So far since arriving in Taipei, we've done a ton of shopping! Seriously, the markets are amazing, and I love the jewelry. I cannot believe that I have bought so many bracelets. I swear, I must have bought 50 bracelets this week. I love it!!!
However, shopping is not the only thing we've done this week. We went to the beach yesterday. It was nice. The water was gorgeous, but the sand was disgusting. We got in some serious tanning, but I think we got a bit of our tans walking around the markets.
Last night, we went dancing at this club called Luxy. There was a group of girls that started crowding around us and asking us to dance. Asian girls are like that though. They'd rather dance with foreign girls than guys. How do I know this? I tried to get one of them to dance with a guy instead of me, but she kind of got a little mad. Hahaha. Whatever. Luxy had some really good performances. The bar tenders did a fire show that was pretty sweet! They had a group of girls that danced a few times throughout the night. Then, they also had a dance crew do a performance. The club was fun until they started playing all techno in the hip hop room. Who does that???
Today, we went to Taipei 101. It's the tallest building in Taipei. We did some shopping in the mall there. They had a pretty sweet bookstore there where we were able to find some post cards and stuff. After, we went to the largest street market in Taipei. It was nice. We found a lot of gifts for friends and family. I am excited about giving gifts!!!
So far, we have had a very relaxing week. It has been perfect!!!
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Special Posts for Taiwan
Now, I can't promise I will update everyday that I am here in Taiwan, but today I have a little time, so...
Yesterday, we landed in Taipei. I didn't check the weather or anything (probably stupid on my part but hey whatever right?) Apparently, a typhoon hit Asia this past weekend. We actually flew out of Korea at the tail end of it. However, when we landed in Taipei, it was beautiful, sunny, and 85 degrees!!! Sweet! We have been told that the typhoon ripped through the island, and that there has been a lot of damage mostly to the southern part of the island. They also told us that we roads to the south are closed. So, Douchi and I are going to one of the northern beaches today.
Last night, we went to this really cool restaurant called Modern Toilet. The entire restaurant was decorated as a bathroom. The tables were bathtubs with a sheet of glass over it. The seats were toilet seats. The cups were shaped like miniature urinals. The dishes were toilets. Even some of the food was shaped like poop! Oddly enough, the only place that didn't have a toilet seat was the bathroom...it was a squat pot. The food was very yummy! It was an all around fun experience!!!!
After, we walked around in a few of the night markets. I got some really cute sandals for $6!!! I also got most of my Christmas/birthday presents for family and friends!!!! The stuff here is amazing! I love the jewelry and stuff! I'm super excited about the rest of this week!!!!
Yesterday, we landed in Taipei. I didn't check the weather or anything (probably stupid on my part but hey whatever right?) Apparently, a typhoon hit Asia this past weekend. We actually flew out of Korea at the tail end of it. However, when we landed in Taipei, it was beautiful, sunny, and 85 degrees!!! Sweet! We have been told that the typhoon ripped through the island, and that there has been a lot of damage mostly to the southern part of the island. They also told us that we roads to the south are closed. So, Douchi and I are going to one of the northern beaches today.
Last night, we went to this really cool restaurant called Modern Toilet. The entire restaurant was decorated as a bathroom. The tables were bathtubs with a sheet of glass over it. The seats were toilet seats. The cups were shaped like miniature urinals. The dishes were toilets. Even some of the food was shaped like poop! Oddly enough, the only place that didn't have a toilet seat was the bathroom...it was a squat pot. The food was very yummy! It was an all around fun experience!!!!
After, we walked around in a few of the night markets. I got some really cute sandals for $6!!! I also got most of my Christmas/birthday presents for family and friends!!!! The stuff here is amazing! I love the jewelry and stuff! I'm super excited about the rest of this week!!!!
Sunday, September 19, 2010
This week and weekend
This past week at school has been pretty exciting because we are off for Chuseok most of this coming week. Chuseok is the Korean Thanksgiving. It is celebrated on September 22. What I've been told is that older people give younger people allowances and presents on Chuseok for showing respect. The kids dressed in their Hanbok (Korean traditional dress) a couple of days this week for their Korean classes. They looked so cute!!! A lot of the parents sent in food for all of the teachers as well. Parents also sent in gifts. One of my students gave me some bath gel and body butter from the Body Shop. Another one of my students gave me a 100,000 won gift certificate to one of the department stores. I was shocked!!!! I just thought Chuseok was celebrated the same way we celebrate Thanksgiving with food and family. I did not expect any presents! Crazy! It was definitely a good week!
As good as the week was, the weekend was even better!!!! Friday night, Douchi and I went to Mr. Chicken and Beer (of course), and then we hung out for a bit at our endcap. We called it an early night at about 2 since I had Jiu Jitsu testing on Saturday.
Saturday morning, I woke up early and made a high protein breakfast. Then, I took some cold medicine and went back to bed. I've had a cold this past week, and I wanted to feel well and be well rested for my test. When I woke up, I made a high carbohydrate lunch so that I would have energy for my test. I don't think my body is used to consuming so many carbohydrates because along with the energy boost it made me really nervous and shaky. Hahaha. Really, there was no reason for me to be nervous because Kwangjungnim already told the entire gym that it was 99% chance that I was going to pass because I always come to class, but I was so nervous I was emotional. I kept looking at everyone walking into the gym so calm, and I started wondering how they were so calm. Then, I realized that they had probably spent the morning with their family which would make me calm as well. So of course, I started missing my family and thinking that this is my first birthday away from my family which made me cry a little before I even started testing. Then, we started the test, and of course everything was in Korean, and everyone kept forgetting to translate for me. Normally, it's not that big of a deal, but I was super nervous. We started with technique, and San Ha and I did well with that. I still had no idea how many techniques I was supposed to show him. So, I just did as many as I could remember at the time. After technique, we had to spar for about 45 minutes straight one after another. It wouldn't have been too bad except our lineup consisted of Tae Su, Seung Young, and Seun Gil. These guys are huge, not too mention really good at Jiu Jitsu. Seung Young and Seun Gil were pretty nice with their spars, but Tae Su was MEAN!!!! I think he just got caught up in the fight, but he kept choking me really hard. One time, I said tap three times before he finally heard me and let go. I think it really scared him, but it served him right!!!! Then, another time he sat on my ribs really hard. He is REALLY heavy!!!! Hahaha. I wanted to tap just so he would get off of me, but it was my test so I couldn't. Kwangjungnim finally told him to get off me, and slow down. After my second spar with Tae Su, we were finished, but no one told me so I was so confused! Everyone saw me sitting there and they started laughing because I was confused which made me start wailing!!!! I ran to the bathroom. San Ha came in and helped me calm down. Then, Kwangjungnim came in to tell me not to cry because I passed the test. I wasn't crying because I thought I had failed...really, I love Jiu Jitsu and everything, but failing one test isn't worth crying over. I mean I'd probably be angry, but I don't think I would cry. I was just emotional from missing my family. After I calmed down, I walked back out and watched the end of the testing (Ki Jin had to test for his fourth stripe). While we were watching, Seun Gil noticed that I scraped my toes on the mat so he went to the office and got some bandaids and ointment. It was so sweet. He doctored me up. But seriously, I have no skin left on my big toes and the toes next to them. Not to mention, I probably have close to 100 bruises all over my body including one across my nose, one above my eye, and another on my chin. It was rough, but it was still fun. It was totally worth it! San Ha and I both got our stripes! So did Ki Jin and most everyone else.
