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.