Two Weeks in Canada: The Beginning

It is time for a blog entry! Sorry it's been awhile...but, really, I have been a little bit busy! As some of you know, I recently returned to my native country for two weeks. It was a spectacular visit, reminding me just how much I love the country and its people!

Coming home did feel slightly strange at first..and yet so much the same. It was hard to believe I had been gone a whole year; time really had flown by during my stay in Korea. Anyhow, it was refreshing to get reacquainted with the beautiful greenness known as nature. Obviously, getting reacquainted with family and friends was just as rewarding!

So, a brief synopsis of the trip: HJ and her friend Ahyoung travelled with me for the first week in Canada, and then I had the second week to chill by myself. In retrospect, I think this was a pretty good deal. The first week was filled with more touristy stuff for the girls, while the second week was filled with more family/friends for me. Both weeks were excellent.

Realizing that I have over 500 photos of our time in Canada, I thought I would start small. This is just a sampling of our first few days in Canada. The good times began at the Incheon airport, which is simply awesome. So clean, so new, so nice. In the airport, because of HJ's special status as an employee of Singapore Airlines, we were able to hang out in the SIA Lounge. Now, this place was fabulous with a capital "F." Totally posh, with free gourmet food available whenever we pleased. Now I understand why people might want to fly First Class!

The flight itself was fantastic. I don't think I slept for more than half an hour. How could I - with all the incredible in-flight entertainment! We arrived on Saturday afternoon, which was a nice enough day. That evening, the three of us (Me, HJ, AH) met up with Ryan and Sam to take in Shrek the Third! What a marvelous night! So good to see Ry and Sam..and so good to laugh. If you notice the pictures taken with the Simpsons, you might realize we were in Colussus!

Sunday consisted of returning to my family's church, which was certainly a pleasant experience. Later that day though, things got intense. Because of the torrential downpour, we headed into Metrotown. It was a great time..although in my estimation..a little too long! However, as an escape from the rain, acceptable. Finally, in the evening, we met up with John for massive amounts of Korean food! Seriously, the portions were epic!

On Monday, all of us, including my sister and her friend Kim trekked into UBC for Day 2 of the Virgin Music festival. Lucky for us, it had decided to stop raining. Before heading to the show, we spent some time down at Spanish Banks, but that'll have to wait until next post.

The actual festival was really well down. We stayed to watch the big four of the day: Metric, Hot Hot Heat, A.F.I., and The Killers. HJ and I have seen the first two a few times, but they still didn't disappoint! I was happy to hear Metric's new stuff. For A.F.I. - I went a little crazy and entered the pit. However, once inside, there was no escape - and so there I remained for the entire 40 minute set! Exhausted as I was, I thoroughly enjoyed The Killers, as they put on a rocktacular performance to end the whole festival! What a good show!

Alright then, I think I'm starting to redeem myself for all those missed weeks of posting. Do not fret though, as there will be more posting to come..much more. Hope you've enjoyed the rundown of the first few days back home...

Peace!

-Paul