"Korea Dreambus" Pilgrimage and Documentary Film

I live by the checklist, especially when planning an international pilgrimage trip and personal documentary film! Here are a few things I've checked off the list:        renewed passport (last year) purchased plane ticket to Incheon Int'l.  purchased check luggage and backpack (pictured here) from TJ Maxx and Aldi, respectively identified points for itinerary (still working) booked hotel in Seoul for the first five days -- a traditional Korean  ondol  room which is extremely economical  began fundraising (two pledged donors to date) applied for an artist grant started researching more in depth on the Korean martyrs researching what to shoot this on (more on that soon) started this blog Updating the blog at reasonable intervals is a priority during the phases of preproduction, production, and post. Not sure what kind of time/access I will have when I am in Korea, but there will certainly be opportunities to grab some wifi and post an update.

Several years ago, I wrote a blog about my adventures traveling and teaching in Korea and China called "Adventures of the Jade Monkey."  Since that blog is fairly well junked by the internets, and since this is a very different kind of adventure, I decided to start a new blog to record my pilgrimage to S. Korea in 2024. A bit of background:  I lived and worked in S. Korea in 2002-2003, visited in 2007 to try making a documentary about the lives of EFL teachers in Korea, and returned in 2010 to teach at Hanyang University and finish that film. Due to reasons mounting in my personal life, I never did complete that film. Then in 2012, I experienced a profound reversion/conversion and returned to the Catholic Church. Previously, I had spent many years practicing Tibetan Buddhism, so this was a massive shift in my self-awareness and understanding of the truth of reality.  At the risk of boring you with my life story, I'll just say this... in 2022 I decided I needed to dive bac