Month: May 2017

IP’s 26th Anniversary Party

It was IP’s 26th year anniversary this past weekend.  It’s hard to think that this establishment has been open for just over a decade before I arrived to South Korea.  I can remember the first time I visited The International Pub in 2002.  After being in Korea for some time, I eventually met a couple other foreigners who mentioned the place to me.  You have to remember, back in this time, we didn’t have smart phones; there was no Face Book, Skype, online groups, or even easy online access for myself.  I didn’t know about IP before coming to Korea, or much on anything regarding South Korea and the Changwon area in general.  The only way for me to find things out was to go out and look.  I was living in a more isolated poorer area in Masan, so I didn’t have the access or knowledge of places like IP existing.  It was around 6 months of being here that I actually started to meet other foreigners.  The teacher that I actually replaced had mentioned the bar IP to me when I first arrived, but I am guessing I was in a little bit of culture shock and travel fatigue that the information just went right through me.
So on a weekend in 2002, I decided to be a little more adventurous and try to find this International Pub.   I didn’t have much information to go by.  All I knew was to get to The International Hotel in Changwon City.  I eventually got to this point and didn’t really know where to go next.  I was amazed at the difference to this area of Changwon compared to the area that I was living in and places I had been in Masan.  I walked up and down the road in the Jungangdong area looking for the sign to the International Pub, but, was unsuccessful.  The IP was very difficult to locate and a bit hidden away without knowing the exact building to look for.  Finally I saw what I thought to be another foreigner in the distance, and decided to walk in that direction and try to keep up in hope that this person may have been going to the IP themselves.  I saw the person enter a building as I got closer.  Went into the building myself and looked for signs of this bar inside.  I was in luck, and saw something saying that The International Pub was on the third floor.  I made my up the stairs and finally, there it was.

I was very surprised in how many people were in the bar.  I had not seen so many foreigners and non-Koreans in months.  Not since I had left Canada anyway.  I sat down at the bar and was warmly welcomed by the bar staff and the owner at the time.  Within a few minutes, I began to meet a few others living in the Changwon area.  It was really nice to be socializing in English again.  I am sure that there may have been a few people in the bar that night that I know today and that are still here themselves.  It was a fun night and a rough morning the next day, but I am to this day happy that I decided to go on my adventure to find The International Pub.

Fast forward to today, 15 years later, and I was back to help the IP celebrate their 26th year from opening (of course I have been there several times within those 15 years!).  Once again, I was happily surprised to see the turn out and the number of people that came out to help them celebrate.  For myself, most of the people in the bar were new faces to me, but there were a few others that of course knew.  People were having a great time and I got to catch up with a few others, some had had seen the week before, and others that had been some time pass since seeing.  I was another fun night, and even though I don’t make my way out to the IP much anymore (or any other bars for that matter), I am always glad that this place exists, has been here longer than myself, and knowing that it’s going to be there in the future for those times when I want to go, have a drink, and both meet new people and chat with the ones I know.

Thanks again IP for another fun Saturday night and hope there are many more to come.

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After the Sewol Podcast

Just over a month ago, I was introduced to Neil P. George and Matthew Root by one of the people that run the Face Book group for ‘South Korea’ (https://www.facebook.com/groups/we.love.south.korea/). Her name was Sabrina Constance Hill. She had seen my posts before regarding the podcast and asked me if I had heard of the documentary film ‘After the Sewol’. At the time, it was a film that I was unaware of. Sabrina told me that she had done some work with the film makers of ‘After the Sewol’ and wanted to introduce me to them about possibly being on the podcast. The next thing I knew, we are all in a group chat together and I got to learn a little bit more about the film and Neil and Matthew.
I would like to say thank you to Sabrina for this introduction. It is a small world really, as it turned out both Sabrina and I graduated from the same university.

