Crystal Method and Soccer
This was an amusing weekend - the quality of my blog tends to go up when I stop playing video games. Not much chance of that ever completely being phased out, but I am trying to get into shape.
So, on Saturday, Chris from London, Ont., quite possibly one of the greatest men in the world, invited me to go to the Crystal Method concert, right after I had stood him up for going hiking in Bukhansanseong. His is a faith in human nature (even my own) that I don't have.
So, I made it there. Yay, me. And I had a good time. I met up with another teacher from Suwon. I also saw the young woman I replaced at my school, a giant readhead that I'll call Lunatic Lacy. Lacy was a dancing fiend, sweating all over me, and various other people. She is way too manic to be friends with, but apart from that, she seems like a nice enough person. I have nothing else of interest to report, though not for lack of trying .
Vialli, the Polish teacher who let me crash at his friend's apartment in Apkujeong, recovering from a new made-in-Thailand tattoo, 180 pounds of solid muscle, also came up short and to add insult - he lost his cell phone. One piece of bad luck I have (touch wood) so far been able to avoid.
I was supposed to go to church this morning but Shelley, my guide to interdenominational English language faith, was too hung over (!) to go in the morning, and I had to play soccer at 4:30 today. She is a sinner. I will enjoy tormenting her as much as she has had fun at my expense. (That's a long story - but it involved me making a comment about buying a fictional 'crimson red flamboyant shirt' and the 'repartee' centered on the questionable sexuality of someone who would buy such an item.)
Soccer happened at the World Cup Stadium annex. The game was almost called off because it started to get dark and no one knew how to turn on the stadium lights, nor to contact the ajeoshi who had the magic powers to make it happen. Finally, after about an hour of warming up and watching the sun set, a van pulled up to the gates and the lights flashed to life.
I was playing in borrowed boots. A kind fellow Canadian who was also new to the team took one look at my Topus Multisports (made in Korea!) and offered me his backup pair of indoor shoes. I don't think they helped much, but my benefactor had the unfortunate luck of breaking his leg during the first half (I did NOT - another piece of bad luck dodged). No one was sure about what to do exactly, but in line with the general personality of the do-it-yourself adventurer, teacher, foreigner, everyone was trying to help and tell others what to do. Chaos. I looked concerned and folded my arms over my chest. I stared at the buxom girlfriends of other players. Only two good ideas came out of the group - first, grab some ibuprofen for the beleaguered, and second, call 119 (Koreans do everything backwards).
When the ambulance pulled up, it said "Gyeonggi fire department" on the side, and when it was backing up onto the pitch, it played Beethoven's Fur Elise. No, it's true. It's little things like that which make travelling abroad worthwhile. The EMTs seemed professional enough and they had his leg stabilized and onto the crash cart in good time. The van drove off and we ended up winning 7-4. The new guy's injury illustrated the importance of not getting into any sort of medical trouble away from home. If this had been a life-threatening injury he likely would have died from bungling. It was also interesting to hear the thought process of the injured player - "put me in coach, hahaha -ow."..."someone should call my employer" ..."I heard that in Korea they'll cast you all the way up to your ass. Is that true?"
My own performance was not so great, but I was just happy to get some running in. It was uncertain if I would get a chance to play at all. I am as outclassed as I remember being back in my club days (everyone being bigger, stronger, faster than me) except now everyone is YOUNGER than me too - but I do have a touch that could get better if I could find the time to practice. I aim to, and maybe I'll find a hard-won niche on this team. I'll be leaving before the end of the season, but that sort of transience is the essense of a foreigner.
TRANSIENCE "essence de l'etranger" by Calvin Klein
After the game there was a shuttle that would take players out to a restaurant for sponsored boozing (the sponsor is coming up huge, makes me wonder what Jason does for a living exactly), but I left with the people I came with so I could get a head start on this blog! Oh bully for you.
