What Did the Violinist Symbolize?

Last night, my co-teacher, Mrs. U, took me to a play in Seoul. The play was about the Korean War and spoken entirely in Korean. I didn't expect to understand everything, but I thought I might be able to pick up on the gist of the plot. I was wrong.

The play began with the stage covered in dead bodies - Korean men, women, and soldiers. Two got up, started to dance and play around, then began to position all of the other dead bodies. There was almost no language for the first five minutes and I still had no idea what was going on. Then loud violin music began playing, and a formally dressed violinist appeared in the back of the stage. Then he left again. Then more and more dead bodies began waking up. There was one dead woman who was dressed as a bride, a woman sized doll dressed as a bride, and a man dressed as the scariest looking clown I could possibly imagine. He carried an antique camera and occasionally took pictures. Every time he took a picture all the lights in the theater flashed.

For the next two hours I watched various scenes of these dead bodies moving around, talking to each other, fighting, and dying. There was a priest who was killed four times. Twice, the cameraman returned, turned his camera into a machine gun, and killed everyone on stage. Once, he also shot the audience. The bride was the object of a lot of fascination. At one point several of the characters were writing on her dead face (they were all dead, just some more than others) and Mrs. U leaned over and tired to catch me up on the plot: "She is guilty," she told me.

During the next hour or so the soldiers attacked several times, once raping and murdering the fake bride and repeatedly killing the real bride. After one of these incidents she crawled over to one of the soldiers and grabbed his ankles. Again my co-teacher decided to bring me up to speed : "He is her son," she whispered.

After the play, as we were walking out, Mrs. U said to me, "See, you don't need to know Korean to understand this play."

"I beg to differ," I responded.

It turns out the bride represented the Korean people. The play was about their struggles during the war and was actually pretty good. I only wish I had had some idea of what was going on before it was over.

St. Patrick's in Seoul

This past weekend marked five months of living in Korea. Looking back, my life has changed dramatically from what it was when I first arrived. I know a lot of people, and am managing to keep very busy.

This Saturday afternoon I met some friends in Seoul to celebrate St. Patrick's Day at an Irish Festival. We spent the day, evening, and early morning in Seoul. The below picture was taken by a friend and is of me demonstrating how to drink two cups of Guinness at once:

Standing in the North

As I mentioned, my parents visited for a week back in February. While they were here we took a trip up to the Demilitarized Zone and saw the border between North and South Korea. The whole thing was very bizarre and very interesting and I recommend it to anyone visiting Korea. Here is a picture of me standing just over the border, technically in the communist North:I didn't know whether to smile or not, so I went with the half smile (the photographic equivalent of the nervous laugh).

Back to Teaching

This week marks the beginning of the new school year here in Korea. I have a new co-teacher and about 150 new students. I taught my first classes of the new year today, and was pleased that everything went smoothly. Yesterday, I attended a ceremony for the schools new first graders and incoming 6th graders. The gym was packed with about 200 first graders, many of their parents, about 175 6th graders, and most of the schools teachers. I was the only person their who didn't understand a word of the ceremony. This situation gave my mind ample time to wander and I had an interesting thought. I was remembering my own first day of school, and suddenly realized that I only finished "school" less than a year ago. It was strange to think that most of those first graders would be in school until they were my age. I couldn't help thinking that they have no idea what they are getting themselves into. Okay, its not that interesting, but I didn't have anything else to think about as I was standing there.