Broadway in Korea!

I have a confession to make. I am obsessed with musicals. When I visited my friend in New York this summer* and we pretty much saw a show every night. I'm addicted. It's rather embarrassing actually.

Most of my cd's at home? Musicals.

My i Tune's play lists? 45 of those are musical soundtracks (that is not including Disney soundtracks that might as well be considered musicals).

Some of those soundtracks aren't even in English. Five to be exact: 3 French, 1 Japanese, and, now, 1 in Korean.

Sad; just sad.

Why do I bring this up on a blog that is all about my time in Korea? Well, my obsession has crossed the Pacific! They have a Korean cast of one of my favorite musicals, Jekyll and Hyde, playing in Seoul right now!

I've seen a recording of a performance with David Hasslehoff and, well, he really left something to be desired. Nothing wrong with Mr. H; he's not bad but he for sure ain't great. I had heard that the lead of the Korean cast, Cho Seung-woo, was supposed to be flipping amazing so I really wanted to go see it.

The only problem was getting tickets.

I had been trying forever to get the stupid tickets, but the bloody website kept sucking. It would let me choose seats, put in all my information, but then when it came time to run my card it would bring up an error page (translated by Google for my convenience... thanks for telling me they suck, Google). I got tired of it and sent them an email complaining on Wednesday. I really didn't think I'd get an answer considering I'm sending an email in English to a Korean company, but, come Friday morning, they had sent me a reply telling me they were sorry for the inconvenience and to call this number to order tickets!

I figured it was the phone number for the English service at the ticket site or the theater. I called and totally confused the lady when I said I wanted to purchase tickets for Jekyll and Hyde. I realized after a few moments that they had sent me to a go between translator! She ended up setting up a 3 way conference call with the ticket box, translating for me and the lady on the other end. After a little dancing around, I got my ticket for that night at 8pm: front row, center, in the balcony. Perfect! That's my favorite place to watch a musical from! A little pricey, but totally worth it.

Got me into a Sunday dress (nothing fancy... I had a long train ride ahead of me) and headed out into the world for another adventure. I gave myself extra time in case I got lost on my way there. My track record is against me so I figured better safe than out of money and sorry.



It only got better after that. The subway ride was about an hour and a half all the way to the other side of Seoul at rush hour BUT I GOT A CORNER SEAT. In case you didn't know, that' the best seat you can get. This way I wasn't squished between two people's butts.

I got out at Jamsil station and it apparently lets out directly into the Lotte Department Store (or something... not quite sure what it's called) which is a super big SHOPPING MALL!!



I would have spent more time wandering around there, but 1) it smelled like the little dried squid/fish jerky place set up on the side and 2) I still had to find the theater and I only had 45 minutes to do so. That might not seem too bad, but getting lost can eat up a lot of time.

Once I finally found the exit (SEE!? Good thing I came early...), I saw that they had made a display window for Jekyll and Hyde. I took a moment to admire it but didn't bother taking a picture because, psh, the display windows I made for the musicals at BYU when I worked for Creative Services were way better than the little posters and props they had set up.

Just saying.

The directions I got were totally spot on. They said to look out for the Lotte statue which made no sense in the written instructions but walking out the exit instantly became clear from the glowing Lotte Raccoon.



There was even a sign at the bottom of the raccoon telling me where to go. Yay! No getting lost for Jen!



Across the street from the theater itself was what I think is Lotte World, or Korean Disneyland! See the castle?



Once I got to the theater, I decided to pick up my ticket and check my coat while the theater was still really empty.



Next step was finding a bathroom. I think they assumed that since I was at a Korean show, I must speak Korean so my requests for the "hwajangshil" were met with points and paragraphs in Korean. I just said "kamsamnida" and headed in that direction until I got lost again and asked the next employee for another point in the right direction. Found/used the potty, bought my program (and soundtrack... just had to), and got settled into my seat.

I was a little disappointed to find out that Cho Seung-woo wasn't going to be on that night (*sigh*) but I was hopeful that Kim Jun Hyun (sorry... I don't know if that is spelled right... I'm translating from the Hangul name) would do okay.



