Gyeongbok Palace and Patbingsu

July 17^th, 2011

I worked on the computer in the morning then went to meet 박연식 Bak Yeonshik (from Bongsan Talchum) and his friend Haeri. She knows a ton about 경복궁 Gyeongbok Palace and palace architecture etc in general and she gave us a personalized awesome tour. There were so many things she explained I wish I had known when Aimee, Hengyi Shr and my mom were visiting. Unfortunately the sun was baking (okay, at least it was sunny!) and I was in a tank top and I became horribly sunburned.

We went to a really great 팟빙수 (shaved ice) place and I had one made with Omija, which is my absolute favorite flavor, but I've never seen it offered for shaved ice before!

I had a date with 세정 Sejeong at 5:30 but showed up at Namsan Hanok Village early, allowing me thirty minutes of happy dancing and photography with my Gaejeonyeon and other 임실필봉농악 Imshil Pilbong Nongak people. Sweaty I joined Sejeong, who was feeling very physically exhausted, and we decided to have dinner and then watched the latest Harry Potter film. Afterwards we had a long discussion of her problems with finding the proper focus for her studies.

July 18^th, 2011

I went to teach at Dankook University, and it was a fairly good day except that it was the day to introduce both mask dance dramas and pungmul music to the students, plus go over two readings and have a discussion related to teaching and learning traditional arts. Of course we also had to have our time to practice 봉산탈춤 Bongsan Talchum but most of the group was complaining that they hurt all weekend after practice on Friday. That's cause we're at the point in the basic motions routine where we squat and jump into the air repeatedly. It is both exhausting and for people with lame squat muscles, painful the next day.

After class I took the bus to 강남 Gangnam instead of near home and just went straight to the training center. I asked 장용일 Jang Yongil a few questions related to research and talked with him and the office manager and then headed to class. Today 김은주 Kim Eunju was back. It was so much easier to have class with her that all night the students kept calling out loudly "you're so great!" and "what an excellent teacher" etc. when she didn't make us repeat motions to the end of the routine (when they're all the same anyway). We had 16 students. 17 or 16 every class while Jang was teaching, too, even though every time someone or the other is absent. But my sunburn had me exhausted and weak and I did a terrible job all night.