Oy Veh, Children's Day

Do I get groan points for my title? One week ago today was my second big Children's Day celebration at English Village, yet another event which had me wondering how on earth it had been a whole year since the last one. It was a day full of line-dancing (at least for me) performing, and smiling kids.


Here are a couple of my edutainer buddies hanging out before the big show that we did.


And here's a nice photo (most of these are courtesy of my friend Emma) from our performance of Love Shack (with the lyrics rewritten to be about English Village). The show was essentially the same as last year but with a few small changes (and of course many of the performers were different).


This is me singing our Children's Day version of Mama Mia with Eva and Rachel. Do you like my pink wig?


And this is the whole group doing Shout, with Eva and me (did you see that people? Me, not I. That, my friends, is correct grammar.) on backup vocals.


And here's a lovely post-show pic of Rachel and me.


Children's Day happened to fall on my friend and co-worker Robyn's birthday, so afterwards we all went out to celebrate with her. As you can see, I gave the festivities the thumbs-up.

Because this year Children's Day fell on a Monday, a day when the park is usually closed, I had to work a six-day week, with only one day off. I will get an extra day off in July to make up for it, which will give me a three-day weekend and be awesome. However, I felt as though I needed to make the most of my one day off,


So I went with Robyn and another lovely edutainer, Kelly, to the beach. It was not the nicest beach ever but we had a good time. Unfortunately, it was too windy for us to be able to lie out on the sand comfortably for very long. We had a nice meal and then decided to explore a cement walkway that went out among the rocks.


Part of the walkway was broken and we had to walk over this instead. It was scary.


Here is Kelly, who conquered a rock,


And here I am among the rocks, wearing the ugliest sunglasses EVER (I love them in all their ridiculous glory).

We had a lot nice beach hiking and then gorged ourselves on delicious ice cream before heading home.

This week was also pretty crazy. On top of my usual schedule of game shows and line dancing, I had rehearsals for George Saves Storyland. In addition to that, our whole department had to learn a song and dance number for the show and film it, all in about two days! It was a good exercise in learning choreography quickly and really being on the ball. It was also fun, but tiring. As if I weren't busy enough, I had to go in as an understudy in School Days for the first time yesterday. Things went well, considering that I had had three rehearsals total for the role. I did three shows and was finally able to start feeling comfortable during the last show. I will be back at it on Wednesday and Thursday of this week and I'm sure it will be fun. It's definitely a nice break from the game shows and activities.

And that, folks, is all for now.

Back and on the Attack

As predicted, it's been a busy couple of weeks since returning to dynamic Korea. I've learned my new understudy role and I'll be going in next Sunday. I've also started rehearsals for next season's show, George Saves Storyland, (which will be my last) as well as learning the music and choreography for our Children's Day song and dance extravaganza, which we'll be performing tomorrow. I can't believe it's already that time again! I'm now preparing for a pretty quiet evening, since tomorrow is bound to be exhausting. When we're not doing the show, I'll be teaching dances to energetic kids pretty much all day long. Wish me luck (or rather, leg-breakage). In the meantime, below are a few highlights from the last couple of weeks.

Last week was Military Week again. This time around we weren't allowed to drink with the soldiers, but luckily there were no rules against us breaking it down with them. Dance, navy boys, dance.


Dear Mom, just thought you'd be glad to see that I made good use of those wax lips you gave me. -Alena. This was taken at my friend Nic's going away party which doubled as a birthday party for my friends Mary and Brian.


In case you were wondering whether Korea was still totally weird, it is.


Here I am with Drina, aka Babykins, who seems to double in size and personality every time I see her. We're in the living room at her Mom and Dad's new pad in Seoul.


Here's one of the views from the top observation deck at N Seoul Tower. I had the opportunity to go there and meet up with my friend Rachel and her friend Rachel (yes, really) before second Rachel headed back to the U.S. of A. from her visit here.



And here's a fetching photo of all but one of the Edutainer ladies after we had a delicious meal at one of the restaurants in Heyri Art Valley.

