Magggiiiiiiccc

Want to start this blog on a little more solemn note. Last week Tatnall lost one of it's greatest family members, Mrs. Crawford, to cancer. I have been thinking about her over this past week and thinking about all of the questions I want to ask her, everything I still had to learn from her. Her teaching style was strict, and she held us to extremely high expectations, but underneath her tough exterior was a loving teacher and mentor who just genuinely wanted what was best for each and every one of her students. While most of us could not spend an entire class lecturing about one three-word-phrase from Hamlet, Mrs. Crawford succeeded in making literature, such as that one phrase, an intellectual and emotional adventure. I want to ask how she succeeded in getting even the least interested student in the class to write grammatically correct and sometimes even thought provoking papers about books that they did not even want to read in the first place. How could she get an entire class to sit in complete silence with just a stare? How did she get me to walk around a full auditorium of people and sing while sitting on people's laps? I hope to personify Mrs. Crawford in my future classroom. I want my students to have half as much respect and admiration for me as we all did for her. I had the opportunity to watch her funeral service, for which I am grateful to Tatnall and the Crawford family. Everyone spoke so beautifully. It was an incredible way to bring closure for me so far away. She is watching us all, and probably reading through my blog tsktsking me for my horrible use of words-connected-with-dashes and run on sentences. Sorry Mrs. Crawford, I miss you terribly and will hold your memory dear to my heart for forever.

Still one of my favorite moments

Onto what I got up to yesterday. As usual, I am trying to do something interesting each weekend, even if it is just something simple nearby home. Shanna and I decided to make our way out into Seoul (despite the below freezing temperatures) and see the Tim Burton exhibit at the Seoul Museum of Art. I had been to a Tim Burton exhibit before with mum, though it escaped me where it was.

 For those of you who know Tim Burton movies, you know that he is a rather strange individual. Dark and slightly disturbing drawings and cartoons are is forte. The museum not only focused on his more recent movie endeavors such as Frankenweenie (I don't get it) and Alice and Wonderland. But also it gave us insight into his life before the fame and fortune. Growing up in a small town, Tim was an outcast, and his drawings did not help this image. His imagination was mind blowing. The thousands of different characters he came up with covered the walls of the museum, no two characters looking the same. One of the most interesting themes I found throughout the exhibit was Tim's depictions of strange children. He drew many cartoons where a child was born with some sort of defect or unusual characteristic. For example, Stain boy was born with the power to stain things...One boy was born with a log for a head, and another with nails in his eyes. His feelings of being an outcast were mirrored in these cartoons. While they were depressing, it was his way of coping. Look at him now, a successful movie maker and married to the hilarious and beautiful Helena Bonham Carter.

"Teem-baw-teuhn"

Sad balloon man

Entrance into the exhibit

Edward Scissorhands display shrubbery

giant tongue staircase

  After the art museum, we had a few hours to kill before the Action Drawing show later in the evening (you will find out what exactly what an Action Drawing show is later on, patience). We first stopped at a sushi restaurant nearby to grab some grub. The sashimi rolls were delicious! The soggy fried shrimp in the noodle soup that Shanna ordered...not so appetizing but you live and learn. Once we were nice and full we hopped into a taxi. Shanna took my for my first experience in Insadong which is a street lined with shops and booths selling a variety of Korean crafts and trinkets. Between the silly touristy shops with bookmarks and psy shirts we found several stores selling traditional Korean pottery. Every store had different designs on the pottery. Just when I thought I found the most beautiful pattern another store would have one even more gorgeous than the last!

 Another important stop on our stroll was the Kkultarae (꿀타래) stand. Here they begin with a block of hard honey and then they stretch and twist it until they have over 2 thousands strands of honey. they then fill small pockets of the stringy honey with a mixture of nuts and other sweet things. Shanna informed me that they aren't the tastiest treat, but it was something I needed to watch while I was here.

