Hangul + lots of Korean food and fun equals Happiness :)

At least Hangul equals happiness if you live in Korea and want to eat, drink, and just live life. You'll see later in the post that I've been practicing! But first, there are many things I've wanted to share recently and just haven't had the time.

Despite the fact I haven't yet had a day off from performing and the issues that are still to be dealt with regarding the show, I'm having an amazing time and I'm so glad to be here.

To prove it...

Another traditional Korean meal. They are soooo tasty! I love the fish and the rice and the soup and I like almost all the side dishes. I've tried one I absolutely don't like and I'm still not a huge fan of kimchi, but I eat it. 

This is the girl that performs every day in the animal show. During the show she does a workout routine and finds a boyfriend in the crowd because she's so SEXY! It's actually hilarious :-D

There's been tasty meals of super duper hot and spicy chicken with salad and noodles and rice and egg souffles and other things I can't remember. Btw, when I say spicy, I mean I cry crocodile tears and my nose runs and I start panting like an overheated puppy dog. Yet it tastes so good I can't stop putting the chicken bites in my mouth. Torture it is, torture!

The remains of some of the pajeon and the last giant prawn awaits my taste buds. He was so big and good looking I had to take a picture before I pulled him apart to devour!!

This is backstage where I walk every day many times back and forth for the shows. And yes, the dolphins are always there to greet me and click and squeal and swim beside me as I run to and from the stage doors. 

Here we all went out for a big Korean meal. There was fish and pork and pajeon (Korean pancake) and of course all the side dishes and appetizers they serve at traditional restaurants. You definitely never leave without being quite full!

And here they give you plastic gloves to eat chicken wings instead of wet wipes like in America. It's a bit weird trying to eat chicken wings with a glove on one hand and using chopsticks in the other. I made the mistake of putting the glove on my right hand so I had to try and use the chopsticks with my left. I ended up using my soup spoon frequently during that meal....

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In addition to the many many many food parties and such, I've managed to squeeze in some Korean studies.

I've found a friend at the aquarium who is willing to teach me in addition to my book studies. Mainly because every time I would try saying a new phrase, he would say, "No, no, we don't say that. We say this", so now I'm taking lessons 5 days a week and studying hard!

I've learned 95% of the Korean hangul alphabet and can sound out nearly every sign I see, although I have no idea what I'm saying! Right now I'm focusing on grammar and trying to understand how Koreans put sentences together and what the structure of the language is. Then I will start adding more vocabulary. I can't wait till I can start saying more than 감사합니다 (thank you) or 안녕하세요 (hello) and start saying sentences. I can say a few, but very few. Once I learn the grammar I can start adding vocabulary by forming sentences or asking one of the few sentences I do know, "그것은 무엇인가?"(What is it?) I can actually write in Korean on my laptop, but I can't remember which key is what character so it's useless till I can get stickers or a silver sharpie to write on the keys.

Life is good. I have new friends, am making more friends, getting lots of exercise, getting lots of mosquito bites..., eating delicious food, learning a new language, playing violin everyday, playing with dolphins between shows, opening my eyes to a whole new world. Hmm, I feel like Jasmine from Aladdin all of a sudden.

I'm working on a video post of the dolphins and also some of the fish in the aquarium, but I don't have lots of time that I spend in front of my computer these days so it wil be a little while yet. 

Right now it's work work work work, then party party party, then work work work work. Somehow I managed to find some semblance of ship life here on land. Amazing :)

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disclaimer: It appears that typing in Korean really messes up the html on Blogger. I tried fixing it many times, but it all appears normal in the edit box so I apologize for my ineptness at figuring out the problem.

Communication

Everyone knows that communication is a very important part of life.

No, let me rephrase that. Effective communication is a very important part to a successful life. 

Never is this more apparent in our daily lives then in our close relationships. Or at least this is what I felt before moving to South Korea. Now I feel there is an equal place where effective communication is a key part to successful living.

The place I am describing is the workplace.

This has been made exceedingly clear to me recently.

Most of the time I find the ring around the language pool humorous and amusing more than frustrating and aggravating. But not yesterday.

Because I speak English (and Spanish) but not Russian, not Korean, not Polish, not Kazak, not Dutch or any other language they speak around here, I have to have a translator to communicate with the management and directors. 

This is a typical scenario.

