The next day, Monday, would turn out to be one of the most stressful days of my year here so far.
We left really early to catch the airport shuttle, because I was worried about getting back to Gwangju by five to teach my classes. We must have left around 9:45 or so... and we headed out to the bus stop. The main reason that I still stay at the Rainbow Hotel is that last year Jessie and I used it so many times as a launch point to the airport, because the shuttle stops so close by. It's just really convenient! Anyway, we walked out, and the shuttle stop sign was gone! Nowhere to be seen! I walked around for about ten minutes or so, up and down the street, but it was nowhere to be found. I started to get worried, so I left mom and went back to the motel to ask about it.
The clerk at the counter told me (after apologizing a LOT) that the stop had been moved to the new bus stop in the middle of the road. I had seen it, but I had assumed that that had always been there, and I just hadn't noticed, so why would I catch my bus there?
So mom and I headed back to the bus stop and waited.
... and waited...
... and waited...
Finally one came, but the driver (with a look of frustration) waved for us to stop boarding the bus, and pointed about 200 meters down the road to another bus stop going the other direction (the direction the bus used to go in, and I guess still did). I just figured that if they changed the bus stop, they must have changed the route... I admit, it was pretty stupid on my part. We walked over there, and I was pretty embarrassed and frustrated by this point.
We finally got on a bus at around 11:10. We got to the airport at around 11:50, and I said a very quick and non-teary goodbye to mom (stress=no other emotions) and ran down to the ticket booth for the shuttle to Gwangju. It must have been around 11:55, which meant that I had missed the 11:50 bus by five minutes, and would have to wait an hour for the next bus at 12:50. So, I was now officially late for work. Since I had time, I went back up and waited with mom in line, and then walked her to the security section. Then we said goodbye again, but I was still really too stressed to be affected by it...
I got out to the bus about 30 minutes early, and I tried to call the school to tell them that I would be late, and that someone would have to cover my first class. I had already called Harley and Nella, and left a message with Nella, but I thought I should tell the school too. I wound up getting SoHee, the secretary, and when I asked for Mr Lee, she said "Not here" and then quickly and shyly hung up. So, my message didn't arrive until later with Harley, and they were not happy to get it that way... argh.
I got on the bus, and became aware of one of the worst situations that a person can be in. You know you will be late, and you are stressed about it, but all you can do is sit there and wait. sucks,
Oh, and to make the bus ride even worse, they had the TV on, and guess what was playing? No, not Dirty Dancing.
That's right! The Passion of the Christ! If there was ever a movie designed specifically for an unwilling and captive audience, that's gotta be it! Come on! I am restraining from typing so many four letter words, because I am getting angry just thinking about how inappropriate that a) it was playing on TV in the afternoon and b) that a whole busload of people were forced to watch it. I put on my headphones and went to sleep, only to be awoken again and again by the screams of Jesus, and finally by the blood-curdling roar of what I can only guess was supposed to be Satan at the close of the film. Oh yeah, that makes for a pleasant ride. I mean, I thought being forced to watch Anaconda was bad. Turns out, I didn't know bad.
I wound up typing most of this little story on the bus, but I didn't shut my laptop off, I just put it into sleep mode. Then, that night, while the kids were working, I continued to type more. And then bloop! Battery goes dead, and I lose the whole thing. Gah!
And that is the story of mom's visit to Korea. Finally.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Mom's visit - Sunday
Carl and Mel came over around ten the next morning (Sunday), and we all shared some birthday cake that mom and I had brought from the previous week. It was good, then we said our goodbyes, and Mel and Carol headed back to Suncheon.
Mom and I had a pretty relaxed day. We headed back to InSaDong,
(I need to interrupt the narrative to give a bizarro Starbucks update... they're playing amazing music in here, for one thing. Stuff you would rarely hear even on the radio in Canada, which is amazing, because it's amazing Canadian indie stuff... anyways, the real bizarre thing is that there is this woman sitting on a lounge chair about ten feet away from me who is reading picture books with her very young son (who looks like he took his first steps last week) and she is reading to him in English with this terribly thick accent with apparently no understanding of what the words she is reading mean. She's just sounding them out for him. And he probably doesn't understand Korean yet, and she's reading English to him... oh man, the lengths people go to to teach their children English here. It's part admirable, part fucked-up. The poor kid just want to see what bug is inside the "Big Black Box", he doesn't want to be read to... poor kid. He'll probably wind up in three hagwons studying until eleven every night by the time he is ten years old.)
anyway... InSaDong... so we headed down, because mom wanted to more art shopping. I also found a decently sized and reasonably priced copy of the painting that I have been looking for for almost two years now. It's the summer/original version of the winter painting that I bought last year. It's pretty famous here, and it's in most temples and palaces, copied and usually placed behind the seat of whoever was important. It's funny, because I see it everywhere, so it's obviously a fairly important piece of art, but hardly anyone here seems to know what I am talking about when I ask about it. I also bought an acoustic guitar modeller, which I have yet to actually learn how to use properly, and I met a man who used to play bass for Bill Haley and the Comets. Now he's in Korea spreading the gospel, as he quickly informed me. He looked good though, for someone who was old enough to play with Bill Haley. We went out for tea, then we headed back to the hotel and each took a nap. It had been a pretty exhausting week.
We had dinner at, where else, Outback. We ate too much , again, and then retired for the night. We had clearly already had enough excitement, and with Mel and Carol gone, we had no-one left to prove ourselves to. haha.
Mom and I had a pretty relaxed day. We headed back to InSaDong,
(I need to interrupt the narrative to give a bizarro Starbucks update... they're playing amazing music in here, for one thing. Stuff you would rarely hear even on the radio in Canada, which is amazing, because it's amazing Canadian indie stuff... anyways, the real bizarre thing is that there is this woman sitting on a lounge chair about ten feet away from me who is reading picture books with her very young son (who looks like he took his first steps last week) and she is reading to him in English with this terribly thick accent with apparently no understanding of what the words she is reading mean. She's just sounding them out for him. And he probably doesn't understand Korean yet, and she's reading English to him... oh man, the lengths people go to to teach their children English here. It's part admirable, part fucked-up. The poor kid just want to see what bug is inside the "Big Black Box", he doesn't want to be read to... poor kid. He'll probably wind up in three hagwons studying until eleven every night by the time he is ten years old.)
anyway... InSaDong... so we headed down, because mom wanted to more art shopping. I also found a decently sized and reasonably priced copy of the painting that I have been looking for for almost two years now. It's the summer/original version of the winter painting that I bought last year. It's pretty famous here, and it's in most temples and palaces, copied and usually placed behind the seat of whoever was important. It's funny, because I see it everywhere, so it's obviously a fairly important piece of art, but hardly anyone here seems to know what I am talking about when I ask about it. I also bought an acoustic guitar modeller, which I have yet to actually learn how to use properly, and I met a man who used to play bass for Bill Haley and the Comets. Now he's in Korea spreading the gospel, as he quickly informed me. He looked good though, for someone who was old enough to play with Bill Haley. We went out for tea, then we headed back to the hotel and each took a nap. It had been a pretty exhausting week.
We had dinner at, where else, Outback. We ate too much , again, and then retired for the night. We had clearly already had enough excitement, and with Mel and Carol gone, we had no-one left to prove ourselves to. haha.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Mom's visit - Saturday
Saturday we woke up, and we headed to the Jongmyo Shrine, which is one of my favourite places in Seoul. We met up around 10:30 (mom and I were late for our 10:00 meeting) at Tapgol Park, and we met a kind old man who informed us that he knew we were Canadian, because our clothes were neat and we were not wearing ball caps set at a jaunty angle. haha. We looked around the park, which was still nice because they had not taken down the lanterns from the festival yet.
We headed to the Jongmyo shrine, and we had a little walk around in there. I really like that place. It's not a flashy as some other temples or palaces. It's much more subdued, with less flashy painting and decoration. There were some tours of kids going through too, but they were Seoul kids, so mom's exposure to "HI HI HI HI HI I'M HUNGRY! HOW ARE YOU HOW ARE YOU?!" was enough for her to get the point of it, but not enough to annoy her. We spent a few hours in that park (the four of us now, Carol had joined the party the night before, if you remember) and then we headed off in the direction of the gallery I had seen and the NANTA theatre.
