On my way back to the subway I bumped into another old friend from Anyang, Jeff Barg. Jeff had only recently returned to Korea from a trip back home to the U.S.A.
On the train I started talking to these two random foreigners. (you can talk to strangers here) I asked them where they lived and they both said Guri. Small world. I asked them if they knew Matt Peacock and my good friend from Moonblues, Mr. Cha. They did.
In 2008, a group of ex-pats living in Guri used to go to Moonblues every Wednesday for an open mic night. On the stage with the Beatles from Yellow Submarine painted on the back wall, there were all the instruments and sound equipment set up to put together a pretty good bar band. A few times I even got up and joined the band on bass.
Mr. Cha was nice enough to drive me to the airport when I left Korea in 2008. I had spent my last night at Moonblues where the band, and the whole bar, filled with friends, sent me off with a touching rendition of happy birthday.
I added one of the foreigners I met on the subway on Facebook and we made plans to hang out in Guri while I'm back. I really hope I get to go back to Moonblues so I can see my friend, Mr. Cha.
I got off the train at Samgakji station to transfer to line 4. Waiting for the subway I bumped into two more friends from Happidus in Anyang. Nic couldn't remember my name, but I was in no position to get upset with him for it. He was with Gabriel, a friend from California who used to live in Anyang, but is now in Bundang.
The three of us got off at Beomgye station. When we got to Happidus it was about 11:30. The game would still not start for another four hours.
Terry and crew were already at Happidus. We sat and talked for a while until I decided to go home and drop off my 1300 dollar camera, tripod, and microphone that I had been carrying around with me all day in the hot and humid weather, amidst the hundreds of foreigners who had gathered in HBC.
On the way back to my current residence I bumped into another friend, Hannas. Unlike most of my friends here, Hannas is not an English teacher. He used to run his own import/export business. Hannas is from Finland and to thank his country for giving the world Teemu Selanne, I had given him my Winnipeg Jets' hat before I left Korea in 2012.
After returning to Happidus, the crew decided to go out for some Dak Galbi, a very tasty Korean dish you can't get back in Winnipeg. (For more information on Dak Galbi check back here later this week.)
We finished our late dinner around 2:30 am. With about an hour before the game started we decided to stop in at the local CV convenience store to have a beer outside on the sidewalk. In Korea you are allowed to drink a beer walking down the street. In HBC there were probably hundreds of foreigners doing exactly that. Another good thing about Korea is that they sell beer everywhere and a person is allowed to buy them one at a time.
As I nursed my beer sitting at a table outside the store, my good friend Finbar Brady was walking down the sidewalk. He was with a friend and they were both dressed up in some pretty suave looking suits. I've never seen him look so classy.
Finbar is a big Liverpool FC fan and he had a lot to say about their decline, as well as praise the tactical proficiency of former manager Rafa Benitez, to Terry, who mentioned his favourite team, Arsenal, every chance he got.
After I finished my beer and before we went upstairs, I spotted a random Korean on the street, wearing a Bayern Munich jersey. I gave him the thumbs up, and shouted out, "Go Bayern Munich!". He gave me the thumbs up right back.
I then shouted out "Bastian Schweinsteiger", and he smiled and turned around to reveal that he was wearing a Schweinsteiger jersey. Of course I had to get a picture with him so Terry took a few snaps with his camera. The Korean gave Terry his camera phone to take some pictures. We shook hands and he went off with his friends to presumably watch the game.
There were about fifteen of us at Happidus when the game kicked off at 3:45, roughly sixteen hours after I had left the apartment I was staying in.
It was a very exciting game. When Robben scored in the 89th minute I let out a huge cheer. I cheered so much that my voice went hoarse, and would remain so all day the next day.
When it comes to sports I just get carried away. My happiest moment was watching Bastian Schweinsteiger hoist the trophy over his head. It was well deserved.
Congratulations to Bayern Munich and Bastian Schweinsteiger!!!
It had been a night full of redemption.
When I got back to the apartment after six in the morning on Sunday, it was already bright outside. I had the place to myself as Janice and Tom had opted to stay out all night in Seoul.
What a day it had been.
cheers
rymr
Tuesday 28 May 2013
Sunday 26 May 2013
HBC Fest, Karma, Redemption, and the Big Game (part 1)
The big game didn't start until 3:45 am in Korea. There was no way I was going to miss it. After losing to Chelsea in the Champions' League Final the year before, Bayern Munich, and my favourite player, Bastian Schweinsteiger, were looking for redemption. Schweinsteiger had missed the penalty that had given the title to Chelsea.