A Korean speaking person wishes to tell me something so he calls over the Russian translator (she speaks fluent Korean and Russian for the synchronized swimmers here) who speaks very little English. She listens to what he says and sometimes tries to communicate directly to me but usually calls over a Russian girl who has been studying English on her own and does better then she. So the Management speaks to the translator in Korean, who speaks to a swimmer in Russian, who speaks to me in English. then I speak back something in English to the Russian, who speaks to the translator, who speaks to management. Having a conversation of any depth can take quite some time.

And most definitely, there is much LOST IN TRANSLATION. 

They say the exact same thing over and over and over again and I try to say different things to maybe get my point across more successfully, but I am pretty sure the exact same things are being said back over and over. So when the idea is not being understood, this gets quite frustrating. Hw do I say something so that it translates across two other languages properly???

The end result is usually that I end up looking obstinate instead of cooperative and I make someone upset with me. And it is more frustrating when all I was trying to say was something like, " yes that's fine with me except for blah blah."

Yesterday it was a mess of upset feelings (not mine) through all of the miscommunication. 

And another very, or maybe I should say slightly in comparison to the other, annoying thing is when I am told, "Hurry! Hurry! Meeting now! Meeting now!" So I hurry along to find out that the meeting doesn't include me and it is all in Korean and Russian so I don't even understand of word of it anyway. 

A similar ocurrence that happens frequently is also being told to show up at a certain time (which in itself is a luxury) and then after waiting there for anywhere between 10 minutes to over an hour, someone comes along to say that we are taking break now. 

Things will get better I know. I will learn more Korean. And the drama with opening a show will diminish over time once the show finds its feet.

I do hope things move toward less stressful quickly!

Until then, next post will have happy thoughts and fun pictures!

It hurts.

Sometimes I wish I was without emotion. Not because someone hurts me but because it hurts me so much to hurt someone else, or even consider that I might have. I have had quite some time tonight to think about it. How immediately a girl wants to share her pain with someone else; to get their opinion and just talk out loud. But what happens when she can't? Where does the pain go? How does she deal with it?

I'm sure some girls get sick and throw up, and sometimes I've felt that way too. Some girls break down into tears; and I have as well. Some girls pretend it didn't happen and act like a rock; I have had that reaction as well. But for me, what I feel most is what I'm guessing a mother (I wouldn't actually know this) feels when her child gets hurt or fails and something and the mother wants so badly to do something for the child but really can't. Her heart wants to burst with the pain of helplessness.

So does the pain inside turn everything to mush? Does it make her so vulnerable she can't resist attacks? Does it make her break down so far she feels nothing? Or does it solidify into steel? Make her so strong that nothing can crack her armor? Does it cause her heart to beat so fast and cry its own tears beneath the solid surface of concrete that she has kept and maintained to guard herself and make her the independent woman she is?

How is it possible that emotional pain can cause so much physical pain? How is it possible to have such clear physical reactions to an attack so vague?

I wish I could just ignore things sometimes. Be that rock. Pretend things don't affect me. If you met me tomorrow you would never know the inner war that I endured tonight. If you met me tomorrow you wouldn't realize how vulnerable and collapsible I might feel inside. I'm glad that I'm able to continue on easily, to learn and not forget, to easily forgive myself and others, to smile when I want to scream. Some say that I am emotionless, steel with no feelings, or that I don't care about people and their feelings. These accusations have all been spoken. And I believe those that spoke them believe them true. And then it's a full circle back to the top of this post. I feel that I've now offended them and am hurt by the possibility but don't know how to correct it. Evil this is.

I give so much of myself in ways that seem impervious to people. Sometimes I believe I live in another world where people don't think about the words they say. The specific words they say. How many times have I answered the exact questions someone asked only to have them get upset that I didn't answer their question. Reality: I didn't answer the question they were intending to ask, but the question they actually asked. When having conversations, I comment on the actual words someone used in the pattern of which they chose only to be ridiculed for missing the point. Not the point they actually made, but the point they were thinking. Admittedly English is a very difficult language, but for native speakers, why is this such a common problem? I know I'm not the only one that has experienced the phenomenon because I have read about it happening with others. It is extremely frustrating though because the basics of communication is broken down. We pay attention to body language and gestures, but not enough to words. Without the in depth understanding of our basic language system and the attentive detail to the way it's spoke there is very little meaningful communication. Yes, you can get the weather update or confirm the shopping list, but it doesn't get beyond the surface level.

I supposed if you've read this far you understand, empathize, have absolutely nothing to do, have no clue what I'm talking about but like reading my writing, or are seriously interested in my thoughts. I don't care which one, but I'm happy you did. Thank you. You've made me smile. Made my night better. Given me the inspiration to love life again and give others the inspiration to love it as much as I do!