Amazing Beach Festival!

This past weekend we had our last big show as 'Stache Potatoes.  We are all going on vacations at different times over the next month, and this was our finale.  I must say we did go out on a high note, as this was our biggest and maybe best show.  I couldn't see a thing (blinded by the light..), Tom's hand kept cramping up, and Keenan about lost his voice during our set, but somehow it came off as amazing.  I feel so fortunate and happy that we were able to make this band work out the way it did.

We also had a volleyball tournament, and my team went undefeated (3-0), so of course that added to the awesomeness of this festival.  There was also a shipbuilding and ship racing competition going on, but we had enough stuff to keep us busy, so we missed out on that.  The water was great, the other bands were fantastic, and the people were wonderful. 

We ended the night with an acoustic jam session on the beach for a couple hours which was also awesome.  I played most of the time, then a couple others took turns playing my guitar.  Afterwards we cashed in on our free hotel room voucher that we got for playing 2 little shows there.  Now I'm getting ready to head out on a backpacking trip around SK, so I should have some good stuff to share after that :]

Here is one of my good friends Rachel and I during the volleyball portion of the festival.  I clearly didn't have my sunglasses on, haha.

Here is us doing one of Tom's original songs, "Just Space."

I really like this picture :)

Here is Karaoke Dokey playing a great set!

Here is Maria and the Ulsan Pinoy band!  They played while there was a fireworks show over the water.  It was AMAZING!

Hyundai Strike

Since I have been here I have witnessed about 3 or 4 strikes outside the huge Hyundai Motor Company factory that is right across the street from my apartment.  They are always packed full of like-dressed workers that are upset about something (it is hard for me to know what it's about.. but I have asked Mr. Park about them before, and he says they happen all of the time over wages and different things), and they always blow over fairly quickly.  The other day there was quite an elaborate strike with a stage set up, so I went back by once it got a little later to see what it was for.

During the day time it was mostly angry shouting and chanting, but there was a woman singing when I took the video.

There ended up being a whole band playing for this strike, right on Hyundai's doorstep!  It was pretty cool, and made me pretty proud of the Korean people.  If nobody ever stood up to the mega-corporations, they would definitely take advantage of the workers.  So I'm happy to report that these strikes are as frequent as need be, peaceful, and keeping the balance between the worker and employer in my neighborhood :)

This band sounded pretty cool too, but since I couldn't understand the lyrics I only watched for about 5 minutes.

You Are Not Alone (Michael Jackson Cover)

My students have done it again!  The 5th and 6th graders have just finished their "You Are Not Alone" competitions, and they did an amazing job.  The 5th graders always seem to harmonize a bit better (due to Mr. Park playing the Youtube videos for them to practice when I'm not around.. and their voices haven't started changing yet), while the 6th graders are usually really creative and enthusiastic.  Both were true again for this competition, so both videos are worth a watch.  Enjoy!

Lotte Giants Baseball Game (and other crazyness)!

One of the things that my co-teacher Mr. Park strongly recommended I do here is go to see a Lotte Giants baseball game in Busan.  I finally got around to going last weekend, and it was really an awesome time.  I had planned to go last month, but the tickets had sold out by the day before the Sunday afternoon game (a friend living in Busan went to pick up the tickets for us ahead of time).  This time we got the tickets purchased by a friend the Tuesday before and everything worked out.. for the most part.

Most of the group that was going (and that had the tickets) went to Busan early for lunch and to hang out on the beach, and the game was at 5 o'clock.  My buddy Jim from orientation called me up the day before and wanted to come visit Ulsan and hang out.  He had had plans to go up north near Seoul, but they fell through since the bus he needed to take only ran 1 or 2 times per day and he'd missed it.  When he called me I was actually at a riverside BBQ with some friends on the West side of town.  We were going to a friends' concert (Karaoke Dokey) that evening all the way on the other side of town near Ilsan beach.  I told him he could definitely come out, go to the concert with us, then come to the baseball game the next day.  It worked out perfectly as he arrived as we were leaving the river.  

Where we had our BBQ was actually one of the top 12 tourist attractions in Ulsan, Seonbawi.  There is this really interesting rock that must have been formed from wind erosion.

