Mr C pouring out some whiskey for Mrs Woo.
Mr C singing "Sweet Caroline"
Christy, Gumi, and EunKyeong
Me doing the obligatory "Ziggy Stardust" cover
Gumi, EunKyeong and Mr Kang.

Welcome party for the new math teacher.

Friday night was a party after work for a new teacher at the Munhwa Math Hagwon.
We went to the usual restaurant, whose name I can not remember... it was fun. Laurien brought a bottle of whiskey that was split among the staff during the dinner, and made for some interesting faces, it being 40% and all, as opposed to 20% soju.
Dinner was great, and it was followed, as usual, by a Norae bang, where the booze was really given a chance to shine. I was in a bit of a metal mood, which was best satisfied with some hard(ish) rock covers. My singing David Bowie, Muse and Radiohead was simultaneously applauded and resulted in the moving of my songbook to the other end of the table. haha.
Here's some pictures!
Here's the handsome and talented Mr Lee, all-round nice guy who runs the ship with Mr Kang.
Here's Mrs Woo! She has a cute chubby baby!
Here's the old new math teacher and the new new math teacher! He's the one the party's for!
These are the two lovely secretaries that I eat my lunch with every day. I just realized that that'll be stopping come Thursday, and I got a little bit sad...
Here's the old-new math teacher and Mr Moon.

The wine and cheese!

So, Saturday was the day of my big wine and cheese. I was starting to get nervous, because I was trying to visualize how so many people would fit in my apartment... luckily there was a good combination of furniture rearrangement and people who could not make it.
I hung out with Vanessa for the afternoon, and then came home and started getting everything ready. I was having a few jitters about how it would all turn out.
But I had a good formula: lots of people who are interesting, lots of wine, and good food and music.
Jon and Emily arrived right on time, as did Jeong Hyeon (one of the dudes) and Michael was there already (helped with the set-up), and Ryan followed shortly, but Brooke was absent due to illness. My friend Mallessa came later, and was followed by Lana and Bryce, Stu from Naju, and Laurien. Luckily Brooke let her presence be felt via a veggie tray and dip.
There was a table full of wine and food, and everyone mixed well, or at least I thought so. The reviews have been good so far.
My highlight reel (all things I was involved in, because that's what I remember):
Jeong Hyeon's lethal chinese alcohol that made you drunk before you even drank it. You would seriously just smell the fumes and start to feel dizzy.
My mistakingly thinking that Stu was on a motor bike and accidentally telling him to just "park it down by the trash, there's always room down there", and being told after I got off the phone with him that he was in fact driving a car.
Guitars coming out at around 10:00 or so (details now become fuzzy), moving out into the main room after about half an hour and culminating in a noise complaint from a dishevelled, robed neighbour at 1:30 am.
Wicked flashbacks to Pete's wine and cheese parties in university that also usually ended up with me on guitar and Bryce on a drum.
Stories about church elders at sex museums in Jejudo.
Overhearing "That's why I vote for serial monogamy." come from someone.
Wicked little jams involving Bryce, Stu, Jeong Hyeon, Lana, Mallessa, Laurien and myself involving everything from hand drums to guitars and hand claps.
We shut down the music after the noise complaint, but the party continued until three.
If you read this, and you were there, please add more in the comments section, I'll check and update with your tidbits... I'm too tired to remember any more right now.

Bryce and I.

Bryce, Laurien and Mallessa at the food table.

Lana, Emily and Mallessa.

John, Ryan, Jeong Hyeon and Michael.

Lana and Stu.

More pictures to come in one week's time... they're B&W, and that takes longer to develop, apparently!

Made Ee Meecha's day!

So, I just finished telling Ee MeeCha how many foreigners she should expect for the little performance at Cafe Provence on March tenth... she just about jumped out of her skin!
I didn't realize just how many people would be coming until the wine and cheese on Saturday night, when everyone responded in the affirmative that they would be coming. It's starting to look like we might have a crowd or 40 or fifty between Darren and I in this little cafe with a seating capacity of (looking around...) about thirty. So, that'll be fun. She'll have to rearrange some things... but I wanted to let her know, so that she doesn't run out of wine or anything.
She's pretty happy. I think this might be the most people that have ever been in here. haha, awesome.
She's a little bit giddy... when she came over to pick up my cup and dishes she was giggling a little bit. Which makes me really happy. I hope that everyone shows who said that they would!

Here's the ad that's drawing everyone in!

Another test funny.

Oddly enough, this was the sentence used for the word "lock".

Most of Korean husbands hide the money which their wife doesn't know. I also hide money that my parents don't know. Ha Ha Ha :)

Notice that it does not mention "lock" at all.

So much is happening!

Hello everyone!
Things are continuing to be great here. I just had another in a long stretch of great weekend, this time in the form of a wine and cheese party that I hosted on Saturday night. Last weekend, Busan... but more on that later. I've just been too busy to properly update.
In the meantime, here's a picture of me in my expensive gift shirt (which I tried to look in the mouth, but I couldn't find it).

test funnies

"I hate her because she always pretended to be pretty."

"She have stressed very well. because she is depressed."

"The man made me very annoyed. So I hate him but he is my father. I'm frustrated."

"I pretended to cry because my mom will punish my brother."

Sore leg

My leg is killing me. About two days ago, I got a wicked blister on my left foot.
It all started a few weeks ago when both pairs of my good work shoes crapped out on me. I mean CRAPPED OUT. My good black shoes started hurting the tops of my feet, and by brown shoes, which have holes in the bottom for a long time, wore out in a way that I can feel the hole now (they're like cracks, not actual holes). I think that that is where this blister came from.
So, it's like the size of a quarter, and it's right on the ball of my foot. I was stubborn on Monday night and I actually walked home with it, and that proved to be my undoing. I got home, and my leg was just starting to hurt.
It turns out that walking for forty five minutes on the side of your foot is not good for you.
So now, two days later, my whole leg aches, my blister still hurts like hell, and now my other knee is starting to hurt from the way that I walk.
Oh you can tell by the way I use my walk I'm an injured man...
Brooke suggested that I soak my foot in some salt water, so that's what I did last night... for an hour and a half. It didn't seem to do much. I mean, it felt good, once the water cooled below scalding temperature, but it didn't seem to get rid of my blister. I'll try again tonight. It's kind of nice to soak my feet after a long day... or, at least, my foot, since I have no tub and I have to do it in my big pot.

Hey, anyone want to come over for dinner?!

Michael is back now, too. He's a good house-guest, and I think it's good for Sam to have someone around to give her some attention, since I am so busy. She started meowing early again today... I was sleeping in because I have to take a cab because of my leg, but luckily Michael was there to keep her entertained and she didn't wake me up.
Anyways... I have kids writing stories right now. I can't walk around the class, so they have to yell their questions to me, which is turning out to be easy, since they are all listening to eachothers' questions with a lot of interest. So, I'm just sitting here, I figured it was a good time to write some updates for my blog. So look forward to a day of UPDATES GALORE!

Speaking of updates galore:
I got the first three of the grade nine projects today. That's good. They'll lose marks, but at least I have something to assign marks to now.
I've given these guys pictures to write stories about too. I have high hopes for them.
There are a few really good writers in the class.
I yelled at my first class today. One kid was supposed to give his speech today, and he didn't have it, so I asked him how much time he wasted in the month I had him working on it, and he said "30 minutes." I said thirty minutes wasted or thirty minutes of work? and he said "Work".
One good thing about these kids is that they know enough English to understand that I am disappointed, and it actually seems to resonate with them. And they understand the phrase "You should be ashamed." and it seems to have an effect. We'll see how much tomorrow when he has promised to be finished his speech. I hate to say it to them, but it's honestly what I think sometimes. I mean, he had almost a month, and I know that he wasted it. Of course, his progress marks reflect that, and he knows that.
I'm in grade nine right now, or my "apathy class". They don't do anything. Understandable, I guess. I mean, they're leaving this school in a week or so, I would be pretty unmotivated in what they undoubtedly consider to be their least important class too!
It's frustrating, because their Korean teachers make them memorize, and their foreign teachers actually try to teach them how to speak and create with language, but it's seen as less important, because it doesn't directly link to a TOEFL exam. ugh.

