Morning Fun

     This morning I went out for an 8-miler. The course takes me down the street to Olympic Park (I posted photos in an earlier post) and then over to the Han River where I catch the bike trail and run back. I would prefer to run the river exclusively since there is auto traffic and is much safer, but I have an aversion to out and back routes. I find them boring. My 3 and 5-mile routes are out and backs but my 4, 6, 8, and 10-milers are loops. Loops are better--even in the dark--because the scenery is new and you feel like you really went somewhere.
     The street down to Olympic Park is a rather major one with lots of big intersections and a quite a bit of traffic. Even at the early hour that I get up to run, usually between 5-5:30, there is a fair amount of traffic; this is a city of some 15 million after all (and yes, I can already hear most of you saying "Then don't run on the street, stupid!").
     Like any runner does in his/her neighborhood, I have studied the traffic signals in this city and have come to learn the patterns--first this light turns green, then the left arrow turns green, then my signal turns green and I can go--and like most runners, I do a fair amount of anticipating. So I gauge when my light is about to turn and, if there is no traffic left in the previous turn, I go.
     This morning I played this same game. I got to a signal, watched the pattern progress, and as the last vehicle, a small white van, passed I started to run. But the white van didn't exactly pass. See, I thought it was going to turn left to go down the road in the opposite direction I was running, but instead it did a u-turn, only this u-turn was not out in the middle of the intersection like in the States, which would have given me time to clear his path. No, this guy made the u-turn in the crosswalk, which was well before the intersection. So essentially, he passed by me about 10 yards in front of me and then was suddenly turning into me....and quickly.
     This wouldn't have been so bad had he seen me and slammed on the brakes. But he didn't see me, or I guess he didn't see me because he kept coming at me. There was nothing for me to do but to keep running forward in an attempt to get out of his path. But as I kept running, his path kept coming at me as he kept the wheel turned and his foot on the gas. At the time, and even now, I couldn't believe he didn't see me as his headlights must have been shining on me, and I was sure he would slam on the brakes at any moment. But he must not have seen me because he kept coming at me.
     Anyway, obviously, he didn't hit me (because I am here to write of it), but he came damn close. As he passed behind me, I turned and gestured in that way that says, "What the hell!?", but I doubt he saw that either. It was the closest encounter I've had with a car in my 20+ years of running.
     Oh, and about 5 minutes later, I saw a taxi make the same move and hit an oncoming car. Exciting run this morning.

Riding Korea around the Sun

     It's funny how as you get older, time seems to go faster and faster. In fact, it's quite funny how time itself seems to bend and warp with age and whatever activity you are engaged in. I remember living in Ohio and Dad calling my brother and me to come out and help him sweep the garage, a task that probably took 10 minutes. He'd poke his head in the house and not immediately seeing us would yell, "Boys....Front and center!" These words were never welcome to us because they meant one of two possible conditions--either we were in some kind of trouble, or there was some brain-deadening job that dad wanted us to do (mowing the lawn, raking leaves, and picking up dog poop are other examples).
     During the 10 minutes it took to sweep out the garage, it was like time stood still. My brother and I would push our brooms up and down the garage, moving dirt and leaves and anything else that had made it's way to the ground to a growing pile in the center of the concrete. This was always one of the worst jobs for me because, well, I really don't know why. I hated it. That's all that matters. And for me, the few minutes I spent sweeping the garage instead of riding my bike or playing football with friends or messing with the dog felt like swimming through mud. Other times I felt this way as a youngster include sitting in a boring class and watching the clock, doing homework, waiting for mom to stop talking to yet another person she knew at the grocery store, and sitting in the car while dad took "the scenic route".
     But with age, the time spent doing things I'd rather not be doing has sped up some. Now, it's things like doing taxes, waiting for Ami to get ready to go out, sitting on a trans-Pacific flight, or sitting through boring conversations with people I'd rather not be talking to (this doesn't include anyone reading this, of course). But while these activities may not be fun, they don't seem to take the eternity that sweeping the garage did. Twelve hours on a flight goes by quicker than those 10 minutes ever did. I imagine it's my attitude that has changed, of course, but I often wonder if there is some real cognitive changes that happen in the brain as we age to sort of even out the extremes we used to feel when we were younger.
     So with all that in mind, I am marking the end of my first year in Korea. At the risk of sounding like an old lady, I can't believe it. Seems like just yesterday I was sweating it out while waiting for my visa to come through while living at my aunt and uncle's place. Also seems like just yesterday that Andrew met Ami and I at the airport and escorted us into Seoul. I think overall the year has gone by rather quickly, but when I think of all the stuff I've accomplished in setting Ami and I up here, and all the stuff I've learned at work, and all the people I've met be they co-workers, students, the Korean family, or the random people that make up my day (like the lady at 7/11 who always smiles at me or the security guy in our building at work who never does), I am able to mark parts of the year and slow it down and say "Yup, it's been a year".

