Mel looking festive, originally uploaded by iAn85.
I miss my husband…
I miss all my friends…
I remember last Christmas so vivdly (it was the same green cardy, possibly the same sash)…
WAAAHHHHH I WANT CHRISTMAS PARTY GOODNESS IN PUSSY PALACE!!!! WAAAAHHHH…
*sobs uncontrollably into his ukulele*
Real Tears.
The passage of time…, originally uploaded by jeremyinkorea.
when you haven’t had more than 48 hours off in 4 months, suddenly, 72 feels like an eternity
you can spend the first 3 in nervous anticipation, before being violently reunited with your lover, causing you to remember all the reasons that hold you together
you can pack up your family home of 12 years while seeing your daddy through a life threatening operation, and finally feel secure in the fact that he will see another Christmas
you can regretfully spend 5 of those precious hours of freedom in a salon, having the only available shade of red thrown through your hair, days before flying towards Paris, and what will possibly one of the most precious weeks of your life
you can sleep for 24 of them, after a day and a night of utter madness
you can wait 2 hours for 1.5 minutes of pure adrenaline, three times over
you can find yourself at the other end of time, forgetting what to do, and why you should be doing it
All I Want For Christmas Is You, originally uploaded by Nathan Stoneham.
You don’t get many opportunities to sing Christmas carols (including interpretive dance/contact impro break) for significantly important people.
Needless to say, I ate my fill of fully expensive food, real orange juice and post-performance dessert course (including fruit flan and/or mudcake).
From such a meeting, we can make the following general assumptions on ethnic groups by virtue of singular cases in point:
Canadians: Generally unattractive, will stake their claim on various musical identities, cultural icons and language groups within 3 minutes of first meeting. Will mock your country of origin (Australia in this case), and will mention their status as a G8 country twice.
Belorussians: Have terribly large eyebrows. Will fall in love with your female counterpart on fist sight. Will pop up unexpectedly around Itaewon as you search for a taxi.
Irish: Females; mild mannered, polite and gracious. Males; bordering on senility.
Americans: Obnoxious, culturally insensitive and displays the express desire to converse solely upon the topic of the superiority of US Beef, and current issues regarding the Korean importation of same. Will openly offend your Korean colleagues.
Kuwaiti: Speaks in monotone. Offers three or four well rehearsed sentences including: “Hello, I am Kuwait”, “You are all good (gestures to the generic facial regions)”.
Germans: Friendly, shows avid interest in the performing arts.
Needless to say, and entertaining night was had by all.
*NOTE: I am fully aware that the following cannot actually be taken as indications of the intentions and personality traits of entire populations. If they were, all Australians would be loud, sing almost constantly and know not how to move unless through the medium of liturgical dance.
It’s almost 7 and I am eating black soy and corn cereal, I’ve been up for 40 minutes, after being asleep for 3 hours, about to brave the 60 minute walk to work to endure 90 minutes of make-up to be ready for the first of 8 shows for the week which opens in 4 hours, Christmas is 18 days away and The Lion King is 3 days after that, I receive some very close friends the day after that in time for New Years the day after that… And I am very happy…
Transcript of conversation with taxi driver (originally in Korean, though translated into English for your convenience):
Driver: (sigh) Christmas, Christmas… It’s almost Christmas…
Jeremy: Yes
Driver: (wistfully) The 25th or the 24th
Jeremy: Christmas is the 25th
Driver: No, it’s the 24th…
(awkward silence)
Nathan: (English) What was that Jezz?
Jeremy: (English) Nothing…
(Driving continues for almost 2 minutes)
Jeremy: (in Korean) We want to stop 100 metres on the right
Driver: (panicking) What? Left at the intersection? (swerves to the left)
Jeremy: No no, it’s ok, right, stop here
Nathan: HERE HERE, STOP HERE!!!