No Grade Nines

So, I have no grade nines today... and my grade eight attendance is getting a little spotty.
I have no idea why my grade nines are not here today... they were doing really well with their projects, rough copies were finished or started on time, but they were due yesterday, and I don't have a single one yet. It's really pissing me off...
I bought a mixer this week... it's pretty exciting, because it means that I'll be able to set my levels before I go to a performance. Also, I'll be able to control my looped vocals and my normal vocals separately. Luckily, my looper has three channels, so I'll be able to loop the vocals and mix them separately from the looped guitar...
That may not sound so cool, but trust me, it IS!
I had a good grade eight class today. That was good. We talked about the astronaut who was recently arrested. It was fun, and they seemed to enjoy it.
Michael is coming back tonight, and he's going to stay with me for a while. I'm pretty excited, he's a good guy. He's back a few weeks early before his new contract starts.

Anyways... I'm sleepy. Blog updating time is over.

Posts from February 8

Holy cuteness, Batman!

So I found out what the fight after class was about yesterday.
It is unbelievably cute, actually, I can't believe it.
So, HoHyun apparently pulled aside Puma Man yesterday because he noticed that Puma Man had a big crush on a girl in class. It wasn't a "Back off, she's mine!" type conversation, or anything like that. Apparently Ho Hyun thought that it was important to tell Puma Man that he should back off for the sake of his studies! Puma Man didn't take too kindly to the advice, and that is what started the whole thing.
So then Puma Man writes some insults on Ho Hyun's paper, which, while it wasn't told to me directly, I think were written specifically to show off how funny he could be, because I noticed that his crush spent more time than should be expected...

Anyways, I was told that this was all "very secret", and the story was related to me in hushed tones. So if anyone asks... you don't know anything.

Worn out

I am feeling exceptionally worn out today... and yesterday too. Luckily, I'm in the midst of graduation week, so many kids are having strange schedule mix-ups, and it has meant that today and yesterday I did not have to come to school until 11:10, and tomorrow I don't have to come until 1:40. It's like the random holidays I used to get last year, just on a much much smaller scale!
It's raining today, and only about 7 degrees or so, which is a huge shock to my system after a week of +15 or higher weather with sunshine. I walked to school today, like I do every day, and I arrived feeling terrible. I was cold from the rain, but because of the humidity I had started to sweat... which locked me into this horrible cycle of being cool but sweating anyways... man, it sucked! I felt like a slob when I arrived... but it came after a really awesome morning at home.
I got to bed at around 11:00 or maybe a bit earlier last night. I set the alarm for 8:30, but of course I was up at 7:15, because Sam was outside my door meowing for her morning pat. I patted her and then tried to go back to bed, but she would not allow it, so I played with her for a while, which was great. I haven't had much time for her lately, because I have been working so much.
I also had my pizza last night, which I have been craving since last week... I ate more than half though, which was too much, and I spent the rest of the night sprawled out going "oooooOOOOooooog."
I bet so much pizza is probably playing a role in my being so worn out today. oh well... it was delicious.
I have four more classes today... I was really cranky in my last one yesterday. My body was screaming at me that I should be at home by that point. It did not want to be teaching. Not that I was doing much... I gave them a creative assignment, so i pretty much only did something when they had a question or when I spotted that they had a problem. There was also some yelling... there's a girl who always plays video games on her cell phone. I caught her again last night. She insisted she was using the dictionary in it, and when I told her that most dictionaries don't show explosions and have sound effects, she insisted that I hadn't seen or heard what I thought that I had. I got really angry, because she would not give me her cell phone, and my usual policy is to keep them until the next class.
So, minus 20. Or at least that's what I said. Truth was that she just got a 2/10 participation mark for the day, because aside from playing the game, I didn't see her do too much for her groups assignment.
anyways... venting.
I should go. I need to be NOT angry when the classes start up again.

Grade sixes
So my class that I can't get to do anything...
I gave them the option of homework to help them study tonight, and they ALL jumped on it. I found it pretty hilarious that when I assign it, I get cursed under their breath, but if I give them an option, they are all over it.
Hilarious.
I even pointed it out to them, and they laughed too.
Maybe I'm making some headway here...

The new set-up

Dude, could this get any more complicated?

I need to get a whole bunch more short cables, because this is a tangled ridiculous mess

Grade sixes

So my class that I can't get to do anything...
I gave them the option of homework to help them study tonight, and they ALL jumped on it. I found it pretty hilarious that when I assign it, I get cursed under their breath, but if I give them an option, they are all over it.
Hilarious.
I even pointed it out to them, and they laughed too.
Maybe I'm making some headway here...

Worn out

I am feeling exceptionally worn out today... and yesterday too. Luckily, I'm in the midst of graduation week, so many kids are having strange schedule mix-ups, and it has meant that today and yesterday I did not have to come to school until 11:10, and tomorrow I don't have to come until 1:40. It's like the random holidays I used to get last year, just on a much much smaller scale!
It's raining today, and only about 7 degrees or so, which is a huge shock to my system after a week of +15 or higher weather with sunshine. I walked to school today, like I do every day, and I arrived feeling terrible. I was cold from the rain, but because of the humidity I had started to sweat... which locked me into this horrible cycle of being cool but sweating anyways... man, it sucked! I felt like a slob when I arrived... but it came after a really awesome morning at home.
I got to bed at around 11:00 or maybe a bit earlier last night. I set the alarm for 8:30, but of course I was up at 7:15, because Sam was outside my door meowing for her morning pat. I patted her and then tried to go back to bed, but she would not allow it, so I played with her for a while, which was great. I haven't had much time for her lately, because I have been working so much.
I also had my pizza last night, which I have been craving since last week... I ate more than half though, which was too much, and I spent the rest of the night sprawled out going "oooooOOOOooooog."
I bet so much pizza is probably playing a role in my being so worn out today. oh well... it was delicious.
I have four more classes today... I was really cranky in my last one yesterday. My body was screaming at me that I should be at home by that point. It did not want to be teaching. Not that I was doing much... I gave them a creative assignment, so i pretty much only did something when they had a question or when I spotted that they had a problem. There was also some yelling... there's a girl who always plays video games on her cell phone. I caught her again last night. She insisted she was using the dictionary in it, and when I told her that most dictionaries don't show explosions and have sound effects, she insisted that I hadn't seen or heard what I thought that I had. I got really angry, because she would not give me her cell phone, and my usual policy is to keep them until the next class.
So, minus 20. Or at least that's what I said. Truth was that she just got a 2/10 participation mark for the day, because aside from playing the game, I didn't see her do too much for her groups assignment.
anyways... venting.
I should go. I need to be NOT angry when the classes start up again.

The best reason to fight ever.

So I found out what the fight after class was about yesterday.
It is unbelievably cute, actually, I can't believe it.
So, HoHyun apparently pulled aside Puma Man yesterday because he noticed that Puma Man had a big crush on a girl in class. It wasn't a "Back off, she's mine!" type conversation, or anything like that. Apparently Ho Hyun thought that it was important to tell Puma Man that he should back off for the sake of his studies! Puma Man didn't take too kindly to the advice, and that is what started the whole thing.
So then Puma Man writes some insults on Ho Hyun's paper, which, while it wasn't told to me directly, I think were written specifically to show off how funny he could be, because I noticed that his crush spent more time than should be expected...

Anyways, I was told that this was all "very secret", and the story was related to me in hushed tones. So if anyone asks... you don't know anything.

FIGHTING!

