Seoul Surviving
Big news! After our closing show Sunday night, we left the theatre to grab snacks before getting on the bus to take us back to our hotel. Imagine our surprise when we walked down the street to find hundreds of Korean soldiers in riot gear marching around! Now, we are right across from the American embassy, but we had no idea what was going on. The were chanting, and some were in formation, but some were just running around crazily. There were about 50 buses covered with mesh and some were filled with soldiers, and some soldiers were getting on the buses. It was a freaky madhouse!! We still don't know what was going on! This was the perfect conclusion to our hellish week of shows and our closing in Seoul. The company has dubbed ourselves Seoul Survivors (exhaustion breeds dorkiness).
So after that craziness in the heart of Seoul, we all headed back to the hotel to let loose and relax since our week of hell was finally over. We are all dying to be in Malaysia (and warm weather) but we figured on this night we might as well party and forget about it. Now not only was this our closing night, but it also happened to be the night that we said goodbye to our drummer, Ed Fast. Ed is an amazing drummer, considering he’s leaving us to go play on Broadway in ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’, plus he’s a very cool guy – super popular with the Asian ladies. In any case, his passing was deserving of a massive party. All I can say is that is started with a bunch of alcohol, and ended with drunk orchestra members trying to suck people’s toes. Not that this hasn't happened before… ugh.
Anyway, after that, we needed a day to recuperate. We all slept in till all hours and then decided to have an original Korean night, and we called some of our local crew people to hang out. We decided to go ice skating on an outdoor rink that’s set up seasonally outside City Hall. It was amazing to be ice skating in the middle of downtown Seoul as the sun set. Surrounded by sparkly buildings and mountains, and tiny Korean kids falling on their butts. The only problem was that my gigantic feet (by Asian standards) couldn't fit into the ladies skates, so I had to wear hockey skates, which are very different than figure skates and consequently caused me to fall on my butt.
Afterwards, my friend Joel and I embarked on a typical Korean adventure. We were supposed to meet another group for dinner at a restaurant. We had previously asked the hotel to write the name and address on a piece of paper so we could show it to a cab driver. Now, I’m not sure if I've mentioned this, but there is some craziness to Seoul. There are almost no street names, and buildings are numbered in the order they’re built. This means that when we say we want to go to Joe's Restaurant we never get there. We started out in a cab who read our paper and then made us get out and cross the street to get a cab going the other way. After we hopped into that baby, the cabdriver drove for a while, and then stopped the car. He proceeded to ask three cabs that drove by to roll down their windows and give directions, before driving to the middle of nowhere. He found a restaurant that had a similar name, and after we convinced him that wasn't it, drove to an open-air market. He then proceeded to drive through the market (where cars aren’t supposed to go) and ask people that he hit with his car where the restaurant was. Finally some girl just told him to drive us back to the hotel (which was also on the paper). When we got there, we were only ten minutes late to the restaurant, so we decided to keep trying. We got into an expensive cab with a uniformed driver who looked at the paper and sat staring at it for literally three full minutes. Finally Joel just grabbed it out of his hand and we got out. Cab number four was finally lucky, and we made it to the restaurant - which turned out to be within walking distance of the hotel. What I want to know is – what was written on that fricking paper? Does our hotel hate us that much??!!
Post-dinner we all headed to our first Korean movie theatre – did I mention that they have assigned seats in movie theatres in Asia? – To see the Aviator. Overall, our first full day off was a fabulous success, and we can’t wait to fill eight more!
So after that craziness in the heart of Seoul, we all headed back to the hotel to let loose and relax since our week of hell was finally over. We are all dying to be in Malaysia (and warm weather) but we figured on this night we might as well party and forget about it. Now not only was this our closing night, but it also happened to be the night that we said goodbye to our drummer, Ed Fast. Ed is an amazing drummer, considering he’s leaving us to go play on Broadway in ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’, plus he’s a very cool guy – super popular with the Asian ladies. In any case, his passing was deserving of a massive party. All I can say is that is started with a bunch of alcohol, and ended with drunk orchestra members trying to suck people’s toes. Not that this hasn't happened before… ugh.
Anyway, after that, we needed a day to recuperate. We all slept in till all hours and then decided to have an original Korean night, and we called some of our local crew people to hang out. We decided to go ice skating on an outdoor rink that’s set up seasonally outside City Hall. It was amazing to be ice skating in the middle of downtown Seoul as the sun set. Surrounded by sparkly buildings and mountains, and tiny Korean kids falling on their butts. The only problem was that my gigantic feet (by Asian standards) couldn't fit into the ladies skates, so I had to wear hockey skates, which are very different than figure skates and consequently caused me to fall on my butt.
Afterwards, my friend Joel and I embarked on a typical Korean adventure. We were supposed to meet another group for dinner at a restaurant. We had previously asked the hotel to write the name and address on a piece of paper so we could show it to a cab driver. Now, I’m not sure if I've mentioned this, but there is some craziness to Seoul. There are almost no street names, and buildings are numbered in the order they’re built. This means that when we say we want to go to Joe's Restaurant we never get there. We started out in a cab who read our paper and then made us get out and cross the street to get a cab going the other way. After we hopped into that baby, the cabdriver drove for a while, and then stopped the car. He proceeded to ask three cabs that drove by to roll down their windows and give directions, before driving to the middle of nowhere. He found a restaurant that had a similar name, and after we convinced him that wasn't it, drove to an open-air market. He then proceeded to drive through the market (where cars aren’t supposed to go) and ask people that he hit with his car where the restaurant was. Finally some girl just told him to drive us back to the hotel (which was also on the paper). When we got there, we were only ten minutes late to the restaurant, so we decided to keep trying. We got into an expensive cab with a uniformed driver who looked at the paper and sat staring at it for literally three full minutes. Finally Joel just grabbed it out of his hand and we got out. Cab number four was finally lucky, and we made it to the restaurant - which turned out to be within walking distance of the hotel. What I want to know is – what was written on that fricking paper? Does our hotel hate us that much??!!
Post-dinner we all headed to our first Korean movie theatre – did I mention that they have assigned seats in movie theatres in Asia? – To see the Aviator. Overall, our first full day off was a fabulous success, and we can’t wait to fill eight more!
posted by Beth at 1:36 AM
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