i'm not dead yet.
hi there. long time away. i'm still in seoul, still alive, still teaching english. i'm sorry for the lengthy silence. hit a slump. i've hit a slump every may and june since carly died, and i think it happened even before that, but i never remember it happens every year until it's already over. doh!
anyway.
hi. how are you? ^o^
korea is currently world cup crazy. it's incredible. i've watched the last two games, one at a bar with my korean co-workers after work, and one in my apartment at 4:00 a.m. honestly, i only watched the one at 4 a.m. because the cheering and singing and all outside was so loud at 3 a.m. for the local pre-game show, i stayed awake to watch most of the game. ^o^ the level of patriotism and support for the korean team and korea is awesome. even packer fans aren't this infectiously excited.
link to an article in the korea herald about soccer fever here. this site has some cool photos. you can hear a bit of the korean chant "daehanminguk" here, though it's not a great video. one of my co-workers told me daehanminguk means great korea people and country. it's incredibly catchy, and it rings through the streets hours before and after a game.
shirts and other toys are on sale all over the place. the korean team's color is red, and their fans are called red devils. i've picked up two shirts and a bandana. am going to get a pair of light up devil horns tomorrow for the game against switzerland. cool photos of a fangear stand here.
soccer is so dramatic. it might be the most dramatic sport i've watched, outside of olympic sports. it's so funny to watch the players throw themselves on the ground in pain even when they're not really hurt. (if they're hurt, of course it's not as fun. ^ ^) they're fantastic actors. lots of them are really cute, too. ~grin~ i wish it was more popular in the US, but advertisers probably couldn't handle it. 45 minutes without a break unless there's an injury (i think? - i don't know soccer rules, despite going to some super fun minnesota thunder games with roy, so correct me if i'm wrong.) -- no time for commercials. or bathroom breaks. or beverage runs. all of that hooha.
anyway, been gone for over a month and i'm blabbing about soccer. cross your fingers for korea tomorrow night!
thank you for all the support on my ongoing identity whatthehellamianddoesitreallymatter crisis. :) can't thank you enough!
i walked behind a man the other night whose job was posting ads for some bar or slot machine place or something. except he wasn't posting the ads. he was walking ponderously down the sidewalk, dropping a colorful flyer on the ground every foot or so. they all landed ad-side-up. effective, i guess. *o*
Mom and Dad visited me the beginning of June. a few photos below. we had an awesome weekend, it was so good to see them!!! thank you for visiting me!!!!!!!!!
at bulgogi lunch in itaewon on saturday
bibbed and ready for lunch on sunday in cheonho near my apartment:
hanging with the guards at gyungbokgung palace:
in another life:
extra-random oddities for sale near insadong:
strolling around lotte world:
between mom and dad visiting and the world cup, things have been looking up. both have been good reminders why i love it here. am formulating a blog entry on the pros and cons of being here and all the things i want to remember when i leave. someday.
in the meantime, photos from school and after watching the first game, Korea vs. Togo on june 13.
sandy and i, ready to fight:
noah & i, ready to fight (he's more ready than i am, i forgot to look tough ~sigh~):
my co-worker andrew, red devil horns + bag to protect his shaved head. *^0^* june 13 was andrew's birthday. sandy, michelle and i bought him some korea soccer fan gear and beer to celebrate:
more andrew:
watching the game!:
our TV. ~grin~ there wasn't room inside, so the bar rigged up a tiny tv outside for us to watch. we went to a bar across the street from work. this tv didn't have any sound, so a tiny portable radio was set out in front. the antenna was broken and reception was spotty, so the poor guy sitting in front of the tv had to play with the antenna all night. cindy said that the radio commentary was a minute or two ahead of the picture on the screen, so every time the radio sportscasters got really excited, the guy would turn off the sound so we wouldn't find out what happened ahead of time. ~lol~
anyway. our tv, possibly the smallest one in all Korea:
post-game high-schoolers shouting "daehanminguk" and banging a drum in godeok:
beery, excited subway ride home:
anyway.
hi. how are you? ^o^
korea is currently world cup crazy. it's incredible. i've watched the last two games, one at a bar with my korean co-workers after work, and one in my apartment at 4:00 a.m. honestly, i only watched the one at 4 a.m. because the cheering and singing and all outside was so loud at 3 a.m. for the local pre-game show, i stayed awake to watch most of the game. ^o^ the level of patriotism and support for the korean team and korea is awesome. even packer fans aren't this infectiously excited.
link to an article in the korea herald about soccer fever here. this site has some cool photos. you can hear a bit of the korean chant "daehanminguk" here, though it's not a great video. one of my co-workers told me daehanminguk means great korea people and country. it's incredibly catchy, and it rings through the streets hours before and after a game.