It appears to be "Hostility Day" on the Korean calendar... or something.
I can't explain it, but there seems to be a hostility in the air. and this is all before lunch!

First:
After my first and only class this morning (I got to sleep in until 9!) there was a fight that I had to break up. It started in class. The kids play this word game where you change one syllable or add a syllable to a word to change it to another word (syllable rather than letter, because Korean words are written in syllable blocks). Anyways, the kid I call Puma Man turned another kid, Ho Hyun's, name into "tyrannosaurus" in about four steps. The other words I did not know. Luckily, tyrannosaurus is the same in both languages. I thought it was a fun joke between friends, so I didn't say anything.
Oh, new news... I'm writing this in the staff room on lunch, and Mr Kang just came over to tell me that the words were actually a bunch of nicknames that Puma Man had given Ho Hyun based on his appearance, and also included Monkey. This has been going on for some time, apparently, and Ho Hyun told Mr Kang that finally today he could not take anymore.
So anyways, I laughed it off in class, because I figured it was just a joke, and harmless fun, I had no idea that this was going on for a long time (how could I? I don't understand what they say!). But then as they were leaving class, a plastic milk container bounced into the room, apparently off Puma Man's head!
I went out into the hall, just in time to see a roundhouse kick from Ho Hyun to Puma Man's torso! It was brutal! I stepped in between them. Puma Man had no interest in fighting, because I think that he knew that Ho Hyun would kick the shit out of him. haha. Anyways, I was trying to break them apart, which was pretty easy, because Puma Man was backing off, when Ho Hyun came up and gave him a stiff-handed slap across the face!
So I marched them both up to the office and told them to explain the situation to Mr Kang after I told him what I knew... anyways, I was shaking. I haven't had to deal with anything that intense since I was a don.

SECOND:
Harley and I were talking about the schedule changes at the start of lunch when we saw a fight come so close to happening out at the intersection in front of the school. Not much detail there, just weirdness from a distance.

Third:
I went to the little business lunch place where we get free food during intensives, and as I was eating, a group of businessmen came in, and one guy was SERIOUSLY distressed by my presence, and he made that pretty clear by glaring at me and standing with his arms crossed across from me. Like he expected me to leave or something! I've been yelled at by random men here before, and it seemed like was pretty close to going on a tirade about something to do with foreigners... or teachers... or Americans. I love the anti-American rants that get directed at me. Such fun!

Anyways... I'll be hiding in the cafe all afternoon, so hopefully I don't have any more hostility to deal with. Except of course, from students who will get back bad tests today. haha.

It's the weekend, Sam.

Every morning in the week I get up at 7:15.
Sam has become accustomed to that schedule.
So when I want to sleep in on the weekend, she's very confused, and she voices this confusion by meowing very loudly outside my door.
You know, because a cat doesn't understand that I was out drinking.
Sleep is very important.
so yeah, I guess three and a half hours is enough for a cat...

I'm sleepy.

Cafe Provence

So, I'm sitting in Cafe Provence right now. I think that this place will really save my sanity during this intensive period.
I just finished marking some stories. I have some planning to do, but I still have another hour before I have to go back to school, so I have lots to time to relax too.
Lee MiCha is playing one of the CDs that I gave her right now. I signed up for this online newspaper... I don't really enjoy it's politics too much, but the arts section is really good. They reviewed this guy, gave him top marks, I watched his video. He's an Irish folk musician. He's quite good. Anyways, it's just really cool that she likes it enough to play it in her shop. Not just for me either, I've come in at other times and heard it playing, times when she would not have been expecting me!
Anyways, a really cool thing happened the other day. She was asking me the other day what authors I liked, and since I haven't been reading much, I was stumped. I didn't feel like saying "Dan Brown", but I really just not been reading much else since my Dan Brown marathon last year.
Anyways... I searched, and I hoped to say something that she would have heard of so maybe we could chat about it. Anyways, I said "Leonard Cohen", because it seemed to fit with the place and her tastes that I knew (I read a book of his poems a few years ago) and, with no word of lie or exaggeration, reached behind her, grabbed the needle on her record player and began to play "The Best of Leonard Cohen", which was already on there.
Anyways... the coffee is good too, thank God! And if you order wine, you get free salami and cheese (and ritz sandwiches, which I am less excited about. haha).

Well, back to the grind... I've got some Friday games to make! Maybe a pizza after work... mmm... Bacon Cheddar Cheese... with garlic dipping sauce!

weddings, movies, work work work

So, last weekend. Pretty chilled out. Friday, I just relaxed. Literally. Just. I came home, sat around, the cat fell asleep on my belly, and I just vegged out. Teaching eight classes a day is hard work! And it does take it's toll. Finally stumbled into bed.
Saturday I cleaned up. I had planned to go shopping for a wedding present for Gumi with Laurien and Brooke, but when Brooke backed out to do some cleaning (eight classes plus a cold was hitting her too. haha!) I looked around at my apartment, the growing stack of marking, and backed out too. Money is a good gift for newlyweds too!
At five I went downtown to meet a girl that I met at the murder mystery party weeks back. We ran into each other again at the UNESCO Christmas dinner, and got to talking about the film festival and volunteer projects... she seemed cool so we met up for some dinner and chatting. I had been under the impression for weeks that her name was Skippy, because of a novelty name tag that she wore at the Murder Mystery Party. Turns out that it is Mellessa, which I have probably spelled incorrectly. Dinner and hanging out confirmed my earlier suspicions that she was in fact pretty neat.
Anyways, went out for spicy pork and to the dog cafe, and met up with Brooke and Ryan later at my new favourite place in the world "Cafe Provence". We had coffee and wine, and then Mellessa had to leave to catch a bus back to Gwangju. Ryan, Brooke and I stuck around for a while, finished our wine, then went out and found another little wine bar that I had spotted walking downtown earlier.
It was a nice place, but the colour scheme left a lot to be desired. It was like the Easter Bunny's fortress of solitude. All pastels and tiny dioramas of farmhouse rooms... very weird. But, good old jazz was playing and the wine was good. The "party" finished at my place with further libations. It was a great day, just hanging out and gabbing, loving life. haha.
Sunday was Gumi's wedding, which was very interesting. Oh, I forgot! When I was getting ready, Jessie called, and we had a great chat, which was nice. We hadn't talked in a long time. Anyways, the wedding.
I really enjoyed it. It was definitely not a wedding like I would have, but it was definitely an experience to see! When we arrived, Gumi was in a little room with an arched door. In the room, everyone would pass through to take pictures with her in her gown. Her whole family was outside of it, which was really neat. Gumi was beautiful, and it was nice to meet the families of the Korean teachers and see them outside of work. The ceremony was a full of pomp and circumstance. There was a soundtrack to everyone walking down the aisle. Like "INTRODUCING: THE FATHER!!!" and then a huge horn interlude as he walks to the altar area. "INTRODUCING: THE MOTHERS!!!" and then the mothers walk down the aisle in the hanbok. Then "INTRODUCING: THE BRIDE!!!" and then Gumi walks down, with the wedding march playing, and for some reason, bird song.
OH! I forgot the best part! During the processions, the parties are accompanied by these two girls wearing marching band uniforms and carrying swords. Then as Gumi walks down the aisle, they stand at attention half way and slowly cut an arc with their swords that starts when she starts and is completed as she reaches the altar.
I obviously did not understand much of the ceremony, but I was quite entertained by Ms Woo's son sitting in front of me, who has these unbelievably chubby cheeks and was fascinated with my camera, which I was more than happy to entertain him with.
The ceremony ended with a ton of photos with the wedding party, friends and family (and coworkers). Another highlight was constantly trying to snap a photo of my student Hyeong Deok who was apparently in Gumi's family. He's pretty shy, but it was fun. He looks like kids I have seen in old photos of my dad and his childhood friends, so I knew right away that he would be trouble.
After that I just chilled out for a while, and then went out to the movies at this cool theatre that I found. Actually, I was told about it. This is a really old theater that only plays independent and foreign and art films. So, a very cool discovery. I met up with Brooke and Ryan, and we saw that movie "The Science of Sleep", which I have wanted to see ever since I saw previews for it in Canada in the fall. I was super happy when I discovered that it not only played in Korea, but that there was an art film theater!
Anyways, it was a good time, and then we went out for shabu shabu, the perfect ending for pretty much any day. I also shopped for a black sweater, which I have come to require for two important reasons.
1) I have no black sweater. How have I been living?!
2) I've come to realize that a lot of my clothes have retained their pear shape even as I am losing it. It's kind of fun, because I can see my gut in the form of my clothes! hahaha. Anyways, not to make myself sound like an Adonis or anything. Far from it. But I'm feeling pretty good!

