Miyal Performance at Pungryu Theatre

July 28^th, 2011

We had class with a little extra Bongsan Talchum practice for the students.

July 29^th, 2011

My friend from K-Arts, 기영 Giyeong, helped me find someone to teach the students Korean court dance, the very nice이은솔 Yi Eunsol. The students were sort of amazed how difficult what looked like simple motions actually was to do.

The last performance in the series of mask dance drama performances was on "Miyal" (the old grandmother). I went directly to Pungryu Theatre after class, talking with the Bongsan Talchum performers a bit (although the focus for the evening was Eunyul Talchum). The show was good, but again, it was awkward to be combining the different dramas (Eunyul, Gangnyeong, Bongsan) into one show. I was surprised that Abigail and Amada came. After the show I took them and Sumi out for jeon and makgeolli. I think I'm converting my students to a big love of Korean arts! 

A Quick Last Trip to Daegu

July 26^th, 2011

Because I assigned the students to do several things outside of class time (and they're in vacation mode) I had written in this day as a day off of class. So I headed out in the morning for Daegu—carrying a heavy tub of things to leave at Jinhong and Georgy's house. After some lunch I headed to 신라합기도체육관 Shilla Hapkido Studio, where I trained from 4 until just after 10, then rushed back to Georgy and Jinhong's. At Hapkido all was well with the world—the kids were cute (and a bunch of yellow belts in the late afternoon decided I was a seat, so every time I sat down they rushed to sit on my legs and lean their adorable little heads trustingly against me—they were also imps that were hard to keep in control but my overall impression was cute as could be. 박형건 Bak Hyeong-geun, my little brother, arrived in the early evening and we ate dinner with the 관장님 instructor, 김유림 Kim Yurim. The workout was pretty intense and I spent a good two hours just practicing nun-chucks so I was really surprised that I wasn't totally destroyed by the end of the day, but it was fine. Jinhong, Georgy and I had a little 막걸리 makgeolli party, except Georgy doesn't actually like it. Anyway, Jinhong made a bunch of 전 jeon which was eaten with gusto.

July 27^th, 2011

I hung out with Georgy and Jinhong all morning, then stopped by my glasses place quick before Hapkido (they'll send me a new pair of prescription sunglasses to Seoul). It was a really good time at Hapkido again, I will miss everyone there, and the instructor, even though I didn't get a chance to spend much time there this year.

I took the KTX train (Georgy can get really great discounts during the week) back to Seoul and got home around 1 a.m.