-Yes, I'm still in Korea, they haven't evacuated the foreigners due to the impending doom caused by North Korea. Personally I don't think anything serious will ever happen, South Korea is too concerned about their economy to get involved in a war.
-I'm still teaching. In fact, right now it is Winter Camp time. I am teaching 3-4 elementary students basic English. There were supposed to be 10 kids in the class, but on average only 4 show up. Does that reflect on my teaching ability? I'm not sure. Unfortunately I have to work five days this week. One more than my usual 4. I usually spend my Mondays watching the NFL, planning the weeks lessons and generally faffing about on Facebook. OK enough about me....wait this is all about me, it's my damn blog.
This photo is the moment my life changed forever. (too dramatic?) Well this is about a half a second before I broke my foot. The big Korean fella landed with his hip on my left foot. It felt my foot was instantly on fire. I haven't broken a bone in about 25 years, and it's nothing I want to experience again, especially breaking a bone in the lower body. And it kicked off a chain reaction of shittyness for about a month.
-First, it changed all my running plans. I had a half marathon in the cards. I was in really good shape and was planning on a PR. I was also planning on collecting some nice first place reward money. But that didn't happen.
-Then I got sick, it started out as just a common cold, something that everyone in Korea gets about 7 times a year. But after about 10 days in turned into the flu or something. On a taxi ride home one night I started shaking so bad I could barely get my key in the door. That night I had a few intense vomiting sessions, which resulted in a very sore rib. Sore enough for an X-ray. There didn't seem to be any damage, but at one point I thought I was having a heart attack. So now I had a broken foot, sore ribs and felt horrible.
-To complete my pity party. Many a plan had to be canceled and postponed. Such as climbing plans and hiking trips to check out the changing leaves. One thing I hadn't done much of over here was get out to the mountains. That was the plan for November, Now I have to wait till next year...wait, I won't be here.
It wasn't horrible forever though. It was just one of the highs and lows people have in life. Eventually everything improved. My green cast eventually came off after 5 weeks. It was cut off by Dr. Koss, board certified master of his own body and someone addicted to physical activity. I had to get out and play some ultimate frisbee, dance around and test it out. It still hurt a bit but now it's slowly improving. The bone is OK but the ligaments feel like they were stretched, pulled, twisted and generally agitated. They are still trying to find their original strength and location in my foot.
In other news Thanksgiving and Christmas have passed and many potlucks were attended. Complete with mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberries and pumpkin pie. It's amazing what you can get at Costco. It really makes the transition to living in a foreign country convenient. (too convenient maybe?) It was also really nice to spend the holidays with such great people over here. It wasn't as good as being with the real fam, but everyone over here pulls it together and puts on a good party.
Halloween. Matt and I dressed up as rednecks. There wasn't much acting involved for either of us. All we had to do was drink a bunch, make weird faces, insult people, laugh obnoxiously and tell rude jokes. And when drinking in Korea it's amazing how time flies. On many a night it has gone from 12:30 to 4am in about 30 minutes. Sometimes I feel there is some time traveling property in Korean beer.
Das Racist. Have you ever herd of 'em Mom? I didn't think so. But get on the youtube and check it out. They're hot. They are a couple of Brooklyn rappers who stopped by Busan to sling some rhymes for about a half hour, then call it a night and get real drunk. It was a very short show and real weird. There was some youtube/facebook phenomena going on. It's like instead of just enjoying yourself, everyone must photograph and record the whole show. Put down the technology and enjoy yourself people. What you're doing isn't ground breaking and creative, that's what the people on stage are doing. I know you want to show your 600 "friends" that you're doing something cool but just put down the camera for a couple minutes and enjoy the moment without documenting every second. Rant over.
The Busan Sonic Boom, the local hoops team. I'm now on board the Boom express. I've been to about 4 games now and it's pretty fun. The tickets are 8 bucks, you can bring your own food and drinks and the team is actually decent. I think they are the highest scoring team in the league.
The team, like all the other teams is sponsored by a major Korean corporation. Some people may not like the blatant corporate commercialism of the sponsorship, but I don't really mind. It helps keep the games affordable for the fans. Last week we traveled to an away game with the team. The round trip bus ride cost 3000 won and the game ticket was 4000. They also threw in lunch and dinner. Thanks KT Sonic Boom!
Now that the foot is better and my mood has improved I have been spending my free time out on the bike. I'm continually finding new neighborhoods, lightly trafficked roads and pleasant views. As well as ass hat taxi drivers who need to honk at the sight of a bicycle. I have been down to the local fish market on the harbor a couple times and have taken a few nice shots.
The weather is sometimes a little chilly, but it seems to be sunny 6 days a week. There's nothing to complain about with that.
I took this shot yesterday and it sums up life in Busan. Somewhat cluttered and hectic. But also peaceful and beautiful. There's the old houses with water tanks on the roof. While in the background there are new high rise apartments. You can see cranes and shipping containers, mountains as well as the sea. I really think it captures a lot of what this city has to offer.
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