Walking and Hiking Tours of Busan

We invited our best of friends to our place on Saturday at 2pm for drinks, food and fun.  I prepared beers (see Hite beer story later), lots and lots of wine, our home supply of spirits and a new one for me: soju fruit punch.  The day before, I went to Homeplus, where I bought a 6 litre glass container (normally used to make soju wine or berry wine), as well as 1.5 litres of grape drink and 1.5 litres of pineapple soda.  I mixed the two, along with 2 litres of C1 soju (Korean sweet potato fire water [17%]), along with bananas and apples, it was like a Korean sangria, actually.  I put it in the fridge for 24 hours.  Kevin Smith, Rae and Arthur arrived first and we talked about the apt, JinJu Mansions, as he had lived in this complex 25 years prior.  We were looking outside and saw Sarah Noye out back, who was looking fervently for Lulu, one of her dogs.  I scrambled into action, ran downstairs and found Lulu beside the cars and a building.  Sarah ...

I've always wanted to Blog, and after reading Desta Old's WordPress Blog last night, I thought about all of the long emails I have written and thought, hey, I can copy-paste a few of those here to share with you.  This one is an email I wrote about moving to Korea.  Note that this email was written on April 14, 2015, while in Mongolia, so excuse some errors, R.E.: information and knowledge. Dear Friends and Family, Big news awaits us.  Grab your iPad, as this is going to be a lovely sit-down or lie-down read. We tried really hard (and are still trying), to earn our Canadian Provincial teaching license, kinda like the "lawyer's 'bar'" for teachers.  Well, that process, starting in December, has had it's fair share of bureaucratic bumps, so to speak.  From asking me to prove that I am a native speaker of English, to Carol having to return to Taiwan to get documents, to her having to take an English exam in May, all things are headed to...

Hey, how's it going? We'll fill you in with all the details when we speak on the phone, but we have accepted positions in  Ulaanbaatar,  Mongolia !! BY SHIP I have a black and brown leather jacket at home, a long black trench coat, thick winter socks, and a pair of winter boots.  If I am not mistaken, these are the following locations of the items: Boots, socks and trench coat: at Neil's Black leather jacket at Jim /Mom's Brown leather jacket at Jim/Sharon's We'll pay for the  SHIP ing, if someone can organize all the items (only brown or black leather jackets; we won't need both) and please send them to us.  The address will either be Taiwan or in  Mongolia ; we'll get back to you on which address it will be: most likely  Mongolia , so we don't need to bring them with us on the plane at the end of August. MICHAEL LESSER 40 WEN XIAN ROAD TAINAN CITY, 70300 TAIWAN OR Orchlon Secondary School C/O:...

TRAVELS FROM NORTH AMERICA BACK TO SINGAPORE We got to the Burlington airport bright and early.  The security was confused about the Epsom Salts I had in my carry on (it was too heavy for my checked baggage, as I had to take ten pounds out, or pay 50$).   They scanned it 4 times, did a drug and bomb search on it, along with my Kindle and toothbrush, LOL.  I eventually got them through. When I checked in at JFK, Emirates  gave me a window seat, so I changed the JFK-DUBAI portion to an aisle seat, but they could not help me with the Dubai-Spore portion. The people sitting next to me are going to be annoyed with a huge guy taking up 1 and a 1/2 seats, LOL.  I had reserved them in the aisle in Sept., but looks like I got bumped, again, as did Carol.  Next time, cheapie Charlie airlines, all the way!! I was able to use my Korean Air Skymiles on the flight, which is good, because they never expire.  I checked my bag at JFK...

Hi, It's been a while since I emailed you.  Thought I should take some time to tell you about our life here. After a great break, where we went to Taiwan and Japan, we are now back in Singapore.  Carol has a boss who is more organized and professional so her workload has been reduced.  Plus, she does not have a vice principle, so there is one less person to create clutter. Carol is now the social committee leader at her school (any surprise?).  The girls get together every Friday for small bites and cocktails at the various pubs in our neighborhood. I usually go later, so I can check out a new place.  Then Raul, Pammy's boyfriend comes, and he and I will have a drink at the hawker's (food court).  Pammy works with Carol.  Carol's students are the same as last year, so it has been a smooth transition for both teachers and students. As for myself, I am studying full time at the National Institute of Education (NIE) on the Nanyang Technologica...

I thought at first, no, I would not put this up here, but then, how could any travel blog be complete without Yoshi.  I met him in 2003, while backpacking in Northern Thailand, Pai to be exact.  We met up again in Bangkok, The Philippines, and Taiwan.  This is his last story. Man, I can feel Yoshi flowing through me right now.  I've got goose bumps as I write this like I've never had before.  I am not a religious guy, but whoa, there must be something in the afterlife... Yoshi is gone...  You can read more in the facebook group link I pasted below. Yoshi drowned in Vang Vieng while "tubing" on Aug. 2, 2011.  For those of us who have never been to Laos, tubing is riding in an inner tube down the river and having fun at different restaurants and bars in the river.  Some people jump off ropes like Tarzan or kayak the river.  I kayaked the river while there in 2003. I still have photos of him on my memory card...

Hi guys, After months of searching, Carol and I finally found jobs at Etonhouse International and Pre-school in  Singapore .  Here are the links, if you are interested (see below).  Carol will be a kindergarten teacher, while I will be a class teacher.  I don't know which grade, yet (this is not ESL, but a normal primary homeroom teaching post).  We really wanted to stay in Ottawa, more than you'll ever know, but money is important.  It is really hard for me to work in Canada without a Bachelor of Education.  This degree is a requirement for getting certification in Canadian provinces and territories.   The plan is to either earn a double major bachelor in geography and religion or  BA Edu. via distance learning (online) while we are in  Singapore . The latter choice would be difficult, as most of the course are not offered online and requires a practicum component, but I am still searching.  If I go for ...