A Fresh Start

2012 is finished and the new year has begun. Hello 2013.

2012 was a year of challenges and small triumphs as well. The biggest milestone for me creatively was completing my first book, "Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal." I learned a lot about the writing and editing process while penning my first self-published work. I know what I will do differently the next time and how I can make future works much better. I was proud to finish my book and at the same time happy to learn how I could improve my writing and editing process.

I am happy to say that there will be a new book in 2013. I have already begun putting it together. This one will involve a lot of time interviewing people and gathering anecdotal data and stories. This one won't be about teaching in Asia, but in a way will be about teaching. If you have been reading the last few posts here on the "Far Away Blog" you might already have an idea about the topic.

As far as other creative endeavours have gone, I have continued to be active on my YouTube channels and have met some great people through my hobby. In 2013, I plan to continue with my fun video making hobby and hopefully bring it up a few notches.

I can inform all you fine readers out there, if you don't already know, that I will become a father again in 2013. In late spring my wife and I are expecting "little person" number TWO! Exciting and interesting times for sure.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by this blog in 2012 and if you re new to it, welcome. 

I hope you all have a safe and happy 2013 and a productive year as well.

You can follow me on Twitter @jlandkev

New School Year Resolutions

The new year is upon us!!! Well, the new year is upon many workers in Japan including myself. The new fiscal and school year began yesterday. New company workers (freshmen) put on their best black suits and shines up their shoes in order to walk to work with their heads held high, beaming with pride. Many people across Japan had been transferred and were starting with new branches of their current companies in different parts of Japan. The buzz of nerves, excitement and sake (post 6:00 pm) filled the air.

In my case, the new school year is around the corner. I have spent the last two days doing PD (professional development) workshops and tomorrow, go to school to tidy up my classroom and get ready for my new band of merry, high octane students to run through the doors. With a new year comes new challenges. I will be faced with students who have personalities I must get to know. They will have abilities that are amazing and challenges that will possibly test the limits of my knowledge. They will be eager to learn and at times filled with anxiety to try new things. they will have parents who are supportive and possibly, parents who may not see eye-to-eye with me as a teacher.

The new school year will begin soon and I am definitely ready. Am I 100% ready? Not at all. There are many things to do as a teacher to prepare for the new year. To be honest, it will probably take me several weeks to fully settle in.

A with the beginning of every school year, I also realize that there are things I want to do in order to make myself a better teacher and ensure my students have a great year in my class.



There are some new school year resolutions:

1. Be more organized with my assessment and teaching material (this is easier said then done for someone as disorganized as I am).

2. Spend more time focusing on teacher-parent relations. As a teacher, knowing what is going on at home can give you great insight into a student's behaviour (good or bad) in class.

3. Integrate more fun technology into the classroom.

4. Spend more time learning about local nature and teaching my students about the outdoors. I take my students outside to a giant park each day and it is the perfect outdoor classroom. I have been studying about Japanese birds, but need to learn more about the local flora and fauna (I want my students to love Nature as much as I do).

5. Dust off my literacy teaching skills. I used to be very enthusiastic about teaching comprehensive literacy, but over the past few years, my teaching of reading has become a little stagnant. Time for me to go back to school in a sense and sharpen my teaching skills.

6. Not get so stressed at the end of each term.

7. Do more fun and creative crafts/artwork with my class more often.

8. Brainwash my students and their parents that Canada is the greatest country in the world and they want to travel thee, spend lots of money and help the Canadian economy! (ok....just kidding....but not really)

9. Teach my class here in Japan all about the wonders of Tim Hortons.

10. Make this school year better than last year!

Hopefully I can organize my classroom as well as this one!

REMEMBER....

You can buy a copy of my eBook, "Teaching in Asia: Tales and he Real Deal" here!!! 

If you have ever considered coming to Japan or South Korea to teach, this is a great "how to" guide for you.

Great Stuff about "Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal"

A hectic day. A busy day. A sad day. A nice day.

After almost a month's vacation I went back to work today. It was of course hectic because I have gotten used to a schedule that basically involves hanging out with my family, going for a run and working a bit on my book or now, public relations/marketing for my book.

It was a sad because I have been with my young son every day for almost a month. I have watched him grow and develop so much, but now.....back to work. I am not complaining about my job, it's a good one. I just get a little spoiled with so much vacation time. 