Now, at this point I could go on and on about how amazing the show was. Really; at the end I wished I had been able to go with someone so I could fangirl with them about how amazing it was. Kim Jun Hyun was amazing (I would venture to say that I liked him even better than Cho Seung-woo who I have now heard on the soundtrack I bought... which is really good). Playing Jekyll AND Hyde is hard, but Kim Jun Hyun did a really admirable job. He was a ridiculously frightening Hyde, by the way. He even made some ladies on the ground floor scream a little with one of his more dramatic entrances. And not just him. EVERYONE on the cast was fantastic. The two female leads were spot on. The chorus meshed perfect.

This was the absolute best live Broadway performance I have ever seen.

The only thing that would have made it better? If it had been in English. There were a few times I was thinking, "Less talking; more singing!" While some of the dialogue was interesting to watch the acting of, it's mostly plot moving dialogue which is so not needed when you already know the plot and are watching it again in a new language.

It got out about a quarter after 11pm so I snapped a quick blurry photo in front of the poster and headed out to grab a taxi.



The hour and a half subway ride was over in half an hour by taxi and left me with a bit of a sour stomach. I asked him to drop me off a little farther away from home than I originally asked so that I could walk in the "fresh" air to settle my tummy a bit after that crazy ride. Woof!

Because it's always fun to poke fun at The Hoff, I want to show you what a... um... interesting job he does in the challenging role of Jekyll/Hyde.

I'll let you decide for yourself. If you feel so inclined, compare Mr. Hasslehoff in his performance of "This is the Moment" to Mr. Cho's "지금 이 순간 (This Is The Moment)."



Poor David. He really wanted to take off his shirt at that one point, but they only let him take off the jacket. All those years on Baywatch and they don't even let him do slow motion running on the stage.

Now on to Cho Seung-woo.



Ten times better. And the guy I saw? Even BETTER.

Yes, I'm a nerd. And you know what? I like it! :)

*(Check out my old blog to read about my time in New York: Day 1, Days 2-4, Day 5, Day 6, Food!)

Insadong

I hadn't mentioned it here on my blog yet, but they started a new program at Chungdahm (my school) this term and my branch selected a few teachers to train in it to start it up and I got to be one of them. Yay! The class is an extra class for the kids on top of their other classes at Chungdahm so many of them are not very happy to be there, but I'm trying to keep it laid back and fun so that they will enjoy it more. We read two books during the term: Because of Winn Dixie and Lily's Crossing. So far the kids are enjoying it and I get a 10% pay raise for all the new classes I teach. Not too shabby.

Anyways, today (one of my days off), they asked that I attend a feedback meeting for the new program at the main branch which is a little over an hour away by subway. Let me remind you, we don't get paid for meetings (which are usually mandatory). *sigh* Whatever. It then forces me to get out of my apartment which I might have just hung out in all day if they hadn't made me go to the meeting.

Since I was out and about anyways, I decided that I should go on a solo adventure. I thought about museums or a temple or maybe a palace... but that didn't appeal last night as I was planning this little excursion so I decided to check out another supposed great shopping area: Insadong.

The adventure itself started off with a hunt for a bathroom. I would have used the facilities at the main branch but I am not up for a squat toilet (that's one adventure I can live without, thank you). So once I got to Jongo Samga station, I tried to follow the signs to the bathroom.

As many of you know, I am not the most directionally capable person... I ended up walking up and down the same set of stairs three times before I was able to find the bathrooms hidden in this little bitty corner. Ugh.

I was pretty impressed once I actually found them. They were cleaner than most public bathrooms in the States (even considering the fact that all the used toilet paper is in a garbage can in the stall...). Also, there was a little baby toilet! Maybe it's for some other special use, but to me it looks like a toilet for little kids. It was cute whatever it was.



One other quick thing, on the way out, I saw the seats in the subway station and decided I finally needed to take a picture of these. This will make no sense if you don't know Doctor Who, but to me they look a bit like a Dalek.



EXTERMINATE.

Anyways...

