Week 28 (Sept 4th to Sept 10th)
Sunday Sept 4th, I had to help Rob shop for clothes today, and I was shocked to find that there are almost no good clothes for guys in Daegu. I guess I never noticed before because I was so overwhelmed with the quantity of women's clothing, but it took a very long time to find 2 decent looking t-shirts and a pair of jeans. We finished off our day downtown with a dinner at Bennigans, which I learned is ridiculously expensive here. It's funny that Koreans consider Outback Steakhouse or Bennigans to be a fancy meal out whereas at home, these would be decent restaurants, but by no means cuisine! In other news, Evan and Ally and Rob and Karen and several other people are planning on doing a tour of Beijing for the Korean thanksgiving in 2 weeks. I was very indecisive about whether I wanted to go. The price is good, but I thought that the long weekend wouldn't be enough time, and that maybe I should wait. But I decided that it would be way more fun to go with a big group of friends. Of course, I've left the decision to the last minute, and I might not have enough time to get the visa process done (you need a visa to enter China), but the travel agent who is organizing the tour is the same guy who booked my Japan trip, so I'm hoping that he'll be able to set me up on this trip-- keep your fingers crossed!
Tuesday Sept 6th, Tonight was kind of the premiere gig for the funk band. We played a one set show at a bar downtown called Old Skool that has a really good sound system. Since we were in the middle of a typhoon (in Daegu that just means a lot of windy rain, we don't really have to worry too much in the mountains), and I wasn't sure how well the gig would go, I didn't really bother inviting anyone. As it turns out, we played a really high-energy set, and we were so well received that the owners want to give us a regular weekly gig. We actually didn't like the idea of playing every week, because we need time to learn new songs and stuff, but every other week or so would be great! So we lined up a gig for next Wednesday, and we decided to hit the open mic at Commune for tomorrow. Due to the high energy of our show, we all ended up staying out ridiculously late, which I very much regretted the next day. 6 am anyone?
Wednesday Sept 7th, I am never EVER staying out so late on a school night again. I don't care how much my band guilt trips me. I actually ended up sleeping through my alarm, and got a wake-up call at 9:45am, 15 minutes before I had to be in the classroom teaching. I ended up having to take a cab to work instead of walking up the road for 10 minutes because I didn't have enough time! All through school I felt like a zombie, made worse by the knowledge that I had to get up there and gig again tonight! When I got home from school, I was so past the point of exhaustion that I couldn't even fall asleep for a nap. But somehow, I managed to pull myself together, and the funk band played another incredibly well-received set at Commune. Fortunately I managed to pull off only a semi-late night this time around.
Thursday Sept 8th, Today was Jason's birthday. Out of best-friendly duties, I was strictly prohibited from bailing on the evening's plans, no matter how exhausted I was. So once again, zombie Kari returned to attack! A group of us had dinner at a really nice seafood restaurant in Chilgok, that has gorgeous hardwood floors, and an actual patio! (Patios are one of the biggest things that I've been missing about Toronto in the summer--chilling out with a beer on a really great patio). I had some great sushi. Afterwards, we hit up our old Chilgok haunt, Beer Palace to celebrate with a couple of drinks. More of the same for Friday night, except this time we all met up downtown. Lucky Jason, the birthday diva got two days of celebration.
Saturday Sept 10th, One of Mike's old friends is getting married in Pohang, so we managed to get a gig for the bachelorette party. Pohang is on the west coast, about an hour away from Daegu. So we all hopped into Mike's car for a road trip! Mike's friend Nadia, a friend of the bride, took us right away to the bar that we would play at to do a soundcheck. The bar was great-- it had an incredible sound system, a guy who actually knew how to use it properly, and a real stage! I wish Daegu had more bars like this. Since we'd be playing really late, Nadia offered to play host and put ALL four of us up for the night. She has a massive three bedroom apartment that is really well decorated and beautiful. Plus, she is the best hostess I've ever met, period. We had dinner at her place, and then we headed to the bar for the gig, not really knowing what to expect. Of course I was so past being exhausted, I hardly knew what was going on! The gig turned out really well: the bar was absolutely packed to the rims with people who just could not get enough of us. They almost wouldn't let us stop playing. I guess Pohang doesn't have much of a music scene, so having us there was a really really big deal, and it drew out pretty much all of the foreigners in town. However, even though we had such a good gig, I was feeling physically ill by this point. I hung in there for the night, and we all hung out at Nadia's for awhile before crashing for the night.
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