Starting with just one loop

Ending with thousands and thousands of strings

filling the string pocket

 We wandered around shops looking at the random gifts and trinkets. I learned that it is good luck to have a smiling pig statue in your home. I'm okay with that, they look so jolly!

Herbs and dried foods

Once the sun set, the temperatures started falling even lower. We stopped into a traditional tea house to warm up a bit before heading to the theater. I had a mug of Jujube tea or 대추차 (dae chu cha), which is something I have sent home already for my family to enjoy as well, then we were off to the show! 

Korea has hundreds of different theatrical performances that are easy to follow for those of use who aren't exactly fluent in Korean yet. Shanna had heard about Drawing Hero from Alex teacher and has wanted to go since she arrived here! As she only has about a month left, we decided to go.

We were slightly nervous at first. The show began with some very slap-sticky skits from the four performers including stealing hats and bumping into doors. They were very similar to mimes or clowns in that there was no dialogue besides one word here and there. Lots of wild gestures and funny facial expressions. One of the words they used was "magic" so whenever they "magically made a wall move" or did a silly trick they would all go "oooOOOooo maaaagiiiccc". It was humorous. 

Once the men started completing more intricate pieces of art I realized why so many people go to see this show. These for guys are incredibly talented in all areas of drawing and painting. Using paints, pens, and charcoals they created amazing works of art while simultaneously putting on a comedy act. Each of the men had his own character and personality. It was so much fun to watch them interact on stage. They also pulled volunteers up from the audience (maybe volunteers isn't the right word...) and they had them do embarrassing games and movements which was quiet entertaining. The two men chosen to go up with them were great sports and actually put a lot of effort into it. I commented on this to Shanna that most men in the states would not have played along so willingly.

photo time with some of the art pieces in the back

my favorite little man

charcoal tiger

 One of the men painted on a chalk-board like wall with black paint. It was difficult to see what the final picture would be until he lifted the board and yellow powder covered the wet paint showing us the final portrait of (thankfully my mistake was caught by David) Bruce Lee. I'm apparently not up to date with my movie star knowledge! Of course throughout the entire time he was painting this, the other men were trying to attack him as he slow motion fought back between brush strokes.

paint and yellow powder "Jackie Chan"

 At one point they rolled out a big rectangle box full of some sort of liquid. I think it was a clear acrylic? Not sure, but anyways the men proceeded to put drops of color into the box and swirl them to create a beautiful and colorful underwater scene with fish, sea horses, crabs and more. They then placed a canvas on top of this and when they pulled the canvas up the paint swirls transferred onto it. Not that that wasn't gorgeous enough they pulled off a layer from the canvas and what was left was a mermaid shape with the gorgeous colors from the original swirly scene. I wanted all of their final pieces to take home!

 The men were talented and entertaining. I would definitely recommend everyone, when they come visit me, to go see their show! Shanna and I wondered what happens to their final pieces as they do two shows every day, 7 days a week. How could we get our hands on one?...that will be an adventure for another day.

new bff

This week at Little America, we have our Elementary speech contest on Monday where the winners from the class competitions present their speech in front of the other classes and then the winners of those will go onto a Bucheon speech contest. Some of my students worked very hard on their pronunciation and memorization and I'm sure they will all win! Thursday I have my second and final open class for this term! There are only two students, and both of their mothers speak very good English. Am I nervous? No...ok maybe a little, but there is a lot of pressure on the Korean teachers, so some of that pressure rubs off on me. I'm sure my students will do wonderfully. We are reading a book about a cupcake party so to celebrate being finished with their open class, on Friday I am bringing in cupcakes and icing so we can have out own! Also Friday is the kindergarten song contest. My class is performing "This Will Be Our Year" by OK Go. I think this is the latest I've left teaching them the dance...we still have a few more verses to go, but it will come together, it always does. That video will be up at some point!

Miss you all at home and hope you are staying warm!

Korean word of the post: 마법 (mabawm) "maaaaaagic"
xoxo