After the test, we went out to eat. We were all starving! Douchi met up with us at the restaurant which was definitely good because I was still kind of emotional. Song Sok met up with us too. I had my two best friends!!!! I started cheering up a bit then. It was definitely a good day and a good night...even if I did cry my eyes out! Hahaha. I'm such a baby! I used to never cry. Now, I cry during music videos! What has Korea done to me? Hahaha, just kidding. No matter how emotional I get, I still love this country, and I wouldn't trade these experiences for anything. I miss my family and friends back home, but I don't want to go home...I want them here with me.
Today, I went to get my haircut. I went to the same hairdresser as I did last time, but this time she did not cut it as well as she did the last time. I came home and fixed it, but I spent too much time (it took 5 hours) and money for me to have to fix what she messed up. I will not go back to the same hairdresser, and I probably will not go back to the same salon.
After the salon, I came home and started packing for Taiwan. I am leaving in two days on Tuesday (my birthday). I am celebrating my birthday this year in Taiwan with Douchi!!! I am super excited! If I have to spend my birthday away from my family, this is the best way to do it! So, that's all I have for now. Happy Chuseok Everyone!!!! Hopefully, next week I'll have some fun stories to tell from Taiwan!!!!
As good as the week was, the weekend was even better!!!! Friday night, Douchi and I went to Mr. Chicken and Beer (of course), and then we hung out for a bit at our endcap. We called it an early night at about 2 since I had Jiu Jitsu testing on Saturday.
Saturday morning, I woke up early and made a high protein breakfast. Then, I took some cold medicine and went back to bed. I've had a cold this past week, and I wanted to feel well and be well rested for my test. When I woke up, I made a high carbohydrate lunch so that I would have energy for my test. I don't think my body is used to consuming so many carbohydrates because along with the energy boost it made me really nervous and shaky. Hahaha. Really, there was no reason for me to be nervous because Kwangjungnim already told the entire gym that it was 99% chance that I was going to pass because I always come to class, but I was so nervous I was emotional. I kept looking at everyone walking into the gym so calm, and I started wondering how they were so calm. Then, I realized that they had probably spent the morning with their family which would make me calm as well. So of course, I started missing my family and thinking that this is my first birthday away from my family which made me cry a little before I even started testing. Then, we started the test, and of course everything was in Korean, and everyone kept forgetting to translate for me. Normally, it's not that big of a deal, but I was super nervous. We started with technique, and San Ha and I did well with that. I still had no idea how many techniques I was supposed to show him. So, I just did as many as I could remember at the time. After technique, we had to spar for about 45 minutes straight one after another. It wouldn't have been too bad except our lineup consisted of Tae Su, Seung Young, and Seun Gil. These guys are huge, not too mention really good at Jiu Jitsu. Seung Young and Seun Gil were pretty nice with their spars, but Tae Su was MEAN!!!! I think he just got caught up in the fight, but he kept choking me really hard. One time, I said tap three times before he finally heard me and let go. I think it really scared him, but it served him right!!!! Then, another time he sat on my ribs really hard. He is REALLY heavy!!!! Hahaha. I wanted to tap just so he would get off of me, but it was my test so I couldn't. Kwangjungnim finally told him to get off me, and slow down. After my second spar with Tae Su, we were finished, but no one told me so I was so confused! Everyone saw me sitting there and they started laughing because I was confused which made me start wailing!!!! I ran to the bathroom. San Ha came in and helped me calm down. Then, Kwangjungnim came in to tell me not to cry because I passed the test. I wasn't crying because I thought I had failed...really, I love Jiu Jitsu and everything, but failing one test isn't worth crying over. I mean I'd probably be angry, but I don't think I would cry. I was just emotional from missing my family. After I calmed down, I walked back out and watched the end of the testing (Ki Jin had to test for his fourth stripe). While we were watching, Seun Gil noticed that I scraped my toes on the mat so he went to the office and got some bandaids and ointment. It was so sweet. He doctored me up. But seriously, I have no skin left on my big toes and the toes next to them. Not to mention, I probably have close to 100 bruises all over my body including one across my nose, one above my eye, and another on my chin. It was rough, but it was still fun. It was totally worth it! San Ha and I both got our stripes! So did Ki Jin and most everyone else.
After the test, we went out to eat. We were all starving! Douchi met up with us at the restaurant which was definitely good because I was still kind of emotional. Song Sok met up with us too. I had my two best friends!!!! I started cheering up a bit then. It was definitely a good day and a good night...even if I did cry my eyes out! Hahaha. I'm such a baby! I used to never cry. Now, I cry during music videos! What has Korea done to me? Hahaha, just kidding. No matter how emotional I get, I still love this country, and I wouldn't trade these experiences for anything. I miss my family and friends back home, but I don't want to go home...I want them here with me.
Today, I went to get my haircut. I went to the same hairdresser as I did last time, but this time she did not cut it as well as she did the last time. I came home and fixed it, but I spent too much time (it took 5 hours) and money for me to have to fix what she messed up. I will not go back to the same hairdresser, and I probably will not go back to the same salon.
