While I compose my thoughts on other matters,
here's a random assortment of things that have come out of my brain/experiences
the last few months...
Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Monday, April 2, 2012
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Oh heyyy [Update]
Heyyyyy friends! Where have you been??? Or, to be fair, where have I been? Oh, you know... around.
Moving on, since the end of August I've bounce around quite a bit. More specifically, I spent some time in Malaysia, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, before hopping on a plane bound for the good old US of A. It was a pretty rad few months, to say the least.
Upon my arrival in the land peanut butter and Diet Coke, I decided to spend a few days in sunny California with some lovelies, exploring a little bit of the lovely city that is San Fransico. Three owl costumes, one hot fudge sundae and a creepy prison later, I found myself back in my childhood home of Buffalo Grove. For about a second.
A few weeks before I flew home, my dearest mother informed me that we had finally sold the house and would be moving into a rental on her birthday (17 days after my arrival). This meant two very important things: One, I would arrive home to a flurry of boxes being packed, unpacked, repacked, hauled to the lake, sent to goodwill, labled for the move etc. And two, my mother would celebrate her birthday by having a brownie with a candle forced on her by yours truly, exactly as the movers showed up to start hauling furniture. Wohooo happy birthday mom! All things considered, I decided to be helpful.
Fast forward to the present (a few weeks later) and I am writing to you not from my own, but from my sisters childhood bed, in my new home in brand new (to me) Chicago suburb. The boxes are [mostly] unpacked, the fam is largely settled, Thanksgiving has come and gone, I even got my teeth cleaned. I have no more excuses.
More lengthy and visual reflections on the past few months of my life will follow; but, for now, it's time to fill you all in on the events that will take place in my life in the near future.
Those of you keeping track at home may remember that a while back I shared with you the exciting news that I will be volunteering with American Jewish World Service as part of AJWS Volunteer Corps this coming winter.
I will be traveling to India to volunteer with a community-based non-profit organization. During my time abroad, I will be donating my time to assist a local organization working against poverty, hunger and disease. While I have yet to learn the specifics of my individual placement, I anticipate a very challenging and rewarding experience. I hope that donating my energy and skills will help advance the quality of life in the community where I will be living and working. I hope that by sharing my knowledge, I can help people create the world they deserve.
As I mentioned, my volunteer work is being organized by American Jewish World Service (AJWS).
AJWS is an international development organization motivated by Judaism’s imperative to pursue justice. AJWS is dedicated to alleviating poverty, hunger and disease among the people of the developing world regardless of race, religion or nationality. Through grants to grassroots organizations, volunteer service, advocacy and education, AJWS fosters civil society, sustainable development and human rights for all people, while promoting the values and responsibilities of global citizenship within the Jewish community.
Basically, I am trying to use my skills to do some good in the world. And you know what?
You can help! Say whatttttttt!?
I encourage you to visit my Photo Sale page (using the link under the Beautiful Commotion header) and check the original art for sale! Please feel free (and feel that I want you to!) share the link with anyone whom you think may be interested in either or both the photos and my volunteer efforts.
I am looking forward to sharing my experience, and spreading knowledge about the work AJWS does throughout the world, in the coming months. I encourage you to continue to follow Beautiful Commotion. I would also be happy to provide you with more information regarding the American Jewish World Service and Volunteer Corps.
Thank you so much for your support. Please know that you are making a difference! I am very excited to share this next part of my life, and the knowledge I will gain, with all of you!
For those in Chicago, I look forward to seeing you before I hop on that next plane! I missed you!
For now,
Emily
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
bits of my week [2]
A little more like bits of my day...
Trying to do something creatively productive on a rainy day.
에밀리
Monday, March 28, 2011
Random Rambles and Reflections [3]
For your enjoyment, I bring you a brief series of updates and reflections on my life in 대한민국.
