Stetsons in Korea 2006

Okay, so our first ever Stetson blog must come to an end.

Don't worry, it is just a matter of running out of free space on the blog. I have created a second one, so future updates will appear on there.

http://stetson2.travellerspoint.com

Please use that address for more updates from Korea!

Before I leave, here are some pics of what the kids did at lunch today....

See you in Stetson 2!

Trudy and Brad

Today we started our day... you guessed it, with a hard and focused rehearsal in the hot, hot sun.

The show looked great. We are feeling very confident that we'll put our best foot forward come the field show competition, and that the members will perform their western show with high energy and great enthusiasm.

11 monthes of incredible work by all of our members has made the 2006 field show 'Acres of Dreams' a show to remember.

After the rehearsal we travelled to Hallim Park.
The park consists of a botanical garden, a folk village, underground caves, and a variety of animals.

We checked out the park for a while before heading to a nearby beach for the remainder of the afternoon.

After the beach we came back to our hostel, ate dinner, and went back into rehearsal mode. The final moments of our rehearsal took place during a beautiful jeju sunset as the group performed a near flawless run-through of our closer 'the chase'.

Nearby Camels behaved indifferent but seemed to enjoy the show

Following the rehearsal the band council held a talent show. Hopefully we'll get a hold of a variety of pics from the show, but for now please enjoy a scene from Mike, Earl, Brad, Trudy, and Jackie's 'Lucky Number 7' skit. I don't know how we snuck it into a "talent" show but the members clapped and laughed none the less. The question is, were they laughing at us or with us?

Tough to say

More fun stuff over the next few days. Look forward to sending our experiences your way. SEND COMMENTS! We love to hear from you.

Brad

Running joke: One night in Seoul the staff saw a commercial for an air conditioner... the commercial featured this Polar Bear and Penguin dancing in celebration across the screen.

We like to recreate the dance periodically throughout the day... and yes, the dance was performed at the talent show

After a very quick flight, we arrived safely on the beautiful island of Jeju. As we were gathering our luggage, we noticed a crowd of people waiting outside the luggage area, smiling at us, beside them, was a huge banner, welcoming the Stetson Showband to Jeju! The directors were greeted with a fresh Gerber Daisy flower lei, and a huge bouquet of roses and gladiolas! As the band exited the airport, we were then greeted with the incredible sounds of the Jeju police band. Our buses are decorated with banners, the entire city is covered in banners promoting the event, much like the Stampede flags in Calgary.

After arriving at Elephant Land, yes our hostel/circus ring. Really, there are live elephants less than 100 feet from our little traditional Korean houses,two camels we see each time we go for meals, an ostrich, chickens, geese, turkeys, peococks and so much more that we may see tomorrow. Watch for pictures of our kids riding the elephants, and camels... they can't wait for that!

Someone told us it would be cooler here on the island.... not so.
It was a very hot day today,and the trip to the ocean was much needed relief! I think we scared the locals, with our frisbee game, we had a blast, and wish it was longer, but we needed to get back for dinner.

Rehearsal tonight was a little dark, the sun set very quickly, and we were all set for run, so did it anyhow, the kids had a blast running the show in the pitch black. We shone a flashlight on the drum major, and prayed for the best. Don't worry guard parents, it is nothing that won't heal fast... Okay Jackie made me write that...
The guard spun on the sidlines and are all safe. I think, I couldn't see them...

I think the sun, may be getting to some of us. We are finding this funny... after all, we are sleeping on the floor, with the cockroaches, (henry and david) Bob, the large spider that lives in the bathroom is content to stay where he is at the moment. Could have something to do with that big Canadian Shoe that is threatening him if he appears again...

Then there are the two puppies that live here... they are about 10 weeks old. We'll be looking for them in next weeks dinner - after all, dog soup is a delicacy around here.

Andrea made me write that... I think she is hungry.

Have to say hello to Boy.

Brad was unavailable tonight, he won't come out in the dark.

At times the language barrier can cause a little heat. One room of girls confused the air conditioner control, with the furnace control, and set their room to 30 degrees, which nicely heated up while we were at the beach. Why they have furnace, is beyond us...

Good night,

Trudy, Jackie and Andrea :-)

As we write this blog entry we complete our packing for tomorrow's flight to Jeju where we compete at worlds!

We started today with another tough am rehearsal. Reported at 29 degrees by 9am the students worked under difficult weather conditions but still managed to put together a strong effort.

This was highlighted later on in the day when we arrived at Lotte World (South Korea's version of Disneyland...similar to West Edmonton Mall) where the members put on a series of strong parade and standstill performances.

The way this group is performing, it is an absolute shame that our season is coming to an end so soon. They truly are performing at a professional level and their audiences are responding accordingly.

We ended our day with some down time in Lotte World where we enjoyed a variety of amusement park rides. A fun way to end our stay in Seoul.

Next stop Jeju.

• important note*

We may experience difficulty finding an internet provider when we arrive in Jeju. Please be aware that blog updates and entries may slow down over the next couple of days as we get used to our new surroundings. We'll be back online ASAP.

Hello friends of Stetsons!

Today was our first day without any scheduled performances, so the students were able to do a nice mix of site-seeing and shopping... after a grueling am rehearsal.

By 9:30am we were returning to our Hostel and preparing for a day consisting of a trip to the COEX market (a remarkably large shopping complex), a trip to the Korean 'Center for Training in Important Intangible Cultural Properties', and finally a trip to a downtown Korean market where the students got to lighten there pockets from all of that spending money they had been saving.

The students have yet to discover the difficulities they've presented themselves when it comes to packing these purchases.
Should be fun for everyone.

Enjoy the pictures