After the salon, I came home and started packing for Taiwan. I am leaving in two days on Tuesday (my birthday). I am celebrating my birthday this year in Taiwan with Douchi!!! I am super excited! If I have to spend my birthday away from my family, this is the best way to do it! So, that's all I have for now. Happy Chuseok Everyone!!!! Hopefully, next week I'll have some fun stories to tell from Taiwan!!!!
First of the last two weekends
Alright, as I said a few weeks ago, last weekend was super busy, and I didn't get a chance to make a post. Sorry!!!! This weekend has been pretty busy, too, but I'm going to try to make this post worth reading! It would be a super long post if I did both weekends together so I am breaking them up.
I'll start with last weekend. Friday night, I went out for a bit with some of the guys from the gym. It was pretty calm because Kwangjungnim and one of the older guys at the gym went out with us too. It was still fun though! I really enjoy hanging out with the people at the gym. They are such amazing people!
Saturday was fairly chill. I went to Costco for a few things in the morning. Korean class was canceled so I didn't have to go to class. So I did a few things around the house. Then, I met with the people from church to practice even though I didn't sing with them on Sunday; they wanted me to come and practice anyway. After, I did a little bit of shopping in Dunsan before coming home. I decided to have a movie night since I had to be up early on Sunday morning for the Kickboxing Tournament.
Sunday morning, we met at the gym to catch a bus to the tournament. The tournament was in Sintanjin, about 30 minutes from the gym by bus. We got to the tournament early so we went for some lunch. We had bone soup. It was very yummy!!! We still had a bit of time before the tournament after we finished lunch. So I talked a bit with the guys from Daegu MMA. "Sex Machine" was there. Hahaha. For some reason, he wanted to take a picture with me...which was fine, but he wanted me to stand in front so that his head wouldn't look too big standing next to me. Hahaha. My face was bright red for the picture because they kept talking about how small my head was. I'm sure it was a horrible picture. Oh well, I don't have to look at it! Hahaha. After the picture, he introduced me to his brother, "Sex Machine 2". I'm not making this up. I was dying laughing until...he asked me to tell him who's head was bigger. Who does that? I'm in trouble no matter who's head I say is bigger. I tried to tell them that they were the same size, but they wouldn't let me slide. So I asked my English speaking buddy who I should choose, and of course, he would not help me!!!! I decided to go with the truth. The original Sex Machine's head was slightly smaller so I chose him. I hate answering awkward questions like that. Hahaha. Anyways, shortly after the tourney started, and Song Won was up first. I really wanted him to win mostly because he's the coolest kid ever, but also because he lost his first kickboxing tourney. He fought the same kid as last time, and he lost again. But, he did a lot better this time. I was very proud of him, but he was still pretty bummed. Next up for our team was the guy we call "The Driver". We don't know his real name so that's what we named him because he drove us home from the last kickboxing tournament. He was awesome! He won his fight. After "The Driver", San Won was up. She's one of the high school girls at our gym. It was her first fight, and she went up against a girl that's been training since she was 12. San Won didn't do well in the first round, but after some advice from Tae Su, Yu Noh, and one of the coaches from Daegu MMA she did better in the last two rounds. She still lost, but she put up a good fight. The last fight of the tournament was the best. Mostly because it was Song Sok's fight. He's the sweetest guy ever!!!! Plus, he is an awesome kickboxer. So, of course, he won his fight! After Song Sok's fight, Douchi and I took pictures with some of the guys from Daegu. I wanted a picture with my English buddy. He told me I had to stand in front...hahaha. So, I did...
Hahaha...he was embarrassed so he closed his eyes! Hahaha. But Sex Machine called me a play girl for posing like that. I told him it was only a picture. I have no idea why I felt it necessary to defend myself against a guy that calls himself Sex Machine. Hahaha. Actually, he's one of the Kwangjungnims at Daegu MMA so what he thinks kind of does matter since when I test for some of my belts I have to test through them. Hahaha. Anyways, next we took pictures with one of the top amateur fighters in all of Korea. He's such a sweetheart...with Douchi:
But of course with me...
Hahaha...he was goofing off! Really, he didn't want me to stand next to him (the whole big head thing), and he didn't want me to do the same thing to him that I did to my English buddy. It didn't matter to me. I think its a good thing that they feel comfortable enough with me to goof off like that. It means I making progress. Korean guys are so shy around girls! It took me a few weeks to break in the guys at Daejeon MMA, but I think the Daegu boys see how I act with our guys so they feel more comfortable with me. That being said...our next pictures were with our boys Song Sok and Tae Su. Of course once again, they were nice with Douchi's picture (it's on her camera, I don't have it), but for my picture...
I asked Tae Su to turn around for the picture like 10 times before I made lemonade. Hahaha...he didn't like it. He kept saying, "delete, delete". Hahaha. Oh well, maybe next time he will listen.
After the tourney, we went back to Hannam and ate dinner together. It was so much fun because the Kwangjungnim and one of the coaches from Dunsan MMA came out with us. The coach's girlfriend and the Kwangjungnim both spoke fluent English. We had an awesome conversation. We are definitely going to hang out again. I'm excited!!!!
Sweet!!!
I'll start with last weekend. Friday night, I went out for a bit with some of the guys from the gym. It was pretty calm because Kwangjungnim and one of the older guys at the gym went out with us too. It was still fun though! I really enjoy hanging out with the people at the gym. They are such amazing people!
Saturday was fairly chill. I went to Costco for a few things in the morning. Korean class was canceled so I didn't have to go to class. So I did a few things around the house. Then, I met with the people from church to practice even though I didn't sing with them on Sunday; they wanted me to come and practice anyway. After, I did a little bit of shopping in Dunsan before coming home. I decided to have a movie night since I had to be up early on Sunday morning for the Kickboxing Tournament.
