LATENIGHT - KOREA

Thursday, June 19, 2003

Nowon, Seoul

Just a couple more days 'til I soar and I'm learning how expensive hotels are back home. I don't know how the tourists put up with it. Rooms in downtown Halifax run at about $300 bucks a night! I suppose I could spend all night at Perk's Cafe on the waterfront... I've done that a few times over the years.

Thanks to Marmot's Hole for the link to my site and another thanks to said blog for directing me to some recent notoriety in the form of publicity in the Joong Ang Ilbo in an article entitled, "Ride the voyeur train with these Korea-based blogs". Why they didn't include blogs like Marmot's I don't know. He's been doing a tremendous job lately. He is also covering the news in Korea better than I ever did and even includes some translations to articles originally in Hangeul. I've added a link to his blog on the side (or you can click here). His newspaper translations from Korean media, on the other hand, are here.

At the Hagwon...
School is just odd. Our new foreigner didn't start work today after all. There was some issue over availability. He could come next week while I'm gone or we might get someone else. Either way we need someone ASAP since I am not going to be here next week and someone will need to cover my classes (as well as the classes I have been covering this week in lieu of having another foreign teacher). Come next month, I received word that we will hire yet another foreign teacher to begin the summer schedule with. That means I should be expecting to have two non-Korean coworkers by August.

So I've been pretty much asked to go on a recruiting drive while I'm home. The whole thing led to an interesting conversation the other day. As a bit of background, I had been told that I would be conducting some of the foreigner interviews. That didn't pan out and they were conducted by our Korean-American staff member instead. He was telling me how he had interviewed four people and not really been satisfied with them-- but that plenty more would come along and he could afford to be selective (I'm paraphrasing). He then elaborated about how he felt that hagwons in Korea were outgrowing their need to have foreign instructors and that the time would come when the ESL bubble would burst for foreigners. I just shrugged and left it at that. I did feel surprised that so many foreigners were applying for the job though. (Not that it's a bad job-- things at my school are pretty good actually, aside from the usual lack of organisation which is standard in the industry).

Sure enough, with the absence of having a teacher today, and no idea where to find a backup, I got to have my own rebuttal on the state of teaching ESL in Korea *smirk*. I agreed that the bubble would burst but not because the hagwons were turning people away; rather foreign teachers were in shorter supply after all. Looking around these days, I can say that I am running into a lot more longtimers than newcomers. There just seems to be a dearth of fresh recruits, my experience Sunday night notwithstanding. English teachers sound like they're opting for destinations in Eastern Europe over Asia. If the whole thing tanks, it'll be because of the recent downturn in the Korean economy, and the fact that a lot of people are starting to take notes of all the pitfalls of teaching in Korea.

And personally, I just don't know. I figure I can vouch for my school for the time-being, and I welcome the opportunity to select a coworker or two-- a rare treat-- but I just don't know if I could honestly endorse teaching in Korea at present. Certainly if this was last summer I'd say DON'T COME. But with the demonstrations dying down and the government actively trying to repair foreign relations, it's possible that things could get back to almost normal. Koreans have been a lot nicer lately, that's true. It's just that little undercurrent of ethnocentricism here that bugs me. It's still here and not going anywhere, candlelight vigils or not. If you had asked me in the spring of 2002, whether or not to teach in Korea, I would have said, "come and bring a friend". Now I say, "come but bring a shovel."

One of this month's cartoons... ie. why I am busy lately.
This cartoon is in relation to the passing
of a recent "language law" in Town Council
Click to see a full-sized copy

Rambling to (and about) home...
Gods... enough. In two days I will be out of range of North Korean artillery for the first time in a year and a half. I hope I can still tie a Miramichi Knot in my fishing line... (through the eye, six twists, through the loop... yep, I remember). The fish are just starting to run. I doubt I'll have time to tie any new flies though so here's to hoping that my tackle box is full and waiting for me...

The new cartooning gig is going well. I still have one more sketch to get done before I fly out (either that or I'll spend my first night home locked in a room at a desk). I thought I'd post the above sample just to show you why I've been so busy lately.

Next:
Stay tuned as Ian relentlessly searches for nicotine gum in Korea... deathly terrified of the impending 23-hour flight.

