The Korean Nutcracker

This weekend I went to The Nutcracker Ballet- at least thats what I planned to see. Someone left fliers at school advertising the performance and offering a discount. The flier featured pictures of graceful ballerinas twirling about in pink. Well, I love Tchaikovsky and dancing and what is more cultured than seeing a ballet on the weekend? Maybe an opera.

Full of anticipation, Aaron and I arrived at the Osan Cultural Center 40 minutes before the performance began. As soon as we arrived I started to have misgivings. There were lots of kids-too many kids for a ballet. When the doors opened our ears were assaulted by kid's songs. These were ill omens indeed. And then the performance began. It was dreadful. It was not a ballet; it was a musical, in Korean with minimal dancing. They occasionally used the original music ... with a techno twist. And they were lip-singing. The actress who played Clara's mother looked miserable; she had a "I am young, beautiful, and spent years taking acting lessons to perform in this horrible production to an audience of twenty children under 10?" look. I felt sorry for her. You know its bad when the performers are unhappy to be there. Clara looked like she was 30 and had weak ankles or something. She kept falling pathetically to the ground.

They took some poetic license with the narrative. For example, the evil mouse king wore a red, glittery wig and instead of dying in the beginning pursued Clara and the Nutcracker Prince throughout the fairy land. At the Prince forgave the mouse king and everyone celebrated their new found happiness. During the scene changes, Drosselmeyer, Clara's godfather, appeared at the front of the stage and cackled maliciously like the worst villains in superhero movies who want to control the world. He was talking in Korean so I have no idea what he was saying. But it was bizarre. He is supposed to be mysterious not a psychotic villain who delights in universal chaos and seeks world domination. *Shudder*

It was a scaring experience.

Kimchi!

Koreans say "kimchi" instead of cheese when they take pictures. I think its really cute. What they say, not the kimchi. I'm not a huge fan of kimchi itself. The whole fermented cabbage thing doesn't really do it for me. Although its not so bad grilled.

Ring King

Koreans call the Lord of the Rings, The Ring King. Except they say it in Korean of course. I thought it was sort of funny.

Girls vs. Boys

Korean English academies are very fluid things. Children come and go much like the tide, albeit without the regularity. This leads to dramatic changes in class dynamics and in my designations of favorites. I just realized that my favorite class is comprised of two boys and four girls. It is the only class in which the girls outnumber the boys. Coincidence? I don't think so.

"The moving Moon went up the sky"

Last weekend was the Solar New Year - one of the most important holidays for Koreans. Seoul becomes a ghost town as people travel to their ancestral homes in the country. Most of my students bowed down to their grandparents and received money in return. Since my grandparents are far away and would probably accuse me of idolatry if I dropped to my knees in their presence, I spent my long weekend somewhat differently. On Sunday Aaron and I were invited to join a small group from our church for lunch. We had a noodle dish from North Korea and the most amazing mandoo. Mandoo is a kind of pastry stuffed with different ingredients-mostly beef or kimchi. After lunch the small group leader and his wife invited us to their house. I played Wii for the first time in my entire life; it was some ridiculous game involving insane rabbits. Loved it! They ordered pizza and we watched Wall-E while we ate. It was so wonderful to be around fellow English speakers and understand and make the same cultural references. I have forgotten how much fun laughing in large groups can be.
The next day we went to Lotte World which is the Korean version of DisneyWorld. There is an indoor portion with rides catering to children, an ice-skating rink, stores, a swimming pool, and restaurants, and an out door area with bigger rides and its own castle. In the early afternoon the place was practically deserted and line were almost non-existent. It was so much fun-we rode on water rides, rocking ships, and upside down loops. My favorite ride was Atlantis, the only really biggish roller coaster in the park. We were even treated to a cultural parade featuring scantily clad female dancers representing various countries. Except Korea that is. Their dancers were fully covered. Perhaps it was a subtle critique of our hyper-sexualized world. Or something.
I spent Tuesday with a Korean friend and her husband. We went to a huge department store in Suwon, browsed for awhile, had smoothies (I am addicted to Korean smoothies) and saw Valkerie. I don't really like Tom Cruise and the story telling was confusing but there some emotionally powerful moments. And afterwards we went to that authentic Korean restaurant-Outback. Koreans love, love Outback. They are everywhere in Seoul.
It was a splendid weekend and I was immensly grateful for the short week that followed. So were the kids. I think we all needed a break from each other :)