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

     As the world (or the northern hemisphere anyway) moves into my favorite time of year, I am filled all at once with excitement, anticipation, a longing for home, and a certain amount of satisfaction. The past few weeks, as will be the next few, have been nice and easy with stuff to look forward to and enjoy. 

     The weather has turned from hot and humid to a weather much more to my liking. The mornings are a nice 50 and the highs in the mid-afternoon are somewhere in the 70s--it feels like the California I know and love. I know that soon the harshness of winter will be upon Seoul, but for now, I revel in my morning runs and bikes to and from work. We have the windows wide open and the sounds of the middle school sports field, mostly young ones running and yelling, remind me that I am not the only one enjoying the weather.

     Buster has changed from kitten to teenager and has become quite the sweet little man. Ami always wanted a lap cat, something that Stella is not, and Buster is fulfilling her wishes. He still causes his fair share of trouble--usually around 4 am when he decides that it's time for the rest of us to wake up (why do cats and dogs have a 23 hour clock?)--but overall he is coming along nicely. Since I really don't know how to treat a cat like a cat, I treat them like dogs when they are young, and Buster now lets me manhandle him just like my last cat did. I am a firm believer in manhandling cats when they are young, so that they grow up to be easy going and accepting of almost anything you want to do. Unfortunately, I didn't have access to Stella in her first few months of life and she is a lost case. She's friendly, but I certainly cannot pick her up, flip her over on her back, and hold up to the ceiling as if I was going to sacrifice her to the gods. Buster, on the other hand, is a willing victim. 

     Besides the weather, and probably more than the weather, the other reason I love this time of year is sports. Football has started, baseball is working the playoffs, and Formula 1 is drawing to a close where a champion will be crowned. I realize some of you will gasp at the money I spent to get baseball and football coverage over here, but I will rebut your attacks by arguing that you spend more money on your cable tv package in 3-4 months than I have spent to get the entire baseball and football seasons, which will get me through 10 months of the year. Technology is a wonderful thing, especially when it comes to sports.

     Speaking of sports, Ami and I will be heading down to the Korean Grand Prix (F1) this Sunday. It will be a long day as we are just doing a day trip there and back, but it should be fun. When we started to add up ticket, hotel, and meal costs, it started to get a little crazy and I'm not so sure she'll like the sport or that I will like the track. So I am looking at this year as a test for all the years to come no matter where we are, but especially for the F1 race here in Korea. If it's a great experience and we decide that next year we'd like to make a weekend of it, we'll do so. But if I discover that the track is crap and not worth the money, I'll be turning on the tv/computer next year, as I do for most races, and watching that way. I've been to three F1 races before (and a number of IndyCar races) and I know what makes a weekend at the races a good experience and I also know what makes for a not-so-good experience. So like I say, this Sunday will be a test of sorts. Below is a onboard lap of the Korean circuit:

F1 2010 - 17 KOREA - POLE LAP ONBOARD by MVGoVal

     In other news, I ran a 10k about a week or so ago. Korea had a couple of holidays last week (I will tell you about this in another post) and on Wednesday, it was Foundation Day. Gangnam was having a festival and one of the events taking place was the International Peace Marathon. There were actually four race distances: a full marathon, a half-marathon, a 10k, and a 5k. During a teachers' meeting about a month ago, the boss man announced that the race was coming up and asked if anyone wanted to participate at the Gangnam government's expense. One of the other teachers, a guy who lives very close to me and who I sometimes see going out while I'm coming in on our morning runs, ran the 5k last year and volunteered to do it again this year. At this point, a few of the people in the room looked at me, I guess the word that I run has gotten out, and I said I'd do the 10k. Later, I told Ami and she said she and her friend would run/walk the 5k.