This week has been more of the same at work. I'm still frustrated about the projects in most of the classes. They just don't seem to get that when I say they need three pages, that I want three pages! I mean, they've had a month, and I've even cut it down to two pages typed or three pages written, both double spaced! The other class, the one that I cut down to just speeches, not only is not even close to finished, but since I threw down some deadlines, they've just BEGUN! They wrote things every day, I checked! But then they would apparently just throw it out! It's the whole "appearance of work" thing that seems to be everywhere here.
The other classes are all great. I had an awesome surprise yesterday when the schedule changed. I was expecting a new grade six class, and when I opened the door, my favourite grade four class poured in, and they all looked so happy to be back with me! I'm glad they're back too. I couldn't stop smiling, and I almost burst out laughing a few times because I was so happy!
I also headed back to the cafe yesterday for the first time this week... I've just been too busy! Her son was there, and I had my laptop, so we watched some of "The Incredibles" with Korean subtitles before I headed back to work.

Unfortunately... Sam is being terribly neglected in all of this. I've been making a concerted effort to give her a solid half hour of playing every day, on top of the other times I just sit with her. She's so highstrung because she's lonely... I'm going to be happy when the schedule returns to normal, and I think that she will be too!

But, Life is good. I have no complaints right now about my life.

Badabapbah bah! I'm loving it. I can't believe I typed it, but I'll leave it, because it's a good indicator of mood.

Kitten Mystery

So, I was playing some guitar, sitting on my bed...

Sam was running around, and then all of a sudden, she had disappeared. Well, I gave up on guitar after a while and got up, put it away. I turned around, and saw this.

She's still sleeping under there.

This coffee is merely a medium for communicating Bailey's

So, it's the weekend. In contrast to the hubbub of the last two weekend, this Saturday has started out rather slowly, and last night was spent (after a great dinner out with Brooke and Laurien) watching Troy with my cat sleeping on my belly.
I wanted to write about my cat. She doesn't scratch, and I can't help but be constantly amused by this. She'll use her claws when playing with toys, but not on me. They are sheathed, and all I get is pads. It's nice. She's a good cat.
Also, she's been really needy lately. I feel bad, because I've been working so much, and she hasn't gotten much attention. Every morning when I walk out of the room, she runs up and immediately and flips onto her back so that I will rub her stomach. If the bathroom is more urgent for me, she'll follow me in and roll on her back in front of me on the floor.
It's pretty endearing, which makes me think that she's a pretty smart cat.

Now, back to my coffee... wink wink

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

So, I'm realizing that I'm goign through a little bit of a Madonna thing here, where I keep changing my appearance every few weeks. I didn't realize just how much until I started looking at the photos I have taken with the ole webcam since I got here. A little Narcissistic, I know, but hey, that's me. It's not so apparent in these photos... but in four months, I've gone from bearded to clean cut to mop-topped to clean cut and back to bearded.
Here we are, the passage of four months in pictures. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of me fresh off the plane with beard v1.0. It lasted for about two weeks, at which time I started to feel like a slob. I unfortunately thought that it was the beard, when it was in fact my hair, which was also longer than usual, and made me look like a bit of a youth minister, as Jessie described it. Combined with my newfound love of black oxfords, I was truly ready for some preaching and saving.
So here's me immediately following my first haircut in korea. A definite imrpovement over the mop I had been sporting before.
This is me at my most Canadian, in a turtle neck layered with a t-shirt after getting back from a photo walk. Long hair definitely showing that a toque has been worn in the recent past.
I had been planning on letting my hair return to unversity lengths (ie, braids/pony tail length), but I just couldn't handle it. I got the top cut, but left the sideburns, and you can read all about that further down.
The thought of shaving in the summer was starting to freak me out, because razor burn + humid 35 degree weather = ouch, so after the Munhwa vacation, I just stopped shaving. It's been a couple of weeks now, and I've had no negative comments at work about my appearance, so, the beard is a go. Here's the present look.

What's next? Maybe some sweet conical braziers and garters.

In continuing kitten news...

I swear, as soon as I sit at the desk, she jumps up on my shoulder and starts chasing her tail. Every time!

Best letter of apology ever.

On Friday, a student, who I call "Puma Man" because of his love of a bright red Puma hoodie, was about twenty-five minutes late for class, which is significant, because the classes are only 45 minutes long. So I told him to write me a letter of apology.

Here's what he wrote, word for word, line by line:

I think I'm a very rude student.
I didn't want to late your class, but I had a test
I have many plans in all day, I'm very busy and I have no time
study for the test. So I decided to absent your class.
but I couldn't because I love your class
It's very funny, interesting of your explaining
Everytime you explain somethings, you explain with acting
I can understand its meaning and feel that you're a good teacher
I've ever met.
I never late your class. I never absent your class.
I'll do the best in your class
You made a nickname 'puma man' to me
I was really amazing. No one (foreign teacher) had a mind on me.
I really appreciate about that
I'm very proud that I'm your student and you're my teacher
We'll not be able to mee after a month
All students will be graduated and leave from Munhwa Academy
I want to make great memory with you until the last time
and I'm really sorry...

So, that was really nice, I was expecting your run of the mill "I'm sorry, I'm ashamed, teacher please forgive me" stuff that is usually written for these things. I had to write it down here, so that I would not forget it.
Interestingly, he was absent today. Even though he said "I never absent your class." Probably something to do with a tense issue. haha.

In other news, here's a cute picture of Sam.

Yet another stellar weekend.

Saturday: Crazy Busy.
I woke up on Saturday, and started cleaning up. One hting I have noticed about the intensive schedule is that it does not leave a lot of time or energy for home maintenance. So, there's a nice bit of dust and crumbs on the floor, and it needed to be taken care of. Did some laundry, got all my stuff together.
It was Sam's vaccination day, so I wanted to get her to the vet by 11:00 or so. I got there, and I got another speech about how I should get her the very expensive but optional FIP vaccination. Since she's not exposed to other cats, I don't think it's necessary, plus, it's really expensive. Anyways, it was into the humidifier box with her, and off to the vet.
Get back home around 12:00, and hurry to eat some lunch, because I had decided that come hell or high water, I would be going to the orphanage this week, because I have been cancelling going almost every week for four months. Every week, a group of foreign teachers volunteers to hang out with girls at the orphanage for an hour. I didn't realize it was only for an hour. I actually didn't know that it was all girls, either. They were young too. I didn't really do much, just stood around. I was the new guy, and pretty intimidating, I think. We made sock puppets, so at least I have a great souvenir!