Well, that was the one time my sense of direction truly truly failed me. We walked about 45 minutes in the wrong direction. But, on the bright side, we came across an awesome restaurant. That was where mom had her first meal of SamGyeopSal, which no-one should ever go without if they make a trip to Korea.
(OKAY, so it's now June 28th. I'm sitting in a Starbucks, and I'm going to rack my brains to try to remember the details of the last few days of my time with mom in Seoul. I've been so busy/distracted that I haven't made time to sit down and get it all down, which is too bad, because it means that a few juicy anecdotes and tidbits have undoubtedly been lost).
We wound up taking a taxi back downtown where we went out for ice-cream (which made everyone feel bloated, if I cna extrapolate from personal experience. I mean, we had just had a HUGE meal). Then we headed to the NANTA theater to buy tickets. There were difficulties, because we arrived twenty minutes or some ridiculously small amount of time before the "appointed selling time" for the 7:00 show. There was some debating, and she finally decided that it would be alright to give us tickets, even though it would undoubtedly cost her her job. God! She wanted us to come back in two hours... I mean, yeah, sure, we'll just sit outside... what a jerk. anyway...
After that we headed back on our original route from Thursday night (I just remembered that I forgot to mention that I fell in a hole on that walk! I was just walking along, and FOOMP! Left leg goes into the ground. Fortunately, the hole was full of blankets. Unfortunately, they were all wet and gross) towards the Sejong culture complex, only to find out that it was in fact a theater, not a gallery. But then I spotted a sign for a gallery, and we headed towards it. We spent probably half an hour snaking around inside looking for the gallery, only to discover that we had gone in the wrong door, and that it was in the basement, not upstairs. The art was good... but not really my favourite mix of pieces. Some of them were good... including some photo reconstructions of childrens' drawings, but most of it didn't really move me at all. After that, to Starbucks for a coffee and then we decided to part ways for a while to rest after all that walking I made everyone do.
We met at the NANTA theatre at 7:00 or so, and once again, NANTA did not fail to impress. For the first three songs, I was so happy that I almost started crying. I love when random things suddenly turn into music. And it's such a funny show, I don't know how anyone could ever not be amused by it. And of course... the female actress doesn't really take away from the equation at all.
I was surprised to find that it was mostly the same cast as it had been when Jessie and I went with her parents last year. I definitely recognized the "head chef" as being the same guy. Pretty lucky, I think, considering that there are several different casts that perform on different nights of the week.
After the show, we headed to Itaewon and "Ali Baba's" for some Egyptian food and birthday hookah with Roberta and Rick. It was a great night. Mom did her best to embarrass me with childhood stories, but I honestly find that I am more embarrassed by everyone looking at me and expecting me to be embarrassed than by anything that anyone could actually say. The food was great too, and who doesn't love hookah? Of course, it made for a rough morning the next day, when I sounded like an 80 year-old grandma after 2 packs of cigarettes, a bottle of jack and and a chocolate shake.
Mom stayed out until about 12:00 or so, but the combo of jet-lag and all that walking caught up to her, so she went back to the motel early. I got a really nice birthday phone call from Vanessa, which I moved out onto the street to take, and then another hookah, and we closed the place and got kicked out around two or so. I said "Hey, we should walk home, I'm in the mood for a walk" and Mel and Carol were up for it, so I said I would walk them home to their area, and then head to mine. Well... I don't know Seoul too well, and next thing I knew we were passing the Korean War Memorial, and I was thinking "Hey, my hotel is just about a kilometer that way..." so I apologized, because I had walked them in exactly the wrong direction.
Then I went back to the hotel for another late-night phone call with Vanessa. haha.
We headed to the Jongmyo shrine, and we had a little walk around in there. I really like that place. It's not a flashy as some other temples or palaces. It's much more subdued, with less flashy painting and decoration. There were some tours of kids going through too, but they were Seoul kids, so mom's exposure to "HI HI HI HI HI I'M HUNGRY! HOW ARE YOU HOW ARE YOU?!" was enough for her to get the point of it, but not enough to annoy her. We spent a few hours in that park (the four of us now, Carol had joined the party the night before, if you remember) and then we headed off in the direction of the gallery I had seen and the NANTA theatre.
Well, that was the one time my sense of direction truly truly failed me. We walked about 45 minutes in the wrong direction. But, on the bright side, we came across an awesome restaurant. That was where mom had her first meal of SamGyeopSal, which no-one should ever go without if they make a trip to Korea.
(OKAY, so it's now June 28th. I'm sitting in a Starbucks, and I'm going to rack my brains to try to remember the details of the last few days of my time with mom in Seoul. I've been so busy/distracted that I haven't made time to sit down and get it all down, which is too bad, because it means that a few juicy anecdotes and tidbits have undoubtedly been lost).
We wound up taking a taxi back downtown where we went out for ice-cream (which made everyone feel bloated, if I cna extrapolate from personal experience. I mean, we had just had a HUGE meal). Then we headed to the NANTA theater to buy tickets. There were difficulties, because we arrived twenty minutes or some ridiculously small amount of time before the "appointed selling time" for the 7:00 show. There was some debating, and she finally decided that it would be alright to give us tickets, even though it would undoubtedly cost her her job. God! She wanted us to come back in two hours... I mean, yeah, sure, we'll just sit outside... what a jerk. anyway...
After that we headed back on our original route from Thursday night (I just remembered that I forgot to mention that I fell in a hole on that walk! I was just walking along, and FOOMP! Left leg goes into the ground. Fortunately, the hole was full of blankets. Unfortunately, they were all wet and gross) towards the Sejong culture complex, only to find out that it was in fact a theater, not a gallery. But then I spotted a sign for a gallery, and we headed towards it. We spent probably half an hour snaking around inside looking for the gallery, only to discover that we had gone in the wrong door, and that it was in the basement, not upstairs. The art was good... but not really my favourite mix of pieces. Some of them were good... including some photo reconstructions of childrens' drawings, but most of it didn't really move me at all. After that, to Starbucks for a coffee and then we decided to part ways for a while to rest after all that walking I made everyone do.
We met at the NANTA theatre at 7:00 or so, and once again, NANTA did not fail to impress. For the first three songs, I was so happy that I almost started crying. I love when random things suddenly turn into music. And it's such a funny show, I don't know how anyone could ever not be amused by it. And of course... the female actress doesn't really take away from the equation at all.
I was surprised to find that it was mostly the same cast as it had been when Jessie and I went with her parents last year. I definitely recognized the "head chef" as being the same guy. Pretty lucky, I think, considering that there are several different casts that perform on different nights of the week.
After the show, we headed to Itaewon and "Ali Baba's" for some Egyptian food and birthday hookah with Roberta and Rick. It was a great night. Mom did her best to embarrass me with childhood stories, but I honestly find that I am more embarrassed by everyone looking at me and expecting me to be embarrassed than by anything that anyone could actually say. The food was great too, and who doesn't love hookah? Of course, it made for a rough morning the next day, when I sounded like an 80 year-old grandma after 2 packs of cigarettes, a bottle of jack and and a chocolate shake.
Mom stayed out until about 12:00 or so, but the combo of jet-lag and all that walking caught up to her, so she went back to the motel early. I got a really nice birthday phone call from Vanessa, which I moved out onto the street to take, and then another hookah, and we closed the place and got kicked out around two or so. I said "Hey, we should walk home, I'm in the mood for a walk" and Mel and Carol were up for it, so I said I would walk them home to their area, and then head to mine. Well... I don't know Seoul too well, and next thing I knew we were passing the Korean War Memorial, and I was thinking "Hey, my hotel is just about a kilometer that way..." so I apologized, because I had walked them in exactly the wrong direction.
Then I went back to the hotel for another late-night phone call with Vanessa. haha.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Mom's visit, Thursday and Friday
This is finally being finished on test day, Friday June 8, 2007. The kids are studying, and soon I will hand out the tests. I love giving them study time. It just means less time I have to come up with stuff to do after the test. hahaha, I am a lazy bastard.
So we arrived in Seoul in the late afternoon, and it was just starting to rain. However, by the time we got to the Hotel Rainbow (my Seoul hotel of choice!) it was really starting to come down. We headed back tot he hotel, and we agreed to head to Outback, conveniently right across the street for dinner that night. The original plan had called for Outback on Saturday for my usual birthday dinner of "Prime Minister's Prime Rib" (A tradition I hoped to extend to a second year) with cheesy fries. But we decided that it would be better to do foreign (Thai or Middle Eastern) while Carol was there, so Outback got bumped up.
