First Day of Work

Here it is Tuesday night, and I'm still alive. I think each day I remain alive while in Korea is a day well spent.

Today was my first day of work. I awoke at 7:30 a.m. I do not have a watch or clock in my room, so I can't say for sure what time it ever is. I do have my cell phone, but it will not tell the correct time, even if I turn it off and on again and again. It is stuck in California time. Well, in order to get up on time this morning, I needed an alarm clock. Since I do not have one, except on my cell phone, I had to set that. But I couldn't set it for 7:30, because it wouldn't be the correct 7:30 that I'd need. So I set my alarm for 2:30 p.m. Two-thirty p.m. in California is 7:30 a.m. in Korea. So that's how I'll deal with things for now. If my brother would be kind enough to mail me the watch I left at his house, I'd be greatly appreciative to him. Please Tim...

I got up, ate my Frosted Flakes out of a Tupperware bowl with chopsticks, like I mentioned in my blog from this morning.

Before 9, I headed over the Concert Hall (which you can see in my Korea album) where rehearsals, meetings, and the main performances are held. It seats just over 500 people, and it's quite a nice space.

I met Mike for my tour of the campus. I hadn't really seen much, because it was too cold me to just wander around by myself. I met lots more people and saw where things are.

At 10:30, I went and watched a little program called "Gold Rush Challenge" (pictures in the Korea album). It's a 30 minute interactive game show where students have to answer questions, in English, about American type things. Like, "How many legs does a cow have?" Think about it, if you did not speak English, that would be a VERY hard question. It's a very cool idea, and it's pretty fun for the kids. They all get candy at the end, whether their team wins or not.

I was struck by how bizarre some of the students act. Unlike Americans, Korean boys seem to have no problem walking arm in arm with another boy, and no problem touching each other. It's truly bizarre. It's not gross or sick or inappropriate or anything, it's just different. There's no macho image to uphold or protect over here. But also, the kids are ridiculously wild. They do not respect when a teacher is talking (perhaps they do when it's their teacher and not ours), they would not sit down, and they would not be quiet. It drove me nuts. If they acted like this in the programs I did back in California, either I or their teacher would have ripped them a new one. The hosts of the game show later told me that they were considered a good class. I shudder at the thought of a bad one...

After watching that show, which I'll eventually have to participate in, I went to watch one of the main stage shows, "The Coyote Monster", in the Concert Hall. There are only 3 actors in this show. I will eventually be doing shows on this stage. The kids in this show were much better behaved. The main shows are 40 minutes long and have to contain a lot of interaction and physical actions to keep the kids interested. These are kids of all ages. There was a lot of physical humor in this show, people falling down, burping, etc., which has always been funny to me. There's also music in all the shows. Original music and some previously recorded music. "The Coyote Monster" uses the famous "Chicken Dance" song, which I remember roller-skating to at the rink in Moss Bluff, Louisiana. Those were the days.

After watching the show, Mike wanted me to go back and watch another of the "Gold Rush Challenge" shows to get more familiar and comfortable with it--because he wanted me to do the last one of the day. Yikes. It is a very simple idea, and a simple show, but I didn't want to mess anything up on my first day. So, I went over for the 12:30 show...but no kids showed up, so we just went to lunch.

Lunch. What a simple notion. Since the entire park is closed on Mondays, this would be my first day in the cafeteria. We walked upstairs where the teachers eat, I took one look at the offerings for the day, and I turned right around. I wish I could adequately describe what I saw, but I'll have to stick with grossness. The food looked like an animal had been visciously attacked, savagely garrotted, then it's body turned inside out and put on a plate. I don't even want to know what it was.

