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.

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.

Oh, Boracay!

It's been a while! This is mostly because my camera died on my latest adventure and it took some doing to get my photos uploaded. Luckily, I am now armed with a multi memory card reader AND Sony called today to tell me that they fixed my camera for $35! Good news when I was pretty much resigned to the fact that I'd have to buy a new one. So fear not, friends, this shutterbug/documentarian will rise again!


Here is the previously promised picture of my flowering jasmine tea (er... herbal infusion). Cool, idinit? You put a little bud in the cup and it opens as the tea steeps. Now that that's settled, on to the tale of my trip to the Philippines.

I took off for Manila early on the morning of February 3rd and arrived around noon. I decided on the jet way, while waiting to board the plane, that I already loved the Philippines (I think this was mostly due to the kindness and patience of my fellow passengers). I arrived in Manila where the weather was nice and hot and headed for the domestic airport. A man there told me that all of the flights to Caticlan (the town one flies to on Panay island to catch a boat over to Boracay) were booked, but said he could help me. He took me to a travel agency, and while they were able to find me a flight to Caticlan, I opted to fly into Kalibo (another town on Panay, from whence I could take a bus to Caticlan) as this option was much cheaper. This ended up being a very good decision. The van-ride cost about as much as a can of Pringles that I bought at the airport and the drive was beautiful.


Here's a view from my seat in the van. We drove down a winding road and had to honk so that cows, chickens and dogs would get out of our way. The preferred mode of transport on the islands seems to be the tricycle. Basically it's a little carriage with a motorbike attached to the side. One tricycle probable comfortably fits about 3 people plus one on the bike. I saw trikes with three people on the bike and maybe 6 inside the carriage, though.

The drive took about 1.5 hours, due to the curvy nature of the road. Once we made it to Caticlan, I boarded a boat to Boracay...


just in time to watch the sunset from it. The ride was short and sweet, and then I hopped on a trike and headed to the hotel where five of my friends were already staying. The trike driver dropped me off next to what looked like a scary, dark alleyway and told me that the hotel was "down there." I was a little wary, but I didn't really have any other options, so I headed into the darkness. I walked next to a swamp that looked like a toxic waste dump (eerily glowing green "water") and wandered into what turned out to be some people's backyard. Luckily a nice man was willing to point me toward the hotel.

I received an enthusiastic and warm welcome from my friends and we immediately got down to what was important...

Drinking enormous cocktails.

We had some dinner and visited a few bars along White Beach and even ran into some German fellows whom the girls had met the previous night. As it turns out there were Germans all over the island. I ended up being the group interpreter, and it felt really, really great to be speaking German again (and to still get complements on the supreme power of my German skills--you know I still got it!)


Later in the evening we even smoked some tasty rose-flavored tobacco out of the hookah pictured above. Ah luxury. That night I had a long, intense conversation with an Australian stranger, and went to bed just as the sun was starting to come up.



Here, for your viewing pleasure, is a gratuitous sunset that somehow got loaded out of order (I believe it is from my third day on the island)


When I woke up the next day (well, that day, if you're a stickler for such things) around noon, I walked out of our bungalow and down a weird little alley to find this. Paradise. I had breakfast (western breakfast food! It barely exists in Korea), took a dip in the ocean, rested in the sun a bit, and then got a manicure and pedicure on the beach with two of the girls. My manicurist was awesome and she had an adorable daughter named Princess, who kept asking me questions and trying to talk to me. Too bad the only words I know in Tagalog are "mother," "father," "grandfather," "pee" and "poop."

After getting my nails did, I took a walk down the beach where I ran into my friend Carrie


And a table full of her newfound friends. She had actually been playing Frisbee with them in the water and then decided it was time for some lunch. I joined the group for some tasty Mexican food.

The kids even got some ice cream,


Which Carrie showed them how to eat with their fingers, once they'd done all they could with their spoons.

Carrie and I then decided it was time for a parasailing adventure. We'd been shopping around for the best price all day and having found it, we headed off in a boat with some Australian ladies and a crew of muscular Filipino men.


Here we are, locked and loaded and ready for take-off. Carrie was really scared, but I (having been told that it was not really scary) was pretty calm.


