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Week 41 - Y2 (Dec 10th to Dec 16th) |
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Sunday Dec 10th,
My travel agent called earlier in the week to tell me
that my Vietnames visa and my flight tickets were
ready in Daegu, so today I decided to go to visit Ange
in Daegu for a girly night (and a me venting night).
We had a lovely dinner at Dijon, one of the nicest
restaurants in Daegu, where I had grilled snapper and
white wine. Mood definitely improving . . .
Ange is finished on Dec. 20, but . . . she just
started dating a Canadian boy who's teaching in Busan,
and whom she really likes! So now, she's thinking of
coming back as early as February . . . thank god! I
was thinking it was going to be a mighty lonely
semester without Ry, Linz, Mike AND Ange . . . one out
of four isn't too bad!
Thank god this week is finally over!
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Monday Dec 11th,
I went to my travel agent today, and my flight tickets
and Vietnamese visa are now in my possession! Danny
also managed to get me an open flight from Bangkok to
Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) for no additional
cost. I won't need to use it, but that's typical
Korean service for you-- you always get more than you
ask for every time you spend your money. It's
expected here-- the Koreans call it "suh-bees-uh", ie
service.
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Tuesday Dec 12th,
Following a full day of teaching at the hagwon (I'm
teaching double classes for the next two weeks to make
up for the time that I'll be away), I met my Seoul
jazz choir students for a quick rehearsal-- because I
was so impressed with their efforts this semester, I
arranged for them to have a gig at Watercock for
tonight. We had a short rehearsal, where they
presented me with a beautiful present-- a red and
white scarf and hat set, chosen specifically for my
fashion tastes! I love these students . . .
After our rehearsal, I took all 7 of them, plus the
rhythm section to dinner at a restaurant nearby. It's
Korean tradition that the oldest person, or the person
with the highest position pays the bill. Fortunately
for my bank account balance, Korean food is cheap, and
the whole dinner only set me back about $50. (I don't
think I could take TWO people out for a nice dinner in
Toronto on $50!)
So, of course, the gig went well, and my students made
me very proud-- I really really don't want them to
graduate and leave! I was surprised that they
actually got paid; I had just assumed that we were
doing this for free. Drinking money for the night . .
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After the gig, Joong Ji, the resident socialite in the
choir, led us to one of her favourite bars in Hongdae
for an end-of-school celebration. Again with the
"suh-bees-uh"-- there was some thing at the bar where
you got free food if you ordered a certain amount of
alcohol (Koreans do not believe on drinking on an
empty stomach, and therefore eat obscene amounts of
food every time they drink). The amount of food that
kept on coming to our table was INSANE! Every variety
of fried, processed, steamed, etc etc etc food was to
be found, including some healthy options, like fruit,
or salad. And then, the amount of alcohol my students
ordered was astounding . . . I can't even remember how
many bottles of soju were gracing our table by the end
of the night. I really enjoyed hanging out with my
students, and getting to know them outside the
classroom was great, but it's hard not to feel a
little awkward . . . every time I took a drink, my
students all drank too, I guess some kind of custom?
And then the amount of food they kept on putting on my
plate . . . I thought I was going to explode . . . And
then the drinks they kept on pouring and pouring and
pouring . . . I'm lucky that I managed to maintain
any level of professionalism tonight! (Although I
guess technically, they've graduated now . . .)
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Wednesday Dec 13th,
Today I learned that not only did Bong Won of the
infamous club gig fire Moon Young, my lovely and
brilliant student (he said he didn't like the "colour"
of her voice), but he has also fired the Filipino
girls, Junko and Awee! I can't decide whether to be
pissed off or happy for all three of them . . . Turns
out Junko and Awee were actually already trying to
quit, but there was a contract involved, and at first,
he wouldn't let them go, but then he turned around and
fired them! He is insane! (I'm so happy not to be
working there anymore!) |
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Thursday Dec 14th,
I went to Daegu tonight to help Ange with some
packing. We ended up going out first with the other
teachers. Ange's replacement is here already, so she
had to meet everyone. Have to say, I feel lucky that
I got to work in Daegu with Jason, Evan, Ry, Linz and
Ange, because I would not have nearly as much fun if I
worked with the crowd that's teaching at Wonderland
now . . . I may not have made it through the year!
For all the suckage that Wonderland provided, it also
introduced me to 5 of my best friends!
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Friday Dec 15th,
I spent the day in Daegu, alternately lazing around
Ange's place and running errands for my trip next
week, while waiting for Ange to finish work. After
work, we quickly met up with our friend Katie, and
lugged suitcases full of Ange's stuff to the train
station to go to Busan! Let me clarify that a little-
Ange has just started dating a Toronto boy who is
teaching in Busan. So . . . that means that Ange is
most likely coming back as early as February! Yay!
Therefore, instead of shipping boxes of her stuff back
to New Zealand, she's going to store it at Rich's
apartment in Busan til she gets back. Hence the
gazillion pounds of luggage we had to drag to Busan
via the train.
Once we were in Busan, we ditched all our stuff at
Rich's and headed out to U2 Bar, where Rich was going
to be singing with his friends' band!! (This gets
exclamation marks because Ange claims that Rich can't
sing) I actually knew quite a few people at the bar,
from the last time I was in Busan, and from Ry and
Lindsey's going away party, so it actually turned out
to be more fun than I had expected. As per usual, we
stayed out til all hours of the night, and crashed at
Rich's apartment. Rich has a very very nice, brand
new high rise apartment that overlooks the ocean, and
I'm very very jealous!
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Saturday Dec 16th,
Wow, this guy just keeps getting better and better.
Way to go Ange! First off, Rich lives across from a
Starbucks, which is absolutely fantastic, seeing as
that it's next to impossible to find good coffee in
this country. Then he made us a big huge breakfast of
bacon and eggs with real cheese (Real cheese! This is
big, people!) and fresh fruit smoothies.
The sucky part of the day-- saying goodbye to Ange,
although she has a layover in Seoul between her
flights, so I may hang out with her at the airport on
Wednesday AND February isn't all that far away . . . |
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