wah lao 2nd update today... miraculous or what??
Anyway... so for history see... we had to do this aleatoric piece... so we came up with... Aleatoric Recitative! It worked surprisingly well considering we thought of the idea on Monday, 'composed' it on Monday, and rehearsed it half an hour before lesson. (Sure hope someone doesn't read this) We even had our own fan club coming to hear us ok. Thanks Semiquavers haha Oh I have your rough design ready too...
The piece is actually quite simple, 5 of us wrote cards with instructions or text, about 10 each, but being the kiasu singaporeans we are most of us did more than ten... so we had around 60 cards... Shuffle, distribute evenly, and follow instructions as drama-mama as you can! Kitty was on the piano, playing her continuo for us... ET said she'd try to get this performed in platform hahaha. Hope it comes true!
Oh today's german class was a learn by doing method, but i still can't remmeber what gamelan in german stands for, kudos to sweat, heavy, tired, hot.... hmmm must not be a good method for us.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
MEWOO~ UPDATE!
ISME trip: (let's face it most of you won't understand this post.. and only 3 others will TRULY understand it)
bloopers first....
1. SOME clever person forgot to check his passport, and turns out it expired so he couldn't come. Fortunately for us.... we don't need a horn player.
2. Van was JUSTTTTTTTTTTTTT nice for us, meaning that it was just short of squeezy. Especially with that @#*@#(*&(*#($* big thing we had to wheel around hahaha. Though it did serve us well as a trash holder and table top
3. VIDEO of YOU KNOW WHO sleeping! This is priceless I tell you.... Get it from me if you haven't seen it!
4. Hotel didn't have superior rooms for us superior beings.... so we waited for around 1+ hours before they realised hey... these guys aren't just superior.. they are deluxe sized! Must be the FAT LADY that they meant. Can't be me... nuh uh... And so we got deluxe rooms... each! Again, pictures available for ye who asketh.
5. ISME admin is as good as ..... you know... , if not better. quote the left hand dunno wad the right hand is doing unquote
6. No place to put instruments after our sound check. Had to cart them back to our hotel. or wheel in some cases... luckily the hotel is a stone's throw away only... (hope they don't see the broken window when I tried)
Hilarious stuff:
1. Face mask + bath robe + turban + push-up video + mouth full of fish sticks = breathless laughter for 2 hours. Breathe! Breathe! you pointilistic thing! Breathe!
2. Do NOT allow your friends to have a video camera when you are asked to dance. All camera phones and digicams should be locked up and thrown into the ocean.
3. Definitely have a digicam with video function when on a van ride with 60s music and a sleeping girl. (Don't even go there! I know what you guys are thinking!)
4. "Lust has a new meaning".... "Style has a new something".............. so on and so forth. Whoever guesses what car is being promoted on this advertisement tag on the tagboard. Prizes for winner! No not open to the ones who watched Pirates in Tanjong GV. Hint: It made most of us Singaporeans almost unanimously choke on our drinks... if we had any that is...
5. Wench cards!!!! Best thing since roti prata!
Right... anyway, the trip was really fun... we didn't get to see much of the convention, cos we were busy researching. The performance itself was great! Good job all performers! The audience liked our music too... Singapore music is going international baby!
Oh apparently Semiquaver No. 1 heard some story about needles in cinema chairs and made us all check for needles before sitting down or we might get HIV.... uh.. malaysia that is, not singapore. Don't freak out.
Impiana Hotel is great... I'd stay there again if i ever go KL, and if i have that much $$$$
kk... too long post already...
Out.
ISME trip: (let's face it most of you won't understand this post.. and only 3 others will TRULY understand it)
bloopers first....
1. SOME clever person forgot to check his passport, and turns out it expired so he couldn't come. Fortunately for us.... we don't need a horn player.
2. Van was JUSTTTTTTTTTTTTT nice for us, meaning that it was just short of squeezy. Especially with that @#*@#(*&(*#($* big thing we had to wheel around hahaha. Though it did serve us well as a trash holder and table top
3. VIDEO of YOU KNOW WHO sleeping! This is priceless I tell you.... Get it from me if you haven't seen it!
4. Hotel didn't have superior rooms for us superior beings.... so we waited for around 1+ hours before they realised hey... these guys aren't just superior.. they are deluxe sized! Must be the FAT LADY that they meant. Can't be me... nuh uh... And so we got deluxe rooms... each! Again, pictures available for ye who asketh.
5. ISME admin is as good as ..... you know... , if not better. quote the left hand dunno wad the right hand is doing unquote
6. No place to put instruments after our sound check. Had to cart them back to our hotel. or wheel in some cases... luckily the hotel is a stone's throw away only... (hope they don't see the broken window when I tried)
Hilarious stuff:
1. Face mask + bath robe + turban + push-up video + mouth full of fish sticks = breathless laughter for 2 hours. Breathe! Breathe! you pointilistic thing! Breathe!
2. Do NOT allow your friends to have a video camera when you are asked to dance. All camera phones and digicams should be locked up and thrown into the ocean.
3. Definitely have a digicam with video function when on a van ride with 60s music and a sleeping girl. (Don't even go there! I know what you guys are thinking!)
4. "Lust has a new meaning".... "Style has a new something".............. so on and so forth. Whoever guesses what car is being promoted on this advertisement tag on the tagboard. Prizes for winner! No not open to the ones who watched Pirates in Tanjong GV. Hint: It made most of us Singaporeans almost unanimously choke on our drinks... if we had any that is...
5. Wench cards!!!! Best thing since roti prata!
Right... anyway, the trip was really fun... we didn't get to see much of the convention, cos we were busy researching. The performance itself was great! Good job all performers! The audience liked our music too... Singapore music is going international baby!
Oh apparently Semiquaver No. 1 heard some story about needles in cinema chairs and made us all check for needles before sitting down or we might get HIV.... uh.. malaysia that is, not singapore. Don't freak out.
Impiana Hotel is great... I'd stay there again if i ever go KL, and if i have that much $$$$
kk... too long post already...
Out.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Well well..... another update! Dun play play... so many updates from me! Yep here it is! A brand new update!
Er ya... update!
Let's see.... Today..... I was like the 4th person to get to CT + D II la... like wah lao!! how can!!! Somemore is OSIM and Pointilistic lo! Usually they like the latest la! Then of course Lady Nought was there already... Man... I'm getting later and later..
Then Pointilistic ask me go storeroom with her search APNN's box for her books cos she can't see into it cos she altitudinally challenged... then guess wad... OSIM volunteered la hahahaha. Pointilistic was like ' er... you only like a few cm taller lo!' hahaha
Anyway I graciously went to help her get her books.
Btw... she came to school with her hair untied. AARRUGUGHHGHGHGHHGUGHH!!! er ok la not that scary but AARGUGUHGGHGUHGH scary. okok maybe jus AARUGHGH scary...
Ahem.
Out.
Oh... Lady Nought starts and ends her emails really voguely. Therefore as of now I'm known as No. 4, sometime Duke of Tenoria, sometime recently 'appointed' and hopefully soon to be released acting leader, under Lady Nought of the C.H.A.M.B.E.R choir, sometime jester and gesturer of the CT + D II modulus, sometime penguin, sometime image consultant of semiquavers.
Choose one. Don't add on to it.
Er ya... update!
Let's see.... Today..... I was like the 4th person to get to CT + D II la... like wah lao!! how can!!! Somemore is OSIM and Pointilistic lo! Usually they like the latest la! Then of course Lady Nought was there already... Man... I'm getting later and later..
