Buddha's Birthday Weekend

Alright so this weekend was seriously amazing!!!! I cannot begin to describe how perfect this weekend was! We had Friday off for Buddha's Birthday which was awesomeness in itself! But what to do with a three day weekend? After much debating whether to hit up Seoul for the festivities or go to Busan for the beach, I decided to stay here this weekend. It was the best decision I could have possibly made! On Friday, my Korean friend Son Ha and I went to Sikjongsan to climb up 4.5 km and back down 4.5 km to see the temple there. It was an amazing hike and very challenging! My butt and calves are still sore! At the top, they served us a meal of Kimbop. It was delicious! The view was spectacular! The temple was small but there were fewer people there. It was a good experience anyways. The nature was gorgeous! I could not have asked for a better hike! We saw new born baby birds following their mother on our way back down the mountain. It was incredible! They couldn't even fly yet.


Friday night, my friend Douchi and I went to a few different bars. It was amazing. We were walking around figuring out which bar we wanted to go to when we saw this sports bar on one of the top levels. We decided to check it out. We walked in and sat down in one of the booths. I noticed a very tall and well built Korean at the bar wearing an Ed Hardy t-shirt. It was crazy because most Koreans aren't built like that and most Koreans don't wear Ed Hardy. But Douchi and I were sitting there talking and a Korean girl came up and offered us some menus. She asked us how we knew about the bar, and we told her that we didn't know about the bar; we just thought that it looked cool. Then she told us that the guy in the Ed Hardy at the bar was a famous baseball player here in Daejeon. He plays third base for the Hanwha Eagles. His name is Song Kwang Min. She asked us if we wanted a picture with him, and we said sure because we thought it would make the guys at the gym jealous. He came over and took a picture. Then, he sat with us a bit. He invited us to the game on Saturday. They told us they would save us some seats right by the cheerleaders. He also told us that we should invite our friends to the bar for a party. We talked for a bit about the game and baseball. Then the cheer captain came over to sit next to me. It was hilarious because he had kept looking over at us from his table, and so Kwang Min called him over to join us. He showed us a few of his cheers. It was fun. He acted a bit nervous. So I asked him if I was making him nervous because he was sitting next to me, and he said no but I made his heart beat super fast. Hahahaha. I was laughing so hard!!!! One of the girls reminded him that he had a girlfriend that he was about to marry. I only laughed harder. It was awesome! We stayed there until it closed at 2. After, we went to a restaurant down the road for a bit, but it wasn't as exciting as the first bar.

On Saturday, it rained so the baseball game was canceled. We were so bummed, but Douchi and I decided to go out anyways. We started out at Mr. Chicken because we both love their Cajun Chicken Salad. Then, we went to this bar called NASA which wasn't anything special. Then, we went to a couple of different "Modern Bars" that had a good chilled atmosphere but weren't exactly what we were looking for. Then, we walked into this one bar thinking that it would be a more upbeat place, and it turned out to be a gentlemen's club so we immediately turned around and walked out. It was hilarious! It's times like those that it would have been handy to be able to read the Korean. Finally, we ended up at the same restaurant as Friday night. One of the guys from the gym joined us, and we all had a really good time! I met a few guys that were sitting at a table near ours. They were really good guys. One is a soccer player (they kept telling me he had nice legs...hahahaha). The others were all kind of shy and didn't talk much except for one that really wanted to practice his English. He told me that he lives in Seoul and that I should call him if I go up to Seoul. So we exchanged numbers, and he texted me immediately after I had left. Hahaha. It's awesome that the guys here don't have issues contacting you within 24 hours of your meeting. They are always so polite too. It is definitely one of my favorite things about this city!

Today, I am just doing a bit of house cleaning and resting up for my work week. This weekend has been a lot of fun, but now I am exhausted!!! Hahaha.

Fighting

Ok since last week's blog was all mushy about boys; I figured I'd change it up this week and talk about fighting. Hahaha. So last Sunday, my instructor was hosting a kickboxing tournament at another gym. We met at our home gym first thing in the morning and took a bus to the other gym. I was one of two foreigners that attended the tournament. The other foreigner was also from our gym; her name is Douchi. She is awesome. I really got to know her at the matches. It was pretty sweet. We spent all day watching matches. They were really good matches. The guys from our gym did really well! The high school boys did alright; one guy won his first match and lost his second match, another tied in his match, and the other lost his match. Our adult heavy-weight fighter lost his match; it was his second time up against this fighter and the fighter is really good. He was really upset about it. All of our other adult fighters won their matches. Only two of them had to fight all three rounds. The first adult fighter went all three rounds and won. The second and third adult fighters' opponents threw in the white flag before the first round was over. The last adult fighter fought in a special match. He fought without headgear, and he was awesome! It was a really good match.

