I promise that the next time we post it will be Jeff's writings not mine!
On to the content. (Please note... boring photo right now, will be replaced at the end of the week with a MUCH better one... But Richard is wearing the Nanta hat....)
This past Saturday we went to see Nanta. Nanta is Korea's longest running performance show - it is a non-verbal performance, this means that we didn't need to worry about not understanding what was happening. It was started in 1997 and has been quite successful both in Korea and in 135 cities worldwide. The Tour2Korea website describes the show:
NANTA storms into a huge kitchen where four capricious cooks are preparing a wedding banquet. While cooking, they turn all kinds of kitchen items - pots, pans, dishes, knives, chopping boards, water bottles, brooms and even each other- into percussion instruments.
I was quite excited to see this show as I love percussion shows, the drum beats pulse in my body - I wish I could drum - but I digress.... Richard, Kelly, Sara, Vanessa, Dan, Becky, Jeff, and I headed to the Nanta theatre for a Saturday matinee show. The theatre was small (but cosy) and the audience was quite mixed - both Koreans and foreigners. At two points during the show the chefs required audience members to join them on stage. Lucky for us both Dan and Richard made their way to the stage to be made fools of - but it was all good fun!
Although I enjoyed Nanta I was a bit disappointed. I saw the Blue Man Group when I was in Boston a couple of years ago. I LOVED the Blue Man Group and was expecting Nanta to be of similar quality. I wanted more percussion, more drumming... it was just too tame for me.
Today I went to see B-Boy Korea with my school. I wasn't supposed to go, but I asked, and it turned out we could go (for free) as chaperones for my grade 6s. The grade 6s thought it was quite funny to see me outside of school with them on a trip. When I walked down to my seat some of them reached out an touched me like I was a rock star or something... quite odd!
B-Boy Korea is another non-verbal performance, but this time there was break dancing instead of cooking. The show (had a lame) plot - essentially two rival groups battle it out in a dance-off. I was really looking forward to this show too. Up until the last half hour the show was kind of slow. The drumming was awesome (I want to find a place to take lessons...) but the dancing was kind of.. well, not great - amature. During the last half hour (or less?) the boys (there were about 8 of them) pulled out all the stops and really danced, but up until then they were not wonderful. I must say that perhaps they were saving their energy until last bit of the show but I was a bit disappointed....
Jeff just asked if I was writing a novel... so I'll sign off here. All in all, the performances were interesting, but I guess I'm a bit of a snob. I like lots of energy all the way through the shows I see. We're thinking of seeing The Importance of Being Ernest (Oscar Wilde) next, we'll see how that goes.
K, I'm off.
~Jen
P.S. The other 3 teachers all had their "v"s up then bailed at the last moment so I'm the one looking like a dork... geeze!
As promised, I've delivered a couple of pictures for your enjoyment - just don't laugh too hard! So, without further delay.
Jen and Sarah belting out the tunes and really getting into the spirit of things. Richard is keeping the beat with his trusty tamborine.
Here's our grand finale - Bon Jovi's Livin' on a Prayer. A true classic that got everyone up and singing, even the random Irish dude we met at the bar that night joined in. I think his name is Shamus.
So last night I had my first Noraebang (literally, singing room... norae - singing, bang - room) experience. This is the way karaoke was meant to be done! We've got loads of pics and a video too I think, so don't worry, we will be posting some incriminating and embarassing evidence shortly. Truly though, having your own room so you can blast out the tunes with your friends by your side, without the heckling masses booing you off stage, or having to wait 4 hours for your turn is what singing is all about. In one hour, we got to sing maybe 15, 20 songs instead of sitting at a bar all night to get one song.
I was actually quite impressed with the selection of English songs that were available too. We'll definitely be returning soon. Just like PC bangs (internet cafes), these things are everywhere and so you don't have to travel far if you and your pals suddenly decide that you need to stretch the vocal cords.
Stayed tuned, we'll post pics soon!
Who knew that Sundays could be so much fun?
-jeff
BBQ Dinner - Korean style! (L - R) Vanessa, Kelly, Sarah, Jeff, Richard, Brent
Yesterday evening we decided to leave the confines of the training centre and venture out to try some real Korean food. Seven of us (three being vegetarians) headed off with some stunted Korean and a desire to eat with the locals. Let me be clear - we definitely HAVE been eating Korean food while at the training centre, but it hasn't been the greatest, and it definitely was not eaten whilst sitting on the floor. This was our first Korean dinner/food experience. It's pretty funny, everywhere we go the Koreans first turn to Jeff and begin speaking to him in Korean since he's the only Asian guy with us. He just ends up staring blankly back at them while one of the white folk take over the discussion.
Richard has been in Korea for a year and has a fairly good grasp on the language. Before deciding to eat at this restaurant he established with the hostess (in Korean) that three of us were vegetarian and would not eat meat. Fine. No problem! The omnivores ordered the traditional BBQ meat (can you see the raw meat on the mini BBQ on our table? It was cooked right in front of us!! The copper pipes hanging down provide fans for the BBQ in case it starts smoking ~ Very cool says this vegetarian!) and we were ordered a noodle dish. When the food arrived I was surprised to see that the noodle dish was cold (there was ice floating in the soup), and there was a piece of meat floating in the soup too! I tried the soup, but it wasn't my favourite. I'm sture that I'll try it again - sometimes the first time I try things I don't like them and then I acquire a taste for them, but we'll have to see. It looks like eating vegetarian will be tough (at least in the small towns, I've heard that in Seoul - pronounced Sea-oo-u-l - is much easy to find vegetarian food).
In addition to a lovely meal out (the BBQ really was cool!) we also have experienced the opportunity to learn how to dance the traditional Korean dances. Our teacher was a forty-ish year old Korean (who did not speak English) with a lot of passion and energy for the dance of his native country. We donned white fabric sleeves (they were essentially a tube of white fabric with an elastic band at one end. The elastic band was placed around the wrist, while the rest of the fabric hung almost to the floor - see Jeff's video for more details) and began to dance. The experience was pretty hilarious - you most likely had to be there, however, I captured some of Jeff's dancing (he's the one in brown, sorry it's so little!) on video and will share that with you all so that y'all can feel as though you were there laughing along with me! (I seriously laugh out loud when watching this video ~ at the beginning he has some trouble with matching the rest of the group, but by the end he's got it going on!)
That's it for this post. A bit of random Korean culture. Tomorrow (Thurs) we're heading into Seoul to watch an English class in action (a demonstration classroom) and to visit the National Museum of Korea. On Friday we finally move into our apartment (yeh!!) and will begin to get settled for teaching classes on Monday. I'm sure there will be more about Korean schools and our roles in the future so stay tuned (sorry, I'm a dork!)
~Jen
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