My day started out around 11:30, sixteen hours before the game would start. I was off to Gwacheon to film the Anyang Crackers, a local baseball team made up of expats from the area.
My friend Iain had invited me out to film some of the action. I knew a few of the players on the team which included Alex Larsson, Gavin Stephenson and Josh Watson. Josh had just recently got married to his Korean girlfriend.
After the baseball I was off to Haebongchong to film scenes from a rehearsal of the Wizard of OZ being put on by Camarata Music Company, a musical theatre company in Seoul, run by Ryan Goessl.
As I sat outside the rehearsal, checking my e-mails on the street using my ipod touch and the free Korean wifi, I bumped into Patrick Foley, whom I had met a few years back while performing Shakespeare. As was his custom in the past, Patrick was not wearing any shoes.
At around 5 pm I stopped into the McDonalds in Iteawon to have lunch. I got the Bulgogi burger set, largie. With the free wifi disappearing I went to a Pc bong, or Internet cafe to check my e-mails and make plans to see an old friend.
At 5:30 I met up with Julie Bol and as we sat and got caught up we bumped into Chris Hamilton, a friend I had met while playing in the CBHK.
The street was beginning to get filled with other foreigners. They were there to check out the HBC street festival, an annual event that attacks hundreds, if not thousand of waegooks from all over the greater Seoul area.
The police can't shut down the street because many of the local residents would not be able to go home as this road is the only way in or out for many of them.
A few hours later they had set up a police tape line to keep the pedestrians from disturbing the traffic. At times it almost seems like they are more worried about protecting the cars than they are the pedestrians.
As part of the festival many of the local bars had several bands and musicians perform. In 2010 I had performed some Shakespeare at the Orange Tree.
Across the street I spotted another friend, Matt, whom I had met the same night as Janice at Happidus in Anyang a few years back. I called him Dave, probably because he looks like my friend Dave from Anyang. Matt was in no hurry to correct me and I didn't discover his true identity until we met up with Tom and Janice, and she started using his real name. (the two had worked together)
I bumped into some of the hockey people, including Theopolis, who once shaved the superman logo into his over abundant supply of chest hair. We talked about the Winnipeg Jets and I told them how much fun it was to go to a game.
This dark haired woman then started waving at me. I felt bad because I had no idea who she was. She came up to me and my embarrassment grew as she called me by my name. I had known her five years ago when we both lived in Guri. Sadly I couldn't remember her name until a few hours later. Sorry Ginger, with the hair you just looked so different.
Captain James Williams of the U.S. army was there. James had directed Bent, the short film I had made while I was in Korea in 2011. If you want to see it go on Vimeo and search for 'James Williams Bent'. One small warning as the film is not safe for work.
James is one of the classiest people I've ever met. When we did the movie he had a huge BBQ at his place and in a few weeks he will be letting me stay at his apartment for 2 weeks. He also agreed to do an interview with me and I am very excited to get on base.
Very soon, James will be filming a movie about HBC. He has promised me a small cameo.
The highlight was running into Lindsey Higgins and her fiance Mich. I had always gotten along well with him and we had a really nice chat about hockey.
During the conversation Lindsey came over and gave me a hug. It was great to see her. Lindsey runs the Seoul Shakespeare Company and because of my poor anger management, things had not ended between us on the best of terms.
It felt like a kind of redemption. All the best to you Lindsey and Mich. Congratulations!!!
cheers
rymr
My day started out around 11:30, sixteen hours before the game would start. I was off to Gwacheon to film the Anyang Crackers, a local baseball team made up of expats from the area.
My friend Iain had invited me out to film some of the action. I knew a few of the players on the team which included Alex Larsson, Gavin Stephenson and Josh Watson. Josh had just recently got married to his Korean girlfriend.
After the baseball I was off to Haebongchong to film scenes from a rehearsal of the Wizard of OZ being put on by Camarata Music Company, a musical theatre company in Seoul, run by Ryan Goessl.
As I sat outside the rehearsal, checking my e-mails on the street using my ipod touch and the free Korean wifi, I bumped into Patrick Foley, whom I had met a few years back while performing Shakespeare. As was his custom in the past, Patrick was not wearing any shoes.