On the way, we bought umbrellas at the 7-11 store near the hotel, which mom really got a kick out of. I guess they don't have umbrellas at convenience stores at home. I never really noticed, I drive everywhere at home.
Outback was good as ever, but there was some disappointment when I couldn't find the "Prime Minister's Prime Rib" anywhere on the menu. I settled on the equally body-damaging "Huge hunk of meat with mushroom crust on top". Apparently crusts now include almost exclusively BUTTER. Didn't know. Anyway, I ordered it medium, and it came back blue. I mean, literally, definitively blue. The meat hadn't even gone grainy yet from heat. It was cool in the middle. You know what I mean? I sent it back, and it came back very rare, again. So rare that it still spilled blood all over my plate. Gah! Anger!
Sent it back again, but it worked out all right. I had wolfed down some cheesy fries, and was actually full. So the break that sending my food back allowed me was actually a very good thing. haha. By the time the steak came back for the third time, it was done enough (still not medium) and I had made some room for it. Mom and Mel polished off a few drinks, and then we headed back to the hotel.
Mom was still jet-laggy (and maybe a little tipsy) so she turned in for a rest. THREE HOURS LATER, Mel and I decided it was probably a good time to go and wake up mom. So, around 9:30 or so, we headed out, and we walked around downtown Seoul together.
I can't remember the order of things anymore, but we wound up walking through Namdaemun area, but unfortunately the market was closed. We walked through to city hall (the sense of direction was working well that night) and by the nearby old palace and down the street that leads to the NANTA theatre, which is charmingly lit with lights embedded in the ground and stone ladybugs that keep cars from careening onto the sidewalks. After that we just kept walking, we wound up walking right by GyeongBeokGung palace, by the Korean Government buildings and to a new area I had never been before, where they have a large "Sejong Culture Complex" or something by a similar name. It looked really good, and I made a note of it so that we could return to it later, because I saw a sign for a gallery, and it seemed interesting.
We got into a nearby subway stop and took the train back home, just barely making it on one of the last available trains for the night. Mom headed to bed, Mel and I stayed up and chatted for a bit, and then we too turned in, exhausted after our over two-hours long walk.
We left around ten the next day for the COEX aquarium, the next stop on our whirlwind tour of Seoul. We filled up on energy juice at the Dunkin' Donuts conveniently located across the street from our hotel, then got onto the subway. COEX was good, but not quite as amazing as I had remembered, perhaps because many of my aquarium memories (including those of penguins), came from Busan. It was nice though, and it was followed by my first burger in months at the COEX food court. Highlights!
After the aquarium, we headed out to GyeongBeokgung palace. We arrived just in time to see the changing of the guards, so we all got to check "See gross taped-on beards" off of our to-do lists for that day. It was good timing though, because it was a really good thing for mom to see. It was also good, because it led to one of those random trip inside jokes between Mel and I where a pigeon wandering around in front of these very serious-looking guards was hearing that British comedy chase music as he mosied. We spent the next few hours (most of the afternoon) wandering around inside the palace. It's a really beautiful place. It was such a nice day too, the sun was shining, and it was hot, but not too hot. Mom was impressed, I think. We took in the whole place, and then we headed to Insadong (on foot, thank you sense of direction) and we grabbed a coffee and hung out while we waited for Carol.
We popped into a lot of different shops, saw the same art again and again, and mom wound up deciding that her souvenir would be a couple of scrolls to hang on the stairs up to her bedroom. She bought one that said love, and we looked around for different ones that might complement it. I wound up buying one that had a mantra on it, something about keeping your mind on things that are not of this world (this was communicated with my limited Korean and grunts and handclaps). We met up with Carol around 8 or so, and we headed to Itaewon for some Thai food. We arrived pretty late, because you know... travel. We were lucky though that that didn't seem to be a problem.
I forgot to mention something earlier, and I don't feel like scrolling back up. While we were on the subway either coming back from or going to COEX, we were waiting in a station and my cell rang. It was Stu, my Australian friend, calling to see if I was home. Stu's been arranging these photography road trips, and I guess he wanted to free up some room in his car, because he wanted to know if he could leave his guitar with me for the day. I said "No can do, mon ami, I am in Seoul in a subway station."
He said "Oh bummer (or some equivalent Aussie thing)! What about Ryan? Is he home?"
I said "No, he's in Tokyo for the weekend."
And THAT was the coolest conversation I had ever had.
We had some other very cool conversations at the restaurant, Thai Orchid, that ran in a similar vein. At one point, we made spur of the moment plans to go to Busan the next weekend, and that was so cool that I had to slap my forehead in amazement. Of course, the plans fell through, because having mom here was EXPENSIVE! Anyways, we all ordered our own dishes, and then we shared with eachother, and in the end we wound up ordering another dish, and I ate so much that it hurt a little bit.
Then we all headed home, and had weird Thai-food related dreams.
So we arrived in Seoul in the late afternoon, and it was just starting to rain. However, by the time we got to the Hotel Rainbow (my Seoul hotel of choice!) it was really starting to come down. We headed back tot he hotel, and we agreed to head to Outback, conveniently right across the street for dinner that night. The original plan had called for Outback on Saturday for my usual birthday dinner of "Prime Minister's Prime Rib" (A tradition I hoped to extend to a second year) with cheesy fries. But we decided that it would be better to do foreign (Thai or Middle Eastern) while Carol was there, so Outback got bumped up.
On the way, we bought umbrellas at the 7-11 store near the hotel, which mom really got a kick out of. I guess they don't have umbrellas at convenience stores at home. I never really noticed, I drive everywhere at home.
Outback was good as ever, but there was some disappointment when I couldn't find the "Prime Minister's Prime Rib" anywhere on the menu. I settled on the equally body-damaging "Huge hunk of meat with mushroom crust on top". Apparently crusts now include almost exclusively BUTTER. Didn't know. Anyway, I ordered it medium, and it came back blue. I mean, literally, definitively blue. The meat hadn't even gone grainy yet from heat. It was cool in the middle. You know what I mean? I sent it back, and it came back very rare, again. So rare that it still spilled blood all over my plate. Gah! Anger!
Sent it back again, but it worked out all right. I had wolfed down some cheesy fries, and was actually full. So the break that sending my food back allowed me was actually a very good thing. haha. By the time the steak came back for the third time, it was done enough (still not medium) and I had made some room for it. Mom and Mel polished off a few drinks, and then we headed back to the hotel.
Mom was still jet-laggy (and maybe a little tipsy) so she turned in for a rest. THREE HOURS LATER, Mel and I decided it was probably a good time to go and wake up mom. So, around 9:30 or so, we headed out, and we walked around downtown Seoul together.
I can't remember the order of things anymore, but we wound up walking through Namdaemun area, but unfortunately the market was closed. We walked through to city hall (the sense of direction was working well that night) and by the nearby old palace and down the street that leads to the NANTA theatre, which is charmingly lit with lights embedded in the ground and stone ladybugs that keep cars from careening onto the sidewalks. After that we just kept walking, we wound up walking right by GyeongBeokGung palace, by the Korean Government buildings and to a new area I had never been before, where they have a large "Sejong Culture Complex" or something by a similar name. It looked really good, and I made a note of it so that we could return to it later, because I saw a sign for a gallery, and it seemed interesting.
We got into a nearby subway stop and took the train back home, just barely making it on one of the last available trains for the night. Mom headed to bed, Mel and I stayed up and chatted for a bit, and then we too turned in, exhausted after our over two-hours long walk.
We left around ten the next day for the COEX aquarium, the next stop on our whirlwind tour of Seoul. We filled up on energy juice at the Dunkin' Donuts conveniently located across the street from our hotel, then got onto the subway. COEX was good, but not quite as amazing as I had remembered, perhaps because many of my aquarium memories (including those of penguins), came from Busan. It was nice though, and it was followed by my first burger in months at the COEX food court. Highlights!