     It ended up being a good race. The last race I ran was in the spring of 2010, a half-marathon, and after that, for some reason but as these things go, the running became less fun and it was just this last late spring that I picked it up again. During the two years, I never actually quit running, but whereas my mileage had been roughly 35 miles a week, it dropped off considerably to about 9 miles or even less per week. It was in June this year that I decided I'd had enough of the laziness and decided that I wanted to get back into respectable shape. Since then, I've run 3-4 times a week and while my distance and pace aren't quite what they used to be, they have been steadily improving. Anyway, the 10k went well and my time was better than I thought it would be and Ami and I have signed up for another one next month--only this time, I'll be running a half-marathon.

     

Life in a Pot

     I am sitting in a room in a building shaped like a ceramic pot as the rain falls and the light fades. It's quiet here and I like it. Seoul has too much going on. And while my box shaped apartment in the Gangnam area gives me respite from all the hubbub going on out on the streets, any venture outside involves avoiding traffic and people and being subjected to the noise that is the city. Here there are rice fields, vegetable farms, very few people, the occasional car, and the beach. I think I could stay here forever.
     Then again, maybe that's not true. I did have that thought, though, but almost as quickly as it came, it went away. Yeungheung-do (the island we went to was nice), but there was very little to do. We looked for a place to rent bikes or kayaks and could find nothing. We walked up the beach looking for a pub where I could maybe watch a Korean baseball game with a beer, but again nothing. It seemed to me that with all the accommodations on the island there should be something to do. But alas, when we asked her, the owner of the little cafe we went to twice (because we didn't have a whole lot of choices) told us that basically the beach was it. So if any of you are looking to open a business that specializes in renting ocean kayaks, I know a place.
     The island itself, though, was nice and quiet and we enjoyed the short time we stayed. A few pics:

Those large pots are actually buildings.

The owners live here and built them all in 2007. We stayed on the second floor of the one on the right.

Looking between the two rows.

Here is ours.

They had an artist come in and paint them all.

The front door from inside our room.

The kitchen area.

Besides the bed in the other room, this was all the furniture in the place.

The lady that owns the place is also an avid gardener/farmer.

She took us to the grocery store so that we could get supplies for a BBQ and then took us in her greenhouse and gave us two armloads of  veggies. Great stuff.

Walking to the beach.

I like the last listing, "Home for Missing Children". I thought maybe it was an orphanage, but Ami said it's where parents can go to find little ones that have suddenly disappeared. 

A look down the beach.

We took a walk to a temple. And no, it's not a Nazi temple. That symbol is Buddhist.

Walked up a small mountain to get to the place.

Did I mention that we did this in a tropical storm? We stood under there to take a breather and snap some shots before heading back down.

The temple was just a few buildings that all looked like this.

A few buildings, the beach, and not much else around these parts, but it was a great break from the 15 million people that live in Seoul.

The Games of the XXIV Olympiad

     We delayed our plans to go to the island on the coast. Or rather Ami delayed them. Too many people on the net talking about the typhoon, the dramatic news footage, and a father who told her not to go, scared her and she woke up yesterday to tell me that she didn't want to go. So, we called the place we're staying at and they said we could push it back a couple days. My thinking was that we weren't staying on the beach, so the danger was substantially reduced and that the worst we'd have to put with would be wind, a possible lack of electricity, and being trapped in the building--all things we are going to be dealing with here in Seoul anyway in a couple hours. But anyway, we didn't go. So, I decided to take a bike ride to Olympic Park.
     Seoul held the 1988 Summer Games and Olympic Park is where it all happened--or most of it. You might remember these Olympics for a certain Carl Lewis who became the first man to repeat for the 100 meter gold medal--he won when Ben Johnson was stripped of the gold for testing positive for steroids. Only Usian Bolt has matched that feat--although I tend to think Jesse Owens might have done it too had it not been for the cancellation of the '40 and '44 Games due to a certain world war.
     The park is quite nice and large and I didn't see it all but did manage to find a few rather interesting and impressive sights. It does look a little old in parts, so I let my imagination go and tried to imagine what it all must have all looked like 24 years ago.  Here are a few shots.

