My Day Trip With Jack the Ripper

I learned long ago that if I wanted to get any sort of life satisfaction in Korea that I wasn't going to get it from my job. Don't get me wrong, I love being a teacher and talking with other teachers here makes me realize I have a bunch of the best kids around, but for someone who emigrated for the purpose of working a job with a fantastic contract and promises of great experiences....well, the satisfaction is kind of lacking. So I decided to keep myself as busy as possible until next year when I'll be at a new school that might not suck as much horse anus as my current one does. I've dedicated myself to hapkido and studying Korean, and I've decided I will travel as much and far as I can in the very little time away from the office I get.

Back in April I wrote about being woken up at butt o'clock in the morning, ushered into a van, and driven all the way across the country for some 4 hour seminar. It was on that most unfortunate trip that I found a very special bus. The entire side of the bus was decked out in an advertisement for "Jack The Ripper- The Musical" and painted larger than life in one of the lead roles was Lee Sungmin, one of the members of a band here called Super Junior (They're pretty popular back home as well, and I have seen them perform in New York).

I had to go.

So as soon as I got home (at balls o'clock at night this time), I hit the internet. I searched for dates Sungmin would be performing (he shares the lead role with 3 other actors). I wanted decent seats. It had to be a weekend. Finally I found a ticket for Sunday, 4th row center and quickly ate it up. Then promptly realized I had no idea how to get back to Seoul, how to get to the venue, or how to get home when it was all said and done. Long story short, it got settled with the help of a friend, and I was all set to take a bus that would let me off no more than 1 subway stop and a 3 minute walk away from the show.....all I had to do was wait for June 23rd and I was golden...

And then I went and missed the bus.

In a panic, I got a rush ticket for the next bus to Seoul. Now, the show was in a place called Seongnam, which is in Seoul but really far from the center. I wouldn't know until the bus arrived what part of Seoul I was being dropped off in. I had never taken the subway. So when I got dropped off in Gangnam, I ran to the first old lady I found and asked for help. People understand my Korean much more easily in Seoul- I don't know if it's the fact that I learn standard Korean and they speak a country dialect where I live, or if they just expect to see more foreigners who speak Korean and can talk with them. Whatever the reason, the lady and I understood each other and she told me I picked the right subway, nodded at me when my stop came, and pointed at a list of transfers so I knew I wasn't done traveling yet. 10 more stops on the second subway and I arrived. I couldn't help but feel a little proud of myself. Except for apparently buying the wrong kind of subway pass and regrettably having to do a little elbow-throwing through the turnstile in Seongnam (>.>....) I made it to the Art Center with a half hour until showtime.

They were pretty clear on their no-picture policy, and I kind of stand out with three feet of blonde hair in a sea full of Koreans, so I didn't get any pictures of the show, but I did get a nice shot of the Art Center's Opera House flying the colors on my way up the hill to the show.

The show was FANTASTIC! Of course my initial interest was Lee Sungmin (and my unhealthy fascination with serial killers...), but even if I had gone on a night he wasn't performing I would have been just as happy. The guy who played Jack really stole the show for me. And the two female leads were SUPER talented and really beautiful. There wasn't a single performer who didn't give 200%. It went by so fast.

After the show I met a hapkido friend from home who had to go to training in Seoul for the weekend, we got some dinner and the bus home, taxied together from the bus terminal, played with my kitten, parted ways, and saw each other again less than 4 hours later for double-combo Hapkido/Korean practice- the Exhausted! edition.

To sum all of this rambling up, for one day I lived the life I've always wanted here in Korea. My town isn't all that bad, but there is nothing to do unless you bus out at least 20 minutes. I turned down positions in Seoul because I wanted to start off getting the realest idea of Korea. Seoul is Korea of course, but definitely the most Westernized part of it. I think I'm learning more Korean and more traditional culture here living in the backwoods where not many foreigners have dared to live. But I also wanted to have new experiences, not just get stared at by people as I walk around town for a lack of anything else to do. I want to see art and plays and concerts and festivals. That's something I've really missed out on. And after being stuck working 2 to 10 every day with my nose pressed to the grindstone for a boss who you can smell talking and who appreciates nothing? Jack the Ripper was welcome company.

