Stuck in Seoul, Sorta!

(November/December 2009)

I decided to head back to the US for about a month, so I could get my updated paperwork to teach another camp in Korea. This camp didn't start until January, but I decided to head back early December, so I could visit another few countries during the Christmas and New Year's holidays. That plan stopped dead in its tracks since the Korean consulate and Korean immigration didn't see eye to eye. It turned out that even though the consulate said I could enter Korea on my work visa and exit with permission then reenter again to work, this was not the case. If I were to leave Korea, my work visa would become invalid since it was a single entry. Soooo, my early arrival to Korea meant I had a month to kill in the winter without the ability to leave the country. Fortunately, I found domestic diversions to eat up my time.

During my first few days back, I stayed at the Bebop Guesthouse in Seoul again. I met some great people and even met a mutual friend of someone I went to university with. So to put it into perspective, a guy I knew from the University of Iowa in the United States was friends with a guy vacationing in Seoul, Korea that was living in Tokyo, Japan. Small world as the cliche goes, and it may not be that exciting for others, but it was exciting for us at the time. I also met some lovely British gals, Hayley and Sara, who seemingly understood my ROK dilemma (being stuck in the country). They offered me the chance to visit the sights, sounds, and fellow teachers of Jecheon one weekend, which I gladly accepted. While the town wasn't all that much, sorry Hayley and Sara, the people and hospitality more than made up for it! Everyone just bonds so much better when they travel!