Author: James

Grew up in Kamloops. Went to TRU, U of Lethbridge and UBC. Traveled playing music and studying Languages/Cultures/Art Psychology Created "Bondaygee" ESL System for Korea (https://system.bondaygee.com/) Currently Living Creatively in Kelowna, BC Recent passion: Creating Songs for Mental Health and Working at Bondaygee Holistic Healing Arts Centre.
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Welcome True Friends!

Greetings and Welcome! 

You really are on the right path!

(안녕! 그냥 영어공부 하고싶은 사람 여기 크리그 하세요!)

Thanks for dropping by.  I’m curious how you found this site.  Your story and your journey.  Don’t be shy.  Why not leave a message at the contact page? Thanks for coming anyways.  Now let me tell you the story of Bondaygee.com.

Note: If you just want to study ESL, click here or “The Bondaygee System” from the menu.

The Bondaygee.com Story

Originally, nearly ten years ago while I was in Korea, I met a Buddhist monk named Park Ji-young.  We discovered together that we had an instant connection.  We were both artistic, creative and spiritual types of people.

 

We had a lot of interesting things to share with one another,  but Ji-young was most surprised when I showed her my Ocean of Love of story.  It was pretty special to me too. Suddenly Ji-young felt inspired to make a website to share the story and my many other creative, ESL songs and videos.  She really surprised me with her simple, beautiful graphics.  You can see her work in the website title above.  She identified herself with the moon and me with the sun. Thank you Ji-young wherever you are!

Unfortunately for me, she went to live in a temple and I moved back to Canada.  I didn’t know anything about websites, so I had lost my homepage for a few years. 

Sometime later,  back in Canada, I began studying website creation and was inspired to make a new website.  For a couple of years, I thought the website should only focus on ESL Studying, unlike the original,  which featured my stories.  Over time I realized without my stories, Bondaygee.com was lacking soul, it’s original vision and inspiration.   You see the Ocean Story is all about vision and how we perceive the world while “bondaygee” according to it’s Korean meaning symbolizes creativity,  transformation and rebirth. “Bondaygee” – 번데기 means cocoon.

Interestingly, since redefining and restoring Bondaygee.com back to it’s original scope and meaning, I seem to have millions of stories to write and I can’t stop,  nor do I want to. I feel in love again!  I’m very open and honest. I also became really healthy this last year through yoga and nutrition.  I’m sharing those stories too.  Don’t forget “Bondaygee is in your heart!” 

That was another poster Ji-young made for me from the comical “bondaygee song” music video and movie.

This is my Youtube Channel here to if you’re interested. Mind you, I accidentally deleted all my videos 3 years ago and had to re-upload everything.

Lastly, this story wouldn’t be complete unless I mentioned the contributions of a Hungarian Artist named Gergley Kovaks.  He made the beautiful icons and this cool poster picture below. 

Note, just because I love Pop Music, Beatles, etc, doesn’t mean I’m not an astute, philosophical person, because I am.  My art friends just happened to think my Bondaygee Music Videos were funny!

 

Here’s another piece of Park Ji-young’s artwork.  It’s just her “doodling”:

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Back Salvation: How to save your back!

Dear friends,

I really want to get this message to you ASAP.  It’s really of critical life importance.  Of course it’s common sense to many people already.  But still a lot of folks simply don’t know the dangers of prolonged inactivity and this especially applies to people who have to sit at a computer desk for long periods of time.  I can actually recall the point in my life, in which desk activity started to cause a dreadful decline in my health. Continue reading “Back Salvation: How to save your back!”

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Essential Korean For ESL Teachers

Hey friends.  How’s it going? I was just thinking about all of my Korean stories, which I have written out recently and I suddenly remembered what it was like in the first few years trying get by with such a huge language barrier.  I distinctly remember that the “turning point” in the success of my teaching had a lot to do with learning some basic Korean phrases to control classrooms.  So what I’m going to do is quickly share some of the most common and effective words for gaining class control and happiness.  I should also say that the Korean alphabet is the easiest in the world to learn with only 24 characters and anybody can learn it in just twenty minutes.  So that would also be a good start.

Continue reading “Essential Korean For ESL Teachers”

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The Things I Love About Korea

A typical road-side highway rest stop in Korea.If you ever get the chance to travel and live in another country for a few years or more, it’s a wonderful chance to compare and contrast cultures and see what makes them each successful and beautiful in their own ways.

It’s actually an amazing wonder in our day and age just to be able to go and live in worlds that evolved seperately for thousands of years and I will tell you, it just doesn’t get any more different than Korea and Canada.  I was simply awe-stricken when I first arrived.  My first 12 hours in the country lives like an interesting impressionist painting in my memory because after you have stayed awake for so long on a plane, you’re jet-lagged, exhausted and in a semi-conscious state of mind with definitely some “dream-like” perceptions taking place around you.

Continue reading “The Things I Love About Korea”

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Small Kids ESL Videos

naturalesl

As you know, music is one of my big secrets for teaching.  Music is great for all kinds of teaching really, but it works amazingly with ESL learners.  I just wrote an article about my favorite Musical Movies for ESL Learning, however, for younger children there are some different recommendations.  By younger kids, I mean any age before 9 years old.  Several recommendations from the “Musical Movies For ESL Learning” article are great too.  But there are definitely several more that fit better with younger children.

Continue reading “Small Kids ESL Videos”

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Share Your Soul Stories

 

jamesiconHi there.  I had a great idea today.  Actually I have had about a million great ideas in these last two weeks, since I have re-defined the scope of my webiste: Bondaygee.com (‘Bondaygee’ means cocoon in Korea for those who don’t know).

It has occurred to me that in this age of awakening that we seem to be coming into, how wonderful it would be if people would start to share their own “Soul Stories” of Wisdom and or Spiritual Awakening.

Continue reading “Share Your Soul Stories”

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The Laughing Cure

The Remarkable And True Story of Norman Cousins

“Hearty laughter is a good way to jog internally without having to go outdoors.”

   -Norman Cousins

In his novel, Anatomy of an Illness, Norman Cousins describes his rigorous recovery from ankylosing spondylitis, a painful collagen illness that rendered him immobile, and at its nadir, nearly incapable of moving his jaw. His doctor and long time Continue reading “The Laughing Cure”