I'm on vacation with my sister in Korea!!! :) YAY!!!!

Heat wave

The heat is coming and I am not ready for it. Usually the nights and mornings aren't too bad, but the afternoons are deadly (maybe not 'deadly', but hot enough). Oh, and I heard it only gets more humid and hot when July shows it's face. I'm very excited. hmmm.

Well time has continued to fly by and I still haven't learned how to control it. I'm not holding my breath for that day..and yet I continue to try and conquer time and have my say at how fast or slow it should go by...

So last week my choir from Calvin College was in town. Unfortunately I was not able to hear them in concert, but I did meet up with them during the day in Seoul. It was great to talk to catch up with friends/professors. Great ladies. Good memories of being in the choir. It's always weird though when 2 worlds collide together...G.R. people and Korea.

(L. The wonderful Linda, C. me, R. the amazing Dr. Shangkuan)

Love them both dearly.

Last weekend there was a big festival in my city. It was pretty fun I have to say. There was some great drumming and traditional music. I have fallen in love with Korean Tradition drumming. It's amazing. Ari rang is turning into a person favorite as well :)

There was a viol inst there who was pretty great, but it was the most interesting combination; short skirt and top, Canon in D, and B-Boys (Break-dancers). Fascinating. (see pic. below)

I was thinking that Pachelbel was rolling over in his grave :) It was entertaining though. Anyways, it was fun. Good musicians, good friends, good times. Oh, my roommates and I got a family portrait done...yup. The artists wasn't very impressive though. I have a deformed hand, my friend has an odd shaped head and interesting facial hair.

This past week we also had a day off so my friend and I decided to go to the beach which was supposedly only 2 hours away on an island...supposedly.

Quick walk thru of the day:

no sun-

Bus: 15 min. to subway ($.60)

Subway: 1 Hr. to airport ($2.00)

Taxi (b.c. we missed the bus that comes once every hour) ($30 for a 10 min. ride)

oh wait...oh yes, the taxi ended up taking us the wrong way...yup

Wait for bus: 30 min.-

-no sun

Take bus back to airport (oh, and this is the bus that we supposedly missed but was going the wrong way anyway) ($.90) 1 hour-finally get to the ferry-

-clouds are rollin in-

Ferry ($2.00)-2 min. ride to island (me looking excited about the rain, wind, and cold beach)

-rain drop-

Arrive on island-bus pulls up right away, but wait...oh he doesn't' pick any of us up for some strange reason, so we wait....and wait....and the rain comes in.....and thunder...more waiting....

40 min. later...back on the ferry...

so basically hours of trying to get to this beach and never actually seeing it or the sun. oi.

Teaching on the other hand has been going well. I'm really enjoying my new students (we started a new semester about a week and a half ago). I have some of the upper level classes, which has been more challenging for me as well as the students. These students continue to amaze me with their intelligence. Very bright :) It's times like these when I wish I was trained to be a teacher so I could be more beneficial to them in a more efficient way. A musician knows only so much about teaching haiku, ballads, cinquain, onomatopoeia etc.

My Friday classes involve teaching logic, debates, oh and interviews...logic is a lot of fun..maybe more so for me than the students, but nonetheless it's good for them.

This past weekend I went out to hear some jazz in Hongdae. I am realizing how much I miss quality music..where's Wagner and Schumann when I need them. The good news is, I moved the piano into my bedroom finally! yay! more time to practice and learn some more Debussy and Chopin. I'm very excited :)

Soccer is going well. The guys are great. Good times, Hot weather though. My sister is coming next week so that is also very very exciting :)