Sunday, October 17, 2010

Fighting Weekend


On Friday, Yun Ho and Song Wan both competed in the K-One Max fight in Gochang, South Korea. I was able to go to support them because our school had the day off. I was really excited that I was able to go because the whole gym has been looking forward to this fight for forever! I didn't know that Song Wan was competing as well until they started checking his blood pressure. I think both of the guys were dieting for this match. Yun Ho dieted for 12 days and lost 8 kg for this fight. I was shocked because he's already really skinny! When we got to Gochang, the guys went into a room to register. I decided to wait outside because they had to weigh in, and even though they are comfortable enough for me to be in the same room, I'm not comfortable. After weighing in, we were able to go for lunch. The guys didn't eat all day because of weigh in. We ate eel for lunch because it is the Korean power food. It looked absolutely disgusting, but it was really pretty good. After lunch, we walked around Gochang for a bit. They were having some sort of festival so we checked it out. We were trying to figure out what we were going to do all day because the fight didn't start until 6pm. The guys asked me if I wanted to go to a sauna room. I told them that they could go, but I would read a book outside. Then, they asked me if I wanted to go to a PC room. However, the way they said PC it sounded like they were saying fish. So I thought that they were talking about the place where they have the fish take off the callouses on your feet. I was like sure I don't care. I was a little surprised when we ended up in a PC room...hahaha. Here I thought that I was going to get a Korean pedicure and instead I spent the day on the internet. Oh well! Hahaha. After a couple hours though, I was seriously bored and tired of sitting so I told the guys I was going to walk around the city for a bit. One of the guys didn't like me going out on my own so he walked with me. It was a little awkward because his English isn't that good, and my Korean absolutely sucks! In a group, it doesn't really matter because I know someone else will do the talking, but one on one sometimes I feel like I have to choose simple phrases to use to make people feel more comfortable. It was ok though. We grabbed some coffee and looked in a few shops before meeting up again with the other guys. When we met up with the guys, it was time to go back to the gym for their medical check up. The paramedics checked their blood pressure to make sure they were in a good condition to fight. Yun Ho's blood pressure was super high so they kept checking it. We were the only ones left in the gym when they finally gave him the ok to fight. After the medical check up, Kwanjangnim, the coaches and I went for dinner while the guys were warming up for their fight. I asked one of the coaches to order for me because I wasn't familiar with the food, and they wanted me to choose quickly. Kwanjangnim thought I was being slow about choosing what food I wanted and told the other coaches. When I gave him a dirty look, he was surprised that I understood what was going on. Hahaha. Then, they started talking about how they went noreabonging the night before. So to confuse him even further, I asked him a question in Korean about the story they were telling. It was hilarious! However, I think I might have gotten myself in a bit of trouble because now Kwanjangnim thinks I understand more Korean than I actually do...so now he doesn't speak to me in English. Hahaha. After dinner, we went back to the gym because the fights were starting. This tournament actually had a good many women fighters. The coaches kept telling me that next year I was going to compete in the tourney. I told them they were going to have to train me more than they do in kickboxing in order for me to compete. From our gym, Song Wan competed first. He did really well, but as usual his opponent was bigger and stronger than he was. Kwanjangnim had to throw in the towel the first round. I hate seeing Song Wan lose because he is such an amazing kid. He improves so much between fights, but I think he gets put up against harder opponents each fight. Yun Ho's fight went better than Song Wan's. It was the hardest fight I've seen him fight. He had to go all three rounds with his opponent. At the end of the third round, they were tied so he had to go a fourth round. His opponent did a few illegal moves and was docked for it. However, one of those illegal moves left Yun Ho hurt badly. He finished the fight and won. But he was hurt too badly to compete in his final match. It really sucked to see him in so much pain. I couldn't do anything about it. Everything I tried to do he pushed me away (I think he didn't want me to baby him). It was so hard for me to just sit and watch him hurting.

We got back to Daejeon about midnight; so I called Douchi to see what she was up to. She was out with Elicus and the guys from the soccer team. So I met up with them for another epic evening! Hahaha. It was a lot of fun! Even if we didn't end up at the noreabong. Hahaha. The guys are hilarious, and they make every night out amazing! We only stayed out until 4am before we headed back to Douchi's. My keys got locked in the gym so I had to spend the night with Douchi.

On Saturday, I had to call Shiiki to see what time Kwanjangnim was going to be at the gym so I could get back into my house. The gym was supposed to be closed because of the fight and some renovations, but Kwanjangnim was going to be there for a bit. I was finally able to get my keys and go back to my place to clean for a bit before the girls arrived for the Daejeon Rock Festival. Some of Douchi's friends stayed at my apartment for the festival. They were really sweet girls, and we had so much fun with them. The festival turned out to be more foreigners than fun. So Douchi, Michi and I decided to go back to Hannam. The girls decided to stay for a bit. They called us later because the police shut the festival down because of noise complaints. It was really weird. They met up with us at Musa's in Hannam, and we definitely showed them a good time. I talked to some Korean guys they thought were hot, and I introduced them. It was fun! Musa was playing some really good music so we had to get up and dance which got the whole bar joining in the fun. It was hilarious! The girls were just excited that Musa served french fries, cheese sticks, and tater tots! Hahaha. Afterwards, we got a group of guys from Musa's to go noreabonging with us. However, the girls were not used to staying out as late as we normally do, so we went home pretty early at 3:00. By the time we got everything figured out and got home, it was 4am. One of the girls decided that she would prefer to be closer to the train station in the morning so she wanted to stay in a hotel. So, I had to help her find a taxi at 4am. The entire time we were looking for a taxi, she kept complaining about how the other girls were trying to tell her what to do. She certainly was not very appreciative of our hospitality. Oh well, the other girls were really sweet, and I would love for them to come back any weekend.

