A night at the stadium

Korea isn't exactly a melting pot of cultures, so it was cool to see this Ecuadorian pan flute band in the subway. I would love to see these guys play at a local bar.

Here are photos of some of the fans at the Busan soccer stadium. There must have been about 40,000 screaming fans for the Korea, Argentina game. Korea lost 4-1 but that didn't dampen their enthusiasm for their team.


I showed some of these photos to some 6th graders. When they saw the 2 above photos, one said. "Teacher, why girls? why?" I didn't really have a good answer. But I guess Korean girls show support for their team by dressing seductivly. You would have thought we were at a night club watching the game based on some of the ladies' outfits.

"Fighting!"

I think that's a mask of park Ji Sun, He plays for Manchester United. Anytime they showed him on the screen all the fans screamed like a 12 year old at a Justin Bieber concert.

The lower lever of the stadium. People got to stadium 2 hours before the game to secure these seats. remember, the game is in South Africa and we were just watching it on TV.

Another great costume. I used this one in class the next day with 5th graders. I made them describe this girls outfit.

I think I have a case of yellow fever.

More cute girls with thunder sticks. Not quite sure who the sugar daddy is though.

Korea...Fighting!

I ran another road race in Busan, this one a half marathon. This time I was legally entered into the race. The race went pretty well considering that I wasn't even planning on competing the day before when I was coughing up a lung and couldn't really breathe. But I decided to do the big boy thing and run it anyways. Seeing as I had trained for it, planned for it and paid for it. The biggest bummer of the race was the timing. I had to miss the USA-England soccer match/insult and drinking fest. Though I'm sure there will be upcoming drinking, soccer and insult fests that I can attend in the next few World Cup weeks.

So back to the race. it was real purdy. The course worked its way up a dirt road into the mountains outside of Busan. It was all on dirt roads and paths...and hills. not great for running super fast, but nice to look at. The Korean runners give lots of support too. It was an out and back, or should I say up and back course. On the way back, like 90% of the runners I intersected gave some sort of shout of encouragement, or a grunt or a V for victory sign. It put a smile on my face, which isn't that easy 8 miles into a half marathon.

I ended up running 1:20 and getting second place...and collecting 200,000 won in prize money, which is 165$. This was a nice surprise and something I knew nothing about. But it will definitially keep me training, as the competition here isn't too strong, but the prizes are.



So the World Cup started. you may not know this in America, but in Korea it's huge. For the opening match vs. Greece, Busan opened up their world cup stadium from 2002 ( which, by the way sits empty 350 days a year, just like the stadiums in South Africa will.) About 40,000 red dressed Red Devils turned out. Click on the little movie above and listen to the crowd after Korea's second goal. They go nuts. And that's not me screaming. Promise.


Some Korean girls showing their pride for the soccer team. I'm told girls take pictures with peace signs up by their face to try and make their face look smaller, which is a sign of beauty. Judge for yourself.


They put like 6 dancers in the middle of the field to liven up the crowd. They looked like little ants running around. They broadcast the game on the big screen at the other end of the field. It was a great atmosphere. You could bring all your own beer, sit in the stadium for free and make lots of noise. Unfortunately this was the last event of my night. Most of my friends used this as a warm up to the other games of the night, that didn't conclude until 6am. Next weekend, is what I say. I'll show those young kids how to party.


Here are a couple pictures of my local beach, Dadaepo beach at sunset. It's 4 miles away and a pleasant bike ride. There is a nightly fountain show with lights and music. Just imagine the Bellagio fountain with people sitting around it in beach chairs.

Also, the weather has been beautiful. I saw some Seattle folks post on Facebook about how great the weather was for 3 days. I wanted to respond that it has been that nice for the past 7 weeks here. It feels nice to experience my first spring.

Happy erection day...i mean election.

I've been asked by multiple people, and when I say multiple, I mean more than 1 and less than 3 to keep the blog coming fast and furious, so I'm back with yet another installment. Though It's lacking on quality photos and salacious, controversial stories. It is full of what I've been up to, which is having a really good time.