Sunday morning, we met at the gym to catch a bus to the tournament. The tournament was in Sintanjin, about 30 minutes from the gym by bus. We got to the tournament early so we went for some lunch. We had bone soup. It was very yummy!!! We still had a bit of time before the tournament after we finished lunch. So I talked a bit with the guys from Daegu MMA. "Sex Machine" was there. Hahaha. For some reason, he wanted to take a picture with me...which was fine, but he wanted me to stand in front so that his head wouldn't look too big standing next to me. Hahaha. My face was bright red for the picture because they kept talking about how small my head was. I'm sure it was a horrible picture. Oh well, I don't have to look at it! Hahaha. After the picture, he introduced me to his brother, "Sex Machine 2". I'm not making this up. I was dying laughing until...he asked me to tell him who's head was bigger. Who does that? I'm in trouble no matter who's head I say is bigger. I tried to tell them that they were the same size, but they wouldn't let me slide. So I asked my English speaking buddy who I should choose, and of course, he would not help me!!!! I decided to go with the truth. The original Sex Machine's head was slightly smaller so I chose him. I hate answering awkward questions like that. Hahaha. Anyways, shortly after the tourney started, and Song Won was up first. I really wanted him to win mostly because he's the coolest kid ever, but also because he lost his first kickboxing tourney. He fought the same kid as last time, and he lost again. But, he did a lot better this time. I was very proud of him, but he was still pretty bummed. Next up for our team was the guy we call "The Driver". We don't know his real name so that's what we named him because he drove us home from the last kickboxing tournament. He was awesome! He won his fight. After "The Driver", San Won was up. She's one of the high school girls at our gym. It was her first fight, and she went up against a girl that's been training since she was 12. San Won didn't do well in the first round, but after some advice from Tae Su, Yu Noh, and one of the coaches from Daegu MMA she did better in the last two rounds. She still lost, but she put up a good fight. The last fight of the tournament was the best. Mostly because it was Song Sok's fight. He's the sweetest guy ever!!!! Plus, he is an awesome kickboxer. So, of course, he won his fight! After Song Sok's fight, Douchi and I took pictures with some of the guys from Daegu. I wanted a picture with my English buddy. He told me I had to stand in front...hahaha. So, I did...
Hahaha...he was embarrassed so he closed his eyes! Hahaha. But Sex Machine called me a play girl for posing like that. I told him it was only a picture. I have no idea why I felt it necessary to defend myself against a guy that calls himself Sex Machine. Hahaha. Actually, he's one of the Kwangjungnims at Daegu MMA so what he thinks kind of does matter since when I test for some of my belts I have to test through them. Hahaha. Anyways, next we took pictures with one of the top amateur fighters in all of Korea. He's such a sweetheart...with Douchi:
But of course with me...
Hahaha...he was goofing off! Really, he didn't want me to stand next to him (the whole big head thing), and he didn't want me to do the same thing to him that I did to my English buddy. It didn't matter to me. I think its a good thing that they feel comfortable enough with me to goof off like that. It means I making progress. Korean guys are so shy around girls! It took me a few weeks to break in the guys at Daejeon MMA, but I think the Daegu boys see how I act with our guys so they feel more comfortable with me. That being said...our next pictures were with our boys Song Sok and Tae Su. Of course once again, they were nice with Douchi's picture (it's on her camera, I don't have it), but for my picture...
I asked Tae Su to turn around for the picture like 10 times before I made lemonade. Hahaha...he didn't like it. He kept saying, "delete, delete". Hahaha. Oh well, maybe next time he will listen.
After the tourney, we went back to Hannam and ate dinner together. It was so much fun because the Kwangjungnim and one of the coaches from Dunsan MMA came out with us. The coach's girlfriend and the Kwangjungnim both spoke fluent English. We had an awesome conversation. We are definitely going to hang out again. I'm excited!!!!
Sweet!!!
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Too Long Apart!!!
So finally, Douchi and I were able to go out again. Her mother and brothers were in town for three weeks, and so she needed to spend as much time with them as possible. So we didn't go out at all while they were here.
Douchi's friend Michi was in town this weekend. So of course, we had to take her to Mr. Chicken and Beer for the deliciousness that is the Cajun Chicken Salad. I swear its the best salad ever made. I am never disappointed at Mr. Chicken. It's funny because one of the guys at the gym said that I was famous at Hannam because Douchi and I are always at Mr. Chicken, and apparently everyone knows me because of it. Hahaha. We are rather friendly I guess. Anyways, it was so much fun!
After, we were going to go to Kwang Min's bar, but it was closed. The Eagles didn't have a game last night so maybe they had a family night or something. Oh well, so we hit up another restaurant that was next to it. Douchi had gone there before with some coworkers, but I hadn't been yet. It was a Korean restaurant, and we ordered the Korean pancake. It had octopus and shrimp inside. It was delicious. It's weird because I like octopus but I don't like squid, and Douchi likes squid but not octopus. Hahaha. We are such opposites! Alex met us at the restaurant a bit later. He is a professor at Hannam University. It was a lot of fun, but Douchi and Michi were tired so they went home early. Alex and I hung out a bit longer. We tried to pick up some people on the street to go noraebonging with us (and by we, I really mean Alex). Hahaha. It was awesome. I think we kind of scared people because no one wanted to go with us! We ended up just going to another Korean restaurant and sitting and talking till about 4am. It was one of the restaurants that we usually go to after a tournament.
Speaking of tournaments, there is another kickboxing tournament a week from today (Sunday). I'm super excited because...Song Won, Yeu Noh, and Song Sok are fighting in it. Song Sok has been in Seoul for military training for the past month...so I haven't seen him in forever! He's one of my favorites at the gym! He is the sweetest guy ever, and he is a really good fighter. This is Song Won's second kickboxing tournament. His first tournament he lost so I hope he wins in this one. I really want him to win. He's a good kid! Of course, I like watching Yeu Noh fight because he's really good (Kwangjungnim's Ace).
Speaking of Yeu Noh, his girlfriend came to the gym this week. She is really pretty and really sweet. She speaks English very well. She told Yeu Noh that she wanted to talk to Douchi and me again. I was teasing Yeu Noh that he was a lucky guy to get such an awesome girlfriend. He said, "No, she's lucky. I am handsome guy." Hahahaha. It was pretty funny! I love it. It is true; he is a handsome guy, and they make the perfect couple. It was just fun to tease him. I asked his girlfriend if she ever went to his tournaments, and she said no because she gets scared that he is going to get hurt. So, I don't think we'll be seeing her at the tournament. I guess its a good thing because he might get distracted if she was there. He likes to focus before the fights. He is always very quiet, but after...he is hilarious!!! I'm so excited for the tournament...but tournament on Sunday means no church.
