Chuenchon and all that Jazz

Hello America,

It seems I haven't been posting as much as I promised but this time around I will try even harder to keep up with the blog.

Last weekend we ventured to Chuenchon for a Jazz Festival and it was fantastic. The festival was set on an island surrounded by mountains so as the sun set it was one of atmospheres I had ever been lucky enough to be a part of. The music was very good including a Jazz cover of Nirvana's Heart Shaped box as well as a cover of Britney Spears' Toxic. The first day of the festival was very relaxing which was nice because the following day would be much more hilarious.

Attempting to find a hotel at 10 pm proved much more difficult than I had imagined. After the first 3 hotels I was beginning to empathize with Mary and Joseph ... there was just no room at the inn for baby Jesus. At last we found a quiet little motel in a back ally which welcomed us with toothbrushes and razorblades. The dark back ally should have been the first sign that this was no Holiday Inn but the complimentary personal hygene products really got me excited to see what we were in for. The room actually wasn't that bad and mildly clean. There were a lot of extra blankets and they were even kind enough to leave a profalactic next to the bedstand ... I guess they were all out of mints. Finally it was clear that we had booked a "love hotel", something people had been talking about since we got here. Unfortunately we had booked a crappy love motel and I was dissapointed we hadn't shopped around because people were telling us about ones with flatscreen T.V.s, different colored lightings, and "adult" vending machines in the rooms ... that would have been hilarious.

We were happy to awake the next morning and find ourselves not murdered by drug dealers or pimps and set off for day two of the Jazz festival. The weather was amazing and that day we got the pleasure of hanging out with our good old friend Will. I say old friend because he really is old ... like 46 or something but he won't admit it. He has been a very fun person to hang out with in Wonju due to his hilarious antics and lack of a sensor so we figured he could really liven up the Jazz festival and boy did he ever. His favorite game to play was to ask any Korean couple with a camera if they wanted him to take a picture of them. After they agreed and Will snapped the pic he would instantly turn and run off the other direction. Their reactions were priceless. Some people chased him and others just sat there looking sad. It was all in good fun and most of them found it really funny and wanted a picture with him after so they could remember the prank. Will also decided a fun game would be to army crawl up to people when they weren't looking and see what he could sneak back and set next to our table. People really look confused when the bike they had sitting next to them somehow moved 10 feet and is now sitting with a table of white people. All these things did a good job of making me laugh. We had a great spot that allowed us to listen to a Korean band cover Radiohead's Creep four different times and I managed to muscle my way through the crowd to get a free CD of theirs. God bless their small stature. The night ended with good music and good company and we headed back to Wonju with a much better appreciation of Jazz and comedy.

We went out last night (Tuesday) for dinner and drinks with some friends and were welcomed with free food at two different restaurants. The first place had cement floors and poorly insulated walls so I can only imagine what it's like in the winter but I will be returning soon due to the fact the owner gave us free chicken breast and chicken foot because "the men are so handsome and the women are so beautiful". If tipping wasn't insulting to people I would have given here a whopper for her flattery.

We might be heading to a Rice festival this weekend but the jury is still out on that one. I bought a KBA Basketball here so I would like to play with that soon too. I will keep you posted on my adventures and I end with one final thing ... Damn you Nick Punto ... Damn you.