It's been election time the past few weeks. For campaigning the politicians get groups of people, put them on street corners, blare loud music and make them dance, smile, wave and bow. it's noisy and i like it. Some foreigners complain about the noise it causes outside their window, but I would trade it anyday for the semi-trucks and car accidents outside mine.
It was an important election, more democrats won, which goes against the prime ministers party and there was a strong turnout, 53%, the highest in 15 years. But now it's over and the streets are free of singing and dancing for another year.

Here are some of the reasons why don't have ton of crazy things to share.
*I'm not traveling, I'm just living. After being on the road, in a new city, town, village, campground, bus station for the past 4 years, I'm now grounded in one city. And it feels great. I'm playing sports, getting in really good shape. making friends that I'll keep for more than week. Riding my bike around town,( and risking death every time), going hiking, hitting the beach, going trail running with the legendary Alison Lewis, staying out till 5am, going to baseball games.
Things started a little rough, but overall I'm having a really great time and am really happy.

I took my bike to some new areas and found hundreds of older Koreans, called Ajima's and Ajashis, drinking, eating, singing and dancing. This group gave me some chicken, soju and raw fish. As you can see they were all in their special uniforms of bright colored vests and huge. visors.
Yes, I know the photos are pretty sparse, I didn't have much to sort through. The two days that were photo worthy i neglected to bring my camera. One was a dinner with a few of my co-teachers. We went to a raw fish restaurant, their choice not mine. I had my first experience with raw octopus. It was served on small plate, drenched in oil, still quivering, turining and squirming and sticking to the plate. When you put in your mouth you have to start chewing right away, or it will suction on to your tongue. We also dined on some fried fish bone, sea snails, shashimi and sea weed.
The other was another baseball game, but this time we sat in the foreigners only "excitement zone." Complete with cheerleaders between the innings, and a man in a white tuxedo who dances and leads chants for all the players. The highlights of the nights were getting interviewed by the English radio station in Busan and starting a rouge wave. I guess you are only supposed to participate in the wave when it's started by a certain cheer zone, or atleast not by a bunch of foreigners. The sent security to our zone immediately to squash the already rolling zone, but it did not happen.

Above is a plate of food. Gimbap and donkas. It was really delicious. It cost 5000 won, or a little more than 4 dollars. No tax, no tip. So the cost of food in South Korea is similar to Costa Rica. The food here is awesome. I eat out all the time and it barely costs more than cooking at home.

"Museum Without Walls"

In a continuation of my never ending weekend, I traveled up to Gyeongju on Tuesday. I had the day off for my schools B-day. On Monday I did the usual sham of going to school for 7 hours and wasting time. I mixed in a 30 minute nap this week.

Gyeongju is called the Museum Without Walls because of the historic sights scattered about the city and countryside. It's the former capital of the Silla people, who are like the native Koreans. There are temples, burial mounds, carvings of Buddhas and various other historic homes and temples.

I took my bike out for it's first real ride. Most of the sights are with in riding distance, though the roads through teh country side could use a little work, as there's no shoulder.
This is one of the most famous Buddha carvings in the world. It dates back to the 8th century. It reminded me of the Ajanta caves of central India which had Buddjust carving of about the same size and age. Photos aren't allowed for some reason. At most Buddhist statues they don't care, so I thought it was OK to take one.


Last Friday was Buddha's birthday. Happy 2478th birthday Buddha! These lanterns are strung up all over the city and at the temples. I think they look cool.
These are Burial mounds in the town of Gyeongju. It's hard to tell how tall they are, but they're about 30 feet. They're full dead people and their belongings. Thrilling, I know.
I went up to Gyeongju on a weekday to avoid the crowds. But no such luck. There were students, 6th graders from all over Korea on a 3 day field trips. I liked it though, they livened it up a little bit. Here I am posing with 3 kids from Seoul in front of East Asia's oldest astronomy observation tower.
I became extremely jealous of anyone who likes to excersize in this city. Check it out, there are three lanes. 1 for running/walking, 1 for roller blading, and 1 for bikes. I run through a Home Depot of exhaust and motorcycles and taxi's and Koreans who refuse to walk in a straight line while texting and watching TV on their phones.