Church...I made it to church again this week. This time I sang with the band. It was a lot of fun. We met yesterday (Saturday) to practice. It was pretty sweet. Although, it made for a super stacked Saturday. I wanted to go to Costco again this week but I didn't get a chance because I woke up too late. I had just enough time to get ready for Korean lessons. Korean lessons ended at 3pm which made me a little late for band practice at 3:30 because lessons are at Daejeon Station (about a 20 minute subway ride from Government Complex which is about a ten minute bike ride from the church). If I don't have to wait for the subway, I can get there on time. It wasn't a big deal because they were still setting up the sound equipment. I think they were ok with it. We practiced again this morning (Sunday) which kind of sucked because I was that idiot once again that stayed out until 4 when I had to wake up at 8. I was so scared that I was going to oversleep that I woke up at 6 and couldn't go back to sleep. I was so tired during the service!!! Not to mention that my throat was scratchy from not resting my voice! Agh! Oh well, I think it went well. Everyone seemed to like hearing female voices on stage. Apparently for the past year, it's been a boy band. We broke the streak! Hahaha.
Alright so that's about it for this week, I will try to post again next weekend but I can't promise anything. It gets kind of crazy on tournament weekends.
Douchi's friend Michi was in town this weekend. So of course, we had to take her to Mr. Chicken and Beer for the deliciousness that is the Cajun Chicken Salad. I swear its the best salad ever made. I am never disappointed at Mr. Chicken. It's funny because one of the guys at the gym said that I was famous at Hannam because Douchi and I are always at Mr. Chicken, and apparently everyone knows me because of it. Hahaha. We are rather friendly I guess. Anyways, it was so much fun!
After, we were going to go to Kwang Min's bar, but it was closed. The Eagles didn't have a game last night so maybe they had a family night or something. Oh well, so we hit up another restaurant that was next to it. Douchi had gone there before with some coworkers, but I hadn't been yet. It was a Korean restaurant, and we ordered the Korean pancake. It had octopus and shrimp inside. It was delicious. It's weird because I like octopus but I don't like squid, and Douchi likes squid but not octopus. Hahaha. We are such opposites! Alex met us at the restaurant a bit later. He is a professor at Hannam University. It was a lot of fun, but Douchi and Michi were tired so they went home early. Alex and I hung out a bit longer. We tried to pick up some people on the street to go noraebonging with us (and by we, I really mean Alex). Hahaha. It was awesome. I think we kind of scared people because no one wanted to go with us! We ended up just going to another Korean restaurant and sitting and talking till about 4am. It was one of the restaurants that we usually go to after a tournament.
Speaking of tournaments, there is another kickboxing tournament a week from today (Sunday). I'm super excited because...Song Won, Yeu Noh, and Song Sok are fighting in it. Song Sok has been in Seoul for military training for the past month...so I haven't seen him in forever! He's one of my favorites at the gym! He is the sweetest guy ever, and he is a really good fighter. This is Song Won's second kickboxing tournament. His first tournament he lost so I hope he wins in this one. I really want him to win. He's a good kid! Of course, I like watching Yeu Noh fight because he's really good (Kwangjungnim's Ace).
Speaking of Yeu Noh, his girlfriend came to the gym this week. She is really pretty and really sweet. She speaks English very well. She told Yeu Noh that she wanted to talk to Douchi and me again. I was teasing Yeu Noh that he was a lucky guy to get such an awesome girlfriend. He said, "No, she's lucky. I am handsome guy." Hahahaha. It was pretty funny! I love it. It is true; he is a handsome guy, and they make the perfect couple. It was just fun to tease him. I asked his girlfriend if she ever went to his tournaments, and she said no because she gets scared that he is going to get hurt. So, I don't think we'll be seeing her at the tournament. I guess its a good thing because he might get distracted if she was there. He likes to focus before the fights. He is always very quiet, but after...he is hilarious!!! I'm so excited for the tournament...but tournament on Sunday means no church.
Church...I made it to church again this week. This time I sang with the band. It was a lot of fun. We met yesterday (Saturday) to practice. It was pretty sweet. Although, it made for a super stacked Saturday. I wanted to go to Costco again this week but I didn't get a chance because I woke up too late. I had just enough time to get ready for Korean lessons. Korean lessons ended at 3pm which made me a little late for band practice at 3:30 because lessons are at Daejeon Station (about a 20 minute subway ride from Government Complex which is about a ten minute bike ride from the church). If I don't have to wait for the subway, I can get there on time. It wasn't a big deal because they were still setting up the sound equipment. I think they were ok with it. We practiced again this morning (Sunday) which kind of sucked because I was that idiot once again that stayed out until 4 when I had to wake up at 8. I was so scared that I was going to oversleep that I woke up at 6 and couldn't go back to sleep. I was so tired during the service!!! Not to mention that my throat was scratchy from not resting my voice! Agh! Oh well, I think it went well. Everyone seemed to like hearing female voices on stage. Apparently for the past year, it's been a boy band. We broke the streak! Hahaha.
Alright so that's about it for this week, I will try to post again next weekend but I can't promise anything. It gets kind of crazy on tournament weekends.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Last Weekend
Sorry, I missed my post last weekend. I was super busy, and I didn't have time to write about it.
Saturday, we had Korean lessons, and after I went to get my hair cut. It looks super cute. See:
I was kind of hesitant about going back to the same salon because last time I asked for the same haircut and the girl said that she couldn't do it (which was fine because most stylist can't do it) and so I got a different style instead. I had also asked for a "Magic Straight Perm" but she suggested a different perm instead. My hair was still wavy and a little bit frizzy as well. So I figured I should go back to the same salon and have them fix it rather than explain the problem to a different salon. I got a different stylist this time and she did an amazing job. She "Magic Straight" permed my hair and cut it perfectly!!! I was super pleased because....
Saturday night was Trevor's last Saturday night in Daejeon. He was one of the foreigners at the gym. He is moving back to Canada. So, we sent him off Daejeon MMA style. A bunch of the people from the gym went out. We started out by Hannam. We had a ton of food. Some was American and some was Korean. I tried everything including...
