I'm Still Here

So, it's been a while, eh? Work has been pretty intense this last week what with preparations for our new season (May and June, which officially begins next Wednesday) and rehearsals for the oft-referenced May 5th Children's Day extravaganza. Lots and lots of rehearsing, but it makes me happier than any job ever has. I've also been doing quite a bit of the Genie show (we had the CUTEST KIDS EVER today) and writing and revising new scripts for various projects.

Jeff is here visiting. He arrived last Friday morning and has been a truly courteous guest. He is adventurous, uninhibited and can absolutely fend for himself -- just the sort of guest you want to have generally, and especially when they are visiting while you've got a very full work week. I have to say, I am truly impressed, especially given his limited international travel experience. Tomorrow morning we are heading to Jeju, the sub-tropical, volcanic island off the southern coast of Korea which is also its own Korean province. Soooo excited. We are going to climb two mountains and explore some caves, and maybe even meet some of the crazy lady divers who collect shells and pearls and for whom Jeju is famous. Hurray for vacation!

Last night I went to a costume birthday party for a coworker. Said party was held not in the comfort of the village, but out at a restaurant. As if being western weren't enough to draw attention to us . . . People (including me) went all out with the costumes and the restaurant was amazing. Suffice it to say I got to eat guacamole. Oh yes.

Pictures and tales from the Jeju adventure to come. . .

My Whole Life Isn't Really a Party...

it's just that a lot of it is becoming rather routine, so my social exploits sometimes seem the only thing worthy of an audience. So, here we find snapshots from another enjoyable weekend. Last night I went with a huge EV posse to support Boogie Howser, our local cover band at a gig in Sinchon, which is just at the edge of Seoul.

This was what happened when Stu played "The Piano Man."


Here's Stu playing and singing The Rainbow Connection, in the most perfect Kermit the Frog voice I have ever, ever heard.


Woohoo!


Here are 5 of the 16 people that we may or may not have crammed into one van (whether we did this or not depends on whether or not you are my mother reading this right now, hi mom!)


The bar was a cozy little joint by the name of Mike's Cabin.

Three cheers for live music and lively people.

Yesterday and today we had choreography sessions for the May 5th, Children's Day extravaganza. I am pleasantly amazed to find myself in the dance group for our modified version of Love Shack. The choreography is bouncy and fun and thankfully I am able to keep up thus far. I am actually one of two couples doing a partner dance, one that involves two lifts. Now, it is (or at the very least, should be) no secret that fat people do not like to be picked up. We fear that we will crush the picker-upper to smithereens with our tremendous poundage, causing them intense pain and ourselves total embarrassment. In other words, I was (and am) a little nervous about the lifts. Lucky for me, my dance partner, while incredibly thin, is all sinewy strength and is very, very trustworthy and encouraging. The first lift is a quick jump with me facing out and my knees tucked, and I am more or less comfortable with it now. Today, however, when I learned that I would be expected to to run at my partner and jump onto his hip with one of my legs bent and one straightened, while being spun, I thought I might pee my pants. I asked if we could try the lift in the water first. I wasn't completely joking. After a couple of tries though, it seems like we've got it pretty well.

Today there was also a rehearsal for next month's main stage show (for which I'm understudying), and I actually got put in, which was a great time and kind of a rare treat for this early in the game.

This weekend has been the first with weather nice enough to perform the Genie Show outdoors. I did three shows yesterday afternoon and three this morning. The show definitely works better in the outside venue and I've found some new energy in the material. I've also been working with an actor with whom I'd never previously worked, and that is always great for shaking things up and making them fresh. The kids sometimes treat us a bit like rock stars, practically trampling each other as they struggle to attain our coveted post-show high-fives. I'll see if I can't get some pictures from the show up here sometime soon.

Today was basically the perfect day. I got to perform, rehearse a script, and flex my (literal) dancing muscles in our choreography session AND at an after-work dance class. Days like this are exactly what I pictured when I thought about coming here and exactly what I wanted. I will be sore tomorrow. It's already worth it.

Good Times, Great Oldies

Squiggly lights bring out my ferocity.

Let it be known to all that I just returned from a Birthday Party that involved the use of sparklers. It sort of made me wish I could play with sparklers every day, but then it wouldn't be special at all, and that would be, in a word, tragic.

I've been having some good, old-fashioned fun these days. Workwise, I just finished writing a small show for May and June with one of the new ladies (she got here about a week ago). It's a nursery rhyme sing-a-long, and we've found a cute way to tie all of the nursery rhymes into a narrative that fits in with the May-June theme. I feel good about the work we've done and have especially enjoyed this particular collaboration.

