Teacher Goyang-i rocks the weekend!
This weekend was awesome! Starting with Friday, I got a huge package with tons of goodies from Charles. He also made a CD with a bunch of songs of his that I loved, so I've been keeping quite busy! I was so excited about the package that I showed it to some of my students who knew who he was... I whipped out the jelly bellies and decided to have a little fun. In my 6:30 class - just before the end of the day, we were having a pizza party, so I figured a little fooling around wouldn't hurt anyone! The greatest laughter came when I fed unsuspecting children the nastiest flavours I could find. Only one at a time though, so I could bask in the amusement that was their misery! We were all laughing so hard!! :P My boss conveniently made friends with me when she saw the great big box of cookies, and she has money on it that they aren't home made. Charles however, quickly proved that they were a secret recipe and that he actually knows his way around the kitchen...hmmm... No sidetracks...
Anyhow, Friday night I went for coffee with my coworker and we talked for hours about politics, education and the different way canadians and koreans are raised and how it affects them. Then, we also managed to get in a couple hours for my weekly korean lesson. Good thing too because I skipped it on Saturday in Namyeong.
Saturday, I got up real early to meet Molly, my estranged roommate, on the subway. We had decided to try a new sport - Gaelic Football! I have three words to describe it...in fact many sets of three words... OH MY GOD... I'M IN LOVE. GAELIC FOOTBALL ROCKS... ect, ect. I immediately fell in love, and from what I can tell I adapted quite quickly. Granted, I need a lot of work, but I think I got the hang of it. In comparison to soccer, it's quite similar, but doesn't require so much work on my bad ankle which is definately good considering I was thinking I may have to retire from soccer!
The rules are quite simple. When you are in possession of the ball, you are required to either bounce the ball on the ground, or drop kick it to yourself every four steps you take by alternating between the two. You can pass the ball by kicking it, tapping it, punting it with your hands, heading it...anything, so long as you don't throw it. Generally, there are 15 players a side, but in this league they play 7 aside. I'm not sure I like that as much because I generally like to play wide and 6 players and one goalie means you have to run a whole lot! When you're better, it can be a quite fast paced game!
At the end of the practice, they were handing out team jerseys and polos for the game in Taiwan next weekend. I fell in love with the polo, so much so that I was willing to quit my plans for next weekend to be able to have one - and to play and go to Taiwon.
That's essentially what the team does, they practice every weekend, then now and then they go away to random countries for games. Next week is Taiwan, they're going to Shanghai in October...who knows what else...
Since then, I've been contemplating cancelling my plans, but I just found out that I can get a polo anyhow, so I just ordered one! I'm a sucker for uniforms!! :P
After the practice, I was going to go to my Korean lesson, but I hadn't seen Molly in so long, and it was such a beautiful day, that I decided to bail. Besides, I had studied enough the night before! I learned how to say I have a double major in Law and political science with a concentration in International relations...beob chak guk jae gwan gae jong chak duguereul jeon chong haesseoyo. :P
Instead of Korean, Molly and I went to this medditeranean restaurant with a patio on gay hill. It was delicious. Not as good as back home, but its as good as its gonna get in Korea!! We had babaganoush - I brought more home! :P Mmm!
After lunch I met up with Perrine to get her money for our trip to Jeju. Then Molly and I headed to my house for a shower. After chilling out for a couple of hours, we met up with Marc to head to Itaewon to go to dinner with Rosalynn. We went to this cute place at the top of the hill in Itaewon. I think the main attraction is the guy's daughter, she was so cute! Not to mention the eccentric lifestyle he has lived...he has biked all over the world!
After eating way too much, we headed to Jay Bar just around the corner to listen to some live music and meet up with the football team. The second band was awesome, but sadly Marc and I had to bail early, my bronchitis or whatever was acting up from the smoke, and we had to catch the last bus home.
Today, Marc and I went downtown for the Lotus Lantern festival. I made this cute little mini lantern, I think I'm gonna make a bunch to decorate my appartment... I tried quickly making a big one, but they tore everything down for the parade - so as I was quickly trying to make one, this old lady informed me I was doing it wrong. I got pissed off and left. It didn't turn out that bad, but to make myself feel better, I bought two little ones that can actually hold candles! :P
Around 8, we headed to Yongsan for dinner. On the way home, I had a coughing attack and it's still going strong now. I'm going back to the doctor tomorrow morning to see what's wrong. I think this is the last straw. I think most of the time I've been in Korea I've been infected with some sort of lung problem. The air is horrible and people smoke every where. I stopped going to bars, because if I'm around smoke too long, whether I'm sick or not, I become sick. So, unless something extremely great happens in the next little while, it seems as though my health is going to force me home early.