Monday, June 16, 2003

Overpass and traffic in Nowon

I have a bit of time before I head in to work today so I thought I might as well do a quick recap of the weekend. I did end up going out, actually. Saturday, we met my cousin's wife in Itaewon for Middle Eastern food at Ali Baba's. She's here visiting family, including her dad whose seventieth birthday is coming up this summer. We stayed at the restaurant until close, getting caught up on the big city life back in Toronto. She'll be in town until just after I return from my vacation so I am hoping to see her again. From the sounds of it, my cousin will also be coming to Korea with her again in the fall. It's still a weird feeling to be able to meet family all the way across the planet.

Last night was the Seoul Artist's Network open mic at the Woodstock, also in Itaewon. They meet every first and third Sunday. I've decided that I would make more of an effort to get out so I finished off my housework as soon as I could (Sunday is cleaning day for me) and had *stayed up* until 9:30 am Saturday night, after returning from the restaurant, to get this Tuesday's cartoon done. Last night's music and poetry were fantastic.

I couldn't help but feel a bit shocked. Maritimers are drawn to open mics like moths to flame, but it's almost getting ridiculous. Yvon, from Moncton, was there. So was Brian from Halifax. It also seemed like every second person on stage was from either New Brunswick or Nova Scotia. Lo' and behold, a group of girls walked in and even they were familiar from the old Halifax scene. One could almost be forgiven if you forgot you were in Seoul. Now Brian has told me that another friend of ours will be arriving for his first time in Korea this fall added to yet another friend, a real longtimer, who is coming back after taking a year or so off to do his Masters back in Montreal.

I recall a great deal of whisk(e)y being drunk and I even got an introductory lesson in Irish Gaelic. All was good.

Today, I'll be taking up a few chores in preparation for me leaving this weekend. I ordered a new pair of prescription sunglasses which I have to pick up-- and I still have to get reimbursed for my airfare from my school. Things are work will be a bit different. Our new foreign teacher is supposed to begin today. I haven't met him yet and don't know anything more about him than his name.

As for our Korean teacher shortage... something will have to be done. If you remember me telling you about the, um, close personal ties between my elementary coworkers (who have gotten more pleasant since I stopped engaging them in anything more than "hello"), you won't be surprised to hear that one has chosen to leave at the same time as our head teacher. That leaves us with one elementary teacher who *might* stay, but she hardly speaks English. The middle school department, is going to enact some policy changes in the elementary department too. I mean, the elementary department has been successful at keeping students-- so something must be done about it-- no doubt to bring it into line with the rapid bleeding of students elsewhere in the school. Oh well, I'll just keep doing what I do.

Our elementary department, so I hear, must endeavour to make classes "less fun". (Yep, you've probably got the same look on your face that I did when I heard that). You see, mothers apparently want their children to suffer more, as a way to show that they are learning. The problem is that this is what started the downward spiral in the middle school classes. By beefing up lessons and assignments-- which the kids didn't do anyway-- the students ceased to enjoy the classes. Pleasing mothers is useless if it costs you the hearts and minds of the students. You could follow the mothers' wishes to the letter and heap on the homework, drill every second, test three times a day, and what will happen? The student goes home and says, "Mom, I hate my hagwon, and the teacher is this and that". At that point, kids will make up any number of stories to get out of going to class, and it's usually at the teacher's expense. So you lose those students and in the meantime, since half the mothers actually do want their kids to have fun and enjoy the hagwon, we lose those students also.

This is what led to the premature "leveling-up" of our grade six students to fill gaps in the middle school department. Unfortunately, many of these grade six students, whom I had taught since I came here, have also mysteriously vanished from the attendance rolls in recent days, once they hit the middle school department.

That's all for me, right now. I'm off to grab a shower, provided the water is still back on (hot water had been off for about a week again; and on Friday, water was off completely.) Think I'll stop in for some bekban at the restaurant in our building, too.

DAMN! The speaker just chimed and the ajashi for our building made an announcement. My guess is it has something to do with water. I had better hurry.

[P.S. Blogger has changed it's editor around and the new spellchecker sucks. Laughably though, it asked me if I wanted to replace "Moncton" with "nonstandard". Yvon, that one's for you. *smirk*]

Friday, June 13, 2003

Nampodong Fish market in Busan

It's been raining. Not alot, but it's been raining the past couple of days. That broke the monotony of weather we've had for at least a couple of weeks. Basically the weather this season is such that it looks like a cloudy day everyday, but feels like a sunny day if that makes any sense. It's hot, but visibility is so limited that I can only half see nearby Bulam Mountain on my way to work.