At around 5 pm I stopped into the McDonalds in Iteawon to have lunch. I got the Bulgogi burger set, largie. With the free wifi disappearing I went to a Pc bong, or Internet cafe to check my e-mails and make plans to see an old friend.
At 5:30 I met up with Julie Bol and as we sat and got caught up we bumped into Chris Hamilton, a friend I had met while playing in the CBHK.
The street was beginning to get filled with other foreigners. They were there to check out the HBC street festival, an annual event that attacks hundreds, if not thousand of waegooks from all over the greater Seoul area.
The police can't shut down the street because many of the local residents would not be able to go home as this road is the only way in or out for many of them.
A few hours later they had set up a police tape line to keep the pedestrians from disturbing the traffic. At times it almost seems like they are more worried about protecting the cars than they are the pedestrians.
As part of the festival many of the local bars had several bands and musicians perform. In 2010 I had performed some Shakespeare at the Orange Tree.
Across the street I spotted another friend, Matt, whom I had met the same night as Janice at Happidus in Anyang a few years back. I called him Dave, probably because he looks like my friend Dave from Anyang. Matt was in no hurry to correct me and I didn't discover his true identity until we met up with Tom and Janice, and she started using his real name. (the two had worked together)
I bumped into some of the hockey people, including Theopolis, who once shaved the superman logo into his over abundant supply of chest hair. We talked about the Winnipeg Jets and I told them how much fun it was to go to a game.
This dark haired woman then started waving at me. I felt bad because I had no idea who she was. She came up to me and my embarrassment grew as she called me by my name. I had known her five years ago when we both lived in Guri. Sadly I couldn't remember her name until a few hours later. Sorry Ginger, with the hair you just looked so different.
Captain James Williams of the U.S. army was there. James had directed Bent, the short film I had made while I was in Korea in 2011. If you want to see it go on Vimeo and search for 'James Williams Bent'. One small warning as the film is not safe for work.
James is one of the classiest people I've ever met. When we did the movie he had a huge BBQ at his place and in a few weeks he will be letting me stay at his apartment for 2 weeks. He also agreed to do an interview with me and I am very excited to get on base.
Very soon, James will be filming a movie about HBC. He has promised me a small cameo.
The highlight was running into Lindsey Higgins and her fiance Mich. I had always gotten along well with him and we had a really nice chat about hockey.
During the conversation Lindsey came over and gave me a hug. It was great to see her. Lindsey runs the Seoul Shakespeare Company and because of my poor anger management, things had not ended between us on the best of terms.
It felt like a kind of redemption. All the best to you Lindsey and Mich. Congratulations!!!
cheers
rymr
Tuesday 21 May 2013
The CBHK
With 40 seconds left in the final of the CBHK spring tournament being played at the Olympic park in Jamsil, on Saturday, May 18th, 2013, team Leafs scored a goal to pull within one. Sitting on the bench, helpless to do anything about the outcome, I could hardly watch as the final seconds ticked down. With some hard work and ball possession by Chris and Gibby, the victory was secured. Team Western Canada had won the game and the tournament, despite not winning a single game in the round robin.
Team captain and leader Rob Gibson had called our strategy the 'rope a dope'. We were going to get the other teams to let their guard down by not performing too well during the round robin portion of the event. With only 4 teams in the tournament, this was a good strategy, because we could not be elminiated until the playoffs. The team had been saving their best game for last.
It was the first time I ever won anything in the CBHK. I had played in four seasons during my time in Korea and never even played in the final of a competition.
After I booked my flight a few months ago, one of the first things I did was get in touch with league members to find out how much I was going to be able to participate. I was hoping at the very least to play in a few games of pick up. In my wildest dreams, I was hoping that I would somehow make it onto a team for a tournament, to get into some competitive action.
It was either luck, or poor planning on someone's part that made things work out for me. It was May long weekend in Korea because of Buddha's birthday. Many of the foreign teachers in the Seoul area were headed out of town to places like Busan, which is renowned for its beaches. I can only imagine how bad the traffic heading out of town must have been.
Among my many teammates was an old friend of mine, Terry Kearnes. I like to bug Terry and call him old man, even though he is younger than I am. It was a pleasent surprise to see good ol' Kearnsey when I arrived at the rink. He was with his wife, who is pregnant and expecting their first child. (congrats and all the best Kearnsey!!!)
