Big Lunch Meeting

March 10th, 2011
I practiced 합기도 Hapkido until 9:30, went to 동대구 Dongdaegu Station and caught a train back to Seoul. I arrived in the early morning and since the taxi line was long I decided to see if there was still a bus (although I didn't expect there to be as it was after 1 a.m.). Miracle of miracles, there was, although I had to wait 18 minutes to catch it (fortunately the bus stop sign tells me how many minutes I have to wait, the 402 was one of the only buses still running).

March 11th, 2011
I had only returned to Seoul in order to attend an important meeting I had coordinated on Friday with 엄승용Eom Seungyong from the 문화재청 Cultural Properties Administration, his staff member 김인규 Kim Ingyu, 탄종원 Tahn Jongwon from 송파산대놀이 Songpa Sandae Noli, 허창열 Heo Changyeol from 고성오광대 Goseong Ogwangdae and 황민왕 Hwang Minwang from 남해안별신굿 Namhae'an Byeolshin'gut. The meeting was a little less productive than I had hoped. Partially because Korean culture kicked in with so many Koreans in the room, which meant that Changyeol who is quite vocal, normally, was suddenly quiet, and Tahn Jongwon was fairly loud because he's probably around the same age as Eom and certainly he's older than everyone else. Hwang cut in fairly often, but I ended up talking more than I had intended to. We discussed a wide variety of topics, although Eom had to leave after a little more than an hour and we were left talking to Kim, who honestly probably is the person who has to put things into effect anyway, even though it's up to Eom how Kim uses his time. We had a nice lunch, too, but the dish I chose was much too small, and I was left feeling pretty hungry. The details of the lunch discussion would be too many to type and some of the discussion was quite speculative and "what if the CPA does this?" or "as artists what would you think if the CPA did that?" So it would be appropriate to put it all up here. However I did record the entire 2.5 hours, so I can review the discussion later and see what's there that might be included in the dissertation.

I went home changed my clothes, repacked my bag and left for 대구 Daegu. I got to my 합기도 Hapkido studio at 8:30 and practiced until 11:30 (seriously), when the 관장님 Instructor drove everyone home. I had elected to stay at his house since the test was early and I didn't want to bother Georgy and 진홍 Jinhong and spend all that time on the subway just to sleep. I had a nice dinner (at midnight) with the instructor and stole the neighbors' internet which worked just well enough to check my email and read more on the devastation in Japan.