About a month ago, Tourism Queensland and myself finally put the ink to the paper on a contract that made me TQ’s latest Tourism Ambassador.  Paul, the director of the TQ office in Seoul, took the time out of his busy busy schedule to meet up and present me the certificate of appointment.

Paul - the Director of the TQ Korea Office

For a closer look at the certificate…

the cover of this thing was crushed blue velvet. that's as real as it's gonna get folks.

Now, one of the first perks of being a “Tourism Ambassador” is of course rubbing shoulders with the “big wigs” of society and actually having a sit down with the REAL AMBASSADOR to find out what being an ambassador is all about.  So TQ pulled some strings and scheduled me a dinner with the Australian Ambassador to Korea, Mr. Sam Gerovich along with the Deputy Head of the Mission to Korea, Mr. Jeff Robinson.  The two men were an absolute delight with wonderful insights and knowledge.  The only thing I was disappointed about was the fact that I had to leave early to make my live radio show.

left to right: Paul, me, Ambassador Gerovich, Deputy Head Robinson

TQ Korea and I are working on several different projects.  TQ is working closely with 귀가 트이는 영어, one of my shows on EBS FM to send 2 lucky listeners of the program on a free vacation to the Gold Coast during the Christmas break.  The campaign is currently entering the middle phases and by the end of November, through a number of Queensland related quiz shows on the program, an eventual winner will be announced.  I’ll have more details coming up soon.

Another campaign that we are working on is with our corporate sponsor, DAKS KIDS.  We have selected 6 children between the ages of 6 – 12 to participate in our “Best Global Leader” campaign.  In fact, I’ll be leading this little expedition and taking these children to Brissy and the Gold Coast for a fun-filled week.  The kids will also have an opportunity to serve as models for the line of clothes provided by DAKS KIDS and they will also have a chance to experience some of Queensland first hand.  We are actually headed down to Australia this today, October 20th!

But the thing that I’m most looking forward to out of this whole thing is being part of the great family that is TQ and especially TQ Korea.  Ever since the Best Job in the World campaign, I’ve had a chance to really get to know Michelle and Kelly from the TQ Seoul office.  They have been sort of my babysitters through this whole thing, keeping me out of trouble and just have been absolutely wonderful in all aspects.  So, going against Michelle’s specific instructions to delete the following picture, I’m going to post a 1950’s style family portrait of my TQ family here in Korea.

clockwise from top right: Paul, me, Michelle and Kelly (sorry Michelle!!)

All right, I’ll see you guys in BRISVEGAS and the GOLD COAST!