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Sunday:Okay, so I'm back in Seoul, but let me briefly recapthe summer: first, an extended stopover in Vancouver:completely awesome to catch up with old friends Danand NJ from high school (I hadn't actually seen eitherof them for about 8 or 9 years). Dan and I drove upto Whistler for a day, enjoying the amazing mountainscenery and walking along the trails. NJ introducedme to his wife and his really cool neighbourhood,Commercial Drive (similar to the Annex in Toronto, forlack of better comparison). On my own, I spent thebetter part of a day along the seawall and trails ofStanley Park, this massive park right downtown inVancouver.My next stop was Toronto! Great to be home, catch upwith friends and family, shop, catch good live music. The highlights: fresh air/blue skies-- oh fresh air,how my lungs love you! Being able to walk anywheredowntown within about 45 minutes (and not gettinglost). Goat cheese, fresh salads, roti, rice andpeas, fish not covered in processed cheese sauce.Tomato juice that isn't sweetened with sugar(honestly, who the hell wants to drink sugary TOMATOjuice anyway? Only in Korea . . .) Learning that I'mgoing to be an aunt come January. Having a "Koreaveterans" reunion with Ryan, Lindsey, Ange, Mirandaand Mark, who are now all in Ontario. Summer fling.Rex late night jam sessions during the jazz festival. A few bad things too-- Toronto transportation sucksbum! Also kind of strange to realize that a lot of myToronto friends barely keep in touch with eachotheranymore-- and they live in the same city! It made itmuch harder to actually manage to see everyone Iwanted to, and I heard a whole lot of "Oh wow, Ihaven't seen since the last timeyou were home! Plus, the music scene is stillhurting, as in there's still hardly anywhere for jazzmusicians to play in Toronto. And that was summer inTO. And now back to Seoul for another year . . .My flight from Toronto to Seoul was predictablynightmarish. I'm sure I've said before that I'malways the one who gets stuck next to "that person",you know the one that no one wants to get stuck nextto? This time it was two young screaming childrenright behind me, and parents who were too busy withtheir free gin and tonics to care. That aside, it is bloody hot in Seoul! Like too hotto move. I've been camped out in front of my fanpretty much since I got back. It's also rainingbuckets for at least half of each day. Sigh, I missmy blue Toronto skies already . . . |
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Tuesday:Back to work today. I've got some new students at thehagwon, which is kind of nice. Fresh blood. My firststudent is an older man who is also studying saxophonewith Kenji. I think it's pretty cool when adultsdecide to learn something new. It takes a lot of gutsto become a student again. After Ho, I have a masterclass of 5 beginner students. Then, three of thegirls who just graduated from the hagwon last semesterare coming back to study privately with me. All inall, it's a pretty light schedule that I've got forthe whole month of August-- just 3 hours on Tuesdays,and then makeup lessons for July on Fridays-about 5 hours of work a week. I'm probably going tobe really bored! |
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Saturday:I've decided to start yoga classes, and so thisafternoon was dedicated to finding yoga pants and ayoga mat. Not really having any idea where to lookfor such things in Seoul, I went to Itaewon and justwalked into every sporting goods store until I managedto find both items.I think yoga will be really good for me: when I'mteaching, I'm sitting hunched over a piano for hoursat a time, and I end up with a lot of back andshoulder tension, which is not good for my ownsinging. I'm hoping yoga will strengthen my back, andease some of the aches and pains.And tonight, a relatively tame night out with Joe andfriends in Hongdae. |
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