GREAT day because of two great reviews of my book, Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal. 

An amazing written look at the book on Dimitri's blog. He is a university professor who was based in Japan last year.

Next, a nice review from You Tube video blogger LaurenNIHON:

REMEMBER....you can buy my book right here!

My Book - Featured on the Qiranger Adventures Podcast

Each week I listen to the Qiranger Adventures Podcast. This morning I was listening to it while making my breakfast and swilling my morning coffee. I was a little more than happy when I hear him, unexpectedly give a great review of my book!

Listen to well known travel blogger Steve Miller discuss "Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal."

Tips For New Teachers: Rules and Consequences

Tips for new teachers......

Rules and consequences

As a new teacher it is extremely important that you set very clear rules from day one with your students. You might want to ask the manager or owner of your school about this, but normally, one of the best ways to inform students about the rules is by posting them on the wall. Students will of course need to be constantly reminded of the rules orally, but a visual reminder often makes the rules more tangible.

Of course, what would rules be without consequences? You might not be able to make these up yourself because the school you work in may have certain policies already in place. On the opposite end of things, you may find yourself working at a school that is chaotic and prefers not to have rules for fear of “scaring off students.” The school I talked about in my “Disorganized School” story was one such school. The owner of that school in Korea didn’t want us to consequence students in any way, even if their behavior was bad because he was afraid the school would lose customers. Luckily not all schools are like that.

The consequences you choose to go with your new rules will of course have to be fair and not extreme. The most important thing for you as a new teacher to remember is that you must always maintain those consequences. Sometimes a teacher may say something like, “If you speak during quiet reading one more time then you will have an extra homework page.” The student then does speak again, the teacher tells them to be quiet, but forgets to give the homework page. Those students, as well as the others in the class, have just learned something very important about the teacher. They’ve learned that the teacher’s threats are hollow. From that moment on, the students will continue to probe and push, seeing how far they can get with their new teacher.

Many years ago, the first mentor teacher I had during a student teaching practicum in Canada told me, “Kevin, if you talk the talk you better walk the walk. If you tell students they will have to stay in at lunch as a punishment, be prepared to give up your own lunch to watch them.” Valuable words. If the kids in your class (this of course doesn’t apply to adult learners) know there will always be repercussions for breaking rules, most of them won’t break the rules or at least not as often.

This is a small excerpt from my eBook "Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal." For more teacher tips like this as well as stories and job hunting ideas, download the book for only $5.99.

You can also read an interview with me about self-publishing on the Our Man in Abiko blog! Check it out today.

Good Reviews of "Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal"

It has been more than 24 hours since my first book was published on the Amazon Kindle store. I am very happy that I was able to finally see this writing project come to fruition and so happy that people have been downloading the book.

I plan to work hard in the coming days, weeks and months to promote it and make sure it gets a wide audience. So far, many people having been saying kind things over Twitter and on Facebook. People have also been writing some AMAZING reviews on the Kindle Store itself.


Here are just some of the great tweets sent to me (@jlandkev) on Twitter:

There have been many other amazing tweets and I am saving everyone of them!

This morning I woke up to find an email from the well-known Korea-based blogger Steve miller, aka "qiranger" who already did a review of Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal for his blog and You Tube. Check out his review video!



I appreciate all the great feedback! Thanks everyone.

When new reviews or interviews about the book occur, I'll post all the information right here!

My First Book for Sale!

The day has finally come. After a lot of hard work, a labor of love is complete. After many years of receiving questions from hundreds of readers and You Tube viewers about teaching in South Korea and Japan, I have written a book about it!

If you are interested in coming to Japan or Korea to teach, this is the book for you. Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal is a great starting out point for your research!

Even if you do not plan to teach abroad, but have an interest in Asia, you may find my stories about life inside and outside the classroom entertaining.

Download it from the Amazon Kindle Store TODAY!

If you don't have a Kindle, you can read it on your PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad or Android device! Download the free Kindle Reader here.

The "Teaching in Asia" Home Stretch

Yes folks, we are on the home stretch. Just days away from the release of my first book, "Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal", I have to admit, I am having trouble sleeping at night. Why am I have this trouble? I suppose that is pretty simple. My mind is racing with thoughts of excitement, nervousness and some anxiety. I have put so much of my energy and free-time into this project and I of course hope it is a success.