Then Pointilistic ask me go storeroom with her search APNN's box for her books cos she can't see into it cos she altitudinally challenged... then guess wad... OSIM volunteered la hahahaha. Pointilistic was like ' er... you only like a few cm taller lo!' hahaha
Anyway I graciously went to help her get her books.
Btw... she came to school with her hair untied. AARRUGUGHHGHGHGHHGUGHH!!! er ok la not that scary but AARGUGUHGGHGUHGH scary. okok maybe jus AARUGHGH scary...
Ahem.
Out.
Oh... Lady Nought starts and ends her emails really voguely. Therefore as of now I'm known as No. 4, sometime Duke of Tenoria, sometime recently 'appointed' and hopefully soon to be released acting leader, under Lady Nought of the C.H.A.M.B.E.R choir, sometime jester and gesturer of the CT + D II modulus, sometime penguin, sometime image consultant of semiquavers.
Choose one. Don't add on to it.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Musicians are a funny breed... and over imaginative too...
Scene 1: Early morning on Wed.. Ms Pointilistic had to print handouts for CT + D II.... Apparently in the music tech room the APNN and her and the Mimi were imaging some impossible scenario involving flooded papers and overturned penguins. And laughing their heads off.
Scene 2: WWWEEEAAAAAAYYYYYAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO + hand gestures + uncontrollable right hand
Uh ya.... pretty much in code. obviously intended for people who can understand them... and who are probably laughing by now.
Scene 1: Early morning on Wed.. Ms Pointilistic had to print handouts for CT + D II.... Apparently in the music tech room the APNN and her and the Mimi were imaging some impossible scenario involving flooded papers and overturned penguins. And laughing their heads off.
Scene 2: WWWEEEAAAAAAYYYYYAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO + hand gestures + uncontrollable right hand
Uh ya.... pretty much in code. obviously intended for people who can understand them... and who are probably laughing by now.
Sunday, July 02, 2006
Been forever since I last blogged... Hats off to those who keep looking but not finding new posts.. I promise to put up more blogs! At least er once a week ya haha
Wonder if my friends from Korea and all over still read this.. hmmm hope they do~
Well recently nothing much has been happening, thus the lack of entries (and laziness)
Er.... and those that has happened has happened way to long ago for me to remember and to write down...
So er... look out for the next post soon i hope..
Band tomorrow... i'm sure there'll be something to write about it.
Oh and Collusion was quite a success! Thanks to all those who made it possible!
Wonder if my friends from Korea and all over still read this.. hmmm hope they do~
Well recently nothing much has been happening, thus the lack of entries (and laziness)
Er.... and those that has happened has happened way to long ago for me to remember and to write down...
So er... look out for the next post soon i hope..
Band tomorrow... i'm sure there'll be something to write about it.
Oh and Collusion was quite a success! Thanks to all those who made it possible!
Sunday, February 26, 2006
HAH! finally i'm posting something.... actually cos i'm bored with orchestration (and stuck somewhat) and dunno wad else to do... Not started on my symphony and essay presentation yet either... hmmm... Saturday went to PS try to watch rumour has it.. sold out siah.... den didn't have anything to do! grrr.. And Friday was ugh..... cos my ______________________. (PC blog.. so cannot write). Oh and someone had a really racidal composition... Actually a few people.... drama-mama.... chr_______... downright cheesy.... you know... In the midst of the most happening piece i got an idea for the most not-PC piece haha! Look out for it in the not so near future.. but will be completed AND recorded before my PS exam of course :P
Singapore is still too hot...
Korea~~~~~~
Singapore is still too hot...
Korea~~~~~~
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Sunday, January 08, 2006
Chain's birthday.
Belated celebration cos it was near new year and everyting else was happening. We went to this bbq place that Mele brought us the other time... and basically ate the same things cos they were all so nice... then drank a new soju that's abit stronger than the samsachung in the previous entry, but tastes almost the same.. we still prefer samsachung though.. then after dinner we went to norebang.... (karaoke) and sang for 1 hour... their system here is by hour... so strange... anyway sang happily and i found tons of japanese songs there! i think i'll go back there by myself very often hahaha.. even anime theme songs and ending songs can be found wooo! Too bad we only discovered this place now.... Well i think i'm the only one excited about the find. Then we went to a pub... and drank and drank and drank. Chain kept ordering more... in the end 5 of us (rudy chain me tham and jinju) drank 8 bottles of soju... and bernard ordered some manjo soju.. ewww... jinju said it tastes like what her mom gives her when she has a cold. so Bernard drank that himself... Then all drunk, we went back to the dorm... but falling down drunk... still can walk straight but head feels heavy.. when i got back to the dorm i changed and plopped down and slept... forgetting that we asked jinju to call me when she got home cos she's scared the taxi driver might kidnap her. (we had to memorise the taxi licence plate too) She called after i fell asleep and i think i managed to say something like ok good you're home... well good night... and then back to sleep...
Belated celebration cos it was near new year and everyting else was happening. We went to this bbq place that Mele brought us the other time... and basically ate the same things cos they were all so nice... then drank a new soju that's abit stronger than the samsachung in the previous entry, but tastes almost the same.. we still prefer samsachung though.. then after dinner we went to norebang.... (karaoke) and sang for 1 hour... their system here is by hour... so strange... anyway sang happily and i found tons of japanese songs there! i think i'll go back there by myself very often hahaha.. even anime theme songs and ending songs can be found wooo! Too bad we only discovered this place now.... Well i think i'm the only one excited about the find. Then we went to a pub... and drank and drank and drank. Chain kept ordering more... in the end 5 of us (rudy chain me tham and jinju) drank 8 bottles of soju... and bernard ordered some manjo soju.. ewww... jinju said it tastes like what her mom gives her when she has a cold. so Bernard drank that himself... Then all drunk, we went back to the dorm... but falling down drunk... still can walk straight but head feels heavy.. when i got back to the dorm i changed and plopped down and slept... forgetting that we asked jinju to call me when she got home cos she's scared the taxi driver might kidnap her. (we had to memorise the taxi licence plate too) She called after i fell asleep and i think i managed to say something like ok good you're home... well good night... and then back to sleep...
New year.
New year we went to the National Theatre for this er celebration if you want to call it that. Started at 10.30.. in the concert hall. Free somemore... just collect tix onli.. Well they had all the traditional performances and some pop songs and acapella group (they were good), but the best ( i think) was the drum dance.. there were like about 50 of them on the stage (men and women) and they were playing on those drums on 3 sides of them, and dancing and everything.. Very well coordinated and very exciting... Then we went out into this big open place where they set up some pyre of green bamboo.. people write wishes on paper and tie on it.. and just before midnight they lit up the entire thing! i have the entire video (17 min) on my computer.. who wants can ask me for it... We (well actually I) brought up 4 bottles of this soju (korean wine for those who forgot) called samsachung... very very nice. I'll bring some back to singapore definitely.. to give away of course. We drank there and cheers everyone we knew haha.. even those we don't reallt know... or rather i don't know.. but the others knew... then now all slightly tipsy we went to this playground and acted like kids.. actually.. even worse than kids.. all shouting and playing on the swings and see saw and slides and everything. We also called up Jinju, Jiwon, Mr. Jang and another collegue from the International exchange team and screamed happy new year to them. Well... Jiwon was asleep when we called her but she woke up.. Mr Jang (as we found out later) was very happy and told the entire team that the first words out of his mouth this year was in English! (Happy new year of course). Jinju was on her way to some beach to catch the first sunrise of the year and was about to fall asleep. The other collegue thought it was a prank call and hung up fairly fast.
After that we went back to Hyehwa, where we bought more soju, and went eating at this place called Bibimpa.. Then we went back to the dorm... and knocked on everyone's door and offered them a shot of the soju! haha well the arts administrators (except one) had a drink, and the other students here had some too.. then we sat in the lobby and chatted till 5am and then we went to sleep.
