
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
A print exchange!

Western medicine back east

I have work in two more shows opening this month, one in Denver and one in Japan:
Interweavings
August 1 - September 13
Abecedarian Gallery, Denver, CO
Artists' Reception - Monday August 25, 6-8pm
Your Documents Please
August 2 - 17
ZAIM, Yokohama, Japan
(with the rest of the show down the block at Galerie Paris
I had a fantastic experience today at the International Health Care Center at Severance Hospital. I walked in, filled out a tiny half-page form w/basic info, was asked to return at 2pm (30 min later), did some homework, and went back. After waiting a few minutes, they took my bp and temp, had me wait a little more, and then I saw the doctor. She was super nice, fluent in English, very calm and reassuring, and didn't condescend or NOT listen or scoff at my concerns. She also didn't act like she had a million other things to do, or that there were other people waiting that she had to get to right away. Then an escort took me to the sampling place, showed me what to do, and took me back to the clinic. I paid for the lab work, and was told to call on Friday for test results, and that was that! Done in 30 minutes flat, with courteous service in a clean, well-lighted place. Soothing music, too. Also, the hospital was nice and fancy and clean and generally just a nice place to be - no weird smells or glaring white walls - almost like being in a museum, with way more people.
I am SO happy to be out of the hands of the American health care system right now. Just delighted.
Interweavings
August 1 - September 13
Abecedarian Gallery, Denver, CO
Artists' Reception - Monday August 25, 6-8pm
Your Documents Please
August 2 - 17
ZAIM, Yokohama, Japan
(with the rest of the show down the block at Galerie Paris
I had a fantastic experience today at the International Health Care Center at Severance Hospital. I walked in, filled out a tiny half-page form w/basic info, was asked to return at 2pm (30 min later), did some homework, and went back. After waiting a few minutes, they took my bp and temp, had me wait a little more, and then I saw the doctor. She was super nice, fluent in English, very calm and reassuring, and didn't condescend or NOT listen or scoff at my concerns. She also didn't act like she had a million other things to do, or that there were other people waiting that she had to get to right away. Then an escort took me to the sampling place, showed me what to do, and took me back to the clinic. I paid for the lab work, and was told to call on Friday for test results, and that was that! Done in 30 minutes flat, with courteous service in a clean, well-lighted place. Soothing music, too. Also, the hospital was nice and fancy and clean and generally just a nice place to be - no weird smells or glaring white walls - almost like being in a museum, with way more people.
I am SO happy to be out of the hands of the American health care system right now. Just delighted.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Pale