Here it is!  (photo from internet)  Rena, Keenan and I are the only ones that swam out and touched it.  Good times!

Here is a nice guy I just met Garret, then Becky and the grille-master Karl.  Becky and Karl are a really nice couple I've known since I arrived here.  They are trying to convince me to teach in China for a year or two... still not very close to a decision on that, but we always have fun when we get together.

Here are my friends Ellen and "Alex the Brit."

Jim and I took the bus back to my place where I got cleaned up from swimming in the Taewha River.  Then my friend Alex and his girlfriend Ellen came over.  I made us all some food and we went to find the concert venue together.  It was a great time, and the 'Stache Potatoes booked a show there for next month :]  

I didn't get any photos of Karaoke Dokey playing, but I did get this one of my buddy Yusef (from the band) who sang a few songs towards the end of the night once most everyone had cleared out.  

The next day Jim and I hiked to the temple up on my mountain which was really nice, but it took a little bit longer than I had anticipated.  We were hurrying down on a muddy path where I stepped awkwardly on a rock and hurt my foot.  I deserved it since I was hiking in my Chuck Taylor's (I really need to invest in some serious hiking boots.. one of these days).  So I limped down the rest of the mountain and we had a late lunch.  Jim was thankful for putting him up and having him in town so he treated us to some very delicious fried chicken.  By this point it was almost 3 o'clock, and we knew that we were going to be arriving to the game a little bit late.  We took a cab to my apartment (we came down a trail that was about a 20 minute walk to my place, plus my foot hurt).  Jim grabbed all of his stuff and then we took a cab to the train station. We had to wait 30 minutes for the next train, plus it was delayed about 10 minutes, so now we were wondering exactly how this was going to pan out.  Our friends bought enough tickets for me, but it was a group ticket or something, so we had to all be together to get in.  Also Jim was hoping to just buy a ticket when we got there.  It turns out the last time we couldn't get a ticket because they were sold out, was also a holiday weekend, so we had high hopes.  

Here is a photo Jim took of me on our hike.

Here's Jim at the temple.

We got off the train right at 5 o'clock and had to take 2 different subway lines, a total of 14 stops, to the baseball stadium.  A guy on the subway was watching the game on his phone so we talked with him about the game and watched some of it with him.  He spoke pretty good English which was cool, but he told us the game was definitely sold out.  We were starting to realize that our chances of making this game were getting slimmer by the minute.  I called my friends that we were meeting when we got off the subway at 5:40 and they said that they were just getting to the stadium as well!  They had just lost track of time and misjudged the time it would take on the subway to get there, which was awesome news for me.  We got there and Jim was basically making alternative plans, but decided to come up to the stadium with me anyways.  

When we got there we found my friends along with their Korean friend Johnny (who I'd never met before) waiting for us near the gate.  Johnny really wanted to help Jim get a ticket, so he took him around the corner looking for a scalper, but with no success.  We decided we would probably meet back up afterwards for some food or something, and parted ways.  About 5 minutes later as we were getting snacks inside the stadium (which had a 7/11 with normal prices!) Jim called me telling me he got a ticket!  Some old guy was out there with an extra ticket and sold it to him right on the spot.  So he met us up inside at the 7/11 and then we went in to watch the game.  I didn't even notice how late we were because finding a seat was a nearly impossible task.  We had the equivalent of 'bleacher' seats that were only 7,000 won, and you basically sat where there was an empty seat.  We got shifted around 6 or 7 times before we finally made our own seats at the front of a section.  Once we were settled it was an awesome time surrounded by some of the most enthusiastic baseball fans I've ever seen.  

This is Johnny who was very cool.  My favorite part of the whole day was when he was sitting up with some of our friends who were a section up and a section over, and we wanted to get his attention.  With the help of a rowdy Lotte fan we got our whole section to chant his name until he finally stood and waved to us.  It was so cool because the fans cheered for him like he was one of the players! haha (Also in this photo I am wearing my Sin Soo Choo, Cleveland Indians T-shirt.  My neighbors Shannon and Sarah Payne sent me this in exchange for some souvenirs for their nieces.  Thanks again!)

Here is a shot of the field.

The stands to my right.

A blurry but good picture of Jim and our friend Kate sitting down.