Oh yeah, I can say that I have eaten sea snails. Something to add to my resume...jk. Seriously, they weren't too bad...they were just very salty. It was so much fun because some of the guys that don't normally come out with us came. It was really cool. It's really funny because Korean guys can be really shy about things. So, us girls, well at least I do, like to tease them and get them to blush. One of the Korean guys did a fake kiss on one of the other guys as a joke...so I thought it'd be funny to do the same thing...
...and it was very funny! (My hand is covering his mouth in case you can't see it). I did it to Simpson, and he's always a good sport about those things. He's the one that went out with Douchi and me several times. He is super sweet and funny too! Anyways, it was a lot of fun. After, we went to Yellow Taxi in Dunsan Dong to hear a friend of Trev's and a friend of Mell's play in a band(two different people, same band). It was cool because they played a lot of the rock songs that you don't normally hear in Korea. The night was a lot of fun, but I went home early (and by early I mean 2am) because...
Sunday morning, I woke up really early because I wanted to go to the MMA Tournament that Song Won and Yu Noh were competing in. I had to be at the gym at 7am. When I got there, Tae Su and Simpson were there to wish the guys luck. They didn't go to the tournament because they stayed out all night with Trevor. This is normally the kind of thing that Tae Su would compete in except there isn't an MMA fighter in Korea that wants to compete against Tae Su. So, it was just Song Won and Yu Noh competing. One of the guys, Chin Tek, went to watch. His English is really good, and he helped me study my Korean.
The competition was in Gumi which is his hometown so he went to the tournament and after the tournament he went to his parents' house. Anyways, so we took the train to Gumi. When we got there, the boys weighed in. In case you're not familiar with these kinds of tournaments, the guys diet for a week ahead of the tournament and don't eat anything the day of the tournament until after they weigh in. So, the guys weighed in, and then we went to eat. We ate soup...I hate soup...but it wasn't for me it was for the guys so I sucked it up and ate it...well, some of it. We went with some of the fighters from our "family" gym. It's funny because when I go out with a bunch of Koreans...they always watch me eat. Here, it was no different. At first, I was self-conscious about it, but I'm used to it now. They just want to make sure that I like the food. After we ate, the guys sat and talked for a while about fighting. Koreans love Mike Tyson...so of course, Mike Tyson came up a bit in the conversation. Personally, I'm more of an Evander Holyfield fan myself so I can't say that I like Mike Tyson very much. I'm not that passionate about it anyways so it doesn't really matter. I did talk to a few of the guys from the other gym for a bit about other things. One of the guys spoke English extremely well. Guess where he learned it??? American Movies. Hahaha...it cracks me up. The best Korean English speakers learn their English from the TV or movies. Another one of the guys is a top fighter in Korea. He is really nice, and he helped out with our boys giving them advice. It's crazy because the top fighters are always the sweetest guys ever. Anyways, after a while we went back to the gym to get settled in for the competition. Song Won was up first in the tournament. He only weighs 55 kg so he's usually in the smallest weight class, and they normally have the smallest weight class go first. I was really nervous for him because I think this was his first MMA Tournament. Earlier this year, he had his first Kickboxing Tournament, and he lost. So, I really wanted him to do well in this tournament. He didn't let me down. He was awesome!!!! He won his fight.
I was so proud because his opponent was at least 5 kg bigger than he was. I don't even think the score was close (I can't tell you what it was; mostly because I don't understand Korean). Next up, some of the guys from Daegu MMA (our "family") competed. The guy that spoke English lost his fight because his opponent got a lucky choke hold on him. He had some serious points up until the hold. He was so upset. I felt bad because he really is a nice guy. In fighting, even the best fighters lose sometimes because the other fighter gets a lucky position. You just have to be content with doing your best every time. I struggle with it too though. I hate losing. The other fighter from Daegu won. Their top fighter competed the day before and won. After a few fighters, it was Yu Noh's turn. Yu Noh is Kwangjungnim's "Ace". He is very good in his weight class. He's a really nice guy as well (like I said the top fighters are always the nicest, except for Tae Su...I don't know what happened there...hahaha...jk...Tae Su's a nice enough guy...he pretends to be mean). I really wanted Yu Noh to win too, but I wasn't as concerned because he competes all the time and wins all the time. Plus, in the kickboxing tourney he won his match in 5 seconds. It was crazy. So it came as a surprise that he lost this tournament. Jk, Jk, he WON this tournament. He was awesome!!!!
After the tourney, Chin Tek went to visit his parents and the rest of us loaded onto the train to go home. When we got back to Daejeon, we went out for some celebratory samgipsal. It was delicious as always. It was interesting because Yu Noh never goes out with us. He's a very quiet guy. Even during dinner, he was still quiet, but Kwangjungnim told the guys that the last piece of meat was for me (weird but whatever). So, Yu Noh helps me put the meat on the lettuce and add the extra stuff to make "the perfect bite"...that's what he called it. Is that not super sweet??? It's definitely a Korean thing...American guys would never do this! Oh and you know what else Korean guys do? They count the number of days they have been dating their girlfriends. Yeah...they know the exact number of days they have been dating! How crazy is that? On the 100th day they have to get them a special present. Wow, it's unheard of for a guy to remember such things in America. Hahaha.
So that was pretty much my weekend, last weekend. It was definitely a good, fun-filled weekend but I was exhausted all week. So this weekend, I decided to take it easy and rest a bit. I just went to Costco for a few things and then to Korean lessons. However, on my way home I got stopped by two women who wanted to share their faith with me, and by share I mean, they chased me down the street until I would stop and listen. Seriously??? How many are there here in Korea? This was almost as weird as the last time. This time they claimed that God was really a man and a woman...there's God the Father and God the Mother, and if you don't believe in God the Mother you're going to Hell. I asked them if they believed that Jesus Christ was the only way to get to heaven why would not believing in God the Mother put me in Hell? They couldn't give me an answer. Geez oh Pete! If Korea wasn't challenging and confusing enough, you throw in all of these new beliefs that I've never heard of! Hahaha. CRAZYNESS! But, that is why I came to Korea to experience new things!
Saturday, we had Korean lessons, and after I went to get my hair cut. It looks super cute. See:
I was kind of hesitant about going back to the same salon because last time I asked for the same haircut and the girl said that she couldn't do it (which was fine because most stylist can't do it) and so I got a different style instead. I had also asked for a "Magic Straight Perm" but she suggested a different perm instead. My hair was still wavy and a little bit frizzy as well. So I figured I should go back to the same salon and have them fix it rather than explain the problem to a different salon. I got a different stylist this time and she did an amazing job. She "Magic Straight" permed my hair and cut it perfectly!!! I was super pleased because....