After the tournament, we all went out to eat. The guys were hilarious! They kept teaching me Korean phrases. It was really cool because the ones that normally don't talk to me tried to talk to me. A lot of them don't like to speak in English in front of other Koreans or they don't like talking to foreigners because they are afraid their English is bad. I hate it when they are afraid to talk to me. I don't want them to think that I am going to make fun of them. Most of the time their English is really good. One of the Korean girls, her name is Son, at the gym speaks English very well, but she was so afraid to talk to me. I had to encourage her to speak in English to me. But we have started talking a lot at the gym, and she is so sweet! She is also extremely strong!!!! She can kick my butt! Hahaha. There's also a Korean guy at the gym that speaks in English very well too, and he always talks to me. His English isn't as good as Son's even though his mother is a middle school English teacher. I don't like to talk to him as much as Son because he is super mean! He says he is just kidding, but he always talks about the same thing so I'm thinking he's not. Anyways, he rides the same bus as I do so if we leave at the same time he likes to talk. Luckily, two other guys from the gym ride the same bus too. I like the other guys, but the other day he started being mean right in front of the other guys. It made me so mad; I moved to stand by the door awhile before my stop. I think he might like me, and so he's trying to pull a jerk move by breaking my confidence. He's asked me a couple of times if I have a boyfriend, and he's told me that he doesn't have a girlfriend. Guys are so weird sometimes! Grrr. Anyways, this post is not about boys right? Hahaha, but it was cool riding the bus with the other guys because I got to talk to them a bit and learn more about them. One of them is one of the guys that doesn't want to speak in English to me because I'm a foreigner which sucks because he likes to use the jerk to interpret for him. I hate that he won't speak to me in English because we are about the same age, and he is one of the guys that is really good with the little boy at the gym. So I would like to hang out with him more, but the language barrier is definitely a problem. The other guy is awesome. He is a big guy, but his skin is so soft...so I call him Pandy like a Panda Bear. He speaks to me in English when no one else is there to interpret for him...his English is good from what little he's used anyways.

Friday at school, we had birthday parties for the kids whose birthday is in May. The teachers also got a lot of presents because Teacher's Day was on Saturday and since we didn't have school the kids gave us presents on Friday. I got a lot of flowers, candy, and I even got some lotion and bath gel. It was definitely really nice!

Saturday, the gym had testing for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I went to watch because I haven't been feeling well lately and I didn't think that I would do well. It was intense!!!! They had to spar over and over with several different guys. One of the guys didn't pass his test and didn't get his stripe on his belt. He was upset the rest of the day. We went out to eat again afterward, and he still wasn't happy. It was nice eating with all the guys again. After dinner, I rode the bus home with Pandy and another guy. They were nice without the jerk there. We actually had a good conversation.

Today, Sunday, I got up early to go to Korean tutoring. It was ok. It was difficult because they taught me the Korean alphabet last time, and they expected me to be able to read stuff this time. I told them that it was going to take me some time because I have to hear the pronunciation while looking at the letter. It's also hard because I don't have a lot of time to study. I have a lot of time to practice phrases because I'm in Korea where everyone speaks Korean so I get speaking practice in. Hopefully, they understood and weren't too mad at me. After that, I went shopping. I wanted some shoes, and I had to get my Dad a Father's Day present to ship home. I have to ship home my Mom and sister's birthday presents and my Dad's Father's Day present this week in order for them to get there in time. I got my mom and sister some accessories because they are easier to ship and all girls love accessories. Dad's present was way harder to find. I went to a shop and picked up some chopsticks, a sign that says office in Korean, and some pencils with Korean writing on them. Then, I went to twenty different shops looking for a ball cap written in Korean. It is so hard to find those because Koreans mostly wear MLB caps or caps written in English. I finally found one and got it. And now, I'm doing laundry and writing this so I think we're up to date.