After the aquarium, we headed out to GyeongBeokgung palace. We arrived just in time to see the changing of the guards, so we all got to check "See gross taped-on beards" off of our to-do lists for that day. It was good timing though, because it was a really good thing for mom to see. It was also good, because it led to one of those random trip inside jokes between Mel and I where a pigeon wandering around in front of these very serious-looking guards was hearing that British comedy chase music as he mosied. We spent the next few hours (most of the afternoon) wandering around inside the palace. It's a really beautiful place. It was such a nice day too, the sun was shining, and it was hot, but not too hot. Mom was impressed, I think. We took in the whole place, and then we headed to Insadong (on foot, thank you sense of direction) and we grabbed a coffee and hung out while we waited for Carol.
We popped into a lot of different shops, saw the same art again and again, and mom wound up deciding that her souvenir would be a couple of scrolls to hang on the stairs up to her bedroom. She bought one that said love, and we looked around for different ones that might complement it. I wound up buying one that had a mantra on it, something about keeping your mind on things that are not of this world (this was communicated with my limited Korean and grunts and handclaps). We met up with Carol around 8 or so, and we headed to Itaewon for some Thai food. We arrived pretty late, because you know... travel. We were lucky though that that didn't seem to be a problem.
I forgot to mention something earlier, and I don't feel like scrolling back up. While we were on the subway either coming back from or going to COEX, we were waiting in a station and my cell rang. It was Stu, my Australian friend, calling to see if I was home. Stu's been arranging these photography road trips, and I guess he wanted to free up some room in his car, because he wanted to know if he could leave his guitar with me for the day. I said "No can do, mon ami, I am in Seoul in a subway station."
He said "Oh bummer (or some equivalent Aussie thing)! What about Ryan? Is he home?"
I said "No, he's in Tokyo for the weekend."
And THAT was the coolest conversation I had ever had.
We had some other very cool conversations at the restaurant, Thai Orchid, that ran in a similar vein. At one point, we made spur of the moment plans to go to Busan the next weekend, and that was so cool that I had to slap my forehead in amazement. Of course, the plans fell through, because having mom here was EXPENSIVE! Anyways, we all ordered our own dishes, and then we shared with eachother, and in the end we wound up ordering another dish, and I ate so much that it hurt a little bit.
Then we all headed home, and had weird Thai-food related dreams.
Friday - COEX, National Palace Museum, and Insadong
We left around ten the next day for the COEX aquarium, the next stop on our whirlwind tour of Seoul. We filled up on energy juice at the Dunkin' Donuts conveniently located across the street from our hotel, then got onto the subway. COEX was good, but not quite as amazing as I had remembered, perhaps because many of my aquarium memories (including those of penguins), came from Busan. It was nice though, and it was followed by my first burger in months at the COEX food court. Highlights!
After the aquarium, we headed out to GyeongBeokgung palace. We arrived just in time to see the changing of the guards, so we all got to check "See gross taped-on beards" off of our to-do lists for that day. It was good timing though, because it was a really good thing for mom to see. It was also good, because it led to one of those random trip inside jokes between Mel and I where a pigeon wandering around in front of these very serious-looking guards was hearing that British comedy chase music as he mosied. We spent the next few hours (most of the afternoon) wandering around inside the palace. It's a really beautiful place. It was such a nice day too, the sun was shining, and it was hot, but not too hot. Mom was impressed, I think. We took in the whole place, and then we headed to Insadong (on foot, thank you sense of direction) and we grabbed a coffee and hung out while we waited for Carol.
We popped into a lot of different shops, saw the same art again and again, and mom wound up deciding that her souvenir would be a couple of scrolls to hang on the stairs up to her bedroom. She bought one that said love, and we looked around for different ones that might complement it. I wound up buying one that had a mantra on it, something about keeping your mind on things that are not of this world (this was communicated with my limited Korean and grunts and handclaps). We met up with Carol around 8 or so, and we headed to Itaewon for some Thai food. We arrived pretty late, because you know... travel. We were lucky though that that didn't seem to be a problem.
I forgot to mention something earlier, and I don't feel like scrolling back up. While we were on the subway either coming back from or going to COEX, we were waiting in a station and my cell rang. It was Stu, my Australian friend, calling to see if I was home. Stu's been arranging these photography road trips, and I guess he wanted to free up some room in his car, because he wanted to know if he could leave his guitar with me for the day. I said "No can do, mon ami, I am in Seoul in a subway station."
He said "Oh bummer (or some equivalent Aussie thing)! What about Ryan? Is he home?"
I said "No, he's in Tokyo for the weekend."
And THAT was the coolest conversation I had ever had.
We had some other very cool conversations at the restaurant, Thai Orchid, that ran in a similar vein. At one point, we made spur of the moment plans to go to Busan the next weekend, and that was so cool that I had to slap my forehead in amazement. Of course, the plans fell through, because having mom here was EXPENSIVE! Anyways, we all ordered our own dishes, and then we shared with eachother, and in the end we wound up ordering another dish, and I ate so much that it hurt a little bit.
Then we all headed home, and had weird Thai-food related dreams.
After the aquarium, we headed out to GyeongBeokgung palace. We arrived just in time to see the changing of the guards, so we all got to check "See gross taped-on beards" off of our to-do lists for that day. It was good timing though, because it was a really good thing for mom to see. It was also good, because it led to one of those random trip inside jokes between Mel and I where a pigeon wandering around in front of these very serious-looking guards was hearing that British comedy chase music as he mosied. We spent the next few hours (most of the afternoon) wandering around inside the palace. It's a really beautiful place. It was such a nice day too, the sun was shining, and it was hot, but not too hot. Mom was impressed, I think. We took in the whole place, and then we headed to Insadong (on foot, thank you sense of direction) and we grabbed a coffee and hung out while we waited for Carol.
We popped into a lot of different shops, saw the same art again and again, and mom wound up deciding that her souvenir would be a couple of scrolls to hang on the stairs up to her bedroom. She bought one that said love, and we looked around for different ones that might complement it. I wound up buying one that had a mantra on it, something about keeping your mind on things that are not of this world (this was communicated with my limited Korean and grunts and handclaps). We met up with Carol around 8 or so, and we headed to Itaewon for some Thai food. We arrived pretty late, because you know... travel. We were lucky though that that didn't seem to be a problem.
I forgot to mention something earlier, and I don't feel like scrolling back up. While we were on the subway either coming back from or going to COEX, we were waiting in a station and my cell rang. It was Stu, my Australian friend, calling to see if I was home. Stu's been arranging these photography road trips, and I guess he wanted to free up some room in his car, because he wanted to know if he could leave his guitar with me for the day. I said "No can do, mon ami, I am in Seoul in a subway station."
He said "Oh bummer (or some equivalent Aussie thing)! What about Ryan? Is he home?"
I said "No, he's in Tokyo for the weekend."
And THAT was the coolest conversation I had ever had.
We had some other very cool conversations at the restaurant, Thai Orchid, that ran in a similar vein. At one point, we made spur of the moment plans to go to Busan the next weekend, and that was so cool that I had to slap my forehead in amazement. Of course, the plans fell through, because having mom here was EXPENSIVE! Anyways, we all ordered our own dishes, and then we shared with eachother, and in the end we wound up ordering another dish, and I ate so much that it hurt a little bit.
Then we all headed home, and had weird Thai-food related dreams.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Thursday - the trip to Seoul
This is finally being finished on test day, Friday June 8, 2007. The kids are studying, and soon I will hand out the tests. I love giving them study time. It just means less time I have to come up with stuff to do after the test. hahaha, I am a lazy bastard.
So we arrived in Seoul in the late afternoon, and it was just starting to rain. However, by the time we got to the Hotel Rainbow (my Seoul hotel of choice!) it was really starting to come down. We headed back tot he hotel, and we agreed to head to Outback, conveniently right across the street for dinner that night. The original plan had called for Outback on Saturday for my usual birthday dinner of "Prime Minister's Prime Rib" (A tradition I hoped to extend to a second year) with cheesy fries. But we decided that it would be better to do foreign (Thai or Middle Eastern) while Carol was there, so Outback got bumped up.
On the way, we bought umbrellas at the 7-11 store near the hotel, which mom really got a kick out of. I guess they don't have umbrellas at convenience stores at home. I never really noticed, I drive everywhere at home.
