Multiple Musings

Hello, once again. It's been an interesting week full of ups and downs, but mostly things are fine. I've been keeping quite busy and feeling really grateful for the people in my life and particularly for the awesome friendships I have.

Yesterday, when I went to Hee Young's house, her family was making Kimchi. Kimchi, for those of you unaware, is pickled cabbage, and is the national food of South Korea. The Kimchi needs several months to ferment, so families generally make tons of it in late fall so they'll have a nice stash for the following year. Kimchi is so important (and pungent) that in most homes it resides in it's very own refrigerator. When I walked into Hee Young's apartment, there were tubs of fresh cabbage everywhere and the smell was overpowering. I wanted to take a picture, but she wouldn't let me, claiming that their house was too dirty (in reality, I suspect that she didn't want any of her family Kimchi-making secrets divulged.

At one point while we were studying, she mentioned that I smell like America. I found this really interesting, since I (and other foreigners I know) definitely think that Korea has its own distinct odor. It's funny to think of America having a specific odor, though I am totally unable to detect it. If there's one thing that this experience has done for me culturally thus far, it has been to show me just how American I am. When I lived in Germany, I learned how flawlessly I could fit into a culture other than my own. Also, I've never really been the biggest fan of the old U.S.A., though on my various travels I've been quick to identify for myself things that I love about my homeland in contrast to other countries. Still, as much as I may, or may not like to admit it, I am very American indeed. Americans value individuality and competition an immense amount. We are quick to voice our opinions and desires. We are all more than willing to tell you how calcium supplements affect our skin, or why we can't stand the TV show "Heroes." We are constantly agonizing over making the right decisions for ourselves and our lives as individuals. Many other cultures (not just South Korean, mind you) tend to think more as a group. This means they think less selfishly, but also less ambitiously. There are advantages and disadvantages to both ways in my opinion, and of course there are many exceptions to the rule, but mostly it's just an observation that I wanted to share.

Anyway...

Yesterday evening, I was lucky enough to have a very nutritious and delicious meal cooked for me...



by none other than my coworker, Tanner. As you can see, he cooked with great relish! The meal was actually a prize for a contest that Tanner had held for fun, and though I hadn't participated, I was invited by my friend, Candy, to join in the smorgasbord



My friend and coworker, Chad, was also there. Here we are sharing some cozy pre-dinner coffee.


This is what my food looked like. It tasted like awesome. Seriously, that man knows how to marinate a thing or two. I've had the opportunity to share some great home-cooked meals with various friends lately, and it's been something I've been really enjoying. The cooking and sharing of food is an important ritual to me and one that should not be neglected.

After dinner, we looked out of the window to discover...



That is was snowing! Everyone went outside to frolic a bit.


As it turned out, the snow was not kidding around in the least. It fell quickly and before we knew it, the village was covered in a light layer, about two inches thick. This mean that things like a snowball fights of magnanimous proportions and...


sledding quickly ensued. Who know I could have this much fun with a cardboard box?



We also put together a pretty hefty snowman.


Here he is, complete with broccoli eyes, carrot nose, stick arms, and entourage of sexy ladies.

It was great to take a break from normal life (or whatever facsimile thereof you have when you live in a theme park) and just act like a kid.

No Words

Yesterday morning, my dear friend Natalie's mother passed away after a painful and difficult battle with cancer. Even though this was not unexpected, it leaves me shocked and wondering once again why such horrible things happen to good people.

Carla'nne was an incredibly intelligent, incredibly loving individual and a great mother. She spent her life saving the lives of others. I didn't know her very well, but I will remember her as a stimulating and witty conversationalist and lover of literature. I cannot begin to imagine how I'd feel if I were in Natalie's position.

Natalie,
As you know, you are in my thoughts and I wish against wish that there were anything I could do. I wish you and Gabrielle and your dad comfort and hope that you will be able to find solace in the many friends and loved ones who are there with you. You are an incredibly strong and talented woman, and I know that you will get through this, although your life will never be the same. I send you all my love.

As Promised...

Ladies and Gentlemen, it's good to be back. And it's time for an October re-cap.

At the beginning of October, I went camping in Paju with a whole slew of Village-dwellers:


One of the highlights was being driven to the campsite in the large bed of this truck. What is it with South Korea and cramming too many people into vehicles?


This is what the campsite looked like. It was actually adjacent to a grape farm, believe it or not.


We had lots of campfire fun...


And what campfire would be complete without roasting marshmallows?


This is the potato and onion that I cooked in the fire the next day. They came out deliciously. Seriously people, cook onions in the fire, you will be well pleased.


We also went for a nice afternoon hike on one of the surrounding hills. We found some pretty cool army bunkers...