I suppose the fact that, as a blogger, my first book will be published period, is a huge achievement itself. Now I know what I am capable of and what I need to do in order to improve. Now I am excited for the next writing project! Hey, if I can write one book, why not another after that? Ideas are already darting around in my brain and I have been jotting down notes.

As I have explained before, "Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal" is a "how to" guide for people interested in coming to Japan or Korea to teach. it is a great place to start your research. if you are not directly interested in coming abroad to Asia, I think you will sill find the stories entertaining. If you enjoy my writing style and are a regular reader of this blog, then it is basically my blog on steroids!

A question many people ask me is, "Kevin, can I read your eBook if I don't have a Kindle Reader?" Of course you can!

Amazon has a free Kindle reader app for iPhones, iPads, Android devices and of course, PC's and Macs. There is even the Kindle Cloud Reader! If you have a computer, you can read my book!

You can download the free Amazon Kindle readers here: Amazon Kindle Reader


I will be uploading the book to the Kindle Store early next week. If all goes well and there are no technical issues (I have never formatted a book and ePublished before), it will be good to go late next week!

I will make a series of You Tube videos on all my channels and announce it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and here of course!

Stay Tuned!

Vacation in Japan

Hey there everyone! I have been on vacation for the past week and a half and luckily have more left. That is one of the perks of working where I work. I work my backside off, but I get more vacation than the average bear.

So what have I been up to lately?

1. Spending quality time with my wife and 20 month old son.

2. Running, Running, Running. I have found my passion again and am putting on a lot of kilometers.

3. Working on my Running VLOG You Tube channel called "RunCauseItsFun."

4. Wrapping up my eBook, "Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal." (Hopefully out late next week)

5. Not drinking beer. Decided to give up the suds for a few months to lose weight and become a faster runner!

6. Enjoying the dawn of spring in the Kansai area.

7. Beginning to think about the new school year that starts in two weeks.

8. Daydreaming about running goals for 2012 and beyond!



Here are a few pictures from the past week!

 My Steak and Guinness pie creation Saturday night. Every year for St. Patrick's Day I make this. 

A school bus toy i bought for my son the other day. The little guy is obsessed with vehicles of all shapes and sizes.

In HAT Kobe. This is an area I love to run in. If you look at this picture it is pretty obvious why. I took this while on a run a few days ago.

Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal (My FIRST book)

A month has passed since my last post and a lot has happened in that time. Most of what I have been doing is work related. Teaching and all of the other administrative things that go along with my job have been keeping my days and evenings full.

The school year has ended for me and I am beginning to enjoy a three-week vacation. I plan to stay in Kobe and finish up my biggest personal project to date.

Now, I haven’t been writing posts for this blog, but I have indeed been writing, rewriting, editing and revising.

Last summer, while out for a walk during a break at work, I was reading a blog I follow. I read that the blogger has just published an eBook about travel. My interest was caught. I went back to work and for the remainder of my break read about self-publishing. Seemed pretty straightforward as long as I had something to publish.

I decided I would write a short eBook about teaching in Asia. I have experience teaching in both South Korea and Japan. I worked as an ESL teacher for several years and then returned to Canada to get my teaching certification. After gaining some experience in Canadian classrooms, I then came to Japan where I have worked as a homeroom teacher at an international school since.

Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal is a “how to” guide of sorts. It is mostly for those interested in moving to Asia to teach. It will definitely be a helpful source of information for university students hoping to make the move abroad or professional teachers thinking of moving to Japan or Korea.

The “how to” aspect of the book is only part of it. The rest is filled with stories from the classroom as well as many stories about adventures and inspirational moments I have had outside the classroom. If you are a teacher or thinking of becoming one, Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal will be for you. If you simply have an interest in education or life in Asia, you’ll enjoy it too!

Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal will be available on the Amazon Kindle store soon.

For more information about the book, check out the new companion blog, TeachAsia. Loads of informational about the book and the topic are there.

Listen to my Teaching in Asia update podcast on Sound Cloud:

Here is the working cover for the book! Looks great, but there may be some changes in the next few weeks. 

Teaching in Asia....the podcast?