New year we went to the National Theatre for this er celebration if you want to call it that. Started at 10.30.. in the concert hall. Free somemore... just collect tix onli.. Well they had all the traditional performances and some pop songs and acapella group (they were good), but the best ( i think) was the drum dance.. there were like about 50 of them on the stage (men and women) and they were playing on those drums on 3 sides of them, and dancing and everything.. Very well coordinated and very exciting... Then we went out into this big open place where they set up some pyre of green bamboo.. people write wishes on paper and tie on it.. and just before midnight they lit up the entire thing! i have the entire video (17 min) on my computer.. who wants can ask me for it... We (well actually I) brought up 4 bottles of this soju (korean wine for those who forgot) called samsachung... very very nice. I'll bring some back to singapore definitely.. to give away of course. We drank there and cheers everyone we knew haha.. even those we don't reallt know... or rather i don't know.. but the others knew... then now all slightly tipsy we went to this playground and acted like kids.. actually.. even worse than kids.. all shouting and playing on the swings and see saw and slides and everything. We also called up Jinju, Jiwon, Mr. Jang and another collegue from the International exchange team and screamed happy new year to them. Well... Jiwon was asleep when we called her but she woke up.. Mr Jang (as we found out later) was very happy and told the entire team that the first words out of his mouth this year was in English! (Happy new year of course). Jinju was on her way to some beach to catch the first sunrise of the year and was about to fall asleep. The other collegue thought it was a prank call and hung up fairly fast.
After that we went back to Hyehwa, where we bought more soju, and went eating at this place called Bibimpa.. Then we went back to the dorm... and knocked on everyone's door and offered them a shot of the soju! haha well the arts administrators (except one) had a drink, and the other students here had some too.. then we sat in the lobby and chatted till 5am and then we went to sleep.
Now for the real update...
Last I left all of you with the birthday cliffhanger, we passed Christmas, New year and Chain's birthday. Let me update you one by one.
Christmas.
Had a party on the 23rd at Jinju's friend's cafe. We (bernard chain and me) bought lots of food there... cos the others had lessons till 5 and don't have time to do so. We got tonkatsu, sausages, er... lots of chips and cheese and crackers and vege for salad.. Also got pasta and tuna and pasta sauce and mushrooms... cos Ernest said he would do the cooking. Didn't get drinks cos that's part of the arrangement... we had to get drinks (aka liqour) from the cafe itself. so they don't make that much a loss by not opening to the public for one night. Well the party was quite cool... first we had to wait like 1 hr for all the food to get cooked but it was ok.. we generally talked and played cards (i'm the only one with a pack of cards. and did i mention that it cost me S$20???) Rudy knows how to play Russian poker.. so surprised.. but he's the only one who knows. For those who don't know what the hell that is, its the game u see when you watch 'Gambling God' and stuff like that...
Anyway... the food was nice... crackers and cheese with tomatoes and cucumber, nachos with salsa dip, tuna pasta in olive oil and tomato sauce pasta with ham and mushrooms... and a very big bowl of salad... which we didn't finish.. Then we played King game again... or Queen (Quin) game as Jinju likes to put it.. Anyway this collegue of Jinju came, and she got to be King (queen) twice, which culminated in Bernard nearly kissing Jiwon and Chain, and Ernest kissing Bernard, and me dropping Jinju on the floor like a ton of bricks. We drank 2 bottles of red wine and some beer as well...
And then that was about the end of the party... oh yea we had a cake too... with snowmen and reindeer on it haha.
Last I left all of you with the birthday cliffhanger, we passed Christmas, New year and Chain's birthday. Let me update you one by one.
Christmas.
Had a party on the 23rd at Jinju's friend's cafe. We (bernard chain and me) bought lots of food there... cos the others had lessons till 5 and don't have time to do so. We got tonkatsu, sausages, er... lots of chips and cheese and crackers and vege for salad.. Also got pasta and tuna and pasta sauce and mushrooms... cos Ernest said he would do the cooking. Didn't get drinks cos that's part of the arrangement... we had to get drinks (aka liqour) from the cafe itself. so they don't make that much a loss by not opening to the public for one night. Well the party was quite cool... first we had to wait like 1 hr for all the food to get cooked but it was ok.. we generally talked and played cards (i'm the only one with a pack of cards. and did i mention that it cost me S$20???) Rudy knows how to play Russian poker.. so surprised.. but he's the only one who knows. For those who don't know what the hell that is, its the game u see when you watch 'Gambling God' and stuff like that...
Anyway... the food was nice... crackers and cheese with tomatoes and cucumber, nachos with salsa dip, tuna pasta in olive oil and tomato sauce pasta with ham and mushrooms... and a very big bowl of salad... which we didn't finish.. Then we played King game again... or Queen (Quin) game as Jinju likes to put it.. Anyway this collegue of Jinju came, and she got to be King (queen) twice, which culminated in Bernard nearly kissing Jiwon and Chain, and Ernest kissing Bernard, and me dropping Jinju on the floor like a ton of bricks. We drank 2 bottles of red wine and some beer as well...
And then that was about the end of the party... oh yea we had a cake too... with snowmen and reindeer on it haha.
haven't been updating for a while as most of you know...
2 reasons.
1. Daily entries of Wake up, breakfast, go learn danso, gayageum, changgu, go seoul arts center watch dvds, dinner, online, sleep. are not exciting and can be boring after a while
2. Any place you are in you get used to in a month or so. Why don't you try updating your life daily and tell me how that feels.
PS. The tagboard is a sign that I'm still alive and kicking. Post a tag and I will get back to you.
2 reasons.
1. Daily entries of Wake up, breakfast, go learn danso, gayageum, changgu, go seoul arts center watch dvds, dinner, online, sleep. are not exciting and can be boring after a while
2. Any place you are in you get used to in a month or so. Why don't you try updating your life daily and tell me how that feels.
PS. The tagboard is a sign that I'm still alive and kicking. Post a tag and I will get back to you.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Birthday! Well... we celebrated my birthday one day ahead.. on Friday and we went to TGIF! (those who dunno what TGIF is... you're not old enough) We started at around 7pm... Mele had a headache so he joined us slightly later.... The bread they served was good haha and we asked them for so many refills that the waitress that attended to us gave us each one bread and butter in a paper bag! Now that's service! Totally good! We ordered chicken nachos, buffalo wings and a full rack of small back. The food took a while to come, but it was sort of worth the wait.. quite nice :) Oh and the others treated me to the dinner while i treated them to the drinks.. I had Long Island Tea haha and the others had all sorts of drinks like Frozen Margarita and Mudslide or something along those lines... Then we sat there and ate and ate till 10! cos our Ms. Kim took forever to join us... Then we went to this pub to drink and have some snacks.. Oh the others also gave me a birthday cake... and TGIF has this Korean bday song for such purposes... They had a guitar, tambourine and bongos and vocals of course ahah. I was given a hat to wear as well! And they took pictures of us and gave us one each! Cool service! Singapore should learn... Oh ok the cake was from Paris Croissant, Blueberry something... nice! And at the pub Ms. Kim started taking out the left over cake which we couldn't finish, and started poking at it with her fork and eating! Goodness! haha i thought she was going to finish the entire 4-5 slices! (its ok i still had some left)
Then after that she went home and we went to this small club to dance... that's me mele tham and ernest.. bernard can't stand clubs... Anyway the club had like 15 people???!?! and only about half of them are dancing! If you call bobbing on the spot dancing... We got down and really showed them what was dancing! haha (ok laugh... i don't dance well i admit) Mele got hit on by this really drunk girl... so drunk that she mistook me for Mele for all of 10 seconds.. haha
All in all a nice birthday.. Wish Grace was here though.... Still you can't have everything... Oh and the others gave me a nice card too! Signed by various ambassadors of certain SEA countries *grin* and Korea.
