GOD is REAL

Yes, God is real. I have believed in God for many years. But if I ever doubted His existence--I can do so no more.

Remember, sometime last month, I wrote a blog which detailed a journey to COEX Mall. I was hungry and desperate to find something I could eat--and I saw, in the distance, a SBARRO Italian Eatery. I was overjoyed. This alone could prove the existence of a higher power.

However, that experience doesn't come close to the excitement I felt this past week.

On Tuesday morning, I headed back to Severance Hospital for my appointment with an eye doctor. When I was there last week to get x-rays on my hand and knee, I asked the regular doctor about lasik surgery. He set up this appointment with another doctor in the hospital.

So I arrived for my appointment. They did all kinds of tests on my eyes. To make a long (and potentially gross) story short; I am NOT eligible for lasik surgery. I've got an astigmatism in both eyes, and the doctor said something about myopia. Okay, so I can't have lasik surgery--I'll wear glasses for the rest of my life. But that's not the exciting part.

When I left the hospital, it was around 12:00 noon. I had awoke that morning at 6:30 a.m. to catch the 7:20 a.m. shuttle to Ilsan, so I could get to the hospital for my 9:00 a.m. appointment. So I was hungry.

I decided to take a different route from the hospital, to walk around and see a new part of town. Without looking at my handy guide, I knew that I'd eventually come across some place that I could eat. McDonalds, Burger King, Lotteria, something.

What I found confirms the very existence of GOD: Quizno's Subs.

QUIZNO'S!! I found a QUIZNO'S! No one had ever mentioned to me that Korea contained any Quizno's! I mean, Subway is good and all...but Quizno's is out of this world! Even though the sky was overcast this particular Tuesday, a definite ray of light was shining from Heaven upon this discovery.

This was different from my Sbarro's sighting. The Sbarro I saw was in the distance, and I was unsure of what I saw. I thought it was a mirage. However, my discovery of Quizno's was not unlike Indiana Jones coming face to face with the Ark of the Covenant in "Raiders of the Lost Ark"; and just as spiritual an experience. I did a triple take at the storefront directly in front of me. I walked in, garnering a few funny looks from the customers. I may have been walking in super slow motion into the restaurant, out of sheer shock; and that's why they may have been staring. That or the fact that, like a little dog, I'd peed my pants with excitement.

Anyway, I couldn't believe that this was real. All the signs, all the decorations, even the smells were identical to my American Quizno's experiences. I ordered my regular sandwich, The Traditional. They have this ranch dressing they put on the sandwich that is absolutely indescribably good. I ate my meal slowly and with care. I'll definitely return there again and again.

When I was finished and I was turning in my tray, I said, "Mashee-eessoyo", which means, "That was DELICIOUS." The lady laughed.

What a terrific lunch.

Unfortunately, I have no pictures for you. My camera is acting up. It will not recognize any memory card I put into it--thus making it impossible to take pictures. Fortunately, I am in South Korea, which has some of the largest electronics manufacturers and stores in the world. I'm looking into purchasing a new digital camera this coming week. Any helpful hints regarding a camera would be most appreciated.

Weekend Of All Weekends

To start this exciting blog--here are some pictures from the show I'm doing; School Days (you will notice in some pictures, my hair is red, in others it is black--I changed it from the hideous red color to the more normal black).

My new hair color--

Singing in the first scene (old hair color)--Me, Curtis, introducing myself to the new student, Antonio, by yelling--
Me happy about my grade on the quiz...I got a C (I say, "C is for Curtis!")-- The three students (Curtis, Peggy, Antonio) after the Final Test song--
Mrs. Thompson (the teacher) talking to us--
Me as the Chef, looking on--Me as the Chef, singing and dancing--Mrs. Thompson dancing--breaking her own rule of "No Dancing!"--
Final Bows--
As of today (Friday, March 21), we've done 24 shows. Wednesday and Thursday we do 2 shows a day. Friday we do only one show. But Saturday and Sunday we do 3 shows each day. It's exhausting. Other than presenting programs to school kids and taking trips around the World Famous Jungle Cruise at Disneyland, I've never done a "show" this many times...and I still have 2 months of the show left. By the end (which is the end of May), I'll have done something like 130 performance.

