Vagina Monologues Performance Weekend

taking our bow

This weekend, I took part in the annual performance of the Vagina Monologues here in Jinju. Though we were all nervous, it went off without a hitch- it was an amazing show and all of my friends really, truly impressed me with their acting skills. All of my girlfriends took part and though we were all pretty nervous, everyone did a superb job.

Here I am, talking about a specific "bad" word.... I had only finished learning my monologue the afternoon of the show.

After it was over, we all pretty much breathed a giant sigh of relief en route to the bar to celebrate. The hot and smoky bar, however, was too small to contain our energy, so we left to "troll the bridge." (That basically means climbing up under the bridge and scaring people who walk by.... Jackie is best at this, but we're all learning.) As it was about 2:30 by this time, no one walked by, so we just enjoyed the insanely beautiful weather and laughed into the night. We wrapped things up by wreaking havoc on the town and ringing the nearby church bell at 3AM. All in all it was a lovely evening!

Trolling with Chris

Yesterday I met the gang in the park for an afternoon lounge. We ate pizza and cake and just chilled out, as per the Sunday ritual. Spring is so enjoyable in Jinju- perhaps my favorite season thus far- and now that the monologues are over with, we can get back to having expendable time.

Beautiful Jinju

Yesterday night was the first official Cancertron practice. We lost both our bassist and drummer from the Gay Sexxyz; Cancertron's new drummer is a well-traveled, old school punk rock 45-ish Welsh guy named Tim who is pretty laid back and keen on anything. He's only recently arrived in Jinju, but immediately jumped at the chance to join us and picked up the songs in seconds. I'm ending up playing equal amounts bass and keyboard; I'm proud to announce I have my very first fingertip blisters from the heavy copper strings. I'm slow on the uptake, but I'm getting it. Last night we laid down five new tracks that, with practice, I will be really proud to perform live.

The future is so bright!
More soon,
<3M

Spring has Sprung!

Nothing new to really report, save for the fact that I am feeling almost 100% better! Thanks so much to everyone for praying for me.

There's a lot going on in the next couple of weeks/months: my band has at least three shows, I'm taking part/performing in the Jinju production of The Vagina Monologues at the end of April, there are going away parties every weekend, a trip to Seoul for St. Patrick's Day, and much more. It's a busy time of year here- and the weather is starting to get really nice (finally!) I can't wait for the flowers to come, and to retire my winter coat. It should be any day now, really! Today is so beautiful that I feel guilty sitting here behind this desk. Lunch time will warrant a long walk in the sunshine!

My relationship with my new co-teacher, Kim, is really good lately, too. She and I are a solid team, and she is a big fan of giving out candy to students, which they of course love and respond to enthusiastically. She isn't very organized, and we are working out a few kinks here and there, but for the most part, I got lucky again with as far as partners go.

Six more months to go! I can't even believe it.
More super soon,
<3M