Playing Parts (#6)

"Personality is a series of unbroken successful gestures." ~F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

I've started listening to The Great Gatsby on audiobook here.  I do it in the mornings because I find it a good companion to my morning coffee.  Like a fine, crispy croissant, the audiobook complements my black brew.

At first I didn't know why I was doing this.  And then I realized I was hungering to compare everything I was experiencing here to American values.  For me, the most positive version of The American Dream is wistfully and bittersweetly captured in this novel.

This has somehow fused with thinking about my own personality and what it actually is.

These past two weeks, my degree in Directing has rescued my self-image.  

For our school event days, I was asked to change dresses like Oprah Winfrey during the Oscars.  That means a lot of dresses in a short period of time. 

And so the last two weeks featured me as Doctor Sabina for our Hospital Event Day.  I outfitted the get-up with a coffee mug because I felt like it was only appropriate.

This was followed by Children's Day, on which I played Jumbo and the other foreign teacher played Laya.  We called ourselves the "Afro Circus," with the name of our duo being Jambalaya. 

You can see that my hair extensions are actually quite stunning.  

In the second photo, we are presenting a magic trick in which the other teacher's cellphone disappears.  Those connected with the modern age (which is everybody) can understand the anxiety this presents.  Laya ended up running out of the room, hiding in the bathroom, and crying.  I made the phone appear in a silver pan which clanked as I yanked it open.

We were flawless and completely believable. 

Below is me giving a student an animal balloon of a dog after I pulled it out of the other teacher's clown costume (this was preceded by a sound effect of a dog barking).  

I chose chihuahua.

After these shenanigans, I became a game master and taught my 6 Year Olds how to play Twister.  They mastered it artfully, and the members of the class were asked to occupy different positions.  Some of these included the players, the umpire, the spinner, the announcer, and the point-keeper.

We had a couple of umpires that were too competitive and called the players out before they started the game.

In this video, I have taken over so that we can continue playing.  

And so that we learn left from right.

Recently I joined the Seoul International Hikers Club.  They are an amazingly warm and familial group of people who I go on hikes with every Saturday.  I feel fortunate to have found stunning places around the Seoul area to visit, but unfortunately each excursion is always accompanied by a physical mishap on my part.

The second hike I went on, I became confused by the train station toilet.

Upon going inside of the stall, I saw this and did not know how to mount this horse.  Which way does one face in order to not fall off?

 The most mind-opening excursion was this past weekend to Namhansanseong Fortress, remaining to this day from the Joseon Dynasty.  It was a smaller version of The Great Wall of China.  I have never seen The Great Wall of China, but in my head it is a miniature version of that imagined reality.

For me, the more titillating parts of these experiences are the smaller ones.  I saw this little canoe in a lake at the bottom of the hill and I was attracted to its sense of peace.  There was something so confident in this gesture.

Perhaps it was because it had just decided to stay there.

We proceeded to sit at the brewery in the rural town for the entire day.  We talked and regaled with life stories.  This is how I want to spend my time.  The sponge of me was rung out with the feeling of restful interaction.

I cannot imagine what it must be like to want to fill yourself up with experiences.  I often feel on sensory overload and yearn for emptying out the sensorial casket.  Scattering those impressions of life to the wind.

Otherwise, it feels like all that I experience dies within the tomb of my body.  

It seems healthier to let impressions enter, stay for a quick visit, and the leave to go entertain someone else.

I am convinced that not everyone feels this way, but it happens to be the unbroken series of gestures that I see life through.  Or that I dance life through.  

Since they are just some silly gestures, after all.

Photo credit:  Lamer Morales

Falling through the flower bush,

Sabina Student