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Published: October 21st 2007
Hey everyone!
I'm getting better at updating my blog! Woot woot! Now instead of getting just bits and pieces of my life you get all the nitty gritty details. Excited? I bet!
Alright, so last weekend kind of turned out to be a bummer. I was planning on doing some major rock climbing, but it never actually happened. On Fridays I work till 6pm so I usually end up leaving my school when traffic is at its peak. I had to get to Suwon station to catch the train to Seoul to meet a girl who was going to help me look for a harness. On any normal day the taxi ride is usually 10 minutes, so I figured with traffic maybe 20 which would not be too bad. I need to stop underestimating traffic. You'd think I'd know better, but no, I'm too optomistic I guess. It took me 50 minutes to get to Suwon station! 50 freaking minutes! My taxi still only cost me under 10 bucks (yay for cheap taxis!) but I was sitting in the taxi for 50 minutes! Needless to say I was running a bit late.
Once I got to the station I
phoned the girl and told her I would be about an hour late. We talked for a bit and decided that it would probably be best if I didnt waste my time going up there that night. The stores would already be closed for the night and they were leaving to go climbing early in the morning. I can't really climb without a harness, so it wasnt really going to work out. I was kind of bummed, but figured to make the best of it. Maybe this weekend I could actually get my life organized as I think I am one of the worlds best procrastinators and I had a ton of things to do.
As I was leaving the station I saw a travelling police rock band playing outside the station. Surprisingly, they were not too bad.
The weekend pretty much consisted of my getting stuff organized and figuring out a whole bunch of stuff that I technically should have figured out before I even left Canada. But I figured, why not make things easier by leaving it until the last minute AND be in a different Country to do all this stuff. Yup, fun times.
I
also went to Seoul on Sunday and figured out the Subway system all my by lonesome. I've only ever used the subway when I was with someone who knew what they were doing so I figured I should actually learn how to use it. Holy easy! It looks really complicated, but like everyone said it was, it was incredibly easy to figure out. Also when I was in Seoul I went to a bookstore and had the cutest little Korean boy come and talk to me in English. I was looking at books and he came and tapped me on the back and said in the sweetest voice "Excuse me. Are you and English teacher?" He was the cutest little boy and so polite! I actually had an old man come up and talk to me as well. I guess I was just looking like I needed someone to talk to. Also in Seoul that day I found a harness so I am slowly moving my way up in the world of rock climbing.
Tuesday after school I decided to go check out the climbing gym in Suwon. I took a taxi there and followed the directions. Got there
and it was closed. Oh good. They say they are open till 11 weekdays, but I also heard they close early when they're not busy. Guess this was a not so busy day. Since it was pretty nice outside and I didnt have to be anywhere till 7 I decided to try my luck and walk home. I wasnt really paying attention in the taxi to where we went but I figured my sharp sense of direction, or lack there of, would serve me well. Haha, I probably have the worst sense of direction out of anyone I know but I still decided to try it out. So, I just walked and walked. Looked for some signs that said Youngtong, followed them, got lost, walked some more. I thought I was going in the right-ish direction after walking for about an hour and a half so I was pretty proud of myself. Sadly I had to get a taxi since I had to meet my coworker in 15 minutes. I was sure though, that if I had more if I had kept walking in that direction I would have made it home soon enough. I found a taxi, told him
where I needed to go, and totally crushed my pride when he backtracked where I had just walked for about 20 minutes. Maybe it was a good thing I got in a taxi when I did, who knows where I would have ended up. I probably just would have kept walking for a few hours to thinking, "hmmm, well I've got to be getting close..."
Onto kind of an embarrassing story. I was teaching these 2 eleven year olds and the girl asks me if I'm strong. Well, I dont know, I guess I'm kind of stong. So I ask her if she is strong and she says yes. Then she motions that she wants to arm wrestle. Ok, why not. She told me I only get one hand and she gets to use 2. Jeez...I still use this when I arm wrestle people my age so its pretty fair I think. Well she beat me. Ok, then she wants to go one on one. Uhh, ok, but I think this might be a little one sided. I'm not ridiculously strong or anything but this is an 11 year old girl and shes not huge or anything so I
figured I'd go easy on her. Ok, so this is the part where it gets a bit embarrassing. We start and hey, shes actually kind of strong. So I try a bit harder, wow shes not moving. I was actually fully trying and she beat me. An 11 year old girl beat me at an arm wrestle. What the heck?! Is there some sort of technique for arm wrestling that I dont know about because if I am weaker than an 11 year old girl I am pretty pathetic. Anyways, thats my story.
