February gave us a long weekend for the Lunar New Year, and rather than doing something cultural, Conor and I headed away for a drinking weekend with our Ulsan friends! We all met at the beautiful city of Gyeongju, where we rented a pension at a Western-themed resort called Eurovill. We were staying in the 'Roman' room in 'Italy'! This was basically a studio flat with a bathroom, a kitchen and a lot of floor space for sleeping! As well as barbequeing and drinking, we also went hiking around Namsan on the Sunday. This had been recommended by various co-teachers for the scenic beauty of the area but it felt like hiking any other mountain in Korea! There were some rock carvings of Buddha at various points and places where people had left offerings. We also ... read more

So Doug lives and works in the city of Red Deer, situated halfway between Edmonton and Calgary. We arrived there on Sunday night and walked to his place as the snow fell gently around us. There's not a while lot to do in Red Deer and I was still getting my energy back, so we were happy to laze around, lie-in, and go for short walks to the supermarket and shopping centre. One of our walks took us out onto the frozen Red Deer river - scary! It's a very flat landscape and not particularly beautiful or anything, but Doug's happy here. On Tuesday evening we went out to the local pub for 'wing night' and to meet more of Doug's friends. Steph and Corey I had met before but two others were convinced that Doug ... read more

So back when I moved away to Spain last year, I left my boyfriend Doug behind, but we kept our relationship going (thank you skype). I went home briefly for a long weekend in February, and then Doug moved to Canada in June two weeks before I returned home from Spain. Despite the multiple time zones and the difficulties long distance causes, our relationship kept going strong, and I was able to fly from Korea to Canada to see him for my two-week winter vacation! I flew into Calgary, where despite travelling for about 20 hours, an hour had only passed on the clock. I was so excited leaving the airport to see all the snow and had to keep pinching myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. And to see Doug in the flesh again ... read more

So my friend Jennifer (Scottish who I met in Cadiz but now teaches in Tokyo) came to stay for a week, and we decided to make the most of all the hiking around Busan. We headed out for a hike we started once before but deliberately wandered off course! Our aim was Seokbulsa temple - apparantly one of the more beautiful and unique Buddhist temples in the Busan area. After cheating and getting the cable car halfway up Geumjung mountain (for views!) we started our walk. The autumn (had to stop myself from typing fall there) leaves were beautiful, they had changed colour completely to all shades of yellow and red, and they were mostly incredibly vibrant. We followed the trail to the old fortress gate, newly renovated of course, and then wisely continued on in ... read more

One beautiful sunny October day, we found ourselves gathered outside a small temple at Chungyeolsa in Busan for a traditional Korean wedding ceremony: Pae Baek (폐백). Sessy, an English teacher we met at orientation, was marrying her Korean boyfriend Myung-Seo. Traditional ceremonies like this have been widely replaced by more Western style ceremonies, so even my Korean work colleagues didn't know what we were to expect! We gathered outside where Sessy and Myung-Seo were having their final preparations made. They were both dressed in traditional Hanbok (한복) clothes. These traditional outfits date back to the Chosun Dynasty where members of the Royal Family wore decorative, bright coloured outfits for formal functions or ceremonies. These have been modernised but for the purposes of Pae Baek, Hanbok are used in the traditional sense where the bride and groom ... read more