Then after that she went home and we went to this small club to dance... that's me mele tham and ernest.. bernard can't stand clubs... Anyway the club had like 15 people???!?! and only about half of them are dancing! If you call bobbing on the spot dancing... We got down and really showed them what was dancing! haha (ok laugh... i don't dance well i admit) Mele got hit on by this really drunk girl... so drunk that she mistook me for Mele for all of 10 seconds.. haha
All in all a nice birthday.. Wish Grace was here though.... Still you can't have everything... Oh and the others gave me a nice card too! Signed by various ambassadors of certain SEA countries *grin* and Korea.
Today is my Dad's birthday! Happy birthday Father!
Now since I'm updating my blog lets put some random incidents that happened... Today (2oth Dec) at one of the train stations, me and Bernard witnessed this really hilarious (to me) incident. There was this man walking towards a woman, looking to the right, and the woman walking towads the man, also looking right... Well what do you know... the next moment, they collided! That's of course not funny... what's funny is that the man's spectacles broke! This happened like right in front of us and I was trying hard not to smile (Ok i felt sorry for the man too... but he really should look where he is going.)
Today we also had Changgu lessons.... and as usual developed an ache in the left upper arm. The Changgu teacher showed us his shoulders... the left was bigger than the right! ok.... and not enough.. he also plays this small gong thing, which uses the right hand to hit with a mallet.. and that forearm was larger than the other. So he has a big left shoulder and a big right forearm. The sacrifices artists make.....
Brought doughnuts up to Arko. Predictably, Jinju was the one who was the happiest to see us... cos we were carrying a large box of Krispy Kreme. Otherwise.... *ahem* Too bad Mr. Jang's away on holiday...... I'm sure the dozen doughnuts won't survive today... not with HER around :P (don't look at me.. she admitted it too)
Oh ok and we got dinner in the hostel! Well some of us anyway... we paid 87400 Wons for a month's worth of dinner.. really worth it :) So now lunch is at the National Institute for Traditional Korean Music at 3500 Wons per lunch and 2300 Wons per dinner at the hostel. Barring accidental expenses... I should be able to save a tidy sum to get presents for all those who deserve them! OrI'll get myself a really nice Moeck treble recorder. Hmmm decisions decisions....
The weekend (weekends always include Monday by the way) passed quite peacefully, except last night.... There was a X'mas party hosted by Hongik University's KIMCHI, which is an acronym for something which I forgot.. but it deals with international students... It was held at this small club and it was fine.. cept that quite a lot of people didn't really dance much.. I mean... its a club people!! Well some of them were quite ok so thats fine...
Quick change! the price for the dinner just dropped to 69000 Wons.. Some confusion at the moment.
Next update is about my birthday! (Who said that blogs have to be in chronological order anyway?)
Now since I'm updating my blog lets put some random incidents that happened... Today (2oth Dec) at one of the train stations, me and Bernard witnessed this really hilarious (to me) incident. There was this man walking towards a woman, looking to the right, and the woman walking towads the man, also looking right... Well what do you know... the next moment, they collided! That's of course not funny... what's funny is that the man's spectacles broke! This happened like right in front of us and I was trying hard not to smile (Ok i felt sorry for the man too... but he really should look where he is going.)
Today we also had Changgu lessons.... and as usual developed an ache in the left upper arm. The Changgu teacher showed us his shoulders... the left was bigger than the right! ok.... and not enough.. he also plays this small gong thing, which uses the right hand to hit with a mallet.. and that forearm was larger than the other. So he has a big left shoulder and a big right forearm. The sacrifices artists make.....
Brought doughnuts up to Arko. Predictably, Jinju was the one who was the happiest to see us... cos we were carrying a large box of Krispy Kreme. Otherwise.... *ahem* Too bad Mr. Jang's away on holiday...... I'm sure the dozen doughnuts won't survive today... not with HER around :P (don't look at me.. she admitted it too)
Oh ok and we got dinner in the hostel! Well some of us anyway... we paid 87400 Wons for a month's worth of dinner.. really worth it :) So now lunch is at the National Institute for Traditional Korean Music at 3500 Wons per lunch and 2300 Wons per dinner at the hostel. Barring accidental expenses... I should be able to save a tidy sum to get presents for all those who deserve them! OrI'll get myself a really nice Moeck treble recorder. Hmmm decisions decisions....
The weekend (weekends always include Monday by the way) passed quite peacefully, except last night.... There was a X'mas party hosted by Hongik University's KIMCHI, which is an acronym for something which I forgot.. but it deals with international students... It was held at this small club and it was fine.. cept that quite a lot of people didn't really dance much.. I mean... its a club people!! Well some of them were quite ok so thats fine...
Quick change! the price for the dinner just dropped to 69000 Wons.. Some confusion at the moment.
Next update is about my birthday! (Who said that blogs have to be in chronological order anyway?)
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Well nothing much to update lately... we finally started Changgu lessons, which is a two sided drum.. and boy was it bad... the left arm is totally gone after the first lesson which was thank goodness on Friday... I hate to think what it would become on next Friday when we have lessons from Tuesday to Friday... Hope the arm doesn't drop off...
Oh one funny incident... last thursday we were supposed to have Changgu lessons, but apparently there was a mix up and someone forgot to tell us there wasn't, so we went to look for our supervisor from the Institute of Traditional Korean music, and he got so flustered! Then he told us to follow him, and he brought us to this storeroom of sorts... and gave us each a set of 4 CDs! Whao... and he said don't be angry.. Actually that set of CD we wanted from quite a long time ago, so not sure whether he's giving it to us cos he's trying to apease us or cos he was supposed to give it us already. Both reasons I think haha.
Today (sunday) we went to eat at some BBQ place near our dorm.. quite cool.. like Bulgogi, but no sauce, and you have this rice in a box which you add things in and shake it to mix it well haha then you put everything into lettuce leaves and eat it in one gulp! Each leaf i mean not all the rice. I noticed we ate the most leaves haha... the other people in that place didn't ask for refills... we did.. 4 times! And its me, Bernard, Mele and Tham... yumyum!
Oh one funny incident... last thursday we were supposed to have Changgu lessons, but apparently there was a mix up and someone forgot to tell us there wasn't, so we went to look for our supervisor from the Institute of Traditional Korean music, and he got so flustered! Then he told us to follow him, and he brought us to this storeroom of sorts... and gave us each a set of 4 CDs! Whao... and he said don't be angry.. Actually that set of CD we wanted from quite a long time ago, so not sure whether he's giving it to us cos he's trying to apease us or cos he was supposed to give it us already. Both reasons I think haha.
Today (sunday) we went to eat at some BBQ place near our dorm.. quite cool.. like Bulgogi, but no sauce, and you have this rice in a box which you add things in and shake it to mix it well haha then you put everything into lettuce leaves and eat it in one gulp! Each leaf i mean not all the rice. I noticed we ate the most leaves haha... the other people in that place didn't ask for refills... we did.. 4 times! And its me, Bernard, Mele and Tham... yumyum!