I will now tell you about the SECOND time (of 3) that I get lost on this little solo adventure.

When I looked up how to get to Insadong, the online source just said to get out at Jongo Samga, Exit 3. I figured it would be pretty obvious where it was once I came out of the station if that was the extent of the instructions.

Not so. I got out in what was definitely not a shopping district and searched for any signs giving directions towards Insadong. No such luck.

What are you supposed to do at this point? Why, pick a direction and WALK, of course!

So I did. I just walked and hoped to find something worth while. I took a few turns into little alleys that didn't look promising, turned around, and kept walking. I eventually found a sign with arrows pointing in general directions of where things were. I saw one pointing towards Insadong! Yay!

Turn right... there is no right turn here. Where do you want me to GO!!?

So I found a road going in that general direction and followed it, hoping to find a sign to Insadong or at least something interesting. I got to a hugs intersection that looked like it was going off into the freeway so I crossed the road (big four lanes...) and walked back in the direction I had come on the other side of the street. I figured that if I didn't see any other signs for Insadong over there that I would at least still be able to find my way back to the subway (maybe...).

Then! Lo and behold! I saw a road sign pointing down this road (not really a road... more of a largish alley) and it said Insadong!



And it only took me ten or so minutes of wandering aimlessly to find this...

I couldn't really see anything down the road but I did catch sight of a blond head. Blond usually = foreigner. Where else would a foreigner go but home or a touristy area!

Follow the foreigner!!

Turned out to be a dye job... best one I've seen here yet.

But I did find Insadong! My first clue was the people wearing the yellow sashes. You see people like this all over and they are usually there to help people find what they are looking for.



I had found it!! I big long road with tons of shops on both sides! And then there were little alleys with more awesome stuff! Here is one such alley.



I found a little store in here that sold these really cute plant vases with sprigs of ivy or something in them. I told myself I didn't need it... but ended up going back and getting one at the end of my little trip.

Meet Audrey.



Maybe I won't kill this plant. All it does is hang out in water. How hard could it be? Granted, I have killed bamboo in the past. That takes talent.

There was tons of stuff all over. If my mom ever came to visit, this is where I would take her. There were lots and lots of paper stores.

Paper.



Paper.



PAPER.



Needless to say, I spent a fair amount of money while I was out today. Not a ton, but a fair amount. Isn't it neat having a job that pays you real money? It's pretty magical to look at my bank account. :)

I was planning on just looking around and maybe getting some ideas for gifts when I caught sight of a really pretty USB! It was decorated with "mother of pearl inlay" (it's totally a sticker) and it was 4GB. I loved it and the price was pretty okay (maybe a little pricey).



For 8,000 won more, I could get a letter opener and a credit card case. That seemed like a better deal so I got the set and a little box of pens to give out as gifts when I get home. They have mini Korean foods on them!



Here's a closer look at the bibimbop pen.



Hello store that took my money. :)



It was also strange to see people who were so obviously TOURISTS! I mean, I see foreigners (like myself) all the time when I wander around Namdaemun or whatever and it's always exciting to give a little nod of, "Hey, I see you aren't originally from here as well. SUP." There was this really adorable family and when the teenage girl saw me her face got like this HUGE smile and she waved. I don't know why. I could tell they were tourists, though, from the fanny packs, cameras, and matching shirts.

Stereotypical much?

I was wondering for a while why there were so many foreigners around. The only other place I see this many foreigners is Itaewon (which is known for being the foreigner area). I sat down to take a rest and caught a picture of some of the allusive foreigners. (I promise... they are totally foreigners)



Then I figured it out: they stop all the tours there!

Look at those giant buses...



I got up and walked some more down the rows of shops. I think this store sells paint brushes. I'm not sure though. It's just a hunch.



There were a few people that sold "antiques" on the side of the road. I'm not sure how "antiquey" they really were, but it looked like some things that would look really cool in my future home. :)



This store looked like an old traditional house and was filled with bags of dried mushrooms. It was pretty awesome looking.