I headed to Holly's Coffee after the orphanage gang dispersed, and I actually managed to mark five tests in about an hour and a half, a new record. I think that in the future I will do all of my marking out of the house, where there are fewer distraction. Then I headed to Gimbap Nara for some dinner, and then off to the other coffee shop, Cafe Provence, to meet my new friends before the concert. I gave the mistress a few CDs (Hawksley Workman, Gordon Lightfoot, Fionn Regan and Iron and Wine), and then we headed out.
The concert was an incredible experience. Firstly, as you know, if you read this blog, I don't get out with young Koreans too often, so just that was a great treat. These two guys are really funny. And they're both music nerds too, so we had a lot of fun at the concert.
The concert started with two local acts, who played three songs each. When the stage was being set, the music playing was "Rosanna" by Toto (I think) which was really inappropriate for the style of music. Anyways, these six kids come out (drums, two guitars, keys, bass and vocals), and they look totally high school, and I'm not really expecting much. But I was pleasantly surprised. I mean, it wasn't my favourite music in the world, but it was surprisingly well rehearsed. The best part was the lead guitarist, who looked like a Korean Ziggy Stardust, and wore really tight pants that showcased his chicken legs very well. But he stood with his feet about two feet apart, and only moved once during the whole set. So yeah, what he lacked in talent he definitely made up for in charisma. haha. The vocalist was pretty good. They were all pretty good, but I couldn't stop watching the kid to see if he moved. I started taking notes during their set... let's see if there's anything more to add... nope.
Second local act looks like Limp Bizkit, and they unfortunately try to sound like Limp Bizkit mixed with the worst screaming punk in the world. Rap rock is not my thing, and I found it hard even to get into the instrumentation (which was out of tune).
First headliner is "Newk". They take the stage after more Rosanna over the PA and some "Felt the rains down in Africa". They take the stage and there is instant debate about whether the bassist is a man or a woman. The hair says woman... I make a comment about how the pink shirt really isn't a factor in Korea, the dudes laugh. We go in for a closer look... thin moustache, it's a man. The band is tight, it's funny though, I feel like I'm watching the scene in Wayne's World where they go to an Alice Cooper concert and he's playing "Feed my Frankenstein". The music has the same feel. The singer is amazing, but the overuse of pinch harmonics on the guitar makes me feel like I'm on an 80s metal binge. Which would be cool if that was what I was in the mood for... and if the rest of the music felt like 80s metal. Newk has a girl drummer, and we all comment later about how cool that is... I'm tempted to make a comment about how she could probably bench me, and that that's hot, but then I'd have to explain too much. Oh, language barrier.
The lead singer made a comment about how many children there are, and I looked around... there were maybe 50 or 60 people there, and probably 15 of then were under ten. Then, there's the high school crowd out to see their friends in the openers. There was one girl who was pretty punked out, wearing strategically cut black stockings, but they looked terrible, because her legs were too skinny to pull them tight. It was pretty funny, actually. The rest of the crowd was mostly parents who didn't seem too impressed by the music. There was a dad and a baby in the seat next to me, and the dad was holding the little guy and making little dance moves with his arms, while other kids fought in front of them using glowsticks as light sabers. The band was good, with Tom Cochrane-esque riffing and a Maiden feel to the closer. They play four songs.
Carrie by Toto is piped in as the band leaves the stage. Hilariously inappropriate.
Band 2, otherwise known as "Jekyll" takes the stage looking like a post-apocalyptic nightmare. They have the windtunnel hair, the lead singer is wearing a super frilled out tux that is all black (capri pants) with red and white tips on the lapels and frills. The lead guitarist is wearing what can only be described as hot pants. attached with thin laces to these hot pants are patchwork chaps held together by stitching that runs through shoelace holes. These chaps/leggings are held on so that there is about two inches of exposed bare thigh. Really, it's so hot I can barely stand it. No wait, its just bizarre. And His shirt matches. And the bassist is wearing a tattered half shirt. Apparently in the future you have to assemble your clothes from the scraps that you find on the ground. Man, life's hard when you're an irradiated vampire, I guess.
Me and the dudes decide that now is a good time to take a break.
As they start, the lead singer yells "ARE YOU FUCKING READY?" at the top of his lungs. I can't help but think "Dude, it's Gwangju, and you're playing to high school kids, parents and babies. Is that really necessary?", followed by "Wait, do you even know what that means?" Their first song after we return from our break is Oasis-esque, but I really can't concntrate on anything but the pants. Way too much costume-related effort. At least they didn't seem to sacrifice practice time to go shopping, they sound well rehearsed. But it's still not my thing. During their set, this adorable little boy wearing a black coat tied closed with an orange sash starts dancing around the floor in front of the stage. It's so cute it hurts. The singer ends each song by screaming "THANK YOU!" before anyone has time to realize that the song is over.
They leave the stage, and "Faith" by George Michaels begins to play. Again, not really fitting with the mood of the night.
The third band, "Africa", takes the stage, and they look awesome. They're some forty-somethings, with a young bassist. The lead guitarist just looks like a metal-head, the rhythm player looks like a Korean Slash (Slashee as he is known here) and the drummer is wearing a wife beater that says "The critics loved Moby Dick, but the typesetters hated it". The band looks like how I have seen Crazy Horse in photos. I have a good feeling, so do the dudes, so we get up and head to the stage. When they start playing, I pull out my earplugs, because I can instantly tell that this is a band worth some ear damage. They get some nice blues-rock riffing going, and then this little firecracker of a Korean Janis Joplin walks out, and she starts WAILING! I mean, wailing HARD! She was awesome. They were so good that I didn't write any notes, because I was too busy rocking out stageside. Also, since I really stand out from the other people at the stage (high schoolers and my two twenty-something Korean comrades), I get sung to and vamped to by the singer all set. w00t! They even covered Rock and Roll by Led Zeppelin. And they did it well.
They were awesome. Preview: they were the only band that sold out their CDs that night.
The next band, Syndicate, was by far the most entertaining, but not for their music. They were such a mismash of styles. The rhythm guitar player looked like Paul McCartney circa "Meet the Beatles" had had a baby with Moe from the Three Stooges, and together with the bass player, formed the non-mobile half of the stage. They just stood there and looked bored most of the set, which was too bad, because the rest of the bend was so entertaining. The lead guitarist was wearing super tight acid-wash jeans and a tight black T with the sleeves rolled in. They start a rhythm going, and I instantly think "Judas Priest style metal". Totally unexpected and totally awesome. They're going for a few seconds, but there's no lead singer to be seen, so I'm wondering who'll take the mic. Then BOOM! This guy walks on, stage left, dressed in full Rob Halford gear - leather vest, leather pants, black T, Corey Hart shades and riding gloves - comes out. Problem: he's a 45 year old chubby Korean dude with feathered hair. It was pretty funny. He did a good job, and I was rocking out with them. The lead guitarist was ridiculous with tremolo picking, and it was fun to watch, for sure.
The last band was called "What" and featured the rhythm guitarist from Africa on lead vocals. I liked Africa better, but these guys were alright. I found out later that the Slashee lookalike was actually a retired Korean baseball player who I was told was "a little bit famous".
After the show was over, I took the guys out to see the Jordan Emmans band play at the Speakeasy. They didn't seem to be hurting at all for my having left, so that was good. In fact they were sounding really good. They did Jordan's new song, called "Ice Princess", a break-up song, of course. It's really good. It's like nine minutes or something, and I think it's the best thing he's written. I actually felt a little stalkerish, standing at the back and singing along with everything. haha.
My contacts started to bug me, so I decided to call it a night. Luckily, the guys reminded me of our lunch date the the next day. I would have forgotten to set my alarm, I think.
The next morning I got up and got ready a little early so I could have a stress free visit with the guys and the mistress. I was ready when they called at 11:30, and they were waiting for me on the street when I came out of my building with rice cake ice cream, which was better than I expected.
They took me to a restaurant that had been recommended by a friend. It was really nice, very woodsy, which was fitting, ebcause the translation of the name was "arbor town". They serve "Well Beeng" food, which basically means organic. But it wasn't too expensive, surprisingly. Anyways, we laughed some more, and it was just a really fun time. Mistress brought her son, and he was super cute and fun too.
They invited me back to the cafe afterwards, and I said sure. I had to grab some stuff form my apartment, because I wasn't sure if this was a hanging out invite or a walk with us invite, so I wanted to have some work ready in case I got some free time. It turned out to be a hanging out invite, which was awesome. I helped them open the cafe, and we sat and listened to music. Mistress introduced me to Han Daesoo, who basically sounded like a Korean Tom Waits. (cue me downloading obscene amounts of Tom Waits). Also, I noticed an ad for the movie "Science of Sleep", which I really want to see, so I asked if it was playing in Gwangju, and they told me that yes, it was an ad for the movie playing at a specialty theater that only played art films. So, awesome! All the movies I wanted to see recently, they seem to play at this little theater. So I am le happy.
I noticed an old vinyl copy of Led Zeppelin 4 sitting behind the counter, so I asked if I could see it. It looked like an original Korean pressing! I was in awe of it, honestly! Oddly, it was missing Misty Mountain Hop, so I couldn't help but wonder why that song would have been left off. I know that albums at the time had to pass censors, so I wonder what could have been so objectionable (especially with Stairway on it, considering all the Christian Hysteria in America over the apparent messages on the recording when you play it backwards).
Anyways, next thing I knew I was passed a guitar, and me and the guys were playing Zeppelin riffs back and forth to eachother. It was like high school! I couldn't believe how many of the riffs came back to me so quickly... although it was pretty apparent that I don't play them too often anymore. It was so much fun, but I had to go, because I had an evening jamming appointment with my friend Darren.
I got home, made myself an experimental (and delicious) stirfry with tomatoes, broccoli and tofu, and some sesame oil. mm
Anyways, Darren showed up a couple of hours later and we got down to jamming. The last few times have been unproductive, but fun anyways, more "experimental", now that we both have our loopers set up. Last time we chose some songs, so our mission was to come to this practice with music for eachother.
Holy crap, it was great. I was honestly a little bit giddy. Every time we get together, Darren impresses me a little bit more. We were getting some really good harmonies going (good enough to get excited about, but still needing some practice). We have quite a little set forming, with a lot of harmony, which is really exciting. It seems to be coming a lot more naturally to me now, which I think may be due to the fact that I'm playing a lot more now, and trying out harmonies. Just practice, I guess.

