Let me Introduce the class...

Left to Right: Front Row: Kelly, Leah, Erin, Jenny.  Second Row: Sun Teacher, Kelly, Cory, Kevin, Whitney. Back row: Edwina Teacher, Jenna, Brian, ME!

This is my favorite picture from the speaking contest. Just wanted to share. Maybe my favorite class. And the boy next to me in the back is Brian. I taught him "Knuckle sandwich straight to the moon."

Good Ol' Light Bulb

This morning I went to the fridge to gaze at the same options I see everyday. Eggs, mushrooms, garlic, peppers, Cass, soju, and ham. "Ugh," I complained. "I'll just make eggs with veggies again." I pulled out the ingredients and that good ol light bulb buzzed on in my mind. "French toast!"

The bakery is a short stroll around the corner, so I put on my jeans and jacket and stepped out into a most amiable, sunny, pleasant morning. Down to the bakery, I stepped inside and looked at my options. White or wheat. (Easy selection, eh?) The baker came out wearing his tall chef's hat. He pointed to a fresh loaf beside that which I was holding. The loaf in my hand was sliced and wrapped. The loaf he pointed to was still warm. He sliced it, put it in a bag, and charged me for the bread and jar of Strawberry jam.

I stepped back outside for the quick-step back home, started Dr. Dog on my iTunes, pulled out the bread, put away the veggies, cracked an egg, soaked a slice, laid it in the pan, and let it do the magic. After it finished, I put the piece of French toast on a plate and began the next. Once the second slice was in the pan, I poured pure Canadian Maple Syrup over the first slice. I proceeded to cut small pieces of ham and placed them around the pan. I flipped the second, let it finish, put it on the plate, started the third slice, poured the syrup on the second.



The ham finished, I put it on the plate to dip into the syrup. The third piece finished and I spread the strawberry jam across and ate. "Mmm! Mashisso!" I poured a glass of Dongwon plum juice and sat at my desk to eat. This is the best start to a week in I-don't-know how long! I hope Monday greets you just as friendly :)

Children and Freezers (not a horror movie)

Last Friday at school we had a coupon party. See, as rewards we give students coupons that are "priced" at 1, 3, 5, 10, so on. As punishment, we take these coupons away. And on March 19th we had a party at which the students used their accrued coupons to buy items at the "Stationary Store," food at the "Snack Store," or games at the "Game Store."

I worked the Game Store. I also turned on the Sponge Bob Square Pants movie and it ran all day. I really enjoyed the children laughing out loud at the silly voices and faces and slapstick in the movie. And they're bright kids. I'm sure they heard some of the English. It was a fun day overall.

Most of my pictures come from earlier in the day. So they end here.

On a completely unrelated note, this is what my freezer looked like yesterday before I removed most of the ice:

And here's the bananas you see there in the back:

But it's better now:

Brian LIVE

Well, last Sunday was my second open mic. The first time was more or less a jam session, but Sunday night was closer to my own concert. I was the only person to perform other than the three or so others who did karaoke. It was alright. Lot's of positive feedback, but I don't ever believe that. But it's nice. Anyway, here's a clip from Sunday.


Untitled #12

And here's a home recording of another song I performed Sunday:


Have You Ever Had One of Those Days?

Wish you coulda been here for this. But it's ok. Shows coming to your neck of the woods before you even know it!

Words Travel

To all interested parties, I've been published. You can find it here.

설날

 

My boss called me the morning of this sunset. Afternoon, rather. He said, "I'll be to your house in two hours and we go to my brother's house." The next day was Seollal, Korea's Lunar New Year. "We will stay the night and pray to my father and eat breakfast." Two hours later, he picked me up. Two hours after that, this sunset.

It was a late night, but rather relaxed. We ate and ate and ate and drank and drank. My director had told me to bring my guitar, which I did, and they made me play and sing. Rather embarrassing, but they were impressed. Then we cooked LOADS of food for breakfast. In fact, we went through two bottles of oil. Eesh. So unhealthy... but so good!

My director's mother. She liked me :)

The LOADS of food. It's set up on fancy dinnerware and put on a table with candles and incense. 

The children dress up in hanboks, fancy holiday clothes... like when Mom put me in knickers and suspenders for Easter... now that I think about it, she never made Matt wear knickers...... 

Everyone bows to pay respect to their dead ancestors. You stand in front of the table and bow, then you get on your knees, bow once, stand up, back down, bow again, then stand up, bow, and it's over. But each member does it individually and then everyone as a group.

But really we're all just waiting for the food. Like the member of your family who says the LONG prayer right before Christmas turkey and dressing ;)

After eating, the men went out to sled. So much fun! From front to back, Andy, James, and Eric

 

Andy

Eric

It was a great Seollal celebration. I have a kind director to invite me with his family. What a great time.

The Easy Times

Last night I had quite a time. An easy night with my friend Jiyong. See, I'd been given a menu book full of restaurants of all sorts... well, three sorts: chicken, pizza, and pork. So started my craving for fried chicken.

I sent Jiyong a message to see if he wanted to come over and order some food and watch a movie. I can't order for myself because my Korean's not good enough. Although, now that I think of it, I should give it a shot with  Jiyong's help sometime.

Anyway, at 9 o'clock I left work, around 11 Jiyong showed up. We glanced at the menu, decided on half fried, half fried with sauce and a  2 liter bottle of.. beer.. I had downloaded the movie to watch already: Paranormal Activity.

We started the movie, the food showed up, and, with all but one light off, we ate and watched the movie. It's a scary movie! But the chicken was fantastic. Unfortunately, we got pickled carrots instead of mashed potatoes, gravy, and fried okra.. but that's alright. It was still great. I don't have much to say, just that nights like that are nice.


Here's the trailer... if you DARE!!