Purposefully, not much is new. Our part-time foreign teacher's last day was today. The official plan is to place him with a full time, regular staff foreigner (maybe even a freshly imported one). The school has said he'll be under the same contract setup as I am, with an apartment, similar salary and hours, etc. It'll be weird to adjust to, I guess. Like I said, there's only one other person in the entire school who's been there longer than me (by about a month). People come and go and I'm not as observant of them as I used to be. On a similar note, our head elementary teacher is quitting next week. I think she's been with us for about a year-- give or take 6 months.

La la la, in my own little world.

My tickets are in hand (though payment is still forthcoming I have every expectation that I'll get it tomorrow). I fly out in 8 days. Plans include a bit of gothic clubbing in Halifax, various pagan romps through several communities, a folk concert in one of the inshore fishing villages that I'd never heard of before (though I'm sure is a lovely place), some canoe trips, maybe some mackeral fishing, likely a lot of chores around home involving axes and woodsplitters, and of course we will conduct the mandatory cursing of politicians over beer on the back porch. I'll be checking in at the newspaper and will get a chance to meet the new editor for the first time, face to face. The new curator at the town museum has asked me to drop by, too. It sure will be nice to get back on native soil for a brief recharge (though spending some time on the water will be a great bonus too)... Speaking of which, there had better be some fresh lobster when I get there. The lobster season began three weeks ago, so I assume it must be in full swing now. Mmmmmmm.

On a more local note
Today marks the anniversary of the accident involving the two middleschool girls, last year. Activist groups have promised to field a million anti-American demonstrators. [Note to self: transfer all available money home immediately this morning and divest myself of Won]. I think most foreigners, in Seoul at least, will be battening down the hatches today and tomorrow. Maybe it'll blow over. This time there's no election coming up so the government is more eager to suppress such activities and with the state of the economy lately, not so many people seem as eager to alienate the foreign investors. Basically, there's no way of knowing what'll happen. I don't have a reason to go out so I'll stay in my relatively quiet neighbourhood.

Saturday, June 07, 2003

Looking out over Busan

We made it back from Busan safe and sound. We had a great time. The sun was shining throughout the whole trip. Yeji, her folks, and I spent a lot of time driving alongside or walking on the less crowded beaches. The harbour certainly is busy. At one time on Friday I looked out into the water and counted 26 tankers and cargo ships moored or sailing out to sea. Every where we went, people were out fishing. We also strolled through the Nampodong Fish Market.

There was lots of seafood. Mostly we ate hweh and chobap but I also got a chance to try out a few new dishes including shark's intestine. It was great to get back to the coast for a while. When we get more pictures ready, I'll post 'em. I snagged this one from Yeji's collection today. She has the digital camera while I get by on disposables. I actually took this one though-- from out the window at her aunt's apartment. What a fabulous view.

Getting home, it was back to the sketchpad. The election back home is on Monday so I have to figure out a cartoon based on results that I won't have until minutes before the paper goes to print. I finished one off (featuring the Governor General in black and white) but am hoping to do up a second one before Monday. I already have the idea in mind and it should be a quick draw.

Vacation plans seem to be solidifying too. My airline tickets should be in hand by Thursday.

All is well.

...though there was that slight problem where I had to reformat my hard drive on Wednesday. *cringe*