Seeing as how I'm going to be working with the same actors for 3 months--I thought it would be a good idea to have them over for breakfast this last Sunday before our LONG 3 show day.

Brian (plays Antonio), Candy (plays Peggy), and Hwa Kyoung (plays the teacher, Mrs. Thompson; and the waitress)--Some of you may have been keeping track of the weather over here. It has become quite lovely, for the most part. I am happy to report that when I was outside this weekend, I found that I was actually sweating! For the past week, every time I go outside I expect coldness and haven't got it. It is incredible. IT HAS BEEN AROUND 65 DEGREES OUTSIDE!! Literally, I feel like I have been let out of a prison I've been in for 4 months (this past Wednesday marked my 4 month mark here in Korea). I have been set free from a cold, dark prison--and sent into a warm world. It is incredible.

With the aid of the weather, I had the greatest two-day weekend so far. Usually, when it comes to the weekend, I'm so tired from the week, I don't want to do anything. Remember, I get Mondays and Tuesdays off, which means Saturday and Sunday are my last two days of work for the week. But as I said, Saturday and Sunday are the busiest, most exhausting days of all.

So usually, when it comes time for my days off...I don't do much. I usually spend one of those days locked in my room, being lazy. I do "something" on the other day off. But this weekend I spent BOTH days off doing exciting things.

MONDAY--

I decided to go to the hospital. Okay, so that's not so exciting. But it was a new (new to me, not recently built) hospital, one I hadn't been to before. In Seoul, I had heard about a hospital that had an International Health Clinic. The hospital is called Severance Hospital...nomenclature that, in my opinion, should not refer to a hospital. "Sever"-anything is not something I want to hear in conjunction with any malady I might have.

The hospital--All I wanted to do was get a "checkup", because I really haven't had a checkup in...well...I don't when I last had a checkup. Last Tuesday (the 11th), while playing Flag Football, I jammed my pinky finger. I just caught (I should say dropped) a pass wrong, and it hurt immediately. I'm nothing if not consistently hurting somewhere on my body. A fractured foot, a jammed pinky, a sore knee, a sore back, a sore neck, various cuts and bruises from falling--it's always something.

During this show, I have to do pushups and a cartwheel, both painfully impossible with a jammed finger. For the shows, I simply taped my pinky to my ring finger and hoped it would get better. And it has gotten better. But while I was at the doctor, I thought I'd mention it and see if it was broken or something. So I got an x-ray on my right pinky finger and my left knee. Yeah, I hurt my knee about 2 years ago. Literally, I was bending down to pick up my backpack, and something "popped". I never got it looked at...until this past Monday. In the past 2 years, the knee has felt much better, which is why I never felt the need to see a doctor.

Well, the x-rays showed nothing wrong with either my knee or my pinky. So, nothing is broken. Great. I'm just aging poorly...like Brad Pitt and Harrison Ford.

Some of you have been wondering about my foot. You may recall that I fractured it within a month of arriving here in Korea; caused by dancing (I HATE DANCING!) without special shoes on a hard dance floor. Well, my foot is much better now. Every once in a while it will be slightly sore, but the real pain is gone. I plan to return to the hospital where I got it looked at to make sure all is well.

I don't know if any of you have ever investigated or had lasik surgery--but I'm thinking about getting it done; if I'm even eligible for it. So I spoke to the doctor about this as well. He got me an appointment with some eye doctor for next week. So we'll see how that goes.

After visiting the doctor, I headed to Namdaemun Market, which I've been to a couple times before. This new warm weather made me want to buy some t-shirts. I didn't pack that many t-shirts when I was coming here from southern California, not only because I didn't have room, but because I knew I was coming to a place with subzero temperatures. I knew that Namdaemun would have cheap t-shirts.

