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joncasssouthkorea - Jon Wick

"Leave. Roll the word around on your tongue for a bit. It is a beautiful word, isn’t it? So strong and forceful, the way you have always wanted to be. And you will not be alone. You have never been alone. Don’t worry. Everything will still be here when you get back. It is you who will have changed."

-Donald Miller

*Please feel free to subscribe to this blog- super easy, just click the blue button below and fill in your email- and you will recieve email updates everytime a new entry gets added, perhaps more convienient for everyone!

Some other websites wed like to share about us, our friends, or our lives here in Korea and beyond...

** For more pictures of our trips through Asia and beyond (that I couldn fit in here), check out my picture page at flickr .
**Ive started as a Contributing Editor of the travel website TheExpeditioner . Check it out for interesting travel tidbits and information.
**The organization that helped us along the process of getting to Korea, Reach to Teach ESL teacher recruiting
**Our friends, Shawna and Jonny G.s, amusing blog, the Waygookinway
**Random thoughts by our friend Lance, click here for his blog
**Also, join Jon on Twitter now! For random thoughts, reactions, and shenanigans we find ourselves in!

Besides this blog, Ive been lucky enough to have a few published articles out there in cyberspace. Here are the current ones, feel free to check them out, Ill be updating this with new links as soon as they get published! Thanks for the support and interest in my writing!!

***NEW***www.matadornights.com ~~Big Sky Sports & Party: Our Favorite Winter Festivals in Montana
***NEW***www.matadortrips.com ~~Montana Resorts: Treating Yourself Right in Big Sky Country
www.bootsnall.com ~~ How Canned Peas Changed The Way I Think About Travel: An Essay On Returning Home
www.bootsnall.com ~~ 7 Truths You Won't Hear About Teaching ESL Abroad
WOMT Radio Interview ~~ An interview regarding observed tensions between North and South Korea.
www.thetravelrag.com ~~ Budae Jjigae, Memories of War
www.theexpeditioner.com ~~ The DMZ: Travel To The Most Dangerous Place on Earth
www.matadortrips.com ~~ South Korea Exploration: Roadtripping the Peninsula
www.bootsnall.com ~~ Eating in Korea: A Laymans Guide To Dishes You Must Try
www.glimpse.org ~~ Shots and Snails... An article about my first teacher dinner in Korea

Philippines
January 27th 2009 -» February 18th 2009 Beijing, China
April 30th 2009 -» May 16th 2009 Vietnam & Hong Kong
August 14th 2009 -» September 4th 2009 Kyoto & Tokyo Japan
October 11th 2009 -» October 18th 2009

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Joined on: September 10th 2008
Last Login: February 2nd 2010

Blog Entries: 63
Photos: 1376
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Blogs & Travel Journals

by joncasssouthkorea, order by Date newest first.

By joncasssouthkorea
January 31st 2010

Project: 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games North America » Canada » British Columbia » Whistler

Vancouver... Here I come!

In T-minus ten days, I will be packing up my skis, clothes, sleeping bag, gas tank, cameras, video cameras, Olympic tickets and heading… wait, did I say that right? Yes, Olympic tickets! Even for me, I double take to realize it’s actually happening. I will say this again, as it’s become a bit of my mantra, “I’m going to the Olympics… I’m going to the Olympics.” After a bunch of research, double checking things, attempts at preparations, it’s official, “I’m going to the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games.” Let me fill you all in on how this awesome opportunity came to be [View Full Entry]

'88 summer olympic flame still burning bright (Seoul)

By joncasssouthkorea
January 16th 2010

Heaven 1, Amtrak 0 North America » United States » Wisconsin » Milwaukee

The Amtrak Empire Builder Train

Heaven 1, Amtrak 0, but is it a competition, really? I’m writing this blog awaiting my complementary Sprite on a North West Airlines flight from Milwaukee to Minneapolis, and then my brother and I are going to continue on to Helena, Montana. Where we will… I’ll get to that part. That’s not the story, though. The story is everything that led up to this point. Wednesday, January 6, 2010 The morning after the Iowa Hawkeyes won their bowl game, I got an email to give dad a call (I don’t have my phone, but that’s another story- hm… maybe a new [View Full Entry]

James loitering outside the Montana Club- good work

By joncasssouthkorea
December 15th 2009

Calgary: The New West North America » Canada » Alberta » Calgary

Canadian Rockies

While Cass and I were away, my brother moved to Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his wife. I’m psyched about this move for him for several reasons 1- it’s loads closer to Montana (a 6 hour drive) 2- maybe now he’ll understand why I love the mountains 3- I have a great chance to hang out in the Canadian Rockies. With the extra free time that we’ve got now that we’re back here in between jobs, I headed up here with Denali, my video camera, and my skis for a long weekend. Yes, video camera. Filling up this free time has given [View Full Entry]

By joncasssouthkorea
November 23rd 2009

Blog-abration #8: The Conclusion- Coming Home Again North America » United States » Montana » Butte

