The Week that Was: Sports and Leisure

Even though there was no traveling outside of Jeollanam-do, I would say I had a pretty eventful week. All week I was wildly unproductive during my prep time but somehow I managed to piece together a lesson loosely based upon professions and jobs. Monday was a wash because I was still exhausted from the weekend in Busan but Tuesday was a day to remember: Sports Day.

Entire student body stretching at Sports Day.

I knew I didn’t have to teach on Tuesday because of Sports Day, however, I didn’t know about the day’s schedule (or my thorough involvement in it). I came to work in jeans and a sweatshirt and was quickly asked to participate in Sports (aka Soccer) Day. I called up my friend who works nearby, borrowed his gym shorts and hit the field.

Insert comments about famous Korean soccer player.

I wasn’t very good but in the second game when I finally scored a goal “best player” and “very strong legs” comments ensued.

My boys on the bleachers, spectating.

Jump Rope Day*

A few weeks ago we put up flyers advertising “Korean-English Language Exchange” around the local university. We didn’t get any responses for a few days but over the last week or so we’ve gotten a couple of hits. On Thursday we had our first “blind date” language exchange. It was with two Korean girls who spoke English pretty well. We’re in the process of making more Korean friends as we speak.

On Saturday I went to a F1 race in Mokpo. I had never been to a racetrack before so I figured it would be interesting. It turned out that it was only the qualifying round so it wasn’t all that exciting. However, after the race ended we walked over to where they were having a post-game concert and T-Ara and Super Junior performed. Really unexpected and really neat.

F1 in Mokpo.

T-Ara performing "Roly-Poly."

The kids of Geumsong Won!

An Australian gets mobbed by Korean children (more on this later).

At night I went into Gwangju for my friend’s birthday. We’ve all been traveling a lot the last few weekends and since we have the Fulbright Conference next weekend only a few people made the trek out. I got there around 10, the guest of honor decided to go home at midnight (?!?) and I was very skeptical of the night’s prospects. That being said, being tenuously linked to one of my friend’s spending a night in a police station’s holding cell makes it all worth it. No worries, everyone’s fine and we’re all alive. Club Houze I love you.

Sunday morning I woke up and had to grab a bus back to Naju because I had baseball practice (earlier in the week I agreed to “coach” some of my boys)! A friend from Mokpo came up and helped me run the practice and it was awesome. An center-fielder by trade, Morrow ran drills with the outfielders while I held infield practice. Aside from the moaning about running ONE lap around the field (typical baseball kids: lazy) and some confusion over how to warmup I would say the practice went smoothly. Morrow and I got to air it out later and do some long toss, too.

The boys warming up their arms.

Coach Willis runs outfield drills.

My new glove from E-Mart. It cost $30 and the pocket is already sort of breaking. I miss my old glove-- the one I've used since 8th grade-- so much. Sentimental value on it: priceless.

The upcoming week is going to fly by because my friend Korena is visiting from Cheonan on Tuesday, my school has “Picnic Day” on Wednesday and I don’t have to teach on Friday because of the Conference in Gyeongju!

Lastly, the reason why I was excited to see the Australian guy in Mokpo is because I just booked my flight to Australia for the holidays. I still have to look into other international flights (Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong mayhaps) but Australia is a great start.

This is going to be my NYE, nbd.