Brians Adventures in the World of Cycling in South Korea and Global Expeditions!: Pre-New Years 2007

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Pre-New Years 2007

It's Friday, December 29th in Korea or December 28th in the West. A Hakwon holiday has commenced in Korea and all the school children get a few days of rest from their regular 6-day academic week. The Hakwon is an academy where English is taught in after school programs throughout the year. Teaching consists of 1-2 hours of preptime and 8-45 minute sessions, 3 days per week (Mon/Wed/Fri), 7-45 minute sessions, 2 days per week (Tues/Thurs). It's a long exhausting day teaching in Korea. The compensation is usually 2.0-2.5 million KRW/month, plus 20,000 KRW/hour teaching in overtime hours. Overtime is calculated using the conditions signed in the original contract. Therefore, it is important to know teaching contracts thoroughly, before signing the dotted line. Accomodations are normally provided, but the rent is deducted from the monthly salary. Their is contract- completion bonus paid at the end of a 12-month contract. Working in Korea requires an E-2 Visa, provided by the sponsor/owner (Won-Jon-Nim) of the institute.

Since it's holiday time in Korea, as a Foreigner, I can't complain about having "time out" from the rigorous teaching schedule. The 40+ hours spent at my current employer is demanding since an hour of teaching is packed into each 45 minute lesson. Students range from elementary (primary) to middle school (grade 9), so with so many students ranging in ages and curriculum,this isn't an easy job by any means.

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About the Korean-World Author

Brian Perich was an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) lecturer for a decade, father, and adventure cyclist based in South Korea.

Previously, Brian has led Canoe adventures in Quetico Provincial Park, Atikokan, Ontario, Canada (1993/1999); led Grand American camping adventures (2000); lived at Paramahansa Yogananda's SRF Ashram for 5 months (see the film "AWAKE"), formerly worked in titanium welding at Agilent Technologies, formerly worked in Winery industry in Marin County with Kendall Jackson in California; Surfing and Meditation continued for several years in California, British Columbia, South Korea, Yoga training in California 1999-2000.

Between 1994-1998 - Brian completed his own adventures with motorcycles. His motorcycling marathons took him across the United States and central/western Canada, while traveling solo over an astounding 24,000km in 60 days! Brian endured 900 mile/1300km average days in the motorcycle saddle and apparently loved every minute of those adventures.

Today, he has given up motorcycle adventures altogether, but finds an outlet for his enthusiasm in outdoor recreation while bicycle touring and micro-blogging about those experiences on his mountain bikes.

While employed as an English teacher in South Korea, Brian has became an advocate for bicycle touring on his mountain bikes. The Korean-World blog originated from those small adventures in Korea, now expanded to cover his recent trek down the TransMongolian highway to the Gobi Desert, cycling 900km east through the Khentii grasslands and in 2012 crossing Mongolia in 45 days, 2500 kilometers 1553 miles. HimalayasX expedition Brian previously cycled across western China, the Taklamakan Desert, the northern Himalayas of East Turkestan Xinjiang/Uyghur Autonomous Region, the corrugated back roads and mountains of Kham Tibet. Brian successfully completed his 2011 mountain bike expedition with 3200 kilometers / 1988 miles unsupported, on/off road MTB adventure cycling.
Brian has completed his second mountain bike journey, MongoliaX expedition - Crossing Mongolia 2012, an unsupported mountain bike MTB expedition across 2500km of Outer Mongolia from Ulanbaatar to Altai Taven-Bogd National Park bordering China, Russia and Mongolia.

In 2013, as a sequel to a trilogy of cycle tours, Brian enjoyed a more leisure bicycle tour onboard his Koga-Miyata World Traveller seeing the northern tier of the United States and western Canada covering 3400 kilometers / 2000 miles in 30 days. This North American cycle tour was called Totherocktour. Enjoying the adventure of bicycle travel and every great conversation started while traveling on the road - has refueled his inspirations to cycle around the Earth. In 2013, while he cycled solo from the Great Lake State of Michigan, United States to Banff National Park in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. He weaved through local communities and reconnected with friends, family and community after spending almost a decade in Asia.

Brian is now supporting several non-profit foundations through expeditions: IDEAS Foundation of Canada IDEAS is the acronym for Intestinal Disease Education and Awareness Society which supports the IBD community, those suffering from IBD-inflammatory bowel disease, also known as Crohn's and Ulcerative Colitis.

The second non-profit foundation is ETE.ORG - Education Through Expeditions, UK which supports educational outreach programs inside schools around the world. ETE connects explorers with students in the classroom, through an interactive online program in development (Beta).

Brian is researching support for a 18000 kilometer bicycle expedition across the Americas: North, Central and South America - ONE -Arctic to Argentina

Please contact him if you are interested in helping out.

Media: Brian Peric

Twitter: Cycleagain

Location: Gangneung, Gangwon-do, South Korea or southern Ontario, Canada.