Blues Workshop: From Middle School Dances to Almost That Sexy.

Last week, I attended a three-hour blues/musicality dance workshop lead by Peter Vawter, a dance and music teacher originally from the West coast, but living in Japan for the last 10 years or so. He's touring Korea with a well-known swing dancer from Seoul, giving workshops along the way. Lucky me--Min Gi and Anna (head of the other Daegu swing club) organized the whole thing and it went off fantastically.

I've been intrigued by blues dancing because when I've seen it done well, it's the sexiest damn thing I've ever seen. No lie. I'm partial to Latin dances for their sensuality, but I was blown away by blues.

However, every time I've tried it, it's been awkward for many reasons. For one, you have to follow really well because your bodies are pressed so tight together. If you make a mistake in the footwork, you could accidentally knee your partner in the groin, especially if he's shorter than you (and this often happens to me in Korea). Even the spins happen in tight to the body, though I've been getting more comfortable with that in Lindy, as I can now successfully NOT elbow Gong Bi in the face (unless I want to, of course).

Our initial discomfort with being that close to each other manifested itself in the first half of the workshop seeming like a middle school dance in the gym. Blues doesn't work without some grinding actions, so Peter played us hip hop which loosened us right up. Mmm... Sexy.

Also, the "lifts" or "throws" in blues are not jumps, but dips. With a jump, I support most of my own body weight. However, with dips, I have to trust a man to hold my weight up with his body. Um... I already have weight issues. This is compounded because many Korean men are smaller than me. And I live in a country that doesn't believe it's possible for a woman to weigh more than 60 kgs (about 132 lbs). As a result, except for certain fellas, I usually just support my own weight and arch my back. This works pretty well for the guys I could break by sitting on them.

At any rate, at the end of three hours, I was able to do a lot more than I could before. Plus I think it is improving my follow for other kinds of dances. It felt sexy dancing with the guys. It was great.

In the meantime, enjoy Peter and his Korean partner dancing to "Wade in the Water." May I recommend you dim the lights, pour a glass of wine, and light up a candle first? It'll put you in the proper mood.

Skiing Injury.

In my four seasons of skiing, I have worked up from having never stood on skis before to easy advanced (black diamond) slopes being pretty manageable for me. I started skiing because my (then) boyfriend won a trip to Telluride, Colorado in March for his job, neither of us knew how to ski, and we both thought it would be sad to go on that trip still as novices. Though I've since axed the ex, I retain the skiing (and the taste for fine wines) that is the legacy of our almost two years together.

Skiing is hard to learn as an adult because you're more aware of how badly you could hurt yourself and you don't recover as quickly as twelve year olds do. A friend of mine once claimed you couldn't learn to ski after you learned the principles of physics. And to some extent, she's right. The motions of skiing (although actually in agreement with our basic understanding of the laws of gravity) feel counterintuitive at first. The last thing you want to hear as you're speeding toward the edge of the path that you are certain you will fly off of and down the mountain through the trees, is that you should turn yourself more in that direction, but that's what the darned ski instructor keeps shouting at you. (And it does work, in case you were wondering).

As difficult as it was for me to learn, and as frustrated I was with the process along the way, I've managed never to injure myself beyond minor bruises and the aches from working muscles infrequently worked by other exercises.

Until yesterday.

This weekend, I went to Phoenix Park in Gangwondo. I went there last year for Seollal. Although I continue to maintain that it is second-best to High1 Resort, I still had a great time skiing. The trip was arranged through Adventure Korea (an English-language tour company based in Seoul). My experience with them was much nicer for the weekend than it was last year, I think because the group was smaller and the trip was shorter. The trip included an afternoon pass and rental on Saturday, but we could purchase extra time for night skiing or Sunday morning. I got both (of course!).

Saturday was fine. I had a great time and helped Sarah tackled her first real full-intermediate level slope at night. Sunday morning I was the only person from my room hitting the slopes.

It began wondrously. There were very few people out at 8:30 a.m. The weather was very misty... until you got to the top of the mountain which was above the cloud cover. You could see the valley covered by the mist like a strange floating lake between the mountain peaks. I wished I'd brought my camera, but now I'm glad I didn't.