Between innings there was all kinds of entertainment.  There were mascots on the dugout break dancing, and I mean SERIOUS professional break dancing.  There was a kiss cam that would find couples sitting together and encourage them to smooch for the whole stadium.  There were also several competitions that the fans could participate in, which they do back in the States at games.   What was crazy is each player had their own chant, and EVERYONE participated in them with tons of energy.  Unfortunately we lost 7-1, but I don't think anybody left early or lost faith until the very end.  It was a truly amazing experience.

Afterwards we had dinner at a seafood BBQ place nearby and then went home.  Jim stayed in Busan since he had Monday off from school, and I guess he made friends on the beach and hung out with them all night playing games.  A very exciting weekend to say the least!  

Here's a picture from dinner.  Starting on the left is Kate, Johnny, Jim, Keenan and Rena.  What a weekend!

Seth's Goodbye BBQ

One of the unfortunate things about working these kinds of jobs abroad is having to see people go.  There are people that stay for one year, two years, sometimes more, sometimes less.. but it is inevitable that you will make friends here who will leave long before you do.  That is true with Tom soon, maybe with Keenan, and it was true for my friend Seth who had his going away party just over a week ago.

Here is Seth (the other guy standing up).  

He thanked us all for coming and we gave him a round of applause for being so cool  :) 

We had a nice little BBQ for him at a river near Pareaso Falls and Gaji San (both places I have done posts about before) which was about an hour and a half journey of buses from my apartment.  It was so beautiful and far from the city, making it very worth the trip out.  Over 20 people came and enjoyed some music, sunshine, drinks and my buddy Karl's grill, which he used to cook some amazing burgers.  A really nice way to spend a Sunday.

Here's a great photo of my friend Ross in the back, my friend Bryan and me.  (Bryan is the guy waving, and that has given me most of my info about Taiwan, as he lived and worked there for a year and a half.)

Here are my three British friends Stacey, Nicola and Ross.  Good peoples :]

Here you can see the little water fall (that doubles as a water slide!) and my buddy Pete.  He is the promoter and DJ who put on our big Inter-Galactic themed party (as well as many other awesome ones).

Here is a foreign family (who I have not made the acquaintance of), a Korean family having a picnic and Ross.

While it was a great time, it was sad to see Seth go. Seth was a really nice guy who I actually just ran a 10K with 2 weeks ago (along with Julia and a few others). Seth used to be involved with Teach for America (http://www.teachforamerica.org/). He had an amazing experience teaching underprivileged children through that program and is a licensed teacher (so we have a bit in common). Next he will either be going back to the States for Graduate School and/or Teach for America again, or he will go to Saudi Arabia to teach in an international school!  A big thing Seth and I have clicked on is discussing international school teaching opportunities. He informed me that since I am a licensed teacher from the US I am qualified to make a lot more money in a much more prestigious position at one of these schools, which can't hurt if I'm going to continue teaching abroad.  Most of them require 2 years of teaching experience, but they are all over the world and would amazing to work at. Search Associates (http://www.searchassociates.com/) is a website that he has recommended me to for finding a position at an international school. This particular website has a 1 time, life-long membership fee of $200, but many of the potential employers will only hire through this website and the job fairs advertised on this site. Right now I see this as a good investment, but I haven't yet decided to sign up since I still have a lot of options. I am really starting to explore those different options for where else I want to teach before returning home to a 'normal' career, but that's a-whole-nother post entirely.


Anyways, Seth is a good guy, and it's too bad to see him go, but he has had his fill of Korea (and kimchi), and is looking forward to whatever else comes his way.  I do gripe about technology an awful lot, but I really appreciate it these days, in the sense that I can keep in touch with the cool people I meet along my journey.  I did just talk to Seth last night and he is still waiting to hear back from the school in Abu Dhabi, but he is definitely enjoying a little vacation time back home.  (Can't wait for mine in less than 7 weeks!)

Side note: after the BBQ my friend Becky and I walked to a nearby temple that sells great little bracelets and trinkets.  It's always nice to buy a bunch of cool stuff that adds up to just 10,000 won :)

Food Stuff.

Every once in a while I have a unique eating experience that deserves a picture on my phone or some kind of notice on here.  I like to experiment with cooking, so if you were to look through my phone you would find a lot of random photos of things I've cooked.  Here are some things from my apartment and from restaurants.

