Festivities

It's been a festive week indeed!


Last Sunday there was a big St. Patrick's Day party at the good old EV pub. I didn't have anything green that I wanted to wear, so here's how I avoided getting pinched.



Everyone got pretty rowdy. There was a lot of live, original music and even a faux-Irish band, as well as an auction to raise money for the funeral and medical costs of an American teacher, Bill Kapoun, who died from the wounds he sustained when his Seoul apartment caught fire. I participated in the date-auction part of the evening, so I'll be having coffee with one of the interns here in the near future. 'Twas a good night.

Last Thursday, my friend Rachel (who happens to be the token Jew at EV) and I introduced our fellow villagers to the awesomeness that is Purim.


Here's Rachel in her crazy outfit sitting in the midst of her shaloch manos materials. These are little bags filled with goodies that kids usually trade with each other at Purim. I should mention that I fear that Rachel is destined to be confused with my friend Rebecca by my family forevermore.


Here are some friends making hamentachen, the tasty cookies that represent the ears or hat of Hamen, the bad guy in the Purim story.


The Hamentaschen didn't turn out as aesthetically pleasing as one would hope, but they were deemed thoroughly delicious.


Above is a little shot of our reenactment of the story of how Queen Esther saved the Jews. Pictured is Esther herself, doing some feasting and partying with king Achashvirosh.


Another important part of celebrating Purim is drinking wine, "until you cannot tell your friends from your enemies." To that end, we played a game called king's cup, which involves a deck of cards and some complicated rules.

The night was a lot of fun. I was really happy to continue a long-standing tradition that was begun for me by Rebecca and to learn some new things about it from Rachel. A lot of the people who came hadn't known anything about Purim before, so I was glad I could spread some cultural fun in their direction (even though it's not a culture I belong to...).

One week from tomorrow I get on a plane and head for the States. I am outrageously excited and look forward to seeing many of you soon.

Because This is Also Important

And the Music Keeps on Playing

Well, the show is up and running and the kinks have been ironed out. Here are a few pictures for your enjoyment:


Here we see Peggy, the prettiest, smartest girl in school and Curtis, your stereotypical dumb jock (throughout the play he keeps getting C's on his assignments and saying, "C is for Curtis!").


Here they are with Antonio, the new greaser student from Spain who doesn't speak much English (clever ploy for our ESL purposes, no?).


Here's our after-school diner hang-out, complete with rollerskating waitress...


and clumsy, dancing cook.


This, plus a doom-full sound effect are what happens every time Mrs. Thompson, the teacher mentions the "FINAL TEST!"


Here's Antonio checking to see that Mrs. Thompson is really frozen before he gets help with his test from the audience.


Above is Mrs. Thompson doing her crazy dance (she promised that there'd be a graduation dance if Antonio got 100% on the final test, even though dancing is not allowed in school).


And here's the almost-final pose after the finale and before curtain call.

I'm really proud of the show. The third time I watched it, once all the technical glitches had been taken care of, the actors played to an almost full house and at the end I almost started to get a little verklempt because the audience loved it so much.

I also can't say enough how proud I am of the actors. During our technical and dress rehearsals, there were plenty of problems and issues that came up. This happens for every show and is basically a function of the fact that we are not allowed to close the theatre and have so little time to get all of the technical aspects of the shows synced up. This has the potential to be a very frustrating and disappointing time for the actors because they've worked so hard on their roles and they are now being confronted with light and sound operators and a stage crew who've had no practice with the show or their cues. My cast, however, took everything in their stride, did their best to work with the mistakes, stayed positive and had fun. They were thoroughly pleasant to work with throughout the whole process and I am seriously grateful for their professionalism, optimism and dedication to the project.

Another pleasant surprise was how little stress I had to deal with through the whole process of directing. I think much of this had to do with the fact that I delegated as much work as I could to other people. Also, I had a very, very good script to work with. Still, I had many responsibilities, and while the process was definitely stressful at times, I really didn't expect it to be as easy or as natural as it was. Yay!

Apart from that, things continue to go well here. I've just been notified that another script I wrote has been chosen for production. I've written lyrics and will be co-writing songs as well, so it looks like another of my brain-children will be up on stage this summer. I'm actually really amazed that our administration went for it, seeing as it's based on a Korean folktale wherein the main character vanquishes his enemies through the wind-power and stench of his gastric emissions. But hey, everyone loves a fart joke. This means I'll have my hands full with revisions and song-writing until my trip home. No rest for the wicked-cool.

If I did everything correctly, then I think I've opened up this blog to comments from anyone, whether or not you have a Gmail account, so please, don't be shy, I love hearing from you! It makes me feel like this is at least something more than total self-indulgent drivel.

Anniversary

One year ago this evening, I stepped off of a plane at Inchon airport, and sans luggage, hopped into a van, hoping very much that it was taking me to the right place.

It's hard to believe that it's been a year. The first nine months just flew by for me. A lot of people are leaving now, and some new people are coming in. In a way, I'm slightly jealous of the folks who are on their way out, though really there's no doubt in my mind that I want to be here, enjoying the many benefits this experience affords, for longer.

I've made myself a monthly budget along with a list restricting the more costly activities I enjoy to a specific number of times I may engage in them per month. I've also included a schedule of free activities like writing and practicing guitar which I must perform a certain number of times per week. I know myself well enough to know that I'm going to have to be strict with me if I want to save money. So here goes, we'll see how well I'm able to become just a bit more reclusive and focused on accomplishing some goals for the next six months.

Yesterday was very sunny and relatively warm. I decided to take a walk and in a very Maria Von Trapp turn of events, ended up hiking on one of the large hills across from the Village. I'd never been on this hill before, and never really realized how big it was. It was a nice hike. My spirits were high and I crossed paths with a few Ajuma and Ajoshi, bowing to them as I went along. I stopped in an area populated by some ubiquitous outdoor exercise equipment and chuckled to myself while I worked my obliques for a minute. When I reached one of the higher "peaks," I stopped to look out at the view: The other surrounding hills, the rice paddies, various industrial complexes and further in the distance, the rows and rows of identical apartment buildings. I was simultaneously inspired and put off. Korea, I feel, is truly a land of extremes and paradoxes. There are such beautiful mountains and nature preserves here, and then there are the horrific seas of ugly apartment complexes that seem to go on forever. The people can be so welcoming, and yet they will never let you forget that you are not one of them. I am simultaneously in awe of the spirit, determination and ingenuity of the Korean people and terrified of their often superficial and conformist values. Korea is at once an incredibly generous host-country and a sometimes hostile environment. Of course these are generalizations, but they are impressions that I can't shake, at least not now.

Still, as I stood at the top of this hill, I couldn't really help but let the inspiration win out. I felt a little nervous about the future, but also so full of hope and determination to accomplish my goals and exorcise some of my demons. I guess having arrived here in March has afforded me another artificial "fresh start" a few months into the new year, the kind that one often feels at the beginning of the school year as a student. Hopefully I can use this to the best of my advantage.

I'm officially heading back to the States for a visit on March 31st. I'll be in Detroit, Ann Arbor and New York and I'm staying until the 14th of April. I can't wait to see what going home does to my psyche and how it will frame what I feel about my experience living here.