Back in the ROK

I haven't updated in a while because I've been traveling and getting settled into my new apartment. I've finally got pretty much everything unpacked. I also spent a couple days cleaning this place because it looked like a real dump when I first moved in. The guy who lived here before me hadn't bothered to clean up the baby powder and "ethnic hair products" that he had squirted all over the floor. He also left behind an entire suitcase full of clothes and GOLD SILK BED SHEETS. Now I gotta figure out what to do with his junk.

So far, I really like my new school. The kids have been, for the most part, pretty great. However, it's only been one week. They'll probably turn into monsters once they get used to me. I also feel, for the first time, like I'm actually teaching and not babysitting. Unlike the boys at my old middle school, these kids listen to me. Also, my new bosses and co-teachers keep heaping praise on me (I think it's because the previous foreign teacher was a real putz). Anyway, it's the weekend, and I really don't feel like thinking or writing about work, so I'm gonna leave it at that.

I like Daejeon all right so far. It's definitely much more convenient than Chuncheon. My apartment is in a good location with lots of stuff nearby, including a big park, which I'm going to check out this afternoon. I need to make some friends, though. On Friday night, I sat at home eating pound cake and reading Charlotte's Web. I need to find people to eat "some pig" with me.

Here's the view from my window.



I bought a bicycle, but I've only ridden it a couple times because the weather's been shitty lately.



On Monday, I went to Seoul to see Mount Eerie. Phil Elvrum was pretty much perfect, and he played a lot of my favorite songs.



Before him, some weirdo Korean guy played. His guitar sounded like rubber bands stretched over a punch bowl, but I enjoyed it because he was so goofy. He sang a song about "people searching the Google" or something like that. And he had another one about communism. He kept saying "fuck the capitalism!" He was obviously trying pretty hard to be silly, and I think if I'd seen an American trying to pull the shit he was doing, I would have been really annoyed, but I guess I'm more lenient with Koreans. At least he was doing something somewhat unique, rather than trying to be another Rain/Big Bang/2 PM clone.

Then, some white girl played, but it wasn't interesting enough for me to take a picture.



Next was a singer called Itta. Here's her MySpace page. The songs she played at the show were completely different than the stuff on her MySpace, but I really liked her.

Lately, I can't get enough of the new Joanna Newsom album. I wasn't sure what to expect since I wasn't crazy about Ys, but god damn, this album is amazing. Here are a couple of my favorite tracks.





There's probably a ton more for me to write about, but I haven't really had a chance to explore my new neighborhood, so I'm going to go do that now.

I'll make a detailed post about my trip to Manila soon, maybe tonight.