Kearnsey had been my teammate on three different teams in the CBHK. Our captain, the french bastard, Shawn Amirault, was the only captian brave enough to draft me. Unfortunately for Shawn, he is known as the Dan Marino of the CBHK, because he racked up a lot of points, but never won the big game.
The best chance we had was in my second season. We were up one game to zero and tied at two with about a minute left in the second game, when Shawn decided to leave Gordo unmarked so he could score the game's winning goal. We ended up losing in three. (Shawn won the best defensive forward trophy at the banquet that night - I always felt he should have given it back - sorry Shawn, you know I still love you)
Kearnsey and I couldn't help but think of our old captain as we both finally got to taste sweet sweet victory. We both joked that Shawn must have been the piston that wasn't firing to make that engine run.
It had been a long hard day. I was so sore that I didn't do anything for the next two days. My body needed the time to recover.
I got a pretty sweet gash on my leg and a very nice sized bruise on my stomach from when I got down to block a shot in the semi-final in order to preserve a one to nothing victory over the heavily favoured and star studded Team USA.
It felt extra sweet going through the hand shake line. As I shook hands with Gordo, I couldn't help but blurt out how proud I was to have finally beaten him. His team had knocked my team out of the CBHK playoffs twice, and in the only other tournament I had been in, it had been his team who had knocked out my team.
Revenge felt sweet. Take that Gordo!!! (i joke i joke)
cheers
rymr
ps. CBHK stands for Canadian Ball Hockey in Korea. For more information check out their website:
http://www.cbhk.org/
Team captain and leader Rob Gibson had called our strategy the 'rope a dope'. We were going to get the other teams to let their guard down by not performing too well during the round robin portion of the event. With only 4 teams in the tournament, this was a good strategy, because we could not be elminiated until the playoffs. The team had been saving their best game for last.
It was the first time I ever won anything in the CBHK. I had played in four seasons during my time in Korea and never even played in the final of a competition.
After I booked my flight a few months ago, one of the first things I did was get in touch with league members to find out how much I was going to be able to participate. I was hoping at the very least to play in a few games of pick up. In my wildest dreams, I was hoping that I would somehow make it onto a team for a tournament, to get into some competitive action.
It was either luck, or poor planning on someone's part that made things work out for me. It was May long weekend in Korea because of Buddha's birthday. Many of the foreign teachers in the Seoul area were headed out of town to places like Busan, which is renowned for its beaches. I can only imagine how bad the traffic heading out of town must have been.
Among my many teammates was an old friend of mine, Terry Kearnes. I like to bug Terry and call him old man, even though he is younger than I am. It was a pleasent surprise to see good ol' Kearnsey when I arrived at the rink. He was with his wife, who is pregnant and expecting their first child. (congrats and all the best Kearnsey!!!)
Kearnsey had been my teammate on three different teams in the CBHK. Our captain, the french bastard, Shawn Amirault, was the only captian brave enough to draft me. Unfortunately for Shawn, he is known as the Dan Marino of the CBHK, because he racked up a lot of points, but never won the big game.
The best chance we had was in my second season. We were up one game to zero and tied at two with about a minute left in the second game, when Shawn decided to leave Gordo unmarked so he could score the game's winning goal. We ended up losing in three. (Shawn won the best defensive forward trophy at the banquet that night - I always felt he should have given it back - sorry Shawn, you know I still love you)
Kearnsey and I couldn't help but think of our old captain as we both finally got to taste sweet sweet victory. We both joked that Shawn must have been the piston that wasn't firing to make that engine run.
It had been a long hard day. I was so sore that I didn't do anything for the next two days. My body needed the time to recover.
I got a pretty sweet gash on my leg and a very nice sized bruise on my stomach from when I got down to block a shot in the semi-final in order to preserve a one to nothing victory over the heavily favoured and star studded Team USA.
It felt extra sweet going through the hand shake line. As I shook hands with Gordo, I couldn't help but blurt out how proud I was to have finally beaten him. His team had knocked my team out of the CBHK playoffs twice, and in the only other tournament I had been in, it had been his team who had knocked out my team.
Revenge felt sweet. Take that Gordo!!! (i joke i joke)
cheers
rymr
ps. CBHK stands for Canadian Ball Hockey in Korea. For more information check out their website:
http://www.cbhk.org/
Sunday 19 May 2013
A Legacy Of Hate and Anger (Part 2)
My second tour of duty in Korea was a lot
different. I was being blackmailed at my
former job and they wanted me to work for them for free. I didn’t lose my temper once in this
situation and I was so proud of it.