The times, they are pretty good. 10-4

Hello, hello again, shaboom, shaboom.

I've been back in Korea for six lovely spring days now. Seriously, the weather here is currently blowing the weather I experienced in the States clear out of the water.

I returned to a crazy, yet awesome onslaught of work. We are preparing for our big Children's Day show and we just had auditions for the summer season (I got the part I wanted, yay!) and on top of that, since one of my coworkers recently left the Village, I am now the understudy for the role of Peggy in the show I directed. I've been spending my days doing the hand jive, the bunny hop and the stroll with lots of cute kids outside in the sun and learning lots of choreography, as well as music and lines. I'm tired, especially physically, but in a very accomplished way.

Going home was fun, action-packed and refreshing.

After a grueling series of three flights, I arrived at DTW and headed home for some tasty food and catching up with mom and dad. After sleeping my face off, I headed to Ann Arbor the next evening to visit...



Maggie! Here she is wearing the most ridiculous hat Korea had to offer (as well as a moo-moo--we won't get into that).



We went to the Blind Pig to see VHS or Beta, which was a lot of fun.

The next evening, which was a Wednesday, my parents threw a party at 1st UU church for me to see all sorts of friends of the family and eat more tasty food.



Here I am with a group of people who have known me since I drooled, wore diapers, and did other similarly attractive things.

The party was lots of fun. I ended up doing a little impromptu slide show with commentary about some of my travels and it was pretty well received. I also have to give a shout out to mom for making sure I got a piece of the tiramisu.



The rest of my stay in Detroit involved visiting with my lovely Aunt Jill (who was kind enough to drive in from Chicago to visit), a trip to the Detroit Institute of the arts,



some catching up with my Godparents, Dave and Linda Smith (pictured above with me and mom and dad), much tasty food,



A visit to Belle Isle, some serious partying, and even...



A bit of urban exploration.

I was also able to make it back out to Ann Arbor to see a German play directed by a professor whom I'd had at U of M. I selected wigs for the show and shipped them from Korea, so it was fun to get to see them on stage. After a visit with some good friends from good old Performance Network Theatre, it was back to Detroit for a hot minute before hopping on a plane to New York.

In New York I continued to eat delicious food and also saw two plays: Harold Pinter's The Homecoming and Gypsy with Patti Lupone (both very good). I stayed with various friends and had some long-overdue quality time with people I'd been missing.


Also, I met the literal Hercules of beer and explored the comprehensive selection in his shop,



Witnessed a performance by mini-Michael Jackson,



And went to a really neat bar called Please Don't Tell (so that's all I can say about it).

I went to see The Dirtbombs (a Detroit band!) with a slew of friends and we proceeded to get our party on at a weekly event that I used to attend fairly regularly when I lived in the city. Great times, indeed.

I then headed back to Detroit to say goodbye to mom and dad and get everything in order before embarking on my series of grueling flights back to Korea.

And here I am.

It was odd being home. In some ways, it really felt like going back in time. For the first time I had the feeling of having two very distinct and separate lives. I'd never really felt that way while living in Korea, but it was odd how easy it seemed to just slip back into my life back home, even for just a short time. In a lot of ways, everything back in the States felt way more normal than I had expected. Still the tendency to compare everything about both countries was as strong as one would expect.

There was a part of me that wanted to just stay in New York for good. At one point, I was enjoying a greasy New York Slice at a counter that faced the street and I just couldn't get over the diversity of all of the people walking by on their way to who-knows-where. They were old and young, of various ethnicities and persuasions, dressed in sweats, designer suits, entirely in leather... I'd really missed that about New York, as well as missing my friends and the city's general energy and fast pace. Everyone there just seems to be working their butt off to be awesome at what they do and I love that energy.

When I got back, I really felt like I was coming home, though. I love it here, and I really look forward to the next 4.5 months or so. I am sure that they will fly by, seeing as they'll be packed with activity. I am so pleased with the experiences I've had and continue to have on this adventure, but if anything, being home served to remind me that there is so much more to see and more to do.

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.