And that was my weekend. Pretty awesome, no?

Then, back to work today, where it was very tiring, but fun. I've won over some of the hard students, which I am really proud of. I rewarded myself with a new pair of work shoes, which I needed desperately. They're a new pair of brogues to replace the ones that I wore through in university. You can't understand how happy I am about leather with strategic holes in it.

Too excited.

Bye!

Intensives... sleepy... a new hangout

Okay, so, intensives have that name for a reason.
Teaching 8 classes a day is intense. I get home every day exhausted. Literally. I can barely concentrate enough to watch TV. I did manage to make some mediocre cookies on monday night, something that I don't think will be repeated for a while. I finished them tonight... I didn't share, because they really weren't that good. The oven keeps shutting itself off, so they became pretty dry.
The classes are going well. I've been pretty hard on my older students, not so much in terms of what I expect them to do (in one class, we rewrote two sentences - in a 45 minutes class) but I am really cracking down on things like lateness and forgetting homework. It was getting to the point where I was starting some of my classes almost fifteen minutes late every day, because I was waiting for students to arrive. They're being kept late by the teachers at the math academy, which is really disrespectful to the foreign English teachers. They'll hold students late into our class, but not the Korean teachers. So I penalize the students if they are late, and I told them that they have to get a letter of apology from their math teacher if they want to avoid the penalty. I'm not actually taking marks off students who are late because of math, but I'm letting them think that I am so that they will pass the message to their math teachers. Since I can't speak Korean, this is the only way to let the math teachers know what is going on. Basically, that I'm pissed.
I'm actually having fun, and my only real complaint is that now I have to see my "wonderful" grade sixes every week. I was told that they were advanced and would be a joy to teach, but they are honestly my least favourite class... they have no desire to learn English, and I can tell that they expect to just coast, so they don't like me, because I make them do some work.
Anyways, I'm plowing through. I'm tired, but other than that I have nothing to complain about. I like all of my classes, and I'm even finding ways to work with the really apathetic ones. Actually, last week, and yesterday, I've just had incredible feeling of admiration coming from my students. I think that just the amount of time we are spending together is making them bond to me a little. I've almost started crying a few times, when they do things like pass me a note that says "Matt is babo!" (crazy) on it, and then laugh and chase me around for a bit. Or when they just pop in to say hello when I'm getting ready to leave after class.
Another thing that is making it easier is the little coffee shop that I discovered (well, that Brooke introduced me to) called "Cafe Provence". I've been spending most of my 1:40 long lunch periods there, planning, and trying to do some marking. It's a really cool little place, and I'm totally in love with it. Tonight I went in after work, and the two young guys who had been playing guitar there last weekend were there. I sat at the bar with them, and we chatted a bit, and I wound up getting invited out to a rock concert with them tomorrow night. It's apparently an "invite only" concert, which is pretty cool, but I don't know what that really means what it means. It's "underground" rock, so I'm excited, actually, really excited, to go and hear what it is all about. These guys have pretty good English, and I haven't laughed so hard with anyone new in a long time. So, I'm looking forward to getting to know them better. We talked about books and music for about an hour, and then I took off.
The best comment of the night by far came in response to me asking the younger guy how he found this little cafe. He said "My senior told me about it. He said that it would be filled with beauties. But when I got here, I was disappoint. Even the mistress is no."
I laughed so hard that the "mistress", a wonderfully cute lady who just seems to be one of the nicest people that I have met, stopped what she was doing and just laughed back at me. It's so neat, just to sit at the counter, listen to the incredibly eclectic music selection (french folk, Damien Rice, classic rock, current indy and rock tracks) and have coffee (hand-ground) prepared for you, along with a nearly endless supply of bread and cookies that is replaced as you sit there.
Anyways, I can't believe how awesome this place is. I'm super excited about it.

And... the concert! How exciting is that?

I hope that everyone is discovering their own little treasures out there.

Man, I'm happy.

A good weekend

This was maybe the best weekend I have had so far in Korea.
On Friday night, my friends Carol and Mel came over for dinner when I got off work. They brought nacho fixings, and we sat up, drank, and ate a ton of nachos stacked with avacado, olives, cheese, tomoatoes, sour cream, salsa and chicken. Oh yeah, it was a taste sensation. I would catch myself every once in a while and think "Wow, did you just stuff all of that in your mouth? You have no shame!"
It all feels a little high school somehow... I've gone back to having an almost entirely female peer group again, somehow. haha, it's really quite strange. Just like back in high school. If only Jim was here...
Anyways, it was a cool visit, and it was fun hanging out.
The next day I rode out to the bus terminal with them, grabbed a coffee, and then headed to E-Mart. Because I'm working on a day shift now, I'm always at the school when the bank is open. As a result, I have little cash, because all I have is the cashiers' cheques that I get payed with. So an easy way to get cash is to go to a store that you know will cash them (like E-Mart), buy just over $100 worth of stuff, and pay with two $100 cheques. haha, you get what you need, AND you get some cash.
Well, I was having some trouble getting over the $100, so I was just wandering around looking for something that I needed. That's when I saw this:



I knew that I had to have it. And at only $40, the price was oh so right. oh yeah.
I put it all together (releasing sweet plumes of dust into my apartment as I did so) and had Ryan over in the afternoon for some foose. minifoose.
Ryan headed home after a while, and I had a little dinner and just relaxed, because I had a gig that night! not a paying gig, but something that I had been very excited about.
I was introduced to a little cafe just around the corner from Munhwa called "Provence". It seemed like a really cool place, like a little western cafe plopped into the middle of Korea. I asked if they ever had live music, and the owner (through an elementary school English teacher who happened to be there) told me that they only have live music on special occasions. I asked her if I could play there sometime, and she said "Will you be here at Christmas?" I said no, maybe sooner, if it was good for her. She asked how much I wanted to be paid, and I said that I would play just for the fun of getting out there.
Suddenly, Saturday opened up. haha. I said of course, and I got myself ready...
and now we're all caught up. I was pretty nervous, actually, because it was a bit of a "cold call" situation. Usually I get invited somewhere, and I still get nervous confirming it.
Anyways, Ryan and I went together (Brooke was ill), and when we arrived there were three guitars out, and two amps set up, and it looked like they were setting up for a bit of a jam night. I thought "Unexpected. But cool!" and added my guitar to the pile. The two Korean guys with guitars introduced themselves (and crap, I just realized that red wine has name-erasing effects), and we chatted for a bit, and I set my stuff up.
When I started playing, it was immediately cool for me. The Korean dudes were totally into it, Ryan seemed to be enjoying it, and the owner seemed to be digging it too. Then, after I finished my third or fourth song, the owner suggested that I "take a break". I was a little worried that maybe I had been a little too cocky, and they really weren't into it.
it turns out that she wanted the other guys wanted to play too! So that was fine, I was totally prepared to go the whole night, but I was more than happy to watch some other guys play too and just enjoy some wine.
The other guys were pretty shy though, so it took osme coaxing from pretty much everyone there (all ten or so of us) to get them onstage. The one guy played "The man who sold the world" ala Nirvana Unplugged along with a jamming track on his mp3 player, which was actually pretty neat to see. Then he said that he wanted to play a Korean folk song for me, so the other guy strummed while he belted it out. It was really fun! After a while, the guy who strummed for the one song got up and announced that he was going to play a song that he had "exercised for one month". It was this incredible instrumental filled with finger taps and slaps. It was really fantastic. The whole night and the cafe had a much different feel than I have become used to playing in. It was a really supportive environment and everyone was really into the music that was happening.
Anyways, after that, I got up with a little more confidence flowing through me, as well as a little more wine, and I introduced the looper to the unsuspecting crowd. I started with "Singing Sad Songs", of course, the new one that was practicaly written for use with the looper. Then "Ventura", by Lucinda Williams, which unfortunately was not so smooth. haha. Then, it was back to the old fashioned way, although I did make use of some delay to add another little something to some fingerplucked tunes.
Then, another set, more wine, an interruption mid-song by Bryce calling to say he was on his way (an old friend from university, coming with his partner, Lana), and then a final set that began with me a little too full of wine.
I was playing "Delicate" by Damien Rice, and I was so into it (I don't think I opened my eyes from the first line of the second verse on) and way too involved, I almost made myself cry onstage. So, that was something.
I did a few more originals after that, including "Feronia", which I played through, made a rhythm loop, and then unplugged the mic and ran it through the looper, resulting in a sweet harmonized vocal loop and followed that up with some rockin'/drunken slide (which was also harmonized ala the looper, of course) and then finished the night.
I think the best feedback of the night was that it made Lana feel like she was back at university again, and the other was when the owner said that I had "passion that made me like Superman". hahaha, that sounds good to me!
It was really cool to have Bryce and Lana there. Bryce and I have these concentrated bursts of hanging out, and I'm glad that we're currently in a period of seeing eachother often.
I invited everyone over for crepes the next morning, because hey(!) it was a French-themed cafe, and I was feeling damned good.
I got up early on Sunday, and I had the most productive morning I have had in a long time. I ate, showered, did laundry, got groceries, cleaned the apartment and vacuumed. all before eleven! Anyways, Ryan and Brooke came over shortly after noon, but Brooke left pretty soon after that, because she is pretty sick right now. So... Ryan and I played more foose.
Bryce called after a while to get directions... and then called again quite a while after that to say he was running late, and that Lana was not feeling well either. So, you know, it was a guy's day. And what guy's day would be complete without homemade chocolate crepes with strawberries?
It was a very chilled out afternoon. I just sat there listening mostly. Bryce is so intelligent, I get a little embarassed sometimes of how little I know about politics and the like. But it's really great to just listen and try to soak it all in. I like that with a lot of the people I associate with regularly now, I just like to close my eyes and soak in what they have to say... that is when I stop rambling about how damned great the looper is.
They left around five or so, and I set to researching for my kids. I am trying to get them to do little research projects, and it seems to be bombing. Well, with one class, at least. They just won't do ANYTHING. So I went onto the internet and researched their papers for them. And I gave them websites to look up. All they had to do was print off some information. I bet half of them don't even do that. I don't know what to do, if I give up on the projects and move on, it'll have two effects. First, it'll waste the last two weeks. Second, it'll show them that if they are apathetic in my class, they can get out of doing real work. And that is the last thing that I want them to think.

Any advice?

A little bit disturbed with myself

I was reading about some children in the middle East who had recently killed themselves accidentally while playing "hanging" after witnessing the execution of Saddam Hussein on television.
I guess it stuck in my head, because the other day when I was on youtube.com, I actually looked it up.
I don't know what possessed me to do it. I'm not even sure that I was intending to watch it, I just was curious to see if it was on.
The next thing I knew, I was seeing people in masks taunting a man who would have been Saddam Hussein if this was in fact what it claimed to be.
After about twenty seconds in, I actually became physically ill. I turned it off as quickly as I could, and it sunk in what I had almost done.
I had almost watched a person die. Not a re-enactment or even as a documentary, but I had almost watched it just for curiousity, and maybe even entertainment.

I can't believe how close I came to crossing that line. I mean, is that something that you can ever come back from? Was I too late? I mean, it's just frightening.

And so would the view count on that film be, if I had taken a moment to observe it, I am sure.

Memories of New Year's Eve

Oh, it's coming back to me now...

Hair cut adventures

I just got back from the "Moa Line Hair" shop.
It's a fun place, where no-one has ever seen a sideburn before.
Not usually a problem, except that the last time I got a haircut (some months ago) they actually decimated my sideburns when I asked them to trim them. I mean, they were about 1/3 the desired length.
Today I thought it would be best to just avoid the whole issue and tell them not to even touch them at all.
Well, that was even more confusing. They were really irritated by the way that that left a little tuft of hair below what had been declared a short region. They must have checked with me about 17 times. "Are you sure? Is that really what you want?!" Or...i assume that's what they were saying.
So now the debate is... do I trim them, or do I leave them as their current and incredibly over-exaggerated selves? I mean, they really puff out.


So, this is me, now. The grease is not mine, fortunately.


I was feeling a little strange about it, but then I got mauled by a group of girls in a photo shop.
"Oh you are beautiful man!" "So good!"
Hahaha, oh, being white in Korea. It'll make any guy feel much much better about his appearance.
They were asking about my mom in the photos (Laurien) and my girlfriend (Brooke). When I explained that she was just a friend, they asked me is I was a "Man's man". hahaha. No, just single right now.

"Oh, just 'one'?"

"Yeah."

Young faces light up.

And there we are.

Good times.

Vacation, so far, what I can remember anyways.

