Mine

We got an awesome holiday package from Grandfather and Bubbie that included DVDs of "A Christmas Story,"  "A Charlie Brown Christmas,"  "An All Dog's Christmas Carol," and a special box set of Christmas classics including "A Christmas Carol" (all pretty much impossible to get in Korea unless you order overseas from Amazon) as well as Celtic Christmas CDs and cards. Tashi got a special Christmas toy that he was very quick to claim.  Guess he was totally smelling Cookie, Simon, Francis, Sheila, and Dove on Mr. Reindeer.  Needless to say, he loves this new toy.  Thanks Grandfather and Bubbie!!

This Week

On Tuesday I went to the last concert for the semester with my freshman seminar students.  Not all of them were here (we have a schedule and they choose the ones they can attend) but a good number attended.  A student from Germany (on the right) also attended, and my T.A. Kibbeum  (in the front middle) attended as well.  The concert was a recreation of an historic event at court.  It was great--dance, music, acting.  The students seemed to like it a lot, as well.  Afterwards, we went to a cafe and had some tea/hot cocoa with apple pie and cheesecake.

On Wednesday morning, I was up before the crack of dawn to make it to an interview at Kugak (Korean Traditional Music) broadcasting.  I was out the door by 6 am, but got there at 7 am.  Guess I thought it would take longer to make it across town.  Still, it was nice to sit in the studion and listen to the beginnings of the show.  The radio crew bought be a latte, so I was happy and warm while waiting for my turn.  The sun rising over the buildings from the 11th floor view was nice to see. 

My interviewer, Oh Jung-hae, is very well known in and outside of Korea as the star of the now-classic film Seopyeonje by the legendary film director Im Kwon-taek.  The film was one of the first Korean films I'd ever seen and it blew me away.  Many people credit Seopyeonje with helping in the contemporary revival of interest in traditional Korean music.  A synopsis and info can be found here:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108192/   
Anyway, it was really cool to be interviewed by her on her morning show.  She was very nice, and no, I did not go all freaky fan on her.  It was cool to hear "Jindo Arirang" from the soundtrack right before my interview started, and I said, "Oh, that was from Seopyeonje" and she just smiled.  She's done other things, including another favorite movie Chukje in which she plays a blacksheep of a family. She's a well-known singer and appears often on a variety of television programs.  A famous scene from the movie can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5r9nQgXsw4&feature=related 
I told her my parents were listening live (via online streaming) in the States and she had me say hi not just once, but twice.  It was a lot of fun, and the radio team were thrilled to know the program was being heard overseas.  I hope to meet her again soon.

After the interview, I headed to the Hyatt hotel for a College of Music women's faculty lunch.  We ate and talked for quite a while, and even had a drawing for presents.  The women's faculty usually gets together about twice a semester.  Eating at the Hyatt is nice because there is a pre-main dish salad buffet and a dessert buffet.  Can't get much better than that.  It always feels so elegant to eat lunch there.

The week ended with a dinner hosted by our geomungo professor, Jeon Daeseok.  For the past year, he's been leading classes for professors, graduate students outside of the program, and administrators.  I've been a part of those classes and have loved learning the geomungo.  Taking the class has been a great experience and I hope to continue with the geomungo classes for as long as possible.  We ate dinner at the Hoam Faculty house on campus and then a small group of us followed that up with some makgeolli and other forms of liquor and spicy side dishes at a little place down the street. Most gathered were either in the music school or the school of fine arts (we know how to celebrate).  It was a great ending to a great year of geomungo learning. 

Me with one of my favorite T.A.'s and geomungo players, Seonhwa.

I look super tired (in the worst way), but thought I should post this shot of me with Jeon Dae-seok.  An angel of a man, he is arguably Korea's top geomungo player. It's an honor to learn from him.

Snow!

The view from my office window, above, and some shots around campus and of the boys playing with the snow around our home.  The snow here has been following a familiar pattern: drop buckets of snow and then stop, sun comes out, melts all the snow, repeat throughout day.  It happened today as well.  In the morning we woke to a heavy snow fall and at least 3 cm on the ground, but, despite two additional short but heavy snowfalls, by mid-afternoon most had gone away and left a slippery, icy surface that was lots of fun to walk on this evening.