Because as I was tackling one of the more difficult intermediate slopes as a warm up for skiing the black diamonds, I took a nasty spill and pulled my shoulder so bad and it hurt so much, at first I thought I'd dislocated it. Even worse, I had one ski, but the other was about 50 feet... straight up the steep incline. And no one was around.

I struggled to get out of my other ski (not being able to use my left hand/arm at all, this was very difficult), and started hiking up the icy incline, when a kind snowboarder noticed the ski and that I'd fallen and retrieved the ski to me. He asked if I was ok, and I said yes, though my arm was still throbbing, because I could tell that my legs were fine. I got back in my skis, slid (very, very cautiously) down to the nearest cafe, where I felt it would be a fine time to break for breakfast.

I thought during breakfast about giving up and going back down to the lodge and resting some. But I still had three hours of skiing left. And I determined my arm wasn't broken, nor the shoulder dislocated. I stuck to easy and intermediate courses the rest of the day and had a grand time.

Travelling back to Daegu was rough on the shoulder, so by the time I returned home, I was ready to die, and a little afraid that it wouldn't recover in time for my Vietnam trip. But after a night's sleep and a little Advil, it seems ok. I probably won't try to do push ups for the next week, but I'm not gonna die and I think I'll even be back at 100% in time for my Saturday flight.

Woo hoo!

So four seasons... and still no (serious) injuries. Can't wait for next year!

Hidden "Advantage" of Being At Work...

I'm more productive when I have too many things to do. If I ever really want to be a writer for money, I need to learn how to structure my "free time" more effectively.

However, watching Oprah last night about a woman who was so busy that she forgot she locked her two year old daughter in the car all day at work (yes, the poor girl died of heatstroke and the woman lost her job and became a pariah in her own town) has made me reconsider the usefulness of being "productive" simply to be "productive." Surely we don't have to do so many things that the stress makes us commit tragic errors of absentmindedness. If Euripides were alive today, would his heroines die from the hubris of multi-tasking? How interesting would that be? Which god would intervene on our behalf?

Perhaps, instead of berating myself for failing to get everything done I feel I'm supposed to have accomplished by now, I should just enjoy the things I have.

(But that sounds a bit like mediocrity's motto; a banner celebrating our defeat. For now, I'll walk the line--neither resting on yet-unearned laurels nor neglecting the joys of present-moment living.)

Jia: A Novel of North Korea

A few weeks ago, Sarah dropped a book on my lap. Hyejin Kim's first novel, Jia, is based on her work with North Korean refugees living in villages along the Korean-Chinese border. It is a fictionalized version of true stories related to the author by the refugees. I am curious what parts are real and what are invention, although I certainly understand the safety risks to her friends if their true stories were exposed. I feel that her research journal for this novel would be at least as interesting a read as the final product.

As with most of what I read about North Korea, it is difficult to separate my powerful emotional reactions to the content from the quality of the writing, and therefore it is difficult to do a true "review" of this book. I would definitely recommend it, though I believe I found Charles Robert Jenkins's story more compelling than Jia's, but only perhaps because it was my first time reading a daily-life account of the most 1984-esque country in existence. The writing is poetic in places, but clear; it is a quick read. Jia's struggles are shocking (though the plights of some of her friends are certainly more heartbreaking), but she ends up one of the "lucky" ones. The main character's voice is straightforward and generally stripped of the emotional extravagances that would have ruined this book.

Themes of loss and loneliness are strong throughout the novel. Strangely, I found echoes of Frederick Douglass's autobiography, particularly related to the experiences Jia has once making it to China and Douglass's overwhelming fear upon first arriving in New York City. That the regime of Kim Jong Il (and that of his father Kim Il Sung) places its own citizens (even once loyal citizens) in a position the emotional/psychological equivalent of American slaves suggests that the tragedy that is North Korea is not likely to be resolved and fully healed for several centuries hence.

I am a little sad, but seeing literature like this gives me hope. Because if we continue the analogy, it was only about 10-20 years after major abolitionist literature such as Douglass's autobiography and Uncle Tom's Cabin appeared that it was abolished (leaving the next century and a half of emotional/political/legal battles to cope with).

Although Kim's work is being praised for being the first English/Western publication of this kind, I would actually like to see both her novel and Jenkins's story translated into Korean. I don't think that many publications popular in South Korea present such a stark view of the poverty and suppression that are part of North Korea's daily truths. But I could be wrong...