Namdaemun Market, Gate 4 (Seoul Tower in the background)--Underground directions--If you're really good with names, or you've been closely following my blogs, you recognize the name Namdaemun. Namdaemun means "great south gate", and is the gate that was burned down earlier this year. But right near the gate is a large, world famous marketplace that has existed since the 15th century! Certainly it's proximity to the gate is why it's been around so long. It NEVER closes. Obviously, some vendors don't stay open all night, but some do. Apparently, there's a section that only opens in the middle of night--and it is more packed than during the day (which is saying A LOT). So, anyway, this place is insane. I bought some t-shirts and that was that. Lovely day.

TUESDAY--

Before the weekend, I looked at the forecast. The temperature on Tuesday was supposed to be 68 degrees. The warmest it had been so far. I decided to hike up to Seoul Tower. In my handy "Seoul" book it gives very explicit directions on how to get there. I mean it literally tells you to take a right here, walk up the steps there, take the first left, walk up more steps, pass the playground and the old men playing Korean chess...etc.

I mentioned this adventure to Candy, and she said she'd like to go. Though she's been here 9 months to my 4, she hasn't done much touristy stuff. I usually do all this fun stuff alone--so I was pleased to have someone to accompany me. Plus, Candy is generally awesome.

Seoul Tower is on top of Mt. Namsan, which used to be part of the southern border of Seoul (the mountain is very near Namdaemun Gate). My handy book says the hike only takes 30 minutes. Of course, that's without taking a million pictures along the way; and stopping every 2 minutes to breathe; and visiting the various stops along the way. Well, the weather was incredible, but I was sad it was a bit hazy out. That would make the view less spectacular. Well it did--but it was still an incredible view, and I did take a million pictures.

Beginning our hike in a little park on the hillside (Directions say "turn right up the steps and into and through the small hillside park")--

This church was near the hillside park we stopped at--Candy and I stopped for a picture-- Candy on the steps on our way towards the Millenium Hilton Hotel ("go right and walk round to the front of the hotel")--The view from the base of the hotel--A cool stone with characters carved in it--Some flowers I saw--A birdhouse along the pathway up the mountain (no birds inside)--Another random birdhouse further up the mountain--Part of our pathway, making our way up to the top--A great shot of the path, the wall, and the Tower (and I suppose the dead trees, too)--This is me just off the path--touching part of the ORIGINAL Fortress Wall around Seoul (this was my first time seeing any of the fortress wall, it runs up much of the mountain to a guard center at the top)--Getting closer--Me at the outlook point--nearly a 360 degree view of Seoul--incredible--We made it--This guy made it too, kind of (they had several of these random wire people flying around)--We were lucky enough to see the changing of the guard ceremony at the top of the mountain (I didn't even know there was such a thing at the top--though it makes sense, seeing as how they would have been guarding the southern border of Seoul from this great vantage point), and I got my picture with two of the guards--it was pretty scary--On our way down the mountain, going back through one of the parks, we saw these two old (I mean OLD) men playing tennis. No net, no lines, no fans, no ESPN coverage--just old guys playing tennis. I just found it so bizarre.It was a terrific day. Beautiful weather, a great view, great exercise (which resulted in some soreness later in the week; surprise, surprise). I'm appreciating this new weather a lot. It'll make traveling around a LOT easier and more exciting.

