Mamma Mia!, here we go again...

"What a night..." :-)
When I arrived back in Seoul after the summer break I saw posters advertising a run of Mamma Mia! in Seoul and, after seeing the live musical for the first time in London just a few weeks prior, I knew I had to get a ticket.  Fast forward a few (okay, more like six) months...


I had my first musical theater experience in Seoul two weekends ago when I went with some friends to see Notre Dame de Paris--the English version.  The show was great, but definitely not the Disney-fied version of the Hunchback of Notre Dame that we all know and love.  If you've never read Victor Hugo's novel about the Hunchback, the be prepared for a spoiler...everyone dies at the end.  It's quite a tragic story, but lovely when mixed with song and dance.  Seeing this show motivated me to finally book those Mamma Mia! tickets.


I should probably mention that Mamma Mia! was not the English version, so I was a little nervous that I wouldn't be engaged in three hours of dialogue delivered in Korean.  Boy was I wrong--the show turned out to be fantastic and absolutely hilarious!  I went with my friend Erin, who like me LOVES the show, and we had a blast.  I'm almost 100% positive that we were the only waeguks (translation=foreigners) in the building, but that just added to the fun.  When we stopped to take pictures with the cardboard cutouts of the characters, our Korean counterparts followed.  Here are a few pictures of us playing around before the show...

Because we knew the story so well, it wasn't hard to figure out what was going on in each scene and we were both quite amused just watching the actors deliver the dialogue we know so well in Korean.  Essentially we giggled our way through the entire show and discovered lots of non-translatable words--dancing queen, chiquitita, Sophie (pronounced as Soapy), and mamma mia!  In case you're wondering, yes, the songs were also sung in Korean...by spandex wearing, booty shaking Korean actors and actresses.  This was strange at first, but by the end of the show I was really enjoying hearing the Korean versions.  I wonder if ABBA ever could have imagined that their famous lyrics would be translated into a language as foreign to us as Korean?!  I'm sure you're also dying to know that I was the bad foreigner who sung along with all of the songs...in English of course, but rather quietly so as not to disturb my neighbors with my horrific singing:).  Lucky for me, the finale song Waterloo was sung in English and I was out of my seat singing at the top of my lungs and shaking my booty too!  As we left the theater I thought about what fun it must be to perform such a great production night after night in front of a lively audience.  Maybe I need to work harder on my Korean so I can audition for the next run...hehehe!

Spring...Finally!

After a long and cold winter, spring has finally arrived in Seoul.  La Primavera!  Yay!  One of the best parts about spring here is Cherry Blossoms!  The buds first began blooming a couple of weeks ago, but being busy it actually took the promise of rain to get my butt out of the apartment to see these beauties in bloom.  Last Friday after school I put on my sneakers and headed out for a short hike--skirting around the mountain you'll eventually end up at a nice little area with a water wheel, pond, stream, and lots of beautifully blooming trees!  Lucky for me, I ran into my neighbor Bridget right before the walk and she agreed to join me with camera in hand to document the blooms.  


It was a sweaty walk--in fact, it was feeling much more like summer than spring.  As we walked, we captured lots of blooming things...and a giant gold Buddha (cool, right?).  We saw bright, bloom shaped lanterns strung about, all in celebration of a tiny white and pink flower.  I loved every minute of it.  I also enjoyed the chance to catch up and chat with Bridget, who will sadly be leaving for Jakarta at the end of the school year!  


Here are some of the lovely images we encountered along our hike...

The hillside of Mt. Ansan bursting with puffs of pink

The Golden Buddha 

My favorite blooms of the day--the magnolia trees are absolutely stunning!

Blossoming lanterns

Tiny viola flowers

We found some SFS friends along the way!

A blossoming walkway

Seodaemungu

We weren't the only ones out enjoying the cherry blossoms!

Bridget and me

Hiking back to school

Truly Asian...a lantern amidst the blossoms

As you can tell by my sad lack of blogging, I haven't been out and about in the city much this year.  I suppose last week's hike was a good reminder that I need to make time to get out and experience the beauty of Seoul, especially since all I really need to do is walk out the back gate and I'm in Mother Nature's backyard!  The rains came and went and it appears that some of the blossoms managed to cling to the trees, but more often than not we see them raining from the branches with each gust of wind.  And thus my second spring in Seoul is here, with summer hot on its heels.  Ahh, summer....well, I guess I shouldn't get too far ahead of myself and instead I should focus on celebrating each lovely spring day and the promise of a bright and beautiful tomorrow!