And some lovely views.

The following "weekend" (I have Mondays and Tuesdays free) I trekked out to Soraksan, a national park on South Korea's east coast. It's a very popular spot for hiking and enjoying the autumn leaves.


I had a truly beautiful hike. Soraksan may be my favorite destination in SoKo thus far. The trail was super tough, though. I'd say it was more difficult than either trail that I hiked on Hallasan on Jeju Island.


Due to slightly poor timing and negligent planning on my part, I wasn't able to complete the hike to the highest peak, but I managed to get 8 very vertical kilometers (in each direction) under my belt.

And, as if that weren't enough Octobery goodness, my brother, Chris came to visit. He was in Seoul on business, so we only got to see each other for a few days, but those few days were indeed fun-filled.


Chris got a chance to meet young Mr. Dylan Thomas.


And of course we all conducted ourselves like the mature adults that we are.


We had the chance to visit the DMZ, the highlight of which involved exploring one of the tunnels made by North Koreans. Unfortunately, one is not allowed to photograph anything worth photographing in the DMZ.

And of course, no October would be complete...


Without a Halloween celebration. We had a raging Halloween party in the village, and...


I tied with one of my lovely compadres for "Best Costume!"


I went as "Blue" and Nadia went as "The Bird Flu." We were awesome. I love Halloween and I always will. You can quote me on that.

And, in much less festive news, our dear Dylan Thomas and I have parted ways. Our hopes and goals and certain aspects of ourselves as individuals are just too different for us to have any kind of sustainable future and it didn't seem right, knowing that, to continue being together. It was really the most amicable ending to an incredibly fun and worthwhile relationship that one could wish for. I will miss him terribly :( but it really is for the best. And as the poet himself said, “Though lovers be lost, love shall not.”

Fear Not!

All is well, here in lovely Paju, except for the fact that my computer has zero, I mean zero storage space. I will rectify this situation next week and then I'll post all sorts of delicious pictures and descriptions of the adventures I've been having. Check you in few :)

Oh Blogosphere! We Meet Again at Long Last

In celebration of random Korean things...


I bring you giant dancing bottles of soju, Korea's favorite liquor. I realize I haven't written in a while. Truth be told, what with revising my script on a more-than-daily basis, I've been feeling a bit written out. The good news is, my show is definitely going to be produced. Two of the accompaniment tracks for the songs are also finished. It sure is exciting to hear something I created changing shape and sounding full.


In other good news, I was privileged to meet the family of our dear Dylan Thomas a couple of weeks ago. Here I am, singing karaoke with said Welsh poet's lovely sister.

The end of September saw Chuseok, the Korean version of Thanksgiving. This meant that I got to see all sorts of cute kids running around in traditional Korean garb. It also meant that DT and I had two days off together (a rarity for us since we work different schedules).


We were able to relax and spend some time exploring a few fun Seoul neighborhoods, as well as the beautiful Lake Park in Ilsan where he lives.


Last week, the two of us also spent some time in my favorite bar in the Hongdae club district. The Hongdae area is full of students and is thus full of all sorts of rowdy, yet predictable clubs and bars.


Thus, this bar, which is in a green, non-descript building, is a rare find. As you can see, crazy things hang from the ceiling, and the walls are covered with shelves of CDs and records.


Patrons sit Korean-style, on comfy cushions on the floor. Also, there are three cats.


Here I am, giving the cat who shall be known as "White Kitty" some loving. I have named the other two cats "Gray Kitty" and "Medium Kitty" (Creative, I know). Also, note the infamous "Ho Bar" in the background.


Here is White Kitty, after she climbed onto our table and stole the straw from my (thankfully empty) long island iced tea.


Last Tuesday, I was lucky enough to see Ennio Morricone conducting his own ground-breaking compositions which were played by the Roma Sinfonietta. Here I am all dressed to the nines for the occasion.


The concert was held in Seoul in one of the Olympic gyms. While the sound could have been better, I was moved and inspired and had a great night.

And well, I suppose those are all of the highlights for now. Tonight, I am heading out on a short camping trip with a sizable group of villagers. I look forward to some bonfire goodness, some scrabble, and some hiking fun. Hurray for fall!

Ob La Dee, Ob La Da

Well, it's been a week since I retired my trusty elephant suit. Here are a couple of pictures of the suit in action:


Good times with my fellow animals.


This one is part of the opening dance sequence.


And here I am, with my head in the crocodile's mouth.