Here is a taste of home for me.  I always used to make homemade fries (especially in college) because they were cheap, easy to make and very delicious.  Unfortunately potatoes are basically $1.00 a piece here (5 bucks for 5 potatoes instead of 5 bucks for a whole sack), and I don't have my deep fryer, so I make these a little less often nowadays.  On the grill right next to the fries is one of my 'famous' melts.  I have been known to make all kinds of different styled melts (basically a grilled cheese + sauce + some kind of meat in the middle) over the years.  This is a BBQ Chicken and Cheddar Melt.  Soooo good!

This is basically just spicy/cheesy fried rice, which I make all of the time.  What was special about eating it this time is that it was my breakfast!  I have been pretty consistent with my breakfast of either a fried egg on a piece of toast or a piece of fruit.  I finally crossed over to the Korean style of eating rice for 3 meals a day.  They actually call meals 'bap' or 밥  which literally means 'rice.'  I have now done this 3 times I believe, and as it is delicious, it just doesn't feel like breakfast..

Here is one of the more interesting things I have eaten so far.  This is a special dish (that they cook right in front of you) with shrimp, rice dumplings, lots of vegetables, octopus, and OCTOPUS INTESTINES!  

I am pretty brave when it comes to trying new foods, so I dug right in, and it was unbelievably delicious!  I was amazed, and there definitely weren't enough intestines in that stew.. who'd ever have imagined I would make that statement in my life?  Hah.

The octopus restaurant was 'round 1' of a teachers' night out.  This is what round 2 looks like, beer + chicken.  Round 3 was the norebang (singing room).  It's always a good time :D

Band Update!

I haven't posted about my band 'Stache Potatoes in quite a while, so I feel it is necessary to give an update.  I am happy to report that we are doing quite well actually, and have now had 4 official concerts (and many other unofficial performances here and there)!  We have a growing fan base, and people (especially us guys in the band) always seem to have a really great time during our shows.  We have been covering songs by bands like The Beatles, Oasis, Against Me!, Old Crow Medicine Show, CCR, Nirvana, Sublime and a few others.  We have 4 originals completed and have 4 more in the works right now.  A few of our friends enjoy our originals so much that they keep telling us to get into the recording studio so that they can buy a demo from us!  Very exciting stuff.

Our first show was a great success.  We played at an outdoor party that was sponsored by the local government office in Old Downtown (Sangnamdong).  We had a really great crowd, and have been told by lots of people that we blew them away, especially since it was our first show ever!

Since then we have had 3 other shows at foreigner bars here in Ulsan, and we always have a good time.  We are looking to set something up in another city like Busan soon too.

This is from our 3rd show which was a big 'inter-galactic' themed party, hence the tin foil costumes.  The girl closest to me is actually one of the singers from another band, Karaoke Dokey. She sang one song with us.

Here is a nice picture of the band (Nick, me, Tom and Keenan) before our 2nd show at Manilla Town, a Filipino bar in Ulsan.  

Unfortunately Tom (guitar, keyboard, vocals, songwriter) is leaving the band in August.  He arrived at the same time I did, and he is moving to Spain after his 1 year contract is up.  We have his replacement already, this great guy Alex from England.  He is an amazing guitarist, great keyboard player, and a vocalist.  It is still really too bad since Tom is one of the founders of the Potatoes (him and Keenan started it), and he has written our 4 awesome originals.  Keenan and I are both working on 2 songs each right now, but Tom's songwriting abilities are irreplaceable.

Here is Alex that will be joining the band.  He played keyboard for one of the songs during our inter-galactic party performance.

Here are 3 members of Karaoke Dokey playing an acoustic set at Manilla Town.  They sounded awesome as always, then we played for about an hour and a half (our most recent show).  

We will be playing another outdoor festival at the end of July I believe, and then a big going away party for everyone leaving in August at Royal Anchor (same place as the inter-galactic party and where we have open mic).  Aside from those we will be looking to get into some new locations, as well as continuing to play at Manilla Town.  Hopefully things keep going well for the 'Taters!

Here is one of Tom's original songs being performed at Royal Anchor's Open Mic.