I started playing with something new this eveing. I started to mess around with something called SoundCloud. Basically I can produce quick, on the fly podcasts using my iPhone. I recorded my first episode this evening. I talk about my book "Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal"


SoundCloud seems pretty freakin cool so far.

Take a listen and let me know what you think. if you like this mini-podcast, I will make more.

Teaching in Asia

Earlier this evening, an online and "real life" friend of mine asked me, over Twitter, "what exactly is your book about and how can I get it when it is finished?"

That's right folks. I'm in the midst and in the home stretch of finishing my first book. Well, at least the first draft of it at any rate. I have mentioned this before here on this blog as well as on my You Tube channels (from which I am taking a hiatus), on Facebook, Google+ and on Twitter. Some of you are aware of my writing project and many of you are not. 

Long story....not so short. I was an ESL teacher in South Korea for more than five years. I then went back to Canada, got my elementary school teaching credentials, taught in Canada and then came to Japan where I now teach at an international school. I have been a teacher for ten years now, taught in three countries and have worked in language schools, Canadian public schools as well as the international school system. All the while, I have been a blogger and for more than five years, a You Tube video blogger. 

In those years, I have received hundreds of questions from people all around the world interested in coming to Asia to teach. Some questions have been thoughtful while others, not so much. I have written many a blog post answering some of them and have made even more videos. My videos about teaching in Korea and Japan have received hundreds of thousands of hits. Some of my most popular ones are not so much about facts and advice, but stories from my time in Korea and Japan. 

I am a teacher and I am a story teller. I'm honestly not sure which one I like being more. In a way, they both go hand in hand. 

Last September, while out for a lunch time walk at work I came to a conclusion. There was no way I could ever truly explain everything I want to about working and living in Korea and Japan in a blog format. There's simply too much to discuss. Likewise, I could never do more than scratch the surface with a You Tube video. That's when the idea was born.

I began writing "Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal" that same evening. A book that would be both practical and hopefully entertaining. A book aimed at those around the world who were interested in coming to either South Korea of Japan to teach. It would be a practical "how to" guide as well as series of stories about my experiences in Asia, both inside and outside of the classroom. People really seemed to enjoy my stories on You Tube so I thought a lot of people out there would enjoy them on paper as well. 

The book started to almost write itself and by November, the bulk of the first draft was completed. Then my work schedule increased and I started video blogging on You Tube more than ever before. With all the time I was spending on You Tube, I had little or no time to write. The book basically got put on the back burner. 

The new year came along and I decided that writing was far more meaningful to me than video blogging. I decided to stop video blogging all together until I could get this project finished. My priority is to get this done and self-published. In 2012, that is a pretty easy thing. My book, once done will be available on the Amazon Kindle store for a small sum. At the moment I am in the midst of adding a few more stories to make it more worth while and fun for the "future readers" out there. 

If you have any thoughts of coming to Asia to teach, this book will help you find a job and hopefully the right one for you. it will also help anyone out there with no classroom experience and for those who do, hopefully offer you a few new perspectives. 

Even if you have no desire to ever teach in Asia, I think you will still find something interesting within it's pages.

Close to launch time, I will let you know about the website for the book itself.

Stay tuned for more!

Check ut a story from my BusanKevin You Tube channel. I shot this one more than 3 years ago. It is about the first time I stepped foot in a classroom. This story and many others will be in "Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal."

Things I Shouldn't Have Done in Korea

I received an email today from a You Tube viewer who is soon heading to South Korea to be a teacher. They asked me some questions about getting prepared for their big move. Obviously there are so many things one can do to prepare in advance of such a life-changing endeavor.

The question I liked was along the lines of, “Looking back on your time in Korea, what would you have done differently?” That is a great question. It immediately got me thinking about some of the bad choices I made so many years ago when I first went abroad to teach.

Now, I have of course made some great choices over the years, but I had had my fair share of “bad calls.” Writing this post in 2012, I am a dedicated and hard working teacher. I love what I do and really feel that I’m good at it. I take what I do seriously and love helping others who hope to become teachers or current teachers who wish to become better ones.

In 2002 I wasn’t the teacher I am now. I wasn’t even the same person I am now.

Let’s just jump into a short list of some things I would have done differently during my first year in South Korea:

Taken my job more seriously! I know for a fact that I wasn’t a very hard worker and didn’t really care much about my teaching. I was having an “adventure” in Korea. I was drinking and having a yearlong party. I was the type of “teacher” who annoys the Hell out of me now. I was the sort of teacher that in my current position in 2012, I would probably fire!