The first time I lost my temper in Korea
was after things ended very abruptly between me and Amanda.
It happened at Trivia night. I showed up and she was talking the ear off
of some other guy. They talked the whole
night, ignoring the rest of our trivia team. (we won) I was so angry at her that night I wanted to pour a drink on her. My friend
Julie stopped me and got Amanda out of the bar before I did anything stupid. Amanda rewarded her for this by ignoring
her. It became an unfriendly place to
work and all of the fun we used to have as a group was over, all because I once
again turned into an angry asshole, and tore the friendship apart.
During the next two years, these incidents
occurred more and more as my anger and my drinking got out of control. I took to writing the most incredibly stupid
Facebook posts, thinking, in a drunken state, that I was being funny, when
really I was just being rude and insulting.
When one friend was congratulating another
friend on the birth of their first child, I was going on calling him a fucking
asshole, and then acting surprised when people took offense to this.
I took to sending similar text messages to
friends all over the place. One time I
got really drunk on tequila and sent my friend Melissa an incredibly angry
e-mail for no reason at all.
On my last night in Bundang I started out
by almost picking a drunken fight with these guys at Pub 210 over a stupid pool
game. I followed this up by going to the
Dublin, where I said something incredibly insulting and offensive to my friend
Taylor McCarey’s girlfriend. Again, at
the time I thought I was being funny, but I was just so drunk that it came out
the completely wrong way, and it was very much a big time insult to her.
Somehow sorry doesn’t seem like a word that
has any meaning.
I mean so what that I’m sorry. I should be.
At every step along the way, people have
continued to give me the benefit of the doubt and chance after chance after
chance, only to have me shit all over it.
I guess I should count myself lucky that I
have a friends like Tom and Janice who are willing to put up with me enough
that they are willing to let me stay with them for three months for free.
I also feel very lucky that I still know so
many people in Korea who are very much looking forward to seeing me and can’t
wait until I get back.
I did a lot of good things in Korea, but
like with everything else, I have undone my positive efforts by losing control
of my temper.
Since I left Korea I have not lost my
temper once. I’ve stopped sending people
insulting messages and I haven’t written a dumb Facebook status in over a year.
From time to time I will still say
something stupid, but at least when I do I mean well.
I’ve managed to keep my Pandora’s box of
anger shut. I can’t control or do
anything about what I did in the past.
All I can try to do is learn from it, own it, and then move on.
I guess I am still, despite all the
evidence to the contrary, optimistic that I can learn how to deal with the
anger I feel and in a productive way.
Hopefully, on a Friday or Saturday night in
Korea this summer, I will be able to regain a little bit of the magic that made
me the person everyone wanted to talk to at that bar, and not the angry person,
so many people remember me to be.
Wednesday 15 May 2013
My First Trip to Gwangju
In the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, people can get what is called 'perimeter itus': They tend to ignore everyone and everything that live outside the city limits.
The same thing can happen in Korea to the people who live in Seoul and the surrounding area known as Gyeonggi-do.
I used to be like that.
I lived in the Seoul area for 3 years. In all that time I barely left the area to explore.
For the first time ever last weekend I went to Gwangju to take part in a scavenger hunt. It was a very fun and exhausting day.
My bus left Anyang station at 930 am on Saturday. Despite five traffic lanes and a blue lined bus lane, traffic was backed up and it felt like grid lock. It was supposed to only take three hours and forty minutes to get there but because of the traffic it took nearly five.
The scavenger hunt began at three and I was left scrounging to find a taxi which would take me to the YMCA shin-ay, a popular meeting point for foreigners in the area. The HQ for the event was a short distance away at a foreigner run bar called Mike and Dave's Speakeasy.
The team I was paired up with started running from the get go. They were ultra-competitive and nothing was going to stop them from trying to win.
The scavenger hunt was set up as an event through the Teach ESL Korea Facebook page. The group likes to organize these type of events every so often as a way to help foreign teachers connect with each other.
Amanda Sicard and a few of her friends worked very hard to put it together. The most fun part for them was thinking up all of the clever ideas for the activities the teams would have to complete in order to get points to win a prize.
They also went out into the community to get local businesses to sponsor the event. Some of them even donated prizes to the cause with Teach ESL Korea's Dan Henrickson throwing in a hundred thousand won to the winners.
