Six Months in South Korea

Well, I have been here for 6 months now, the time has gone quite fast for me. The summer was pretty hot here, nothing I couldn't handle though. Hot and humid, kind of like some of the weather in Wisconsin, maybe a bit warmer and maybe a bit more consistent. I continue to meet people that come to teach and more Koreans that live here and always have lived here. Many of my friends that I met when I first got here have left recently or are leaving soon. There one year contract is up and they are off to the next phase of there life. This country pumps a lot of teachers through it, it is quite amazing. And now there are new faces from time to time and I often introduce myself and see where they are from and how they are adjusting and that sort of thing. Do what I can to help them out in there first couple weeks. Old friends leave and new ones are coming now, this happens to every year here. Although I have also met a handful of teachers who have been here for 7 years. They came for the World Cup and just stayed since then. They all have college teaching jobs and some are married to Koreans. I guess I have met people who have been here a day all the way up to 17 years. There are not so many of 17 year vets, but it is an easy life here and you can save a good penny if you do it right, which I am doing pretty good at. If I was 23 and here, I think I would be in a different place in my life. I think it is a good thing I came when I did. Most teachers that I do meet are 23-26. I am one of the more older teachers here. Sometimes I even feel old here because all of my friends are usually younger than I am.... But it is alright, no worries for me... Couple of things to break down for you....

My Job
-It has been pretty easy so far. The job gets a bit old sometimes since my kids levels are pretty low, that I didn't have summer vacation like I usually do. That is one of things you just have to deal with. I recently moved to go half time at another school. So now, half of my days are with my old school, half with my new school. This happened because the numbers at the old school are dropping. Not sure the real reason for this..... But the change is good, I really like my new school, but their levels are even lower than my first school. Oh well.... My hours are generally 12-6, but when the kids had off for their summer break my hours were 9:30-3:30, still pretty good. So even though the kids don't have regular school, they still come to my "after school program" weird stuff. I eat hot lunch which is all Korean food, and I love it. It is great food, much better than what I remember of my school lunch days, sorry Bonnie.... As far as prep goes, I don't do a whole lot, which is nice, not much correcting, not much planning. I stick to the book and go through it. The students like me, which is great. They are always happy to see me, which makes those rough Friday mornings a bit easier... But my job is only part of my experience here...

My music
- The music started out strong here and I was playing many gigs, and partying and teaching and my voice got in a little trouble. As I as here I wanted to start to see other parts of the country and so now I try to play one weekend a month, both Friday and Saturday night at two different bars. Rhythm and Booze is one and Club Freebird is the other. They are both pretty nice. Club Freebird is a pretty neat club, that has a good sound system and atmosphere. Sometimes it is hard to fill, other times it has been slamming. My Milwaukee friend Vanessa and Laura really made some of my shows great, they were always great to have there, thanks ladies. I have played other places too, another one in Seoul called Club DGBD, this was maybe the best venue I have ever played with. The sound was great and they had a huge light show set up which reminded me of MOE show, or some other big Jam Band. It was great. The psychedelic lights and fog machine, they did it all. I hope to get back there before I leave. We shall see. I have been selling some CD's here, that has been going well. I think I will run out of them before I return home, I brought close to 200. So the gigs shall continue, they continue to get better as I meet more people and invite them to my shows.

My traveling weekends
-The weekends I am not playing music I really try and leave the city for some fresh air and great hiking. Koreans love to hike and I enjoy it too. Outside of the city, this country is very beautiful. Lots of mountains to climb and National Parks to check out. It is great to get hiking in the parks and get away form the city. My city's air is not the cleanest by any means.... I miss the Wisconsin air very much. But I will hang in there. I hope to continue to check out more parks here and hike up and down them. I have found some groups of people who like to go out on the weekends and hike so I get together with them, sometimes I go without knowing anyone and meet some new friends. This is great. www.meetup.com=this is a site if you want to connect with people who share the same interests as you. I think it is great. Anything you are interested in, there are probably other people you don't know who are also interested in it. It might be worth checking out if you really, lets say go camping, but can't find anyone to go with, I am willing to bet you can find campers in your area to go with. There have been a handful of weekends I did stay close to home. I would check out Seoul and things that are close by. I have discovered that I enjoy the countryside rather than big cities.

