Pirates: The Last Chapter

Two weeks ago, we performed "Pirates of Penzance" for the last time (and yet we still can't seem to get the songs out of our head)!  It was a crazy weekend (as expected), but we made it through and had some fun!  A bunch of our friends came to watch our last performance, and we were grateful for their support.  We are also grateful for the amazing people that we were able to meet throughout this crazy and chaotic experience.  We will be able to stay friends with many of the people because we are joining the Camarata Music Company choir.  When we get back from America at the end of August, we will start rehearsing for "Messiah" with the group, which will be performed at Christmas time.  We are excited for our next music endeavor, and trust that it will be a much more peaceful and injury-free rehearsal process!  The phrase "Break a leg!" has a whole new meaning to us now!  :)  Here are some pictures of our last show!

Life Outside of Pirates

Contrary to what the last few posts might suggest, we do have other things going on in our life besides our show! :)  So here are a few other things that are going on...

1.  We led worship at our church for the first time a few weeks ago!  We were excited to be able to do this, and it went really well.  And it looks as if we will be on a rotation of several different worship leaders, so it will probably be a regular thing.  It feels great to be really plugged in and involved in serving at our church in this way.  We love the feeling of community that we have there, and we're so glad that we can be a part of it.

2.  Our students are still the cutest and funniest parts of our days!  We got a few new classes last month, and I really like my new students.  I have a group of teenage girls on Tuesdays and Thursdays for three hours, and they are crazy, giddy, and hilarious!   They ask me to sing for them every class (which I do), and they love asking questions about Tim and how we met, etc.  It's a lot of fun teaching them, but it's also exhausting!  Thankfully, I still have my little 8-year-old "adorkables", too!  They are also exhausting, but in a different way.  I love that I get to have the young kids and the old kids.  It's such a different teaching approach and classroom environment, but I enjoy the differences.

3.  I haven't shared this with you before, but this is one of my favorite things about Korea.  There are free things taped on to many products at the grocery store.  The best things are on cereal boxes.  It's awesome... you don't have to send in the coupons, or dig through the cereal box for your prize... they give it to you right on the outside of the box!  I always buy the cereal with the prize, even if it's not a good cereal.  One time, I got a mug from a cereal box!  You just can't beat that.  Here's a cereal box that Tim brought home for me one day.  He knows the key to my heart.

4.  The World Cup!  Korea is crazy about the World Cup, so we decided to join the craziness.  We bought "Go Korea" t-shirts, and went out to watch the game last Saturday night.  We watched the first half at a Mexican restaurant where they were showing the game on TV.  It was fun because the whole restaurant erupted with claps and cheers when Korea scored!  Then, for the second half, we went to City Hall, where thousands of people were watching the game on huge screens.  It was fun to be a part of the madness.  And Korea won, so even better!

5.  Finally, WE'RE SO EXCITED TO COME HOME!!!  Only 42 more days till we are on American soil again!

Adventures in Theatre

Two weekends ago was our first "Pirates" show, and it was an adventure, to say the least!  We performed in Wonju, a few hours south of Seoul for a children's multicultural festival/camp.  Since it was a ways away, we had to get up at 5:30 am to meet the chartered bus that would take us there.  Side note:  Getting 3 hours of sleep before the day of a show is definitely not ideal.  Anyway, after arriving in Wonju, we were supposed to have the rest of the day to rehearse and get accustomed to the performance space.  However, there was no piano!  I'm not sure how they thought we were going to perform a Gilbert & Sullivan operetta without a piano.  So our stage manager set off to see if there was a piano or keyboard somewhere on the campus, while we were stuck to rehearse acapella.  We were warned that if they couldn't find a piano or keyboard, we would have to perform the show that way, which would have been the most enormous disaster the theatre world has ever seen.  Luckily, our stage manager found a keyboard, so we didn't have to be a part of that disaster.  The rest of the day felt like just mass chaos.  There were no wings off of the stage, and no backstage, so we had to use dividers off to the sides to create wings.  There were no dressing rooms, so people had to change in random storage closets and behind dividers.  Not to mention, the biggest set back of all: our director and Pirate King was out with a broken leg, so our stage manager, who is a girl, was taking over this bass role.  I am a firm believer that shows always come together, but this combination of circumstances was challenging my beliefs.

