From Open Mic to Busking in One Night

I feel lucky to have ended up in a place with such great people.

My first apartment was ready to go when I got here, but apparently when my principal told the landlady that a foreigner was moving in, she'd have none of it and cancelled the lease. Liz was kind enough to let me stay at her place for the night and took me to the school to meet everyone. I spent Friday observing classes for 4 hours and then Mrs. Yun (my principal) took me to my new apartment.

I have one word for my new home: flash. Brand new, it has an automatic keypad lock (so I won't have to worry about forgetting my keys and it locks itself!), a nice little kitchen, a tv, and a sparkly clean bathroom. The plastic is still on my door handles! I can't say the view is great, but when I was hanging around today, I overheard the piano lessons from the school next door. Free classical music, a nice little home and good friends. Who could ask for more?

I spent my first night out in Gwangju at a couple of music events. A group of foreigners volunteer at the orphanage here in town and they were having an open mic night as a fundraiser. I got to meet a ton of new people as well as hang out with Liz's friends who I'd met the night before. I also had to try out my first traditional toilet here. Let's just say it's...different.

We then moved on to the Speakeasy, which is apparently the best foreigner bar in town. They were having a punk rock night with Korean bands playing. It was jam-packed and the music was fantastic. One of my friends took me for a walk around the downtown area and showed me where all the Western restaurants are (yes, they have Pizza Hut, Outback Steakhouse, Baskin Robbins, Krispy Kreme, McDonald's, Starbucks, and a bunch of other places I've seen at home). Then it was back to another place for karaoke and more conversation.

It's nice having found a group of foreigners. Everyone is really friendly, since we're all in the same boat. It's like a giant family. All the people I met were interesting to talk to and so much fun to hang out with.

Of course, a good night out with friends always ends with a snack before going home and last night was no exception. One of the guys, CJ, has a favorite a street vendor whom he calls the Chicken Lady. Chicken Lady serves chicken on a stick that she deep fries in oil and then dips in barbecue sauce. You can also get ham, egg, and cheese toasties, spicy potatoes, and some traditional food I didn't catch the name of. It was great! And cheap. :o)

While we were eating at the stall, a group who'd performed at open mic night found us and one of the guys still had his guitar out. He started playing a song and a Korean couple stopped and gave the guy some money. So, being a good busker, he played for them. Yay for busting down cross-cultural barriers.

And for those of you who are wondering: Koreans singing punk rock look, act, and sing just like North Americans playing punk rock. No accent, all crazy.