English-ee Crew-uh 2.0
The Banji English Army recently added one more to our ranks. Because fifth and sixth graders are now required to study English three, rather than two, times a week, a new Korean English teacher joined our party of 3 at the start of the new semester. This involved some office rearranging strikingly similar to my own arrival, although this time I was the one who knew what was going on. While I wont actually be co-teaching classes with Miss Kim, she has been an excellent addition to the office. Not only do I now have one CT with an English name, one whom I call her Korean name, and one whom I call Miss ____, they all seem to refer to each other by different names than what they have told me to call them. For example, Julie will sometimes ask me what "Scarlet" said to do? It took me a good three months before I realized she was talking about Juha who, when in the U.S, went by the English name Scarlett. Miss Kim, on the other hand, calls Juha "Miss Shin." Additionally, Miss Kim gets confused when I talk about Julie instead of Nam Sang-un, Julie's Korean name. Needless to say, some days there is a fair bit of confusion in the English Village. Welcome to Korea.
Since her arrival Miss Kim has also told me the the following: She cannot swim, it is too hard, she just sinks. I have never had jjimdak (my favorite Korean food) before coming here because in the US I only eat fried chicken and jjimdak is boiled. She has never seen anyone adding milk to drip coffee before. Korean men are bad drivers; thus, when a man cut her off on her way to school she was mad and wanted to fight, so she drove in front of the car, cut him off, and slammed her breaks. She is envious of my ability to think of creative games and use Microsoft Powerpoint. Her last native speaking co-teacher used to come to school drunk, and got pissed when she asked him about it. She doesn't know how to plan her lessons. She thinks I am a very good teacher, and has never seen a NET who works so hard.
I'll take it.
For the record, she used to teach middle school and I actually think she is a very good teacher.
Rock on Miss Kim, you make my life more interesting every day!
Hey kid, are those things painted on?
While in many ways Koreans look to, and adopt, aspects of American culture, in terms of fashion they align far more closely with our Western Euro counterparts, especially when it comes to choice of denim. Many of you maybe thinking, "Hey now, FTW, a good pair of Levi's is TOTALLY our thing. Maybe. Maybe not. All I am saying is this, I teach classes full of kids age 9-12 (and spend a good deal of time being gawked at by those age 6-8) and this week realized the following: At any given time, roughly 95% percent of my students (boys and girls alike) are wearing skinny jeans. Often, said jeans are acid wash, and have heart shaped back pockets (again, boys and girls). Sometimes, I suspect they are actually hybrid jeggings. The other 5% of students are likely wearing their gym uniform.
I wish I had a better photo... It's fricken adorable, there is no way around it. There is absolutely nothing like seeing an army of acid-wash, skinny-jean clad kindergarteners running down the street, to start your Monday off an a giggly note.
꽃샘추위
Spring is upon us here in the ROK and yet, there is a saying in Korean, "꽃샘추위" which translates roughly to "sudden frost in spring" or "spring frost." Korean's will say "Winter is jealous of Spring," and thus even after its seems that the winter wonderland is on its way out, a few days of frost will sneak in before its is truly over. Alas, those Korean's are so smart (and could just as easily be describing the weather in the Midwest.) Just when I thought it was time to send home my boots and parka, last week we had a blizzard. It started off a perfectly clear morning, so much so that when one of my students told me, "Teacher! Today, it's snow!" I was all like, "You crazyyy boi!" and shrugged it off as a miscommunication. Little did I know that, 6 hours later, I would be trudging home, engulfed in big puffy white flakes whipping around in the wind. Silly silly me. While I remain optimistic and am signed up to go spring hiking in the South this weekend, I am going to hold on to those boots until I am quite sure Winter's jealousy has subsided.
Potluck
My friends are fabulous and, as it's usually me, myself, and three empty rooms, it was wonderful to fill my apartment with chingus on a Saturday night. About twelve of us ate some delicious food, enjoyed some vino and maekju, watched such fine cinematic works as Rebecca Black's "Friday." and "P-I-Z-Z-A slow down," and spent a few wonderful hours chatting, and singing, and playing games. Life is pretty good these days, and my friends are pretty rad for making the trek all the way down to my weird little Korean suburb.
감사합니다 친구!
