As you know, I had been teaching English in South Korea. I was offered another contract by the same school to stay for another year. My VISA had to be extended for another year and South Korea is very strict on VISA's. This year's VISA requirements were a little different than other years. Because of the publicized case of Christopher Paul Neil, the Canadian pedophile, the Korean Immigration authorities began requesting the new Vulnerable Sector Search certificate in addition to a regular criminal record search. The VSS (Vulnerable Sector Search) comes from a list of pardoned Canadian sex offenders.
 
I was unaware of this new requirement and had expected that I'd only need a few weeks to get the new VISA as before. Anyway, it would have taken me much longer than that as the RCMP would require up to 120 days to produce the VSS. We had heard through the grapevine that the Winnipeg Police services were providing the VSS expeditiously for English teachers in Korea. The RCMP is trying to persuade the Korean Authorities to drop the VSS requirement as it is against the Privacy Act. They don't like these documents in the hands of foreign governments (so I was told by the RCMP).  
 
I'll get to the bottom line. I didn't anticipate any problem with my VSS certificate as I have never committed an offense or have ever been fingerprinted. Anyway, lo and behold, the Winnipeg police said that I had a possible hit and that they needed to verify with fingerprints. A hit means a prior recorded pardoned sexual offense conviction. Needless to say that even the whiff of this sort of thing is enough to change your life. The recent damage to my life was catastrophic. I was really trying hard to pick up my life and flew to the other side of the world to do it and I was doing a good job of doing it. I couldn't get my VISA and people in my office were very suspicious of me. The new contract was now not possible. I had to leave South Korea suddenly. I was also told that I could submit fingerprints done by the South Korean Police by the RCMP so I did that to avoid traveling back to Canada. I took an unwanted vacation in Cambodia in the meantime. 
 
The RCMP later contacted me saying they could not accept fingerprints done by a foreign police organization. I had to travel back to Canada in the end to clear my name. I went to the police station on Elgin Street (maybe you remember it) and told them of my problem and that they may anticipate a possible hit. Turned out it was someone with a name similar to mine. This whole thing just ruined my contract and cost me a lot of money. It's all cleared up now.
 
Here is some other news. In the meantime, I had to find a new job as I was without one. I did not have, what I would consider, much money. I was in a foreign country growing quite nervous about my situation.
 
Anyway, during my duress, I accepted a job in Saudi Arabia. I hope I live to tell tales about this experience. I am a little concerned about radical extremists and possible attacks on Westerners.
 
The Winnipeg police just changed the entire direction of my life.
 
I do miss S. Korea. I honestly wasn't interested in coming back to Canada.  Presently, I'm in Ottawa. I suppose I missed Canada's fresh air and water. I'll be leaving fairly soon for Saudi. I do have some trepidation about it but I think things will be O.K..  Who knows??... It will be a bit dangerous. I'm not exactly James Bond or Lawrence of Arabia.