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Week 5 - Y2 (Apr 2nd to Apr 8th) |
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Sunday April 2nd,Today I took Jason to the big Co-Ex Mall, really close
to my school. First, we ate at Movenpick Marche,
again the first time for me in ages and ages. It was
great-- everything was fresh and delicious, and in
true Korean style, we shared everything we got to
maximize our taste "coverage". Then I took Jason to
the fabulous CD store that I had discovered last time.
I found even more stuff than the first time,
including some really rare jazz CDs that I would have
had a hard time finding at home. Jason actually had
to physically remove me from the store. I sense a lot
of my hard-earned money is going to spent here . . .
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After I finished writing my update at the PC room, I
went home, expecting to have a quiet night to myself,
cleaning up after Jason left. Not so . . . Eoghan
called me very late, needing a place to crash. He had
been in Hongdae (the clubbing district), but didn't
have enough money to take a cab all the way to his
place. So wistfully, I gave up my quiet night in
favour of putting Eoghan up on the couch . . .
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Thursday April 6th,Today, right before I was about to leave school and
get up on the bus, one of the administration guys
placed a key in my hand, and took me to . . . my
office! My office has a plaque with my name on the
door (Professor Kari van der Kloot), and comes
complete with bookshelves, a computer with internet
access and a printer. I can't believe that I get my
own office on top of all the other job perks! Of
course the irony is that I don't even really need my
office! When I'm in Jeonju, I"m either practising
(and need a piano to do so, so I won't be using my
office for that) or teaching. Then I get on the bus
and leave. I don't have anything to put in my office,
because I need all my materials over the course of the
week anyway, and all my resources (ie books and CDs)
are mostly in Canada right now anyway. It's still
pretty cool to walk by and see my name on the door
though . . .
On the bus ride home today I had a really good
conversation with one of my students. She's
absolutely the most beautiful girl I have ever seen in
my life, but surprisingly modest and easy to talk to.
Turns out that her job before coming to PaekChe was
modelling. She's been all over the world for various
fashion shows and whatnot, but more than anything, she
wants to be a jazz singer now!
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Saturday April 8th,Tonight I went out with Caroline and some of her other
girlfriends, Justina and Melissa. We decided to go to
Itaewon for dinner (even if it's kind of a sleazy
area, the restaurants are still really good there!)
We had dinner at a place called Gecko's, which serves
French and Meditteranean food on a garden terrace that
is gorgeous. The meal was expensive, but well worth
it. Afterwards, we couldn't find anywhere to go in
Itaewon, so we got in a cab and headed to the Hongdae
area (clubbing district). We ended up in a place
called Tin Pan, which I would rather not ever go to
again . . . it's basically a pick-up joint, and I've
certainly had enough of that mentality from Daegu.
Foreigners are so desperate here to make a connection
with anyone . . . But strangely enough, I ran into
this girl Emily, who I had met on a previous trip to
Seoul in a jazz club. We had exchanged numbers then
and I told her I would call her when I moved to Seoul,
and I had been meaning to, but just hadn't gotten
around to it yet. What I felt bad about was that I
didn't even recognize her at first. Ironically
enough, turns out that she knows Caroline too-- they
play on a soccer team together! Weird coincidences .
. .
Finally we ended up at Bricks, the same bar that we
went to last weekend with Jason-- much better scene!
There we met Caroline's friend Stuart, who is a
drummer for a funk fusion band. Of course, he asked
right away if I wanted to do some singing for them in
the future, and I agreed to try it out, since I don't
really have any gigs lined up yet. It's amazing that
I always manage to suss out the musicians in any scene
almost right away! We finally left and went home
around 6am.
I was going to go to Ulsan this weekend to see Ryan
and Lindsey and their two friends who work in Ulsan.
But I changed my mind, because I realized that I
haven't spent two consecutive weekends in Seoul since
I got here, and I want to start feeling like I belong
in the city more instead of always running to
different cities to see people. I'm glad that I
stayed . . . I met a lot of people that I wouldn't
have otherwise!
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