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.