Might as well continue my mental purge since i still have a load-and-a-fucking-half of laundry left to do. On to Saturday and our trip to Seoul.

We decided to go to Seoul to pick up my Christmas present and a new memory card for our camera amongst other things. I snapped this pick from the back of our bus ticket, because unfortunately the bad English was on the part the driver rips off. Pretty much everything under #4 is pure gold. I love Engrish! While i tried to catch up on a little sleep C listened to her MP3 player. About half way through the ride a Korean girl behind us struck up a conversation with C. Right from the start i realized where it was headed. Her English wasn't too bad, and it was nice to hear English outside of work. She asked C why she was heading to Seoul and if we lived in Wonju. Then she asked if we knew Korean and if we'd like to learn. We heard from J and elsewhere that people will try to be your friend to get free English lessons. This was the first time it had happened to us in our eight months in Wonju. I actually didn't mind. She was really nice and it would be really nice to be able to hang out with someone else. She gave us a call on Sunday and i think we'll try to get together sometime after Japan.

Our day in Seoul was the coldest we've had so far. It was somewhere around -14 with a face numbing wind. Where the fuck was the wind in the summer? I would have humped a crazy toothless ajuma for good stiff breeze in the summer. Walking around Seoul wasn't too fun with a frozen face. We got some cold BK in Itaewon before we headed over to my personal heaven, Yongsan. It's an electronics Mecca and if i didn't have a girlfriend i wouldn't care because i'd be too busy playing with all the shit i'd buy from there. Tonnes of cameras, MP3 players, TV's, computers, etc. We picked up an MP3 player for me for Christmas and a big memory card for our camera cheap. We even got a few little things for C. The bus ride home was full and we got stuck in the back row of five seats, which ended up fitting six. Some crazy foreign couple decided to squish the two of them in the seat beside me, instead of moving an assholes bag that was taking up a seat and be separated. A few minutes later i turned to C and said, "Fifty bucks says the bus breaks down." Luckily for us after a half hour an older gentleman and his companion offered to sit split up so we weren't too uncomfortable for the rest of the ride and the breakdown was averted.
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I'm going to try and catch up a bit on my blogging tonight. I have a bunch of time since i'll be staying up all night doing laundry. We finally got our washing machine working for the first time in over a week, so i have a lot to do before we go to Japan. It's been surprising cold and it our pipes have been frozen solid. We needed help from our boss to even get hot water for showers on Sunday. I'll try to pick up on Thursday.

Ahhh... Thursday. Well i don't remember a whole lot about Thursday, but i'll try and fill you in on what i remember. Thursday was the last day for our secretary, as she's getting married soon. Most of the staff from the hagwon went out for some eats and alcohol to say goodbye. We went to another one of those places where you cook the food right on your table and it was pretty damn tasty pork. While we were eating the directors wife brought out the soju. She's great. She's almost like a Japanese anime character, except Korean, with her big happy eyes. She's also a bit of a lush. I'm not a big drinker, but when i do it's to get right fucked. That's what i proceeded to do. Every time they filled the shot glass, down the soju went. I was feeling pretty good most of the night. At one point i remember going over to the secretary to attempt communication, even though she speaks almost no English. I think i said something about wishing i had learned more Korean so we could have known each other better. Somehow she understood me (maybe someone translated) and said, "Me, too" and started bawling her eyes out. I guess the soju was affecting her too. From there i guess we headed to "Norae Bang" for some singing goodness. I remember ending up in one of the rooms, but i don't remember the beer or the picture they took of me with the beer there. I do remember not feeling so well and heading to the bathroom, then luckily being found by the head teacher slumped in one of the stalls. After that the only thing i remember is cracking my head on some sign outside and saying, "That really hurt!" I still have the evidence carved into my skull. I had a good night, i just hope i didn't ruin it for anyone else. I wish i could have said a proper goodbye.
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I'm so tired i can't sleep. Only three hours this morning before heading to Seoul today. So much has happened in the last week! I can't remember much of Thursday night due to too much soju. We met a new Korean friend today. But first i'll try to pick up where i left off last time. Hopefully i'll be able to finish writing about this week before we leave for Japan on Saturday.

