WanderingSalsero

Another weird night in the PC Motel

Do you remember that I sometimes stay in PC bangs rather than try to find a motel or jimjilbang?  Well, I did it again.  Part of a somewhat strange Saturday in Seoul.

I had two reasons to come up to Seoul this weekend.  One.....I had an invitation to a wedding and, two, I had a computer issue to resolve.

So.....seeing as how this was not a weekend where I had to work Saturday, I actually could have come up on Friday evening.  In fact that's what I usually would have done.  For some reason I choose not too.  I think it was because I've had some 'projects' on the net that have been fascinating me so I choose to stay home Friday evening to do those.

Instead I choose to come up Saturday morning as early as possible.  As it turned out, even the groom  didn't really have very good directions to where the wedding place was.  I guess that makes sense because he's never been married there before.

Anyway, I was a bit late to that ceremony.  But I got to see most of it....from the back of the room.  And I got some pictures.

After that I went over to Yongsan to try to resolve the problem I've been having with my new laptop.  Specifically....I was getting a pop-up message saying that I wasn't using genuine "Windows".  I thought that was strange because the laptop is supposed to be new, right?

Bottom line........they fixed it.  But the bad thing was that they had to reformat my hard drive.  I lost some stuff but I neglected to keep track of what.  I don't think it was much but it's still gonna be a pain in the butt to replace.

No more annoying pop-ups though.

And I bought a new, larger, externat hard drive.  Now, hopefully, I can get all my pictures and music back on my computer.  I'd actually curtailed taking pictures and downloading music because the existing external hard drive was full.  Sure, I could have put it on the computer HD, a 500G, but I didn't want to do that.

After I finished all that I went over to Itaewon and took a shower at my favorite jimjilbang and later went over to Caliente to go dancing.  Not much of a crowd there at all.  Very disappointing.  So I decided to head over to Seoul Station to see if I could catch a late train back to Gumi.

That's where the evening got weird.  There werent' any trains.  At that point I had two choices.  Find a jimjilbang or cheap motel or just stay in a PC bang (internet cafe) all night.  I chose the later.  I checked in here around midnight and now it's 8 a.m.

My train leaves at 8:30.  Me and Los Lobos spent the night together....on the net.

My Mysterious Macondo Girl

I wonder who this pretty salsera was...

Yes, I had a generally good time up in Seoul this weekend....which included a very brief encounter as I was leaving Macondo.  A couple (or three) girls were coming in just as I was leaving and I noticed one of them had a really pretty looking floral piece in her hair. 

She was pretty anyway but I especially thought the thing she had in her hair was noteworthy because, to me, it seemed to fit in so perfectly with her own natural facial features and also the whole idea of being a 'salsera'. 

I asked her if I could take her picture.  She was 'willing' so here's the original photo plus some treatments of it I did with that little photo tool I like called Fotosketcher.

Actually, I really tend to prefer the black and white ones. 

That probably wouldn't usually be the case but I think in this instance it's because she has very much of that 'old country' look about her.  You know.....Mediterranean, Spaniard, Italian, Latina....and the thing in her hair accentuates it even more.  Thus, black and white (or it could have been sepia) makes the picture even more authentic.

I like them all but, alas, I don't even know this gal's name.  I gave her my 'WanderingSalsero' URL and told her I'd like to give her a copy of the picture.  Time will tell if I ever hear from her.

Ahhhh, but that's the beauty of the Korean ESL adventure, isn't it?  :-)

Which ones do you like?

 

In Seoul on Aprl 24th? Attend the free Kizomba class!

If you're a dancer and you're anywhere near Seoul, S.Korea, from 1:30-3:00 pm., on Saturday, April 24, 2010, you're invited to the free (yes......FREE!) Beginner Level Kizomba Class being conducted by Art Williams (that would be....... me :-) at beautiful Candela Dance Studio, in the Yangjae area of Seoul.

Wetoku with Art and Pillhwan

Here's another example of using www.wetoku.com to do online interviews.  This gentleman is Pillhwan.  He's a good friend of mine and the owner of Candela Dance Studio in Seoul.

Pillhwan was very supportive of what I tried to do with Casino Rueda when I lived closer to Seoul.  He's a really nice guy, a great dancer, and he has a lovely wife (Eun Young) and a super-cute little daughter named Min-Ji.