	CHANGWON ∙ The Kyungnam to Kyunggi Journal ∙ SEOUL
	Thursday, June 19, 2003 Nowon, Seoul Just a couple more days 'til I soar and I'm learning how expensive hotels are back home. I don't know how the tourists put up with it. Rooms in downtown Halifax run at about $300 bucks a night! I suppose I could spend all night at Perk's Cafe on the waterfront... I've done that a few times over the years. Thanks to Marmot's Hole for the link to my site and another thanks to said blog for directing me to some recent notoriety in the form of publicity in the Joong Ang Ilbo in an article entitled, "Ride the voyeur train with these Korea-based blogs". Why they didn't include blogs like Marmot's I don't know. He's been doing a tremendous job lately. He is also covering the news in Korea better than I ever did and even includes some translations to articles originally in Hangeul. I've added a link to his blog on the side (or you can click here). His newspaper translations from Korean media, on the other hand, are here. At the Hagwon... School is just odd. Our new foreigner didn't start work today after all. There was some issue over availability. He could come next week while I'm gone or we might get someone else. Either way we need someone ASAP since I am not going to be here next week and someone will need to cover my classes (as well as the classes I have been covering this week in lieu of having another foreign teacher). Come next month, I received word that we will hire yet another foreign teacher to begin the summer schedule with. That means I should be expecting to have two non-Korean coworkers by August. So I've been pretty much asked to go on a recruiting drive while I'm home. The whole thing led to an interesting conversation the other day. As a bit of background, I had been told that I would be conducting some of the foreigner interviews. That didn't pan out and they were conducted by our Korean-American staff member instead. He was telling me how he had interviewed four people and not really been satisfied with them-- but that plenty more would come along and he could afford to be selective (I'm paraphrasing). He then elaborated about how he felt that hagwons in Korea were outgrowing their need to have foreign instructors and that the time would come when the ESL bubble would burst for foreigners. I just shrugged and left it at that. I did feel surprised that so many foreigners were applying for the job though. (Not that it's a bad job-- things at my school are pretty good actually, aside from the usual lack of organisation which is standard in the industry). Sure enough, with the absence of having a teacher today, and no idea where to find a backup, I got to have my own rebuttal on the state of teaching ESL in Korea smirk. I agreed that the bubble would burst but not because the hagwons were turning people away; rather foreign teachers were in shorter supply after all. Looking around these days, I can say that I am running into a lot more longtimers than newcomers. There just seems to be a dearth of fresh recruits, my experience Sunday night notwithstanding. English teachers sound like they're opting for destinations in Eastern Europe over Asia. If the whole thing tanks, it'll be because of the recent downturn in the Korean economy, and the fact that a lot of people are starting to take notes of all the pitfalls of teaching in Korea. And personally, I just don't know. I figure I can vouch for my school for the time-being, and I welcome the opportunity to select a coworker or two-- a rare treat-- but I just don't know if I could honestly endorse teaching in Korea at present. Certainly if this was last summer I'd say DON'T COME. But with the demonstrations dying down and the government actively trying to repair foreign relations, it's possible that things could get back to almost normal. Koreans have been a lot nicer lately, that's true. It's just that little undercurrent of ethnocentricism here that bugs me. It's still here and not going anywhere, candlelight vigils or not. If you had asked me in the spring of 2002, whether or not to teach in Korea, I would have said, "come and bring a friend". Now I say, "come but bring a shovel." One of this month's cartoons... ie. why I am busy lately. This cartoon is in relation to the passing of a recent "language law" in Town Council Click to see a full-sized copy Rambling to (and about) home... Gods... enough. In two days I will be out of range of North Korean artillery for the first time in a year and a half. I hope I can still tie a Miramichi Knot in my fishing line... (through the eye, six twists, through the loop... yep, I remember). The fish are just starting to run. I doubt I'll have time to tie any new flies though so here's to hoping that my tackle box is full and waiting for me... The new cartooning gig is going well. I still have one more sketch to get done before I fly out (either that or I'll spend my first night home locked in a room at a desk). I thought I'd post the above sample just to show you why I've been so busy lately. Next: Stay tuned as Ian relentlessly searches for nicotine gum in Korea... deathly terrified of the impending 23-hour flight. posted by Ian at 2:19 AM - link ... 