I wouldn’t have partied so much. I was so excited to be so far away from everything I knew. I was having too much fun in bars, pubs and clubs with other like-minded “party animal” teachers. As I look back on those days, I lament all of the amazing things I could have or should have done while in Korea. I was too busy going out and drinking beer to travel extensively or really learn about my host country.

I would have avoided the “human train wrecks.” I associated with too many people who were out of control. I met too many teachers who simply went overboard and felt that there were no boundaries for them. I was hanging around with men and women who drank too much, got into fights and generally gave foreigners in Korea a bad name. I wish I hadn’t spent any time with people like that.

I wish I had traveled more. I lived in three different cities in Korea and explored them extensively, but really wish I had spent more time exploring the more rural areas of Korea and the culture they had to offer.

I wish I liked seafood back then. I like seafood now. I didn’t eat it in 2002. Now that I think about it, I missed so many amazing culinary experiences. Korea has amazing food and I should have eaten more of it.

I wish I spent more time becoming a better teacher. I wish I had taken the time to learn about being a better teacher. I taught some great kids during my first year in Korea and I wished I had done a better job educating them.

Now of course I had many wonderful experiences in Korea during that first year. I went on to spend five years in total there. In the end, I made more good decisions than bad ones.

If Korea or Japan is the place you want to go, there are countless ways to research them these days. Spend time on blogs and watching vlogs. Take your time though. It’s never a good idea to rush into anything and remember, try to do things the “right” way!

Cold Turkey from Vlogging!

It’s time to go cold turkey! That’s right. I have to quit. Well, maybe not quite, but at least go on hiatus for a while. Yup, I just can’t get things done if I keep going at the same pace as I am now.

If there is one thing that I am absolutely amazing at, it is spreading myself too thin. Jumping into too many projects all at once is something I’ve always been a little more than proficient at. Let’s see. What are the various projects I have on the go at the moment?

• youtube.com/busankevin – my main video blog (or vlog) channel that I’ve run for more than 5 years. Videos about life in Asia/Canada/food/ranting/ramblings/travel destinations and more. At least one edited video (normally more) posted each week.
• youtube.com/jlandkev –my unedited, usually uploaded directly from my iPhone vlog channel showing snippets of my every day life here in Japan. Normally I upload 2-3 videos a day. Sometimes more, sometimes less.
• Youtube.com/runcauseitsfun – a new vlog channel all about running. More than a dozen videos about running uploaded since Christmas.
• Running – I have run on average, about 40km a week this year and plan to ramp that up to 60-80km a week soon.
• Blogging – I have this blog (not very active and sorry about that) as well as my “Running to Help Japan” blog.
• Hair brained fundraising schemes to help children in need in northern Japan.
• My BOOK! “Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal.” The first draft is a hair away from completion.
• Wonderful wife and son.
• Full time job as a teacher at an international school.
• Nothing to add here…..just wanted 10 things…

As you can see, there is a reason I average four hours of sleep a night. Seriously, that is all I normally get and some things are starting to bother me (aside from my ever-present dark circles under my eyes).

I NEED to get my book completed. I am so close to being finished and so excited about that fact that I have to wrap it up ASAP! There is nothing ground breaking about my written work, but I know it will be an entertaining read and have a lot of useful and fun information for those out there interested in coming to either Japan or South Korea to teach.

Originally I intended to have it completed by October and ready to hit the Amazon Kindle store before Christmas. That didn’t happen. Why not? Well, I started to get obsessive about my video blogging once again. That’s the issue with me. My You Tube presence gets me so excited that I forget about all of the other important projects I have on the go. Those important projects get put on the back burner and don’t seem to move forward.

I’ve decided there’s only one thing I can do to make sure I get my first draft of “Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal” finished, proofread and sent off to some other editorial eyes in the next month or two. The only way is to go You Tube cold turkey! That’s right. No You Tube for the entire month of February. I have done this sort of thing in the past when I was feeling “You Tube” burnout, but this time it’s different. At the moment I am having a great deal of fun with You Tube and video blogging, but I am spending too much time focused on that and not enough time writing.