The Rock Tigers

These are The Rock Tigers. They are a rockabilly band from Seoul. They put a ton of energy into their music and their performance. Just look at the smile on their lead singer, who goes by the name of Velvet Geena. You can tell they're happy to be making music and making people boogy. They only played for about an hour but it was phenomenal. I have been to a few shows in Busan, but I haven't seen the crowd respond to the music like they did for the Rock Tigers.

Hopefully they will get to tour the USA. They have been written up in the LA Times, as well as the New York times. You can listen to their music in the post above this one.

This show was the end to a fantastic day, and part of a very long, fun, extended weekend that started on Thursday night, and ended on Tuesday. Thanks to Buddhas birthday, the weekend, and my schools birthday, which is deemed a holiday in Korea.

Here's a very brief recap:

Took a few shots of Jameson's and listened to some tunes from the local band, Poco Lambro.

Cruised down to Haeundae beachy Friday AM for a volleyball tourney. We got spanked. Our record was 1-5. I blame the Jameson's and more talented players.

On Saturday there was beach Ultimate Frisbee tourney. Played in a light mist, that turned into a heavy downpour in the afternoon. Korean's are pretty good at ultimate, and they play waaaay harder than westerners. Was supposed to play Frisbee on Sunday but it got rained out. I would have liked to play, but 3 games of sand Frisbee will wipe even the strongest runner out. To warm up we went to a Jinjilbang, or the spa. It was fantastic and my first real experience of this unique Korean custom. This Jinjilbang was called Haeundae Leasure, and it was a treat. They had hot pools of various temps. As well as saunas of various temperatures. There were cold pools, cold showers, cold fountains. An area to devote yourself to a proper soaping and grooming, where you sit on a stool, with your shower head and soap and get yourself as clean as possible. I thought how great these places would be when i was backpacking. I could pop into a Jinjilbong and hangout for a few hours soaking, steaming, cleansing, shaving, relaxing, sleeping, swimming, all for less than 10 dollars.
The rest of Saturday it rained harder than I've seen it rain in Korea, I felt like an amateur because I had no umbrella. But we still made it out to grab some great meal, then headed out to see The Rock Tigers.

Leopard skin stand-up bass

Lead singer, Velvet Geena.

You don't see too many folks in Korea with Tattoos, and I've never seen a tattoo parlor.

Justin and I grabbed a photo with the lead singer after the show. We told here they needed to tour to Seattle.

Thank you Korea...

Thank you Korea for boosting my running confidence. I ran a 10k down at the beach, near my house. I ended up "winning." I say "winning" because technically I wasn't entered in the race. I tried to, but the website is in Korean, and they tend to close the entry about a month before, and I don't find out about things here until the last minute.

I did get treated like the runner in first place when I was running. Even though I had on a green shirt and everyone else was in a red shirt, and I had no number. I got a motorcycle escort to break through the slower runners in the 5k. But when we reached the finish line I chose to run off the course, instead of breaking the tape. The Korean policeman were hollering at me to run straight, but that would be a little too dishonorable, especially since it cost 30 dollars to sign up. Next time I'll get all signed up, collect the trophy, not have to stash my bag in the bushes, break the tape, sign the autographs. etc.

One thing that did bother me was the photographers. Along the course, there were newspaper guys, or guys with really nice gear. It was obvious that I was in first place, as I had a motorcycle escort. But never once did any of these guys take my photo, and they love taking photos of everything here. I had tricked everyone else into thinking I was in first place. Either these guys knew I wasn't officially in the race, or they just don't take photo's of foreigners winning a Korean race. Here a couple other scenes from the event.

This kid was chowing down on his pre-race corndog. Notice the matching visors.

At the finish line you can dump buckets of water on your head. It's a good way to cool off. I'd never seen this before. It wasn't that hot though, about 75 degrees.