Now where was i? Oh, yeah the game. We tried sitting by ourselves again, but the same guy called us over to sit with the hardcore fans. C hadn't taken off her jacket at first and he seemed kind of worried that she might not be wearing her jersey. Once again we sat front and center. The guy in this picture leads these fans in various chants throughout the game. I love the white gloves, very 80's Michael Jackson. I guess Sunday was "hammer" day, because most people had them. (See pic in previous post.) I spent the first half of the game leaning into C to avoid being beaten over the head repeatedly by the "special" guy sitting next to me. He was a little too enthusiastic with his hammers. At halftime the cheerleaders shot some miniature basketballs into the stands for the fans. You must win a new car when you catch one, because people dive all over each other to get them. I was stepped on more than once. The fans follow the cheerleaders in a herd to try to get a ball. After the initial volley they repositioned, so the mass that was around me dispersed. I sat back down and just as i did C called out that one was head straight for me from the other side. I swear the cheerleaders here want to meet me(sarcasm), because we got our hands on another ball. Unfortunately i looked up too late and couldn't react enough to catch it. As it hit my hands i had woman from my right dive over me. Then a guy on my left about a second too late. If the herd was around me i probably would have been killed. Just after halftime everyone in our section (except C) was standing and cheering when an older gentleman with a baby approached me. He smiled and pointed at one of my hammers like he wanted it. Puzzled, i handed one to him and he gave it to the baby and left. He walked past dozens of other people with them, but he wanted mine for some reason. So there i was confused and left with one useless hammer. The thing only cost about 1000 won (about a buck Canadian) and he was dressed in a nice suit. Did he think i was famous because i'm a foreigner? Small town Korea can be a trip.

Final score: Dongbu 64 SK 73
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Once again on Sunday we went to another Dongbu Promy game. We went hoping to go unnoticed this time, but once again had no luck. I almost feel like a much less handsome balding version of Brad Pitt. I'm hoping eventually the novelty of seeing us there will wear off.

The goddamned computer froze again while i was writing from all the fucking static electricity i generate in the winter. I'll finish my story when i'm not so pissed off about losing all i've written, again.
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On Sunday we went to another Dongbu Promy game. We only showed up about 15 minutes before the game this time. That way we thought we would avoid being singled out. We were wrong. We picked a spot in the corner underneath the jumbo screen, and wore the jerseys we purchased a few weeks before. A little while after sitting down a guy wearing a jersey came over and waved for us to follow him. We thought "Oh no. Here we go again." He lead us to some seats near center court and handed us some towels to wave. I found out later from a student of mine that was at the game that the towels said "Champion Dongbu" in Korean. That's us in the picture i took off the Dongbu Promy website up above. Everyone in our section wore jerseys, and people in the first few rows had towels or signs to wave. We felt really out of place because everyone around us seemed more into doing the cheers and waving the towels for the cameras than watching the game. It probably hampered our enjoyment a bit. Right before the game i was checking out the towel when i looked up and a basketball was flying straight toward us. I was going to reach for it, but it seemed to be heading straight for C. It looked like she had it for a second, but it slipped through her grasp and into the lap of an ajuma (older woman) behind us. That was okay with me since she probably had some grandkids she could give it to. Later during the game the same woman shoved some oranges at us out of nowhere. I felt kind of bad because i only said thank you in English and took the orange with one hand. I always forget that when giving or receiving something it's polite to use both hands. The game ending up all right, even though Dongbu's passing was horrible throughout. The crowd held their collective breath when #32 Kim Ju Sung, one of the Promy's top players, went down hard early in the first half. He was okay and was back by the start of the second half. The team went on to victory once again with us in the stands.

We went to Seoul on Saturday and finally picked up our tickets for Christmas/New Years in Japan. We also finally got around to checking out the aquarium at the COEX Mall. Last time we tried to go the line must have been a good kilometer long at least. This time there was no hold-up, and though it was overpriced it was good to do some tourist stuff. We even picked up a few souvenirs. On the way back we actually got a decent dumping of snow that's managed to stay around all week. I'm sure there's no way that Wonju will ever rival home for snowfall and cold.
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Last Friday one of the former foreign teachers (J) from our Hagwon came back for a visit. On Saturday, even though he had never met us, he invited us up to nearby Chiak Mountain with him to check out some of the temples. We had planned to check out the basketball game, but we already felt kind of guilty for not seeing the mountain sooner. J was a really nice guy and it was great having someone with similar experiences to vent with. On our second attempt up the mountain by car we managed to find one of the paths to some of the temples. After hiking for a mile or so we came to crossroads where we could have gone another mile to a larger temple or try this one. We decided on the smaller one since it seemed to be getting dark quickly. Most of the hike wasn't too steep until you came to the last few hundred meters, where the incline seemed to double. C stayed at the bottom while J and i headed up to check it out. We were met by a barking dog who almost seemed to be guarding the temple, which was a little creepy. We only stayed for a short while and took a few pics, before heading back into the quickening sunset. We had a really good day and being able to bitch about things was something we both really needed.
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