Here we are up in the air. It was beautiful and very relaxing. It's so quiet up their in the sky. The view was great, and for some reason I had the strange feeling I could dip my toes into the water if I just reached a little further, even though I was so far away from it. We kicked our legs and swung in our harnesses, and the boat people dipped us into the water on our way down. I was so glad that I went, though I don't know that I'll need to ever do it again.


That night I had Mongolian barbecue ON THE BEACH with Andrea, Nadia and Colleen.


In spite of a crazy, yet short-lived downpour, which ruffled Colleen's feathers a bit, the meal was delicious and the atmosphere relaxed and lovely.


Later that night, we headed to Summerplace, a popular beach bar, where we played pool and made new friends and drank many a drink.


The following day, after breakfast at a Greek restaurant (which is where I broke my fast every day for the rest of the trip, because it was lovely and delicious), we decided to head out on a boat (with the same folks who took Carrie and me parasailing) for some snorkeling, to check out a different beach and just for the sake of general boatiness. We loaded up the cooler with San Miguels and set sail. This may have actually been the only time that all six of us were together in the same place at once.


When we stopped at a reef to get our snorkel on, this man was conveniently available to sell us coconuts. My friend Mary bought one.


Here I am snorkeling about. It was truly awe-inspiring. I had been once before in Mexico, but the water was murky and there wasn't much to see. On this trip, however, it was like stepping onto a different planet. There were hundreds of fish and other creatures swimming everywhere. Sometimes the guys from the boat would throw crackers into the water, because it made all of the fish swarm near us. I kept trying to touch the fish, but sadly they wouldn't let me. I definitely found Nemo, and I saw a big stripy fish and decided to follow him around, because he looked like he had connections. I really wished, more than anything, that I had had an underwater camera.


We parked the boat on what I believe was the northern end of the Island, where there was a more secluded beach...


And a nice little place to get some shade and food. Note the sand on my arms (I managed to fall up a three-foot hill).


There was an adorable little boy at the restaurant, but unfortunately he was camera-shy.

It was at this point, that my dear little camera ceased to turn on and thus the pictures stop here. This is probably okay, since the rest of the trip mostly involved more beach and water, delicious food and imbibing of spirits.

On the boat-ride back, we saw an enormous sea turtle. We then decided that it was probably just a Filipino child in a costume trying to make a buck. I then decided that "sea turtle-impersonator in Boracay" might well be a fruitful and enjoyable next gig for me.

The rest of the trip was just as wonderful as the first half. I met some really cool people who live in Taiwan, a guy who lives in Kuwait, and an Australian guy with the exact same sense of humor as me and I fell in love with a gay Puerto Rican. I had two mango daiquiris and took some long walks down the beach. I think the happiest part of the trip for me was when my friend Nadia brought a bag full of stinky aged cheeses (Bree, Gorgonzola, Cheddar) into the ocean and we ate them. We ate aged cheese IN THE OCEAN. Throughout the trip I kept wondering what I did right in my life to get to such a wonderful place.

Because my flight to Korea was at noon on February 8th and the first flight out of Boracay on that day was booked, I had to spend a night in Manila. I was really sad to have to leave my friends and the beautiful, beautiful island, and unfortunately I didn't care for Manila. I was properly sketched out by it. I went into a weird, seedy bar-type place trying to find food. When I entered, everyone stared at me. My hotel room was awful. It was the wrong way to end my vacation. Still, in some ways I am still amazed that I came back from this trip. I could easily have stayed forever (though I think my liver might have a different opinion about that). If I disappear come September, I think you'll know where to find me. Just head to Boracay, get on a boat and look for a sea turtle.

