Spring 2013 Update

Dear everyone in my life,
It is high time for an update. I have been so busy I can't even believe it!

1. The North Korea situation
As you probably have seen in the news, things between NK and SK aren't good at all right now. The outlook isn't great. I have received several messages from you wonderful people who love me asking if I'm alright. And, I am just fine! I am slightly unnerved by all of the stuff in the news, but the truth is, the only news I receive on this matter comes from the BBC or CNN. Koreans don't talk about this(at least to me), they don't worry about this, and it really, truly is business as usual over here. Every time I ask my co-teacher about the situation, she kind of rolls her eyes and says, "It will be ok. I promise you." I am about four hours south of Seoul and about five hours from the border with NK. I feel pretty safe, and I'm putting all of my trust in the power of the South Korean and US military powers. Really. Everything is ok. I don't feel threatened by the thought of invasion. No one I know has booked a flight out of here yet. I am not leaving Korea unless I ACTUALLY have to, or unless my contract is up. Though I will say that I have considered an emergency plan, which includes a couple spare bottles of water and flight to Thailand to wait it out (on a beach in the sun).

Korean police force on high alert!

2. Cancerton.
My band is BACK in full force! We have been recording like crazy, practicing a lot, and have managed to convince someone to let us play a spring festival for 3,000 people. WHAT!!!! That guy is definitely going to be fired! Haha. Our drummer, Tim, recently had to leave Jinju, so we replaced him with.... JACKIE!! She joined us for our first practice together yesterday, and it went well, but we all have a LOT of work to do before the festival.

A picture from the festival's page :) EXCITING! 

We anticipate our album to be finished by that time so we can give out copies after our show. The organizer of the festival has promised us a smoke machine and fireworks. I plan on crowd surfing to my own music. SO EXCITING! When will I ever get this kind of chance again? Only in Korea :)
Here's a link to our music page:
https://soundcloud.com/cancertron


3. The 24 Hour Play Project
Back in February, I organized a 24-Hour One Act Play writing festival. The way it went was each team would draw four random parameters (a line, a setting, a prop, and a character's name) and would have 24 hours to write an original one act play. (I both organized and participated in this event!) There was a panel of twelve judges from various theatrical backgrounds around the world who took a week to score the plays. The top four plays were chosen to be produced a month later. I wrote a play about a man with leprosy who lives in the basement of an old theatre and deals with a looming apocalypse by talking to characters from old plays. My play came in second place!!!! It was exciting.

Organizing friends into their roles for the production

The next part of the project was the production bit, which I also organized. I gathered a group of about 25 friends from my city and Changwon (an hour east of me). Everyone randomly drew the roles for each play and 24 hours later, the four plays were put on for an audience of about 65 people. The play I acted in was called "I'm Sticking With You," a comedy (with a musical number!) about two people at a speed-dating event who get stuck together with super-duct tape. It was AWESOME. I think everyone was really universally impressed by the production; everyone had completely memorized their lines by curtain time. The plays were funny, moving, and really well acted. I was proud and exhausted :)

A read-through with my group for "I'm Sticking With You"

"I'm Sticking With You" In action!

4. Writing Group
I started a writer's group for my city last month, and it has been really wonderful for me. There are nine of us in the group and every week we complete a prompt chosen by one of us in rotation. I find myself looking forward to doing the prompts more and more each week, and even more so to reading them. It made me think about my future, that is, well, after Korea. Thinking about "after Korea" has been a nightmarish thought to me for a long time now; it's pretty much the main reason I decided to stay another year here. Life here is simply too good and too easy to give up; the opportunities I've had here have been incredible, and I'm so thankful for them. But living here is kind of like living in Neverland. I feel like I'm putting off adulthood more and more by staying. I also don't think I can bear another year of goodbyes to people I've grown to love so much. I have no idea really what I want out of my life, and I've avoided the thought for far too long. During a skype session with my sister the other day, she suggested rather innocently, "Why don't you try Hollywood?" I guess that idea never crossed my mind because I thought it was out of my reach. But now, I kind of feel like, I could do it. I've accomplished so much in such a short time over here, I'm feeling like anything is really possible. I've started looking into film schools in Los Angeles, specifically for screenwriting. I don't know what will happen, but at least I have an idea of where my life is headed, which is more than I could say even last week. I know for certain that I will not be happy in any job unless I'm allowed to create something on my own. If I don't try, I'll never know. And if I fail, I'll have a better chance at being happy doing something else.