A Busy Blogger Is A Blogless Blogger!

To say these past couple weeks have been busy would be a HUGE understatement, which means two things:
     1. I neglected to blog.
     2. I have SO MUCH to tell you.

Let's start from the top. May 17th was a national holiday here in Korea- Buddha's birthday. Since I had the day off from work I decided that I would go to a nearby temple to see what was going on. It's a small temple, but very beautiful and it was full of people when I arrived around noon to see what was going on. I was quickly noticed being the only foreigner in the bunch, but it didn't seem to bother anyone. Someone took me by the arm and showed me the proper way to pray to the shrine in the side hall and then had me join them for free lunch at the temple. They served a dish called bibimbap, meaning mixed rice. Bibimbap is one of my favorites here, but at temples it is a bit different. Since followers of Buddha don't eat meat it was solely vegetarian as opposed to the beef and chicken and ham thrown in that I'm used to. But it was still DELICIOUS.

This is a picture of the shrine a really kind temple-goer showed me how to pray to.

Lanterns strung up for Buddha in the square of my favorite shopping district.

The weekend after Buddha's birthday was my Hapkido competition. Boy was I surprised to find out it was a national competition instead of just regional. We woke up really early, put on our uniforms, and drove to the competition about 45 minutes away. My Master teaches twice a day- a morning class and a night class, so he entered us as two teams instead of trying to find time for us to practice together to enter as one.I have to say that my team really gave it their all. Maybe we were just excited by the wide space we had to perform in, and the music, and all of the other teams in their various uniforms, but by some luck of the draw my team took home SILVER. Can you believe it?! I've been studying Hapkido for 3 months and am already a part of a national silver-medal winning team. It was such a wonderful surprise and I can't begin to say how thankful I am to be a part of the team. You really did it, guys! Let's take gold next year, okay?

Both of our school's teams with our Master, taken just after we finished performing.

After competition I thought things would cool down, but my life is crazy so OF COURSE something else happened.

One of my Korean friends called me out of the blue one evening as I'm getting ready to meet a friend for dinner.

"I found a kitten," He tells me. "I can't keep it. Can you help me?"

I am not really a cat person, but for some reason I really wanted to help. I agree and we meet up for him to pass off the cat...

...and to my surprise the "kitten" was actually one a couple days old, still with an umbilical cord and with it's eyes and ears still closed.

"He has to be fed every four hours," my friend tells me. "Keep him warm, and make sure you help him use the bathroom. He can't go by himself."

I brought the cat to the vet as soon as I could, and he didn't seem very optimistic about my little guy's chances of survival but I wouldn't give up on him. I brought him to work, I kept him in towels with hot water bottles, I fed him with a syringe every 2-4 hours as much as I could get him to eat. But he wasn't gaining weight, he wasn't staying warm. I did everything I could for him....

And two weeks later, I now have a loud, obnoxious, wide-blue-eyed, three week old tabby kitten! In the time I was bringing him to school my students argued over what his name should be.

"김치만두! (kimchi mandu-kimchi dumplings)"  " 호랑이 (horangi- tiger)" "노숙자 (nosookja- homeless)"

Finally, the vet and I decided on the name 호범 (Hobum). Hobum is a Korean male name. I pick the Ho from horangi (tiger) and bum is a common name ending, but I later found out it also means tiger if you use the ancient word for tiger. So I guess his name is TigerTiger. I usually just call him Bummie. He's doing SO WELL now and I can't wait to bring him to the vet for his 7 week shots to really show off what a good job I did with him.

Most recent picture of my little man, looking guilty as I caught him trying to claw his way out of his box.

Annnnnd that is why I haven't been blogging lately. Currently I've got my cat on my hip, my computer on my lap, a book nearby, and some Oreos. Time to de-stress before another work-week starts.