Chi Chiggity China

Ni hao to all. I am back from China. In fact, as I write this, I am sipping a cup of flowering jasmine tea, meaning that there is an actual flower IN MY TEACUP. This fact is so awesome that I have taken a picture of it, which I'll include in my next post. Anyhow, I have much to tell of my adventures:

Day 1

I left for Shanghai bright and early, though my flight was delayed an hour . Little did I know at the time, that this was the beginning of a transportation theme (worry not, gentle reader, it shall emerge in its own time). I managed to collect my bag and call Olga, my friend from EV (who originally hails from St. Peters burg) , to let her know that I was on the way. Olga lives in Suzhou (soo-joe), a town about 40 miles from Shanghai, and I was told to take the bus and that it would take a while --maybe 3 hours. I found the random bus stop without any trouble and was soon on my way. After the bus made it's first stop, I found myself next to a young Chinese woman who greeted me in excellent English. We talked at length about life and Chinese and American culture. She had lots of questions for me about the accuracy of the portrayal of high school students in American films. I learned that she was from Southern China , that her dream was to travel the world, that she hated Chinese traffic and that she was visiting Suzhou to get away after a breakup that had occurred a few days before. She taught me how to pronounce Olga's address so that the cab driver would understand me. We never exchanged names, and she got off at the stop before mine.

Right as I exited the bus, a man came up to me , showed me some car keys and said, "tak-uh-see?" "Great!" I thought. He was unable to understand the address I gave him, so he took me into the bus station, where they were able to read the pinyin (Chinese transliteration) that I had written. The man then led me to a car that was, in fact, not a taxi. He had some official-looking stickers in the window, so I thought "what the hell" and got into the car. Everything was going well, until we were apparently hit by another car. The impact, mind you, was not big enough for me to feel anything, but my driver rolled down his window to yell at the offending automobile. When chance found us once again stuck next to the offending vehicle in traffic, my driver put his car into park, got out and knocked on the window of the other vehicle while shouting. He then went around to the driver's side and continued his knocking and yelling. It was at this point that I figured it would probably be a good idea to grab my things and run like crazy. However, for some reason, I did not. My driver kicked the other car as it drove off, and then got back into his vehicle, where I sat frozen in terror, and he drove on. I spent the remainder of the ride determining that I would definitely give him however much money he asked for and trying to devise a way to get money out of my wallet without allowing him to see where I kept it. Needless to say I was surprised when he pulled over next to a building and pointed. I gave him a bill which he accepted meekly before pausing to examine the damage to his car. I later learned that I had paid him twice the amount the ride usually costs, but hell $4 to not get kicked in the face is a price I am happily willing to pay. After a little wandering, I found my way to Olga's building and she buzzed me up and greeted me warmly.


I was immediately accosted by Ricky Ricardo Rodriguez Gonzalez Lopez, also known as The Cat of Doom. You know how some cats are really cuddly and some cats are more aloof and then some cats wait under the furniture so that they can attack you for no good reason? Well, Ricky belongs to that third class of vindictive, aggressive cat. I have scabs to prove as much.

Olga and I caught up over a bowl of delicious yellow curry and then went back to her place...


Where I was able to share some drinks with some of her friends and roommates. They were all funny, friendly and welcoming. Also, I met the first Finnish person I've ever known (he's on the left)!

Day 2

The following morning I set off on my task to get us tickets for the bullet train for that evening (sold out :( a common occurrence, as I would later learn). I then headed for the old part of Suzhou for some exploring. Suzhou is one of the only cities that was not destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. I started off looking for an opera museum where there were rumored to be early afternoon performances of a specific traditional type of music called Pingtan. As it turns out, I never found the museum...


But I did find some really neat, twisting alleyways...


And canals!


Much of Suzhou is very modern, so it was like stepping into another world.


I found something inexplicably very beautiful in the many run-down, small structures as I walked along, getting honked at by bikes and mopeds.


Here I am, keeping warm in my fuzzy hat.


On Olga's recommendation, I tried some cucumber-flavored potato chips. They were delicious (enough so that I brought some back to Korea)!

After about 2 hours, I had given up on the opera museum and was ready to take a break inside for a bit, so I headed for the Suzhou Museum. The museum is built around a restored palace.


Here is one of the palace doorways. It was somewhat maze-like with many rooms separated by courtyards and was thus lots of fun to explore.


The museum housed some really nice artifacts and a bit of modern art as well. I was suitably impressed. Above is the beautiful museum garden with part of the building in the background.

When I'd seen pretty much everything in the museum, I headed for the Humble Administrator's garden, which came highly recommended and was very close by.


This photo, from the garden, is dedicated to anyone who knows anything about chemistry.


Here's a nice view of a bit of the garden. It was really lovely.


