SSP21 - John Rennie

Recorded on Saturday February 20, 2021.

I’ve known John for over a decade now since we met in South Korea when we both first started teaching. We were part of the same intake of ESL teachers into the South Korean government’s EPIK program that brought teachers from around the world into the country and were both sent to Busan to teach. Aside from teaching, we were both a part of the music scene in Busan, but it wasn’t until after the first year in the country that John would start his latest music project, The Defector Frequency, with another ESL teacher, Stu.

As the years passed, John has travelled throughout southeast Asia, stopping in Thailand to teacher for a year, back to England to complete his PGCE, and then, finally, over to Japan before the pandemic hit.

We reminisce a little bit about our times in South Korea, what it’s like to be an expat ESL teacher, and how it’s possible to keep the music dream alive even though travel takes us away from where we grew up. We also discuss the current pandemic situation as it unfolded across the world, particularly in our respective countries , Japan and England for John, and China for me.

We had a few technical difficulties towards the later part of the recording but, other than a few edits and stitches to make sure the audio sounds good, the whole interview is there. I hope you find it useful!

You can find John on the following:

• Music: thedefectorfrequency.bandcamp.com
• Twitter: @johnpaulrennie
• Travel website: culturecuriosity.net

Show notes at https://www.stevensirski.com/ssp21-john-rennie/