For once, I left my camera on my desk and simply enjoyed the company of friends; so, these few photos must be credited to Mr. Brandon Baila, thanks friend!
HGTV Love
Due to my weekend guests and my not wanting to appear like a total slob, Friday night (and again Sunday morning) I swept and scrubbed and lint-rolled and sorted and gave my apartment the good old fashioned Spring cleaning it deserved. I posted pictures of my humble abode ages ago, but as it has transformed from weird empty apartment to slightly less weird and empty home over the last few months, I figure it's time for an update. While I cannot bring myself to invest too much time, energy, and ca$h-moneyyy, in an apartment I will be vacating in (now) five months time (so weird..can't even talk about it) since my arrival I have been on an endless mission to make my little slice of Jangdang feel like a home, albeit a temporary one. Through a combination of Daiso (dollar store) purchases, school copier enterprising, Thailand love, and some good old fashioned dumpster diving, my place has come to look a little something like this...
Reunited and it feels SO good
I finally got a new set of watercolors last week and have since spent many hours on my couch, with a cup of coffee and a pad of paper, totally and completely happy. Moral of the story? Watercolors are good for the soul. They are not, however, good for ones ability to accomplish anything else.
English-ee Crew-uh 2.0
The Banji English Army recently added one more to our ranks. Because fifth and sixth graders are now required to study English three, rather than two, times a week, a new Korean English teacher joined our party of 3 at the start of the new semester. This involved some office rearranging strikingly similar to my own arrival, although this time I was the one who knew what was going on. While I wont actually be co-teaching classes with Miss Kim, she has been an excellent addition to the office. Not only do I now have one CT with an English name, one whom I call her Korean name, and one whom I call Miss ____, they all seem to refer to each other by different names than what they have told me to call them. For example, Julie will sometimes ask me what "Scarlet" said to do? It took me a good three months before I realized she was talking about Juha who, when in the U.S, went by the English name Scarlett. Miss Kim, on the other hand, calls Juha "Miss Shin." Additionally, Miss Kim gets confused when I talk about Julie instead of Nam Sang-un, Julie's Korean name. Needless to say, some days there is a fair bit of confusion in the English Village. Welcome to Korea.
Since her arrival Miss Kim has also told me the the following: She cannot swim, it is too hard, she just sinks. I have never had jjimdak (my favorite Korean food) before coming here because in the US I only eat fried chicken and jjimdak is boiled. She has never seen anyone adding milk to drip coffee before. Korean men are bad drivers; thus, when a man cut her off on her way to school she was mad and wanted to fight, so she drove in front of the car, cut him off, and slammed her breaks. She is envious of my ability to think of creative games and use Microsoft Powerpoint. Her last native speaking co-teacher used to come to school drunk, and got pissed when she asked him about it. She doesn't know how to plan her lessons. She thinks I am a very good teacher, and has never seen a NET who works so hard.
I'll take it.
For the record, she used to teach middle school and I actually think she is a very good teacher.
Rock on Miss Kim, you make my life more interesting every day!
While in many ways Koreans look to, and adopt, aspects of American culture, in terms of fashion they align far more closely with our Western Euro counterparts, especially when it comes to choice of denim. Many of you maybe thinking, "Hey now, FTW, a good pair of Levi's is TOTALLY our thing. Maybe. Maybe not. All I am saying is this, I teach classes full of kids age 9-12 (and spend a good deal of time being gawked at by those age 6-8) and this week realized the following: At any given time, roughly 95% percent of my students (boys and girls alike) are wearing skinny jeans. Often, said jeans are acid wash, and have heart shaped back pockets (again, boys and girls). Sometimes, I suspect they are actually hybrid jeggings. The other 5% of students are likely wearing their gym uniform.
I wish I had a better photo... It's fricken adorable, there is no way around it. There is absolutely nothing like seeing an army of acid-wash, skinny-jean clad kindergarteners running down the street, to start your Monday off an a giggly note.