My Summer vacation
-Nikki came out to visit for 2 weeks at the end of July. I told my boss and she gave me an extra week off because of the swine flu scare. It was great timing, so instead of one week, I got two weeks off! Brilliant. We traveled all of the country. Went to a the East coast then headed south. Did some camping, saw a cave, went hiking, stayed with some friends, then met some friends in Busan, this is South Korea's 2nd biggest city. I was ill with intestinal problems so I didn't enjoy it too much. There was so many people there it was insane. Too many people and the hotel we stayed at was pretty crummy and way to expensive for Korean standards. But it was the high season so all the prices were up. Then we went to Jeju Island, this was a great time. We climbed up the highest point on the island, this is also the highest point in South Korea, it was a great hike indeed. We took a ferry form Busan to Jeju, it was an overnight one and it was a great time. The ferry rides that we took were some of my summers highlights. The other ferry we took was from Jeju to Incheon (this is the city I live in). Again another overnight ferry. There was some live music on the boat and I got to play a set with them, it was a duo really, but I had a great time and then the night turned into partying with Azerbaijan Olympic Tai Kwon Do team. It was pretty epic night. They loved beer just as much as we did so we got along well. I have a friend that knows a good bit of Russian so it worked out pretty well. It was a night to remember. A fine vacation.

My soccer team
-I have just started the fall session of the soccer season. It has been pretty fun, my team is called the Incheon Internationals FC. We are pretty good, we have a lot of fun. It reminds me of the times I played in La Crosse. A lot of beer drinkers on the team. Some like to smoke cigarettes at halftime, so it is pretty relaxed, but at the same time, we out there to win, that is for sure. Many guys on my team have been here for more than 2-3 years, and the there are about 7 Koreans on the team as well. It is a fun time, but honestly seeing the country is a bit more important to me for the time. I hope to make every other week, but if I don't make it, it is okay....

My diet
-My diet here is pretty good. Many people say it is cheaper to eat out in Korea than to cook for yourself. Yes the food can be very cheap here, but I shop at the open markets and get a bunch of fruits and veggies for a real cheap. So that is what I eat, fruits and veggies, hot lunch, and I do go out for the traditional Korean food from time to time. And it can be damn cheap as well. I will make myself a PB$J too. They have something called mandu here, which is like little noodle balls filled with rice, noodles, meat, veggies, all sorts of things really, they are cheap and easy to make. I have them in my freezer all the time. I tend to disagree with those who say it is cheaper to eat out. I spend about about 10 bucks and get a hefty bag of veggies and fruits. Make some rice, sweet potatoes, some tuna from time to time, I like cooking so there you have it. I do enjoy the Korean food, it is very delicious.

Keeping active
-When I got here, I was running when I could, playing some basketball, then soccer started and hiking on the weekends. I have joined a gym that is close to my house. It is pretty nice, and my membership comes with a free Yoga class which is good. I can't understand the instructor, but I am getting the hang of it. I think running in the city might not be the best since you have to inhale all that exhaust, so the gym is nice to run in and bike and such.

My apartment
-It is small, but definitely good enough. There is a room downstairs where people put things they don't want. I have gotten some pretty nice things. A couple of paintings, 8 nice plants, pots, pans, and I just found an electric guitar, go figure... It needs some cleaning up, so we will see.

Transportation
-I take the subway whenever I can, it is a really nice system they have here. On the weekends when I leave the city, I take bus, they are probably easily half the price of back in the states so I take full advantage. Taxi's are cheap. A taxi from Seoul to my apartment is about 30,000 Won, which is a little less than 25 dollars. Not too shabby.

My Korean
-I have not put a lot of effort into learning the language, but I like to learn it from time to time. I have some good Korean friends that help me with it. I know enough to get by. Many Koreans know some English so between what I know and what they know, it all works out. I think by the time I leave, I will have a pretty good grasp of it. It is a very hard language though.

My spare time
-I play guitar in the mornings, I try to play about an hour or so, go to the gym, maybe email friends, or talk to friends and family back home and read books. I have never read so many books than my time in Korea. There is a small blog on the books I have read while I have been here if you care to look. It has been great. I seem to have more free time here than when I was back home.....

Six months to go
-Traveling, my parents and brother coming in November, finishing out the soccer season, playing gigs, going somewhere around Christmas, probably Southeast Asia. Check out some snowboarding while I am here, do a Temple Stay, save some more money, learn some more Korean, meet some new friends, say good bye to some old ones, hopefully write some new songs, got any ideas???? Let me know.

Sorry if you find a typo in this long Blog, I didn't mean to put it there. Be well and in touch.

Mike Brummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

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