Muzak

So there have been a lot of songs that were stuck in my head or that have helped calm me or encourage me during the last few months.  My mp3 player died the second week that I was in Thailand…most of you already know what that means to me!  I lost almost all of the music from my favorite bands (311, Pepper, Slightly Stoopid, Pearl Jam, U2)  so I have slowly downloaded some good stuff while waiting to rip all of my cds when I visit home in March.

Below are the songs…

Rebelution – Bright Side of Life

311 – Its Alright  (typical 311, always good)

Passafire – Turn the lights on  (Most listened to song, just wanna jam out)

Tomorrows Bad Seeds – Reflect 

B.O.B. – Airplanes  (New to me and nice)

Through The Roots – Best Friends  (name says it all, miss you guys)

Iration – You Don’t Know  (Just plain good)

Katastro – That Place You Know  (Got in my head before leaving)

T.I. feat. Rihanna – Live You Life  (just funny moments)

Tenth Avenue North-

-By Your Side  (Amazing)

Lifehouse – Everything  (Thanks Jodi and Alex)

Most of you back home know that when it comes to Pop and Rap I am like a 60 year old man, I don’t like it and have usually never heard any of it.  I had heard “Airplanes” once before leaving the states and on the plane over it was one of the many cds that I had never heard of so I ended up playing it over and over.  I really like B.O.B. now.  I know its weird but the lyrics actually don’t suck and that’s rare in that type of music!!

Anyway, You should check some of this goodness out if you haven’t heard some of it.

My first Thanksgiving away from Georgia

On Thanksgiving day I knew the home sickness would finally hit, I mean it had been 4 months.  I was really worried going to bed the night before.  Last Thanksgiving was a unique one…my sister had just undergone surgery to have a tumor removed and my mother stayed in Atlanta with her while she recovered.  This left Thanksgiving to just my dad and I since no relatives would be visiting.  At least we all had SOME family to be with though.  Back to now, I’m on the other side of the world and wondering how the day will turn out.  So I head to school to teach Korean kids about Thanksgiving…and had an amazing day.  I had to teach the kids about Thanksgiving and then made turkeys out of their hands.  They were so amazing that it made me forget all about missing home and it turned into the best day I had in Korea so far. 

For dinner Rafael, Anthony, and I headed to find a real feast!  We ended up trying a new place and ordered a whole chicken, seafood pasta, and a pitcher of beer.  Luckily the menu had pictures.  We went around the table and said the things that we were thankful for and said a prayer.  It was a unique and pleasant experience that just went to show once again that good people can make up for where you are or aren’t. 

 

I am so blessed no matter where in the world I am.  I still always have an amazing family and great friends.  A little faith and a positive attitude will take you a long way…its worked for me so far.  J

Andong: My new home

A little about Andong, Gyeongbuk, South Korea…The city has a population of 184,000 located on the Nakdong river.  Andong is known as the cultural capital of Korea and is a central market for all of the surrounding rural towns and villages.  The name Andong means “pleasant town” and it seems to be fitting.

I will work at Gyeongsangbuk-do Education Research Institute starting Dec. 20^th.  Until then I work at Andong Gangnam Elementary teaching grades 3-6.  Everyone one the institute seems to be really cool so far.  We have had a few work outings and meeting to date.  I am absolutely adored by all of the teachers and students at my elementary school!  They are not too used to foreigners in Andong.  I am called “handsome” and “tall” as well as greeted by “hello” by pretty much every kid that passes in the hall.  It’s a great feeling… 

I love Andong so far and it is a very beautiful and different place.  It is basically a blend of old and new thrown between a river and some mountains.  The area that I live Ok-Dong (Dong means district) which has tons of new construction.  Ok-Dong has a large nightlife district and plenty of good restaurants all within a few blocks of my apartment.  My apartment is in a smaller building (only 3 floors) 5 other American teachers live in the building as well.  I have a view of a field on one side with mountains in the background and a hilltop park on the other.  Behind my building is another park with a basketball court which we like to play basketball and soccer with the local kids. 

 Above: Like a boss? Below: My view.

So far I feel like I made the right decision and am enjoying my new home. 

Seoul and EPIK orientation

Korea! Finally!

I arrived in Seoul a day before my orientation began. Seoul is massive, the largest city I have ever been in! (around 24 million people, 2^nd largest on earth next to Tokyo's 32 mil) Day 2 I hiked down the street with all of my luggage to the National Institute for International Education building where I would stay for most of the next week. Check into my room eat lunch, meet a few guys...the rest is the kind of thing that legends are made from. I quickly bonded with about 8 other guys and we decided to go to a place named “Beer Castle” that night. We talked over a few pitchers of beer and bottles of soju and had a great time, then we did it for the next 5 nights.

We also took over a bar "Cool Cats" for a few nights...see below.

 Some of the guys.

Orientation was pretty cool, we got to watch quite a few interesting lectures and met some great folks that would also be working in Korea. So we studied, partied, saw some historical sights, and watched LANTA, look that up!

 Odd bar signage.

 Our favorite, taste like Kix and Fruit Loops. Plus beer and Soju. SFP!

 Culture!

 Beautiful/Awesome

Laos part 2

Vang Vieng...wow

Tubing, bucket bar, booze, Europeans, western food, football(soccer), robbery, dancing in the rain, zip lines, rivers, massages.

So so much happened in my week in Vang Vieng that I literally don't feel like typing it all. I enjoyed tubing down the river and jumping off of massive zip lines! My friend Sachin got a massage from a ladyboy...then we decided to drink chick cocktails. I rocked out to T.I. Repeatedly and was introduced to “drum and bass” music (which sucked). Drank and danced everynight at Bucket Bar including one night in a downpour. I played soccer with local high school kids and some Englishmen, and dominated them. Unfortunately many of our pictures were lost/destroyed when “Dutchie” was robbed while carrying all of our stuff in a bag while on the river one day. Its a shame because the pictures on the river were awesome! Oh! I also drank snake infused liquor, it made my body burn/tingle for a few minutes...won't try that again.

After Vang Vieng I left all of my friends after 2 amazing weeks together and headed to the capital city Vientiane. Where the jerks taking us took some of my things on the way. I asked where my phone and a few other things were and the driver says “I don't know” my response...”either you or your helper took my stuff”...I walked closer to him and he gets in the van, so I yell at him...He rolls up the window and I decided I really didn't want to go to jail in a crappy communist country. All I wanted to do was get out of Laos. And I did a few hours later...a 24-hour bus trip back to Chiang Mai, Thailand.

 ok, this one is actually from Luang Probang but it took me awhile to find it.