Photos don't really do it justice, and I can only imagine what it looks like in spring and summer when things are green and flowering.

After the garden, I decided I'd better head back, as I'd promised Olga I'd meet her at 5:45 so that we could get to Shanghai for a party. Unfortunately, it was IMPOSSIBLE to get a cab. I tried for almost an hour with no luck. It is also worth noting that drivers in China are INSANE. I thought Barcelona was bad and was sure that it did not get any worse than Korea. Let me tell you, China takes the cake. People just basically drive and turn when and wherever they want, constantly narrowly avoiding killing each other. Anyhow, just as I was reaching the depths of despair, a man with a rickshaw that was being pulled by his motorbike approached me and convinced me to let him take me. I warned him that it was very far and we agreed on a price of about $4 U.S.


Above is my driver. We set off, weaving in and out of traffic, narrowly avoiding a head-on collision with a VW bus. Sometimes the driver used the lane for bikes and mopeds, sometimes he used the normal, car-congested road. At intervals he would pull over and ask people how to get to Olga's street. After a while, he started saying "oh, long-long." Sadly, I did not know how to say "I told you so" in Mandarin.

I made it to Olga's late, and we decided to try for train tickets (standing room) once more. Our mission failed sadly, and we were on the way to the bus station when we found a cab that would take us to Shanghai for quite a bargain. Another cab, a subway ride and bus ride later, we made it to Olga's friend Vivid's apartment for a Wii party. "But Alena," you say "You can play Wii at home in the village." True, I tell you, but can I meet a group of interesting new people from many different (not just English-speaking) countries and secure a free place to stay in Shanghai while doing so? No indeed.


The party was lots of fun. I played bowling, carnival and foot race and ate yummy Chinese food. One of the highlights was watching other people play the racing game. The photo above doesn't really do it justice. Everyone basically makes faces and flails for about a minute at a time.


I got to meet and talk to Vivid, who is from Indonesia/Australia and her boyfriend Regis who is French. Vivid runs a company that makes websites for movies, including their online games. Olga and I stayed over in their spacious guest room. Here is the view from their apartment near Shanghai's French Concession. Urban jungle, yes?

Day 3

The next day we mostly bummed around a bit, and then went for a late lunch at a delicious creperie. Here I am with Olga, post gluttony parade.

We then took the train back to Suzhou for another party, this time with some of Olga's work friends.

When we got back to the station (the ride took all of 30 minutes, score!) there were no cabs to be found anywhere. We waited for a cab for over an hour, and then just as we were nearing the front of the line, we saw a bus that we could take and ran for it. We then sat in an awful traffic jam for a while. We were finally moving along steadily when our bus hit a person on a bike. Yes, our bus hit a person. We had to wait while things were cleared up, and were about to run for a cab when the bus driver came back to the bus, scolded us for getting off (at least I imagine that is what he was yelling to us about) and drove on. We made it to our stop and eventually found a cab that took us to the wrong subdivision. At long last, we made it on foot to Olga's friend Diego's house.


We were greeted by Olga's roommate, Andrea, who immediately started grilling up some "chips" for us to eat in honor of Australia Day (she's an Aussie, you see).


This party was also full of cool people from all over the globe. I talked to a Mexican guy who works importing tequila and got danced at with a feather duster by a lovely Russian lady.


Diego (who is from Brazil) plays guitar well, so much music and joviality ensued (sing-a-longs are my favorite). Olga checked out early for the night, and I decided to go home when everyone else left for a local bar, because I was afraid that I would never remember the address if I didn't go then. When I left, everything was covered in snow (very unusual for this part of China).

Day 4

This day shall henceforth be known as the DAY OF DOOM. It was so bad, in fact, that there are no pictures.

Things started out okay. The plan was for me to take the 1:10pm train to Shanghai, for which I already had a ticket, and do some sight-seeing. Vivid and Regis had invited me to stay with them again, so all I had to do was take the train in and hop over to their place to drop off my things. I packed everything up, said goodbye to Olga, and headed out with plenty of time. Unfortunately, there was a very bad traffic jam on the way to the train station. I as the hour of my departure drew near, I ended up leaving the cab and following the nearby throngs of pedestrians to--somewhere. As I rounded the crest of a hill, I saw a train yard, and began to run. I ran down the hill, through a huge puddle of slush, dodging bicycles and soaking my boots and feet. I had two minutes until my train was set to leave, when I realized, with great frustration, that I was in the bus station.

