After the Chinese New Year here in Korea, a party was in order. During intensive classes, William, Anton and I were all pretty exhausted. There was pretty of reasons to celebrate, but energy levels weren’t up to the task. Following the mini-holiday (we had Monday and Tuesday off), everyone was in the mood to revel.
As formentioned, we had justification for fun. Kevin teacher was leaving and being replaced by Dave teacher. Norm teacher had returned from 3/4 weeks holiday in Canada. Also, we had officially finished all the stress of morning classes. On the Thursday night, some of us met up in William’s apartment to warm up. We hopped on the subway into Soehyeon to give Kevin a tour of the places he’d be leaving behind. Things quickly disintegrated after a few stops – but a recovery was made at our starting point (William’s apartment). I had to leave the festivities early, but I heard it only intensified later on..
I was glad that everyone made the effort to come out. It’s a strangely difficult task to organize everyone for one night of party. To be fair, I didn’t get a great chance to say goodbye to Kevin. He was taking off for a three week holiday in the States before returning to Korea to teach in a university. He should be back soon though, as February is soon to be over. I will surely try to connect with Kevin when he gets back. Hopefully William’s got my back on that one.
Sitting here now, I am realizing that just as my co-workers have made transitions recently, my time here will come to an end sooner than later as well. After February, I only have three full months left. This scares me. And excites me. But scares me more. Changes are always strange – and this one will be a big one. I’ve spent nearly three years here. That’s a long time. Transitioning from this lifestyle into a totally Canadian one seems almost as if I’m leaving my planet behind to travel to a distant galaxy. Now, maybe that seems extreme – but you need to live in Korea to understand.
Anyway, enough posturing about the future. Let’s concentrate on the here and now. I’m happy and I’m in Korea. I will certainly try to make the most of the time I have here. Now, a warning before the preceding pictures. I had shaved (not entirely) as a reward for Kevin. And it was nasty. Be prepared.
As formentioned, we had justification for fun. Kevin teacher was leaving and being replaced by Dave teacher. Norm teacher had returned from 3/4 weeks holiday in Canada. Also, we had officially finished all the stress of morning classes. On the Thursday night, some of us met up in William’s apartment to warm up. We hopped on the subway into Soehyeon to give Kevin a tour of the places he’d be leaving behind. Things quickly disintegrated after a few stops – but a recovery was made at our starting point (William’s apartment). I had to leave the festivities early, but I heard it only intensified later on..
I was glad that everyone made the effort to come out. It’s a strangely difficult task to organize everyone for one night of party. To be fair, I didn’t get a great chance to say goodbye to Kevin. He was taking off for a three week holiday in the States before returning to Korea to teach in a university. He should be back soon though, as February is soon to be over. I will surely try to connect with Kevin when he gets back. Hopefully William’s got my back on that one.
Sitting here now, I am realizing that just as my co-workers have made transitions recently, my time here will come to an end sooner than later as well. After February, I only have three full months left. This scares me. And excites me. But scares me more. Changes are always strange – and this one will be a big one. I’ve spent nearly three years here. That’s a long time. Transitioning from this lifestyle into a totally Canadian one seems almost as if I’m leaving my planet behind to travel to a distant galaxy. Now, maybe that seems extreme – but you need to live in Korea to understand.
Anyway, enough posturing about the future. Let’s concentrate on the here and now. I’m happy and I’m in Korea. I will certainly try to make the most of the time I have here. Now, a warning before the preceding pictures. I had shaved (not entirely) as a reward for Kevin. And it was nasty. Be prepared.
Until next time!
-Paul
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