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?