CANADIAN PREMIERE

"If you’re gay, bisexual, transgendered, Asian, queer, an artist, a poet, a performer, or if you’re just a supporting ally, then come out and enjoy our show!" - Melissa & Kit

Melissa Li is a singer-songwriter who has been performing in the Boston area in the United States for over 8 years. She and her tour partner, nationally recognized transgendered slam poet Kit Yan, are going on a cross-country road tour this spring and summer, lovingly dubbed "The Good Asian Drivers Tour".

Together, this radical duo will traverse the United States and cut across four different time zones, at least 30 states and over 20 major cities, including two cities in Canada.

They deliver honest and personal stories through their music and poetry about being queer Asian-Americans, while proving to the nation that they are indeed good, if not excellent, drivers. They’re so cute you might just want to adopt them.

The social impact will be tremendous, especially in areas of the United States where the voices of these under-represented groups are not often heard. In addition, the tour strives to inspire youth and provoke dialogue on gay rights, transgendered issues, feminism, and the marginalization of minorities.

Richmond and Vancouver are the only two Canadian stops on their North American tour. Don't miss this show!

Q&A after the show.

http://www.goodasiandrivers.com/

Dear friends,

May Day greetings. May 1st is a bigger event here than in Canada. Fireworks were displayed at the city stadium. Public and other workers had actions.

May 1st is close to a national holiday called Children's Day when children receive gifts and get a week of sports and other activities instead of classes in public school. That's May 5th, otherwise known as Cinco de Mayo.

Well, another month has passed, the 10th. I feel more at home and I'm getting to be as busy as I usually was in Canada.

May 1 ushered in summery weather. Yesterday, the air temperature was 24 to 30 degrees Celsius in different regions. Nah, nah.

I feel more integrated, especially because I have regular friends and activities and can communicate better. March-April is a period when many foreign teachers come and go because March is the start of the school year and, therefore, some foreign teachers I was hanging out with have left. But others remain. I can manage primitive conversations in Hangul (Korean)--with plenty of one to three-word utterances. But then, you can drop the subject most of the time, there are no prepositions, and there are very few pronouns. I'm creating a binder full of short dialogues. I really need to work on vocabulary. So I've been making flashcards using cut-out pictures from flyers. I've just labelled many household items.

I went to a Korean wedding. They called it a Western wedding, but not. Sure they wore Western apparel, mostly, except for the gloves, which few weddings in our part of the world boast.  The  parents participate in the ceremony, for one thing. The mothers walk up the aisle and light candles then sit facing each other before the bride and groom make an entrance. There is no best man or bride's maid. The official is a layman, in this case a school teacher. Clergyman or state officials do not have to be present. The bride and groom hold hands but they don't kiss. Actually, it's hard to determine when exactly marriage occurs during the ceremony, even if you know Korean. The official just talks about each person of the pair, expresses honour for the parents, discusses the sanctity of marriage and family, wishes the couple well and announces them married. Then there is a song. But no festivity. There is a meal but no music and dancing. Lots of photography, and all members of both families pose together for pictures before the couple poses with friends. After the photo session, the couple meet in private with the parents wearing traditional costumes. At that point, expressions of honour are made and sometimes the parents present money to the couple. So, I think this kind of wedding is very different from a "Western" wedding.

April does bring in festivities, all the same. The cherry blossom festivals initiate a series of festivals that continue until November. There are different festivals going on around the country this weekend, for example (bamboo, paper, film...). I never made it to the Cherry Blossom Festival here, which is famous nationally. The main display of trees is at a naval academy, the Kor-US base being in the town where the festival occurs, and I haven't been keen on going to the military base. But I toured other places full of cherry trees.

April brings showers. On April 9, a majority conservative government was elected, backing up a very right wing, pro US president. The government is madly wrecking relations with North Korea and deregulating and privatizing everything it can. After being elected on a platform of rectifying the economy, particular in view of climbing unemployment and temporary work, the government just announced it will sack 10,000 public workers.

However, the Free Trade Agreement with the US is not confirmed by the US Congress and may not be. There are issues about trade in beef, tariffs and other things. The negotiations for a Canada-Korea FTA are very shaky and it will take a lot of luck to keep them going forward.

So we'll see how teaching in Korea will develop. The gov. also wants to overhaul English language education nationally. But it's the Korean teachers of English who might lose job security. They're already getting worried, and so are the private institutes. My  institute took some measures to  increase the practice of English and it only strengthens my  employment, as long as the kids continue to like me. A Korean co-worker, however, is taking time off to go away and get more English language "immersion" (in the Philippines). Some Korean teachers I know are trying to get more certification and seeking more time with foreigners for practice of English.

I have a lunch date so I will sign off for now. I'm very hungry.

Take care all,

Barbara