Outback was good as ever, but there was some disappointment when I couldn't find the "Prime Minister's Prime Rib" anywhere on the menu. I settled on the equally body-damaging "Huge hunk of meat with mushroom crust on top". Apparently crusts now include almost exclusively BUTTER. Didn't know. Anyway, I ordered it medium, and it came back blue. I mean, literally, definitively blue. The meat hadn't even gone grainy yet from heat. It was cool in the middle. You know what I mean? I sent it back, and it came back very rare, again. So rare that it still spilled blood all over my plate. Gah! Anger!
Sent it back again, but it worked out all right. I had wolfed down some cheesy fries, and was actually full. So the break that sending my food back allowed me was actually a very good thing. haha. By the time the steak came back for the third time, it was done enough (still not medium) and I had made some room for it. Mom and Mel polished off a few drinks, and then we headed back to the hotel.
Mom was still jet-laggy (and maybe a little tipsy) so she turned in for a rest. THREE HOURS LATER, Mel and I decided it was probably a good time to go and wake up mom. So, around 9:30 or so, we headed out, and we walked around downtown Seoul together.
I can't remember the order of things anymore, but we wound up walking through Namdaemun area, but unfortunately the market was closed. We walked through to city hall (the sense of direction was working well that night) and by the nearby old palace and down the street that leads to the NANTA theatre, which is charmingly lit with lights embedded in the ground and stone ladybugs that keep cars from careening onto the sidewalks. After that we just kept walking, we wound up walking right by GyeongBeokGung palace, by the Korean Government buildings and to a new area I had never been before, where they have a large "Sejong Culture Complex" or something by a similar name. It looked really good, and I made a note of it so that we could return to it later, because I saw a sign for a gallery, and it seemed interesting.
We got into a nearby subway stop and took the train back home, just barely making it on one of the last available trains for the night. Mom headed to bed, Mel and I stayed up and chatted for a bit, and then we too turned in, exhausted after our over two-hours long walk.
So we arrived in Seoul in the late afternoon, and it was just starting to rain. However, by the time we got to the Hotel Rainbow (my Seoul hotel of choice!) it was really starting to come down. We headed back tot he hotel, and we agreed to head to Outback, conveniently right across the street for dinner that night. The original plan had called for Outback on Saturday for my usual birthday dinner of "Prime Minister's Prime Rib" (A tradition I hoped to extend to a second year) with cheesy fries. But we decided that it would be better to do foreign (Thai or Middle Eastern) while Carol was there, so Outback got bumped up.
On the way, we bought umbrellas at the 7-11 store near the hotel, which mom really got a kick out of. I guess they don't have umbrellas at convenience stores at home. I never really noticed, I drive everywhere at home.
Outback was good as ever, but there was some disappointment when I couldn't find the "Prime Minister's Prime Rib" anywhere on the menu. I settled on the equally body-damaging "Huge hunk of meat with mushroom crust on top". Apparently crusts now include almost exclusively BUTTER. Didn't know. Anyway, I ordered it medium, and it came back blue. I mean, literally, definitively blue. The meat hadn't even gone grainy yet from heat. It was cool in the middle. You know what I mean? I sent it back, and it came back very rare, again. So rare that it still spilled blood all over my plate. Gah! Anger!
Sent it back again, but it worked out all right. I had wolfed down some cheesy fries, and was actually full. So the break that sending my food back allowed me was actually a very good thing. haha. By the time the steak came back for the third time, it was done enough (still not medium) and I had made some room for it. Mom and Mel polished off a few drinks, and then we headed back to the hotel.
Mom was still jet-laggy (and maybe a little tipsy) so she turned in for a rest. THREE HOURS LATER, Mel and I decided it was probably a good time to go and wake up mom. So, around 9:30 or so, we headed out, and we walked around downtown Seoul together.
I can't remember the order of things anymore, but we wound up walking through Namdaemun area, but unfortunately the market was closed. We walked through to city hall (the sense of direction was working well that night) and by the nearby old palace and down the street that leads to the NANTA theatre, which is charmingly lit with lights embedded in the ground and stone ladybugs that keep cars from careening onto the sidewalks. After that we just kept walking, we wound up walking right by GyeongBeokGung palace, by the Korean Government buildings and to a new area I had never been before, where they have a large "Sejong Culture Complex" or something by a similar name. It looked really good, and I made a note of it so that we could return to it later, because I saw a sign for a gallery, and it seemed interesting.
We got into a nearby subway stop and took the train back home, just barely making it on one of the last available trains for the night. Mom headed to bed, Mel and I stayed up and chatted for a bit, and then we too turned in, exhausted after our over two-hours long walk.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Mom's visit - Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday
Monday, May 21st: At around 10:00, HangBin came and picked us up and brought us to BoSeong to see the tea plantations, and idea that he had just brought up the day before. The tea plantation was breathtaking, huge, and green beyond all belief. He was an excellent tour guide for us. And a good photographer as well!
After the tea plantation, we headed into BoSeong the town, and picked up Vanessa from work. Then we all went out for a local specialty "boribap", which seemed a lot like Bibimbap, but with Barley instead of rice, and more ditch food (shoots and ferns). It was delicious, but a little spicy... I was worried about mom, but then I looked over and she was scarfing it down no problem. haha. After that the four of us went to HangBin's family's home and his mother served us Green Tea. It was delicious, and a great experience for mom, I am sure. Then we dropped off Vanessa back at the school, and we headed to DaeWonSa (I think!). It was a beautiful little temple, that seemed to be Tibetan Buddhist. It was full of beautiful gardens, and the lotuses were in season, so it just just a treat for the eyes.
Then he brought us back to Gwangju (our visit to Damyang was cancelled due to time constraints) and I rushed to get things ready for school, because I arrived home twenty minutes before my first class... School was an easy night, the assignment for that day was to make questions and/or presentation for my mom. I tried to order us a feast of Korean food, but they were no longer delivering, so we had... PIZZA.
Tuesday, May 22nd: We woke up, and we headed downtown where we met up with Ryan, Brooke and Darren for lunch, at the usual "Spicy Pork" restaurant. It was delicious, as per usual. Then mom and I headed to Art Street, and we checked out all the little shops, and ate at this little "down the rabbit hole" basement tea shop that Rodrigo, Sarah and I discovered last year. Then we headed to E-Mart, because mom wanted to see if she could find some Konglish clothes, but it was unsuccessful. Then, I dropped her off at home, and headed off to Mokpo.
I had a great last night in Korea with Vanessa. We went out for Kalbi, then we watched a movie, although now I can't remember what it was... maybe it was just TV... anyways, it's just nice, everything seems very natural with her, and even though it was our last time together for two months, it didn't feel pressured at all, which was really nice. It was just another great night, just with tighter hugs.
Wednesday, May 23rd: We headed to the bus terminal in the morning with all Vanessa's worldly belongings, and had a good bus ride. A very old woman across the aisle from us tapped me on the shoulder to let me know that Vanessa was "Sexy". I said "Thank you, yes, she's very beautiful.", and nodded, but the woman felt the need to reassure me several times that Vanessa was, in fact, very sexy. Then, a few minutes later, she busts out with "SOUTH CAROLINA!" and some rather aggressive pointing. Okay, I said, but she's from Canada. "Canada Saram Imnida!" But... she insisted that she was a sexy South Carolina lady. She asked if she was my wife, and since we both agreed it would be easier to say yes than to deal with the questions following a "no" answer (Vanessa was draped over me snoozing a bit at the time) we went with yes. Later we got shushed because we were really laughing a lot. Oh, and we got congratulatory (although belated) corn bread for our happy marriage.
We said a tearful and at times a little cheesy goodbye (I managed to refrain from putting my hand against the bus window, which was harder to avoid than you might imagine) after a small Dunkin' Donuts picnic on the floor of the bus terminal. Man, I really miss her. We have a lot of fun together.
At one, Gumi picked us up, and she brought us out for lunch in Damyang, and then out to an old Korean garden that was once a meeting place for scholars. It was another really great afternoon, and I was glad that my mom got to meet Gumi, because she is super cool. We got back to Gwangju at around 4:20 or so, so mom and I stopped at Provence for some lemonade. Then, it was into the mix with mom.
The grade sixes did a pretty good job, but I was disappoint with their effort. They had the names of things to tell mom about, but they hadn't really tried to make any sentences ABOUT things. Mom did a good job of introducing herself, but every once in a while, I had to stop her and repeat what she had said using some simpler language.