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Monday, December 05, 2005
Krispy Kreme doughnuts are the best in the world! And they are available in the basement of Lotte departmental store in Myeongdong here in Seoul! Actually we passed by that Krispy Kreme twice already, but it was always packed with people... not surprising since its always Saturday or Sunday we pass it... Today me and Bernard went there, after going to this giant bookstore (Kyobo bookstore) and getting tons of books... (me not Bernard) they were cheap too! very cheap in fact. Ok Krispy Kreme! There wasn't much of a queue, only about 5 people in front of us. And the prices are as such... 1 single doughnut = 1000 Won. a dozen original glazed = 8000 Won. HUH?? Who'd get one at that rate?? A dozen assorted flavours = 10000 Won. So we got a dozen of assorted flavours... but not before they gave us each a sample doughnut!!! WOOOO.... Crispy and soft and piping hot! I love Krispy Kreme!
Ok then we walked Lotte Young, which is a sort of branch of Lotte, which caters to the younger crowd (duh)... then we went back without buying clothes haha. Well now so we have this dozen of doughnuts, so we decided to give some to the International exchange team (5 of them), and some to the others who are lucky enough to see us! haha.. so... we walked to their office, which is very near to our hostel, just next door, and before we went up I called Jinju, but she hung up on me!!! Oh well no doughnuts for them then... so we went back to our hostel.. Around 6.15 Jinju called me and asked what was up and I said we had Krispy Kreme doughnuts for them... but... And at this point she screamed into the phone "KRISPY KREME?? MY FAVOURITE!!!" God... my eardrums... I told her we still had a few left so if she really wanted she could drop by and get them.. Turns out she was coming over anyway to return Melecio something... lucky for her! But she was going to have dinner first so me and Bernard went for dinner as well.. We arrived back at the hostel before she did and waited for her to arrive... then Ernest appeared as well, so all 4 of us, Ernest Jinju Bernard and me went to my room to eat doughnuts! haha! well actually Jinju just took 2 in a bag to bring home cos she wanted to eat hot ones... Ernest took 2 and Bernard and I took one each, cos we had 2 already in the afternoon Muahaha.. Then I transferred mine and Bernard's photos of Jinju to my thumbdrive for her to bring back...
Tomorrow is Korean etiquette class! Hope it will be fun... and we're learning 2 more instruments tomorrow! the drum and zither. And so our schedule starts... 10 to 2 pm with an hour lunch... oh well... its gonna be exciting!
Ok then we walked Lotte Young, which is a sort of branch of Lotte, which caters to the younger crowd (duh)... then we went back without buying clothes haha. Well now so we have this dozen of doughnuts, so we decided to give some to the International exchange team (5 of them), and some to the others who are lucky enough to see us! haha.. so... we walked to their office, which is very near to our hostel, just next door, and before we went up I called Jinju, but she hung up on me!!! Oh well no doughnuts for them then... so we went back to our hostel.. Around 6.15 Jinju called me and asked what was up and I said we had Krispy Kreme doughnuts for them... but... And at this point she screamed into the phone "KRISPY KREME?? MY FAVOURITE!!!" God... my eardrums... I told her we still had a few left so if she really wanted she could drop by and get them.. Turns out she was coming over anyway to return Melecio something... lucky for her! But she was going to have dinner first so me and Bernard went for dinner as well.. We arrived back at the hostel before she did and waited for her to arrive... then Ernest appeared as well, so all 4 of us, Ernest Jinju Bernard and me went to my room to eat doughnuts! haha! well actually Jinju just took 2 in a bag to bring home cos she wanted to eat hot ones... Ernest took 2 and Bernard and I took one each, cos we had 2 already in the afternoon Muahaha.. Then I transferred mine and Bernard's photos of Jinju to my thumbdrive for her to bring back...
Tomorrow is Korean etiquette class! Hope it will be fun... and we're learning 2 more instruments tomorrow! the drum and zither. And so our schedule starts... 10 to 2 pm with an hour lunch... oh well... its gonna be exciting!
Saturday, December 03, 2005
Friday, December 02, 2005
All right! The mega update that I promised! This is going to be very very very long… so please do take your time and read it. Don’t even try to finish it in one reading… Well, the night before, we were packing, and deciding which luggage to bring, and auntie Bernard went around asking who was bringing what cos he didn’t want to be the only one with a real luggage haha. You know, those that have handles (I keep typing handel!) with which you pull along like an air stewardess. We tried to go shop for a sports bag but couldn’t find one… and also to find portable toiletries, and we discovered Koreans don’t believe in them… After much searching we finally managed to get them.
Next morning… we gathered on the 5th floor of our building (where we have Korean lessons) to have a brief orientation and found that tons of them were carrying those luggage! Haha so I suggested to Bernard after the orientation (5 min before we had to leave) that he could use his… cos he tried to stuff everything into his haversack but couldn’t find space for his moisturiser, and wanted to use mine. So he went and transferred the things to his luggage. He’s fast I’ll say that for him haha. Then up on the bus! The trip from Seoul to Busan takes 6.5 hours with a half hour break for lunch. Basically we lounged on the bus till lunchtime, which we had at those stops on the highway… Oh and the highway was really straight and level. They built bridges over rivers, tunnelled through mountains and everything, just to keep us going due south (we know cos we checked against the sun) on level ground. No up or down slopes. Impressive. Right lunch was ok… Mr. Jang was busy taking everyone’s orders and ordering at the counter while we collected the food from the various stalls haha. Never seen a director act less than one. Oh and he and Mr. Yuk (staff from NIIED – our place of stay) became air stewards at the beginning, walking up and down handing us things to eat, which Jinju bought. She bought 2 entire cardboard boxes of her favourite foods (which actually means everything edible) along with tons of drinks. The two of them walked up and down, giving us mandarin oranges, chocolates, snacks, bottled water and etc… haha. Ok I’m digressing. Anyway, after lunch we continued our way… most of us just sleeping (me included) and by 4pm we reached Beomeosa Temple (벙어사). Well first we had to climb steps up for about 5 min to reach our place to stay. Oh I forgot to say I was carrying 3 bags… one for clothes, one for books and other documents, and a haversack for laptop. I’m topped only by Ernest who had an extra one for moisturisers and stuff… Anyway… it was quite cold, and we’re all very glad for Arko’s jacket. Thanks again Arko! More specifically the International Exchange Team! Ok… when we reached our living quarters, they gave us our clothes to wear, which consists of thin pants and a thin vest. Luckily we could wear things under it haha so all of us actually wore long sleeve tops under the vest. A little strange looking… On top of that when we walked out we wore the jacket haha so not much of their clothes could be seen. After that a monk came in and taught us the various things to do and the many many things that we couldn’t do haha. No smoking was quite high on the list. Then he taught us how to do the half bow which was just putting your hands together and bowing from the waist. The big bow (for lack of better words) include prostration 3 times on the ground, first kneeling, then touching the forehead to the ground, and lifting the hands upwards to the ears, den recovering to standing. That’s once. After learning that we were ready for dinner! The first dinner was a normal Korean course dinner, without meat of course. Quite nice actually considering Koreans actually eat a lot of vegetables even when not in the temple, this is not very hard to get used to. Oh and we had to finish up all the rice otherwise its considered impolite. Jinju had a hard time finishing up and when she did she had some indigestion. Poor girl. Then it was time for the evening worship session, and to put our bowing skills to the test. First we had to stay outside the worship hall till all the monks have entered, while bowing to each of them when they arrive… They had this drum and gongs to tell the monks to come, and three monks performed on them on this mini tower… very cool… but I didn’t manage to get a video of it cos we had to leave all our valuables in this envelope for safekeeping, and I happily put my camera in. Right… then the worship session was cool too… they sang a really nice chant, and in unison 5ths too! Not at all like a drone. But we had to do the full bow like many times, and sit like Japanese at other times… that part was really bad. Anyway after that we went to learn to make lotus lights with paper and a paper cup! Most of them turned out quite nice… mine as usual when I’m not working with only paper, turned out ok only… oh and the person teaching me taught wrongly at first so I had to restart haha. Well after that we lighted up the candles inside, and some got burnt up! Ernest’s got burnt while we were posing for photos! That was hilarious… Jinju’s burnt up too, and Bernard burnt his up on purpose. Wait Junju burnt 2 lanterns up… Hers and Mr. Yuk’s when he gave his to her when hers burnt up. In the end she took mine too… but luckily it survived haha. And after that we had a tea ceremony with the monk, and talked a little with him. There was a very nice rice cake served with the tea, which only royalty got to eat in the past, and which is now only found in Beomeosan. Very nice… has dates and chestnuts and I’m not sure what inside.
