It takes flexibility and adaptability for improvisation to create beauty
June 21, 2009
I only had a few things that I really wanted to do this weekend. 1. Get a pedicure (walking everywhere on the dirty city streets sure makes a girl’s feet beastly) 2. Get a haircut 3. Work on a little project for my pal Lauren’s going away gift. All accomplished!! Yay for me!
I had plans for movie night on Friday and a Father’s day phone call on Saturday but both were canceled. Weekend plans are always arbitrary here. I am always reminded of college life, where you make a plan, someone cancels or someone calls you up and puts a different idea in your head and off you go… It’s great to live a such impulsive life with very little consequence. Since my movie night plans were canceled on Friday night and all of the supplies were in order for a Mexican salad feast.. I decided to make my own little fiesta anyway. I (playing the role of wife) called up Jess (playing the role of husband) to ask her when she would be home from work and planned dinner accordingly. We hung out, ate dinner and began discussing how, like my mind.. my room is a MESS!! {Anyone who has seen any former dwellings of mine, you know that I am an incredibly messy person! I know past roomies have been very annoyed at my habit of leaving my pants in ‘fire-fighter fashion’ on the floor by just dropping them and stepping out of them.. (Hey! You never know when you might have an emergency and need to step in and pull up!) } Jess, the little organizer that she is, decided.. (on a FRIDAY night) to get me organized.. Yes, that’s right.. two gorgeous young girls, on a Friday night, cleaning and organizing. We really are like an old married couple sometimes!!
After organization was completed and my mess was under control, we headed to a little corner store to have a frosty beverage. We were having a great conversation on the little outdoor patio furniture outside of the quickie mart when this drunk ajashi (old guy) comes stammering around the corner. He’s hacking up a lung and spitting it in various directions, kicking around street trash and talking to himself. We try not to make eye contact.. doesn’t work.. He stumbles over and rambles drunken Korean words in our faces, pointing to our beer. Hmmm “ANIO HANGUL” I said to him (“No Korean” - meaning: I don’t speak your language.. go away). He persists.. at one point, he starts shoving a stick of gum in my face, this exchange allows Jessica to pull out her little Hangul Phrasebook. Who knows if there was a phrase in that book that could help us in this exact situation, but it was hilarious to see Jess put forth the effort. While I am very curious as to what he must be saying or thinking that would inspire him to forcefully offer me a piece of gum, I decide to call out the poor unsuspecting mini-mart clerk. He argues with drunken ajashi to no avail.. So we decide to move out convo back to the apartment.. as we are walking back to our place, we turn around and he is in pursuit. We break out into full out running, frantically punch our door code and run inside and up the stairs! Crazy drunken old men!
Saturday was a nice day even though there was a day long torrential downpour. I went for a doctor’s appointment. (FYI - preventative health care is NOT covered by Korean medical insurance.. that was an unpleasant surprise). It was still a nice start to the day, because it got my lazy ass out of bed! I headed to Itaewon for a very relaxing pedicure and off to Tom N Tom’s. On my way to Tom N Tom’s, I ran into some friends, had a great street side conversation and made tentative plans for next Friday at some bar called “Prison”. Apparently, it used to be an actual prison and all of the jail cells are still intact. In Tom N Tom’s, I ran into another friend and had a nice chat. I ended up being in Itaewon until it was dark outside! I had to pick up a sketch book and some colored pencils for my newly inspired creative streak, so I packed up and headed in the direction of home.
The night before, Jess and I were talking about how horrible our memories have become. It led me to thinking about this great thing that my friend Bobble introduced me to called “mind mapping”. I think the original idea was to map out my future, but then, I started to think it could be a great way to remember things from my past. I re-read the book that Bobble gave me and it started sparking my creative vibe. When I got home, I was telling Jess about it. We decided to do one of the ‘get started’ activities in the book.
What you do is you draw one central image. Something that symbolizes happiness or a picture from a time you remember being happy. From that picture, you draw 10 fluid lines and write the first ten words that come to your mind when you look at that picture. You stem off of those 10 key words into more word associations. It was really fun! And we both learned things about each other that we didn’t know.
So, while my weekend did not involve going out and partying or exploring this country, it was a fantastic weekend! I am so glad that Jess came to Korea… she makes my messy life more fun and organized!