The grade fives were, awesome, as expected. They're really low-level, but they want to talk, so they are always fun. One highlight was the kids asking where dad sat at the table, because they didn't think that a normal chair would hold him.
The next class of grade fives were dominated by the three new girls who really dug a bit in an effort to get some good stories about canada and me. I was really proud of them.
The first class of grade sevens, or my "dentistry class", was brutal, as would be expected. It's pretty bad when they don't even pay attention to a guest, especially their teacher's mom. They even turned up their noses at the pictures of our house, just barely acknowledging them. If nothing else, it made me feel better, because I realized that it wasn't me.
The second class of grade sevens was better, but unfortunately mom had started to feel pretty worn out by that point, a problem that was compounded by the soul-sucking previous class. It always happens, even to me, that I am shorter with the second class because I am still mad with the first. Gotta work on that.
The grade nines really turned the night around. They had such good little presentations, and they had obviously put a lot of time and effort into it. Mom was laughing, and she had the laughing a few times (and me turning beat red). Her response to the questions "Did Matt wet the bed?" was classic mom. "Not after he turned fifteen!"
They also asked about me as a student, and they asked about mom's dreams before she had a family. It was really a great class, and a great way to end the night. After that we headed out to the gimbap house for some kimchibokkumbap, sogogibokkumbap and mandu, a meal I like to call "The sampler". Unfortunately, the kimchibokkumbap was ridiculously hot. But I ate it anyways, because last time it was too hot, and we had to send it back, and I felt bad about ordering it again, because last time they had replaced it with another dish for free. Then, we crashed for the night. I actually woke up on top of the covers the next morning in a "getting into bed" position, suggesting I had fallen asleep rather quickly.
On Thursday we had a leisurely morning and then met Mel at the train station and we all headed to Seoul together at noon.
After the tea plantation, we headed into BoSeong the town, and picked up Vanessa from work. Then we all went out for a local specialty "boribap", which seemed a lot like Bibimbap, but with Barley instead of rice, and more ditch food (shoots and ferns). It was delicious, but a little spicy... I was worried about mom, but then I looked over and she was scarfing it down no problem. haha. After that the four of us went to HangBin's family's home and his mother served us Green Tea. It was delicious, and a great experience for mom, I am sure. Then we dropped off Vanessa back at the school, and we headed to DaeWonSa (I think!). It was a beautiful little temple, that seemed to be Tibetan Buddhist. It was full of beautiful gardens, and the lotuses were in season, so it just just a treat for the eyes.
Then he brought us back to Gwangju (our visit to Damyang was cancelled due to time constraints) and I rushed to get things ready for school, because I arrived home twenty minutes before my first class... School was an easy night, the assignment for that day was to make questions and/or presentation for my mom. I tried to order us a feast of Korean food, but they were no longer delivering, so we had... PIZZA.
Tuesday, May 22nd: We woke up, and we headed downtown where we met up with Ryan, Brooke and Darren for lunch, at the usual "Spicy Pork" restaurant. It was delicious, as per usual. Then mom and I headed to Art Street, and we checked out all the little shops, and ate at this little "down the rabbit hole" basement tea shop that Rodrigo, Sarah and I discovered last year. Then we headed to E-Mart, because mom wanted to see if she could find some Konglish clothes, but it was unsuccessful. Then, I dropped her off at home, and headed off to Mokpo.
I had a great last night in Korea with Vanessa. We went out for Kalbi, then we watched a movie, although now I can't remember what it was... maybe it was just TV... anyways, it's just nice, everything seems very natural with her, and even though it was our last time together for two months, it didn't feel pressured at all, which was really nice. It was just another great night, just with tighter hugs.
Wednesday, May 23rd: We headed to the bus terminal in the morning with all Vanessa's worldly belongings, and had a good bus ride. A very old woman across the aisle from us tapped me on the shoulder to let me know that Vanessa was "Sexy". I said "Thank you, yes, she's very beautiful.", and nodded, but the woman felt the need to reassure me several times that Vanessa was, in fact, very sexy. Then, a few minutes later, she busts out with "SOUTH CAROLINA!" and some rather aggressive pointing. Okay, I said, but she's from Canada. "Canada Saram Imnida!" But... she insisted that she was a sexy South Carolina lady. She asked if she was my wife, and since we both agreed it would be easier to say yes than to deal with the questions following a "no" answer (Vanessa was draped over me snoozing a bit at the time) we went with yes. Later we got shushed because we were really laughing a lot. Oh, and we got congratulatory (although belated) corn bread for our happy marriage.
We said a tearful and at times a little cheesy goodbye (I managed to refrain from putting my hand against the bus window, which was harder to avoid than you might imagine) after a small Dunkin' Donuts picnic on the floor of the bus terminal. Man, I really miss her. We have a lot of fun together.
At one, Gumi picked us up, and she brought us out for lunch in Damyang, and then out to an old Korean garden that was once a meeting place for scholars. It was another really great afternoon, and I was glad that my mom got to meet Gumi, because she is super cool. We got back to Gwangju at around 4:20 or so, so mom and I stopped at Provence for some lemonade. Then, it was into the mix with mom.
The grade sixes did a pretty good job, but I was disappoint with their effort. They had the names of things to tell mom about, but they hadn't really tried to make any sentences ABOUT things. Mom did a good job of introducing herself, but every once in a while, I had to stop her and repeat what she had said using some simpler language.
The grade fives were, awesome, as expected. They're really low-level, but they want to talk, so they are always fun. One highlight was the kids asking where dad sat at the table, because they didn't think that a normal chair would hold him.
The next class of grade fives were dominated by the three new girls who really dug a bit in an effort to get some good stories about canada and me. I was really proud of them.
The first class of grade sevens, or my "dentistry class", was brutal, as would be expected. It's pretty bad when they don't even pay attention to a guest, especially their teacher's mom. They even turned up their noses at the pictures of our house, just barely acknowledging them. If nothing else, it made me feel better, because I realized that it wasn't me.
The second class of grade sevens was better, but unfortunately mom had started to feel pretty worn out by that point, a problem that was compounded by the soul-sucking previous class. It always happens, even to me, that I am shorter with the second class because I am still mad with the first. Gotta work on that.
The grade nines really turned the night around. They had such good little presentations, and they had obviously put a lot of time and effort into it. Mom was laughing, and she had the laughing a few times (and me turning beat red). Her response to the questions "Did Matt wet the bed?" was classic mom. "Not after he turned fifteen!"
They also asked about me as a student, and they asked about mom's dreams before she had a family. It was really a great class, and a great way to end the night. After that we headed out to the gimbap house for some kimchibokkumbap, sogogibokkumbap and mandu, a meal I like to call "The sampler". Unfortunately, the kimchibokkumbap was ridiculously hot. But I ate it anyways, because last time it was too hot, and we had to send it back, and I felt bad about ordering it again, because last time they had replaced it with another dish for free. Then, we crashed for the night. I actually woke up on top of the covers the next morning in a "getting into bed" position, suggesting I had fallen asleep rather quickly.
On Thursday we had a leisurely morning and then met Mel at the train station and we all headed to Seoul together at noon.
Monday, May 21, 2007
no posts, will catch up soon.
Hello everyone!
Sorry for the lack of news of late!
But here's what you can look forward to hearing about in the near future:
The Live Music Party, and SUCCESS!
New Cute Girl! Kiss Time!
Business!
Lots of goodbyes!
Mom comes to Korea!
Children's Festival!
Sorry for the lack of news of late!
But here's what you can look forward to hearing about in the near future:
The Live Music Party, and SUCCESS!
New Cute Girl! Kiss Time!
Business!
Lots of goodbyes!
Mom comes to Korea!
Children's Festival!
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Mom's visit - first weekend
On May 19th, my mom came to visit for nine days.
These have possibly been the busiest nine days of my life. No joke.
Friday, May 18th: Vanessa came to Gwangju. Actually, she came on Thursday, I think... oh man, blurry month. We went to a student art gallery downtown, and then out for some tea. Yeah, it was definitely this date for these activities... it was fun. After work we met for Shabu Shabu with some Munhwa figures, including Jim, the new teacher!
