Running, sports, etc

When I came to Korea, everything was exciting and new. Every hour seemed to bring something fascinating and wonderful. Now I am at the point where I am no longer shocked on a daily basis and perhaps am feeling less of a need to run home and tell a fantastic story from the day.

I am settling into a comfortable existence here. I am starting to live within a routine that I have constructed and it makes my life away from the US seem more normal.

On Saturday I went to my second professional soccer game. Its incredibly fun going to these games with other English teachers from former British commonwealth countries where soccer (football, if you must) is a major sport. Apparently this was a major rivalry match and this time around instead of 1,000 fans in attendance tickets were given away to the public and closer to 20,000 people showed up. Due to our own general laziness and the mass of other latecomers we didn't make it to our seats until 30 minutes into the first half. The teachers all sat together and had a great time. I wanted to meet up with a friend who I knew would be at the game so I decided to look for her. As ridiculous as that would have been in America, think about this: I was looking for a Korean in a sea of 20,000 Koreans. During my searching I stumbled upon 2 students from my middle school and discovered that close to 100 students from school were there, all sitting together. I said hello to them , they went a little crazy with excitement and I miraculously found my friend. Ten minutes later I had swum through the avalanche of people mobbing the line-less concession stand and was able to take a flat of beer cans back to the teachers group. Out of sheer frustration and exhaustion the food servers neglected to open any of the cans and I was off running before they noticed their oversight. I also hoped that no student would see me with an armful of beer.

I felt justified in being debaucherous at the game since I had just discovered a new trail running route and I had punished myself on it that morning. After the game we went to a restaurant that served all you can drink beer for 1000 Won, or less than $1. We ate pizza, drank beer and had a great time. I went with some friends to a dance club after dinner and did a little dancing too.

Despite my best efforts at partying, I was able to get up and go for a run with Joe the next day. I took him on the trail run that I had pioneered and I think he liked it. We've come up with a system of going to the jimjilbang and leaving our clean clothes there while we run. Then we come back, shower, hot tub and relax post-run. The staff has finally realized what we are doing and only thinks that we are a little crazy.

We went running again this evening. This time around Joe and I went through construction sites, freshly built (but still unused) roads, a farming village, city streets and more construction. Joe lives about 3.5 miles from me and ended up running to meet me. He was tired when we met and at the end he was dying. We are training for a 20km run at the end of the month, and unbeknownst to him, he is going to be in great shape to do it.

Life here is good. I have nothing to complain about. My rock climbing gear arrived today so soon I will start climbing again. More adventures to come!