We Have Waited Long for the Master's Song~

Hello hello~

What a crazy week. Good thing I basically slept all last week and hibernated, since I needed it this week.

Monday started off well enough... until I was walking to school. I felt my shoe move a funny way, and about halfway to work it snapped. I had to go back and change it and was late to work...

It's only a flesh wound.

Okay why

Fortunately, since it was the first day back, I didn't have to teach. So I got to make like the last lessons I need for the year, and now I just have to coast til the end. I will get new coteachers (probably) so that was the hot topic this week.

Namho got a puppy and I can't deal with it.

I live for typos in my books.

Grades were due this week so I was helping So Jung with some last minute stuff, and came across this brilliant mispelling of "Monday"

I'm not sure if knowing "mayday" makes it better or worse.

Tuesday I had to teach some 6th graders who clearly have no interest in classes anymore, so we had to pep them up with a balloon game. We told them if they could keep the balloon up they didn't have to start class. One class lasted 10 minutes haha. Amazing. 

I got a haircut on Tuesday too!

Short and straight! (Just like me hahahaha....)

Wednesday was a daily we had been anticipating for a while. Back in September 2014, right after I got to Korea, Tina and I went to see Dracula. The Korean musical is wayyyyy better than the American one. It's not without problems, but it's pretty great.

Our seats were far but it was fine.

This time there were only 2 Draculas: XIA Junsu (a kpop idol from the group JYJ) and Park Eun Seok, who we had seen the first time when he was the understudy.

Kim Junsu (XIA Junsu)

Park Eun Seok

More on the show later.

Basically it was awesome. We went with Grace and Young Ah, and had a wonderful time. 

I love so much in this picture.

Poor Jonathan Harker. He gets totally screwed in this version. 

It was cool that I understood more this time. The staging was a little different too. But it was so much fun!


It finished pretty late (it's 2 and a half hours with a 20 minute intermission so it ended at like 11) so I was tired Thursday. Thankfully So Jung needed more time to grade so we watched Narnia with my 6th graders and I got to rest.

Thursday night my friend Helen invited me to dinner up in Hyehwa, which is like the happening area (Hongdae and Gangnam style) in the North. It's an hour or so trek for me, but Helen is awesome and knows awesome restaurants. Plus she's my friend and she had a bad day. so naturally I had to help.

This place was awesome. They have so many drinks and good food! Definitely have to go again.

Mint Juleps bring me back to my grad school days. I didn't drink them, we just talked about them a lot.

When I saw one drink, I HAD to get it.

The Wildflower

  This is why I had to get it.

It was so delicious. 

 The restaurant was dark but we used Helen's flashlight to make a spotlight:

Chili Mac & Cheese

Lasagna 

It was awesome. I skyped my parents, as usual, and stayed up way too late, also as usual. I need another break! Good thing we have a 5 day weekend next weekend~

Friday, we heard the call of Dracula again, and like Lucy and Mina we couldn't resist. 

But really Park Eun Seok's tickets were on sale buy one get one free, so it cost us less than it did to see Junsu but we had better seats.

How did I end up back here?

This time, I enjoyed the show even more. Junsu is great, but Eun Seok is more Dracula-ish. He't a lot taller and to me more compelling. 

We met Park Eun Seok after the show:

He is way more handsome in person. And so tall. And handsome, 

More on that later. So much more.

Saturday I had yet another wedding to go to, and this one was perhaps my favorite of the three. This time it was for the music teacher, Young Eun, who I love. She's really close to So Jung, and she lived in Japan for a while, and she always helps and tries to talk to me when So Jung isn't available. Plus she's funny and awesome. 

Young Eun has a lot of international fans, so there were Japanese, Chinese, and American friends there. People kept switching from English to Korean to Japanese (So Jung speaks all three!) and it was just really cool to be around.

Young Eun is the beautiful bride. The others are (from the left): Seul (she caught the bouquet!) Moon Jung (my Korean soulmate) So Jung (my coteacher please stay my coteacher) and Shinae (4th grade head teacher who managed to teach her kids a Les Mis musical for a talent show wow!) And I love them all a lot 

The wedding hall had a waterfall behind it. It was so beautiful!

 In a Korean wedding, friends and/or family of the bride and groom sing them songs. Young Eun's younger brother and her cousins did a song... and a dance!

It was really bizarre, but it was so much fun!

Skills.

 I got to throw flower petals for them too!

Happy Wedding~

Their pictures.

We took pictures, including Seul catching the bouquet, and then all headed to eat together. This buffet was the best and didn't run out of food and had so many desserts. It was awesome. The conversation kept switching languages and it was so fun! 