After an hour I was really starting to feel it. I had only been in the country for a few days and was still getting over my jet lag. I missed breakfast and because of the delay in transit I didn't have time to eat lunch.
They kept running like they were competing in the Olympics and this had been their lifelong dream to win this particular scavenger hunt.
I run twelve miles a week and wasn't going to let these four young whipper snappers run me into the ground. I still have my pride.
Through the second hour I was able to keep up as they completed several of the tasks which included:
Finding someone wearing Harry Potter glasses.
A Korean couple wearing the same outfit.
Taking a shot at a bar called Tequillaz.
Finding a T-shirt with bad Konglish on it, etc, etc.
With four players on each team, three of them had to be in the picture while the other one took it.
With about a half an hour left in the event, I finally hit the wall and could go no further. It was on a long steep staircase that went up this hill. I tried to climb up to the top, but finally my legs gave out.
I sat down, shook my head and started to feel a little bit humble. My team had got the better of me and I was starting to feel my age.
As the team I was supposed to be following around finished the final few tasks I sat in a Burger King eating a Whopper jr set - largie.
All I could think about was how I wanted to go back to sleep. (I wasn't able to get any sleep the night before or on the bus during the ride down.)
I still had to stick around to see how the team had done and if all of my suffering, trying to keep up with them had been worth the while.
Second place. Not as good as first, but still pretty darn decent considering how many teams there were in the competition. ( There were sixteen or seventeen teams - I'm not sure exactly how many)
Good thing I hadn't been following around the first place team as they probably would have killed me.
Later that night, as I lay in bed alone in my room at this Korean 'Love Motel", all of the muscles in my legs and arms started to cramp up. I was worried that I wasn't going to be able to walk the next day.
It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be and I was strong enough to walk around to take in some of the sights Gwangju had to offer. It really is a beautiful city.
Too bad I waited so long to find out.
Neil Reimer
The same thing can happen in Korea to the people who live in Seoul and the surrounding area known as Gyeonggi-do.
I used to be like that.
I lived in the Seoul area for 3 years. In all that time I barely left the area to explore.
For the first time ever last weekend I went to Gwangju to take part in a scavenger hunt. It was a very fun and exhausting day.
My bus left Anyang station at 930 am on Saturday. Despite five traffic lanes and a blue lined bus lane, traffic was backed up and it felt like grid lock. It was supposed to only take three hours and forty minutes to get there but because of the traffic it took nearly five.
The scavenger hunt began at three and I was left scrounging to find a taxi which would take me to the YMCA shin-ay, a popular meeting point for foreigners in the area. The HQ for the event was a short distance away at a foreigner run bar called Mike and Dave's Speakeasy.
The team I was paired up with started running from the get go. They were ultra-competitive and nothing was going to stop them from trying to win.
The scavenger hunt was set up as an event through the Teach ESL Korea Facebook page. The group likes to organize these type of events every so often as a way to help foreign teachers connect with each other.
Amanda Sicard and a few of her friends worked very hard to put it together. The most fun part for them was thinking up all of the clever ideas for the activities the teams would have to complete in order to get points to win a prize.
They also went out into the community to get local businesses to sponsor the event. Some of them even donated prizes to the cause with Teach ESL Korea's Dan Henrickson throwing in a hundred thousand won to the winners.
After an hour I was really starting to feel it. I had only been in the country for a few days and was still getting over my jet lag. I missed breakfast and because of the delay in transit I didn't have time to eat lunch.
They kept running like they were competing in the Olympics and this had been their lifelong dream to win this particular scavenger hunt.
I run twelve miles a week and wasn't going to let these four young whipper snappers run me into the ground. I still have my pride.
Through the second hour I was able to keep up as they completed several of the tasks which included:
Finding someone wearing Harry Potter glasses.
A Korean couple wearing the same outfit.
Taking a shot at a bar called Tequillaz.
Finding a T-shirt with bad Konglish on it, etc, etc.
With four players on each team, three of them had to be in the picture while the other one took it.
With about a half an hour left in the event, I finally hit the wall and could go no further. It was on a long steep staircase that went up this hill. I tried to climb up to the top, but finally my legs gave out.
I sat down, shook my head and started to feel a little bit humble. My team had got the better of me and I was starting to feel my age.
As the team I was supposed to be following around finished the final few tasks I sat in a Burger King eating a Whopper jr set - largie.
All I could think about was how I wanted to go back to sleep. (I wasn't able to get any sleep the night before or on the bus during the ride down.)
