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Week 37 - Y2 (Nov 12th to Nov 18th) |
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Sunday Nov 12th,
An absolutely lazy morning . . . what I really need is
a whole weekend just to veg out, but it looks like I'm
going to have to wait a couple weeks . . .
Met the girls for dinner at the only Greek restaurant
in all of Korea . . .mmm! They regalled me with funny
stories about the events of last night after I left.
These British girls are party machines! I don't know
how they can just go and go and go without ever coming
up for air. As for me, I feel like I'm getting old!
(I guess I AM turning 25 next week . . .)
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Tuesday Nov 14th,
Tonight I got a call from Chang Hyun, one of the bass
professors at my college, saying that a club owner
needed a singer for a regular gig, and that the owner
was expecting my call. So I called the guy, and he
was all like Can you come to the club tonight so we
can talk about details? So I did! The club is called
Chicago, and it's in Apgujeong, which is the richest
neighbourhood in all of Seoul. I walked into the
club, and I was shocked-- it's really fancy! The kind
of place you shouldn't wear jeans even to sit in
there. So here's the deal with the gig-- I work on
Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights, 2
half-hour sets a night. The first set will be with a
pianist and bassist. The second set will be me
accompanying myself singing and playing. The good
part-- the gig pays really really well, especially
considering that I only have to do an hour's worth of
music each night. Bad parts: I'm going to be stuck
singing really cheesy standards, as in Fly Me to the
Moon and At Last (he even wants Christmas carols next
month); I have to dress very fancy, and since the room
is going to be filled with flithy rich people, I'm
going to be feeling very self-conscious about my
inexpensive clothing. And biggest bad part: I've
pretty much forfeited my social life for however long
I do this gig! I'm going to be stuck in Seoul every
weekend from now on. But . . . money money money=one
step closer to my masters, right?
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Friday Nov 17th,
Yesterday my improv students had a homework assignment
due, which means I now have to mark 120 papers, write
about a thousand charts for cheesy standards, etc,
etc, etc. and I spent all morning trying to get it
done so that I could enjoy my weekend in Daegu! I
almost considered bringing my laptop on the train so I
could work . . . I'm turning into one of those people;
that's really scary. I did bring my marking to do,
however . . .
While I was on the train, Bong Won (the owner of
Chicago) called. There were some very strange things
about this conversation. First, he wanted me to bring
in my pianist and bassist so that he could audition
him. I tried to explain to him that that's really not
necessary, and that we're all very competent
musicians. Then he wanted me to email my repertoire
list to him, to "approve" the songs. This guy is
clueless about the music world. Then, here's the
topper: he requested that I find foreigner or "black
man" musicians to accompany me. First of all, how
incredibly racist. Second of all, how many foreigner
musicians does he think there are in Korea? Does he
think we grow on trees? Third, does he expect me to
fire the musicians that I already hired? Despite the
monetary value of this gig, I can already tell that
Bong Won is going to be a huge pain in the ass.
Tonight was Ryan and Lindsey's last night! (It's
incredibly depressing that everyone I love is leaving
within the next two months. At least I won't have
time for a social life anymore . . .) We went out to
dinner with all the Wonderland teachers, including the
replacements for Ry and Linz, and all the Korean
teachers (thankfully, Sue was not present, or I would
have had some problems). The new guy, Johnny was
pounding back the soju, while being egged on by my
replacement--not a good idea. Being new, Johnny has
no idea what he's in for with the soju . . . (this
story line will be completed shortly!) After dinner,
we all went back to Ry and Lindsey's apartment (sigh,
former apartment) and had a kick-ass party! A lot of
people came up from Busan and Ulsan to see them off,
so we had quite the gathering, interspersed with the
occasional outbreak of tears from Ange or me. Poor
Johnny, the newbie, got so drunk that he started
puking into his hands and ran out into the street
without even putting on his shoes. We looked for him,
but he was nowhere to be found, and since this was
literally his first day in Korea, I was quite
concerned that he wouldn't know how to find his way to
the motel. (We did find out the next day that he
somehow managed to find his way, but he had lost his
motel key and ended up having an argument with the
motel manager. Sounds like Sue made a real good
choice here . . .)
At some point, we managed to move the party downtown
for one last blowout-- first Thunderbirds, and then
onto Gypsy Rock. By that time, it was quite late, and
we were all in fine form, so we spent the rest of the
night dancing. When Gypsy finally decided that they
had had enough and wanted to close the bar, we headed
back to Chilgok (with much hemming and hawing, it's
damn near impossible to move so many people!) for Ry
and Lindsey's favourite meal-- haejungguk (ie miracle
hangover cure) I have to be honest, by this point,
some of us were actually falling asleep at the
restaurant (thank god for the abundance of all-night
restaurants in Korea . . . oh wait, I guess it was 8
in the morning . . .) After breakfast, it was actually
time for Ry and Linz to go to the bus station to go to
the airport. I'm trying not to be upset that they're
gone, because I know that I'm going to see them in a
month in Thailand/Cambodia, but still . . . Ange and
I had another little cry to ourselves, and went back
to her apartment to sleep for awhile. I'm worried
about Ange especially, because with Ry and Linz gone,
she doesn't really have anyone in Daegu; we're all in
other cities. Although she's done in a month too . .
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Saturday Nov 18th,
It's my birthday! 25 . . . can I lose a year for every
birthday from now on? 25 sounds frickin old. We had
an incredibly lazy day at Ange's apartment, with
Nicole and Abby--pizza, gossip, presents, music.
Later at night, we had all arranged to meet at the
only Indian restaurant in Daegu (it's actually not
even that good, more for the novelty!)-- Ange, Char,
Katie, Jenny, Jenny, Phil, Mike, Joe, Johnny (who had
sort of recovered from soju hell), Barry, Evan-- quite
a crew. The staff at the restaurant looked kind of
scared when we came in. It was really nice to have
everyone I know and love in Korea in the same room. I
really want all of them to get to know eachother
better too. Anyway, we had a nice meal, and then
headed over to Commune's for some drinks. It was kind
of weird without Ry and Linz there . . . but all in
all, a great birthday with good friends. I've been so
lucky to meet all the people that I have here. I
can't believe that I've managed to make so many best
friends in the space of a year and half.
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