I LOVE KOREA

Rules for going on the roof of my apartment building (via my neighbor Alex's translation):

1. No throwing stuff (followed by a list of things you shouldn't throw, like beer bottles)
2. No cooking
3. No committing suicide by drowning.

Germany and general life update ever. Promise.

What is this exactly?

I know, I know...I should finish writing about Germany and my art show scramble. That would make more sense.

And I'm going back and forth about writing this post. In short, I'm feeling feelings. And why do I want to post them? Is it to keep an artsy record of my time here, my "journey" (don't worry, I made a face as I typed that)? Or is it because I'm helplessly exhibitionist and oddly comforted by attention?

My brain is a bit of a jumble. I've got a lot of new information to process. And figuring out the next year or two to get to. Eeesh.

And it seems to be spring already. I think, if I weren't involved, this would be a mostly glorious occassion (keeping in mind, of course, all that rain). And while the smell of spring sends me into a hyperactive euphoria (woo!), it's entirely too early for that. My little brain is confused. I really do get good and miserable at this time of year and it's all I can do to just wash up ashore in March. Well, Korea seems to be an upgrade in that sense, but it's mighty disorienting. I feel rather like a ping pong ball in a dryer. One that lights up. And changes color whenever it's struck.

There. That oughta do it.
Carry on.


Edit: 12 February 2010, 9:30am
I didn't want this pheonomenon to get washed away so soon in the bustle of facebook. It has weight and merit and I want to keep it.

I had bookmarked this talk before my vacation as "something I should watch later." I just /accidentally/ opened it while organizing my ridiculous, unfoldered, list of bookmarks and the talk is BY the author of the book I'm currently reading, loving, and finding my sanity in (Eat, Pray, Love). And it's an excellent lecture. Sweet Moses. Between this and the [serendipity of the Klimt panel in my art show]*, I'm feeling...well, to put it secularly, "lucky." Simcha.

*My work for this exhibition used found objects (as does much of my work). For two weeks, I assigned myself to bring home at least one new thing. It was terribly easy...there's always lots of neat, large objects in the recycling collection areas in front of my apartment. And when there's nothing good there, a quick trek up any number of stairwells will yield artsy fruit before the 5th floor (that's where I found my slide).

I hope this slide really was garbage...otherwise, some 4-year-old is seriously bummed.

So, one day, I found a small, white, fiberglass panel, which had part of some Klimt painting screen-printed on it. I saw a neck and a nipple. And for my work, having a nipple around is always a good plan, so I was pleased to find it, but didn't have anything specific in mind.

The Klimpt panel is there on the left, standing behind a low Korean table.

A few weeks later, I was doing an image search for "mother and child," again, for no terribly specific reason, but because of the thematic importance. I found a few images to that end and moved on to tracking down images of Patrick Stewart being painfully handsome. About a week later, after looking through my reference photos at least a dozen times, I saw what I did there.

"Mother and Child" (detail from "The Three Ages of Woman"), Gustav Klimt, 1905

I mean, I could have figured out what the rest of the painting was of not long after finding the board and been really pleased. But this way was more fun. And more seemingly serendipitous. Which is a fun word to use, really.

Half a post I wrote in Germany...

Hallo from Deutschland! It's been a while since I've written at all, but I thought I'd write from the motherland.

So, my wintercamp went well enough (and I learned it takes a lot longer to plan for a two-hour class than a 45 minute one....eeeesh). And then I went to Seoul for a 5-day teacher training conference. That was great. I learned a lot! The speakers were awesome, I made friends, we went to some good museums (although we needed more time to have a proper look), and we saw Nanta, a really fun Korean performance (kind of like Korean Stomp! in a kitchen setting). I visited What The Book, an English bookstore, with my friend Bryan, and bought THE ONLY German-English dictionary they had. And two magazines that I only later realized I had paid about $8 a piece for. We had some delicious Mexican food and tried unsuccessfully to go shopping. Then we went back to Naju and I spent 3 days working on my art project

I have a LOT of work to do on that. I have two pieces that are almost finished...and about 5 to go! I've done a bit of planning here in Germany, but the goal is to have all of the pieces planned completely and then spend the TWO days I have left before installation applying the images to the panels. And then finishing my lecture and corresponding powerpoint. EEEEESH. I was pretty cracked out on stress the day before I left for Germany. But now, I'm more relaxed. Granted, I've got to work my ass off or all is for naught, but I can do it! Oh, and my friend Annie may be living in my apartment when I get back. With her dogs hopping about, I may actually have to make art in my studio, rather than sprawling about the dining room. Oh, this will be the most ridiculous challenge, haha. And without wireless in there, I'll have to switch to listening to Arrested Development rather than Golden Girls. It'll sound just like comping!

And so, Deutschland. Well, it was quite a long hike.

I left for the train station last Thursday (January 14th) around 11:30pm. I only just caught it, too! I read a little and slept a little and arrived in Seoul around 4am and caught a bus to the airport and hour later. At the airport, I checked in and got a passport stamp from customs to be allowed back in Korea. Take-off was about 5 hours later. Much napping occurred and I was quite pleased that my luggage made weight. A few hours later, I was in Beijing, China. That was SUPER stressful for a minute. My first plane was late and I thought I only had half an hour to get through security and onto my second plane. Those few minutes when I thought I might be stranded in China were UNPLEASANT. I wanted my mommy, for sure. But, I found the proper plane to Frankfurt and had two hours to find some coffee (and now I have some Yuan) and wonder how the hell people had cigarettes in the airport (I’m kind of terrified of airport security and never tried to bring them with me). And then was the 10 hour flight to Frankfurt. Again, sleeping and reading. The mountains of China were GORGEOUS. There’s a picture on my new camera somewhere…granted, through a dirty airplane window.

When I arrived in Frankfurt, figuring out the trains, which WERE late, was a little difficult (and expensive). I ended up following around a gaggle of Germans who said ‘Stuttgart’ several times in a row and made it there. Then, came the challenge of finding my Onkel, Jurgen, whom I hadn’t seen in almost 20 years. He was SUPPOSED to hold a sign with my name on it, but he was too cool for that. I wandered around for 20 minutes and luckily, Jurgen’s awesome girlfriend, Sylvia spotted me and got him to approach me. The poor things waited around for 2 hours. But off we went! And the language barrier was immediately apparent. When I visit the States, I think being in a sea of fluency will be overwhelming and wonderful. But for the next 6 months…adventure it is. I’ll take it.

Anywho, after about an hour, we got to my Oma and Onkel’s house. My brain was a glorious splatter from traveling and I couldn’t really comprehend the intensity of meeting my Oma. But it was very happy, albeit somewhat bizarre.

Handball is AMAZING. It’s a sport that’s a cross between basketball and soccer and the athleticism involved is absolutely astounding.

I’ve been slowly typing this entry while mucking about with Jurgen’s super slow internet. And I kind of want to smash things.