i must be tan...

I made my first trip to Dongdaemun market on Monday.  Stalls..and stalls..and stalls of clothes, leather, watches, jewelry..and a huge 24/hr mall called appropriately am/pm.  In the mall I discovered the most glorious booth that makes eye glasses...prescription eye glasses..in 10 minutes..for $35.  Needless to say I now have the first of what will be many new frames.  

So my friends and I are walking through the market and these 2 men in robes and turbans come up to me.  The conversation went a bit like this:

Man in turban: Kazakhstan?

Me: umm..no.

Man in turban: Afghanistan?

Me: no..sorry.

Man in turban: Uzbekistan?

Me: America

Man in turban: No..you joke!

His friend: You joke!

Me: Haha..no..really..I'm from America.

Men in turbans: You joke!!  You joke!!

My friend Rachel: Well at least you know you're really tan.

It was pretty funny.  

Equally funny was our hunt for dinner.  Korean food is great..unfortunately the menus are all in korean..so we wandered around for half an hour trying to find a restaurant that served one of the 3 Korean dishes we knew how to pronounce.  We finally ended up going back to the first place we tried..and the owner and his wife made us a "special menu" of beepimbop which is basically rice, veggies, and chili sauce.  They gave us all 3 kinds..cold..hot with an egg...and their special beepimbop with fish eggs on it (which was actually pretty good.)  The best part was that after we got our food the owner came over and instructed us to "mix" the veggies into the rice...which apparently I wasn't good enough at..so he and his wife did it for me.  Thanks.  Really.

The Pumpkin Hero

So I just got done doing my first ever mainstage show at EV.  Like I said before I'm understudying a part in The Pumpkin Hero and the girl who I'm understudying left last night for vacation...so I'm on!  I think overall it went really well.  It feels so good to be back on the stage again, I've really missed it!  The audience was pretty full and I managed to suck out a few laughs from the kids, so what more can you ask for, right?

On a much less exciting note I started decorating my room.  I bought some wall paper which looks like the sky and instead of really putting it on the wall I just taped it up, but it looks really cool.  I also got 2 giant sunflower stickers...and again instead of sticking them...cut them out and taped them up too.  I like the effect..very summer-y.  I also made my first major purchase of a new digital camera.  I figured when I had to start opening the lense cover on mine with my finger before taking pictures at mudfest that maybe it was time.  I went to this huge electronics mall in Seoul...literally an entire floor dedicated to digital cameras and ended up with a Kodak EasyShare M863..which is a cute little point and shoot camera.  After looking online to compare I know I got a really good deal on it too.  So score one for the home team.

Boryeong Mud Festival

Just returned from spending my days off at the Boryeong Mud Festival...and yes, it was muddy. We took the train from Seoul to Boryeong on Sunday night and got in about 11pm. We stayed in a hotel by the beach..basically a big room with a small kitchen and bath and nothing else...so 15+ people spread blankets and pillows around on the floor and headed out to get drunk enough not to worry about the lack of mattress..or anything.

Monday was our first real day at Mud Fest. On the walk there we were stopped by a Korean tv producer and asked if we wanted to be extras in a korean tv drama..instant fame..sign me up! We each got painted with mud( which is dug up in the area and used to make cosmetics and such because of it's nutrients) by these crazy old women who were working on the set and then we were told to get in the blow up mud wrestling ring...and go for it. That we did. After shooting for about half an hour we headed down to Daecheon beach to rinse off.

The rest of the day was...muddy. There was a mud "swimming" pool..2 giant mud slides..a mud jail...a mud wrestling ring..and tons of crazy mud covered people. The festival is geared towards tourists so there were even "Restaurants for Foriegners" ..called exactly that...that served hamburgers and hotdogs. The craziest part was the paparazzi. These korean photographers would follow us around taking pictures of basically everything we did. One woman stayed with us for half an hour trying to make us "jump..jump" so she could take pictures of westerners getting wild. At night there were bands...a dance troupe..and a great interpretive dance show on the beach..which I missed completely as I was doing an interpretive dance of my own.

I am now covered in mosquito bites..and really really ready for a shower...but all in all it was a great trip.

Week 1

So I'm closing in on the end of my first week here at the EV. I think I have the schedule down pretty well, and I'm spending a lot of time rehearsing the understudy part I'm doing in the Pumpkin Hero. The show is about a boy who eats only pumpkins...which make him fart...so he gets kicked out of town. Of course, he uses his magnificent flatulence to keep robbers away from a temple, and becomes a hero. As if you thought it could end any differently. Come on.

Last night I had my first Korean bbq and I have to say that I was extremely apprehensive, but extremely impressed. Good stuff. I have yet to eagerly dive into a bowl of kimchee, but I'm working on it. I did dive into a bottle of soju, which ended up being much more fun, but that's neither here nor there.

Today I did the game show, Wizard's Den, four times. I can't tell you my excitement that not only is there a game show called Wizard's Den, but there are robes..wands..and even a magical fantasia-style hat involved. It's pretty intense. Though not as intense as the South Korean's passion for the macarena. Yesterday I taught the macarena to a four-some of adults..who looked as if they were on a double date to the English Village...pretty hot stuff. They excelled..especially at the booty shaking parts..go figure.

I guess that's all I have to report. Tomorrow is my first day off and I'm not sure what I'm going to do..I think go-carts may be on the agenda..and laundry..which as we all know just go hand in hand.

I made it!

Just a quick post to say that after a very long 14+ hour plane ride I finally made it to Gyeonggi Village. Moved in last night..and am going through my first day of orientation today..watching shows..paperwork..just getting in the groove of things.

Things are good so far..even though it's pouring down rain. I was greeted at the airport not by my pick-up service (they were very late) but by the sight of a grandmother holding a bottle to her grandson's naked privates so he could pee into it. What a welcome. Excellent.