0 comments ... Monday, June 16, 2003 Overpass and traffic in Nowon I have a bit of time before I head in to work today so I thought I might as well do a quick recap of the weekend. I did end up going out, actually. Saturday, we met my cousin's wife in Itaewon for Middle Eastern food at Ali Baba's. She's here visiting family, including her dad whose seventieth birthday is coming up this summer. We stayed at the restaurant until close, getting caught up on the big city life back in Toronto. She'll be in town until just after I return from my vacation so I am hoping to see her again. From the sounds of it, my cousin will also be coming to Korea with her again in the fall. It's still a weird feeling to be able to meet family all the way across the planet. Last night was the Seoul Artist's Network open mic at the Woodstock, also in Itaewon. They meet every first and third Sunday. I've decided that I would make more of an effort to get out so I finished off my housework as soon as I could (Sunday is cleaning day for me) and had stayed up until 9:30 am Saturday night, after returning from the restaurant, to get this Tuesday's cartoon done. Last night's music and poetry were fantastic. I couldn't help but feel a bit shocked. Maritimers are drawn to open mics like moths to flame, but it's almost getting ridiculous. Yvon, from Moncton, was there. So was Brian from Halifax. It also seemed like every second person on stage was from either New Brunswick or Nova Scotia. Lo' and behold, a group of girls walked in and even they were familiar from the old Halifax scene. One could almost be forgiven if you forgot you were in Seoul. Now Brian has told me that another friend of ours will be arriving for his first time in Korea this fall added to yet another friend, a real longtimer, who is coming back after taking a year or so off to do his Masters back in Montreal. I recall a great deal of whisk(e)y being drunk and I even got an introductory lesson in Irish Gaelic. All was good. Today, I'll be taking up a few chores in preparation for me leaving this weekend. I ordered a new pair of prescription sunglasses which I have to pick up-- and I still have to get reimbursed for my airfare from my school. Things are work will be a bit different. Our new foreign teacher is supposed to begin today. I haven't met him yet and don't know anything more about him than his name. As for our Korean teacher shortage... something will have to be done. If you remember me telling you about the, um, close personal ties between my elementary coworkers (who have gotten more pleasant since I stopped engaging them in anything more than "hello"), you won't be surprised to hear that one has chosen to leave at the same time as our head teacher. That leaves us with one elementary teacher who might stay, but she hardly speaks English. The middle school department, is going to enact some policy changes in the elementary department too. I mean, the elementary department has been successful at keeping students-- so something must be done about it-- no doubt to bring it into line with the rapid bleeding of students elsewhere in the school. Oh well, I'll just keep doing what I do. Our elementary department, so I hear, must endeavour to make classes "less fun". (Yep, you've probably got the same look on your face that I did when I heard that). You see, mothers apparently want their children to suffer more, as a way to show that they are learning. The problem is that this is what started the downward spiral in the middle school classes. By beefing up lessons and assignments-- which the kids didn't do anyway-- the students ceased to enjoy the classes. Pleasing mothers is useless if it costs you the hearts and minds of the students. You could follow the mothers' wishes to the letter and heap on the homework, drill every second, test three times a day, and what will happen? The student goes home and says, "Mom, I hate my hagwon, and the teacher is this and that". At that point, kids will make up any number of stories to get out of going to class, and it's usually at the teacher's expense. So you lose those students and in the meantime, since half the mothers actually do want their kids to have fun and enjoy the hagwon, we lose those students also. This is what led to the premature "leveling-up" of our grade six students to fill gaps in the middle school department. Unfortunately, many of these grade six students, whom I had taught since I came here, have also mysteriously vanished from the attendance rolls in recent days, once they hit the middle school department. That's all for me, right now. I'm off to grab a shower, provided the water is still back on (hot water had been off for about a week again; and on Friday, water was off completely.) Think I'll stop in for some bekban at the restaurant in our building, too. DAMN! The speaker just chimed and the ajashi for our building made an announcement. My guess is it has something to do with water. I had better hurry. [P.S. Blogger has changed it's editor around and the new spellchecker sucks. Laughably though, it asked me if I wanted to replace "Moncton" with "nonstandard". Yvon, that one's for you. smirk] posted by Ian at 1:19 PM - link ... 