Last night, I stayed up late trying to finish all the pieces for my subscription series. It felt good to work again but then I had to get up at 6:30am today and take two more exams. Today, I met with Jeong-In Cha, an artist and illustrator who also makes books and does amazing things to support the book arts community in Seoul, namely Artistbookseoul. I also met her sister, Gina Cha, who curates books as well. The studio was SO gorgeous and lovely. I was just happy to sit in a studio for an afternoon and hear about the artistic community in Seoul, how artists are viewed in Korea, and get the inside scoop on the recent book arts fair in Seoul. Funny, since many of my old colleagues from Chicago won prizes at this summer's fair, and it was nice to exchange info - fun for them to hear about how the books were made, and for me to hear about how positively they were received when they arrived in Korea. Hopefully I'll get to visit again soon, WITH my camera so you can see how amazing the space is.
Migración of Language Project
Anni forwarded this to me, and it's a topic I am very interested in, as well as part of a show that is soooo my speed:
Dears Colleagues and Friends,
Paloma and I are currently working on a new project, 'Migración of Language.' The project explores themes of immigration, displacement and language and will be exhibited in the show Bi-Lingual that opens at the Cleveland alternative gallery, Spaces, on September 5 - October 17, 2008.
http://www.spacesgallery.org/
http://www.spacesgallery.org/08_BILINGUAL/08_BILINGUAL.htm
As part of one of the installation pieces, we are trying to show the different reasons and circumstances that have led people from around the world to immigrate, or simply move from one place to another. If you would take a second to respond to the following questions, we'd really appreciate your collaboration:
1. Where are you from and where do you live now?
2. How many different places have you lived?
3. Please write at least three life events or reasons for moving from one place to another. You can be brief; there's no need to be specific or include personal details, unless you want to. Your information will remain anonymous; it will be used to create an enormous paper chain made up of the various life events that have motivated dozens, if not hundreds, of people to move from one place to another.
Examples of descriptions:
I lost my job
I got a new job
I married someone from ___________
I moved because of political persecution
I moved for economic reasons
Or you might take a more narrative approach. Here's my own:
I've lived in many different places and countries. In Pinar del Río, Havana, Bogotá, San José, Miami, Florida, New York City, and now in Yellow Springs, Ohio. The reasons for my migratory displacements have been diverse as well: I moved from Pinar del Río to Havana to study art. I left Cuba for political reasons.
It would be ideal if you could e-mail this back as soon as possible. If you want to forward it to others, we would greatly appreciate it! Please send all responses to juansilence@aol.com
Many thanks,
Juan-Sí & Paloma
Dears Colleagues and Friends,
Paloma and I are currently working on a new project, 'Migración of Language.' The project explores themes of immigration, displacement and language and will be exhibited in the show Bi-Lingual that opens at the Cleveland alternative gallery, Spaces, on September 5 - October 17, 2008.
http://www.spacesgallery.org/
http://www.spacesgallery.org/
As part of one of the installation pieces, we are trying to show the different reasons and circumstances that have led people from around the world to immigrate, or simply move from one place to another. If you would take a second to respond to the following questions, we'd really appreciate your collaboration:
1. Where are you from and where do you live now?
2. How many different places have you lived?
3. Please write at least three life events or reasons for moving from one place to another. You can be brief; there's no need to be specific or include personal details, unless you want to. Your information will remain anonymous; it will be used to create an enormous paper chain made up of the various life events that have motivated dozens, if not hundreds, of people to move from one place to another.
Examples of descriptions:
I lost my job
I got a new job
I married someone from ___________
I moved because of political persecution
I moved for economic reasons
Or you might take a more narrative approach. Here's my own:
I've lived in many different places and countries. In Pinar del Río, Havana, Bogotá, San José, Miami, Florida, New York City, and now in Yellow Springs, Ohio. The reasons for my migratory displacements have been diverse as well: I moved from Pinar del Río to Havana to study art. I left Cuba for political reasons.
It would be ideal if you could e-mail this back as soon as possible. If you want to forward it to others, we would greatly appreciate it! Please send all responses to juansilence@aol.com
Many thanks,
Juan-Sí & Paloma
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Promises kept



Playing catch up


The day before (Thursday), I met another family friend (who has known me since I was a baby) and spent the entire afternoon and evening with her, catching up, eating, getting measured for a new suit (she's a tailor), going to the local market to look for a hanji doll maker (he closed shop a while ago), and watching her make tons of phone calls for me (re: housing in the fall and places to study hanji). On Friday, I had lunch w/a bunch of students from the program: 2 from Japan, 1 from China, 1 from Singapore, and 1 from the US. Then I hiked up the mountain to visit my cousin's friend and met her children, who are crazy beautiful. She's my new local standby b/c my cousin is in Florida for a month w/her kids visiting her sister.
After iced tea, phone calls to random Koreans, and a tiny nap, I went to Sinchon to run errands and meet Kelsey &c (aka 1. her long-lost friend from high school who had moved to Australia and married 2. an Aussie, 3. this friend's cousin who happens to be living in Korea with his 4. Korean gf, and 5. a Korean guy who just spent 10 years in Hawaii and is friends with our Japanese classmate b/c they are in a Chinese-speaking group together). We went to a chicken place for dinner (click here for an image-laden explanation of the food) and then to a club for drinks, where Kelsey's friend (a modern dancer who was in NYC before moving to Seoul five years ago) joined us.
Since everything that I just talked about happened in the kind of rain that makes umbrellas nearly useless, I took all yesterday to sleep in and do calm, at-the-desk activities like studying and working on my first subscription piece. I'm frustrated b/c I wanted to send it out two weeks ago, but have not had the time to sit down and engineer it and make multiples. But hopefully I'll get it done this week. I would do it today, but sometimes you just have to put things off in favor of muddy rock concerts.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Ah yah yay!
I am really really really not as present online as I usually am, which is nice in many ways but also crazy stressful b/c the rest of the people I need to communicate with are still online...so I'm behind, way behind! Still in the throes of planning next year, which means negotiating dates w/Fulbright, the gallery I will show at right after I get back, and the residency I will go to right after I get back. Agh!
BUT in the meantime as I am scattered (I will post more soon about all the things keeping me busy), watch this video of Clover! I met her in grad school, and she's been an amazing friend and colleague and collaborator. A real, dedicated, true performance artist. And artist, period.
BUT in the meantime as I am scattered (I will post more soon about all the things keeping me busy), watch this video of Clover! I met her in grad school, and she's been an amazing friend and colleague and collaborator. A real, dedicated, true performance artist. And artist, period.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Turning Korean (or just turning into Paulette)