I wanted to talk to Pillhwan on Wetoku because it's a great chance for those of you who've never been to Seoul or Korea to learn a little bit about salsa for a Korean's perspective.  Of course, 10 minutes (the limit on Wetoku) isn't nearly enough to cover very much but....it's a start.

Here's the interview we just did.  Lukily, we had time to get his website into the recording:

Mark your calendars....Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009, 4-6pm.

Yes boys and girls and fun lovers of all ages..............!!  It's Casino Rueda Bootcamp 2, another exciting 2 full hours of fun and frolic as we learn all the basics of the funnest social dance on the planet......Casino Rueda.

Here's a video I created:

Starting the following Saturday, September 19 we will start another series of weekly lessons, Casino Rueda 101. Any individuals who either came to our previous bootcamp or who attended our recently completed first Casino Rueda 101 may attend this bootcamp at no charge.

This 2 Hour Casino Rueda Bootcamp will commence at 6pm on Saturday, September 12, 2009, at the beautiful Candela Dance Studio in Yangjae, Seoul.  Candela Dance Studio is just a 3 minute walk from exit #6 of the Yangjae subway station.  See the video elsewhere on this site.

This class will cover enough salsa basics to allow beginners to get started with salsa not only in a basic rueda format but also to dance salsa with one partner.  We believe that learning salsa in a rueda format is the best way to learn salsa because:

• You get two dances for the price of learning one...i.e. you'll learn to dance in the rueda circle with everybody and you'll learn to dance just with one partner.
• Everybody gets to dance with everybody else.  No more 'superstars'.
• All the patterns have names thus they're easier to learn and remember. 
• Later, you can create your own exciting patterns using variations of what you lean here.
• Dancing in the rueda is almost like a 'team sport'.  Everybody has to do their part in order to make thier connections and keep things going.

Starting the following Saturday, September 19, we will start another series of weekly lessons, Casino Rueda 101.   All the dancers who attended our first Casino Rueda 101 are wellcome to take the bootcamp at no charge.  They'll probably find it to be a good review and also a chance to meet new dancers. 

There is a small charge to attend this class but in order to try to have as many 'pro's as possible for the new dancers, we're allowing any dancers who attended our previous bootcamp are welcome to attend this new one at no charge.  Any individuals who either came to our previous bootcamp or who attended our recently completed first Casino Rueda 101 may attend this bootcamp at no charge too.

We would like to encourge as many experienced 'veterans' to attend this class as possible. 

Admission to the bootcamp is only 5,000 KW.  That get's you 2 hours of instruction, a basic foundation in casino rueda, some 'salsa suelta' footwork, free refreshments and a whole new circle (no pun intended :-) of friends to share your new dance skills with.  

We're also asking that all ladies bring a partner.   But, if you're a lady and you would like to learn 'lead', then it's OK to come 'solo'.  Guys can come solo.

We had a great time at our first full series of classes.  We now have a small but dedicated and proficient group of rueda dancers......a nucleus to grow around.  If you get in now you'll benifit from have some experienced dancers available to help you progress rapidly.

We learned over 35-50 patterns.  That's a great start in such a short period of time.  And we're doing something nobody else in Korea es doing.  If we continue in this direction I think we have a very good chance of performing somewhere in Korea eventually.  Who knows?  We might even take an international trip somewhere.

Casino Rueda 101 starts Saturday at Candela in Yangjae, Seoul

The issue of adoption in Korea...wow!

This story hits closer to home than you'd first think.  Here's a link to a series of YouTube videos that I suspect many of my readers will find very interesting and very touching. 

It concerns not only an issue very emotional on it's serface but also one which, coincidentally, effects of our own.....i.e. one of our lovely salseras.  I won't mention the name.  It's in the video.

But I will tell you this:

This young lady is somebody I knew, through my blog, back in the US.  She's a very nice person, a Korean-American and......a very cool salsa dancer and casinera.  She came over here to Korea several months ago for multiple reasons, probably, but one of them was very unique.

This young lady was adopted, from Korea, by American parents in 1966.  As it turned out, the couple that adopted her had some functional issues and her childhood life, although perhaps in some ways better than what she might have experienced in Korea at that time, wasn't the happiest.

Life goes on and she eventually left home and got married.  That didn't last too long but she carried on with her life.  And, somewhere, got into salsa.  That was a good thing of course.

