To Korea, down to Thailand, now back to Korea.

That's what I've been up to the past couple months. On January 3rd I indefinitely departed the United States to teach in Korea, first at an intensive camp, then starting in March at an Elementary school in Busan. But to make this happen legally, (Korea like's to make things difficult) I had to get a new working Visa, so i made a last minute trip to Thailand.

It has been an interesting, fun, and sometimes stressful last couple months. I have learned alot met a bunch of cool people. here are some highlights.

• Teaching at English Camp On Jeju island.../yelling at middle schoolers for a month. I had never taught before, but 3 days after landing in Korea I was handed some books and told to get up there and figure it out. I taught for 5-9 hours a day for a 3+ weeks with 1 day off. We made English plays, went on field trips, played soccer, had spelling bees and all the other things that kids do. It was a ton of work, especially for someone who hadn't worked a day in 14 months.

• The best part of the camp was all the other teachers I met. We all got along really well, and most of them had been in teaching in Korea for a while. So they gave me lots of teaching tips, and were also my tour guides around town. Me, the novice, with no spoken Korean skills could rely on them to find the bar or get the taxi back to our school.

• When we weren't too exhausted from teaching we either played 2 on 2 basketball or got our drink on down in town. I learned so much about the local drinking customs, ( I may cover this in the future.) and what you do after drinking...head to the closest noraebong and sing your brains out. Each group gets their own room, so no need to worry about embarrassment.

• At the end of camp, came the payoff, literally. We all received an envelop of cash. No questions, no taxes, no problems. Also at the end of camp we rented a van and traveled around Jeju Island, which sits south of the mainland Peninsula. All I really remember is that it was really cold and windy for these 2 days. We ate lots of tasty Indian food and Korean BBQ and slept in.

• The next stop in my little adventure was Thailand. First to Bangkok to drop off my passport and proper documentation at the Korean Embassy in order to get my E2 visa, then the overnight bus boat combo to Koh Tao. A small island on the Pacific coast. I chose Koh Tao for a couple reasons. My friend Marc, who I met while in Nepal was there doing some free diving, and I wanted to visit a nice, relaxed place and not jump around the whole country and be rushed. Plus I could get SCUBA diving certification.

• Koh Tao was a great choice, I was able to do everything I wanted. I learned how to breathe underwater, up to 18 meters. That's as far as my open water certificate allows. I saw a new world down there, bright corals, big, bright fish. And lots of little ones too. The rest of the time I chilled on the beach, snorkeled, ate cheap Thai food, drank Chang beer, watched sunsets, drank rum and cokes and generally partied it up.

• Then it was back to Bangkok for a little shopping and to pick up my passport.To the airport for my flight on Jinair. Which is a discount airline that flies Seoul-BKK once a day. I got a ticket 2 days ahead of time, during Chinese New year for 450$. I thought that was a steal, considering the circumstances, and all the other airlines wanted like $900. They had adequate service, as in food. There was no music, movies, TV and the stewardesses wore jeans and ball caps. But they were still cute, which is important!