The main gate

No idea what this says as it's written with Chinese characters.

Getting closer

I assume this is the original flame

Just beyond the gate and the flame is a semi-circle with all the nations' flags.

See USA?

There it is. Been a while since I've seen my flag waving.

This is just behind the flags.

It's a large curved wall with lots of engraved writing.

If you click the picture, you should be able to read it.

The medals table. If my history is correct, this would be the last Summer Games for the Soviet Union and they went out with a bang.

There's Carl Lewis's name.

These helpful maps are found throughout the park.

Tennis courts

The complete bracket just outside the courts

Gymnastics

I guess you can read these for yourself.

A large strange sculpture

Here's the guy who made it.

And here is the explanation of what it represents. A little negative but as a lifelong sports fan, I can see what he's saying.

Just behind the swimming pool was a very pretty section of the park.

Ah. I AM in Korea.

     I went running this morning in the pre-typhoon wind. It was nice. Lots of broken branches (small ones) already and a few people out and about fighting with their umbrellas. I don't know why they try with those things. Isn't the wind worse than the rain? And it wasn't really raining. Was just a few drops. But I've always said "Common sense isn't so common." 

     So we are about an hour or two away from the brunt of this thing hitting. I've been tracking it with google earth so I might post the images here after it moves away. Might make for a nice little timeline. 

     Time for a beer.

Summertime Rolls

     The somewhat grueling summer session has come to an end making me a happy boy. The school I teach at has six sessions per year: winter, spring 1 and 2, summer, and fall 1 and 2. During the four fall and spring sessions, I teach four hours a day, which leaves me plenty of time to prep, grade, and do anything else I need to do. During the winter and summer sessions, however, I am contracted to teach five hours per day, but have so far, in the one winter and one summer sessions I have been here, taught six hours. I do get paid a little more for the extra hour, so it's worth it, but this means that I need to show up earlier than normal and I leave later than I do for the easier sessions. It's not hard, mind you, but it does make for a longer day.

     The reason that we teach more in the winter and summer is simple. This is the time when Korean universities are on break--more specifically in Jan-Feb and June-July (our sessions are 8 weeks long, by the way)--and when the universities are on break, a certain number of students choose to brush up on their English; thus, more students. This in turn means that we have more classes with more students in each, which then translates to more hours teaching and more hours grading various papers, tests, and recordings.

     But it's all over now and life is looking good with less work, the heat beginning to subside, and the best time of year for sports quickly approaching. 

     I believe I wrote a bit here about the weather during the winter. It was cold, cold, cold. Well, the summer has been pretty much the opposite, which has caused me to question why anyone would choose to live here. But I am a California boy and from what I hear, the weather almost everywhere else in the world seems harsh when compared to California, so I guess I've been rather spoiled for most of my adult years, but really, the humidity has not been fun. The heat, in terms of raw numbers, hasn't really been that bad. I think we had a week or two where it consistently got up into the 90s, which is pretty common in California. But normally it's a pretty steady 80 to 90, which doesn't sound bad at all to me, but throw in the humidity and it's a different beast altogether. Going on a beer run, a mere two-minute walk, results in sweat down the back and a t-shirt that needs to be changed upon my return. And it only gets worse from there. Biking to work is work for the last half mile or so because it's uphill, meaning that I then spend about 3-4 minutes standing in front of the fan by my desk with the breeze on my back. I've also taken to leaving my pants at work and wearing shorts on the bike there and back and then changing just before classes start and almost immediately after my last class finishes for the day. And running......Well, the sweat tries to keep up and keep me cool, but it's nowhere near as effective as it was in Cali. I know when I'm biking/walking to work in January I'll forget why I ever said this, but I'm looking forward to the winter. 

     During this 10-day break between sessions, the little lady and I are heading over to an island on the "West Sea" (aka. the Yellow Sea). It's actually not far from the mainland and is accessible by bridge, but it's an island nonetheless. I'm not exactly sure what there is to do there, but I will be happy just to get out of Seoul and away from the masses. And it might not matter much what there is to there because apparently there is/will be a rather large typhoon (hurricane for you Americans) headed directly for us. 