So, on Saturday, Chris from London, Ont., quite possibly one of the greatest men in the world, invited me to go to the Crystal Method concert, right after I had stood him up for going hiking in Bukhansanseong. His is a faith in human nature (even my own) that I don't have.
So, I made it there. Yay, me. And I had a good time. I met up with another teacher from Suwon. I also saw the young woman I replaced at my school, a giant readhead that I'll call Lunatic Lacy. Lacy was a dancing fiend, sweating all over me, and various other people. She is way too manic to be friends with, but apart from that, she seems like a nice enough person. I have nothing else of interest to report, though not for lack of trying .
Vialli, the Polish teacher who let me crash at his friend's apartment in Apkujeong, recovering from a new made-in-Thailand tattoo, 180 pounds of solid muscle, also came up short and to add insult - he lost his cell phone. One piece of bad luck I have (touch wood) so far been able to avoid.
I was supposed to go to church this morning but Shelley, my guide to interdenominational English language faith, was too hung over (!) to go in the morning, and I had to play soccer at 4:30 today. She is a sinner. I will enjoy tormenting her as much as she has had fun at my expense. (That's a long story - but it involved me making a comment about buying a fictional 'crimson red flamboyant shirt' and the 'repartee' centered on the questionable sexuality of someone who would buy such an item.)
Soccer happened at the World Cup Stadium annex. The game was almost called off because it started to get dark and no one knew how to turn on the stadium lights, nor to contact the ajeoshi who had the magic powers to make it happen. Finally, after about an hour of warming up and watching the sun set, a van pulled up to the gates and the lights flashed to life.
I was playing in borrowed boots. A kind fellow Canadian who was also new to the team took one look at my Topus Multisports (made in Korea!) and offered me his backup pair of indoor shoes. I don't think they helped much, but my benefactor had the unfortunate luck of breaking his leg during the first half (I did NOT - another piece of bad luck dodged). No one was sure about what to do exactly, but in line with the general personality of the do-it-yourself adventurer, teacher, foreigner, everyone was trying to help and tell others what to do. Chaos. I looked concerned and folded my arms over my chest. I stared at the buxom girlfriends of other players. Only two good ideas came out of the group - first, grab some ibuprofen for the beleaguered, and second, call 119 (Koreans do everything backwards).
When the ambulance pulled up, it said "Gyeonggi fire department" on the side, and when it was backing up onto the pitch, it played Beethoven's Fur Elise. No, it's true. It's little things like that which make travelling abroad worthwhile. The EMTs seemed professional enough and they had his leg stabilized and onto the crash cart in good time. The van drove off and we ended up winning 7-4. The new guy's injury illustrated the importance of not getting into any sort of medical trouble away from home. If this had been a life-threatening injury he likely would have died from bungling. It was also interesting to hear the thought process of the injured player - "put me in coach, hahaha -ow."..."someone should call my employer" ..."I heard that in Korea they'll cast you all the way up to your ass. Is that true?"
My own performance was not so great, but I was just happy to get some running in. It was uncertain if I would get a chance to play at all. I am as outclassed as I remember being back in my club days (everyone being bigger, stronger, faster than me) except now everyone is YOUNGER than me too - but I do have a touch that could get better if I could find the time to practice. I aim to, and maybe I'll find a hard-won niche on this team. I'll be leaving before the end of the season, but that sort of transience is the essense of a foreigner.
TRANSIENCE "essence de l'etranger" by Calvin Klein
After the game there was a shuttle that would take players out to a restaurant for sponsored boozing (the sponsor is coming up huge, makes me wonder what Jason does for a living exactly), but I left with the people I came with so I could get a head start on this blog! Oh bully for you.
posted by Vivec at 10:36 p.m.
1 Comments:
Well if you are not too hung over, we can hang out at Suwon Meth (hipster lingo) next Sunday. I may finally learn the difference between Methodist, Baptist, and Seventh Day Adventist. I had naively thought that they were all different branches of dentist(ry). Sorry. That was wrong.
Post a Comment
<< Home