to exist; to be alive / (of sb or sth) to be (located) at / (used before a verb to indicate an action in progress)
在
=
一
+
亻
+
土
:
Zorro (z) and Rosa Luxemburg (亻) exist (在) in the airplane's bathroom (ai4). Rosa is in the middle of balancing a flute (一) on her head and on a pile of clay (土). Zorro uses his rapier to inscribe "Z" into the flute, so as to mark that the pronunciation of "在" begins with "z".
earth / ground / field / place / land / CL:片[pian4]
地
=
也
+
土
:
Dorothy Gale (di) hates the cleanliness of the space station, so she used an excavator (也) in the space station's bathroom (Ø4) to dig a pile of dirt (土) out of the ground (地) for a mud bath.