Expats Coming Through Again :)

May 9-15, 2011

After such a long day on Sunday, I once again took the opportunity to sleep in on Monday morning while contemplating the idea about having another benefit for Wesley. Eventually I had to get out of bed and make some food to take to work, then shower and get out the door for my long day of classes. While at work, Trevor contacted me about having found a venue at Stompers in Itaewon, and thus meeting with the owner Dwayne after work. I couldn't say no, even though I wanted to, so we arranged to meet there around 1030 to talk it out and share ideas. I didn't end up getting htere until nearly 11, but that was OK, because there was a poker game going on, so Dwayne was a little busy with that. We talked about the door prizes we would raffle off, and how much to charge at the door. Dwayne donated a bottle of Jack Daniels and Jagermeister, and Trevor and his wife had secured a gift certificate from Zelen, a Bulgarian restaurant. We also decided that we would charge a minimum cover of $1 at the door, and that I would canvas the area later in the week for more donations, and to put up posters that had been donated by another friend of Trevor's. We finished up just after 12, and Trevor offered to drive me home, since he lives out in Incheon and it is somewhat on his way. I took him up on the offer and by 1230 I was home to get some sleep, because instead of having Tuesday off like most of the country for Buddha's birthday, we had to be in at 930am for a special open house fun day for the kids.

Tuesday, was the tenth, which was Buddha's birthday, but instead of being out to enjoy the festivities and parade, we had to come to work for a school promotional day. It was similar in set up to the last ones we had, but the students couldn't bring their friends this time. Instead they would be using their online student miles, similar to air miles, for doing their homework, to purchase prizes and food. They also had the chance to play games with the Korean teachers to win more points, so they could buy more prizes. The day, though not a holiday, was a great way to get up early, and not waste a day off. Fortunately, it was a rainy day, so it is highly likely that I would have spent the day inside being a bed worm. The kids really enjoyed it as well, which makes it all the more worth it. When it was all finished at 430, John and I helped clean up the class rooms and market room where we had worked, then headed across to the 7/11 to have a couple beers and sit out front of the store. Jean finished up a couple things and joined us, but eventually it got too chilly, so we went over to our chicken place to get some food and a few more beers. By 830 we had our fill of chicken and beer, and all decided to head home and try to get some things done before the next day. I however, got home and immediately fell asleep for 2 hours instead of doing anything productive. When I woke up it was 10pm and I was wide awake, so I took to doing all the things I had planned on doing earlier. I did some laundry, washed the floor, washed my dishes, and then cooked up a storm until nearly 3am before the grips of sleep grabbed me again. So it was off to bed again, but this time with far more accomplished.