Anyway, just thoughts. For the time being, I am safe, happy, and extremely busy. More sometime soon. <3M

Lite Brite City

This weekend was the lantern festival, and it was beautiful. To kick things off, my friends and I ate dinner together at a Shabu Shabu restaurant (the big soup pot) and stuffed our faces full of meat and vegetables. We made our way down to the water around 7:00. For a trip that normally takes 5-10 minutes by bus, it took 45..... and there were 80% more people on the bus. It was crazy! We finally arrived and while we were getting drinks, the fireworks began. The four of us from the states sang the national anthem, I began a "USA! USA!" chant, Koreans were confused, I liked it though.


Then we walked around the festival. It was cart after cart of hot delicious street food, drinks, and crafts for sale, which was awesome. My friend Sarah and I went to go to the bathroom, and while we were waiting we got our Chi realigned by some volunteer monks who were healing people. It was kind of weird and cool, they just moved their hands around our heads and backs and made a weird whooshing sound the whole time. I liked it.

The same dragons? Yes

You may be asking yourself: is Santa really holding a cross? Yes, yes he is.

Anyway, the lanterns! There was a floating bridge that you could walk across the river on, that's how people were able to take good pictures of the lanterns. It's going on until next Saturday, so I'll definitely be going back. Here's some more pics:

The best ones were definitely the interactive lanterns- with moving parts, etc. I loved this one!!! 

A view from one bridge

Interactive mixing bunnies? Ok!

Handmade prayer lanterns underneath the walkway

Leaping winged tiger!

Anyway, you kinda get the idea. It was great! It was kind of cold so we left around 1.
Yesterday CR hosted a dinner & movie party for us- he made jambalaya, I made cornbread, Gareth & Aine made delicious nachos, and Sarah and Jess brought ice cream cake!!! We drank wine and watched A Streetcar Named Desire (the movie version this time) and all in all had a wonderful time together.
Yay for a great weekend!!!

CAT CAFE!!!

My last day of the Chuseok holiday was today, and there was no better way to spend it than to have a picnic in the park with my great new friend CR (I know what the 'C' stands for.... but I'm not allowed to tell anyone, haha). We met at Gyeongsang National University (GNU) where CR is an English teacher. The campus is beautifully landscaped and well planned, and definitely a place I will go back and explore a bit better. There are a lot of hiking trails as well that go through some of the hills in Jinju, and I can't wait to walk through those as well. CR loves to cook, and brought BLTs with homemade basil/garlic mayonnaise and fresh squeezed lemonade! I brought a bottle of wine and we had a lovely time sitting in the park and talking. The weather was beautiful (though slightly too hot) and CR promised to take me to a really special place next.....

A CAT
CAFE

When he originally told me about this, I was in disbelief. A cafe! With cats in it! That just walk around and want you to snuggle with them! And you drink coffee and get snacks there! It was really clean, too. Whatever, you guys probably don't care but it was like heaven to me. A genius business plan!

I definitely plan on going back, and CR told me there are definitely TWO of these in Jinju, one closer to where I am. I loved it so much, words can't describe.

Below: CR and this crazy little cuddle monster (laying on our beverage tray) who tried to eat my rabbit's foot

Little kitties everywhere!

"Mama"

Fluffy whites

Note: little blackie lounging on CR's lap. My heart melts!

Lastly: One of many hilarious signs around Jinju 

Such a great day!