d-Wizz Hankuk Travel Diary [2005]
Day 28 (2005-08-23) / Day 29 (2005-08-24) / Day 30 (2005-08-25) 
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Day 29: 2005-08-24 (Wednesday)
Breakfast was again rice, eggs and seaweed, with some pork and optional Korean vegetables and kim-chee (which I again abstained from partaking). Jamie did not have to go to university today, so he was able to spend all day showing me around. First, he took me to Hyeonchungsa (현충사), an historical site right in his backyard, almost literally.
We wandered around for about 40 minutes, while Jamie showed me the important features of the site, which honours Admiral Yi, an important military general who lived in the area about 450 years ago.
Jamie then drove to Sapkyocheon (삽교천), which is near the coast. On the way there, he said I could be the “DJ” for the day, inviting me to play some of the CDs I had brought with me. My first selection was the “Paradise Dub” version on the CD single of “Sing Hallelujah”, recorded by Dr. Alban, in 1993. It’s a classic piece of early 90’s techno, and Jamie enjoyed it immediately, and also the “Easter Mix” version, which is the next track on the CD. I was off to a good start, and next I played my 808state MP3 disc, which Jamie also found very interesting and enjoyable.
We arrived, and Jamie showed me around. There was a large seafood market here, and Jamie suggested we could have shellfish (조개구이) for lunch, which I thought would be interesting, so I followed him to a tent which appeared to be a seafood “restaurant”. We sat down on opposite sides of a table with a trough in the centre, into which hot coals were placed and lit. A mesh plate covered the trough, and we were supplied with a rather large pile of assorted shellfish. Jamie began to cook them for us; they only needed to be on the hotplate for a minute or two, and then we had to open the shell and eat whatever was inside.
After lunch, we drove to Chonan, so that I could buy some Korean CCM CDs. My sister had organised some money for me to bring some back to Australia, so Jamie found a Christian bookshop, and we went inside to browse the range. I was planning to spend between W80K and W100K, knowing that the CDs were cheap, and that I could afford to buy a lot of them. I selected about W70K worth, and hesitated on a few more, but I eventually added them as well, bringing the total to W103K, which the shopkeeper rounded to W100K for me. I had bought 23 CDs, including about 5 box sets with 3, 4 or 5 CDs each. In Australia, an equivalent amount would probably have cost me about 3 times as much. Jamie was surprised at how much I had bought, but I told him it had been part of my plan to spend that much.
Next, we were off to Osan to meet Daniel again. Jamie had never been to Osan before, which is between Chonan and Suwon. Daniel had invited me to visit his home to show him more drumming technique, especially the hi-hat 16th patterns. We met at Osan railway station at 1800, and followed Daniel’s car to a restaurant, where we shared a multi-course Chinese meal for dinner.
When we had finished dinner, we all went with Daniel in his car to his home. He had bought a new drum kit on the weekend, and was keen to show it to me, and also what he could play on it, although I think he was probably more interested in what I would play on it for him! The drum kit was a maroon colour 5-piece, similar to a beginners’ drum kit as sold in Australia. Daniel invited me to play it, and I immediately noticed that it sounded strange, because Daniel had removed the bottom head and snares from the snare drum. When I mentioned this, he said it was to make it quieter, to which I suggested that he put them back on and use a towel on top of the drum instead to muffle the sound. It just doesn’t sound good without the snares!
We all played Daniel’s new drum kit many times each, and I tried to explain a few things to both Jamie and Daniel. Jamie could already play 16th hi-hat pretty well, but it was still very new to Daniel, and he struggled to play it smoothly. I reminded him to play it slowly at first, in order to get used to playing smoothly, as that was the key to good technique. I asked Daniel if he had any music we could play along with. On his turntable was a record called “Billy Joel’s Greatest Hits”, so I looked at the tracklisting, and selected “Just The Way You Are” (a slow ballad), and suggested to Daniel that he try to play along with it. I stood in front of him and tapped out the tempo with my left index finger on the palm of my right hand, while he played simple backbeat on the drum kit. I told him he needed to practise like that more often, because having something to play along with would help him to play more smoothly, and in time. Like most beginning students (myself included), he gradually began to play faster in the Billy Joel song, and I had to remind him to listen to the music and “go with the flow”. I don’t know if it was helpful, but I was trying to give him some good advice. I also showed Daniel a few of my MP3 CDs, which I had brought with me, and he asked me to give him a copy, so I put some of them onto his notebook computer.
It was starting to get late, so Daniel drove us back to the restaurant, where Jamie’s car was still parked. Daniel thanked us for coming, and we left to return back to Asan.
As Jamie drove, I continued to play MP3s from my CD player. I began to sing along with some of them, and my detailed knowledge of these songs surprised and amazed Jamie, especially when I rapped for over 7 minutes for the entirety of the “Technotronic Megamix [Club Version]”!
I was almost scatologically ready at this time also, so I asked Jamie if he had thought about what I had said the previous night. He replied that he needed some more time to think, so I did not pursue the issue any further, but I encouraged him to work it out for himself, and that I would be ready the next day if he wanted to buddy dump.
We arrived at Jamie’s home very late, very tired, but very happy.
Day 27 (2005-08-23) / Day 29 (2005-08-24) / Day 30 (2005-08-25)
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