Classy.

Wine in a can.

You came from Australia. All the way to a Korean convenience store.

One brave man though he would give you a shot...

...and was a little disappointed.

His skeptical girlfriend gave it a fair shot...

...but couldn't get over the fact that she was drinking WINE from a CAN.

Conclusion?

Not likely to be served in Zagat's guide restaurants anytime in the near future...

Why teach?

We finished up at the Palgong Training Center yesterday. While I'm happy I get to sleep again, I will definitely miss these idealistic teachers. Korea has a pretty bright future if they represent the direction this country is going.

Dear Diana,

Thank you for giving us a great time thinking about and learning writing. It was a short time, but your class reminded me of the pleasure of writing.

Your first warm up subject--"What is writing for you?"--was the most impressive one to me. I really like writing, but I've never thought about what writing means to me because I've never thought I am a (professional) writer.

But your warm-up question made me realize that I am also able to be, no, I am already, a writer. And I was happy writing my essays and introduction that I knew that you're gonna read my writing so carefully and make some comments. And it also [made me] realize again that it is the most attractive thing in writing -- there is someone who cares about my writing and is interested in my writing.

I hope I'll have a chance to share this happiness with my students. Thank you again for giving me (us) this great chance.

From, [name redacted]

Edited only for minor grammatical errors.

Maybe I done some good this time around. Just maybe.

Gyeongju in Winter: A little history...

Monday was 설날 (Seollal, or Lunar New Year), one of two major Korean holidays (the other being 추석/Chuseok). I thought it might be fun to head out to Gyeongju, the ancient 신라/Silla capital for a daytrip and some sightseeing.

I have been to Gyeongju twice before, once for the World Expo held every three years, and another time with Se Jin and her brother. And you could count the MT to the coastal region of Gampo, but that's almost like a whole other city. Although Seollal is the one day a year in Korea where a lot of businesses are closed, we figured a historical town like Gyeongju, which refers to itself as the "museum without walls" should have some stuff happening to keep the foreigners entertained. We were not disappointed.

Sarah and I met at the bus station and bought our tickets (less than 4,000 won) in the morning. All the other folks who wanted to come were sick or hung over, so we set out to explore the downtown historical sites around Gyeongju on foot, armed only with a map, cameras, and fifteen layers of clothing to fight off the winter chill. These historic areas are a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site as of 2000 (Korea boasts eight sites; I have visited half of them at this time).

The first stop was 대릉원 or Tumuli Park, a park with many large excavated burial mounds, including Cheonmachong, a mound that had been hollowed out and set up like a museum so that we could see what was actually inside these large grass hills. It reminded me a little of Bullo-Dong Tomb, but with much bigger mounds. I guess these guys were more important.

Wow. That's a big mound. (And notice my "new" winter coat, which I hadn't bothered to photograph for this blog until now.)

The park itself was lovely, even with the brown-dead winter grass.

I learned that the double-mounds (the ones that look like boobies) are for a king and queen buried together. Also, they are not simply grassy hills. Inside, at the center, is a wooden coffin with the laid-out body and certain ornamental gifts, such as weapons, jewlery, and pottery, for burial (many of these were on display at the National Museum). Around the coffin are laid a thick layer of stones, piled in the mound-shape. Then there is a clay layer put over the stones to hold the shape. Then finally, the dirt covers the clay and grass grows over it, producing the exterior "grass hill" effect. Very interesting.

We then moved on to some other nearby sites of interest:

Cheomseongdae: The oldest observatory in East Asia. With no entrance but the one lone window.

Gyerim Forest, or the place of weird, creepy, twisty trees. Some famous legend is supposed to have been born here.

Seokbinggo, an ancient Ice Storehouse located along the Northern wall of the remains of Banwolseong Fortress

At this point, one of our friends who couldn't be roused for morning travels, had made his way to the city of Gyeongju. Sarah and I were hungry, so we figured we'd walk back to the bus station to pick him up and find somewhere to eat in the more modern downtown area.

