Leaping

Happy leap day to all. This day has always struck me as such an odd phenomenon. I mean, couldn't the proverbial "they" have just done better math? Ah well, it's an awfully well-established system, and I suppose it gets on my nerves a lot less than many other systems I could name. On to my update.

Last Monday I threw a bit of a baby shower for Drina, my friend Alex's two-month-old. We called it a "coming out party" because basically we wanted it to be a chance for EV residents to meet the baby. In Serbia where Alex is from, you don't give gifts before a baby is born because that brings bad luck (it's kind of like tempting fate) and it is customary for the baby to stay in its house for the first forty days of its life (anyone with anthropological interests can probably imagine a few reasons for this custom). Also, Alex was nervous about the term "baby shower" because she didn't want people to feel pressure to bring gifts.

The party took place at the home of my lovely friend Mel.


Here's Mel, furnishing the baby with some tunes.

We both took care of the food, and I planned games and set up a little memory book for Drina, wherein people could write her messages (this idea is totally copyright my mother). Alex plans to give Drina the book on her 18th Birthday.

The first game I set up, was a baby trivia challenge. Basically people had to answer questions such as "A baby is born without which body part?" or, "What percentage of babies actually arrive on their due dates?"

The second game was called "dress the baby." It was a renamed version of a game I had played before, and it worked out really well. I hid clothing items all over Mel's apartment and the guests were divided into teams. Each team had to choose a person to be "the baby" and was given a baggy full of folded slips of paper with various clothing items written on them. When the game started, each team member in turn took a slip of paper from the baggy, hunted for the clothing item on the paper, and placed the clothing item on the "baby." The first team to finish dressing the baby won.


The "babies" ended up looking like this. Of course there were also awesome prizes.


Here I am with the baby and mommy of the hour. Oh, the cuteness. The party was well-attended, and people seemed to enjoy themselves. Alex was very, very appreciative.

One of the highlights was when Kyle, a friend of Alex and her husband Stu's summoned us all outside to look at the amazing snow.


Hopefully this picture gives you a sense of what it was like. The flakes were crystalline, and it was easy to see them individually. It actually looked a lot like fake snow. So beautiful!

I also had an interesting adventure on my way to set up for the party. I stayed in Seoul Sunday night, because I wanted to pick up my newly fixed camera, and because I needed to Fedex a package of wigs to my former University Professor (don't even ask). I figured I'd pick up my camera, do my shopping for the party at a nearby store which I knew would have what I needed, head to the train station, lock my goods briefly in a locker there and head to the Fedex office adjacent to one of the subway exits. All of this worked out as planned, I even found an "EZ Locker," down in the subway, which meant that I did not have to go up to the train station itself, making things significantly more convenient.

When I returned from Fedex, mission accomplished, on schedule and ready to head back to Paju, I found, to my dismay, that my locker simply would not open. I kept swiping my T-Money card (an all-purpose pre-paid card, used primarily for transportation), and getting an error message that I didn't understand (it being in Korean and whatnot). I kept trying to get it to work. The instructions were all in Korean, but there were pictures and logic told me that I was doing everything I should. Finally a man saw that I was frustrated and stopped to try and help me. Unfortunately he was not the most tech-savvy of fellows and was unable to make much headway. He kept pressing the button for ID card, and I kept showing him that I had a T-Money card, not an ID card. He finally got frustrated and left. I tried calling the service number, but they didn't speak English. All I could think of was how I had $100 worth of stuff that I had bought for the party in the locker and the fact that I still had several tasks to accomplish in order to set up for the party once I got home. Time was most certainly a-wasting. I went to the subway information desk, but they didn't speak English either. In short, "EZ locker" had turned out to be anything but.

I decided to try my luck at the train station information booth upstairs. When I got there, I asked the woman at the counter if she spoke English and she said a little. I started explaining my sordid tale of locker woe and immediately began choking on tears of frustration. She motioned to a Korean man nearby who was with a group of foreigners, explaining that maybe he could help me. She then got his attention and explained to the man that I needed help. He immediately rushed to my aid, translating for me and asking questions. The information lady ended up writing down the details of my situation so that I could give them to the subway information booth people and hopefully get some help. I took the note to the subway people and they sent someone right away. He used my phone to call the locker service number and eventually got my locker open. I was beyond grateful and beyond relieved.

This was a pretty interesting experience to have at this point in the game. I have been in South Korea for almost a year. Generally I feel very able to find my way around and to communicate with people to the degree I need to. I can order food correctly. I can direct a cab driver. I can ask about rooms in hotels and the prices of goods and ask for directions and actually understand the answers. Having an experience like this, wherein the problem would have been solved easily if only I could have been able to communicate effectively, was a painful reminder of how little I actually know. Mostly I'm just grateful to the people who helped me and for the fact that I got home in time to handle all of my preparations for the party. Phew!

A few other noteworthy points: There is a picture from what I believe was my second or third post here of Namdaemun gate. It was one of the first places I "discovered" when exploring Seoul for the very first time. This gate, South Korea's national treasure number 1, was destroyed by arson on February 12th. The gate was over 600 years old and had survived numerous wars and foreign occupations. The perpetrator was a man who had a bone to pick with the government over their alleged seizure of lands that belonged to his family. This is definitely a blow for South Koreans--they do not take their national pride lightly--and I feel for them.

Also, in much less serious and monumental news School Days, the play I'm directing, will open next Wednesday, March 5th. This means that right now I am scrambling like mad to tie up loose ends and make sure that everything is ready. The actors have been working really hard and we're almost there. I'm really excited to see my professional directorial debut come to fruition. I'll definitely report on how things turn out, and there will certainly be pictures.

Incidentally, tomorrow is my last day performing in The Show Queen, the show I wrote. It's been fun and I'm proud of the piece, but I am definitely ready to let it go. Hopefully I'll soon be able to post some pictures from that show as well.