Then we attempted to sleep (guys in one room and girls in another) cos we had to wake up at 3am next morning! Goodness. And by 3.30 we were washed up and ready for the morning worship session, which wasn’t as nice as the night before… it was exactly the same thing, but somehow the 5ths were gone… only unison. Then we went back to our quarters for an hour of meditation. My legs were like totally numb by the time we finished and my tummy growled at least 5 times which everyone heard! So embarrassing! Then we went for breakfast, which was some ritualistic meal called Balwoo Gongyang, and involves 4 bowls… first, the monk taps the bamboo rod 3 times, then we do a half bow, and start laying out the bowls, first laying a cloth on the ground, then taking the bowls out from inside each other to lay into a square, and tons of other stuff… the highlight of the meal is that you CANNOT leave anything behind. So you get a piece of radish kimchi, and clean the bowls with it, which has water in it, and then… you drink up the water and eat the kimchi! *shudder* but its ok… I managed to do that without throwing up haha but some people had food left and well of course they didn’t do that part. *shrug* Since it’s a temple stay experience we should do everything they ask us right? At least that’s what I think. Then we learnt some Buddhist martial arts… uh… yea… we tried our best I suppose, but he still said we were too stiff as artists. Or rather the translator (not Jinju, its some volunteer) said that. I was like what? So undiplomatically done… anyway we most of us felt the sting but brushed it aside (I know cos I discussed it later with some others about that remark) Then we had a walk round the temple surroundings to look look see see, and it was really quite pretty. Still the walk was quite tiring, climbing up rocks and stairs everywhere… Thank goodness for NS. After that it was time to do an evaluation and check out~ they gave us each a bracelet of beads as a souvenir. I was joking that they should give us a certificate for passing out of the temple stay haha
Break time. Read on next time, or now if you’re really so interested in me *touched*
Ok leaving the temple, the first thing everyone did was to grab some chips or small cakes from the two cartons and start eating! Haha even though we were going to lunch. All of us slept in that 1 hr ride to lunch and a lot of us didn’t really want to go down the bus for lunch which was quite nice~ Then we went around looking at historical sites, mostly temples in the Gyeongju area, which was the capital of the Silla dynasty. We had this tour guide with us (how about check it out~) who showed us all the relics of that dynasty, including tombs and an astronomy tower. All very interesting and nice, but we were all aching from the morning exercise and walk and lack of sleep… and we cut short the touring and went to our hotel to check in and the first thing I did was to bathe! Didn’t get to do it in the temple cos the water is close to freezing cold. I know now what is meant by freezing cold. Then we had dinner at some restaurant 5 min away from the hotel… its shaped like a pumpkin! And the interior looks super cool… like the inside of a pumpkin made by a giant worm. The food was nice too as usual with Arko dinners/lunches. After that we went back to the hotel and we (Bernard and Ernest only actually, and me of course) went to the hot spring / sauna. Japanese style! (read: totally naked except a small towel which doesn’t wrap round your waist even if you’re a supermodel) Ernest refused to take off his briefs haha and he wandered around in that. After about an hour inside, we all felt really good and went back to our rooms and slept. Next day (Wednesday) we had breakfast and then went to visit other sites of interest, which was some temple up on a mountain, and which featured a grotto with statues of Buddha and other deities carved from granite! These were made in the Silla dynasty which was the 8th century… imagine the work they had to do to carve granite! Really impressive. More climbing to reach that grotto though… lucky we had the hot spring to rejuvenate us the night before… Then it was time for lunch… forgot where we had it though haha… Then we moved to Andong, to this traditional village that is now open to artists to stay (for a fee of course) Its quite cool that place… very picturesque, and there were tons of stars! Haha I managed to see quite a lot. A pity I don’t have a star chart handy… We first had homemade Korean food for dinner and it was really really nice! Much nicer than those in the restaurants! No kidding. Then we learnt to make knot-craft (the teachers came all the way from Seoul!) which needless to say I didn’t succeed. I’m such a lousy craftsman except for origami haha. Then we had this Hahoi mask dance lecture cum performance by this master. He usually only does public performances and this is the only exception he made so far… seeing that we’re all artists *touched*. I have video clips of that if anyone is interested! Its too hard to describe in words his movements and everything. Suffice it to say that he had about 10 masks and each one had a different set of movement to go along with it. The masks themselves don’t look that realistic, but when he put them on and started dancing, it was really clear what each mask meant. After that we had a BBQ! Eating some barbequed pork and chicken and drinking~ and sitting around a campfire singing songs… and everyone has their own folk songs, except Singapore… well… yea… Then we played some games too and the director taught us this really funny game which is totally not describable here… I’ll demonstrate when I get back.
Then, we moved into the building and played more games! Haha the director was playing as hard as all of us! We were playing this game called the King game, where one card of a deck of cards was king, and he could order people to do things, say… no. 2 do this, and the person with the no. 2 card had to do it. Once he got ordered to drink a can of beer, and he said ‘I’m so sad! I’m so sad!’ while laughing and drinking it up haha. What a punishment. And another he had to take a piece of prawn cracker stick in his mouth and the other person bite off the other end. And it happened to be Narim! He went ‘I’m so sad!’ again haha and told Narim ‘Don’t worry… I love you’ hahahahahahaha He’s really fun! The last round of that game I got to turn round 10 times while bending over and then immediately start singing. Well… after 10 rounds I immediately fell over haha and had to drink a shot of liquor as punishment haha. (Soju… that’s the liquor) Then after that most people went to bed, while I went to stargaze… really nice. I could see the entire Orion, Leo, Canis major, minor, Taurus, Pleiades, and many more… I really want a star chart! Tham and Mr. Yuk joined me and we were there gazing. Oh I saw 2 shooting stars! Yay! Tham saw one too! We talked randomly about everything, including ancient Thailand and about the cultures of SEA. Then! We heard rustling in the grass in front of us! And it stopped, and it came progressively closer and closer! And Mr. Yuk said when he was young he used to see wolves on his way to school. What a good way to reassure us haha. Finally we decided that we should go back cos the rustling was really coming quite close, and we couldn’t see what it was. Scary! When I got back to the room and told Bernard, he said it may be a snake. Best. Haha But in the morning when I asked the village head, he said it was probably a deer. And there are no snakes there. Still we didn’t stay to find out last night haha. After a nice breakfast me and Bernard walked down to this lake caused by a dam and took pictures. I have a panorama picture of that! Whoever wants it tell me~
Ok then we packed up and left and went to a Confucian old school… and took pictures and looked around, then had a 2 min bus ride to this restaurant where we ate food meant for offerings. Like what the Chinese do in Singapore. But the food was different. Me and Melecio decimated the fish, including one that wasn’t from our table. It was so nice! Then we went to a traditional village to look around, and walk and walk and walk… Oh forgot to mention… Jinju didn’t bring her camera charger, and so she started getting everyone to take pictures for her! Half the photos in our cameras are her 写真集 haha ok I’m exaggerating, but still it was quite a number! :P
Then it was time to go back to Seoul, with a stop at another of those stops for dinner, and then we were back! Oh and it snowed in Seoul when we were in Busan! Grrrr but by the time we got back there was no trace of it anymore… So sad! But we’re due for more snow this coming winter yay!