All in all, it was a good weekend. Next weekend, I'm supposed to go to Seoul for a concert with Douchi. It should be fun! Stay tuned!

Shrimp and Partying with soccer players!

Alright, as expected I didn't get around to a post last weekend, but it definitely needed a post. On Friday, Kwanjangnim gave me a new ghi. It was really cool! I was super shocked! Apparently, I'm the first person he has done this for so it was really special. After I got my second stripe for Jiu Jitsu, he had asked me if I wanted to get a new ghi. I told him that I would wait until after my third stripe because I went to Taiwan and everything. I had no idea that he would buy me a ghi! He gave it to me in front of everyone. One of the girls, Hyu Jin, told me that everyone was jealous of me. It is a really nice ghi. It is white, and it says Jiu Jitsu on the sleeves. It is much thicker than my blue one so it should last a while. I was super excited! I had actually planned to skip my kickboxing class that night to go out with Douchi, but after that I had to stay. After kickboxing, Douchi and I went to see one of our friend's band play at a bar in Hannam. They were really good, and we had a lot of fun. We met some new people. They are art students at Hannam University. They all play soccer together too. They were a good group of guys. Two of them were born in the same year as me which is very special in Korea because of the social formalities. In Korea, it is hard for people to be friends if they are not in the same birth year because you have to show respect to people that are even a year older than you. So everyone gets a little excited when they find someone that is the same age. If a person is older or younger, they are your brother or sister. One of the guys name is Nam, he is my first peer friend in Korea. This is Nam:

So we were both kind of excited about him being my first Korean peer friend. After the concert, we went to Musa's to hang out for a bit longer and talk a bit. We ended up going noreabonging until 6am. It was crazy! We had so much fun though!

So Saturday morning, after noreabonging, I rode my bike home. Hahaha. I slept most of the day. It was kind of depressing because it was such a beautiful day outside, and I slept through it! Needless to say, I did not make it to the Baekje Festival as I had planned. However, I did wake up when Sun called me to invite me to dinner. It was amazing. We ate on the roof of the Dunsan MMA gym. We were able to watch the sunset which kind of made up for missing the rest of the day. It was gorgeous!!!! The Dunsan Kwanjangnim brought his wife. She was really nice. The Judo coach from the gym came as well! It was a really nice dinner party. However, everyone was tired so it ended way to early! Sun and her boyfriend, Wan Hee, dropped me off at my apartment. After they dropped me off, I called Douchi to see what she was doing. We decided to hang out for a bit in Hannam. I called my new friend Nam to see if he wanted to come out with us, and of course, he was immediately on his way! Once again, an amazing evening began to unfold. Nam brought several of his soccer buddies with him that we didn't meet on Friday. They were hilarious. Two of them were older so they are Douchi and my Oppas, big brothers, but we just call them by their names. One of them, Kim, is the same age as Douchi (but he doesn't know this...hahahaha). He calls me Noona (big sister). It's really funny! He's the coolest kid ever. I was laughing the entire time! This is Kim:

We decided to go noreabonging again. Douchi and I performed an amazing "Barbie Girl" which Lee, one of the big brothers, said was stuck in his head all day on Sunday. This is Lee:

The guys performed SHINee's "Ring Ding Dong". It was awesome! When it got to the chorus, they all broke out in the dance. I had never seen anything like that at the noreabong. Douchi and I were shocked and couldn't stop laughing.

We stayed at the noreabong until 5 on Sunday morning...which kind of sucked for me since I had to be at work by 10. Hahaha. It was all good though, I made it to work on time. It was Sports Day so I had to cheer on the kids and run a race. It wasn't too bad, and I don't think it showed too much that I didn't go to sleep the night before. It was a lot of fun. The parents seemed to really enjoy the day with their kids, and they appreciated us coming out on a Sunday to play games with their kids. We had a wonderful time.

After Sports Day, the guys had a soccer game. So, Douchi and I went to cheer them on. Their offense was really good, but their defense sucks. Nam scored 4 goals. I was so proud! It was a fun game though because we were able to hang out with the guys a bit. Some of the players on the team have to share jerseys (I guess maybe they came late or something). But Kim let one of the guys were his jersey, and the guy got hurt so Kim had to borrow a jersey from one of the other guys. It was hilarious because when you translate what he said into English he was saying, "Give me your clothes". So, I teased him the rest of the game in English about it. The other players started in on it, too. It was really funny because normally Korean guys are a little more shy about stuff like that. We also found Lee and sang "Barbie Girl" to him to make sure it stayed in his head awhile longer. Which the other players also enjoyed and even joined in on the chorus. Anyways, it was definitely a fun game even though they lost. It was truly an amazing weekend!