So, this is the end of my fourth day of my six day vacation.
I had planned to go to Japan, but right now I am really glad that I decided not to go. It's such a short vacation, and I know that I would not have gotten any relaxation in if I had gone. Quite the opposite, I would have been a total ball of stress. I mean, the expense of going there put a lot of pressure on you to get the most out of your experience, ie, running from place to place instead of having time to enjoy the moment. So I decided instead to just hang out in the fine fine city of Gwangju.
Thursday was uneventful. I stayed in. I don't remember what I did... oh wait, yes I do. I had my friend Darren over for some jamming. We did more individual playing that together, but it went well... we were playing together, at the same time, doing our own things over a common progression. We both have loopers. It's good to play with him, because he is really good with his! It's very informative just to play with him and watch how he does it.
We actually only played two songs the whole time, just a new song that I wrote called "Singing Sad Songs" (see www.letterstosandy.blogspot.com), which lended itself well to the looper, and really came into it's own when a new loop was added. I thought of something, played it over it, and then harmonized it. It sounded good, but the genius part was when I experimented with the looper's reversing function. It sounded 180% better backwards. We must have played stuff over that progression for about an hour and a half! After that, he played something that reminded me of Lay Lady Lay by Bob Dylan, and next thing I knew I was playing that with him for about another hour.
The looper is really changing that way I am approaching all aspects of how I play, and I really really like it. A lot.
After Darren left, Brooke Laurien and I had talked about going to hike on Mudeungsan mountain here in Gwangju. But it's was already 2:30, fo we just had a few hours left to get out there and walk around, and we realized that with the new bus system, none of us knew how to get out there! And it would be pretty expensive by cab. So we wound up having a little walk-about of our neighbourhood. I, of course, brought the camera. Pictures will be coming soon.
We found a bunch of neat-looking places, but by far the coolest was this little "live club" called "Military" (well, Mee-ra-taw-ree). Laurien had already seen it, and said that she thought of me when she saw it and knew she would have to bring me there. It's this tiny little club with a couple of acoustic guitars, a little stage, and military stuff pasted all over the walls. I resolved that this was a good place that I had to come back to.
Ryan and I went back later that night. There were a couple of tables of businessmen, and we were immediately asked to get on stage and sing some karaoke. I had seen the guitars, so I knew that if I made a good impression I might be able to play there... so I carefully paged through the songbook and selected... "Happy Together". really, you can't go wrong. Everyone knows it, it's in my range, it's a song I know well. Good times. I was asked for an encore... I did "The Letter" and "San Francisco", which went over well too.
I asked the owner about a poster on the wall that said "Gwangju Folk Guitar Club", and he misunderstood and led me onstage and handed me a guitar. I was happy to oblige though, and played "Firecracker" by Ryan Adams, "Your Beauty Must Be Rubbing Off" by Hawksley Workman, and "Shine" by me, as well as "Winding Wheel" by Ryan Adams. It went well. But I didn't want to stay onstage too long, because Ryan was there with only me, and I have been informed many times in the past that that can suck. haha. When I got offstage, the businessmen had filled our table with beers, so that was a welcome sight. After everyone else left, the owner came over and played a little, and sang a few verses of "Blowing in the wind" for us. We asked him to join us, and we had awkward conversation until another business man pulled him away from us.
He was talking to me about music though, and when I said that I knew The Beatles and Bob Dylan, he asked if I could sing Frank Sinatra. It's a very funny situation here, music-wise. All different eras of popular music are a bit blended here, because theya ll seem to have arrived here at the same time. So the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra and Led Zeppelin all fall into the same category of "old pop". It's really odd.
Anyways, Thursday was a good night.
Friday was a good day too. I slept in, and I was starting to wonder when I would hear from Steve, a teacher from a camp that I had participated in last summer, whom I had made lunch plans with. I was getting so curious about his lack of contact, actually, that I checked thet e-mail that I had sent him to make sure that I had in fact responded positively. I had, but I noticed that I had sent him the wrong number. I sent him a correction, and he called a few minutes later. We went out to Outback for lunch, which was nice, but a little embarassing, because I had been there just a few days earlier. I got my cell phone hooked up too, which is good. I've been putting that off for far too long. Steve had to leave pretty early, which was too bad. I wasn't ready to go home yet, so I stayed downtown.
I headed to Art Street, which I have not been doing as much as I had thought that I would when I decided to come back to Gwangju. I went into a few galleries, which was really nice. I got to stare a little more about this beautiful painting that has been hanging in a little store for almost a year now, which I am totally in love with. It's just this deep orange sky, not realistic at all, but just stunning, I think. So, a good afternoon.
I headed home along the river, and I came upon a staircase. I noticed it a few weeks ago, and I thought that it really seemed like a cool place, and I knew that I would have to investigate it. I was in no mood to go home yet, so I thought that that would be a good time to do it.
I headed up, and came, panting, to the top (it was tall) where I was greeted by a man reading newspapers at the top on a bench. It was not the usual "Annyong Haseyo!" with a little bow. It was an actual "Welcome!", in English, and with unexpected enthusiasm. He got up, came over and shook my hand, and started asking me all the standard questions, but the big difference was that he was actually confident in his English, even though it was not perfect. It was very refreshing. His name was Mr Lim, and he told me that he came every day to clean the park. Apparently it is a memorial for 3196 soldiers (he said police officers) who died in 1956 in the Korean war. There were large marble plaques with all their names written on them. He asked me what I thought of his cleaning. He was obviously very proud of his work, and he had every reason to be, it was one of the nicest parks I had been to! He asked me if I had been to Sajik park, and I said no. He waved me down a steep path, and told me to enjoy it.
I did! Sajik Park was wonderful! There was only one street through it, that was not busy at all, so it was very quiet. There were a lot of benches, nice trees, little pagodas, it was very peaceful and nice. I hopped in a cab on the way back, and I was glad that I did, because even though I was embarrassingly close to home, I was incredibly off in guessing which direction I thought would take me there.
Friday night was uneventful, I just stayed in and played more guitar. I did write another song though. They've been coming very quickly lately.
Saturday was a big day. For guitar playing. It's all I did. All day. Just play and play and play. I experimented with the looper, I fiddled with stuff, I wrote some more, I practiced Jordan's stuff, I practiced my own stuff, I listened to music.
In the evening I went out with Brooke and Ryan for a little BongSunDong pub crawl. It was snowing pretty violently, so it turned into a "Log Cabin" bar sit-fest. Just sitting, chatting. I actually had a really bad headache. But it was entertaining nonetheless. The "Log Cabin" is a pretty cool little pub. I don't know what it's actually called. OakTong, or something. It's got a "Western Theme", complete with a cutout of John Wayne! Good Times.
Then we wound up at another little restaurant that Ryan and Brooke thought was a bar, but it quickly became apparent that it was not. It was just a chicken restaurant. But they had beer, so it turned out okay. They also had the greasiest chicken bits that I had ever put into my mouth. I actually had to stop eating it, because I was going to get sick. The place was a little bizarre, with semi-pornographic Conan The Barbarian-esque prints on the walls, children coming and going/sleeping under fleece blankets by the kitchen, a group of extremely drunk Korean college kids and a couple having a domestic situation that culminated in the man knocking the woman on the head with an aluminum bucket that just happened to be on the table.
Today was similarly eventful. Woke up, had a breakfast of hard-boiled eggs and bacon (the last of the bacon, thank God. My heart hates me) and too much coffee (a 1.5 litre bodum of coffee is hard to resist) with Baileys (Mmm... vacationey). Then out to lunch with Brooke, Ryan, Jon and Emily. It was a pretty good restaurant, and we had one of my favourite meals, a meaty soup with a sweet broth served with countless bottomless side-dishes. After that we wandered around downtown looking for the bootleg DVD guy, but we never found him. I was kind of in a mood to shop, but I managed to avoid spending any money, which is a good thing.
We tried to go skating, but we arrived just as the rink was closing, which was too bad, because it had been the reason why Jon and Emily had wanted to get together in the first place.
I offered to make home-made pasta for everyone, but Jon and Emily wanted to go home so that Jon could prepare for school tomorrow.
Anyways, Ryan and Brooke came over, and we had a good meal of home-made meat sauce and gnocchi, which I unfortunately overcooked. Also, I just checked, and we didn't know that gnocchi had to have potatoes in it. hahaha, that's fricking hilarious. Oh well, our little bready dumplings were just delicious.
Since then, we've just been sitting around doing our own thing. I've been reading a bit, writing in my blog, Ryan is working on his website, and Brooke's reading "Angels and Demons". Sam is providing entertainment in the form of neurotically running from corner to corner in the apartment and frekaing right the hell out. The best move has been trying to attack the Christmas lights by climbing on the back of a chair and jumping up the wall.

Well, that's my vacation life. Pretty good, no?