Blogging with Fire

Here, a little sample of the show I was treated to a few nights ago by a couple of my South African and Canadian compadres. Pretty cool, eh? I love poi, and the thick darkness of the village made it look all the more impressive. This was the culmination of a night of more shabu shabu and rowdy fun. Sometimes being here feels a little like revisiting college, only there are people from all over the world, and now we all know what's actually funny.

Not too much to report this time. I had my second Korean lesson Monday and it went really well. I am definitely improving, though I still know very little. At any rate, Hee Young was happy with what I had retained. Monday evening and much of Tuesday were spent with a couple of coworkers (one of them the "new guy"), chatting, shopping, cooking and watching episodes of The Sopranos. Quite nice to relax in good company. Also, we made tacos, YUM!

They've decided to run the Fairy Show on weekends in April (as well as this weekend), so I'll be doing that, as well as continuing with the Genie Show and starting rehearsals for the May/June main stage show and Children's Day. Plenty to keep me busy.

On and On

Friday the cast list for the May/June season was posted, and it seems I'll be playing the protagonist in the show that I helped write. The role is "Jesse," a little girl (or boy) who is really stupid (well, not exactly, but she's the one who never knows the meanings of the words that we are teaching the audience, and always has to have them explained to her) and wants to sing in a talent show, but is too scared to do it alone. I think it's going to be fun and look forward to performing on the main stage.

Friday evening I taught English to soldiers in the Korean military. There's a program set up between the military and EV, wherein EV teachers go and teach two one-hour classes once a week and get free dinner and 50,000 won. I had expressed possible interest in the program earlier, and on Friday someone needed an emergency last-minute substitute. At 5:15, I hopped up into an army jeep with Gabrielle, my co-teacher (who is Korean), and we were driven to the base. The soldiers were pretty friendly, though a little shy, and it was simultaneously unsettling and an ego trip to have them commanding each other to do things like bring me water and clean my blackboard. This was my first time on a foreign military base, and thus quite the novel experience. If South Korea ever conquers another country using its soldiers' extensive command of the English language, you now know at whom to point the finger.

Friday night was the Edutainers' Artistic Director's Birthday Party. It was, in a word, ridiculous. The people here are wack, but in a good way.

Yesterday we opened the Fairy Show. I've been struggling with a bit of a cold, and I knew that a lot of administrators would be coming to see the show because they needed to decide whether or not we would run it (basically, they need to decide between having the show run or having more people available to work on material for our huge "Children's Day" extravaganza on May 5th). These factors, along with the fact that even though we worked really hard, one week of rehearsal is not very much, had me feeling rather nervous. The show was fine, though and it was really helpful to be able to perform it with actual audience participation. The other cast performed today, and admin. hasn't decided yet on the fate of the show, so we'll see...

All in all, the week has been pretty exhausting. Yesterday I skipped out on a show that a couple of guys from the Village were playing in Sinchon, in favor of getting things done and catching up on some sleep. The latter was really all I accomplished. Tomorrow is a day off, but I'll be going to Seoul to study with Hee Young. Alright, I'd better get back to my current project: rewriting the lyrics of "Love Shack" to make them about English Village. Oh yes, this is my JOB.

Busy, Busy

As you may have guessed from this post's title, I've been up to a lot in the last few days.

Work projects have been gathering steam and I now have quite a bit going on. I am still working on learning some aspects of the Fairy Show, which opens this weekend (only a few "preview-style" performances, but we will still have audiences and still need to be ready). Also, today we had auditions for all of the shows that will be performed in May and June (including the one I just helped write). The auditions were lots of fun and I feel good about the work I did. It was great seeing how talented all my fellow performers are. It's also nice to audition knowing that you will be getting a part (or parts) no matter what.

Yesterday I headed into Seoul and met my language exchange partner, Hee Young for the first time. She is a very kind, vivacious girl. She took me to a book store, where we picked out some books for me to work with (books for teaching Korean babies the alphabet and simple words and such) and then we went to lunch and to her apartment to study. It turns out she spent 6 months studying ESL at the University of Michigan (probably while I was there). She has a degree in Education, and is a very good, challenging teacher. Our levels couldn't be more different, though. I correct her pronunciation of words like "incandescent" and explain what it means to "pull the plug" on something, while she chastises me for mixing up the characters that represent the "g" and "n" sounds. Still, I am already better at reading Hangul (the Korean alphabet) and I am really excited to go to Seoul once a week to sharpen my skills. Hee Young's mother even made dinner for me (tasty Korean curry). Apparently I am the first foreigner to ever visit their apartment. Sadly, I had a transportation fiasco on the way home, but I guess it was about time I messed up something in that vein, as I had been doing quite well...