I just had my role play exam today, which I partially bombed by trying to improv a new line and not delivering. Oh well. I had lunch today w/a woman who went to college with my sister - she saw me last week and thought I was my sister. Very random that we're in the same place at the same time. I didn't make it to the opening, but am hoping to hit that museum on Friday afternoon. The weather has not been too oppressive this week, which has given me seemingly boundless energy.
Oh! And I met my language exchange partner today. She's just three years younger than me, and is a psych grad student. She seems really nice and also seems to have values similar to mine, which surprised me (things like not wanting to get married until she finishes school, and doing what she wants to do NOW so she doesn't regret it later). The funny thing is that I feel really weird speaking English to Korean people. Using it with her will be good practice for me, and she's already corrected my Korean a bunch so I'm hoping this will help fill in some of the gaps that classroom work isn't able to address.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Brief bettering


Anyhow. I'm feeling better even though my teacher scolded me today for making the same spelling and grammar mistakes over and over again in my homework (I'm one of those notorious phonetic spellers; I just get tired of looking things up and end up guessing). We'll see if I'm motivated enough to go to an opening tomorrow that I just found out about today for thisAbility vs. Disability at the Total Museum of Contemporary Art. I hope I will be, b/c the show seems really interesting. The rumor is that Pauline Oliveros will be there! I haven't seen her perform since the Cat in the Cream at Oberlin almost 10 years ago.
Suddenly frantic

I also realize that I'm out of sorts b/c I'm not doing what I would rather be doing - which would be having a studio, privacy, and time to make art. But yesterday, our class had a funny practice session for the song we have to perform in a few weeks: we went for karaoke! The place was kind of outrageous, with decor, and glittering lights everywhere, self-serve ice cream, and huge teddy bears in each private room. We practiced the lyrics and figured out who gets which, and then a couple of students worked on choreography.
Oh, and the rains have started. Friday night, the rain started and never really stopped. I guess right now we're in a lull and will have a few days w/o rain, but it was pretty hardcore.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Maybe July will just continue to be a rough month

Ellie's grandmother passed away a day or two ago from a series of heart attacks (I can't tell anymore w/the time difference), and I feel like all I'm hearing about since July 1 is scary and sad news. I'm hoping whatever weird retrograde is going on will pass soon. I'm babysitting again (very badly, since I'm blogging and my nephew is watching TV) and trying not to stress about how little I'm getting done in my life right now. Because it's true, what Ellie says, that it's your heart that matters.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
School makes me stressy

Anyhow. All this cramming is making me crazy. My jaw is wound up like crazy, but at least I know the word for hippo and narcotics. Helpful, right? The grammar is harder for me b/c I have a hard time engaging - I wish we could learn it with English explanations (like tenses, conjugation, particles, etc.). But then when I try to have perspective, I figure it's a much easier life than other people. My aunt told me a couple nights ago about how her entire family migrated from the north to Seoul, and about crossing the border, and how they were incredibly lucky that not a single relative died in the crossing. Though her father passed away at age 50 b/c the suffering later in his life was too hard to bear (they had been well off in north Korea, so he was not accustomed to hardship). I see how hard she STILL works now in her 60s, and how what would totally land me in bed for days is like a normal day's workload for her. The generation gaps here are enormous because the changes in this country have happened at the speed of light. Faster, it seems.
So, trying to get language study done faster before meeting a good friend from NYC so that we can have a fun night out in Seoul might actually just be cake.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Hand cramps




Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Feeling the heat


Oh! The fun news: I just found out today at lunch that I am NOT the oldest person in my class!!!! There is one person who is older than me by 2 months. I found out that the 19-yo boy is NOT the youngest one, either - there's an 18-yo girl!
Okay. Time to study.
Monday, July 14, 2008
I've become one of those people

Sunday, July 13, 2008
Poor planning, but I'm no DP


I then ran out to the beach alone and then we drove back, in time for me to feel really sick and take lots of meds and go to bed early. I only started to feel better late this afternoon after two naps, three rounds of cold medicine, and a whole carafe of homemade Korean citron tea. It was probably a mix of too little sleep, too much babysitting, too much sitting in the back seats of cars, too much A/C, and too much raw fish. But I still managed to get my homework done, even though I still don't think I've learned a lick of vocab. I keep INTENDING to 1. read the new picture book from my cousin, 2. re-write and memorize 10 pages of vocab, 3. learn grammar on my own, and 4. skim 11 volumes of Korean history. I'm just so impatient to get through books in Korean the way I do in English that I forget that I'm about 1,000 times slower at everything in Korean. I'm having a hard time accepting this.
I also feel super out of touch w/things going on back home. I just found out this morning about a high school classmate who was in a bad biking accident (he was hit by a car) and tonight's dinner conversation was mostly me trying to explain to my aunt why Angelina went to Namibia to have a baby. I feel like I'm not on my feet at all w/my language studies, not anywhere I want to be w/my research (even though I'm not technically on my research grant yet), and still confused about who I'm supposed to reach out to amongst all my family and my family's friends. I feel like I NEED so much but I'm not sure where I'm supposed to get everything I need, and not sure who I'm supposed to ask for help. Since there's so much etiquette that I'm unaware of in terms of asking for help and receiving it from specific people.
But beyond the extreme exhaustion and ungrounded feeligns, the best part about being here for a while is watching my cousins' children get to know and trust me. As cold as it was in the pool yesterday, it was important for me to hold this girl in my arms and not let her feel like she was going to drown. The fact that it would have been impossible didn't matter (she was tall enough to stand up w/o the water going over her head, and she had floaties on her arms). She was on her back and I had her back and legs supported, and then I would bounce her butt up every time it sunk down. A few times, she gripped me b/c she was scared that she was sinking, and those were the times that I would make sure that she knew, through my body, that I would never let that happen (I have a childhood experience of drowning, and drowning is actually ancestral baggage on my mother's side of the family).
Ellie-Jo and I have been emailing about vulnerability and how to find people who can let you be that way. I think I have gotten so way beyond letting myself go soft that seeing an 8-year-old totally trust me, someone she has only seen three times in her life, makes me super conscious of my responsibility to others.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Amazing what mail art will do


Really putting themselves out there. It makes me so happy to know that I am connected to all those people all across the world, and that there are more that I will never know, and more that I will meet soon, and more that I will meet in the faraway future, and more whose work I will fall in love with over and over again. And of course I will fall in love with them, and love them the way I love the ones who are in my life right now.
And in new ways. Makes me excited to kick off the subscription series this month. And, hello - I will get to see my first friend from NY in Korea very soon!!! Kiwon comes w/a Yale orchestra next week for a Seoul concert and Asian tour. YAY.
Pop stars in training