Going Home

We’ve been back for over a month now, and this will most likely be the fitting final episode of Blog-abration. I’m sure you’ve all seen this one coming, we’re back- our trip finished. I also saved this topic for a few other reasons. First, home is something we’ve carried around with us while we were away, comparing and contrasting the different societies we’ve experienced with our own. We have thought daily of home, yet were glad in the opportunity to not be there. And second, I recently have just published an article on BootsnAll (click [url=http://www.bootsnall.com/articles/09-11/how-canned-peas-changed-the-way-i-think-about-travel-an-essay-on-returning-home.html] here to read it) [View Full Entry]

By joncasssouthkorea
November 3rd 2009

Blog-abration #7: Sweet Cassie North America » United States » Montana » Butte

DSC02319

The first 24 hours in Korea, no, the first week in Korea, were some of the most difficult in my life. You are exhausted and jet lagged; you are expected to work the very next school day, whether that is after a weekend or within hours (as we were so lucky), you haven’t eaten anything in roughly a week because either you can’t find anything tolerable, or you can’t stomach any of the available eats. Besides not sleeping well, unpacking what life you’ve managed to stuff into your luggage, and trying to figure out a new job that comes with little [View Full Entry]

By joncasssouthkorea
October 26th 2009

Blog-abration #5- Our Friends Asia » South Korea » Gyeonggi-do

Our farewell dinner crew! Good times

Welcome back to the Blog-abration Celebration (you didn’t forget about this did you?) of our year in Korea and of everything Korean. Cass and I returned to Montana, safe and sound, an are getting some semblance of normalcy back to our lives- more on that will come. I have a plan for two more final Blog-abration posts after this, and I’m sure the anticipation is killing you all (yeah, right). You probably already figured this theme was on its way. We’ve been fortunate to have met some amazing people in Yeoju (and the greater Korea) that we are sure will be [View Full Entry]

Cass and a few of her teacher/friends at dinner

By joncasssouthkorea
October 14th 2009

Tokyo: The Official Conclusion of our Time in Asia Asia » Japan » Tokyo

Tokyo Eye Pollution

We had to delay our plans a bit getting to Tokyo because of the aftereffects of the typhoon that ripped through Japan the night before. Nagoya, a city we would pass through on the way back to Tokyo, saw the brunt of the storm; major flooding in the area eventually killing two people. As Kyoto settled down and the rains stopped, there were still delays in the train travel due to high wind. We bummed around the city, visiting the shops and picking up some stuff before we jumped a train around 3 p.m. which got us into Tokyo around dinnertime. [View Full Entry]

Discount electronics... come get your discount electronics!

By joncasssouthkorea
October 11th 2009

Kyoto: Typhoons and Temples Asia » Japan » Kyoto » Kyoto

Welcome to Ancient Japan

The minute we touched down in Tokyo, we heard rumors of an impending typhoon headed this direction. I’m not going to lie, as expensive as Japan is, the best 1,000 Yen we possibly spent was on umbrellas at the first train station. You can’t rain on this parade. Or as we soon found out, you can’t rain on this parade of temples. Kyoto was the ancient capitol of Japan and still the center of the ancient Japanese traditional culture. The city, a bigger city of one and a half million people, contains seventeen UNESCO World Heritage sites. If you are unfamiliar [View Full Entry]

By joncasssouthkorea
October 8th 2009

Anyeong Hi Kaseyo!! Korea Sarangeyo! Asia » South Korea » Gyeonggi-do

Taegukki- The 'Old Glory' of Korea

"Good bye!! We love you, Korea!" I’m going to interrupt just before the last of the Blog-abrations to let you know what we’ve been up to lately. Lots have been going on, plus a week in Japan, so for the last installments of Blog-abration, I know you’re all on the edge of your seats, please stay tuned… One last going away party, if you can call it that, was two days spent in Suwon, with a couple of our favorite ‘peeps’ (as Reagan would say) Reagan and Leandra. With the hanus traffic during the Korean Chusok (Korean Thanksgiving) holiday, it works [View Full Entry]

Our Gangnam Apt. friends after driving us and all our stuff to the bus terminal

By joncasssouthkorea
October 4th 2009

Blog-abration #4: Yeoju, South Korea: A Photo Tour of Our Korean Hometown Asia » South Korea » Gyeonggi-do

Home Sweet Yeoju

Before coming to Korea, we couldn’t find any information on the designated town we were to call home for the next year. Literally, the only two solid bits of information, if you can call them that, in which we knew for sure was that Yeoju is the home for some kind of world ceramic festival and there is a premium outlet shopping mall in town. You could say we were going in pretty blind, but in the end, it was an absolute blessing. Before I get into Yeoju a little, we’re currently enroute to Japan, the final leg of our Asian [View Full Entry]

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joncasssouthkorea - Jon Wick

-Donald Miller

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