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Week 19 (July 3rd to July 9th) |
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Monday July 4th, Tonight Jason and I had a jam minus Mike. It was so much more productive than playing with him! We learned two new songs, just like that. It seems that we have a real problem on our hands; Mike just doesn't pick up the more difficult material, and moreover, he's not willing to sit down and learn it anyway. But what can we do? We can't tell him not to play with us anymore . . . I think on Wednesday Jason and I are going to play a set on our own, and then maybe play a set with Mike and see how it goes. |
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Tuesday July 5th, Today we had a last minute staff meeting for the foreign teachers. We are all incredibly frustrated, because Sue is never ever ever satisfied with our efforts. We're all busting our asses way more than any other teachers I know, and we have never gotten any praise in return. The latest is that we aren't allowed to let our kids go a couple minutes before the bell to put their books and crayons in their cubby holes. Instead they will now be late for the bus, which will consequently anger our bus drivers. On top
of this, the reason we let them go early every day is because that's what we were told to do in the first place. In addition to this new issue that Sue is freaking out over, she seems to think that we aren't preparing enough for our classes, which is crazy, because all four of us are here at work an hour early EVERY DAY and we usually stay late too! Fran, our head teacher, and our best ally, is leaving
in a couple of weeks (her husband got a job in Seoul), so we're all kind of freaking out, because it seems like Fran is the only person who is really holding this place together.
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Wednesday July 6th, Today Jason really put himself on the line for us foreign teachers. He sat down with Fran with a list of things that were bothering us, and asked her to pass them along to Sue. As it turns out, the Korean teachers feel the exact same way; it's not just us. That makes me feel a little better to know that we're ALL in it together, and it helps that Jason was the one representing us, because Sue likes him best. After school, Jason's doorbell rang, and it was Sue! She apparently seemed surprised that she has never
once thanked us or said "You're doing a good job". I don't know if anything will change, but at least she's aware that there's a danger that her whole foreign staff could walk if she doesn't give us a little more trust and respect.
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Later tonight, we played a set at Commune. We're really in trouble with Mike now, because he managed to fall apart even on songs that we've played forever. I mean, forgetting lyrics, playing horribly wrong notes, playing wrong rhythms for an entire song and not even
realizing it, that kind of stuff. The guy who runs Commune offered us a gig for the 23rd of July, which is great. That would never happen in Toronto�you have to work for gigs at home. Here it seems like every bar owner is so desperate just to find musicians
that gigs just get handed to us without any effort on our part! Anyway, as it turns out, Mike is going on his vacation to Thailand on the 20th, but he wants us to take the gig anyway, and just play without him. Jason and I have decided that Evan should sit in for
Mike, and maybe Jason and I will do some more songs on our own. And I guess we will figure out what to do about Mike after our vacation!
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Thursday July 7th, Today was the first real funk band rehearsal. Things are looking good; all of the players are pretty strong, and we've already got 5 songs down. I'm singing lead on just about everything, which is kind of funny-- can you picture me singing "Brick House" or "Play That Funky Music White Boy?" We really need to find a male singer for some stuff, because it's just
too ridiculous with a female lead! I am starting to feel a little sick-- my throat is really starting to hurt, so I think that I'm going to
take it really easy this weekend and try not to get as sick as I did when I first got here. It's been raining all the time here, and it's hard to stay healthy when you're constantly damp.
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