shirts and other toys are on sale all over the place. the korean team's color is red, and their fans are called red devils. i've picked up two shirts and a bandana. am going to get a pair of light up devil horns tomorrow for the game against switzerland. cool photos of a fangear stand here.
soccer is so dramatic. it might be the most dramatic sport i've watched, outside of olympic sports. it's so funny to watch the players throw themselves on the ground in pain even when they're not really hurt. (if they're hurt, of course it's not as fun. ^ ^) they're fantastic actors. lots of them are really cute, too. ~grin~ i wish it was more popular in the US, but advertisers probably couldn't handle it. 45 minutes without a break unless there's an injury (i think? - i don't know soccer rules, despite going to some super fun minnesota thunder games with roy, so correct me if i'm wrong.) -- no time for commercials. or bathroom breaks. or beverage runs. all of that hooha.
anyway, been gone for over a month and i'm blabbing about soccer. cross your fingers for korea tomorrow night!
thank you for all the support on my ongoing identity whatthehellamianddoesitreallymatter crisis. :) can't thank you enough!
i walked behind a man the other night whose job was posting ads for some bar or slot machine place or something. except he wasn't posting the ads. he was walking ponderously down the sidewalk, dropping a colorful flyer on the ground every foot or so. they all landed ad-side-up. effective, i guess. *o*
Mom and Dad visited me the beginning of June. a few photos below. we had an awesome weekend, it was so good to see them!!! thank you for visiting me!!!!!!!!!
at bulgogi lunch in itaewon on saturday
bibbed and ready for lunch on sunday in cheonho near my apartment:
hanging with the guards at gyungbokgung palace:
in another life:
extra-random oddities for sale near insadong:
strolling around lotte world:
between mom and dad visiting and the world cup, things have been looking up. both have been good reminders why i love it here. am formulating a blog entry on the pros and cons of being here and all the things i want to remember when i leave. someday.
in the meantime, photos from school and after watching the first game, Korea vs. Togo on june 13.
sandy and i, ready to fight:
noah & i, ready to fight (he's more ready than i am, i forgot to look tough ~sigh~):
my co-worker andrew, red devil horns + bag to protect his shaved head. *^0^* june 13 was andrew's birthday. sandy, michelle and i bought him some korea soccer fan gear and beer to celebrate:
more andrew:
watching the game!:
our TV. ~grin~ there wasn't room inside, so the bar rigged up a tiny tv outside for us to watch. we went to a bar across the street from work. this tv didn't have any sound, so a tiny portable radio was set out in front. the antenna was broken and reception was spotty, so the poor guy sitting in front of the tv had to play with the antenna all night. cindy said that the radio commentary was a minute or two ahead of the picture on the screen, so every time the radio sportscasters got really excited, the guy would turn off the sound so we wouldn't find out what happened ahead of time. ~lol~
anyway. our tv, possibly the smallest one in all Korea:
post-game high-schoolers shouting "daehanminguk" and banging a drum in godeok:
beery, excited subway ride home:
posted by smochs at 12:48 AM
4 Comments:
so you ARE alive and well! thank goodness! glad to hear from you, was wondering where you've been. i've *finally* got my time adjusted from the Singapore/Hong Kong trip and SO happy to be sleeping 6 hours continually each night. :) love travelling but jetlag is seriously over rated.
whoooot! welcome back to blogdom. often i come home and ange is at the computer blogging away now that she has caught the fever. great to see the pics and catch up on the worldwide soccer mania! we just bought a condo in austin (gulp). -jen
Reading this will be the best part of my day. Too bad I didn't save it until later than 8am. =)
I'm glad you're doing well and still having fun. Adam and I are talking about doing a World Cup vacation some year. Some year when it's in a country we really really want to visit. Some year we have money. (lol) I envy you having world cup fun!
Hugs to you!
"Come back here!"
"Oh, what're you gonna do? Bleed on me?"
(Yay for Monty Python!)
So glad to see you're back! I still check every day to see if you've posted. Assumed you've been super busy. Did the cold ever pass? Any pics of a certain Canadian...? :)
So glad you're having fun with the World Cup. Sam and I were lucky enough to be in Europe in 98 when it was going on in Paris. It was so awesome - every town you went to was decked out in team colors (I remember the bright orange everywhere in Amsterdam), and you could step into any pub and have a pint and cheer on the local team with the crowds of people. It was such an exciting feeling of a worldwide family. I wish it got more coverage here. I've been able to watch a bit on ESPN2, but I never know when the games are on, and always seem to miss them!
Just got back from the first ever national Asian American Theater Conference in LA this week. Despite our worries, it turned out to be quite incredible. So many amazingly nice people. Another example of a large family I've been thrilled to be an honorary part of :) I'm excited to see what comes of it! Some of Mu's upcoming plans involve you..... :)
Thanks so much for posting again and we'll talk to you soon!
Love,
Steph
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