Saturday night was Trevor's last Saturday night in Daejeon. He was one of the foreigners at the gym. He is moving back to Canada. So, we sent him off Daejeon MMA style. A bunch of the people from the gym went out. We started out by Hannam. We had a ton of food. Some was American and some was Korean. I tried everything including...
Oh yeah, I can say that I have eaten sea snails. Something to add to my resume...jk. Seriously, they weren't too bad...they were just very salty. It was so much fun because some of the guys that don't normally come out with us came. It was really cool. It's really funny because Korean guys can be really shy about things. So, us girls, well at least I do, like to tease them and get them to blush. One of the Korean guys did a fake kiss on one of the other guys as a joke...so I thought it'd be funny to do the same thing...
...and it was very funny! (My hand is covering his mouth in case you can't see it). I did it to Simpson, and he's always a good sport about those things. He's the one that went out with Douchi and me several times. He is super sweet and funny too! Anyways, it was a lot of fun. After, we went to Yellow Taxi in Dunsan Dong to hear a friend of Trev's and a friend of Mell's play in a band(two different people, same band). It was cool because they played a lot of the rock songs that you don't normally hear in Korea. The night was a lot of fun, but I went home early (and by early I mean 2am) because...
Sunday morning, I woke up really early because I wanted to go to the MMA Tournament that Song Won and Yu Noh were competing in. I had to be at the gym at 7am. When I got there, Tae Su and Simpson were there to wish the guys luck. They didn't go to the tournament because they stayed out all night with Trevor. This is normally the kind of thing that Tae Su would compete in except there isn't an MMA fighter in Korea that wants to compete against Tae Su. So, it was just Song Won and Yu Noh competing. One of the guys, Chin Tek, went to watch. His English is really good, and he helped me study my Korean.
The competition was in Gumi which is his hometown so he went to the tournament and after the tournament he went to his parents' house. Anyways, so we took the train to Gumi. When we got there, the boys weighed in. In case you're not familiar with these kinds of tournaments, the guys diet for a week ahead of the tournament and don't eat anything the day of the tournament until after they weigh in. So, the guys weighed in, and then we went to eat. We ate soup...I hate soup...but it wasn't for me it was for the guys so I sucked it up and ate it...well, some of it. We went with some of the fighters from our "family" gym. It's funny because when I go out with a bunch of Koreans...they always watch me eat. Here, it was no different. At first, I was self-conscious about it, but I'm used to it now. They just want to make sure that I like the food. After we ate, the guys sat and talked for a while about fighting. Koreans love Mike Tyson...so of course, Mike Tyson came up a bit in the conversation. Personally, I'm more of an Evander Holyfield fan myself so I can't say that I like Mike Tyson very much. I'm not that passionate about it anyways so it doesn't really matter. I did talk to a few of the guys from the other gym for a bit about other things. One of the guys spoke English extremely well. Guess where he learned it??? American Movies. Hahaha...it cracks me up. The best Korean English speakers learn their English from the TV or movies. Another one of the guys is a top fighter in Korea. He is really nice, and he helped out with our boys giving them advice. It's crazy because the top fighters are always the sweetest guys ever. Anyways, after a while we went back to the gym to get settled in for the competition. Song Won was up first in the tournament. He only weighs 55 kg so he's usually in the smallest weight class, and they normally have the smallest weight class go first. I was really nervous for him because I think this was his first MMA Tournament. Earlier this year, he had his first Kickboxing Tournament, and he lost. So, I really wanted him to do well in this tournament. He didn't let me down. He was awesome!!!! He won his fight.
I was so proud because his opponent was at least 5 kg bigger than he was. I don't even think the score was close (I can't tell you what it was; mostly because I don't understand Korean). Next up, some of the guys from Daegu MMA (our "family") competed. The guy that spoke English lost his fight because his opponent got a lucky choke hold on him. He had some serious points up until the hold. He was so upset. I felt bad because he really is a nice guy. In fighting, even the best fighters lose sometimes because the other fighter gets a lucky position. You just have to be content with doing your best every time. I struggle with it too though. I hate losing. The other fighter from Daegu won. Their top fighter competed the day before and won. After a few fighters, it was Yu Noh's turn. Yu Noh is Kwangjungnim's "Ace". He is very good in his weight class. He's a really nice guy as well (like I said the top fighters are always the nicest, except for Tae Su...I don't know what happened there...hahaha...jk...Tae Su's a nice enough guy...he pretends to be mean). I really wanted Yu Noh to win too, but I wasn't as concerned because he competes all the time and wins all the time. Plus, in the kickboxing tourney he won his match in 5 seconds. It was crazy. So it came as a surprise that he lost this tournament. Jk, Jk, he WON this tournament. He was awesome!!!!
After the tourney, Chin Tek went to visit his parents and the rest of us loaded onto the train to go home. When we got back to Daejeon, we went out for some celebratory samgipsal. It was delicious as always. It was interesting because Yu Noh never goes out with us. He's a very quiet guy. Even during dinner, he was still quiet, but Kwangjungnim told the guys that the last piece of meat was for me (weird but whatever). So, Yu Noh helps me put the meat on the lettuce and add the extra stuff to make "the perfect bite"...that's what he called it. Is that not super sweet??? It's definitely a Korean thing...American guys would never do this! Oh and you know what else Korean guys do? They count the number of days they have been dating their girlfriends. Yeah...they know the exact number of days they have been dating! How crazy is that? On the 100th day they have to get them a special present. Wow, it's unheard of for a guy to remember such things in America. Hahaha.
So that was pretty much my weekend, last weekend. It was definitely a good, fun-filled weekend but I was exhausted all week. So this weekend, I decided to take it easy and rest a bit. I just went to Costco for a few things and then to Korean lessons. However, on my way home I got stopped by two women who wanted to share their faith with me, and by share I mean, they chased me down the street until I would stop and listen. Seriously??? How many are there here in Korea? This was almost as weird as the last time. This time they claimed that God was really a man and a woman...there's God the Father and God the Mother, and if you don't believe in God the Mother you're going to Hell. I asked them if they believed that Jesus Christ was the only way to get to heaven why would not believing in God the Mother put me in Hell? They couldn't give me an answer. Geez oh Pete! If Korea wasn't challenging and confusing enough, you throw in all of these new beliefs that I've never heard of! Hahaha. CRAZYNESS! But, that is why I came to Korea to experience new things!