Here I am celebrating my "victory" with a post race beer.

Friday was teacher's day in Korea. Supposedly you get gifts from the students, but I didn't get anything. Though I was allowed to leave school 2 hours early on a beautiful, sunny Friday. So I took my bike out for a spin, down to the fishing docks and local areas of industry around my home.

There are hundreds of rusty ships of various sizes down near the fish market. These baskets in the foreground are used to catch some sort of aquatic life, though I'm not sure what. They are all strung by hand down on the docks.

I think they pull the hooks out of the white rim of the tire, then let them float in the sea, waiting for fishies to swim buy and grab on. Then pull them back into the boat.

This is one of the guys that was string the baskets. Most of the people are older, and don't make much money I'm sure. I felt bad taking their photos. But I asked this guy if it was ok, and he didn't have a problem.

It seems like smelly, dirty, boring tedious work for not much pay. But alot of jobs in this industry are like that.

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. That's what I'm trying to do with my photos. I don't have much natural beauty near my house. It's more like power plants, fishing ships, fisherman, shipbuilding and industry. So I'll do my best to share with you where I live.

Cranes

There is a steel yard, YK steel. They dominate the harbor near my school and I have a fantastic view of their compound from my classroom. When I went down there to take some photos, I was told that was against the rules. I also asked if i could take a tour of the factory but they said that wasn't offered. But from the gates I was able to take a photo of a hulking, rusty ship.

Busan-Seoul-Busan. All for a bicycle.

I actually did something else this past weekend than go get drunk at a baseball game, though I had the opportunity and was planning on it. I took a whirlwind trip up to the little village of Seoul to pick up my beloved bicycle. It took 16 hours and included the following forms of transportation.
Subway-KTX fast train to Seoul-Seoul subway, with three line changes-taxi(dude doesn't know what "dong" to take me too. A dong is a neighborhood.-Car.( I call the people I'm picking my bike up from and they come pick me up. -Bike. I assemle my bike and ride it to 6 miles back to the subway.-Subway-Bus. 5 hour ride back to Busan. This ride has much more comfortable than the fast, expensive train. And there's no problem putting the bike in the storage bay below deck.-Subway. A 1 hour ride back to my "dong." So in 8 easy steps you too can have a bicycle in a city where it seems like everyone is trying to run you over!


The folks I picked my bike up from, Ashley and Chad, bless their hearts, lived near a US army base in Seoul. Chad is actually in the Army, he fixes helicopters. When my taxi driver couldn't find their neighborhood he just took me to the base where Chad and Ashley met me. Since they're in the military they have access to all sorts of tasty treats, like root beer, paper towels, Mrs. Butterworth's syrup, and chewing tobacco. They also got hooked with a sweet apartment. 4 bedrooms, hardwood floors, oven. It's awesome. Once again thanks again to Ashley and Chad for letting my bike tag along on their shipment of boxes from the states. And good luck to them as they enter parenthood in the next couple weeks.



I thought I would pose for a photo with my bike. what a cute couple. I had the chance to put a few miles on it as I needed to get back to subway. It was a smooth ride, as long as you avoid the sidewalks, not exactly bike friendly in the Seoul suburbs. I also got to break in the middle finger when a kid tried to spit on me from their passing passenger window.

Back in Busan, I spotted a bike club for bikes with 2o inch wheels. They take their appearance very seriously here. As well as their posing. All these bikes were really cool. and small. My bike with it's 700cc/29 inch feels and looks massive. Like an F150 amongst a bunch of Prius'

Though this isn't one, I've seen a few fixed gears about town. My friend Janice picked one up to cruise around town on. And when I say cruise, I mean avoiding bikes and taxis and people and spit and pot holes. it's pretty hectic in the city. But you can put your bike on the subway, take it to the end of the line and hop on a rural bike path to explore.


This guy had a triangle bike. it didn't even have a chain, just a belt lie you'd see underneath the hood of a car. It also had a leather brooks saddle and disc brakes.