The Life and Times

It's been a while since I put anything up here. I've been so busy the last 2 months because of moving and changing jobs. Life is finally settling down. This week was the first time in over a month that I actually had a night I could just stay at home and relax. Actually, I had three nights like that, and it was wonderful. I'd really been neglecting my guitar and felt bad about it so we had some quality time together. I was also able to go out for dinner and coffee with Pastor Robert, which I hadn't done in a while.

I had my first field trip with the Little School this week. It was really cool. We went to a place called The Living Gallery. They had some pretty advance computer hologram projectors that made pieces of art come to life. For instance, at one point, it seemed as though we were looking at Renaissance statues, but then they "came to life" and started moving and talking to us. They had an LCD of the Mona Lisa with voice recognition software. You could ask her questions about herself, and she'd start to move and answer your questions. All in all, it was a really fun exhibit.

It's been such a blessing having my new apartment downtown. I'm able to see people throughout the week and don't have to worry about the subway closing. As I said above, I've been pretty busy, but it's been a good busy. I've had a lot of the normal nights out in Hongdae. That's always a good time. I have a great crew of friends over here. Below are some random pictures from the last few weekends in Hongdae.

Jesse and his namesake drink, The Jesse Sunrise

Aaron doing guest vocals with Suck Stuff

Honggu and Rachel

Zombie Trash

Mental Patient Trash - Yeah, we're all worried about her.

Almost Respectable

Saturday was a really good day. First of all, the weather has finally turned. It's getting warm! I woke up early Saturday morning (not easy for me) and headed downtown. I met my friend Trash (Yes, that is her nickname. No, I'm not allowed to tell you her Korean name...she made me promise). We went to a local art museum because it was the last day of the Vincent Van Gogh exhibit.

The night before, we'd been talking about heading to the exhibit, and I made a joke that we needed to dress up. You see, Trash is the kind of girl you can know for years and never see dressed "like a girl." I was completely kidding, but she thought I was serious and agreed to dress nice and wear makeup. The catch, I had to wear a tie. So yeah, that joke kind of backfired.

Anyway, we both got dressed up all snazzy and headed to the museum. It took us about 30 minutes to get into the museum and a little longer to actually get to the exhibit once we were inside. It was CROWDED, but really worth it. It was cool to see paintings I'd only seen in books. Van Gogh put the paint on so thick that it looked fresh. Almost like they'd been painted that morning. It was really cool.

Afterwards, we went out for lunch. Bibimbap (rice and various veggies) with spicy octopus. It was delicious.

Next for me was heading uptown to jam with some guys. Then it was down to Hongdae for a normal night of hanging out. It was quite possibly the best day I've had since I came to Korea.

Shirt, Tie, Sweater Vest. Oh Yeah!

Holy Crap! Trash in a Skirt

We are Classy

The New Addition

I like Korea a lot....can you tell?

Back From the Silence

It's been over two weeks since my last post. I think that's the longest I've gone since I started this thing. So much has been happening that I've been too busy, and stressed, to take time to sit down and write. Of course, that means there's a lot to talk about. I'm just going to give some simple overviews.

I encountered some huge problems getting a new working visa for my new job. Korea has implemented a bunch of new laws/requirements to get a visa (very needed, but kind of overkill). I thought I was going to have to leave the country for a while before I could come back to work. Thankfully, my parents are amazing. Dad took a day off work and he, and Mom drove to Harrisburg to go to the State Police Barracks and the State Department office to get paperwork that, otherwise, would have taken far too long to get. All of my documents landed in Korea this morning and should be at The Little School (my kindergarten) by tomorrow or the next day. That is a tremendous load off my mind.

The new job has been very challenging. I mean, it's kindergarten so the material we're covering is not, in any way, difficult. However, it's new to me so I don't really know the methods or routines the kids are used to. Monday and Tuesday were pretty rough. I felt really bad for my Korean partner. The only way things were getting accomplished was when she was doing more than her share. Today went much better though. I was able to stretch the material for entire periods, and the kids seemed to be having fun. I actually enjoyed work today :)

These kindergarten kids are a lot of fun. Part of it is because they are the BEST behaved kindergarten students in the history of the world. Korean children are usually pretty disciplined and these kids come from the most affluent homes in Korea. There are so many funny things that happen every day while I'm at work that I couldn't possibly write them all....but prepared to hear about a lot of them.

Other than that, things are pretty normal. I've moved into my new apartment (I'll put up photos or a video tour next week sometime). Will is living with me for this last week before he moves to Australia. I'm still going to shows every weekend and have met a lot of people. I'm having a bbq here this weekend with a bunch of friends. I mean, basically, life here has become very similar to what it was at home. Sometimes, I forget I live in Korea.