I have to post several planned videos in the next week or so, but come February 1^st, I will not log into You Tube for a month. In that time I will set aside at least an hour or two each day to work on my book and maybe write some blog posts here. I will also remain active on Twitter. I won’t be going into a tech blackout, just a You Tube hiatus.

When I return in March, hopefully, I’ll have a book close to completion and an accompanying website to promote it! I’m looking forward to getting this big (for me) project wrapped up!

Stay tuned for more!

BE PREPARED! : Advice for Classroom Newbies

I am both a teacher and a story teller. In September 2011, I began writing "Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal." This book is basically aimed at anyone out there who is interested in coming to Asia, more specifically South Korea or Japan to teach English. After many years of blogging and making videos about teaching on You Tube, I decided that the best way for me to share my knowledge and experience with everyone was in book format. Hopefully, within the next few months, the eBook version will be available in the Kindle Store.

Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal will be a combination of practical "how to" information as well as some interesting and entertaining tales from my years overseas (where I still am). If you have followed my BusanKevin You Tube channel for any time you may be familiar with my story telling videos. I have definitely lead and interesting life to this point and love to share my stories with pretty much anyone who will listen. This book will help you find a job, become a better teacher and hopefully, entertain you all at the same time.

Here is a brief snippet from a section about preparing when you have little or no teaching experience:

Lesson Preparation:

There is no such thing as being too prepared. Being prepared and even better, being over-prepared can be a very comforting thing in the first days of your teaching career.

A few years ago, while working as a head teacher at a private school I was responsible for observing new teachers. A recently hired teacher was going to be conducting a lesson on one of his first days in the classroom. He was to give me his lesson plan and I would quietly sit in the back of his classroom watching him teach and interact with his students. I was looking for many things while I observed. Was his lesson meeting curriculum needs? Was his lesson well planned and engaging for the students? Did he transition well between different activities? Did he manage the students well? How did the students respond to his teaching style and delivery? The list goes on.

What I saw was a nervous teacher speed through his lesson in half the time he had planned and then freeze. He quickly raced through his class material, not really stopping to see if the students were understanding and when he reached the end of his lesson, or should I say his lesson plan (there were still 30 minutes left in class), he literally stopped speaking. He nervously looked at the students and then me before rummaging through his teacher resource basket for a few moments. He then looked at me and said, “That’s all I have. I don’t know what to do.” His class was confused and looked at me. I told him he had 30 minutes to go and he had to do something for that time since it was his class. He panicked and I had to step in front of the class and off the cuff, create a writing exercise for them to do for the remaining time in that class period.

Although that teacher had clearly spent a lot of time planning his lesson, he wasn’t able to execute it the way he had hoped because he was simply too nervous. This is of course a very normal thing for someone who doesn’t have experience. The problem was that he didn’t have the experience necessary in order to have a “bag of tricks.” He wasn’t able to think of something off the cuff when his lesson didn’t go the way he had planned.

That teacher and many others out there in both Japan and Korea could save themselves from this uncomfortable if not terrifying experience if they just “over-plan” before their first few lessons. You might want to even do it for the first few weeks until you start to get more familiar with your new role as a teacher.

That teacher I observed should have created extra teaching material aside from his language lesson. Maybe he could have created or found a journal worksheet online. The students could have drawn a picture and written about whatever the class topic was. Maybe he could have had a few puzzles in his resource basket. He could have gone online and researched a few ESL or phonics games he could play with the children if his planned lesson came to an end faster than expected. All of these extra activities would have been a small “bag of tricks” for him in a time of need.

Another great thing about planning too much in the beginning of your teaching career is that those lessons or activities that you planned and did not use are by no means a waste of time. You can create and label some folders and store them away for later use. You might not use them today, but you may want to next week or next month. In time, as you become more experienced and capable as a teacher, you might even want to share those resources with newer staff members in your school. You may be new to your job, but near the end of your first contract, you will be the veteran teacher helping someone new who has started working for your school.

In time, and you will know when, you won’t need to prepare as much. As you become better at managing a class and creating effective lessons and lesson pacing, you won’t have to spend so much time preparing. Again, you will know when this happens. Some people very quickly become comfortable in a classroom environment while other teachers may take some more time.

I always felt more relaxed when I knew I had more than enough activities prepared for my class. You definitely will too.