Finally, it was show time.  A big group of Korean kids piled in to watch the show.  They were excited to see the pirates in the first scene, but after that, they got bored.  Maybe because the show is in English, and they don't speak English.  Hmm.  I can't say that I blame them!  So there was a dull roar of chatter throughout the entire show.  At least the chatter covered up the blemishes in the show.  Anyway, we made it through, and it was good to run the show in its entirety, since we had never done that without stopping.  We did a meet & greet afterwards with the kids, and they were all really cute and excited to meet us and get our autographs. :)  Then, we boarded the bus for home.  It had been a long and crazy day.

I don't like being really negative, so here's the silver lining in all of this:  No matter how crazy and chaotic things have been with this show, I have loved being able to create this character and sing the beautiful music that goes along with it.  I thought I had to give up this part of my life to come to Korea, but here I am, in the midst of it again.  I feel so lucky to be able to perform again, and to have the opportunity to be stressed about theatre.  So yes, I will complain and be frustrated when things do not go the way I want them to go, but deep down, I'm still so thankful that this is a part of my life here.  This weekend we have three shows in Seoul, and then it's over!  Let the adventure continue!

It's a Pirate's Life for Us

It's June!  As expected, being in "Pirates of Penzance" has made the days and months go by even faster than normal!  Literally, all of our free time on the weekends that used to be filled with traveling and hanging out with friends, has been devoted to putting up this production.  It has (mostly) been a good experience, but of course no show is free from it's own ups and downs and show drama.  Put 25 people in a  small rehearsal space for 16 hours on the weekend, and add in some stress... and there's bound to be drama! :)  Through it all, Tim and I have met some awesome and talented people, and had a lot of fun with the cast.  Tim is an amazing pirate, and is having lots of fun dancing, singing, and dressing as one!  I am loving Mabel and all of the beautiful music I get to sing.  Last weekend was our dress rehearsal, and this Saturday is our first show!  The rehearsal went well, and we were all relieved that the show was finally coming together.  Then, yesterday our good feelings were shattered when we found out that our director and Pirate King in the show broke his leg!  He was hit by a car while riding his motorcycle, and now has to get surgery.  We are all thankful that he was not hurt more seriously!  But this means that he is out of the show, and that our stage manager has 3 days to learn the large role.  Welcome to life in the theatre!  Also, I have been mildly sick with a cold for the past two weeks.  I have been able to sing through it and everything, but this week it has gotten worse.  I am on medication, and am downing water and vitamin C like it's my job, but I'm still a little worried about getting my voice back to performance level by Saturday.  If you think about it, please pray for these glitches to our show!  We trust that it will all come together because shows somehow have a way of doing that.  But right now, it feels like a crazy, chaotic mess!  Oh theatre, I have missed you!

Here are some pictures of our rehearsals...

This is an adorable little girl named Esther who hangs out at rehearsals with us.

I pulled out the camera, and she posed like this.  Please.

Me as Mabel

Mabel and Frederic

The sisters spying on Mabel and Frederic.

He is the very model of a modern Major General.

Tim as a pirate!!

The policemen

Dancing pirates

Pirate Ballerinas

Ruth... the girl pirate.  She is hilarious!

Our Pirate King who broke his leg. :(

The show must go on!! :)

Tim's Caving Trip

A few weeks ago, Tim and two of his guy friends took a trip to Chungju Lake and Gosu Cave.  I spent the day slaving away at "Pirates" rehearsal, :) while they did some sightseeing a few hours south of Seoul.  Here are some pictures of their trip and the beautiful scenery!  I wish I could have been there, too!