On the whole this trip was really fun and enjoyable… I got to see many many things that I’ve never seen before, and experienced things I will never again… I know now what is meant by a chilly night, and what is freezing cold and biting cold winds. I also saw a sunrise which caused the sky to become one giant rainbow, and stars covering the entire sky. I also got to know all the wonderful people in our group and the arts management group and the organizers Arko and NIIED. The trip has also inspired in me some new works which I hope to be able to write really soon, and it has also made me want to find out what exactly is our culture. Do we have one? If we do what is it? I hope I can answer those questions soon. Ok this is sounding like some self reflection already… So anyway photos will be up soon I promise… with captions… until then…
Oh we might be watching Harry Potter tonight with any luck. The English movies here run abysmally slower than Singapore. Harry Potter just opened yesterday 1st December.
Next morning… we gathered on the 5th floor of our building (where we have Korean lessons) to have a brief orientation and found that tons of them were carrying those luggage! Haha so I suggested to Bernard after the orientation (5 min before we had to leave) that he could use his… cos he tried to stuff everything into his haversack but couldn’t find space for his moisturiser, and wanted to use mine. So he went and transferred the things to his luggage. He’s fast I’ll say that for him haha. Then up on the bus! The trip from Seoul to Busan takes 6.5 hours with a half hour break for lunch. Basically we lounged on the bus till lunchtime, which we had at those stops on the highway… Oh and the highway was really straight and level. They built bridges over rivers, tunnelled through mountains and everything, just to keep us going due south (we know cos we checked against the sun) on level ground. No up or down slopes. Impressive. Right lunch was ok… Mr. Jang was busy taking everyone’s orders and ordering at the counter while we collected the food from the various stalls haha. Never seen a director act less than one. Oh and he and Mr. Yuk (staff from NIIED – our place of stay) became air stewards at the beginning, walking up and down handing us things to eat, which Jinju bought. She bought 2 entire cardboard boxes of her favourite foods (which actually means everything edible) along with tons of drinks. The two of them walked up and down, giving us mandarin oranges, chocolates, snacks, bottled water and etc… haha. Ok I’m digressing. Anyway, after lunch we continued our way… most of us just sleeping (me included) and by 4pm we reached Beomeosa Temple (벙어사). Well first we had to climb steps up for about 5 min to reach our place to stay. Oh I forgot to say I was carrying 3 bags… one for clothes, one for books and other documents, and a haversack for laptop. I’m topped only by Ernest who had an extra one for moisturisers and stuff… Anyway… it was quite cold, and we’re all very glad for Arko’s jacket. Thanks again Arko! More specifically the International Exchange Team! Ok… when we reached our living quarters, they gave us our clothes to wear, which consists of thin pants and a thin vest. Luckily we could wear things under it haha so all of us actually wore long sleeve tops under the vest. A little strange looking… On top of that when we walked out we wore the jacket haha so not much of their clothes could be seen. After that a monk came in and taught us the various things to do and the many many things that we couldn’t do haha. No smoking was quite high on the list. Then he taught us how to do the half bow which was just putting your hands together and bowing from the waist. The big bow (for lack of better words) include prostration 3 times on the ground, first kneeling, then touching the forehead to the ground, and lifting the hands upwards to the ears, den recovering to standing. That’s once. After learning that we were ready for dinner! The first dinner was a normal Korean course dinner, without meat of course. Quite nice actually considering Koreans actually eat a lot of vegetables even when not in the temple, this is not very hard to get used to. Oh and we had to finish up all the rice otherwise its considered impolite. Jinju had a hard time finishing up and when she did she had some indigestion. Poor girl. Then it was time for the evening worship session, and to put our bowing skills to the test. First we had to stay outside the worship hall till all the monks have entered, while bowing to each of them when they arrive… They had this drum and gongs to tell the monks to come, and three monks performed on them on this mini tower… very cool… but I didn’t manage to get a video of it cos we had to leave all our valuables in this envelope for safekeeping, and I happily put my camera in. Right… then the worship session was cool too… they sang a really nice chant, and in unison 5ths too! Not at all like a drone. But we had to do the full bow like many times, and sit like Japanese at other times… that part was really bad. Anyway after that we went to learn to make lotus lights with paper and a paper cup! Most of them turned out quite nice… mine as usual when I’m not working with only paper, turned out ok only… oh and the person teaching me taught wrongly at first so I had to restart haha. Well after that we lighted up the candles inside, and some got burnt up! Ernest’s got burnt while we were posing for photos! That was hilarious… Jinju’s burnt up too, and Bernard burnt his up on purpose. Wait Junju burnt 2 lanterns up… Hers and Mr. Yuk’s when he gave his to her when hers burnt up. In the end she took mine too… but luckily it survived haha. And after that we had a tea ceremony with the monk, and talked a little with him. There was a very nice rice cake served with the tea, which only royalty got to eat in the past, and which is now only found in Beomeosan. Very nice… has dates and chestnuts and I’m not sure what inside.
Then we attempted to sleep (guys in one room and girls in another) cos we had to wake up at 3am next morning! Goodness. And by 3.30 we were washed up and ready for the morning worship session, which wasn’t as nice as the night before… it was exactly the same thing, but somehow the 5ths were gone… only unison. Then we went back to our quarters for an hour of meditation. My legs were like totally numb by the time we finished and my tummy growled at least 5 times which everyone heard! So embarrassing! Then we went for breakfast, which was some ritualistic meal called Balwoo Gongyang, and involves 4 bowls… first, the monk taps the bamboo rod 3 times, then we do a half bow, and start laying out the bowls, first laying a cloth on the ground, then taking the bowls out from inside each other to lay into a square, and tons of other stuff… the highlight of the meal is that you CANNOT leave anything behind. So you get a piece of radish kimchi, and clean the bowls with it, which has water in it, and then… you drink up the water and eat the kimchi! *shudder* but its ok… I managed to do that without throwing up haha but some people had food left and well of course they didn’t do that part. *shrug* Since it’s a temple stay experience we should do everything they ask us right? At least that’s what I think. Then we learnt some Buddhist martial arts… uh… yea… we tried our best I suppose, but he still said we were too stiff as artists. Or rather the translator (not Jinju, its some volunteer) said that. I was like what? So undiplomatically done… anyway we most of us felt the sting but brushed it aside (I know cos I discussed it later with some others about that remark) Then we had a walk round the temple surroundings to look look see see, and it was really quite pretty. Still the walk was quite tiring, climbing up rocks and stairs everywhere… Thank goodness for NS. After that it was time to do an evaluation and check out~ they gave us each a bracelet of beads as a souvenir. I was joking that they should give us a certificate for passing out of the temple stay haha
Break time. Read on next time, or now if you’re really so interested in me *touched*
Ok leaving the temple, the first thing everyone did was to grab some chips or small cakes from the two cartons and start eating! Haha even though we were going to lunch. All of us slept in that 1 hr ride to lunch and a lot of us didn’t really want to go down the bus for lunch which was quite nice~ Then we went around looking at historical sites, mostly temples in the Gyeongju area, which was the capital of the Silla dynasty. We had this tour guide with us (how about check it out~) who showed us all the relics of that dynasty, including tombs and an astronomy tower. All very interesting and nice, but we were all aching from the morning exercise and walk and lack of sleep… and we cut short the touring and went to our hotel to check in and the first thing I did was to bathe! Didn’t get to do it in the temple cos the water is close to freezing cold. I know now what is meant by freezing cold. Then we had dinner at some restaurant 5 min away from the hotel… its shaped like a pumpkin! And the interior looks super cool… like the inside of a pumpkin made by a giant worm. The food was nice too as usual with Arko dinners/lunches. After that we went back to the hotel and we (Bernard and Ernest only actually, and me of course) went to the hot spring / sauna. Japanese style! (read: totally naked except a small towel which doesn’t wrap round your waist even if you’re a supermodel) Ernest refused to take off his briefs haha and he wandered around in that. After about an hour inside, we all felt really good and went back to our rooms and slept. Next day (Wednesday) we had breakfast and then went to visit other sites of interest, which was some temple up on a mountain, and which featured a grotto with statues of Buddha and other deities carved from granite! These were made in the Silla dynasty which was the 8th century… imagine the work they had to do to carve granite! Really impressive. More climbing to reach that grotto though… lucky we had the hot spring to rejuvenate us the night before… Then it was time for lunch… forgot where we had it though haha… Then we moved to Andong, to this traditional village that is now open to artists to stay (for a fee of course) Its quite cool that place… very picturesque, and there were tons of stars! Haha I managed to see quite a lot. A pity I don’t have a star chart handy… We first had homemade Korean food for dinner and it was really really nice! Much nicer than those in the restaurants! No kidding. Then we learnt to make knot-craft (the teachers came all the way from Seoul!) which needless to say I didn’t succeed. I’m such a lousy craftsman except for origami haha. Then we had this Hahoi mask dance lecture cum performance by this master. He usually only does public performances and this is the only exception he made so far… seeing that we’re all artists *touched*. I have video clips of that if anyone is interested! Its too hard to describe in words his movements and everything. Suffice it to say that he had about 10 masks and each one had a different set of movement to go along with it. The masks themselves don’t look that realistic, but when he put them on and started dancing, it was really clear what each mask meant. After that we had a BBQ! Eating some barbequed pork and chicken and drinking~ and sitting around a campfire singing songs… and everyone has their own folk songs, except Singapore… well… yea… Then we played some games too and the director taught us this really funny game which is totally not describable here… I’ll demonstrate when I get back.