So I am REALLY looking forward to some time away from Seoul & the vicinity. Plus, I'll get to spend more time w/the niece that liked me for having pen and ink and is REALLY smart. It's nice now that I've been here for a little bit and the kids are getting used to me - I stayed w/another cousin last night, and when her daughter came home and saw my shoes in the entryway, she said, "can it be?? Is Aimee here???" and then got all excited when she found out that I was spending the night. We had really good homemade bibimbap together for dinner and then we sat at the dining room table and drew pictures and swapped. I did a bagpipe player w/the Taj Mahal as a backdrop (he was on the cover of one of her books, and she asked me to add the Taj Mahal, from the back cover, to the drawing), and she did a flower. And then we taped them into our books. She wants me to make her one, so sometime when we have more time, I'll totally have a bookmaking session w/her.
Her little brother, when he first met met, was mad that I was taking his mom's attention away from him, and he said, "go away! Leave now!" But I think he likes me better. The last time I saw him, we took pictures w/my camera phone, and this time I was able to drag him to the bathroom and trick him into brushing his teeth and changing into his pjs. He's still light enough and agreeable enough to pick up and carry. We did some abc's, too.
The other "fun" thing we do in this language program is some kind of musical competition. I am NOT excited about this b/c it involves each class getting up on stage and singing a Korean song for everyone else and then being judged. We were trying to figure out a song, and I of course have noooooo idea what is popular right now. We were thinking of this song (w/better dancers, of course), but we decided to go with this one instead. I'm kind of mortified by both, but I guess it should be fine since EVERYONE will have to play the fool. The first song is way more fun but the dancing is hard and the words are even harder - Koreans have a hard time singing along! So we have to go w/the one that is sung in an old man style by a young man, whose title, if pronounced incorrectly, becomes an obscenity. At least, that's what I heard.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Sticky seats



I also found out today that I am TOTALLY the oldest student in this class. It's kind of nice, though, being one of the slowest ones. It's a different pressure from being at the top of the class (which I am used to - it's good to have a big change).
Last night, I had my big first bout of homesickness. I couldn't sleep and finally just put on my iPod and listened to Josh Ritter for an hour, had revelations about recording engineering's value, and remembered how amazing it was to be in Nebraska two years ago. I had this huge poetic post all composed in my head about love and the smell of laundry (I get sad now whenever I put on a new piece of clothing that hasn't been washed yet in Korea - b/c once it's washed, the familiar smell is gone forever), confessions and learning to be at peace w/never being at peace, and so on, but the heat makes me just want to hydrate and lay on my back while studying vocab.
I will say: I think the homesickness is hitting now b/c it's just after two weeks here, which in my "normal" life is when I'm heading back home, or halfway through a residency. Two weeks in Maine = sea changes. Two weeks in Mexico = sea changes. Two weeks at Ragdale = two seasons, two private performances, one baby grand, and one stalker. But this is my longest stint of commitment to one place since I started grad school five years ago.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Severe dyslexia


It's also weird that most of the Americans here in class are also working as English teachers. I see them scurrying off all the time and commuting everywhere. It's like a guarantee that you'll find a job here teaching English. I feel like I'm out of the game, but that's b/c I'd be deported and stripped of my grant if I did it. It's nice to be prohibited from doing certain things that I probably would end up doing.
Monday, July 07, 2008
Endless studying


I'm almost two hours into post-class studying and haven't made a dent, it seems. I think I might just rip out pages from my textbook (b/c it's so heavy) and take the rest home to do there. Today is my day to hit the supermarket in the department store near home to get soy milk and snacks for class (the sweet potato crisps are my favorite so far). So much for getting all my homework done at school!!
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Excuses

Time to hit the irregular verbs. Thank god for the grammar book that I took from my sister's bookshelf; it's saving my life right now (b/c it has English explanations for pretty crucial things. No amount of waving hands and miming is going to sufficiently explain conjugations, tenses, and particles. This is my major criticism of the program that I am in).
Friday, July 04, 2008
Time time time no time