Saturday, May 19th: Said goodbye to Vanessa, hopped on a bus to Incheon, which I almost missed, to go pick up mom. Arrive at Incheon about one hour early. Spend most of the trip back discussing Vanessa, cartoon characters painted on the sides of buildings, and my Uncle Brian's gas problems.
Sunday, May 20th: Head to the Bong Sun Si Jang, the local daily market to pick up some food supplies. Return to the apartment for a meet-and-greet with my friends for my mom. I said it started at 12:00, so I am expecting guests to arrive at around 1:00 or 1:30. Ee MeCha breaks with convention and arrives on time, which means that my ice-run leaves her alone with my mom. Awkward! She was surprisingly shy to speak English to my mom... so my mom played Foose with her son while we prepared snacks. Around 1:30, people started showing up, and it was a great time. I'll try to remember who came:
Ee MeCha and her son, Jim, the new teacher at Munhwa, Vanessa Reid and HangBin, Carol, Mel, Mo and Darren, my young neighbour and his girlfriend, and Vanessa (Sweeney) of course. It was a great little gang! My mom was pretty impressed with everyone, and everyone enjoyed hearing all the blush-worthy stories. We hung out at the apartment untl about 4:00 or so, and then we headed to the North End of Gwangju to a youth festival where Darren and I were scheduled to play. Now, in Canada, youth typically means high-school, teens, maybe young university students... here it means kids. tiny kids.
So... our set was not ideal for the audience, but it was what we had practiced, and it was maybe best for the parents and other volunteers. haha. We wound up playing "Blue" by the JayHawks, and a medley of "Dry the Rain" by the Beta Band and "Take Your Mama Out" by the Scissor Sisters, and Darren even worked in a little "Free Radicals" by the Flaming Lips into the outro. And yes, it sounded just as awesome as you are probably imagining. I did some vocal looping, so we had simultaneous "I need love"-ing, with the super-high falsetto of the Scissor Sisters going under Darren's claims that although you think you are so radical, you are in fact "fanatical", and not really so radical at all, and his reassurances that if there's something inside that you've got to say, you should say it out loud and it will be okay, he will be your light, he will be your light, he will be your light, he will be your light.
After the music, we headed back to the apartment, and then finally downtown for "Shabu Shabu", again, this time with mom, Vanessa, Carol and Mel (and me, of course). It was delicious, and mom fared well with her first introduction to spicy-ish Asian food.
These have possibly been the busiest nine days of my life. No joke.
Friday, May 18th: Vanessa came to Gwangju. Actually, she came on Thursday, I think... oh man, blurry month. We went to a student art gallery downtown, and then out for some tea. Yeah, it was definitely this date for these activities... it was fun. After work we met for Shabu Shabu with some Munhwa figures, including Jim, the new teacher!
Saturday, May 19th: Said goodbye to Vanessa, hopped on a bus to Incheon, which I almost missed, to go pick up mom. Arrive at Incheon about one hour early. Spend most of the trip back discussing Vanessa, cartoon characters painted on the sides of buildings, and my Uncle Brian's gas problems.
Sunday, May 20th: Head to the Bong Sun Si Jang, the local daily market to pick up some food supplies. Return to the apartment for a meet-and-greet with my friends for my mom. I said it started at 12:00, so I am expecting guests to arrive at around 1:00 or 1:30. Ee MeCha breaks with convention and arrives on time, which means that my ice-run leaves her alone with my mom. Awkward! She was surprisingly shy to speak English to my mom... so my mom played Foose with her son while we prepared snacks. Around 1:30, people started showing up, and it was a great time. I'll try to remember who came:
Ee MeCha and her son, Jim, the new teacher at Munhwa, Vanessa Reid and HangBin, Carol, Mel, Mo and Darren, my young neighbour and his girlfriend, and Vanessa (Sweeney) of course. It was a great little gang! My mom was pretty impressed with everyone, and everyone enjoyed hearing all the blush-worthy stories. We hung out at the apartment untl about 4:00 or so, and then we headed to the North End of Gwangju to a youth festival where Darren and I were scheduled to play. Now, in Canada, youth typically means high-school, teens, maybe young university students... here it means kids. tiny kids.
So... our set was not ideal for the audience, but it was what we had practiced, and it was maybe best for the parents and other volunteers. haha. We wound up playing "Blue" by the JayHawks, and a medley of "Dry the Rain" by the Beta Band and "Take Your Mama Out" by the Scissor Sisters, and Darren even worked in a little "Free Radicals" by the Flaming Lips into the outro. And yes, it sounded just as awesome as you are probably imagining. I did some vocal looping, so we had simultaneous "I need love"-ing, with the super-high falsetto of the Scissor Sisters going under Darren's claims that although you think you are so radical, you are in fact "fanatical", and not really so radical at all, and his reassurances that if there's something inside that you've got to say, you should say it out loud and it will be okay, he will be your light, he will be your light, he will be your light, he will be your light.
After the music, we headed back to the apartment, and then finally downtown for "Shabu Shabu", again, this time with mom, Vanessa, Carol and Mel (and me, of course). It was delicious, and mom fared well with her first introduction to spicy-ish Asian food.
Monday, May 07, 2007
Post Music-party
That night Vanessa and I stayed up all night just talking again. I love meeting someone I can talk to so easily, and how conversation just seems to flow, and how most of it is just random funny stuff we say that we don't even remember an hour later. Or... minutes later.
The next day we checked out of the Windmill, and we were walking around town delaying saying goodbye... or at least, that's how I remember it now, the decision may have come earlier... I don't know, it was a long, blurry while ago now... and I thought "This is bullshit!" But I SAID "How about I come to Mokpo tonight? I don't work until five anyways!"
So, awesome night, and we wound up hanging out almost all day together the next day, because she called in sick. w00t!
The next few weeks are honestly a blur, so I'll just give you the highlight reel:
Weekends in Gwangju (well, some in Mokpo), Night-trips to Mokpo after work (lots of related sleep-deprivation, arriving around eleven thirty most nights, just arriving in time to catch up on work/prep ahead for mom's visit), conversations continuing in an awesome manner...
The painting: After our first big lunch together, I knew that it was something really special. But I had no idea that a relationship would come out of it, I just thought it was an awesome lunch with this cute girl (with amazing hair). But I knew that I wanted to remember it... and I'm tactile, right, so I wanted something that I could see and touch. The first night that I had been at Vanessa's, I had received a warning... there was a painting of her in her apartment. It was a painting that she thought might make me blush, so she warned me, which was sweet... but what stuck in my mind was not the blush-inducing parts of it, but the decorations around her (although she looked good in it too). I thought that a painting would be a great way to remember the weekend, and even before things started developing after the music party, I was pretty confident that she would be willing to paint a picture for me. I asked her after the music party, and she said okay. Anyways, it turned out amazingly well, and it's hanging now in my living room. It's chock-full of our inside jokes and references to things that have happened to us (kiss time!) and it's just a perfect way to remember how things started for us.
What else did we do? We had a great little picnic in the park one day, with so much food... she's a great cook. Which is nice, it's been a long time since anyone cooked for me, on a one-on-one basis. And... it's GOOD!
We also tried to spend a night at my place once, I forget when... oh, the weekend of the Hampyeong Butterfly festival, I remember now... more on that later! Anyways, we thought it would be convenient, and much cheaper than her staying at the Windmill... but Vanessa is very allergic to cats, so that idea was out, when she lay down and proceeded to almost have an asthma attack. She was stubborn about it being okay, but I insisted, and it turned into another night at the Windmill. That damn place is inescapable!
The next day we checked out of the Windmill, and we were walking around town delaying saying goodbye... or at least, that's how I remember it now, the decision may have come earlier... I don't know, it was a long, blurry while ago now... and I thought "This is bullshit!" But I SAID "How about I come to Mokpo tonight? I don't work until five anyways!"
So, awesome night, and we wound up hanging out almost all day together the next day, because she called in sick. w00t!
The next few weeks are honestly a blur, so I'll just give you the highlight reel:
Weekends in Gwangju (well, some in Mokpo), Night-trips to Mokpo after work (lots of related sleep-deprivation, arriving around eleven thirty most nights, just arriving in time to catch up on work/prep ahead for mom's visit), conversations continuing in an awesome manner...