Tuesday Alex and I had our second German lesson. But first, under strictest promise that I not divulge it's location to a soul, she took me to her favorite pizza place for dinner. The pizza was delicious. I expected it to be weird in some way (especially since Korea still seems to be figuring out what exactly to do with most dairy products), but it was covered in fresh tomato, onion, green pepper and broccoli and tasted truly amazing. We went to her apartment (also outside of the village, oh la la!) where we talked and then did the German thing and then talked some more. Alex is one of those people I just click with. They are rare, but everyone knows when they've found one. We already feel like we've known each other for ages and talk about EVERYTHING. We understand one another in weird, almost intuitive ways. Also, being Serbian, she naturally lends a very interesting perspective to a lot of things. It's great having a close friend so soon.

Today, I went to a two-hour jazz dance class. I did fine for most of the class, but when it came time to learn the fun, latin-style combination it was all sucksville for me. Friends, oddly enough it seems that I am better at ultimate frisbee than jazz dance. However, I did have a great time, and I think the weekly class will be a great opportunity for me to try and improve my ability to pick up steps and learn combinations. It's pretty wild that people here are so willing to share their time and skills with others. This class happened to be held by one of the Head Edutainers, who is a professional dancer. There is also a yoga class (bikram) on Wednesdays, and there's going to be a tap class soon as well and it's all free! I cannot express how cool it is to get to perform during a normal eight-hour workday, and then have the time and opportunity to work on so many other things. ROCK.

A Little Documentation

It's been an eventful couple of days. This time I figured I'd use some pictures to help illustrate my story.

Here I am at the village pub, enjoying a nice green St. Patrick's Day beer. Someone snagged some green food coloring from the science classroom so that we could enjoy this time-honored tradition.


This is the AMAZING shabu shabu that I ate with a bunch of fellow edutainers before heading to the pub. There is tomatoey broth in the pot that has green herbs and mushrooms and potatoes and such in it. First, people dunk in pieces of pork (I clearly sat that part out), which cook instantly and can be dipped in soy sauce with wasabi. Next, the server brings noodles and puts them into the broth to cook. This results in delicious noodle soup. Finally, they bring a mixture of rice and finely-diced vegetables and egg and scorch it in the pot. A very tasty Japanese tradition, and the restaurant near the village is GREAT. The owner's son (who was also our server) even drove us home in shifts after our dinner!


Here I am singing some norebang (karaoke) with a co-worker. The place we went to in Ilsan was really cool...


It featured a great view of the street and buildings all lit up for the night, AND we got free ice cream afterwards!


These are the remnants of the MOUNTAINS of yummy vegetarian food that we ate before norebang. Bi bim bap and about a zillion side dishes for about $5.oo!


This is Ilsan at night. Lovely, no?


Here's a shot of the view from our norebang room.



This is Nam Dae Mun Market in Seoul. Bustle, bustle.



This is the Korean Mexican food that I ate. Oh, burrito!



Here is Nam Dae Mun, the oldest city gate in Korea, right smack in the middle of Seoul.



These appear to be some sleeves for sale. Right.



This is the lovely view from my apartment window. The large domed building is the Concert Hall, where our main stage shows are performed. The show that I am writing (not the one about the scientist that I was originally assigned, but one about a talent show instead) is almost finished, and it will open there in May. We had a read-through of it this morning, which was lots of fun. It's great hearing one's work come to life.

This morning one of my fellow Edutainers, who is a very talented dancer from Canada, had a pancake breakfast for everyone in our department. He's a very gracious host and a very good cook. It was really early (between 7:00 am and 8:30 am, since we all start work at 9:00 am), but such a nice way to start a day, and truly delicious. These are my kind of people.

This week I start rehearsals for another street show, in which I play the Fairy Queen, Lucinda, and get to sing some really cute songs. Also, another new Edutainer will be arriving tonight, so I'll no longer be the newest kid in town.

Many thanks to the people who've been posting comments. I'm glad you're enjoying this, and I hope you're all well.

I'm a Sports Superstar

Er... not... but I sure had a great time playing ultimate tonight. I have not run like that in ages, and it felt great. I was definitely a little rusty and certainly made some mistakes, but I also managed to catch and throw several passes and play some decent defense. The game is just so exciting and fast-paced and some of these people, in my humble opinion, have wicked skills. I certainly plan to make this a weekly thing, if for no other reason than the exercise, and I hope I will improve. I am pretty sure that I flare my nostrils when concentrating on catching the frisbee. I am also pretty sure that this is quite charming.