INSANITY

In case you're ever on your way to English Village--just look for this sign. It points you in the right direction. Hey, people reading this--do you have stoplights that go horizontally like this? I know Texas does, but I know AZ and California do not. Anyone else? Just curious. I just found this shot in my Korean album (I've taken well over 1,000 pictures since I've been here), and thought I'd share it. It was taken on one of my walks to the post office (of which there have been two). Remember--you can simply click on a picture and it will enlarge to a grand scale allowing you easier viewing capabilities. I'm all about ease and comfort for you all.
So, I'm going to be cramming two weeks worth of adventures into this blog...which is quite a sum, I must tell you. The last two weeks have been crazy. Last week, for one of my days off, I went into Seoul. I went to DongDaeMun Stadium, where the indoor flea market is. This is a picture from inside the stadium; a shot of the scoreboard. I thought it was interesting. The clock says 12:00, but that is not right...I don't think it's shown the correct time in many years. Just look at the condition of the scoreboard itself.
This is another shot from inside the stadium itself, showing dark skies; which was a storm coming my way.
I took this picture some weeks ago when I was near DongDaeMun Stadium, and while I can't really tell you what this thing is--I put this picture here to show you what it looks like when it's sunny out.
This was taken as I was exiting DongDaeMun Stadium as the storm was hitting. The same weird billboard thing with snow coming down. Luckily, I had checked the weather report the night before, and I was prepared with an umbrella. Many were not as fortunate, and the street salesman who sold umbrellas were very pleased with themselves; while the street salesman who sold beach towels were not (that was a joke, I've never seen anyone selling beach towels in South Korea).
Though it snowed heavily on and off for most of the day, it never stuck to the ground. It really was a nice day before and after the snow.

At some point during my journey, I needed to use the restroom...and I went into a stall...and this is what I saw. Just sort of a hole in the ground. Very strange; I'd never seen it before. Whatever.Another random picture: these birds are EVERYWHERE in Korea. They are all over English Village, and besides a few little sparrow-type birds, these are the only birds I've ever seen here. Any guess on what they are? Notice the big belly and the shade of blue on their back. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
So, as I was walking through Seoul last week, I came across this scene. These guys were holding big sticks and were swinging them around in time to some music. They would hit them on the ground occasionally, and they seemed to be following one guy in particular. It was just very interesting to watch (I watched from far away, so as not to be inflicted with any pain).
Right around the corner from the guys swinging sticks was the Seoul Museum of Art, which I did not enter, but took some pictures of the sign and the entranceway.
The entranceway into the Museum--notice the Van Gogh banners; I'm guessing that was the exhibit inside.
Right across from the Museum is another palace. The picture below is just a portion of the wall that surrounds the palace. It's a beautiful wall, and while it's not particularly high, it is very long...I didn't walk the entirety of it, but it stretches a long way.When I walked around one side of the wall, I reached the front entrance of the palace I knew lay inside. You can see the sign that has the prices and times listed. Inside is Deoksugung Palace, which my handy Seoul book tells me "became a palace in 1593 when King Seonjo moved in (after all of Seoul's other palaces were destroyed during the Japanese invasion)".This is the entrance to the Palace. I didn't go in...though I almost did. It cost a whole dollar to enterAcross the street from the palace, sort of in the center of a big intersection area, is Seoul's City Hall. I set the camera down on the dirt that is part of the front lawn of City Hall. I'm assuming once Spring officially arrives, this dirt will be beautiful grass...at least I hope so. It was a very large front lawn...and it was all dirt. You can see the time, 10:00 a.m.--which is correct. I had arrived early this particular day to spend as much time in Seoul as I could, as well as to buy my plane tickets for Australia (coming up in June).
I found out that this blog site allows me to add video directly into the blog--which is great, considering that I'm all about ease and comfort for you all. Here is a 360 degree shot (with an interesting soundtrack--traffic) of buildings starting with Seoul's City Hall--which I hadn't seen previously.