I figured that I could take a bus to Shanghai, but after waiting in line, the lady at the ticket counter said that there were no tickets, or maybe no buses. In any event, it seemed I was up a creek. I contemplated just going back to Olga's but then thought I would see what was in the other direction. I walked through more slushy cess pools of filth until I came to the train station. There were no train tickets available until 9:30pm, but I found a cab there that was going to Shanghai (with three other random passengers) for a reasonable price, and decided, since my previous experience of "cabbing it to Shanghai" had been good that I'd take it. This experience, however, was the antithesis of good. The driver took roads instead of the freeway, so the ride took almost four hours. To make matters worse, my feet(as I mentioned) were soaked, and the driver kept the windows cracked to keep the windshield from fogging over in the snow.

The driver dropped us off somewhere random near one of the airports and I had to hail another cab to the train station. At this point I wanted to cry because I had no idea where I was or how long things would take and I really had to pee. About 30 min. later I arrived at the train station and felt incredibly relieved to be in familiar territory. In another 30 min. or so, I was at Vivid and Regis' apartment. It was 6:45pm. I took a shower and then went out to eat with them and some of their friends at an awesome gallery/Thai restaurant. It was the kind of dinner that lasts 3 hours, only you don't realize it because the conversation is so good. It was a good end to a very, very rough day.

Day 5

I arose early the next morning, so as to take in as much Shanghai sight-seeing as possible before catching my plane back.

Sadly, it was not the best day for sight-seeing, as the snow continued to fall and it was very cold. My first destination was the Propaganda Poster Art Centre. This little gallery came highly recommended to me by a friend, and is just the sort of thing that's right up my alley. As it turned out, it was rather literally up an alley and was very hard to find...


Here is the entrance, to give you an idea. The gallery is located in the basement of a normal apartment building. It is small, but houses tons of original propaganda posters from China, created and distributed in the years 1945-1979. I really think these posters shed a fascinating light on the Chinese culture, thought and milieu of that time period. The best part? You can actually BUY original propaganda posters at the centre, and many of them are very cheap. It was a total find.


After my propaganda viewing, I grabbed some lunch and headed for the Bund, where there remains much old western architecture, left over from Shanghai's history as a crazy international port-town. Here's a view of East Nanjing Road, a popular area for shopping.


Here are a couple of the buildings of the Bund.


Sadly, the weather was not great for pictures, but I enjoyed my walk, nonetheless.

I then did a bit of window shopping and, when my feet got tired, headed to the MagLev train station where I would take a train to the airport.

MagLev stands for magnetic levitation. Basically, this train uses a magnetic field rather than wheels.


As you can see, it reaches some pretty high speeds. I made it to the airport in good time, only to have my flight delayed due to weather, for what ended up being 3.5 hours. Ugh. Luckily I made a new Chinese friend on the plane, who had never been to Korea. We talked about Shanghai and I told her about Seoul and taught her how to say "hello," and "thanks," and to count in Korean.

In spite of all of the transportation woes, the trip was amazing. Shanghai is a very interesting city from what I saw, and though I wish I'd had more time there, I'm incredibly glad to have visited. Suzhou was like nothing I'd ever seen. The trip was relaxed when I wanted it to be, and while sometimes stressful, I think it gave me a better feel for life in China than it would have, had things been different. And that is what I tend to strive for when I travel, some kind of idea of what the life and people are like in a country.

Chinese people are so vivacious and kind and and yet so loud and tough. It really seems like they don't take life or themselves too seriously. Being in China reminded me a little of living in Germany, since I was constantly surrounded by people from so many different countries with different mother tongues. The whole experience wreaked of cosmopolitanism, and that is something that I missed here in Korea, without really noticing that I was missing it. I had a good adventure and hope to be able to visit again someday (perhaps with a jaunt to Beijing and the wall next time). For now I bid ziajian to China and say a quick xiexie to Olga and her friends.