I had a lovely time in Seoul today. It does take quite a while to get there, but it's manageable. I went armed with nothing but a metro map and my phrase book, and I did okay. I found my way to Seoul Station (which seemed like a logically central place from which to start) and just walked around. I found the ancient southern gate of the city, which is actually the oldest city gate in Korea (built originally in the 1300's, I believe).

I also found Nam Dae Mun Market, which is huge and crazy and full of enough faux designer bags to satisfy an army of sorostitutes. I bought some nail polish (after this post I will be painting my nails bright white. Look out, world!) and practiced my haggling while purchasing the very cutest umbrella. Sadly, my haggling inexperience showed itself all too quickly, as the man asked for 10,000 won, and I said 8,000. This clearly left us only with one place to go when he refused and I started to walk away. Next time I will say 5,000 so that we can really get our haggle on, and so that I can get a better price. This sort of thing really isn't in my nature but I will work on it.

Next, I went to Itaewon, the part of Seoul known for its many expatriates. I walked around, and for pretty much the first time since leaving the village, noticed other non-Korean faces. I was walking about, deciding where to have lunch, when I saw "Taco Amigo." Their sign promised "authentic Mexican food," and they had many a vegetarian option. Now, feeling a bit tired of Korean food (though it totally rules) and very, very curious, I decided to give it a shot. It was weird, but actually not terrible. In some ways, it seemed a lot more like real Mexican or Latin American food than what you find in most "Mexican" restaurants in the states. There were definitely a few strange flavors involved, but definitely not the disaster that I admit I was expecting. I took pictures of everything, including my burrito, but sadly i will have to wait to upload them until I find some sort of external storage solution for my poor little (yet rock solid) computer, who seems to be a bit full of music and other goodies at the current time.

Mmmm Hmmmm

So, no drunken post-party posts, sadly, but I did have a rollicking good time. There were all sorts of people at the party, most of them from EV, but a good handful were just other people who knew the folks throwing the party and teach English elsewhere. I met a Radiohead fan from Orange County and a Canadian from New Brunswick who parties with the Trailer Park Boys. I also got to talk to some of my Korean coworkers, and a New Zealander had me in stitches telling me the tale of his bungee jumping exploits - he went three times and hated each one. All sorts of fun shenanigans were had.

I awoke Monday with the hangover of doom. Mark my words, friends, soju hurts. Must remember this fact in the future... I still managed to get up eventually and get some things done. I went for a walk down the hill to explore and buy some water, and did some good, old fashioned cooking (AND EATING) and cleaning. I am really liking having my own place. There are plenty of people to hang out with (though I also look forward to the arrival of other new people, as a lot of the folks here, while very friendly and welcoming, sort of have their social networks in place), but it is really great having a space with everything I need in it all to myself.

Today I've been hit with an unexpected day off (I thought it would be Wednesday), so I am going to grab some breakfast and head for Seoul. This evening I am giving Aleks a German lesson, and then I'm going to play some ultimate Frisbee. I'm sure I'll have lots to report on Seoul, which I will, of course impart later.

Until then, keep it real, my homies.

All in a Day's Work.

I finally did my first show today. Well, my first six shows to be exact. The kids are great. They all really seemed to enjoy the show. It's also nice by the end to be able to see that we've taught them some new words and phrases. The show is pretty much a breeze and does get repetitive (already), but luckily there is a lot of room for improv, so changing things up a bit not only can be done, but is encouraged. My voice was actually a little tired from all of the singing (two songs and a duet per show), but I know it will adjust. There were LOTS of kids, and I'm sure there will be lots tomorrow.

Also, I've started working on my first script here. So far we(the three person task-force I'm on)'ve got the major plot elements nailed down and need to figure out a few more details before we can start writing scenes. As most of you know, I like to say "no" to group writing, but this seems to work okay, since we all meet and talk about our work and then do things individually or divvy them up.

I'm just home from having a couple post-work pints with some folks. Good times. Yeah. I got to know Alex (Stu's girlfriend, from Serbia) a bit better. I am going to help her work on her German starting next week. Also, I'm invited to a party tomorrow night being thrown by some of the lovely Eastern European ladies who work here, which will take place at their residences OUTSIDE of the Village (oh, lala!). If you're lucky, you will get a drunken post after that event. Girl, you know it's true.