The painting: After our first big lunch together, I knew that it was something really special. But I had no idea that a relationship would come out of it, I just thought it was an awesome lunch with this cute girl (with amazing hair). But I knew that I wanted to remember it... and I'm tactile, right, so I wanted something that I could see and touch. The first night that I had been at Vanessa's, I had received a warning... there was a painting of her in her apartment. It was a painting that she thought might make me blush, so she warned me, which was sweet... but what stuck in my mind was not the blush-inducing parts of it, but the decorations around her (although she looked good in it too). I thought that a painting would be a great way to remember the weekend, and even before things started developing after the music party, I was pretty confident that she would be willing to paint a picture for me. I asked her after the music party, and she said okay. Anyways, it turned out amazingly well, and it's hanging now in my living room. It's chock-full of our inside jokes and references to things that have happened to us (kiss time!) and it's just a perfect way to remember how things started for us.
What else did we do? We had a great little picnic in the park one day, with so much food... she's a great cook. Which is nice, it's been a long time since anyone cooked for me, on a one-on-one basis. And... it's GOOD!
We also tried to spend a night at my place once, I forget when... oh, the weekend of the Hampyeong Butterfly festival, I remember now... more on that later! Anyways, we thought it would be convenient, and much cheaper than her staying at the Windmill... but Vanessa is very allergic to cats, so that idea was out, when she lay down and proceeded to almost have an asthma attack. She was stubborn about it being okay, but I insisted, and it turned into another night at the Windmill. That damn place is inescapable!
Butterfly Festival, dates
SO yeah... before I talk about mom's visit, I should talk about the Butterfly Festival and a few other things.
So, anyways, the butterfly festival. I was invited to play in the talent show for foreigners at the Hampyeong Butterfly Festival, which was pretty exciting. Vanessa and I panned the whole weekend around it, starting with a FRiday night in Gwangju, then the Festival on Saturday, then over to Mokpo for the rest of the weekend. Anyways, Friday was the night that we wound up going to my place after having some drinks with Mel in Gwangju, but then we wound up at the Windmill anyway, because of the cat's damned allergens. haha. We got up bright and early to catch the bus to Hampyeong leaving from the Gwangju International Center. We got there at nine, and there was no-one there! I started freaking out a little bit, but not too much, because great hair has an incredible calming effect on me.
Anyways, I called at around ten to find out what the heck was going on! I was very surprised to learn that the festival performances would actually be taking place the following day. Yeah. Shitty.
But it turned out alright, we were already packed, so we headed to the bus terminal and got on a bus for Mokpo and caught up on our sleep there (late night illness+early morning=tired). The next morning we caught a bus to Hampyeong, and got there just in time to grab some lunch and then perform. I played three songs, opening with "Such a Simple Way" (of course) then a Ryan Adams cover "The Hardest Part" and closing with a new song "Make you smile". It was well received. We were asked to wear "traditional costume", so I wore Columbia Hiking shorts, a gray T-shirt and some Birkenstocks. Basically, that's my uniform in Canada, so it seemed appropriate, especially since I have no Voyageur pants.
Ooh, I just had a random flashback to playing against the Valois team from Mattawa, with the guy who was playing house league after years of double and triple A who made me wet my pants (not really) every time he took a slapshot at me... yikes, still remember how bad he hurt my elbow through the shitty house-league monkey suit that the Powassan hockey league provided for me.
I won second place, which came with the awesome prize of 200 000 won in Farmer's Coop gift certificates! That's just over $200! So, I'll eat cheaply this month, that's for sure. The woman who won did a traditional dance from India, I believe, and it was quite good! The other highlight for me was two girls who did a very country-ified cover of "Last Night" by the strokes, with some great harmonies and tambourine/cowboy boot accompaniment!
After the performance we had some tent meat, which is always fabulous (seriously) and then we headed home (to Mokpo).
I forgot to mention that the other part of the prize was "Stamina Wine". hahaha, awesome. I love how every second thing here is lauded for providing increased stamina... especially alcohol. I think that general consensus is that alcohol has the opposite effect... and why the obsession here? There is a LOT of concern over stamina here. Do Canadians have so many stamina products, and I've just been ignorant of the market? Is there an pickled eel store somewhere that no-one ever told me about? If there is...
What else happened that was awesome? there was another thing I wanted to mention... before I turned it over to mom...
Oh, the Wando Beach party? Well, that was cancelled, which sucked. But, it led to a pretty awesome weekend with Vanessa anyways... we had a double-date with Kristin and Jeff, who are a LOT of fun, and we gifted out some stamina wine. Jeff drank it at dinner, which was highly amusing. Then we went out for some drinks... I had some over-priced/under-tasty sake... and terrible sausages. ugh.
I forgot to mention this party we went to at Jeff's uncle's house... it was really nice, we had some barbecued burgers and we drank wine coolers, and I wound up playing some guitar for a while, and meeting up with some new musicians, as well as some just general noobies... which was fun. I got to play the part of "Sage". haha. It was nice, but it rained later in the night, and kind of put a damper on things.
So, anyways, the butterfly festival. I was invited to play in the talent show for foreigners at the Hampyeong Butterfly Festival, which was pretty exciting. Vanessa and I panned the whole weekend around it, starting with a FRiday night in Gwangju, then the Festival on Saturday, then over to Mokpo for the rest of the weekend. Anyways, Friday was the night that we wound up going to my place after having some drinks with Mel in Gwangju, but then we wound up at the Windmill anyway, because of the cat's damned allergens. haha. We got up bright and early to catch the bus to Hampyeong leaving from the Gwangju International Center. We got there at nine, and there was no-one there! I started freaking out a little bit, but not too much, because great hair has an incredible calming effect on me.
Anyways, I called at around ten to find out what the heck was going on! I was very surprised to learn that the festival performances would actually be taking place the following day. Yeah. Shitty.
But it turned out alright, we were already packed, so we headed to the bus terminal and got on a bus for Mokpo and caught up on our sleep there (late night illness+early morning=tired). The next morning we caught a bus to Hampyeong, and got there just in time to grab some lunch and then perform. I played three songs, opening with "Such a Simple Way" (of course) then a Ryan Adams cover "The Hardest Part" and closing with a new song "Make you smile". It was well received. We were asked to wear "traditional costume", so I wore Columbia Hiking shorts, a gray T-shirt and some Birkenstocks. Basically, that's my uniform in Canada, so it seemed appropriate, especially since I have no Voyageur pants.
Ooh, I just had a random flashback to playing against the Valois team from Mattawa, with the guy who was playing house league after years of double and triple A who made me wet my pants (not really) every time he took a slapshot at me... yikes, still remember how bad he hurt my elbow through the shitty house-league monkey suit that the Powassan hockey league provided for me.
I won second place, which came with the awesome prize of 200 000 won in Farmer's Coop gift certificates! That's just over $200! So, I'll eat cheaply this month, that's for sure. The woman who won did a traditional dance from India, I believe, and it was quite good! The other highlight for me was two girls who did a very country-ified cover of "Last Night" by the strokes, with some great harmonies and tambourine/cowboy boot accompaniment!
After the performance we had some tent meat, which is always fabulous (seriously) and then we headed home (to Mokpo).
I forgot to mention that the other part of the prize was "Stamina Wine". hahaha, awesome. I love how every second thing here is lauded for providing increased stamina... especially alcohol. I think that general consensus is that alcohol has the opposite effect... and why the obsession here? There is a LOT of concern over stamina here. Do Canadians have so many stamina products, and I've just been ignorant of the market? Is there an pickled eel store somewhere that no-one ever told me about? If there is...
What else happened that was awesome? there was another thing I wanted to mention... before I turned it over to mom...
Oh, the Wando Beach party? Well, that was cancelled, which sucked. But, it led to a pretty awesome weekend with Vanessa anyways... we had a double-date with Kristin and Jeff, who are a LOT of fun, and we gifted out some stamina wine. Jeff drank it at dinner, which was highly amusing. Then we went out for some drinks... I had some over-priced/under-tasty sake... and terrible sausages. ugh.
I forgot to mention this party we went to at Jeff's uncle's house... it was really nice, we had some barbecued burgers and we drank wine coolers, and I wound up playing some guitar for a while, and meeting up with some new musicians, as well as some just general noobies... which was fun. I got to play the part of "Sage". haha. It was nice, but it rained later in the night, and kind of put a damper on things.
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