Okay, It's Starting To Get Crazy ;)

I am having the most intense experience right now, and I am loving every minute of it!  I am struggling to keep up with everything, as far as the blog goes, so bear with me.  I have 5 or 6 really good topics to share, but hardly have the time to do them justice just yet.  This is a fairly broad update, which will have several follow up posts to give more details on everything.

The most significant post that will be coming soon is "Dad Came to Korea!"  As I reported he would, my Father, Mike Manary, came to see the Republic of Korea (ROK) for about 1 week.  We did so much between the Saturday night he arrived and the Friday afternoon that he left.  We spent a night in Busan, a day and a half in Seoul, and the rest of our time in Ulsan.  We saw museums, temples, concerts (including my band's performance), friends, parties, Korean food, Western food.. you name it!  I am so impressed that he kept up with me for this week, despite the jet lag/time change, and the fact that I was completely drained by Friday (and I have A LOT of energy).  There are many stories, pictures and videos to come :)

I killed my whole phone battery, standing ready to take this photo for 40 minutes, haha.  Welcome Father!

The next most significant thing is the band.  'Stache Potatoes has suddenly grabbed the attention of Ulsan!  We have a show almost every Friday and Saturday during this month of October, we are getting a bit of money and/or compensation in other forms for our shows, we are having to turn down events because we are so booked, AND we just had an amazing article done on us by a popular publication in town, Ulsan Online.  We are blown away by this success, and hope to ride the momentum into other cities around Korea (we have booked 1 show in Busan, and are looking to Daegu next).  There will be a much more thorough update on the band coming soon, but for now you can check out the article yourself:

http://ulsanonline.com/nightlife/?p=602

This was our most recent gig, and our first acoustic one ever.  It went well, but our next acoustic set is this Saturday, and we need at least one amp and a microphone.. working on it!

The rest of my life/schedule is a wind whirl of practicing Taekwondo, studying Korean (which I am starting to get pretty good at), keeping up with an exciting social life (seeing old friends off, welcoming new ones, and having celebrations of all kinds), and continuing to be a full time teacher (with more and more responsibilities and assignments).  Now I don't want to scare anyone away from taking a job like this, I asked for the craziness that is going on in my planner, but it is intense.  I am excited for some down time, but I don't know when that will come.. I am also adjusting to feeling like a local celebrity, which.. has it's ups and downs.. but more than anything is CRAZY! Life is exciting right now, and I'm just running with it.  I will do my best to share my experiences as they come, but a few might be left unreported.

This is my Korean language teacher, Eunji!  She is so great, so we threw her a really nice surprise party in our classroom.  We also sang happy birthday for her in Korean, while I played the guitar.  (There are 2 Ryans in the class now, so I am "Rockin' Ryan."  Had to live up to that :)

An extra teaching job I picked up on a Saturday morning.  It pays pretty nice and is really fun!  There are many different types of jobs you can do on Saturdays, and this is one of my favorites at the craft hall at Ulsan Grand Park.  (Also note the 'Playboy Bunny' logo on this girls shirt.  Nobody knows what it means, and it is everywhere!)

Also before I forget, I have purchased a scooter!  It has been SO nice getting around on this bad boy.  Discussing this and about the driving culture is a-whole-nother post to look forward to as well.  Stay tuned!