     If what Ami said is true, the typhoon will be a little south of us on our travel day and will then hit us on our first full day there. We're taking a deck of cards in case we can't go out--and books and our computers (though, I'm not sure about internet access). I'll also be taking the camera so I can take a few videos of the thing as it rips by. Should be interesting.

     And finally, I'd like to close this brief update with something I read which was apparently announced on North Korean State TV. It is in regards to the NK Olympians who did not medal in London: Our glorious leader will merely send those athletes to special sports retreats for four years where they will play fun games in the grassy fields and eat and drink as much crackers and water as they wish. Is that supposed to make them feel better?

Give me a sign

     Amidst all the Hangul in this city is also a fair amount of English, albeit not always clear English.

I wonder if this was said a lot by WWII British ship captains.

Are there shades of blackness?

If this hadn't been in pink, I might have thought it was a hardware store.

Something's missing here. But aside from that, what is a friendy bean?

A history lesson?

I assume this means that I can go to the restroom alone......That is good.

The Summer Games

     As I am sure you are all aware, the Olympics are in session. I love the Olympics, summer and winter. When I think of what it takes to be an average runner and multiply that by whatever effort and dedication it takes to get to the Olympics--in any discipline--I am truly impressed by those who make it there. And what impresses me even more is that these Olympians, most of them, don't make a living off of their passion like an elite baseball, football, basketball, etc player. They get almost nothing in the form of money, as far as I know. And then, to take it even further, they get the chance to shine just once every four years meaning that perhaps they get a shot at one or two or maybe three moments in their entire lives. I still love my baseball and football, mind you, but those guys have it easy compared to the average Olympian.
     Right now I am watching ping pong. The only saving grace is that it's a guy from South Korea against a guy from North Korea. That makes it rather cool to see. But I must tell you that watching the Olympics over here has been rather frustrating. It's been a heavy dose of judo, ping pong, badminton, fencing and archery for the first week. I like the archery, but the other four, well, not so much. And the three channels that carry the Games focus, almost exclusively, on South Koreans. Now, you might be saying something along the lines of "duh!" but it's so bad that when there is no South Korean in a live event, they replay South Koreans who won just an hour or two ago or sometimes more. Really. I come home from work to see Mr. Park do battle on the judo mat with Mr. Nesvyashchenkov live and then, once the match is over and Mr. Park has thoroughly trounced his opponent, they break for commercial and then come back and show it again. So I flip the channel to find a different match pitting a South Korean against a Eastern European only this one is from three hours ago.
     Right now my choices are ping pong, badminton and more badminton--all with South Koreans, of course. And because I can check out what's going on live right now via the magic of the internet, I am fully aware that the the men's 100 meter heats are going on right now, which for me, would make for much more exciting viewing. But.....I am American and a guest in this country so I guess I should just try to enjoy the sports that Americans think of as drinking games or games you play at a picnic.
     In other news, Buster is coming along nicely. He has been accepted by Stella, for the most part, and is becoming a good little guy. He's still a kitten in that he causes his fair share of trouble and finds even the smallest speck of dust an interesting plaything, but he's doing well. And, as kittens and puppies and children do, he's getting bigger. Stella is gonna have her paws full in about three or four months. I've tried to tell her that she needs to establish her dominance now while he's still small enough to be overpowered by her, but she doesn't seem to get it.
     Back to the ping pong.

Buster!

     Ami talked me into getting another cat, so we rescued a little boy from a lady who found him on the street a couple weeks ago. He's three months old and a little shy tonight--the first night in his new home--but he's doing alright. On the way home from picking him up in north Seoul, we stopped by the vet hospital and had him checked out--all is well. So without further ado.........meet Buster.

"Get that flash outta my face!"

Korean Wedding Pics (part 2)

     The official pictures from the Korean wedding are in. Below are a few. If you'd like the link to the entire album, send me an email or let me know in the comments below.

Just before I head down the stairs.

My entourage

Bride in a box

The main stage

Husband and wife.....again

My Korean family