I still had to stick around to see how the team had done and if all of my suffering, trying to keep up with them had been worth the while.
Second place. Not as good as first, but still pretty darn decent considering how many teams there were in the competition. ( There were sixteen or seventeen teams - I'm not sure exactly how many)
Good thing I hadn't been following around the first place team as they probably would have killed me.
Later that night, as I lay in bed alone in my room at this Korean 'Love Motel", all of the muscles in my legs and arms started to cramp up. I was worried that I wasn't going to be able to walk the next day.
It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be and I was strong enough to walk around to take in some of the sights Gwangju had to offer. It really is a beautiful city.
Too bad I waited so long to find out.
Neil Reimer
Thursday 9 May 2013
Very Spicy Samgyapsol (part 2)
I couldn't find any good samgyapsol in Canada. The one time I had it the strips were very thin and not very tasty. I had to use wooden chop sticks and I wasn't able to cook my own food at my table.
It's not like that here. The Korean food in Anyang is a lot better than what you'll get in Winnipeg.
I was a little disoriented walking around my home away from home for the first time last night. It had been a very long day.
My day started in Winnipeg. 20 hours later I was in the ROK.
Travel days are never easy, especially when you have to sit on the same plane for almost 12 hours. That's still not the longest flight I've ever been on. That occurred in 2007 when I took a 16 hour direct flight from Chicago to Seoul.
I took the airport bus from Incheon to Beomgye station. I was a little thrown off because the location of the bus stop was different. There was also a very unfamiliar landmark in the shape of a giant new Lotte mart that was not here when I left. It was still under construction.
I had a phone number for reaching my friend Tom who is letting me stay at his place with my other good friend Janice. The only problem was that I couldn't find a payphone anywhere. Do payphones still exist? If they don't I might be in trouble.
We dropped my luggage off at his apartment and headed back out. We met Janice and went looking for my favourite Korean BBQ place.
I got a little bit lost. We walked right past the restaurant but I didn't recognise it. It had changed a little bit.
The food was every bit as good as I remembered. The samgyapsol was thick and juicy. If you haven't had it before, it's kind of like bacon, but much better (I don't like bacon).
We also had a little bit of Galbi, which is beef if you haven't had it before.
A Korean ajuma took the tongs from me and used a pair of scissors to cut the meat up into tiny little strips. Our table was covered in side dishes. There were a few types of kimchi and some soup.
Everything tasted really great. My last meal in Korea had been at this restaurant 15 months ago. I couldn't think of a better place to have my first meal.
If you are ever in Anyang check this restaurant out. Very Spicy Samgyapsol has the best samgyapsol in the world.
bon appetite,
rymr
It's not like that here. The Korean food in Anyang is a lot better than what you'll get in Winnipeg.
I was a little disoriented walking around my home away from home for the first time last night. It had been a very long day.
My day started in Winnipeg. 20 hours later I was in the ROK.
Travel days are never easy, especially when you have to sit on the same plane for almost 12 hours. That's still not the longest flight I've ever been on. That occurred in 2007 when I took a 16 hour direct flight from Chicago to Seoul.
I took the airport bus from Incheon to Beomgye station. I was a little thrown off because the location of the bus stop was different. There was also a very unfamiliar landmark in the shape of a giant new Lotte mart that was not here when I left. It was still under construction.
I had a phone number for reaching my friend Tom who is letting me stay at his place with my other good friend Janice. The only problem was that I couldn't find a payphone anywhere. Do payphones still exist? If they don't I might be in trouble.
We dropped my luggage off at his apartment and headed back out. We met Janice and went looking for my favourite Korean BBQ place.
I got a little bit lost. We walked right past the restaurant but I didn't recognise it. It had changed a little bit.
The food was every bit as good as I remembered. The samgyapsol was thick and juicy. If you haven't had it before, it's kind of like bacon, but much better (I don't like bacon).
We also had a little bit of Galbi, which is beef if you haven't had it before.
A Korean ajuma took the tongs from me and used a pair of scissors to cut the meat up into tiny little strips. Our table was covered in side dishes. There were a few types of kimchi and some soup.
Everything tasted really great. My last meal in Korea had been at this restaurant 15 months ago. I couldn't think of a better place to have my first meal.
If you are ever in Anyang check this restaurant out. Very Spicy Samgyapsol has the best samgyapsol in the world.
bon appetite,
rymr
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