She came over here with, in addition to the work opportunity itself, the important goal of finding her roots.  What I didn't know before seeing these videos was all the issues involved with adoption of Korean kids by foreign families. 

It's an issue that in one sense is very complex but in another sense is simple.  All that is in the videos.  I watched'em all. 

I was interested not just because this young lady is a personal friend of mine but also because I had a somewhat similar issue in my family.  I only discovered sometime in the 90's that the guy, Jake, who I thought was my biological grandfater (on my mother's side) wasn't actually....that person. 

My mother got kinda crazy in her later years and died in 06 after spending a couple years in an assisted living center in Houston (where we both lived at the time).  The primary reason she died had to do with her smoking habit of many years although she never would admit it.  She always blamed it on doctors.

Point is, in a manner of speaking, she never really was a happy person throughout much of her life.  A big part of that reason was that my grandmother, Ruby, never told her who her real father was other than saying that he was a prominent politician.

For some reason(s), partly perhaps fabricated and partly based on what my grandmother told her, my mom always thought she was related to the Daniels family of Texas politics.  And she spent a lot of time writing this and that person and this and that organization or public agency trying to track down that mysterious identity.

In effect, she sorta thought she was some long lost heir and princess of a prominent family who, if recognized, would suddenly have the respect and love that she never otherwise found (my mom was married several times after my real dad died in a Army aviation accident when I was one year old).

So.......in a sense, my mom also had a lifelong issue with a critical part of her identity.....i.e. who her father really was.  She never forgave my grandmom for not telling her.  Supposedly the reason my grandmom wouldn't tell her was because back in those years, in North Texas, being illegitimate just wasn't something that was as accepted as it is today.

Other than that aspect of my grandmom's life, she and Jake were a model couple.  But I won't go into that here.  The point is that that's why I sorta can understand why a similar issue is so important to the person I'm speaking about in this post.

Anyway........the videos are very interesting and the story isn't over yet.  It's an issue that still needs to be put to rest in Korea and it sounds like my friend still might someday discover the answers she's looking for.  I certainly hope so.

A skydiving instructor was giving a class to a group of beginners and he took a few moments to their first-timer questions.

One fellow raised his hand and said, "Sir.....if our chute doesn't open, and the reserve doesn't open, how long do we have until we hit the ground?"

The instructor looked at him, and in perfect deadpan, answered, "The rest of your life."

I was thinking that's sorta like the answer to the question, 'When are you going to look into the opportunity to come to Korea to teach English?' 

Fact is, there's still a huge demand for native English speakers over here.  With the bad economy back in the US and Canada, lots more teachers are staying an extra year, but all the good jobs are not gone.  Perhaps it's time for you to give it some consideration.

Is it a perfect job?

Well, that depends on what you're looking for.  But I'll bet that, for a lot of people, it's better than what you're doing right now. 

You won't make a gazillion bucks but, really, what's life all about anyway?  Life is about more than making money isnt' it?.  Everybody, especially in America, gives that phrase lip service but you'd never guess it from looking at the drudgery that most of their jobs wind up being. 

What about your situation right now? 

• Are you really getting anywhere? 
• Are you really doing anything that 'can't wait' a year or two while you see an exciting part of the world and take some time to enjoy yourself in a job with good benefits, guaranteed pay, and great 'off-the-clock' opportunities for fun?
•   Are you really having much fun doing what you're doing now? 
• Does your job own you or do you own your job?

Teaching English in Korea isn't hard work.  The biggest challenge is one of some slight but important adjustments in your own attitude.  It's a big world we live in and the US is, although still an important part, it's certainly not the only part, of it.  If you'll come over here and just make up your mind to do the best you can and let the chips fall where they may... then everything will be fine.

If you salsa dance, you'll absolutely love it.  There's lots of opportunity in and around Seoul.  Seoul is one of the top salsa towns in the world.  In Seoul you'll find over 11 great salsa clubs.  Do you know of any other cities like that? 

For dancing styles you'll find 'on1' and 'on2' and even (lately) some casino rueda.  In general, most Koreans are friendly to foreign salsa dancers.  Especially if you're good.  There's clubs all over the city (i.e. South, Central, Western Midtown and Southeast) and at least 11 of them are within easy walking distance from a subway station. (there's a few clubs that arent' but taxis are cheap).

And I'll tell ya too......if you're really good, you could possibly wind up making some good money giving lessons.  You're not actually supposed to have any kind of employment other than your job but.....it is done both in teaching and in other areas.