Across the street from City Hall was some sort of structure; I could see it across the street, but didn't know what it was. Basically, it was the building you see below, which was unlike any other structure I'd seen before. Most of the cool, ancient structures I've seen have been those gates, or the rather square pagoda pavilions. This was different.
I doubt this was the original wall to this structure, but it made for interesting shadows as I walked along the path around this building.This is a closeup of what's on the edges of the roof surrounding the building. I don't recall if this was on every corner on all 3 levels or not. But I'm sure that even if I took a picture of every single one...none of us would know what any of it meant. So just enjoy it.As I continued to walk around, I came upon this small doorway. I'm guessing there used to be an actual wall around the building, with this, and other doorways, serving as the entrances, but the doors are now chained and shut.
I really like this picture. It's taken from the ground looking up the door. Some interesting textures. This is one picture you should definitely enlarge and see up close.
This is the side of the doorway arch, with this interesting marking on either side.
Once I made it all the way around on the path, it was obvious I'd reached the main entrance to the structure.
Obviously, I set my camera on the ground for that shot above. And just behind me were 3 doors, just like the other solitary door I'd seen, but these 3 doors were connected as arches (think the McDonald's arch with one more). Here's a shot through the center arch. Notice the painting on the ceiling of the doorway.
Here's an interesting view of that ceiling art--
After taking the above picture, I walked up the steps to the building itself and snapped a shot of the colorful building itself. It's obviously very intricate and beautiful (I heightened the contrast and lowered the brightness a little on this picture).
As I exited, I found out what this building was. I had clearly gone the wrong way around the path. This is what a sign outside this building said: "Wongudan is a religious altar where the son of Heaven performed a sacrificial rite and was constructed in Cosun Dynasty (1897). Old documents show that the sacrificial rituals for the Heaven in Korea have been performed since the ancient Chocsun BC (2333)." After I left, I looked at my Seoul book, and it calls this structure "Altar of Heaven Pavilion". Very interesting.

After spending my day doing some shopping and exploring, I made one last stop at another gate I'd read about--and as I expected, it was different than the rest of the gates I'd seen. I went to Dongnimmun Park, which contains several things. The picture below is Dongnimmun Gate (also called "Independence Gate")--not to be confused with DongDaeMun--but I'm sure I didn't need to tell you that.
Dongnimmun was built in 1898, and it was built right where the former gate used to be; the previous gate was called Yongunmun. It wasn't a main entrance into Seoul, like DongDaeMun was, instead this specific gate was used to receive Chinese envoys. I found that interesting. Also, notice in the above picture the two stone pillars in front of the arch that look out of place--those are all that remain of Yongunmun. As it says in the picture below, Dongnimmun was built on the site of Yongunmun.
This is the kind of tree that surround one end of the gate. You can see the gate in the background.In the same area, within Dongnimmun Park, there is Independence Hall, seen below. It's the same style building as any of the other Korean buildings--the square pagoda.
I purposely took this picture with the guy in it--but I didn't intend for him to look right at me. After I took it, he kept looking at me, though I turned and walked away. I hope I didn't anger him--I was far away, and I don't know whether he thought I was taking a picture of him or what (it's sometimes hard to tell whether Koreans are angry or not). Whatever.
Read about Independence Hall here--
You probably can tell that by this point the sun was beginning to set as I was preparing to leave the Dongnimmun Park area and return home. As I previously mentioned, the snow from the day never stuck to the ground, but had all melted. I took this picture of the setting sun reflecting on the stone.
This picture shows a reflection of a tree in the water on the ground.
After seeing all this--in ONE DAY, mind you--I went home. That was it for the week's excursions.

Now onto this week.

Within the past two weeks, three of my coworkers ended their contracts and left. Also within the last two weeks, we got 2 new ones. Kelly and Robyn. This picture is from their welcome dinner, we ate the smoked meats place near EV (English Village)--which has excellent food (I'm serious, this is where I first had duck). In the picture, clockwise, is Mike (the guy who hired me--he doesn't usually look like this, he's obviously making a stupid face), Alena (the director of the show I'm in), me with stupid red hair and holding CHOPSTICKS (and they weren't just a prop for the picture, I actually am getting much better at using them), Brian (who is also in the show with me), and Robyn, one of the new girls. Kelly, the other new girl, is taking the picture.

