All Quiet On The East Asian Front

Yesterday, Korea had it's biggest snow storm in 70 years. Now, don't get too excited. That means they got 11 inches in one day. While that might not be huge back home (and definitely not a 70 year high), it basically crippled Seoul for the day. The streets near my home and workplace, usually loud and bustling, were almost completely silent with little to no traffic. The loudest noises were coming from the dozens of policemen and soldiers shoveling off the main intersections. The airports were shut down and several bus routes were canceled for the day. Three deaths were attributed to a car accident in the far south of Korea, but actually, since car accidents are the number one cause of preventable death in South Korea, I guess that means the snow saved lives.

Click HERE for an NPR article on the storm.

Teaching with Barbie, Vol. 1

Yes, my Korean co-teacher's English name is Barbie...and she lives up to every expectation. We've been working together for almost 8 months, and I thought I would put up some of our more memorable conversations. It should be noted that these conversations are not word-for-word as I didn't write them down immediately afterward. However, they have not been sensationalized at all....and I guarantee Barbie's grammar was much, much, MUCH worse :)

I came in to find Barbie closely studying one of our 2nd grade reading books....
Barbie: Can you explain this to me? I don't understand.
Quote from the book: "Of course, the most well-known of all the big cats are the lion and tiger."
Me: What don't you understand?
Barbie: What does it mean?
Me: Well, it means there are a lot of big cats, lions, tigers, panthers, cheetahs, but if you ask a kid to name one, they'll probably says "lion" or "tiger."
Barbie: But why do they call them big cats?
Me: Because that's what they are. They're cats. They're big.
Barbie: They're not cats. Your pet at home is a cat.
Me: Well, that's a house cat, but they're all part of the cat family.
Barbie: Cats have families?!?!

Last Monday afternoon while I was preparing for classes....
Barbie: This weekend I saw a documentary called 2012. It really scared me. It said the world is going to end in 2012.
Me: Barbie, that's not a documentary. It's a movie.
Barbie: No, it wasn't that movie. It was different. It was a documentary. I didn't believe it at first either, but it was really scary, and it convinced me. They gave scientific evidence that it's true.
Me: Barbie, you can make anything sound scientific. The whole thing is based on the idea that the Mayan calendar ends in 2012. You'd have to be pretty stupid to think that all that was real.
Barbie: I told you, I didn't believe it at first either, but they had scientists, Jeff. SCIENTISTS!

While walking out of school at the end of the day....
Barbie: Use some of my hand sanitizer. It will protect you from the Swine Flu.
Me: You realize that your hands are actually covered with good bacteria that help fight off the sickness. That anti-bacterial sanitizer you're using kills good AND bad bacteria, and since you're not actually washing your hands, it leaves all the dead bacteria on your hands. Swine Flu is a virus so you're basically killing your first line of defense and leaving the Swine Flu virus unaffected on your skin. Technically speaking, you're making yourself more susceptible to Swine Flu.
Barbie: Okay. So here, have some of my hand sanitizer.

More to come....

The American Dream....in Korea

A bunch of American guys with their Korean and Chinese girlfriends (a wife in my case) watching NFL football while eating Mexican and Japanese food and drinking cheap beer in Korea. My friend James (American) and his girlfriend Mijin (Korean) were also there but aren't in the picture, and I think James put it best. "This is proof that we won the Cold War."

Another Autumn Gone

Trash and I have had a great few months. We have been busy as usual but are also really enjoying our time here in Korea. We've realized that, according to our plans, we only have another year and a half here in East Asia so we're really trying to make the most of the time we have left.

Two weekends ago we had a much needed weekend off from our busy band schedule. We've been playing shows almost every weekend, but that Saturday, we spent hiking at Dobong Mountain. It was absolutely beautiful! The leaves were at the peak of their Fall colors, and we had perfect hiking weather, not too hot and not too cold. We spent the better part of 5 hours on our round trip to the highest peak and back. That included a nice picnic at the top with some traditional korean meat, kimchi, kimbab (rice/vegetable rolls) and makgalli (korean rice wine).

Then came Halloween. Trash and I organized a big Halloween punk rock show/costume party in the Hongdae neighborhood. There were 7 bands, and it started around 10pm. The music lasted until around 2:30am, and when we left at 3:30, there were still a few regulars hanging around. At the busiest time (which is also when we were on stage), there were about 100 people having a good time and some exceptional costumes; Kim Jung-Il sang for a local hardcore punk band. Dr. Manhattan (the version with a suit) was seen walking around for a while, and my whole band dressed up as Swine Flu (Alex and I in scrubs. Honggu in a shirt, tie and Doctor's coat. Trash as a sexy nurse...all of us with pig noses). It was the Trash's first ever Halloween party, and we really enjoyed it.

(outside before the show)

(Kim Jung-Il singing HARDCORE!)

(Bint Eastwood)

(...Whatever That Means)

(My lovely wife and I)

On the Radio

Life continues to go well in Korea. Trash and I have a regular routine. Between our jobs, friends, the band and just everyday life, we are really busy.

The most exciting thing to happen recently was having a song of ours played on the radio. Next month, we'll be playing in the Stomper's Battle of the Bands. It's a pretty big event in the Itaewon neighborhood of Seoul. qualifying rounds are on each of the first 3 Saturdays in November. The winner from each round, and the band deemed the best runner up from the three rounds, moves onto the final round on the November 28th. We'll be playing in round 3, and they expect about 200-300 people to attend every weekend.

Anyway, Summer Walker, the organizer of the event, went on the radio to talk about it. She talked about how the event is run, and then, started talking about the different bands that were gonna play. The first band mentioned, ...Whatever That Means. She talked about us a little and then, played our home recording of the song "Phase"

It was pretty exciting to hear my band on the radio and a DJ talking about how much she liked us. All in all, a great moment :)

The New Term Begins

It's been an interesting few weeks. As we were winding down the Summer Term, the school decided to replace the windows in our building. As they were doing it, they cracked the ceiling and discovered asbestos. That got us an unexpected 6 day weekend while the HazMat guys came in and cleaned out the building. Very nice.

This week, the term is officially over. We've finished our books, and the kids get their fun day of games and English videos. I'll be watching a lot of Wallace and Gromit in the coming periods. Monday, the new term begins which means another day of handing out books, introductions and games. Overall, it's been a good few weeks. There have been some hiccups along the way, but it's been okay.

Tonight is ...Whatever That Means' first real punk rock show. We're pretty excited. We'll be playing at Club Spot with 5 other bands. There's actually a bit of a mix. There are 4 punk bands, 1 indie rock band, and one hardcore band. Should be a good time.

Website Up

We have our website up HERE. As of now, there is only one live video on it. We're going to try to do some simple, live recording at practice this week. Hopefully, there will be more music up soon.

Our next show will be August 8th. It's a benefit for the local animal rescue organization. We're looking forward to it. We should have some new songs to play as well.