All in all, I did the show 124 times, which is longer than any run I've ever had, especially in the space of nine weeks. I definitely feel more like a human being now, but I already kind of miss the show. During the run I'd get so tired that many nights I just felt like holing up in my room and relaxing rather than even talking to my friends, let alone going out. It's great having the energy for a healthy debate or a nice long walk, but I already miss having performing be the focus of my day. Still, soon enough I'll be in rehearsals again and the madness will return.

Right now I'm on the development team, which means that I'm working on new scripts and hosting our wild west game show: The Gold Rush Challenge. I wrote a script draft complete with lyrics and music, which I pitched to the rest of my team last week. While my colleagues had a lot of helpful ideas for, comments on, and criticisms of my work, it was really well received all in all. You know that your work has potential when people are interrupting each other to throw out ideas to help improve it faster than you can write them down. Also, I'm really excited about the music I wrote. It's something I've always wanted to do but felt kind of intimidated by. The process was fun and rather natural. Granted, this is for children's ESL theatre--about as simple as it gets--but one must start somewhere, eh? I need to make lots of changes (some of which have already been made) and tweak away, and the script will need approval from the whole team in order to be chosen for production, but I am psyched and ready to work until it's awesome.

Strangely, it feels almost like spring here in South Korea. The oppressive summer humidity is gone, but the skies have been blue and the sun has been bright and the leaves are still green and intact as ever. Maybe the fact of starting new projects adds to this. In any event, its nice but also a little disconcerting.

Although tonight is my weekend, I'm looking forward to a relaxing night, maybe with a bit of socializing tacked on as, even though I thought I needed "me time," I feel a little lonely.

I miss cottage cheese and friends who have known me for years.

I can't believe I've been here for six months already.

In Which the Fun Don't Stop

Hello, friends and neighbors. Life in Korea has been pretty action-packed since last I wrote. First of all, Ocean World, the water park I visited the other week was thoroughly enjoyable. Some of the slides were great and I had lots of fun floating down the "Extreme River," where my comrades from the village and I formed a long chain of inner tubes.


The "river," however, was not the only extreme thing at the park. I have to say, though, that one of the major highlights of my little journey was the fact that our bus was equipped with Karaoke!


I kid you not, dear reader.


We had a great time singing our way home, when we would otherwise have been sleeping. Oh Korea, sometimes you are truly awesome.

My birthday was also loverly. Thanks to everyone for all of the phone calls, emails and myspace/facebook messages, they really helped me feel special on my special, special day. Special. I got a wonderful package from Mom and Dad and a veritable plethora of gifts from Mr. DT. I slept in and got a two-hour Thai massage which was incredible for an insanely reasonable price. I relaxed at home and then met up with a bunch of friends and Andrea, my Birthday twin, for dinner at Uno's. After eating a fantastic Gorgonzola pizza and drinking an alcoholic Oreo cookie shake, it was time to do some shaking of my own at the Rosenbrau (please don't shoot me for that one, couldn't resist).


The new band there, while also Filipino, is even better than the previous one. This proves once again that everything from the Philippines is awesome.


A nice healthy crowd turned up, and we got our collective groove on.

Much merry was made, and even some Korean wallflowers joined in the dancing. A table of Koreans behind us bought me a beer, and another guy there whose birthday it was gave a piece of his cake to Andrea and me (note to all: that right there, "Andrea and me," that was correct grammar. Just sayin'.). Score!

Friday night, the president gave yet another English Village garden party. And party we did.


In addition to eating yummy food, and playing dodge ball, we learned Korean circle dances like the one above.


And did some dancing with El Presidente himself.


And also learned Korean tug-o-war, in which the goal is to trick your partner into loosing his/her balance rather than just plain pulling him over. Sneaky.


Saturday, I was treated to a Soccer game with the lovable DT and a bunch of his friends in Ilsan. Japan played France and France won (allez la France!). It was a nice, relaxing time (much less rowdy than I expected, but hey).

On Sunday, there was a going away party for Cheryl, my boss/coworker/friend. The theme was "anything but clothes," meaning that that's what you could wear.


Here is Cheryl in here map/cardboard box combo, and me in a dress made of plastic shopping bags. Tres chic, non?


As you can see, we weren't the only ones who got creative. It was a really good send out, and for me, an extraordinarily good village party in terms of the many interesting conversations that I had and the generally festive mood.

And that about catches us up. I just completed the first day of the last week of my show. I really love it, but my body is starting to say that enough is enough, and I do look forward to working on new scripts and rehearsing new material. Also, next season will feature a new game show and a little "bank robbery" show-type-thing, both of which I'll be performing at various times. This week is all craziness as everyone works on getting the shows polished and ready for their September 4th openings and I scramble to learn the part for which I am understudying and finish the first draft of my script. Just one of those busy times (like nausea, they kind of come in waves). Alright, 10-4 for now.