Adieu

This blog has served its purpose and it's time to call it to a close. I'll still leave 手紙 (letters) "open," however, for easy referrals...

"How was your fieldwork year?"

"Great!"

"What did you do?"

"Gosh, a whole lot."

"Do you have any pictures?"

"YES. Please have a look here..."

Thank you all for reading and commenting throughout the past year. I enjoyed blogging much more than I thought I would - and I'm glad to have shared a few of my experiences during the past fourteen months with you. Even though I was far away, I felt connected to many friends, both in Korea and overseas.

I've put together a photo album of some of my favorite shots here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=118631&id=704286751&l=e90d53e90e

AND....I've decided to continue blogging (!). I have 100 invites to spare, so please hit me up if you're interested in reading. The address is: http://inyoung-kath.blogspot.com

Thanks again!

xoxo

Katherine

the way to beat international jet lag...

round 1: partake in yummy indian at shanti. engage in great conversation and enjoy even better company


marvel at the changgo cupcake creations perfected by miss heezy


entertain guests with a short samulnori riff


round 2: head to the lively stereo bar in hongdae.


become more animated as the night goes on.


round 3: go to karaoke with the real troopers. 3:30 AM-ish. sing a selection of journey, madonna, lady g-g-g-gaga, and korean trot.


sing and dance until 5 AM.

then catch a ride to the airport at 7:30 AM, meet roommate at airport to say final farewells just before the security check, and catch flight to tokyo. transfer to the 11 hour flight to detroit.

manage to sleep for only 4 hours on the flight, even despite my crafty "plan."

arrive home in michigan. collapse by 4 PM. awake at 5:30 AM.

after two days, the schedule starts to normalize. other than eating a dinner-size portion for breakfast, i'm nearly back to EST.*


*status quo: currently convalescing at home, sick as a dog (hopefully, not as a pig) after overextending myself for the past month. still, the last night in korea, spent with the dear friends who are my true family in seoul, was 110% worth it.

Home

Back in Michigan. More later!

Final Countdown

My Tokyo homestay parents came to visit me last weekend and we had a great time exploring different parts of Seoul. Here they are at a famous samgyetang restaurant in Gyeongbokgung. Definitely worth the wait!


With Yukiko san in Insadong. (Shigeo san is taking the picture!)


Chrysanthemum, ginger, and plum teas + an assortment of goodies


The new statue of King Sejong in Gwanghwamun Plaza. He looks rather...robust.


Junior high schoolers having lunch (kimbap) at the restored Cheonggye Stream.


Since I just mentioned it, here's another kind of stream swirling around in my brain at the moment...

thursday, 12:27 am

blurs
sleep
lack thereof

books
gifts
appreciated, but now i will have to make another box. boo.

cough
candy
probably will get a cavity now. learned that 목캔디 ("throat candy") is really just candy.

loose
-ends
tied?

kitty
rests
but will moo moo truly miss me?

meals
friend
i feel very popular these days. but the commute is nearly killing me.

party
3-cha
1-cha: (dinner at shanti) 2-cha: (drinks at gopchang) 3-cha: (noraebang). happy halloween!

2much

to-do

yet managing to cross things off the list, one thing at a time. 

korea
leave
bittersweet

wrap it up

A shop at the antique markets in Tapshimni.

I've been a bit flaky on the posting as of late. This is primarily because I am in the final stretch and running against time. Setting up a post-arrival schedule, coordinating an international move, and saying farewells are tasks that range from logistically to emotionally challenging. These days, between the packing and appointments in and around the city, I am still managing to squeeze in the last bits of research - which makes me feel full and yet completely drained. I am hoping to relax for a few days once I fly back home...

I thought I'd share some random thoughts in the form that comes so easy to me these days - the list.

1. boxes, tape, and npr make a nice trio.

2. i'm justified in taking cabs to meetings b/c otherwise, i'd be late - and that would be bad.

3. cloud storage space is a novel and smart idea. 

4. i am at two appointments per day. next week may involve double-booking. please don't take offense.

5. my ocd has extended from creating daily, monthly and research "to-do" lists to creating spreadsheets for everything imaginable. these days the contents of my boxes are now being subsumed by boxes known as excel.

6. if your research involves traditional korean percussion and hanging out with drummer dudes 90% of the time, prepare to make friends with soju or its country bumpkin neighbor - makgeolli.

7. although i greatly admire the essay "freedom from possessions" (無所有) by the venerable beopjeong sunim, i will not come close to this ideal anytime soon.

8. wondering if i should start up a consulting agency for the number of people who have asked me for advice on how to get into graduate schools (preferably ivy league) in the u.s.

9. one farewell that i will not shed a tear at: the single relentless mosquito that has yet to be seen, but only heard. 

10. i will miss this place and my friends dearly. 

PIFF

Haeundae Megabox Theater, Pusan. Post-Resilience premiere

And yet another trip out of Seoul...This time I headed down with friends to the Pusan International Film Festival to see the premiere of Resilience - a documentary by Tammy Chu. The screening was a success, and it was lovely to see so many friends and supporters of the film gather in Pusan for the weekend. 

Here is an article from Yonhap News on Tammy that I translated w/some expert help from Sora.^^ (Follow the link to the Note for the text)

After Pusan, I then headed to Goseong to say farewell to a teacher whom I've known for a while. 

The time of the boxes and farewells has arrived. And the countdown ensues.

With fellow Blakemore and Fulbright Grantee, Kelsey - at the Resilience Premiere Party

Haeundae Megabox. With best gal pals

Resilience Premiere Party

My Cohort

This week, I enjoyed watching these two YouTube videos of my colleagues Jean-François Charles and Ryan Raul Bañagale performing musical works that stretch convention and the imagination. I'm always amazed by the creative talents that the "Class of Approximately 2011" possesses, in addition to, of course, their academic prowess.

Here are their bios pulled from the Harvard Music Department webpage:

Jean-François Charles is a composer, a clarinetist, and a live electronics designer. Ensemble Accroche Note commissioned his piece "Magma" and premiered it in Dresden in 2003. His work "Aqua" has been premiered in Florence in the French Institute and Consulate in 2004. Charles studied clarinet with Armand Angster at the Strasbourg Conservatory from 1999 to 2005. In 2003, he participated in the world premiere and recording of “Rechter Augenbrauentanz,” under the direction of the composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. He recently gave a five day seminar and workshop on "Spectral sound processing in real-time with Max/MSP/Jitter" at Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.

Ryan Raul Bañagale holds a BA in music and drama from The Colorado College (2000) and a MA in music history from the University of Washington (2004). Under the guidance of Professor Larry Starr, Ryan wrote a master's thesis that examines Asian-American representation in the music of George Gershwin. At Harvard, he plans to continue this expand this work to examine the role of early twentieth-century popular music in the formation of perceptions of race in the United States. Ryan has presented papers at the National Conference of the Society for American Music, the Popular Music Conference at the Experience Music Project, and the Pacific Northwest Regional Meeting of the American Musicological Society. His article, “You Are My Sunshine: The Recorded Lineage of an American Folk Song,” appeared in the journal Musicological Explorations. Ryan is currently a member on the AMS Committee on Cultural Diversity and the co-founder and editor of amusicology.com

The Bowed Piano Ensemble