Hey everyone. A lot has happened in the last few days. This is basically my vacation week before things settle down a little bit. I am starting to feel comfortable ordering food, purchasing goods, walking around, and understanding basic Korean and common phrases. I am actually really good at reading the language but have no clue what I am reading most of the time. The language is phonetic just like English. There are consonants, vowels, and complex vowel symbols that have distinct sounds. (check out this website if you are interested. It is very basic but you get the idea http://www.indiana.edu/~koreanrs/hangul.html)
I have had more exposure in front of people this week than in my entire life. I was invited to perform on stage at a live show in front of hundreds of people. I jumped, hooted, and hollered around like I knew what I was doing. I now understand what people mean when they say they were bitten by the acting bug. It really is neat how you can feed off of the energy the audience gives you. I especially felt it since I am so completely different looking than everyone. I stick out just a bit ;). Imagine being up on stage with some of the most beautiful people you have ever seen, then reacting to whatever the professionals do to make you look good. I think the highlight of being up there was when I made the audience wow and then laugh. The character messing with me wanted me to imitate him. So he rolled forward then paused still tucked. He then rolled backward to his feet. I did the same but felt like I had too much momentum going backwards. Then out of nowhere I pushed off into a back hand spring tuck stand thing. The crowed clapped and I got a cheer or two. The character guy acted jealous so I brushed my shoulder and walked away. The audience laughed. It was great.  I never appreciated what actors do until now.
The very next day I was walking around with Sungjoo, Hago and Kate, another American friend of ours.  We were in a Korean ceramics park with huge pots, sculptures and crazy things everywhere. A news crew rolled up and asked Kate and me if they could follow us around. They wanted to film foreigners to prove people were visiting the park. We just acted normally and roamed up hills, down walkways, and finally into the gift shop. They asked us questions like why are you here? What do you think of the pottery? Why do you like/dislike it? What is different from American pottery (honestly not much)? They said we would be on the news channel and online.
If you did not know, I was an art major in college. I just dug back into the files and pulled out all the BS I could think of regarding ceramic art. My old professors would be proud. I think I used the term simply complex. I gave an example of how a single flower is simple by itself. When you cover the entire pot in flowers and entwine them it becomes complex. After the interview we continued on our merry way to look and see the sights.
I went to a pottery school earlier in the day where I got to throw some clay on a spinning wheel. The school master actually came out and taught Kate and me. He was great. I do not think he expected me to know what I was doing. I have had some experience throwing slabs, coiling clay and spinning clay. I have had to do it since high school. It is really fun. I made a vase and decorated it with Korean style art. They gave us a really terrible tool to engrave with. Normally you use dental tools but it was only 20,000 won (EX: 1,000 won = $1  10,000 won = $10  100,000 = $100) So I did not say anything. Pottery is cheap here and it is done really well. I am going to try to ship some back home.
We then drove to Incheon city and had some dinner in Chinatown, South Korea. It was delicious. Ordering in Chinese was out of the question so I let Sungjoo do that one for me. Yeah, he knows how to read Chinese. I can barely read Korean and English. (Little info, did you know more people speak English in China than in America. Look it up.  Tthey have over a billion people in their population. We do not even have half of that.) We then walked the area, got yelled at by drunk bums, and had a great night.
It has been a great week and I will have even more to tell in the next few days. I am hoping Monday I will have a new post. We are going to be away from my Korean apartment so I do not know when I will have Internet. Check back this weekend and see! Looking forward to hearing from you guys,

Prepositional Phrase Dean