I just finished up one whole week of language study. After having lunch w/my cousin who is a doctor at Severance Hospital (5 minutes from where I take classes, one of the best hospitals in Korea, part of Yonsei University, also home to the international clinic that I plan to check out soon), I checked out electronic dictionaries at the school bookstore. I feel like such a dinosaur w/my dictionary in book format (I'm still not quite over the fact that these are becoming ancient history), but I think I'll stick with it. It's a good way to keep on top of my ga na da's (the first three "letters" in the Korean alphabet) since I only know up to five characters for SURE in the right order and then things fall apart. Someone needs to teach me whatever abc song they have here. I'm too old to figure out mnemonic devices for myself.
Speaking of old (I know, I'm talking about it a LOT lately, but come on! I'm going from a life where I'm in the youngest/almost youngest bracket of my circle of friends and family to a very, very different life. I mean, all these kids!) - a Japanese boy in my new class is 19!!! Kelsey, the former ETA Fulbrighter, kept laughing at me when she saw the faces I was making when he told us how old he was. The other American, Audrey, is in grad school for East Asian studies at Harvard. And it turns out that Kelsey knows kate hers, who I met online via Pauly, b/c Kelsey is also a Korean adoptee and current Blakemore fellow. I'm totally going to pick her brain for the next two months.
I called Diana today, finally, after emailing her for a while (actually, it started last year during my Fulbright app research). She's a poet on a Fulbright in Korea now that I met online thru Ching-In. She has been super helpful and really good at calming me down re: all things related to Fulbright and moving to Korea. She keeps reminding me to take good care of myself and remember that a lot has changed, so it's fine to take it easy. It was really good to chat today and share our experiences: she also did the extra language grant last year and lives really close to me right now. So we talked about how the commute makes things challenging, and how utterly exhausting the intensive language study is, and the importance of just being present and taking one day at a time.
That said, I feel crazy b/c I haven't visited any museums yet or gone to Insadong, where one of the traditional papermaking families in Korea has a shop. But anytime I think about doing things besides go to class and study, I feel crazy. Especially now that the insane humidity has set in. Grossness. Koreans don't have dryers (which, overall, I think is a very very very good things), but I really wonder if my clothes will dry in this weather. I'll find out soon, since I am about to hang my first load of laundry here once I get off the computer.
It's been a trip to learn so much about how I learn. Today, I figured out that the best way for me to hear and repeat dictation is to stare at a blank wall or chalkboard. If I look at the teacher's mouth or other students or down at my book cover, it's just too much stimulation. I also wonder if I'll ever get to the point where I can see Korean characters and see them as words. Right now, I have a weird invisible shield that goes up and blocks me from being able to read them right away, esp if there is ANY English mixed in the soup. I see everything as pictures, images, symbols (which I know they are, but even more abstracted), instead of WORDS. It's getting to the point where today in class, our teacher wrote a big capital N on the board (to indicate "noun") and then more Korean, and I stared at the "N" for a while, thinking, "did she misspell Korean? What the hell is that character??" I only realized after she wrote another "N" somewhere else on the board that it was an "N"!! This whole 1.5 thing in terms of my language ability is going to be tricky. Since I already feel my verbal English starting to slip.
Good news: all these people I'm meeting at school are potential traveling mates! AND, people to visit in other countries. One woman, who I swear could model if she was half a foot taller, is here from Thailand. She goes back in September and goes back to work for a hotel. How fun would it be to visit?!
It's also interesting meeting people who have both Korean and American names, and which they choose to use in class. I chose Aimee (Koreanized, of course, to something akin to A-ee-mee) b/c I realized a few years ago that I just don't feel much of a connection to my Korean name. I'm glad that I have it, it will be useful when I travel to places where having a Korean name makes sense, and I love that it falls w/in a tradition and generation so that I feel like I'm part of a family lineage. But I just don't respond to it anymore. I used to more as a child. But my whole family calls me Aimee now. Even though I'm learning Korean, I felt like I would misrepresent myself by using my Korean name. It reminds me of my private performances: it has become something just for me now. Not for other people to see or use. And no judgment! It's just how it is.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Trying times for my overheating brain

I'm so sensitive.
But at least my brain was stimulated today and I wasn't falling asleep out of boredom. Good times. Also, one of my new classmates was on a Fulbright ETA a few years back, so I'm totally going to pick her brain (English Teaching Assistant). After class, my cousin picked me up and then it was children underfoot for a while. I tried to study but it wasn't happening. I went w/my cousin and her kids and niece, and her mom (my aunt) to a FABULOUS Chinese restaurant for dinner. Yuuuuuum. Now I'm taking a break before I get back to work. Oh, wait. The kids are home from Taekwondo so I have to babysit.
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
A little rain




Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Between class and cramming





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