Sunday, August 15, 2010
"Camping" and by "Camping" I mean "Retreat"
So this weekend, I went "camping" with the gym. Camping was a lot of fun! We didn't really camp though. Hahaha. We stayed in a large cabin that had a few different apartments. They call them pensions. We stayed in one of the pensions. The last of the rain from the typhoon made it a bit rainy and muddy but that kind of made it better. I think it might have been too hot if it wasn't rainy. We also had fun playing around in the mud. The pension came to the gym to pick us up in a van. There were 15 of us and we all had to cram in this van. It was so funny.
When we got there, it was really cool because the guys did all of the work. They said that in Korea, a woman never does the work when they are on vacation. One of the guys, Tae Su, was the "head chef" and the meals were better than any of the restaurants we have eaten at here in Korea! All of the younger boys had to help him in the kitchen. I told him that he was going to make his future wife very happy. The food was amazing! We had samgipsal and bulgogi.
We got to the pension early. Check in wasn't until 2pm and we arrived at about 11ish. It was up in the mountains with several waterfalls. It was beautiful! We did some hiking. Although no one told us that we could leave our bags in the van so we hiked up this mountain with our bags. They got kind of heavy. It wasn't really too bad. I wasn't miserable, and I was still able to enjoy the hike and take pictures. Although, every time I stopped to take pictures Tae Su kept telling me to hurry up in Korean. I got so mad at him. I made San Ha translate to Kwangjungnim why I was so angry. I told her that they have lived their entire lives here in Korea, and they can see this anytime. I just got here and I don't know how long I'm going to stay or if I will be able to come back to this place. I want to see and experience everything. I think Kwangjungnim talked to him about it.
It was funny because Tae Su is younger than me but the entire trip he kept telling me he was just worried about me. Everything I did he would tell me to stop because its too dangerous. Hahaha. I was just climbing a tree and he started freaking out! I am such a kid because I still love to climb trees and this tree was the perfect climbing tree. I wanted to climb over the fence to go down to the river, and he made me crawl under because going over is too dangerous. I was teasing him that he didn't really speak Korean because he only said two words in Korean "Palli wa" (hurry up), and the only English word he knew was "dangerous".
Anyways, the trail we went up had these cool stairs its called the 300 stairs or something but there's 300 stairs to lead the last bit of the way to the top of the mountain. Some of them were really steep and it was a really good workout. Once again, Tae Su was right behind me telling me to "Palli wa". My calves are seriously sore today from the palli wa up the stairs.
There was a really cool bridge up there too leading to another mountain, I wanted to walk across it but guess what? Tae Su said it was too dangerous and to palli wa. Grrrr. So I took a picture in front of it instead. Hahaha.
After our hike, we had a few minutes before check in so we just sat around for a bit. After we checked in, Tae Su and the guys started lunch. While the guys were cooking lunch the girls took showers! Hahaha. At lunch, we sat outside under a shelter at some picnic tables. They cooked the samgipsal on a grill in front of us. It was so good because it had the charcoal flavor to it.
After lunch, we cleaned up and changed clothes to go swimming in the river. They told us that we weren't going swimming on this trip so Douchi and I didn't bring our swimsuits. I went in with just a tshirt and shorts. Mell brought her suit, and Douchi didn't go in. She took pictures. They were good pictures too! We had so much fun swimming in the river! We brought a soccer ball. While Tae Su was figuring out where would be "safe enough" for us to swim, some of us started kicking the ball around. I kicked the ball too hard and it bounced off one of the guy's legs and landed in the middle of a rice field! Hahaha. It was so funny! Have you ever seen a rice field before? It has tall grass in a flooded field. So it was very muddy and we couldn't see the ball. One of the guys went in and almost lost his flip flops so he had to go barefoot through the mud to find it. Another guy was sitting on Tae Su's shoulders to see if he could see the ball. It was so funny! He finally found the ball, and we walked down to the river. It was so much fun! The water was super cold but we splashed and dunked each other. We also played volleyball with the soccer ball. It was so much fun! We were trying to play water polo but Tae Su decided it was too dangerous with the rocks. Hahaha. So we decided to head back to the pension where we took our second shower of the day. Hahaha.
Then, we decided to play basketball on a "dirt court" which was more of a weed and mud court instead. We played with a volleyball (go figure, volleyball with a soccerball and then basketball with the volleyball). Nothing makes sense. We slipped and slid all over the court and we couldn't bounce the ball because of the weeds. It was hilarious! We were all covered in mud. So we all took our third shower of the day. We hung our clothes up on the balcony to dry so we wouldn't track the mud into the pension, but the wind started blowing later during the night and the clothes ended up everywhere! This morning, I found my shorts and tshirt along with two guys boxer shorts in a tree under the balcony. It was so funny because I grabbed them and brought them up. One of the guys was like hey that's my underwear and grabbed them from me. It was hilarious. He kept thanking me for finding them for him.
But after basketball, we took showers and Tae Su and the boys started on dinner. After dinner, we played games, talked, listened to music, and danced. It was a lot of fun. We stayed up all night. Well, I tried to anyways, but apparently I was sleeping in my chair and Tae Su made me go to bed. Hahaha. Poor Tae Su, I gave him a hard time all weekend!
This afternoon, the pension drove us back to the gym. Once again we crammed in the van. But, one of the guys got a little car sick and started vomiting in the back seat. The back seat was the most crowded because there were six guys in a four person seat. All of the other guys were really sweet about it and held a plastic bag while he was vomiting. They were tapping his back and everything. No one made him feel bad about it either. They had to have been miserable but they were trying to be light about it. Luckily, we were only ten minutes from the gym, but the back smelled like ramen from the bag of vomit. I had a window seat and Mell and I stuck our heads right by the window. Her and I were both about to vomit too from the smell. I don't know how the guys in the back did it. Those guys are quite possibly the nicest people I have ever met in my entire life.
It was an amazing weekend! I cannot wait for the next trip!
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