Thursday, November 27, 2008

Thanksgiving Part Deux

Nothing special about this year's Thanksgiving... just a small dinner of 4 Americans who've found themselves on this side of the planet for a really big holiday.

We did go to Butterfinger Pancakes in Jeongja and stuffed our faces full of whatever was on the menu. I had a Louisiana Beef Stew that was absolutely excellent, and recommend this place to anyone in the Bundang or Apujeong areas.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Piano Man, Seoul Man - Billy Joel comes to Korea!

I worked in the Music Industry for about 5-6 years during and then after college. Music was my whole life, and I was going to on average about 3-4 concerts a week - some for fun, some for work. And it got to be so annoying having to deal with rappers that needed to be babysat, or industry peeps that were just so overly full of themselves, that I got the hell out and came to Korea. In the 15 months that I've been here I've seen ONE concert, and it was the Basement Jaxx at a club in Gangnam, and it wasn't even a concert, it was a DJ set.

However, Billy Joel came to Seoul and it was incredible. So cool to see a large production in Korea, and Billy's always been a favorite. I last saw him at the Dome 10 years ago and he's still got it. Actually I saw him perform a Syracuse commencement speech 2 years ago, and I swore he was drunk. This time, he just seemed to be having fun. Either way... an excellent evening, a bit too expensive, and the Olympic Park Arena was a pretty sweet place to see a show. Word to the wise though - Olympic Park is NOT located near Olympic Stadium. Made that mistake and wound up traveling a bit longer than anticipated... worth it though!

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

New Contract!

Well... as of right now, I will be officially ending SLP on December 5. I have just signed a contract for the Harvard Language School (HLS) in Suji, will move, and then start on December 8. The school isn't the greatest, but it should be an interesting experience, and at the very least I'll have two jobs in a foreign country and will be able to speak on the positives and negatives and compare and contrast for future jobs. We'll see how it goes... SO, expect me here for the next 6 months.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Obama Wins!! The World Seems Happy

What a day. What an incredible feeling. After 8 years of watching America go down the tubes, it feels so incredible to have a significant change. Unfortunately, I did not get to vote as my absentee ballot never came. However, it wouldn't have mattered much anyway as New York State always goes democrat anyway. I feel more productive having voted in the world's first online primary vote anyway.

Being in another country was nothing short of amazing. At the time there was only one other American on my staff and she was kind of a wet blanket about everything in life so I couldn't celebrate this with her. But the canadians on my staff were really excited, as were the koreans, and it just felt nice to be able to see reactions from those in other countries. Most everyone here was ecstatic, so it was just a nice vibe to be around. I even got lucky and got to watch Obama's acceptance speech live on my computer during one of my breaks. Here's to hopefully a good next 4 years...