At this point, I had been walking around for about three hours and I hadn't eaten anything yet except a quick piece of toast before running to get to my meeting. I was loath to eat out since I had just spent a bunch of money on groceries a few days ago. I even got the band aid on my thumb from slicing my finger while chopping veggies to prove it.



Instead I got a little something to tide me over.

Strawberries + ice + blender = yummy cool snack for Jennifer.



I kept walking and after finishing my drink, I started looking for a garbage can (which are particularly tricky to find in Seoul). I saw a sign for bathrooms and figured there would be a garbage there. Somehow this got me into an awesome area with lots of little shops that went up in like a giant corkscrew so you could just walk up all the floors by going around and around without hitting the stairs! It was pretty cool.



Also, I found a garbage can. Nice.

I don't know what they were cooking at this little place, but it looks tastey.



While in this strange little area, I saw a place that my Aunty Bette would have loved. They made miniature clay things; mostly food. I liked the little miniature snack stand like the ones you see out on the street. It was so cute! They had lots of signs saying "NO PICTURES!!" so I took a picture of the sign outside the store. HA! Take THAT, shop lady!



I also walked through this little hallway. It must be gorgeous when it's all in bloom. Soon, my lovelies, soon.



The best little place I found was this store called "Save Earth Market."



It turns out all of the stuff in her store is handmade by her and made from reused items. I bought a ring made from an old button and vintage fabric.



I would have loved to spend more time in her store, but I had been walking around for four hours at this point and I was getting a little tired. So I decided to start heading back to the subway.

Now I will regale you with the tale of how I got lost for the third time in one day. It's a talent, I know.

On my initial search for Insadong, I walked under this little parking garage, bridge thing. I thought I spied it from one of the alleys and I though, "Haha! I shall not get lost this time! I will easily find my way back to the subway station now! Oh, clever me!" I took a parting photo of Insadong and headed out.



After walking determinedly for about five minutes, I realized I was lost. I would have noticed a McDonalds, Burger King, and KFC all right next to each other on the way over. Walking back at this point would have been admitting defeat. I figured that hey, I'm in Seoul. There's bound to be a subway station somewhere around here.

I just need to keep walking.

After another five minutes, I was ready to be done. I was tired, hungry, and ready to get home. I figured that I could just flag down a taxi. However, I was out of cash. I had about 1,000 won left on me (less than a buck). I don't like the idea of paying a cab with my card (and I wasn't even sure if all cabs take cards) so I told myself that I would walk until I saw a bank or a subway station. That would determine whether or not I would take a taxi or the subway.

After another block or so, I found a Woori bank (my bank!) and withdrew some cash. The road outside the bank was full of buses so I walked in front of them to catch a cab.

What should appear before me but the subway station! HAHAAA!! I KNEW I would be able to find one if I just kept walking!



Insadong gets an A for Awesome little place for souveniers, but a B for bargains. People there are used to tourists who don't haggle so they didn't go for the "40,000? Oh, no thank you." They just let you walk away. However, they had some things that I haven't seen in other places like Namdaemun so that was refreshing.

Double bonus of having my day off being during the week rather than Saturday? I can go places when they aren't as crowded like they are on the weekends! Awesome. :)

Great day.

Shopping for clothes and foreign foods

We started a new term two weeks ago and my schedule is a little strange. I ended up asking my boss if she could give me fewer hours so instead of 24 like I taught last term, I'm teaching 21. Not a big difference, mind you, but they had originally scheduled me for 30 hours this term and I knew my voice would not like that.

A quick update on the voice: it still sucks. I'm trying to find an English speaking ears nose throat doctor but it's a little tricky. I got one lead, but I ended up getting lost trying to find the hospital. It was exciting in a "I'm cold and don't want to be here anyways" kind of way.

Other than the rebelling voice, life is pretty good. I work Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday now. While that is kind of a strange schedule, I enjoy having two days off in a row to rest my voice. It definitely helps. I am also able to go have full day adventures when the world is not so crowded like it is on Saturdays!

This week I decided to head to Itaewon to check out the clothes scene. I wanted to make sure I am at least able to find clothes or else I would need to order some summer clothes online and have my dad bring them when he visits.