Remember.......you've got the rest of your life to have all the adventure you want.  How much do you want and.......how long is the rest of your life?  If you'd like some free and comprehensive information about the opportunity to teach English in S.Korea, you can get it here.

The Casino Rueda class was a success

Yesterday was the day of the 2 Hour Casino Rueda class that I did and I gotta believe there was some Godly direction in it because was a remarkable chain of events that even made it possible.

First of all, it couldn't have happened unless I somehow met Pill Hyun Hwan , the owner of Candela Dance Studio who most graciously (and wisely, I might add) contributed his contacts, staff and most excellent studio to the event.

I forget how I met Pillhwan.  I think it was from my blog.  We got to talking about interesting new things to do for dancers in Seoul and, of all those that we discussed, doing a free casino rueda class like this seemed to most logical right now.  So that's how it got started.

We had an excellent and very interesting mix of attendees at the class too.  Probably about 60/40% Korean to 'foreigner'.  I, for one, think it's a good thing to have events like this where the local nationals can meet and mix with foreigners because it's so hard to do otherwise.  In most cases, they're curious about us and we're curious about them.  Life is just so busy otherwise, ya know? 

We had about 7 couples.  We had an extra couple of ladies but luckily a couple of them, Suki and Michelle, were capable and willing to practice their leading so that made it perfect for pairing up.

To be honest, I thought I might cover a lot more than we actually did, but.......well, that's OK I guess, since everybody seemed to have had a good time.  We did:

son montunu, pa' el media, llevela abajo, exhibela, caminando, taro, taro y no le sugues, dile que no, enchufla, enchufla dos, enchufla que no, enchufla mentira,  vacila, and adios. 

Then we did that thing I used to do back in Houston called 'el corral' except here I'm calling it 'Hwaseong' (there's a big fortress here called "Hwaseong Fortress" that has a very long wall).  I've got some other ideas too for patterns that'll be fun.

Suki actually said something that I thought was very profound.  She was talking about the ethnic background of casino rueda and she said that in Cuba it started out like a 'game'.  I though to my, "Yeah......that makes sense!"

Actually, I would have used the word 'sport' but I think the implications are similar.  'Game' might actually be a better word in some respects because it has more of an implication of fun than sport does.

The class was two hours but I really think everybody would have gone another hour if we'd scheduled it.  I am reminded now, after all this, that it takes more time to teach those fundamentals than it does to just teach patterns.

As of the present we don't have have any specific plans for our next event but I'm sure there will be something.  I think we've got three general objectives now:

(1)  Wash, rinse and repeat this introductory crash course for rueda newbies.

(2)  Come up with a 'Pre-K' introductory class for complete salsa newbies

(3)  Move ahead to higher levels of proficiency with this first freshman group.

What's really significant about this event though, in my opinion and as far as I know, was that this was the first every such event to ever happen in Korea.  From what I've heard this was the

• First ever A-Z Introductory class on casino rueda in Korea
• First ever such class for foreigners and Koreans
• First ever class sponsored by a real dance studio

I think that's pretty cool.  And it's all because Salsa Eddy told me about the class that Sandro Moro Sleeper was having in Austin one Saturday, way back around 2000 or 2001 where Rene Guiets, (www.salsalovers.com) was coming to Austin, Tx. to do a big workshop.

One thing led to another and now I find myself in Korea, or more specifically...Seoul, S.Korea.  Seoul in an incredible salsa town with over a ten excellent salsa clubs.  But like lots of places that have the 'potential', casino rueda hasn't taken off here.

Maybe I can do my part to get it started.  Yesterday seemed like a stepn in the right direction.  If you're reading this and you're in the Seoul area and you have any interest in casio rueda, let me know and I'll make sure you're kept up to date of what's going on regarding the reuda community in Seoul.

Casino Rueda Crash Course today in Seoul, S.Korea

ON a happier note, today is the big day me and a couple other people (but mostly me) do a two hour crash course in casino rueda.  I met a nice fellow who has a salsa studio in Seoul called Candela Dance.  He's very open minded about other forms of dance and offered to provide some studio space so I could do this workshop.

There was a lot of work went into putting it togather but it's finally going to happen today.  I'm expecting around a dozen people probably.  The idea is to try to put togather some kind of core group. 

So far it seems to be going the right way.  I'll know in a few hours.