Last night I went with Mel, one of the EV teachers, to see Dieselboy spin at a club called Cargo in Seoul. This was my first time really going out properly in Korea, and my first time in Hondae, the club district.

It's a hopping area which is pretty difficult to navigate for a first-timer. I finally felt like I was seeing the throngs with which I had imagined Seoul would teem.

The party was great. The music was very good, the atmosphere was great and the token Seoul Drum n' Bass scenesters were very friendly and welcoming.

It was actually looking like Dieselboy was not going to show, but he eventually did and I danced my face off. I seriously cannot remember the last time I danced that much.

We rode the train back smelling like the dregs of party.

Thursday and Friday were my days off last week (and should continue to be for the rest of April). I met with Hee Young Thursday. She tried to help me figure out some cell phone stuff, which was helpful (but non-conclusive since I didn't have ID with me --long story) and we had lunch together is the most random little market restaurant I've ever visited. I wish I could have taken a picture, because it sort of defies description. Imagine your mom's kitchen in the middle of a clothing store and dry-goods store, but they all sort of share space. The Bi Bim Bop was excellent.

I had a bit of a frustrating Korean lesson (there is still sooooooooo much I don't know and remembering words that sound like nothing that has ever previously come out of my mouth is hard), but afterwards I decided to check out the Yongsan electronics market. It is a really cool, overwhelming place. Rows and rows of counters where you can buy everything from flat irons to pianos, and there are maybe 6 or 7 floors. I succeeded in getting some decent speakers for a very low price, and enjoyed just looking around. After that, I went back to Nam Dae Mun Market to get a backpack and work on my haggling (which still didn't really improve, since the gent accepted my first offer this time).

Friday I slept in and did some cleaning and whatnot and then headed to a performance of a show called Picnic, which will be premiering and Seoul and London's West End at some point in the future. This was a preview performance of sorts, and I was lucky enough to see it for free, since they were giving away tickets to English Teachers and looking for our feedback. The show basically concerns itself with a bunch of prisoners who break out and break dance. While several aspects of it left something to be desired in my book, the dancing was great, and it was nice to simply get to go to the theatre. Thereafter, I grabbed some tasty sushi with some fellow villagers in Ilsan and then headed home.

Well, I think that that pretty much brings us up to date as far as relevant developments go. Take care all. 10-4

Ups and Downs

So, last night there was a bit of a party at the village pub to say goodbye to many of the Eastern European ladies who have finished their tenure at EV and are heading off to all corners of the globe. As you can see, people got down.

A few of my coworkers wore wigs to the party, just for the fun of it. Ah, theatre people.


Scandalous.

Stu greets Erika, the newest Edutainer, fresh from NYC and our wig-clad artistic director finds this very amusing.

The party really was nice. Everyone was in good spirits, and I was glad to be able to say goodbye to some great people who had become friends of mine, if only for a short while. Much dancing and merrymaking occurred, and Boogie Howser, a three man band of village-dwellers, played some rawkin' live music.

I had a great time, but late in the evening the artistic director pulled me aside to tell me that we'd be discussing a big schedule change at the next day's meeting, and he just wanted to let me know that the changes were being made for logistical reasons and had nothing to do with my talent or the work that I had been doing. He said he had plenty of plans for using my talents in the future. This did not sound very good, but I thanked him for the warning and told him that whatever the change was, I was sure I'd be able to handle it.

At the meeting today, my bosses unveiled our new schedule which will begin in May. Right now, everything is double-cast and we have scheduled performances and then time for developing new material and rehearsing sort of built into the workday at strange intervals. Under the new schedule, one group of us will only perform for two months, while the other group rehearses for the next two months' shows, understudies the current shows and develops new material for the following two-month period (so if I am on the non-performing shift in May and June I will rehearse for July and August and the material I write will be for September and October). The idea is that we will be able to spend much more time rehearsing and won't be so rushed to write new scripts and music. This should improve the quality of our material and our shows quite a lot.

However, this means that I am now the understudy for the part that I was going to play on the main stage in May and June. Disappointing? You bet! But that's theatre. There are specific technical reasons for why it really does have to be this way. Luckily, I know for certain that I will be going on for about a week in May because the actor who is playing the role will be on vacation. I do look forward to having a proper amount of rehearsal time and to hopefully writing really good material. Also, I will still be performing in the Fairy Show and The Tale of the Genie through the end of April so I should be alright. We'll see how things go...

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.