0 comments ... Friday, June 13, 2003 Nampodong Fish market in Busan It's been raining. Not alot, but it's been raining the past couple of days. That broke the monotony of weather we've had for at least a couple of weeks. Basically the weather this season is such that it looks like a cloudy day everyday, but feels like a sunny day if that makes any sense. It's hot, but visibility is so limited that I can only half see nearby Bulam Mountain on my way to work. Purposefully, not much is new. Our part-time foreign teacher's last day was today. The official plan is to place him with a full time, regular staff foreigner (maybe even a freshly imported one). The school has said he'll be under the same contract setup as I am, with an apartment, similar salary and hours, etc. It'll be weird to adjust to, I guess. Like I said, there's only one other person in the entire school who's been there longer than me (by about a month). People come and go and I'm not as observant of them as I used to be. On a similar note, our head elementary teacher is quitting next week. I think she's been with us for about a year-- give or take 6 months. La la la, in my own little world. My tickets are in hand (though payment is still forthcoming I have every expectation that I'll get it tomorrow). I fly out in 8 days. Plans include a bit of gothic clubbing in Halifax, various pagan romps through several communities, a folk concert in one of the inshore fishing villages that I'd never heard of before (though I'm sure is a lovely place), some canoe trips, maybe some mackeral fishing, likely a lot of chores around home involving axes and woodsplitters, and of course we will conduct the mandatory cursing of politicians over beer on the back porch. I'll be checking in at the newspaper and will get a chance to meet the new editor for the first time, face to face. The new curator at the town museum has asked me to drop by, too. It sure will be nice to get back on native soil for a brief recharge (though spending some time on the water will be a great bonus too)... Speaking of which, there had better be some fresh lobster when I get there. The lobster season began three weeks ago, so I assume it must be in full swing now. Mmmmmmm. On a more local note Today marks the anniversary of the accident involving the two middleschool girls, last year. Activist groups have promised to field a million anti-American demonstrators. [Note to self: transfer all available money home immediately this morning and divest myself of Won]. I think most foreigners, in Seoul at least, will be battening down the hatches today and tomorrow. Maybe it'll blow over. This time there's no election coming up so the government is more eager to suppress such activities and with the state of the economy lately, not so many people seem as eager to alienate the foreign investors. Basically, there's no way of knowing what'll happen. I don't have a reason to go out so I'll stay in my relatively quiet neighbourhood. posted by Ian at 4:55 AM - link ... 0 comments ... Saturday, June 07, 2003 Looking out over Busan We made it back from Busan safe and sound. We had a great time. The sun was shining throughout the whole trip. Yeji, her folks, and I spent a lot of time driving alongside or walking on the less crowded beaches. The harbour certainly is busy. At one time on Friday I looked out into the water and counted 26 tankers and cargo ships moored or sailing out to sea. Every where we went, people were out fishing. We also strolled through the Nampodong Fish Market. There was lots of seafood. Mostly we ate hweh and chobap but I also got a chance to try out a few new dishes including shark's intestine. It was great to get back to the coast for a while. When we get more pictures ready, I'll post 'em. I snagged this one from Yeji's collection today. She has the digital camera while I get by on disposables. I actually took this one though-- from out the window at her aunt's apartment. What a fabulous view. Getting home, it was back to the sketchpad. The election back home is on Monday so I have to figure out a cartoon based on results that I won't have until minutes before the paper goes to print. I finished one off (featuring the Governor General in black and white) but am hoping to do up a second one before Monday. I already have the idea in mind and it should be a quick draw. Vacation plans seem to be solidifying too. My airline tickets should be in hand by Thursday. All is well. ...though there was that slight problem where I had to reformat my hard drive on Wednesday. cringe posted by Ian at 10:57 PM - link ... 0 comments ...	Cafe Harpo Dave's ESL Cafe Escape Artist Galbijim Wiki KoreanPhotos.net Seoul Survivors (Podcst) Skyscraper City Wikipedia YouTube Big Hominid Cosmic Budha DPRK Studies Gentleman Gypsy Gusts of Popular Feeling Judge Holden Was Here Lost Nomad The Marmot's Hole My Canada Includes Smoked Meat North Korea Zone Occidentalism One Free Korea ROK Drop ShinJaeJun TV in Japan Winds of Change The Yangpa BBC World Service [UK] CBC [Can] Chosun Ilbo [ROK] CNN [US] Dong-A Ilbo [ROK] Google News [US] The Japan Times [Jap] KCNA [DPRK] The Korea Herald [ROK] The Korea Times [ROK] Mainichi Daily News [Jap] Oh My News (Int.) [ROK] Yonhap News (Eng) [ROK] Happy Chuseok, 2009 Another year's gone by and ... Dongjakgu to Incheon and Home, Day 6. We had a ... Garden of Morning Calm Part I, Day 5. The road ... Garden of Morning Calm Part II, Day 5. What wit... Overnight to Cheongpyeong, Day 4 and 5. After t... The Happy Day, Day 4. Friday was the big day an... The Trainride to Seoul, Day 3. We had one duty ... Sunset on the Coast, Day 2, evening. We rushed ... Yongkungsa Part I, Day 2, mid afternoon. [...Co... Yongkungsa Part I, Day 2, mid afternoon. After ... April 2001 May 2001 June 2001 July 2001 August 2001 September 2001 October 2001 November 2001 December 2001 January 2002 February 2002 March 2002 April 2002 May 2002 June 2002 July 2002 August 2002 September 2002 October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 May 2004 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 September 2008 October 2008 October 2009 also see LATENIGHT MIRAMICHI and LATENIGHT HALIFAX