We left and went to the sandwich shop, called "Tantalus". It's like a Subway. I had a ham and cheese and bacon sub. Not bad. Since I'm now more adventurous than I've ever been before, I asked for tomatoes on my sandwich. If my father grew the tomatoes, they'd be delicious...but I think some old fisherman grew mine. It tasted like dirty fish. I took the tomatoes off. But the sandwich was good. The sandwich shop is run by a nice lady named Oksana, who is from Russia. I was very cold in the shop, and when she asked where I was from, and I responded, "LA", she said, "Oh yeah, this must be really cold for you. This isn't cold where I come from in Siberia." I thought..."Yeah, I suppose not. Considering Siberia is in SIBERIA!!" I think even the White Witch from "Narnia" would be cold in Siberia. I think the people who live on the planet Jupiter moved there from Siberia because it was too cold. I'm pretty sure Oksana wasn't wearing any pants, and she was wearing a huge block of ice on her back. This weather must be like Hell to her. Of course I'm kidding about all that. But she is from Siberia, and she was very nice.

I very smartly brought a World Map with me, so when I get to my apartment, I'm going to put it on the wall and put tacks up where people I meet are from. I've already got Siberia, South Africa (x2), Canada, Australia, England, and several states in America done, not to mention Korea.

It's still freezing, and I'm told it will only get worse...but thankfully, my blood should begin to slowly stop moving through my veins, and I'll be much warmer. But until that day--MAN, it's COLD.

After lunch, I visited the EV-Mart (different than E-Mart), which is located on the campus of the Village. This is a typical convenience store, stocked with anything I'd ever need. Pantyhose, Snickers, and even cans of Dr. Pepper. "I guess I won't end up dying after all", I say to myself. I could definitely survive.

Kids are everywhere through the park, by the way. They're wandering everywhere. Most of the boys are chucking snowballs everywhere. Throughout the day, various groups of children run up to me waving and saying, "Hello". One boy named Jun-Ho asked, "How old are you?" I told him, then asked his age, he said, "Eleven". Later, I took a picture with a pack of girls. Hilarious. I realized that we're being prepped for becoming a celebrity. Other people say it gets annoying having people constantly come up to you saying, "Hello" and other stuff. I don't think I'll ever get tired of it. Ask me in a few months. I think I know myself well enough to know that it'll never bother me. Never.

After visiting the EV-Mart, I showed up for the 2:30 "Gold Rush Challenge" show to watch from backstage now, to see how it runs. There are two hosts than dress up in overalls and cowboy hats riding fake horses, and there's one person who runs the sound and takes care of the few props for the different games. I sat behind the little wall with the sound person. I even got to dress up as a deer for the Final Challenge, when contestants from each team have to throw velcro covered balls at my costume, lined with strips of velcro, to see how many they can get to stick to me. What fun.

I returned at 4, for the last program of the day, which I was going to be a host for. I put on the overalls and the hat and everything. No kids showed up, so we were done for the day. Oh well, I'm sure I'll end up doing it tomorrow or something. I have no idea what's going on.

One of the other Edutainers, Stu, from Australia, asked me and Rachel, another Edutainer, to help him lay down some vocals on a track of a song he's writing for an upcoming production. I was honored. We went to his apartment, and I learned the chorus of the song he's writing. I did some harmony to the existing melody, and it seemed to work out great. Fun. I hope to do more of that in the future. It's easy and fun. Basically, I'm singing backup for someone else.

After that, Stu and I went to the Pub that's here on campus. Yes, there's an English Pub. They have fish and chips and nachos and hamburgers. I had a hamburger. Hmm. Let me clarify something I now know about Korean hamburgers. It's not a hamburger in the sense that it's beef. It's not like anything I've had before. It wasn't terrible, it just wasn't like any hamburger I've ever had. And if you know me well, you know I love hamburgers. So that was a sad disappointment.

There's a bakery on campus as well, which has bagels and bread and everything. I should have got a loaf of bread this morning, but I didn't. That way I can make my own peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for meals rather than having another curiously odd hamburger or dead inside-out animal sandwiches.

And this was only my first day of work.

P.S. I probably won't write about every single days activities, because it would drive me crazy to read someone's daily account, but I put down what I think is interesting or worth noting. You can take it or leave it.