Christmas Elves

Here are two videos of the boys decorating the tree.  Now, the tree has been up for a while (as you can see if you notice that Tashi is still wearing the 'cone of shame'); we put it up around Thanksgiving US time since the boys were so anxious to decorate it.  They played, over and over, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" on our  electric keyboard as they went about their Merry work.  They were singing along, until I pulled out the camera.  But, in the second video below, you can hear both Oliver and Ronan singing/humming along a little.

Weekend

While I know it is almost the weekend again, thought I'd post some shots from last weekend.  Dahin and friends coordinated and presented another talent show.  The boys stayed inside and were creatively bored.

Dahin and her friend Eunseong prepared for and hosted the talent show.  They also served as judges, which I am pretty sure should not included giggling at the participants (although if one views American Idol, this appears to be okay by today's standards).  To be fair, I think the giggling was because Shinee was just too darned cute singing her peanut song. Dahin and her buddy coordinated their outfits and Eunsong's mom made the "Winter Talent Show" sign.

 Kids jumped rope, sang the three bears song, and played games for a choco pie prize.

Above, Dahin coordinates with their stage manager (aka Eunseong's older sister), and below Dahin and Eunseong serve as the backup dancers to one of the little girls performing a dance she learned from watching a pop group dance to her favorite song.  This judge/organizer thing is no joke.  The girls did it all!

The boys were on the original talent show roster, but despite two cute little girl messengers coming by our home to get the boys to the show, they remained inside.  As you can see above, they spent their time well.

Tashi Gets Clean, Imprinted, Learns to Share, and Snuggles

Tashi has been settling into the family.  Having a dog at home is really like welcoming in a new baby.  I don't think most people realize how much work is involved.  We certainly didn't.  One of the things Tashi has discovered is that he loves taking baths with Jack.  Jack has his routine down and Tashi loves the warm water and dry off after the bath is done.  I like that he doesn't smell like pee for one day.  (Seriously, when is he going to lift his leg and pee?  Do we have to teach him that, or will it just come with age?) 

He's also realized that we are totally not okay with little Mr. Sneaky hiding under beds and eating crayons.  Daddy suggested imprinting, so we're doing it.  Most of the time, that means keeping him leashed and tied to the couch since we spend most of our time in the living room. He always manages to tangle himself up.  I've decided to leave him tangled for a while so maybe he will learn not to wrap himself around kitchen chairs.  He comes to my room and gets leashed to the chair by the computer desk when I'm working.  This imprinting is necessary until he learns he needs to chill and be around us when we are inside.  We don't keep him leashed the whole day, but really at times when we are so busy we can't constantly watch him.   Like I said, he likes to go grab things from the kids' rooms or yarn from my room and run around the house in a wild game of chase.  While I realize this means he wants to play--which we do plenty of--I'm not into the 'I'm gonna eat a pencil under the kids bed where you can't reach me just 'cause I can'  thing he was doing for a while.  Not good for him or our future relationship. We do the best we can to make sure things are off the floor, but the biggest issue is the sneakiness (well, that and biting, which we are still working on; ouch).  He no longer likes being in his crate while the house is busy, and seems rather content leashed to the couch.  We've put a pillow down for him with toys so he can hang out comfortably while we get things done.

Tashi's also learning about sharing.  Above, Oliver shares his beloved blankie with Tashi as they snuggle on Saturday afternoon (yes, my kids were still in their pjs in the pm---it was Saturday after all).  Below, Tashi returns the favor and shares his space with Oliver.

And, perhaps the thing Tashi has discovered he loves almost as much as eating and trying to grab the shoes from the shoe rack so he can chew on them: snuggling with Apa and taking naps. 

First Snow

We're gearing up for the holidays here and the temperatures have been slowly but surely dropping.  Yes, that icy freeze that has overcome the College of Music is here to stay until June (brrrrr--what's up with not heating the whole building people?).  I feel like Bob Cratchet at times--at least my office is toasty warm.    With the cold comes snow, and with snow comes kids who get excited about getting dressed in the morning just to go outside and throw balls of snow at each other.  I'm into that.  The snow has not continued, but I'm looking forward to some more snow fun this winter.