This past week was quite busy. The show I've been working on, School Days, opened on Thursday, March 6. We did one show...for 3 people. It was ridiculous and hilarious at the same time. Weekends are much busier, and we did shows for closer to 400 people on Saturday and Sunday. But anyway, the show opened. It's great fun playing two characters and hearing/watching the audience "get it". If they aren't having fun, we really haven't done our job. Even in a regular show, it always makes a difference when the audience enjoys it--but especially here. In a normal show, if the audience isn't good; you still do your job. You're an actor, it's what you do. But here, if the audience isn't good (meaning responsive, etc.); it's just human torture for 40 minutes. We rely on the audience to give us responses to help us move the plot along. If there are 3 people in the audience--they usually don't respond. If the show was too difficult for them to understand--they won't respond. But I think our show is easy to follow--and very fun. It better be fun, because I'm going to have to do it about 130 times before I'm done. Yikes. The longest run of a show I've done prior to this was about 23 shows. I'll get more pictures from the show soon, but here's one of Candy and I in our outfits (I'm not really pigeon-toed, I'm just being silly for the picture).
What I am about to describe may shock some of you. It was certainly shocking for me. Yesterday, Monday, March 10, I got my first professional massage. Candy told me all about this great Thai Massage place she knew about--and she'd been many times; so she wanted me to go with her. I was frightened, which added to my already tense body; which made a massage that much more necessary. This is the entrance into the place. Very fancy.Immediately after walking in, the perfect mood was set. There was a slight incense smell in the place, beautiful decorations, low lighting. The woman at the counter knows Candy very well from all her visits, and always tried to speak English to her. She was very kind. We paid her, she gave us our "outfits", and showed us to our respective changing rooms. The picture below is the changing room. Cologne, hair gel, hairspray, mousse, cue-tips, toothbrushes and razors. So neat.
This was my little outfit; I was so thankful such an outfit existed. It wasn't like a hospital--with openings at the rear. It was just a comfy shirt and shorts. This was a good thing. I didn't want to be "touched" without having these things on.
The massage lasted two hours, and the nice woman who did my massage used her entire body; knees, elbows, hands, and feet to shove and twist my body into shapes I didn't know were imaginable. She pulled and pushed on me; and though I thought I was supposed to be releasing tension, I may have gained some just from fear. I have never been pampered in such a way, and it took some getting used to. I just needed to relax and enjoy it.

If you've ever had such a massage, you understand. If you haven't, you can't understand.

I think I'll be walking taller for about a month. What an experience! I'm not sure if I'll repeat it...only because I think my knees will snap in two if I go again.

So, I think I mentioned in a previous blog that there is a Costco in Seoul. Which is strange enough--but now they've built one in Ilsan, which is much closer to me. After the massage, Candy and I headed to this new Costco.
Before we'd even reached the actual shopping area, there was this huge sign for Honey Nut Cheerios--which is one of the main (if not THE main) reason why I wanted to go to Costco. I had to get a picture by the sign.
First vision of something I recognize! Mounds of clothes!The shopping adventure now over, I had to get my fix of pizza!
Though I thoroughly enjoyed walking around in a store that was, for once, FAMILIAR to me...I couldn't wait to be finished...so I could have a slice of the famous Costco pizza!! I was not disappointed! A slice of pizza and a Coke is only 3,000Won. Delicious.
Here's Candy (the one with the Costco card) eating some of her chips with the new salsa she and I bought. Just like in America, this Costco has people with samples of food all over the store. Well, I was starving while walking around (never a good idea to be hungry while shopping for food) and found this AMAZING Pineapple salsa. So I bought a big jug, and so did Candy. She couldn't even wait to have some until she got home...she cracked it open while I was eating my pizza. You can also spot the 6 pound bag of pretzels I bought, the Honey Nut Cheerios, the 15 pack of Macaroni & Cheese, and the gigantic bags of tortilla chips ("The better to eat with the salsa, my dear").
It was one of the greatest days off I've had in a while. Even if I'd just been able to buy Honey Nut Cheerios--I would still say that.

You see, it doesn't take much to make me happy. General Mills knows all about that.

Until the next blog--I hope you enjoyed this one!!