Bad news for my parents though, my inability to tolerate smoke means I will most likely not be able to visit with them in Vancouver for very long, if at all.
Overall though, despite my impairedness - I'd say this was one of my best weekends in Korea...
Anyhow, Friday night I went for coffee with my coworker and we talked for hours about politics, education and the different way canadians and koreans are raised and how it affects them. Then, we also managed to get in a couple hours for my weekly korean lesson. Good thing too because I skipped it on Saturday in Namyeong.
Saturday, I got up real early to meet Molly, my estranged roommate, on the subway. We had decided to try a new sport - Gaelic Football! I have three words to describe it...in fact many sets of three words... OH MY GOD... I'M IN LOVE. GAELIC FOOTBALL ROCKS... ect, ect. I immediately fell in love, and from what I can tell I adapted quite quickly. Granted, I need a lot of work, but I think I got the hang of it. In comparison to soccer, it's quite similar, but doesn't require so much work on my bad ankle which is definately good considering I was thinking I may have to retire from soccer!
The rules are quite simple. When you are in possession of the ball, you are required to either bounce the ball on the ground, or drop kick it to yourself every four steps you take by alternating between the two. You can pass the ball by kicking it, tapping it, punting it with your hands, heading it...anything, so long as you don't throw it. Generally, there are 15 players a side, but in this league they play 7 aside. I'm not sure I like that as much because I generally like to play wide and 6 players and one goalie means you have to run a whole lot! When you're better, it can be a quite fast paced game!
At the end of the practice, they were handing out team jerseys and polos for the game in Taiwan next weekend. I fell in love with the polo, so much so that I was willing to quit my plans for next weekend to be able to have one - and to play and go to Taiwon.
That's essentially what the team does, they practice every weekend, then now and then they go away to random countries for games. Next week is Taiwan, they're going to Shanghai in October...who knows what else...
Since then, I've been contemplating cancelling my plans, but I just found out that I can get a polo anyhow, so I just ordered one! I'm a sucker for uniforms!! :P
After the practice, I was going to go to my Korean lesson, but I hadn't seen Molly in so long, and it was such a beautiful day, that I decided to bail. Besides, I had studied enough the night before! I learned how to say I have a double major in Law and political science with a concentration in International relations...beob chak guk jae gwan gae jong chak duguereul jeon chong haesseoyo. :P
Instead of Korean, Molly and I went to this medditeranean restaurant with a patio on gay hill. It was delicious. Not as good as back home, but its as good as its gonna get in Korea!! We had babaganoush - I brought more home! :P Mmm!
After lunch I met up with Perrine to get her money for our trip to Jeju. Then Molly and I headed to my house for a shower. After chilling out for a couple of hours, we met up with Marc to head to Itaewon to go to dinner with Rosalynn. We went to this cute place at the top of the hill in Itaewon. I think the main attraction is the guy's daughter, she was so cute! Not to mention the eccentric lifestyle he has lived...he has biked all over the world!
After eating way too much, we headed to Jay Bar just around the corner to listen to some live music and meet up with the football team. The second band was awesome, but sadly Marc and I had to bail early, my bronchitis or whatever was acting up from the smoke, and we had to catch the last bus home.
Today, Marc and I went downtown for the Lotus Lantern festival. I made this cute little mini lantern, I think I'm gonna make a bunch to decorate my appartment... I tried quickly making a big one, but they tore everything down for the parade - so as I was quickly trying to make one, this old lady informed me I was doing it wrong. I got pissed off and left. It didn't turn out that bad, but to make myself feel better, I bought two little ones that can actually hold candles! :P
Around 8, we headed to Yongsan for dinner. On the way home, I had a coughing attack and it's still going strong now. I'm going back to the doctor tomorrow morning to see what's wrong. I think this is the last straw. I think most of the time I've been in Korea I've been infected with some sort of lung problem. The air is horrible and people smoke every where. I stopped going to bars, because if I'm around smoke too long, whether I'm sick or not, I become sick. So, unless something extremely great happens in the next little while, it seems as though my health is going to force me home early.
Bad news for my parents though, my inability to tolerate smoke means I will most likely not be able to visit with them in Vancouver for very long, if at all.
Overall though, despite my impairedness - I'd say this was one of my best weekends in Korea...