One small problem with this plan: On the biggest family holiday of the year, restaurants are not open! Not even "24 hour" kimbap shops! We walked around for about 30 minutes in the cold, looking for somewhere to eat. We were starving. Finally we got the brilliant idea to flag down a cab and ask him to take us to a Lotteria (a Korean fast food place resembling McDonalds), as we assumed one would exist in Gyeongju. We were wrong and finally I just told the confused cabbie to take us back to the historic areas where we had seen some touristy restaurants that looked open. About a block and half later, we passed a McDonalds--our savior! I HATE McDonalds, but I have never in all my life been more happy to see one. And the best part is that McD's in Korea serves a shrimp burger, so I could actually eat more than french fries and ice cream.

I'm not proud of this moment: I was so hungry, I ate two shrimp burger "set"s (how Koreans refer to combo meals).

Re-energized by the craptacular food, we headed out to Bulguksa, a temple that in combination with the Seokguram Grotto is also a designated UNESCO site. I had already seen the temple, so I was more interested in the grotto, but my companions hadn't seen the temple and we would have had to hike a mountain to get to the grotto, so instead we meandered around the large temple grounds.

One of the famous pagodas in the temple interior. The other was undergoing restoration, but they let you climb up on the scaffolding to look at how the restoration process was coming along, so that turned out to be kind of interesting.

Finally, Rick was too tired to continue, so he headed back to Daegu as Sarah and I caught a bus to the free National Museum (I'd been there before, but museums are always re-visitable). They were hosting some of the traditional Seollal games for children on the lawn of the museum, which was cute. Although they allowed pictures (no flash) in the museum, I was too tired to take any. So you'll just have to go there yourself to see all the cool stuff from the Silla dynasty.

After we exited the museum, it was dark outside. But we decided to take in one final site that was well lit up. Imhaejeonji (sometimes the lake is called Anapji) was the grounds of an ancient palace. Some of the structures have been restored, but there are models of the original structure inside these few pavilions. It would be quite impressive if fully restored.

The lighting and ambient traditional music made for a very romantic mood on the large lake with lit-up islands and a pretty walking path.

Exhausted, we headed back to the bus terminal and then to Daegu for Mexican food, wine, and girltalk.

Be sure to check out the complete album:

Downtown Gyeongju / 불국사

I can't wait to go back to Gyeongju in the spring to check out the flowers and other sites I didn't get to experience!

Nominated?

Someone, I think it was Danielle, nominated me for this Korean Blog Award thing (Klog) over at the Hub of Sparkle. I've been nominated the category of "Happiest Korea Blogger, 2008." I'm not sure that's always appropriate, but I do feel happy most of the time, and I kind of like it that someone out there sees me that way.

Go right now and vote for me!

If you read other Korean blogs, you can vote for them, too. I think you can skip categories if you don't know any of the blogs.

Some of my other favorite Korea blogs are nominated as well, such as Ask a Korean, I Got Two Shoes, Big White Barbie Does Busan, and Chubbo Chubbington. (Some of my favorites were also passed over, such as dollop of solipsism, Chris in South Korea, and Amanda Takes Off... poo to that!)

I think what Rob is doing for Korean bloggers is a good idea. I know he's put a lot of work into it, and I want to thank him. However, if you read the comments post on the original nominations post, I agree with Melissa that the nominations are a bit... incestuous. But I am grateful for the opportunity to peruse some new reading material. If I find one I like, I'll let you know!

Skiing Sunday.

High1 Resort, Sunday 3 p.m.

The wind screams and beats at the skis and snowboards outside our tiny glass cable car, suspended several tens of meters above the mountain. For a moment, I think we will be blown into the cars descending on the left. The angry, swirling snow finds its way in through the tiny cracks of the gondola car. Even though the glass protects us better than on the metal lifts, we are covering every spare inch of skin with scarves, hats, hoods, and gloves.

Se Jin pulls a scarf up across her nose and mouth. "I am a criminal!"

As we approach the top for this, our last run of the day, all the way down the length of the mountain, I realize we are the only people in view without goggles or sunglasses to protect our eyes against the gusting blizzards and winds. It wasn't snowing earlier.

Suddenly, I'm very, very scared. "You know, if you want, we can just take the lift back down the mountain." Looking at the return cars, I notice that several skiers and boarders have elected this option.

"No," says the criminal Se Jin. "I want to do it."

The top is cold. Freezing. And windy. I can barely see.