Now, I'm not exactly a tiny person (especially after my less than healthy eating decisions since I've been here in Kore) so finding clothes in Korea is a tricky thing. After some research online, I discovered that the best place to go is Itaewon (kind of the foreigner place to be). I got some recommendations for a few stores as well as instructions to just walk around and look for "Big Size!" signs. So it was off to Itaewon on Thursday!



Most of the stores I went into looked like all they carried were the Ross rejects. Nothing against Ross; I personally shop there all the time and love it. But, you have to admit that they tend to have more fashion clunkers than most. You know those clothes that even Ross can't get rid of? I think they ship them to Korea so people can sell them out of poorly lit basement shops at insane prices. I swear I saw some of those clothes this last summer at Ross.

The first store was totally empty of customers and the guys that worked there were totally sketch so I just headed out after a few minutes. The second store was more promising and I found a nice sweater. I think someone might have stepped in dog crap, though, because the "dressing room" smelled pretty rank.

Oh. The dressing room? They hung a shower curtain across a back corner. More private than the middle of the room, but not what I'm used to.

I hit a few other stores, but I didn't see anything I wanted at the time (though there were a few cute things that I might check out later).

The last place was probably the best and was actually run by women this time who were super pleasant and were totally playing dress up with their new shipment while they were putting it up. Really cute. I told myself I was only getting a dress but it was really hard to ignore the cute winter coats they had there that I didn't need.

The dressing room in this last place was the best. They sent me to the back storage room to change. In there I saw a little corner with a shower curtain put up like the last place but the entire corner was taken up by a table and a chair. There would be no room for a person with all that furniture if I closed the curtain. I opted to just change in the storage room. Whatever, right? I had enough layers that it really wasn't that big of a deal. No one came in so I didn't have to worry about them wondering why the heck I wasn't in the actual changing "room."



All in all, a successful shopping trip.

After I got tired of searching for "Big Sizes!" I decided to try and find the foreign market that I had heard about. It was a little bit away from the main strip, but I was able to get there easily enough. It was totally worth it, too.

Best part (besides the sour cream)? The name:



Foreign Food Market! Awesome. I love being foreign. :) Also, it was right next door to the Foreign Restaurant.



Sweet. I ended up getting some re-fried beans, sour cream, tortillas, salsa, and a bag of fishy crackers (the cheesy American kind... not the actual fish flavored Korean ones). Basically, I got me the ingredients for burritos. YUM.

There was this group of middle school girls walking around giggling and checking out all the foreign snacks. I think they get as big a kick out of it as I do when I got to the Asian markets back home. Awesome. :) It was fun seeing all of the American and middle eastern treats in all the aisles. Pretty cool.



My last stop was hitting up the local Subways for some take out dinner. I have not seen any other Subway sandwiches around and, well, sandwiches are my favorite food. I've been feeling a little homesick lately and some comfort food from home was just what I needed. I obviously found just what I needed... and more. :)



I realized partway through my sandwich that it should be documented! See? It looks just like an Italian BMT from home! Only difference is that when they ask "Cheese?" they are looking for a "yes" or "no" answer. No choice on cheese. Oh well. It was still delicious.



One more quick thing before I leave you for online television: Our lesson this week in Sunday school was "I am thankful for fish." Remember, these kids are three years old; the topics are pretty basic. I decided a good way to use up time was to do one of those fishing games. The fish were pretty easy to make, but the pole proved to be a bit of a problem. HOWEVER! I am a crafty individual and do not let such trivialities like lack of string and sticks to deter me. I used a wooden spoon for a pole, a plastic ties from a bag of onions for string, and 100 won coins to weigh down the magnet. The magnet was courtesy of the people that leave advertisements on my apartment door.

I had to share this crafting wonder with you all (ignore the drying laundry in the background... and the fluffy haired woman holding the fishing pole).



How much cooler can you GET?! My three year olds would tell you that it doesn't get cooler than Sister Olson's awesome wooden spoon fishing pole. :)