After the introductions and chatting with Neil and Matthew, I looked into their documentary film some more. I watched a trailer for the film (After the Sewol Official Trailer – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QlEZKI–pI&t=2s) and was very impressed with it. The trailer looked like an actual documentary film that you would see in the theater. For whatever reason at the time, I was kind of expecting something a lot more amateur. The trailer made me interested in the subject matter, wanting to know more, and it was a film I definitely wanted to see. I was intrigued! Not many film trailers do that to me. I looked some more into the film ‘After the Sewol’ and listened to some other interviews Matthew and Neil had done, most recently on BBC and a couple others. At that moment, I realized I would love to help these guys out and started thinking of ways on how I could do so.
Getting them on the podcast was the first step. We had to arrange a time and also I wanted to make it as easy for everyone as I could. Matthew, Neil, and myself, all live in different cities here in South Korea, so I figured the easiest way would be doing the podcast via Skype. We all agreed and set the date to do the podcast.
The next thing I wanted to do was advertise their movie and let people know about the documentary film ‘After the Sewol’. A week after setting the date for the podcast, I began posting about the film on my Face Book pages and other social media. Next, I had Adam, Phil, and myself, do a trailer reaction for the film to add to our youTube Channel. Trailer reviews for Korean related films have always done well for me on youTube and get a few views, so I figured this would be a good way of getting the information about ‘After the Sewol’ out there some more. Here is the trailer reaction for the film.

It was almost time to record the podcast. We got a few questions from listeners for Matthew and Neil after advertising that they were going to be on. Things were looking good, but then I remembered some of the technical difficulties I had with doing a Skype interview in the past. I was concerned with things not working out and the audio recording of them on Skype sounding poor or not recording at all. I mentioned my concern to both Neil and Matt, and Neil suggested that they could record both audio and video separately on their ends. I was surprised by this and totally forgot that I was dealing with film makers that had a lot of equipment of their own and that this was a possibility. I thought this was great and that it could be used as a backup if anything went wrong. My concerns for the podcast were now gone.

The day of the podcast came around, sound seemed good and we connected to both Neil and Matt without issues. Everything was a go and we began recording the episode for the podcast. I had not seen the movie or looked too much into it, as I don’t like knowing much about guests that we have on the podcast. I prefer to know as little as possible as I like to learn more as the interview goes and come up with questions on the fly. The podcast went great. Both Neil and Matt were great to interview, were interesting and I learned a lot about them and their films. Neil, Matt, Adam, and Phil continued to chat for almost another hour on Skype after the podcast while I was cleaning up. They were fun to talk to and really nice guys. It all seemed to go great!
Eventually I got home and had to start the task of putting the podcast episode together. I moved the audio to my main computer and started to listen. I was shocked to hear that I had recorded everything from myself, Adam, and Phil from in the studio; however, none of the audio from Neil and Matt had recorded. I began to panic a bit but then remembered that both Neil and Matt had recorded their audio on their end. I quickly sent them a message and they sent me the audio files from their own recordings. Thanks again Neil for the idea! Everything worked out great.

The podcast got put together and had it up and ready to go within a day. I think it came out great and again, it was both interesting and fun to do. It’s another example of why I wanted to start doing the podcast. I got to talk to people from different walks of life, doing different things, living and working here in South Korea. I was most impressed with Neil and Matt, not from their impressive film ‘After the Sewol’ and what a great job they did with making the film, but more with the passion both of them had for the topic of safety in Korea and their passion for the project they have taken on. Both of them have been working on this for almost three years now, and they still have the passion to continue and are now making a second movie, and have plans on doing a third. I love seeing expats living here in Korea that have a goal and continue with it, even if that goal does not have an end in sight. I appreciate what they are doing and for educating myself on the subject matter of safety here, and reminding myself to never give up. I wish them all the success in getting their messages out there, making a difference, and will continue to help them along the way.

It was another great experience and a podcast for me to always remember. Thank you again to Neil P. George, Matthew Rood (Film makers behind ‘After the Sewol’). Thank you again to Sabrina Constance Hill for introducing us on Face Book. And of course, thanks always to both Adam and Phil for doing the podcast with me.

There are some video clips in the video above. You can listen to the entire episode right here:

More on this podcast episode here ->   http://podcast.changwoner.com/episodes/episode-58-after-the-sewol/

You can find out more about the documentary film ‘After the Sewol’ with these links:
Website ->  http://www.afterthesewol.com/
Face Book Page ->  https://www.facebook.com/afterthesewol/
Email ->  sewoldocumentary@gmail.com
Help out the second film here ->   https://www.tumblbug.com/ats2017
youTube Channel ->  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc_bBK9y_uDtPmJjPLND5LQ
Contact Matthew Root ->  https://www.facebook.com/matt.root.9
Contact Neil George ->  https://www.facebook.com/neilpgeorge78
South Korea Group Face Book Page -> https://www.facebook.com/groups/we.love.south.korea/
Contact Sabrina Constance Hill -> https://www.facebook.com/SabrinaConstanceHill

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