On the morning of November 23rd, we walked away down main street at Gyeonggi English Village. A sad yet happy morning. Closing out 15 months of living 45-minutes outside of Seoul, South Korea. An hour and a half later we sat down for a mug of coffee at Cafe Pasculucci in Incheon International Airport until Shauna's plane departed. Bouncing from Seoul, to Beijing (China) then across the Pacific Ocean to Vancouver, BC (Canada) arriving in Edmonton, Alberta (Canada) on the afternoon of November 23rd. As Shauna flew to China and onto Canada, I sat in Incheon Airport scribbling notes, writing blogs and waiting for my flight. Eventually, I packed in my laptop, drug my one check-in bag to United Airlines counter. Baggage checked. Boarding pass in hand. I whistled my way through customs. Sitting down. I ... read more

Shortly we are off to our final dinner next door in the beautiful little village called Heyri Art Village. We have grown found of the art villages numerous cafe choices, art galleries and restaurants. As well as the gorgeous and unique architecture. Ironically, we were taken to the Farmer's Table for Tanner's going away dinner. We had only been on campus for a few weeks but had become good friends. Thus it is only fair that we depart our English Village lifestyle by indulging from this fine menu once again. Tonight however it will only be the two of us, sharing a romantic dinner before blowing off fireworks and kicking back with a couple of close friends. A time for reflection is always the best thing when you are departing one place and beginning the next ... read more

Sitting around the house today we began discussing all the things we are going to miss about Seoul and South Korea in particular. Shauna and I have both agreed that most of what we miss about Calgary are all the great food locations we use to frequent like 1. Peter's Drive-in for magnificent milkshakes 2. Oriental Palace for amazing Chinese food in Parkdale 3. La Vienna for traditional Italian food in Kennsington 4. Pho Kim for gigantic bowls of Vietnamese Pho Bowls 5. McKay's Ice Cream in Cochrane for homemade ice cream 6. Wild Rose Brewery at the old Calgary Farmer's Market for handcrafted delicious beers and the Farmer's Platter of bread, cheese, fruit and meat slices 7. The Grizzly Paw in Canmore (sure its an hours drive) but Bison Burgers and handcrafted beers you cannot ... read more

On Sunday, we went out to the local Paintball field with 9-teachers from English Village. Dressed for the weather and happy for the event we shot paint at each other for three hours over four games. During the "kings" game I was belly crawling across the field at some point having to adjust my advancement because I was being heavily shot at I adjusted wiggling backwards when my shirt adjusted itself leaving me stomach bared to the ground. Although later on my favorite round for the day was the "cowboy round." You begin in a small 20-by-20-foot space back to back with your opponent then walk five paces counting out loud. Next you spin around on your heels and just begin shooting or dive behind a barrel for protection. Both players have around 15 shots in ... read more

'It's the "Hawaii" of South Korea' we kept hearing about this tiny little island off the southern peninsulas' tip. But how good could it be? Lonely Planet only submitted 22-pages of information. Nonetheless we booked roundtrip tickets on Jeju Airlines http://www.jejuair.com for 120,000 won per person. "Set against a tropical backdrop of swaying palm trees, sandy beaches and towering volcanic features... are quickly discovering this island paradise and the warm hospitality of its native population," states LP's writer Cesar Soriano. Sounds wonderful doesn't it? I read Jeju's chapter twice adding yellow highlighter to interesting bits of information then forced Shauna to read it. Our good friends Uro and Justin, reassured us transportation was easy-peasy on the island with the vast network of island buses. But we'd heard f... read more