Young Eun made an appearance to make the rounds and everyone kept sneaking her food.

I snapped a quick pic of her hanbok because it was so pretty!

I met up with Helen again and my friend Cherie, since I was on the other side of Seoul again, and we did some shopping and had a good time. I went to Tina's to watch Madame Antoine and some Dracula videos, and then we went to bed.

Sunday was dance day, as usual. I really should be more careful when I ask for not girl groups.... This week we tackled our old friend, EXO. Their wildly popular song "Overdose" was our next challenge. 

I still have some trauma from doing "Growl" a million times, but I like the song a lot. We all quickly realized that we would never be good at this dance. We learn all of the parts... EXO always does it in parts. And while the song is cool, it doesn't have a ton of beats to match to the moves, which is really hard. The refrain was the easiest part, weirdly.

Here you can see me forget half of the dance but we all still kill it 

It was really fun! Hopefully there's a comeback soon so we can do some new songs! We don't have class next week due to the Lunar New Year, so no dance for me.

This week should be pretty easy since it's the end of the year. I hope it is!

If you want to stop now, that's all for this week. If you want to read an in-depth analysis of my feelings about Dracula, please continue.

So, Dracula. 

First, this:

I cannot think of this without laughing to the point of tears.

One of the love songs is called Whitby Bay and it's one of my favorite songs in the show. So since they're in love (Bae = before anyone else, for those who don't know... looking at you, mom and dad), Whitby Bae. And if you're in a Big Bang mood, Whitby Bae Bae. Haha I am so funny. 

Okay back to real Dracula stuff.

The American musical was not terribly well-received, and understandably so. It's really poorly written, plot-wise. Attempting to have Dracula be scary and terrifying and a lovesick romantic, it loses a lot of power. In trying to do both a horror story and a romantic story, it ends up really doing neither. The Korean one changed a lot of the lyrics and the flow of the story to make it more romantic and believable, but it juuuuuust falls a little flat for me. 

That being said, the music is just incredible. Catchy songs that stay with you are all over the musical, especially the Korean one. The stage rotates, which leads to a lot of cool motions, and the special effects are otherwise otherworldly. Dracula has some mist-powers, and it shows up a lot on the projections, or it shows him turning into bats and stuff. Amazing.

The first time this run we saw XIA Junsu:

Yum. 

Junsu's voice is really unique, so he does sound like he's not human sometimes. He gets a little shrieky and it's hard to understand him sometimes, but he plays Dracula as a wild and erratic power, which is interesting to watch. He's really committed to it and it's highly entertaining. 

This doesn't hurt....

While I love Junsu, it's not quite as believable with the red hair. He's in Victorian England. And sometimes for the staging he should be inconspicuous, which is largely impossible. By the end of the poorly-written storyline, the musical felt its length. I see Junsu as a whiny and impulsive Dracula, so it fits with his irrational decision to die at the end. 

Junsu's voice really did blow me away since he's an idol. There is one song that suits him 100% better than Eun Seok, and it's one of the best songs in the show for the staging and pace:

This one even has a translation!

 Park Eun Seok is everything. I wasn't sure about going again, but it was hard to remember what he was like last time. Then some press call videos came out, and I was done for.

So Dracula.

Eun Seok seems more like I'd imagine Dracula to be. Black hair. Reeeeeeeeeeally tall. Really deep, hypnotic voice. His movements and delivery were a lot more deliberate than Junsu's. So when trying to convince Mina to be with him, Junsu came off as a petulant prince (which he is in the musical) whining "why don't you love me yet?!?!?!" and Eun Seok came off as "I know you are mine I just have to slowly lead you to that conclusion as if you made the decision yourself, but really it's already decided that you can't resist me." He really acts through his fingers and toes. Not one movement is wasted.

This is the song that did me in. Once I saw the press call for "Life after Life," one of my favorites in the show, I was done. I had to go.

Skip to about 3:20 and and watch. It's so good. Hint: this is an instance where the red hair isn't great for Dracula... You can see all the cool things with how well thought-out the stage is

Here's Eun Seok in the seduction scene and also doing "It's over," which is the only song in which I prefer Junsu. Eun Seok's voice matches the others too well, so it sounds better musically but is less entertaining. If you don't know who's singing, it's hard to tell. Junsu's is more distinct but more raw.

And here's the one that blows Junsu way out of the water:

It's from the first time I saw Eun Seok perform. But it's one of my top played songs in itunes because I cannot get enough.