I only had a few things that I really wanted to do this weekend. 1. Get a pedicure (walking everywhere on the dirty city streets sure makes a girl’s feet beastly) 2. Get a haircut 3. Work on a little project for my pal Lauren’s going away gift. All accomplished!! Yay for me!
I had plans for movie night on Friday and a Father’s day phone call on Saturday but both were canceled. Weekend plans are always arbitrary here. I am always reminded of college life, where you make a plan, someone cancels or someone calls you up and puts a different idea in your head and off you go… It’s great to live a such impulsive life with very little consequence. Since my movie night plans were canceled on Friday night and all of the supplies were in order for a Mexican salad feast.. I decided to make my own little fiesta anyway. I (playing the role of wife) called up Jess (playing the role of husband) to ask her when she would be home from work and planned dinner accordingly. We hung out, ate dinner and began discussing how, like my mind.. my room is a MESS!! {Anyone who has seen any former dwellings of mine, you know that I am an incredibly messy person! I know past roomies have been very annoyed at my habit of leaving my pants in ‘fire-fighter fashion’ on the floor by just dropping them and stepping out of them.. (Hey! You never know when you might have an emergency and need to step in and pull up!) } Jess, the little organizer that she is, decided.. (on a FRIDAY night) to get me organized.. Yes, that’s right.. two gorgeous young girls, on a Friday night, cleaning and organizing. We really are like an old married couple sometimes!!
After organization was completed and my mess was under control, we headed to a little corner store to have a frosty beverage. We were having a great conversation on the little outdoor patio furniture outside of the quickie mart when this drunk ajashi (old guy) comes stammering around the corner. He’s hacking up a lung and spitting it in various directions, kicking around street trash and talking to himself. We try not to make eye contact.. doesn’t work.. He stumbles over and rambles drunken Korean words in our faces, pointing to our beer. Hmmm “ANIO HANGUL” I said to him (“No Korean” - meaning: I don’t speak your language.. go away). He persists.. at one point, he starts shoving a stick of gum in my face, this exchange allows Jessica to pull out her little Hangul Phrasebook. Who knows if there was a phrase in that book that could help us in this exact situation, but it was hilarious to see Jess put forth the effort. While I am very curious as to what he must be saying or thinking that would inspire him to forcefully offer me a piece of gum, I decide to call out the poor unsuspecting mini-mart clerk. He argues with drunken ajashi to no avail.. So we decide to move out convo back to the apartment.. as we are walking back to our place, we turn around and he is in pursuit. We break out into full out running, frantically punch our door code and run inside and up the stairs! Crazy drunken old men!
Saturday was a nice day even though there was a day long torrential downpour. I went for a doctor’s appointment. (FYI - preventative health care is NOT covered by Korean medical insurance.. that was an unpleasant surprise). It was still a nice start to the day, because it got my lazy ass out of bed! I headed to Itaewon for a very relaxing pedicure and off to Tom N Tom’s. On my way to Tom N Tom’s, I ran into some friends, had a great street side conversation and made tentative plans for next Friday at some bar called “Prison”. Apparently, it used to be an actual prison and all of the jail cells are still intact. In Tom N Tom’s, I ran into another friend and had a nice chat. I ended up being in Itaewon until it was dark outside! I had to pick up a sketch book and some colored pencils for my newly inspired creative streak, so I packed up and headed in the direction of home.
The night before, Jess and I were talking about how horrible our memories have become. It led me to thinking about this great thing that my friend Bobble introduced me to called “mind mapping”. I think the original idea was to map out my future, but then, I started to think it could be a great way to remember things from my past. I re-read the book that Bobble gave me and it started sparking my creative vibe. When I got home, I was telling Jess about it. We decided to do one of the ‘get started’ activities in the book.
What you do is you draw one central image. Something that symbolizes happiness or a picture from a time you remember being happy. From that picture, you draw 10 fluid lines and write the first ten words that come to your mind when you look at that picture. You stem off of those 10 key words into more word associations. It was really fun! And we both learned things about each other that we didn’t know.
So, while my weekend did not involve going out and partying or exploring this country, it was a fantastic weekend! I am so glad that Jess came to Korea… she makes my messy life more fun and organized!