Then, we moved into the building and played more games! Haha the director was playing as hard as all of us! We were playing this game called the King game, where one card of a deck of cards was king, and he could order people to do things, say… no. 2 do this, and the person with the no. 2 card had to do it. Once he got ordered to drink a can of beer, and he said ‘I’m so sad! I’m so sad!’ while laughing and drinking it up haha. What a punishment. And another he had to take a piece of prawn cracker stick in his mouth and the other person bite off the other end. And it happened to be Narim! He went ‘I’m so sad!’ again haha and told Narim ‘Don’t worry… I love you’ hahahahahahaha He’s really fun! The last round of that game I got to turn round 10 times while bending over and then immediately start singing. Well… after 10 rounds I immediately fell over haha and had to drink a shot of liquor as punishment haha. (Soju… that’s the liquor) Then after that most people went to bed, while I went to stargaze… really nice. I could see the entire Orion, Leo, Canis major, minor, Taurus, Pleiades, and many more… I really want a star chart! Tham and Mr. Yuk joined me and we were there gazing. Oh I saw 2 shooting stars! Yay! Tham saw one too! We talked randomly about everything, including ancient Thailand and about the cultures of SEA. Then! We heard rustling in the grass in front of us! And it stopped, and it came progressively closer and closer! And Mr. Yuk said when he was young he used to see wolves on his way to school. What a good way to reassure us haha. Finally we decided that we should go back cos the rustling was really coming quite close, and we couldn’t see what it was. Scary! When I got back to the room and told Bernard, he said it may be a snake. Best. Haha But in the morning when I asked the village head, he said it was probably a deer. And there are no snakes there. Still we didn’t stay to find out last night haha. After a nice breakfast me and Bernard walked down to this lake caused by a dam and took pictures. I have a panorama picture of that! Whoever wants it tell me~
Ok then we packed up and left and went to a Confucian old school… and took pictures and looked around, then had a 2 min bus ride to this restaurant where we ate food meant for offerings. Like what the Chinese do in Singapore. But the food was different. Me and Melecio decimated the fish, including one that wasn’t from our table. It was so nice! Then we went to a traditional village to look around, and walk and walk and walk… Oh forgot to mention… Jinju didn’t bring her camera charger, and so she started getting everyone to take pictures for her! Half the photos in our cameras are her 写真集 haha ok I’m exaggerating, but still it was quite a number! :P
Then it was time to go back to Seoul, with a stop at another of those stops for dinner, and then we were back! Oh and it snowed in Seoul when we were in Busan! Grrrr but by the time we got back there was no trace of it anymore… So sad! But we’re due for more snow this coming winter yay!
On the whole this trip was really fun and enjoyable… I got to see many many things that I’ve never seen before, and experienced things I will never again… I know now what is meant by a chilly night, and what is freezing cold and biting cold winds. I also saw a sunrise which caused the sky to become one giant rainbow, and stars covering the entire sky. I also got to know all the wonderful people in our group and the arts management group and the organizers Arko and NIIED. The trip has also inspired in me some new works which I hope to be able to write really soon, and it has also made me want to find out what exactly is our culture. Do we have one? If we do what is it? I hope I can answer those questions soon. Ok this is sounding like some self reflection already… So anyway photos will be up soon I promise… with captions… until then…
Oh we might be watching Harry Potter tonight with any luck. The English movies here run abysmally slower than Singapore. Harry Potter just opened yesterday 1st December.
Sunday, November 27, 2005
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Well... not much to update for Friday... We learnt more Danso, and managed to learn Arirang already! Yay! And we're going to watch a band concert (Bernard and me only) on Saturday (today)... Just a quick update before going for lunch and concert.
Er... OH! Arko gave us cool cool jackets!!! Giordano~ haha but its really nice and warm.. and very expensive too! Thanks Arko!
Yea fewer and fewer things to update.... hmmm Oh and we tried some bbq meat (pork?) at the roadside stores too... he asked whether we want hot sauce.. NEVER take the hot sauce.. REALLY HOT! but still the weather was cold so the spiciness was bearable...
Bought slippers! but a bit small but its ok.. just to walk around the hostel only...
Next Monday to Thursday going on field trip to Busan and its surroundings, gonig to a temple, traditional village and more! Updates when I get back!
Tomorrow MIGHT go to King's Singers concert... if Jinju manage to wake up from her hangover and buy the tickets for us (joking Jinju :P) And tonight we might be going for a presentation of a living Korean composer's music. Rephrase: And tonight we might be going for a living Korea composer's presentation of his music. English is getting bad.
Er... OH! Arko gave us cool cool jackets!!! Giordano~ haha but its really nice and warm.. and very expensive too! Thanks Arko!
Yea fewer and fewer things to update.... hmmm Oh and we tried some bbq meat (pork?) at the roadside stores too... he asked whether we want hot sauce.. NEVER take the hot sauce.. REALLY HOT! but still the weather was cold so the spiciness was bearable...
Bought slippers! but a bit small but its ok.. just to walk around the hostel only...
Next Monday to Thursday going on field trip to Busan and its surroundings, gonig to a temple, traditional village and more! Updates when I get back!
Tomorrow MIGHT go to King's Singers concert... if Jinju manage to wake up from her hangover and buy the tickets for us (joking Jinju :P) And tonight we might be going for a presentation of a living Korean composer's music. Rephrase: And tonight we might be going for a living Korea composer's presentation of his music. English is getting bad.
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