꽃샘추위
Spring is upon us here in the ROK and yet, there is a saying in Korean, "꽃샘추위" which translates roughly to "sudden frost in spring" or "spring frost." Korean's will say "Winter is jealous of Spring," and thus even after its seems that the winter wonderland is on its way out, a few days of frost will sneak in before its is truly over. Alas, those Korean's are so smart (and could just as easily be describing the weather in the Midwest.) Just when I thought it was time to send home my boots and parka, last week we had a blizzard. It started off a perfectly clear morning, so much so that when one of my students told me, "Teacher! Today, it's snow!" I was all like, "You crazyyy boi!" and shrugged it off as a miscommunication. Little did I know that, 6 hours later, I would be trudging home, engulfed in big puffy white flakes whipping around in the wind. Silly silly me. While I remain optimistic and am signed up to go spring hiking in the South this weekend, I am going to hold on to those boots until I am quite sure Winter's jealousy has subsided.
Potluck
My friends are fabulous and, as it's usually me, myself, and three empty rooms, it was wonderful to fill my apartment with chingus on a Saturday night. About twelve of us ate some delicious food, enjoyed some vino and maekju, watched such fine cinematic works as Rebecca Black's "Friday." and "P-I-Z-Z-A slow down," and spent a few wonderful hours chatting, and singing, and playing games. Life is pretty good these days, and my friends are pretty rad for making the trek all the way down to my weird little Korean suburb.
감사합니다 친구!
For once, I left my camera on my desk and simply enjoyed the company of friends; so, these few photos must be credited to Mr. Brandon Baila, thanks friend!
HGTV Love
Due to my weekend guests and my not wanting to appear like a total slob, Friday night (and again Sunday morning) I swept and scrubbed and lint-rolled and sorted and gave my apartment the good old fashioned Spring cleaning it deserved. I posted pictures of my humble abode ages ago, but as it has transformed from weird empty apartment to slightly less weird and empty home over the last few months, I figure it's time for an update. While I cannot bring myself to invest too much time, energy, and ca$h-moneyyy, in an apartment I will be vacating in (now) five months time (so weird..can't even talk about it) since my arrival I have been on an endless mission to make my little slice of Jangdang feel like a home, albeit a temporary one. Through a combination of Daiso (dollar store) purchases, school copier enterprising, Thailand love, and some good old fashioned dumpster diving, my place has come to look a little something like this...
Reunited and it feels SO good
I finally got a new set of watercolors last week and have since spent many hours on my couch, with a cup of coffee and a pad of paper, totally and completely happy. Moral of the story? Watercolors are good for the soul. They are not, however, good for ones ability to accomplish anything else.
“Screaming is bad for the voice, but it’s good for the heart” — Conor Oberst
Anyeong[hikheseyo].
에밀리
에밀리
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Fallen Icon.
Oh 홍대, 홍대, 홍대.
What to say? What to think? What to do?
What is Hongdae exactly? What does it mean? Hongdae is, in the most literal sense, the small patch of Seoul surrounding Hongik Univeristy.
More than its geographical location however, for many of us, Hongdae means the freedom of the weekend. Hongdae means jabbering with friends in English and meeting Korean's who aren't terrified to speak to you. Hongdae means eating mysterious fried food out of carts at 6 am, and stumbling onto an outdoor art exhibit when you least expect it. Hongdae is knowing exactly where you want to go, then leaving and ending up somewhere you never knew existed. It is calling Moon at 3 am, crashing at Backpackers Space, and realizing in the morning you know every other person in the room. Hongdae is the meeting of two worlds. It is everything strange and wonderful and frustrating about Korea, often experienced along side those with whom you find the most comfort (and the comforts of home).
Hongdae is the TigerRabbit. And the TigerRabbit is Hongdae. At least, it was.
TigerRabbit was the guardian of Hongdae. The first impression for many, the meeting place and landmark for more. TigerRabbit loomed over the entrance to the areas main drag, and a glance at its eyes and whiskers always brought a smile to my face.
When I think of my first weekend in Seoul, a short week and a half after touching down in this crazy, wonderful, confusing land, I think of TR. I assumed it had been there forever (or at least quite a while) and that there it would remain, long outlasting myself and my cohorts. I was wrong on both accounts.
