A couple of weeks ago I went to New York for a conference related to web development. The conference was excellent and I wrote up my thoughts on the conference on my company blog.
I really enjoyed my time there and found the city much easier to get around than Toronto. The subway in New York is very good, but not quite as good as that in Seoul. New York is really a great place for photography and I truly wish I had more than one day to roam around as I didn’t get enough shots in. I did upload two sets to flickr – one on general New York and the other on the Conference and venue.
And here are a few of the pics that I really like.
Manhatten from the Staten Island Ferry
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This morning I was doing the dishes and last minute cleaning in preparation to pick up my wife and kids at the airport, after a long and busy three weeks, when I noticed a squad of police marching by in full body armor with shields and assault rifles. I immediately started thinking “What the Fuck is going on in my neighborhood” put down the dishes and started looking for my camera.
At the beginning I just stayed in the house and shot pictures through the window as I didn’t want the police causing me any trouble due to the photography. It’s not illegal to take pictures of police, but they don’t like it. Fortunately I have a pretty good telephoto lens with a reach of 300mm.
Once I noticed my neighbors rubber necking outside, I stepped out and took a few more shots, but by then everything was over. Did see a news camera from CITY News there and have checked their site but can’t find any info on the raid.
When I moved into this house and told the few people I know in Toronto they all told me this was a great neighborhood and that the school my kids would be going to is very good. Absolutely did not expect this to happen.
through my kitchen window
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My Friends
14 years is a long time. In my time in Korea I’ve seen people come and go and that’s the nature of being an expat in Korea. The longer one is here the more difficult it becomes to make new friends because you know that they are going to leave before you do. In my experience the average western expat in Korea stays less than two years.
Here is a tribute to my current list of friends, the ones that I will miss the most. It’s hard to say good bye, but my time has come and I just wanted to let you all know how much I’ll miss you guys.
Going left to right and top to bottom a tribute to the best friends a guy could ever have.
Gary T. A pillar of faith and not afraid to tell you when you’ve been an ass. Strong willed, funny and loyal to the end. One of my two best friends.
Duane H. The person I have spent the most time with in Korea other than my wife. The most helpful and giving person I know – a carnivore, with a penchant for cooking vegetables, but claiming to not like them. A gamaphobe, but still with the same girl after more than 10 years. A sarcastic, wise cracking, funny man, but still the nicest guy. A man of polar opposites and my other best friend.
Shelley C. The only woman on the list and my coffee-mate. I’m really going to miss our Sunday morning coffees at Caffe Bene and walking around Hongdae looking for new independant coffee shops.
John McD. My conference friend. John was a loyal reader and commenter on my teaching blog until I closed it down after 5 years. Enjoyed seeing him at the KOTESOL conference every year, talking on skype and the phone. Wish you didn’t live so far away.
Dave J. The youngest guy on the list and my newest friend. Always ready to help with a little bit of code or give an idea about a project. An Apple enthusiast but not a kool-aid drinker. And he takes great photos too.
John M. Self professed Doctor of Boobology. The only funny man I know who can repeat the same jokes over and over and over and over and over and still be funny. Also going back to Canada this summer – looking forward to comparing your experience to mine. Hope to see you one day in Victoria.
Danton F. My longest friend in Korea. We met in 1999 while working at the Korea Herald. Danton is the only friend still in Korea to have attended my wedding. Fully fluent in Korean (translation and interpretation) Danton is always willing to help his friends.
Bill M. The Pastor at my Church, all round good guy. He married me and my wife, baptised my children and has been there every Sunday for us. We’ll miss you.
Paul S. One of the best guys to hang around with. A great teacher and an even better family man. I wish we’d had more time to hang out, but we live so far away.
Dan L Another great friend – we attended Sogang Korean Language school together, had many galbi dinners together and Dan is the best Scrabble player I know – he wins at least 80% of our games. Sorry I’m going to miss your wedding next year – all the best in your future with your lovely bride.
Doug M A connisseur: of single malt whiskeys, of beer, and of tv shows. Thanks for introducing me to single malt Whiskey’s I can never drink anything else again. Will miss our 8am coffee’s up on the fourth floor of the Humanities building before classes begin. Looking forward to pictures of the house you’re building in the Saskatchewan bush.
Kevin D. He’s A newfie and that says it all, but Kevin was a great organizer of events for teachers and friends and also the carver of the Turkey’s I cooked at my home. Best of luck in your move to Goose Bay Labrador this summer – I expect a place to stay when we come to visit you in a couple of years.
To all of my friends who made this list and those who didn’t, I want you all to come and visit me in Toronto. THere’s a steak on the Bar-be-que, a beer in the fridge and a sofa for you to sleep on. Come and visit. Will miss you all a lot.
Yesterday the movers came and moved our stuff. It was a very hectic morning and I missed the beginning of it since I needed to go to the embassy to drop off my wife’s passport as I mentioned in the previous post – Visa Provisional Approval.
The movers did an awesome job of packing up our stuff and if I had known that they were going to pack the boxes I had originally packed in their own boxes I wouldn’t have packed anything myself. Well technically I knew that, but now after the experience I know that I would leave it to the movers.
One mistake that we made in the busyness of the moment was that we didn’t check the walls for photos, paintings and ornaments so we have several of those that didn’t get packed up. Fortunately after calling the company they are going to come over and pack up one more box for us. You can see more details about the moving company in my post from April – Moving Company Booked
Here’s a few photos from the move.
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Packing up the wife’s desktop
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This past weekend we visited the in-laws house for the last time before I leave for Canada in June. My wife will make one more trip down to visit her mother after I’ve left and then that is it. In any case we took a lot of photos. I’ll share a few here but to see more go check out my flickr set: Chungchungbuk Do where there are some older photos as well as 40+ from this trip down.
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