 

Junsu works because the entire story is unbelievable and he embodies that with his flaming red hair. Eun Seok works because he's so hypnotic and believable as Dracula. Up until the very end where the plot stretches too far, I totally fell for him. The musical didn't feel as long the second time. It's like he cast his spell on me too.

So amazing. Both were so amazing. It really was like seeing two different shows. Then energy is just that different. Both are awesome though. 

Good thing the show only runs for like one more week or I would be in trouble.

Here are a few more videos for comparison, and so when I revisit this when I'm 80 I'll remember how much I enjoyed Korean dudes wearing leather pants and being vampires.

Here's Eun Seok's "Fresh Blood," with the translation:

This show is a nightmare for tech. So much could go wrong. For instance, when we saw Eun Seok, he couldn't get the wig and prosthetic face stuff off in time, so he sang half of his "newly transformed Dracula" verse on the bed while Jonathan helps him get his stuff in order. 

During Junsu's "Fresh Blood" the stage malfunctioned. When one of the brides came out of her coffin, which is built into the stage, the door wouldn't close for like half the scene. 

Also in this song the Korean lyrics are way more about Dracula's obsession with Mina to play into the romantic story. In the American one he's all like "I'm gonna build an army and terrorize London" so it makes less sense when he's all focused on Mina. Good job, Korean version.

And here's both of them singing "Loving You Keeps Me Alive."

Eun Seok's version, from 2016

Junsu from 2014

So Tina and I were pretty hyped from the musical being amazing, but it wasn't done giving us gifts. We decided to stage door, which isn't done too much in Korea. We didn't do it with Junsu because it was a school day and also we were sure the fans would be crazy. We wanted to meet Eun Seok though, since he probably doesn't have a ton of foreign fans and we wanted it to be full circle from the last time we saw him.

We met Van Helsing first, and he signed a card to Tina. When she told him her name sounds like Christmas, that's how he signed it. Hilarious. 

As we were waiting, we began to doubt since it was taking so long. We met some Korean women who had similar doubts but we all began talking in a mix of Korean and English about musicals. They enjoy similar ones to us, and similar actors. Park Eun Tae, for instance, who we saw in Jekyll and Hyde and Jesus Christ Superstar, and Park Hyo Shin (see Wildlfower above or Tina's love of him should shine through too) among other things. They were surprised we could speak Korean (we reminded them that the whole musical was in Korean...) and we waited together. 

Finally Park Eun Seok appeared, wearing a mask and full of apologies that he couldn't stay long. Our rather forward friends managed to convince him not only to take off his mask, but to take pictures. They also drew ALL of his attention to us by telling him "YOU HAVE FOREIGN FANS." 

He looked slightly surprised and said "Hello!" and Tina told him in Korean that we saw him when he was an understudy. He still had his mask on at this point, but his eyes got impossibly wide and his hand flew to his mouth as he wondered out loud, "How can you speak Korean so well?" It was definitely a highlight of the night. We got many compliments on our Korean that day, but this was by far the best. 

He is hella tall. And handsome. 

It took us a bit to get a picture with him, since Tina's phone messed up and my phone had no space for pictures... So we had to redo it a few times. Thankfully our new friends got us covered. I was stoked because the first time he just stood between us, but the second time he actually put his arm around me.

I was very happy he didn't do manner hands:

Super Junior's Heechul showing a prime example of manner hands where they don't actually touch the person. It's a real thing here. Really.

Distinct lack of manner hands from my Whitby Bae Bae and my postcard set that has all the lyrics to the songs

I hand't said much to him in Korean, so when he finally ducked out for real I yelled "You're so handsome" in Korean and he turned to look back and I made flailing motions so I hope he knew it was me from my accent and general American forwardness. It really made the whole experience complete haha. 

I think that might influence a bit of my love of the musical, but I could forgive some of the plot with him. I'm going to pretend he hypnotized Mina with his powers and then realized he was tricking his love and couldn't live with himself rather than Mina really loving him (since Jonathan and Mina is one of my fave literary couples ever) and him just giving up. The Korean one does a better job blending the love and horror stories, but I think no one involved in any version of this musical has actually read Dracula. 

It was an awesome, awesome week because of the show. I have been listening to like nothing else. It made everything go so fast and it was wonderful. I wish people liked it more so I could have more people to talk to about it. 

If I think of more Dracula stuff I'll add it later, but mostly those are my thoughts and favorite songs. 

You can check out the American OST here, but some of the songs are different, omitted, or it doesn't have some of the Korean songs like "It's Over," but it gives you a good idea of it. 

Thanks for sticking with me! Love you all~