TigerRabbit represented the collision of worlds in more, and more powerful, ways than my own Hongdae affinities. Installed in July of last year, it was and is a beautiful piece of public art, brought to us by the immensely talented Gaia Uroboros. In the artists own words TR is,
Public art is a wonderful, yet often impermanent entity. We must remember to appreciate it while we can, and celebrate its life when it's gone. While TR's presence will surely be missed, I am reminded that, just as swiftly as my furry friend, all those little things I take for granted in/about Korea will far to quickly be out of reach.
Now, enough with the melodrama.
Anyeong[hikheseyo].
에밀리
What to say? What to think? What to do?
What is Hongdae exactly? What does it mean? Hongdae is, in the most literal sense, the small patch of Seoul surrounding Hongik Univeristy.
More than its geographical location however, for many of us, Hongdae means the freedom of the weekend. Hongdae means jabbering with friends in English and meeting Korean's who aren't terrified to speak to you. Hongdae means eating mysterious fried food out of carts at 6 am, and stumbling onto an outdoor art exhibit when you least expect it. Hongdae is knowing exactly where you want to go, then leaving and ending up somewhere you never knew existed. It is calling Moon at 3 am, crashing at Backpackers Space, and realizing in the morning you know every other person in the room. Hongdae is the meeting of two worlds. It is everything strange and wonderful and frustrating about Korea, often experienced along side those with whom you find the most comfort (and the comforts of home).
Hongdae is the TigerRabbit. And the TigerRabbit is Hongdae. At least, it was.
TigerRabbit was the guardian of Hongdae. The first impression for many, the meeting place and landmark for more. TigerRabbit loomed over the entrance to the areas main drag, and a glance at its eyes and whiskers always brought a smile to my face.
When I think of my first weekend in Seoul, a short week and a half after touching down in this crazy, wonderful, confusing land, I think of TR. I assumed it had been there forever (or at least quite a while) and that there it would remain, long outlasting myself and my cohorts. I was wrong on both accounts.
TigerRabbit represented the collision of worlds in more, and more powerful, ways than my own Hongdae affinities. Installed in July of last year, it was and is a beautiful piece of public art, brought to us by the immensely talented Gaia Uroboros. In the artists own words TR is,
"...the first of five pieces for each quadrant of the city. The hybrid of the Tiger and Rabbit signifies the annual transition in the Korean calendar. Furthermore, these archetypal symbols of aggression and submission address the hierarchy of Japanese colonization and contemporary Korean identity. Situated in Hongdae, the center of Seoul’s fashion and nightlife, the neighborhood is the confluence of traditional Korean culture and American influence." (source.)TR was seen by many, and loved by all I know. Unfortuantly, reports have reached me (and by reports I mean my friends told me) that this week Hongdae lost its beloved icon. In its place, black painted brick and puma adds.
Public art is a wonderful, yet often impermanent entity. We must remember to appreciate it while we can, and celebrate its life when it's gone. While TR's presence will surely be missed, I am reminded that, just as swiftly as my furry friend, all those little things I take for granted in/about Korea will far to quickly be out of reach.
Appreciate. Appreciate. Appreciate. I wont always live in Korea.
R.I.P TR
Now, enough with the melodrama.
Anyeong[hikheseyo].
에밀리
Friday, March 18, 2011
Observations.
"To observe is not to have. To observe is to watch is to remark is to perceive is to notice is to remember and to keep, but you will never have any of this ever again" - Caitlin Stewart Truman (Thought Catalog)
Sketches have been moving at a snails pace for a while now. As my UW professors predicted, first year teaching seems to suck a lot of the creative energy out me, especially as it's geared towards English lessons rather than Art.
I'm still having weird sketchbook feelings; but, I've been trying to shove myself back onto the creative wagon and organize my artistic thoughts here. We'll see how it goes. For now, hope you enjoyed a few nuggets from the other half of my brain.
Anyeong[hikheseyo].
에밀리
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