Over the next few weeks I will share some more snippets of Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal. I will also keep you updated on the progress of the book (first draft is almost complete).

Here is a BusanKevin "classic" video. This was shot in 2009 and in it I'm telling a story about my first day teaching in South Korea in 2002. It also happened to be my first day teaching ever. It was a disaster to say the least!

Canada and Back Again

It's been awhile folks. Actually, it's been a long while. More than one month has passed since I made my last post. Things have been busy. That is actually an understatement! things have been "gosh darn" busy (my apologies for the harsh language).

I went to Canada for the better part of December with my family. It was a fabulous time. My family in Canada had the chance to see my son for the first time and I have the opportunity to gain some weight. I worked very hard to put on about 3kg and I was happy with the results. the steady intake of Canadian craft beer, pizza and chocolate worked. 3kg heavier, I found myself back in Kobe at the end of the month and ready to rock in the new year! btw...HAPPY 2012 EVERYONE!!!!

Since coming back to Japan I have been focusing a lot on my running again. Last year was a great year for running. I ran a 60km (38 mile) home made ultra marathon and raised almost $4000USD for Save the Children and their work with the young survivors of the March 11th earthquake and tsunami. I also ran both the Osaka and Kobe Marathons. Duing my Xmas break in canada I started a new You Tube channel (just what I need...another project to spread me thinner) all about running. You can check out Run Cause It's Fun and let me know what you think!

In non-running news, I almost completed the first draft of my upcoming self-published (Kindle Store) book, Teaching in Asia:Tales and the Real Deal. It is a mixture of practical advice and stories for those of you out there who are interested in coming to either South Korea or Japan to be a teacher. I'm hoping this project will be finished soon!

Be sure to check out my Running to Help Japan blog of course. I am starting 2012 with some more fundraising ideas for my charity project. I am tossing around the idea of running 8 marathons in 8 weeks to raise money for Save the Children Japan. You can read more about it on the Running to Help Japan blog!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE and thank you for reading!

Multi-tasked to Death

I’m tired, but I’m happy. Did I mention I am tired? I’m tired in a new way. I’m tired to my very bones.

Things are a little busy for me at the moment. Actually, things are a LOT busy for me at the moment. I am of course working full time as a homeroom teacher and that takes up about 50 hours a week and sometimes more. I’m running two full marathons in the next four weeks and of course I am trying to finish up my first “real” attempt at writing. With the first draft of “Teaching in Asia: Tales and the real deal” near completing I have begun proofreading it on commutes and during my lunch breaks. Did I also mention I have a wife and one year old son at home I try to spend maximum time with?

Things are more than a little busy and to be honest, something’s got to give soon.

Priority number one is my family. Work follows that cause of course, “baby always needs a new pair of shoes!” Then comes running and then the book BUT, there has been a change for me with regards to the last two.

Running has been a major part of my life since I began training for my first full marathon in 2008. It has made me healthier, happy and I have achieved many personal goals doing it. I was also able to raise almost $4000.00 earlier this year for disaster relief in the Tohoku region of Japan through running. Running is good.

The thing that is beginning to wear on me these days is that as I come near the end of my first major writing project, I am beginning to love writing far more than running. There is a serious conflict there because both take up a major portion of my time and to do either one of them well, you need a lot of time.

In recent weeks, as I wake up at 4:30 am to get outside for a training run, I find myself wishing that I was sitting down and working on my book instead. Marathon training has become a chore. Writing has become a joy.

So, here’s the plan. I of course need to prepare for the upcoming Osaka and Kobe marathons, but once they are finished, I’m going to step back from running full marathons in 2012. The training simply takes too much time and once I finish “Teaching in Asia: Tales and the real deal”, I already have another writing project in mind.

I won’t give up running though. It’s simply too much fun. The other night I ran a rather quick (for me) 5k. I was surprised that I was able to run a very hill-filled 5k in a hair less than 23 minutes. What could I do if I seriously trained and even had some racing flats? Can I run a 20-minute 5k in the new year? How about a 45-minute 10k?

In the 2012 I plan to register for several 5 and 10k road races and we’ll see if I can be fast. The training won’t be nearly as time consuming and I can still run a few times a week.

My plan is to focus on my writing once Kobe Marathon is in the bag. My family will be a major focus as well.