Thursday after work I caught a taxi to Suwon station. I get in and the taxi driver starts saying all this stuff in Korean to me and laughing. I have no idea what the big commotions about but when I finally figure it out it turns out this is the same taxi driver that drove me to the climbing place I went to on Tuesday. He thought it was so funny "Ahhh, same same! World cup 2 day ago! Suwon Yuk today! Time time! Haha!" It was pretty sweet. After I got to Suwon station one of the guys from the airforce and myself went to
an outdoor climbing wall. He taught me how to belay and tie my figure 8 knots. Its awesome to have someone show me all this and help me out. He lead some easy climbs for me so I could try them out. He made it to the top in less than 5 minutes so I figured I shouldnt be too far behind that. There I go again with the overly optomistic thinking. He made it look so easy! But then again, I guess if I am weaker than an 11 year old I could see how I might have some difficulties. Anyways, I made it up about 3/4 of the way and I came to a massive overhang. (Just a sidenote...the so called massive overhang is actually a little bump in the wall, but massive overhang sounds better, so I'm going to go with it) The massive overhang killed me and I just couldnt go on. My arms were limp noodles. I even hung out in mid air and tried to shake them out but to no avail. I tried and tried again but I just couldnt do it. We did a few more climbs and I practiced my belaying,
so overall it was a great time and I learned alot.
Saturday morning my friend Andrew and I decided to meet up with some people and go hiking at Gyeryngsan national park. We took a bus from Suwon and met them in Daejeon. I had never met them before, but they all turned out to be awesome people. Scott and Jackie and pretty avid hikers so they pretty much ran up the hill not really stopping to take pictures or anything. When we did stop, the views were gorgeous and the trees were starting to change color so it was really pretty. The hike was intense though! It was 5.6 kilometers, and it seemed to be practially vertical the whole way. It was also ridiculously crowded with people as well. It was a good hike though and my legs were definitely feeling the burn. We came down the back way, which was much less crowded, still beautiful but we still didnt really stop to take many pictures. Once we reached the bottom we had some dinner and said out goodbyes. Everyone was super nice so I'm sure I'll be doing some hiking with them again soon.
Sunday I
had to meet up with this University student. Funny story actually about how I met him. I was teaching a class on Friday when one of the teachers interrupts my class and says I have to meet someone. So I go out and its this Korean guy that I have never met before. He hands me this paper and asks me for help with it. Huh? You want me to answer these questions? What is this for? Who are you? Why do you need to talk to me? I was so confused about what was going on. After class I talked with him. I found out hes a University student here and he has this assignment due, but he doesnt know how to do it and he wanted my help. It wasnt even questions about English. It was asking about phonetic/phonemic representations, morphemes, and all these other words that I have no idea what they meant about an African language! How the heck would I know anything about African langauages?! And I dont really know why you would come to a kindergarten to try and find some help with an African language assignment. Anyways, since I am so nice I
told him I would do some research over the weekend and I'd meet him Sunday afternoon to help him.
Sunday morning rolled around and I did a bit of research in the morning, but I still had really no idea about anything. I met him and 1:30 and we went for coffee. I told him what I knew and we tried to work through it a bit. We got talking about other stuff and hes actually a really nice guy. I told him that I was trying to teach myself Korean. I showed him my study sheet that I had made up (yes I know, I am a geek) and we went through that and he helped me with my pronunciation. Learning about different languages is actually what he is studying in school, hence the African language assignment, but his main focus is teaching the Korean language. He offered me free lessons every Sunday night! I'm super excited about it and now I'll actually have to get my butt in gear and make a solid effort in learning it. Once I know how to read it and know a few more words I think I will enjoy Korea even more! Being able to read a menu or a bus schedule or anything and actually know what I'm reading and able to communicate with Koreans will be great!
Anyways, its late and I'm tired. Hope everyone is doing well! Love you all!
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Gia82
Gia Thompson
Great adventure.
It sounds like you are a fun determined person that can enjoy things by their self. Good for you! Thats awesome you still did something even though it was closed. I think maybe the guy figured you atleast knew English and understood the directions. Good pics too!