Wednesday morning I got up, excited to get to the hospital to tell Monitta and Casey the news about the concert we had arranged for the weekend. They were thrilled at how supportive the community had been, and continues to be, and as we took turns filling each other in respectively, on the details of Wes and the benefit. After my visit, it was off to work, where once again, Trevor and I talked throughout the day about the bands, door prizes, and getting posters printed and up around the area. After work, I went to the gym to get in a light workout, but didn't stay to long so I could get home and get some sleep in order to get an early start on Thursday.
As early as I could muster, a mere 10am, I got up and out of the house, so I could get to Itaewon and canvas for donations. I started with picking up the gift certificate from Zelen, then proceeded to walk down the entire street of restaurants behind the Hamilton Hotel, asking at every restaurant if they would be willing to donate to our cause. Unfortunately, I had to leave messages at all of them, because apparently managers/owners do not work before 5pm, and nobody else is allowed to make executive decisions. So, I left a bunch of messages, with high hopes that some of them would get back to me. Then just when all hope was lost, the Italian restaurant casAntonio, that said they would donate a $50 gift certificate once I brought some documentation of our event. From there, I went to Ali Baba, a Middle Eastern restaurant, and they agreed to donate 50 free appetizers to give away at the door, but under the same circumstances that I bring them some documentation of our event. With lifted spirits, I headed to work and called Trevor to see how his poster guy was doing, and to tell him about the promised donations. Trevor had assumed I had gotten the emailed finished copy of the poster from his friend, but when he found out I didn't, made a phone call to find out when they would be done. It turned out that Colin, the poster guy, had been tied up, but promised to get it finished and to me by the next morning. At work the rest of the day, I spent some time making information posters, with the complete story and pictures of Wes' condition on them to give to the restaurants, as well as a rough event poster of my own, in case Colin didn't come through. After work, I went to the gym to get a good work out in, and get rid of some of the stress that organizing things so last minute can create, then went home to get some sleep.
Low and behold, Friday morning I got up and and had no event poster in my inbox. I sent Colin a text, and he said he was just finishing it, and that he would have it to me by noon. Feeling that would still leave me enough time to get some printed and make it to work, I went with John to COEX Mall to see about getting his iPod fixed. Unfortunately, John was more worried about having beers, and every time I lost sight of him, it was because he was off buying more beers, and before long we were were late for work, and just getting to the Apple Store. On top of now being late for work, I still hadn't received the finished posters, and John couldn't get his iPod fixed. Full of disappointment, we went to work. Just as we got into the office I received a text saying Colin had emailed me the finished posters, so I had no choice but to print them out at work, then go to Itaewon to hand them out. I quickly went to the places that had promised donations, then set about putting up posters around the area for passer byes to see. I did get a little flack for putting them up in some places, but I was in a hurry and really didn't care about what people were saying. When I was done, I rushed back to work, which was a fatal error, because I took the subway the wrong direction, and ended up 4 stops out of my way. I made it back in time to start my classes at 6, but was not in the mood to teach by that point, making the last four hours of the day stretch out forever. Having started the day with beer, when work was over it only seemed fit to go have a couple more, so we went to our favourite chicken restaurant with Eric, had some food and a couple pitchers, then called it a night and went home. I was able to get into bed by 2am, which was good, because I knew the next day would be a long one.
Saturday morning, I was up around 10am and out the door to go see Wes. Casey and Monitta were at the hospital, and had been since the caregiver had left Friday afternoon. Casey was getting ready to head home for some rest before going to the benefit, but Monitta was going to stay for the day, and said she probably wouldn't make it out. We talked about how much better he had been doing with his therapy, and how strong he had gotten, then about when they might take him off of his current medication and start him on the brain stimulus medication they had mentioned. I stayed at the hospital until just after 4, then headed home to get ready for the fundraiser. I had a shower and got all the things together that I needed to bring, and headed out of the house just before 7, so I could meet with Alex and Louise, and Trevor and EunJu for some dinner in Itaewon before going to set up at Stompers. We had some Thai food, then made a quick stop at Ali Baba to pick up the appetizer coupons, and made it to Stompers by 9 to get set up. Before the bands even started there was a lot of people there to support the cause, and by the time the bands started at 1030, the place was nearly full. The bands were great, donations generous, and everyone had a great time. John and a large number of hockey guys even showed up after biking the Han River all afternoon, as did Frank, Brady, SoHyun, Emily, Dallas, Angelo, Whitney, and Casey. John even took the chance to apologize to Frank for the incident at Gold Bar, which was really big of him. Between the second and third band we raffled off the alcohol and restaurant gift cards, then let the last band finish the night in style. Everything was wrapped up by 130, at which point the place cleared out rather quickly. I stuck around and talked with some of the band members, and helped clean up until Dwayne returned from own show at another bar, then we had a couple beers together and chilled out for a bit. I had sent the money home with Emily, who left after we stopped officially collecting money, but was still getting the odd donation, and after talking to her and including what I had been given, we raised 1million Won again for Wesley and his family. Hearing such a high number made everyones' night, and made it all worth it. Around 330 I decided it was time for me to head home, so I said my goodbyes, and headed down to the main street (via the stairs as to avoid walking down Hooker Hill) to catch a cab.

Waking up Sunday was a bit of a pin, but since I didn't play until 6pm, I took my sweet time getting motivated, and packing up for hockey. I got out of the house and to hockey in time to watch some of the 2 O'clock game and the 4 O'clock game, before my game against Shank's Dublin Dynamo team. It was a hard fought battle at first, with the Dynamo taking the first game 3-2, but we came back strong in the second game to win it 4-0. Then again, I stuck around to clean up before getting on the subway to go home, stopping on my way to get some groceries and a pizza. Once home, I devoured the pizza, then called home, before getting cleaned up and going to bed.