count the number of deaths directly attributed to alcohol verses marijuana, you'll notice that number for deaths because of alcohol is quite high, while the number of deaths because of marijuana is absolutely zero.

Also, I have a tentency to relate the burning of secular albums to the burning of books. There's not much difference. Do you really want to live in a theocracy run by men? I'd rather live in a democracy (or at least some form of one) then to be run out of the country or killed because of my beliefs and values. Hitler anyone?

The men and women who write such "controverial" lyrics have their reasons for saying such things. Maybe it would better benefit those book/CD burners to learn why those artists say what they do in an effort to help those around them, instead of hiding behind the fire of their ignorance.



I had a good time with that one.

What I need to work in South Korea.

Today was a good day in my steps towards spending way too long on a cigar with wings in the sky.

I recieved my notarized copy of my degree back in the mail from the Korean Consulate in Toronto. That means that I now have everything that I need in order to obtain an E2 work visa in South Korea.

1. Notarized copy of university degree. Check!
2. Official transcripts from my university. Check!
3. An up to date passport from an English-speaking country. Check!
4. Be a native speaker of English, or at least be able to fake it. Check!
5. Be actually willing to teach. Check!
6. Someone willing to legally hire me to work in South Korea. Check!

Looks like I have everything that I need! Now all that I need to do is sent this stuff in the mail to somewhere or other (well, items one and two).

I got my notarized degree (copy) back from the Korean Consulate in Toronto today! This is what they did to it. 

Ulsan bound!

After going through a half-a-dozen job offers or so, I accepted a job teaching middle-school aged kids in Ulsan; a city of over a million people on the Southeast coast of S.Korea. I won't have to begin work until after 2pm, so it sounds like a sweet gig to me! Weekends off (other than the odd graduation ceremony) and I'll be able to make it to church...or the discos by 9pm. Perfect! I should be on a looong plane ride in two to three weeks to start my new job. Weeeeeeeeee!

Other than that, I've spend that past week getting long, thin, metallic things jabbed into my arm. Apparently I'm supposed to be able to avoid nasty things like Hepatitis A like this. How nice.

I've also been trying to visit friends and family more than usual lately...because that's what people who are planning to jump on a plane and fly halfway around the world do. As a result, I wandered a few hundred kilometers down the road to Winnipeg to see my sister (not the one in the picture below, I have two totally different sisters). We watched "The Aviator" at Silvercity. If you enjoy three-hour long documentaries with at least five minutes of it dedicated to watching a naked Leonardo DiCaprio go insane, then I recommend checking it out.

My sister is the brunette in the middle. The blonde is some chick named Tammy Plante, who's going to be the Playboy Playmate in May '05. According to her official website(www.tammyplante.com), she can speak sign language. WTF??? How can anyone speak that? This has to be one amazing girl. I need to get introduced to her! I mean, you know what they say about girls who can speak sign language... 

The phone won't stop ringing!!!

Seriously, if you want an ESL job in South Korea, do not apply to multiple recruiters. Your phone will break from more overuse than a phone owned by a 14-year old girl discovering boys for the first time.

I've gotten two more job offers today, both better than the one I was already offered in Ansan, Seoul. One is for a Christian school in a different part of Seoul and the other is for a Hagwon in Ulsan(a city of a million about an hour north of Busan). The Christian school job was offered to me by Footprints recruiting(awesome people, I recommend them) and the Ulsan job was offered by CanadianswithSeoul(another awesome recruiting place).

Here's a bit of info on each one:

The Christian job(offered by Footprints) involves teaching 2 or 3 days a week at a Hagwon and teaching Christian home-schooled kids either at their homes or at a church for the other 2 or 3 days a week. Wow! That actually sounds really cool. It's unorthodox from a 'regular' ESL job and it sounds like I'd have a lot of one-on-one lessons to do. The Hagwon hours are from around 10:30-7:30, but like I said, it's only 2 or 3 days a week.

The Ulsan job(offered by CanadianswithSeoul) sounds awesome too! The hours are from about 2:30 until 8:30 or so. That means that I'd have the mornings to myself. I could fit in a lot of private lessons if I wanted to I'm sure. Or just sleep in. Either way, the hours sound great! Plus, Ulsan is on the east coast, just north of Busan(Korea's second largest city). In Ulsan, there's a ferry that goes to Kitakyushu(just north of Fukuoka) everyday. The journey is about three hours and costs less than $200(CND) for a return ticket. Sounds like a good location to me! It's more appealing than the giant metropolis of Seoul.


Hopefully, within a couple of days, I'll have talked to someone from each of those schools and decide which one I like better. I don't think that I'll go for my original job offer. Between those two new jobs, I'm leaning towards the Ulsan job a little bit more.