As we start down the slope, the wind carries us across the path as much as the slope pulls us down the hill. Se Jin stops at the side because she can't see very well. Frost forms inside my nose as I breathe.

"We have to keep going," I shout. "If we stop now, we'll freeze."

Se Jin nods, blinks into the flurry and the wind and keeps going.

Finally, at the bottom, we return our skis and head for a much needed hot chocolate before climbing back on the tour bus to Daegu.

***

Se Jin and I took a tour with 경상 tours for about 80,000 won all-inclusive (rental equipment, bus, lift tickets) all-day trip to High1 in Gangwondo. High1 is my favorite ski resort in Korea. The mountain is huge and has lots of different paths you can take. However, it's much further from Daegu than Muju, the place I went to teach Min Gi over Christmas.

We had to catch a bus at 4:40 a.m., so we stayed overnight in a downtown jjimjilbang (찜질방), a Korean public bath with areas for sleeping. For about 5,000-7,000 won, you can relax in the public bath, have a massage in the massage chairs, and sleep on the warm floor overnight. The public bath part is pretty awesome because you can scrub yourself thoroughly clean and then soak in a hot tub or sit in a steam sauna.

There is one catch: you're naked.

Public nudity (gender segregated) in Korea is much more common in shower rooms and the like than in the U.S. and many foreigners feel uncomfortable at first. Especially because the staring that happens regularly on the streets of Korea gets worse when your huge boobs are on display. Friends of mine have been felt up by old women in the bath houses. When my little sister visited, we kept getting approached by ajummas in the public bath at the jjimjilbang and asked rather invasive questions about our bodies. Thankfully, she didn't understand the words, even if she did understand the looks. (And I've heard for the foreign gentlemen there is an open, somewhat aggressive, comparing of packages as rumors abound that Asians are on the smaller end of the phallus size racial distribution, which can make men act strange). However, if you can get over the emotional hangups about being naked and stared at, then the places are quite relaxing.

The sleeping areas are usually co-ed, so you have to wear clothes (bummer, right?). Unfortunately, since we were downtown on a weekend night, there were a lot of people being loud and drunk and turning on and off lights while we tried to catch a few zzz's, so it was a little less than restful. We slept more soundly on the luxury 3-hour bus ride the next morning.

Se Jin and I skied a lot of the beginner runs in the morning. Then, we met Samson and Gwen for lunch because they were staying out there for the whole holiday weekend. That was nice. After one low-intermediate run where Se Jin fell down, she decided to take a break, so I headed out to the upper-intermediate, low-advanced slopes at the top of the mountain. By the last run of the afternoon, it had begun snowing and my legs were on fire.

However, Se Jin and I both wanted to do one more long run down the mountain. A beginner slope, technically, but the conditions made it quite difficult.

When we got back to Daegu, we had a lovely dinner at my favorite downtown Italian restaurant and bid farewell. It was a great day with my big sister!

Camp Swing It 2009!

January 16-18 I attended Camp Swing It in Pyeongtek, Korea (a city a little bit south of Seoul). Eleven hour to hour and a half long workshops and two awesome dance parties later, my legs felt like they were going to fall off. But... I was a much better dancer. This weekend, back in Daegu dancing, a lot of leads commented on my improvements, and that felt really great.

I learned a lot from some amazing lindy hop teachers:

Peter Loggins and Mia Goldsmith taught workshops on Balboa, Bal-swing, and historical pieces from the Savoy Ballroom.

Kevin St. Laurent and Emily Hoffberg focused on techniques related to leading and following well, as well as ways to dance easier to fast music.

Mikey Pedroza and Nina Gilkenson who taught a lot of techniques they learned from Frankie Manning (whose hip operation kept him from appearing himself at the camp, sadly).

Italian lindy hoppers Vincenzo Fesi and Isabella Gregorio taught a variety of moves and techniques in a way where they broke everything down in well-paced practice sessions.

I feel so grateful for the opportunity to study so closely with these folks for the weekend. At camp, in addition to dancers from other parts of Korea, I also met dancers from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, and Shanghai. I learned a ton and my interest in swing has actually increased from the exposure. I'm looking forward to more events like this in the future!

The lovely gentlemen who organized this fantastic event, Kang Seok Kim and Min-Q

Many thanks to the organizers. I can't wait for 2010!