You can follow me on Twitter: @jlandkev

Arghh...I can't eat that!

As many of you know, I am currently working on my first book. "Teaching in Asia: Tales and the real deal." will be released as an eBook later this year. It will be a great resource or anyone who is interested in moving to South Korea or japan to teach. It is practical advice from a certified elementary school teacher someone who has lived and worked in both countries (that's me by the way). It will be a mix of entertaining and useful stories as well as advice on how to find a job, prepare for your move and successfully adapt to the culture.

The best way to find out about the book, my progress putting it together and release information, keep an eye on my Facebook page. I will be setting up a website for the book just before the release.

I wanted to give you guys a little taste of what I am up to. This is a

small section form one of the chapters in the book. "Argh...I can't eat that!" is part of the Culture Shock chapter.

Argh…I can’t eat that

You are now in a very different culture and with the different culture come new culinary experiences. The food typically eaten on a daily basis by Korean or Japanese people is obviously quite a bit different from what a typical Canadian, American, Australian, etc. might eat. You are going to have to try your best to get used to it because when you are with your Korean or Japanese friends, students or going to most restaurants, that’s what you will be eating.

To be honest, when I first landed in Korea in 2002, I was anyt

hing but an adventurous eater. I grew up in Eastern Canada and although had a family that was open to new food experiences, I personally wasn’t. As a young man, I was more of a Subway sandwich and pizza sort of guy and freely admit that I feared the unknown when it came to eating.

When I arrived in Korea, I knew nothing about Korean food. I suppose most people who go to Korea to teach find themselves in a similar situation. Luckily, I really enjoyed most of the new dishes introduced to me. I became a big fan of the food Korea had to offer. Generally, Korean food is spicy. A main spice used in many dishes is “gochu” which is a red hot pepper. Korean food also consists of a lot of vegetables. It’s definitely healthy, but for some, it can be a little too much. Some people don’t like the strong smell of the garlic and sesame oil while others tend to find it too spicy. I have met a few teachers in my time that had a history of stomach ulcers or were in general just sensitive and couldn’t handle the “heat” of Korean food.

Again, I took to it pretty quickly and enjoyed it. My advice to those out there who have never had Korean food and are coming to Korea is to be open-minded. You never know what something is like until you try it. Korean food is extremely healthy and packed full of flavor. It is also extremely affordable if not down right cheap to dine out at most restaurants in Korea. Many teachers will prefer to eat out most nights of the week as opposed to cooking at home because it can actually be cheaper to do so.

Japan also has some great food and aside from sushi and sashimi, I had basically no knowledge of the cuisine before I met my wife several years ago. Now I am absolutely in love with Japanese food. There was one stumbling block for me though, seafood. While growing up I never liked fish and since it is a major element of Japanese food, had to really try hard and learn to like it. Luckily I have, with the exception of eel.

Like Korean food, Japanese cuisine contains far more vegetables and a variety of them than a typical Western dish. I suppose what I love the most about Japanese food is the fact that in one typical meal you will find so many flavors on your plate.

Now eating out in Japan sadly isn’t as affordable as in Korea, but it’s always worthwhile. Since coming to Japan, I tend to eat most meals at home, but since my wife is Japanese, the vast majority of them are Japanese food.

Most people will enjoy the local “eats” when they come to Japan and Korea, but some may not. Again, my advice is just to give things a try. Even if a “mysterious” dish doesn’t look appealing, it may be extremely delicious.

If for some reason you just can’t wrap your plate or stomach around some of the local dishes, if you live in a larger city, there are plenty of restaurants that would probably cater to your needs. In Japan, there are Italian and Indian restaurants on almost every corner as well as fast food restaurants and pubs that serve “American” style food.

The same goes in Korea as well. You can find McDonald’s and Starbucks almost everywhere and family restaurants such as Bennigan’s and TGI Friday’s are very popular, although expensive. Many large supermarkets carry a variety of foreign food products and there are even specialty shops that deal specifically in food from abroad.

If you aren’t in a major urban area you are probably going to be out of luck when it comes to finding comfort food from home. You may just have to suck it up and learn to like what’s around you. To be honest, it’s not very hard!

Some kimchi, one of Korea's most famous dishes.

Remember to follow me on Twitter: @jlandkev