Ultimate days!

I'm a man who needs nothing

yet has EVERYTHING.

: )

Once again, it's been ages since i've last written any kind of update. when it comes time to try to balance doing stuff and writing about doing stuff....... DOING STUFF usually wins. of course it does. If I didn't view life that way, this blog really would be lacking the essence that makes it feel worth writing - go, do, NOW! :)

I guess if the month of October had to be described as succinctly as possible, the word 'ultimate' would come to mind. primarily of course, because of the many consecutive weekends spent traveling around the country as part of the city-wide Ultimate Frisbee team - The Daejeon Pandemic. **obligatory shiver when you read the name** And secondly, due to the ultimate nature of the kinds of people I've been meeting and spending my time with!

Let's go all the way back to early October when the frisbee team was still new and talking basic strategy. Our second weekend of disc was down on the beautiful beaches of Busan. Sarah, Vinnie and I made our way down a day early and started the party drinking and relaxing on the beaches in the gorgeous early fall weather. When Jason found us there, he had the beautiful offer to meet up with a good friend of his father who would be happy to treat all of us strangers to a dinner ~ sounds too good to be true?? it actually turned out even better than it sounded!! we would quickly come to realize that this family friend was "kind of a big deal" in Busan! While treating us to drinks and a +$50 /person prime-rib dinner directly overlooking world-famous Haeundae Beach, he handed Jason a room-key to the $400 per night (or much much more??) Westin Chosun hotel!!!

The Westin Chosun in the background where we got our free room on Haeundae Beach!

after we all hugged Jay and gave due props for the sitcom-worthy hook up, we headed out onto the town, feeling something like celebrities. eventually we landed ourselves at the Paradise Casino just down the shore. there was only one spot open at the blackjack table so we pooled 20 bucks each and took turns sitting with the stack. We made a mad run and ended up cashing our mutual bankroll close to 500 a couple hours later!! we found a night cap spot with a sweet Phillipino band and finally stumbled our way home at 4-something in the morning laughing and dancing at the ridiculous luck that was being poured onto us everywhere we could turn! the mood of the night definitely matched our high-roller hotel reservation and fancy-pants dinner!!

The spectacular view from our balcony at dinner - Haeundae beach at night.

We woke up the next day and checked out of our hotel - there was, after all; still some frisbee to be played that weekend! we forced lunch into our slightly feeble stomaches and went to work playing 2 or 3 matches right there in the sand on Haeundae. things were going smoothly until the only other undefeated team at the time - the Busan Heat - stepped up and gave us our first loss of the season. We chalked it up to home field advantage and promised to meet them in the finals at the end of the month!

The home turf of the Daegu teams, host to half of our matches throughout the season.

The season continued and everyone on the team (and in the whole league, for that matter) grew closer to each other, better at frisbee and more and more enthralled - perhaps to the point of an unhealthy obsession - in the game of Ultimate. i was completely in LOVE with it; for the simplicity and pureness of the game, as well as just for the opportunity to compete in an organized sport once again - something that I tended to take for granted growing up and through college. This was my chance to get back into the action; an ultimate extention of college life; and, in that sense - a continuation of feeling young, healthy and excited!!

The weeks leading up to the playoffs netted me a very difficult decision. The frisbee playoffs happened to land on the Saturday before my marathon I had been registered for and looking forward to all summer. There was, of course, a possibility to still do both. however, it involved a train to Daegu Saturday morning, Frisbee playoffs all day, a train to Seoul that evening, find a place to sleep for 5 hours and then take a 2 hour bus to Chuncheon at 5 AM before the race, run more than 40 kilometers without stopping, bus back to Seoul and finally a train back to Daejeon. It would have been absolutely NUTS and that actually gave it extra appeal in the mind of a guy like me. But in the end, I decided to enjoy the weekend in Daegu with my teammates after the tournament, win or lose.

What does that mean for my marathon that i've been studying up on, training for, talking about, working toward since last spring??? I didn't do it. : ( it was sad to give up on something I had dedicated so much effort toward, but the bottom line in the decision came to this - there will be plenty of marathons,.... but only one chance to party in Daegu, South Korea with all of these incredibly awesome new friends I'd grown so close to - hopefully celebrating Daejeon's first Ultimate Frisbee championship all the while!

So off to the finals it was! We worked through the day beating two teams to earn our bid against the number one ceded Busan Heat in the finals just as we had promised them. We had a bit of an interesting history leading up to the game: both teams had finished the regular season 11 and 1, both of the teams' only loss coming against one another! The stage was set for a battle. Corny or not, I hadn't felt thas much like a gladiator since standing at the starting line of the conference cross country meet of my senior year in high school. ; )

We came out flat and they got ahead 5 - 2 on us shortly before halftime. We picked up the slack and battled back to take our first lead with about 5 minutes left in the game!! Time started to tick away with our lead holding at 7 - 6. "Final possession" was called while Busan had the disc way back literally in their own endzone - they would have to progress the entire length of the field and score without missing a pass to force an overtime period - one interception, one out of bounds or any incompletion would result in the end of the game and our victory!

any facebooker's that are interested (and friends with Sarah?) can watch the 2:30 video of the final point here: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=877165236945

WINNERS!!!! Daejeon Pandemic - Fall 2010 Daegu Ultimate Frisbee League Champions

We must have posed for 300 pictures with our golden trophy and all the booze that accompanied him!

The after-party was almost just as exciting as the game itself. Nearly the whole league made it out to Daegu's downtown and we let that city have it until the WEE hours! What an unforgettable season with some of the funnest people i've met in recent years! - to think i stumbled upon the league by accidentally running into and striking up conversation with one of the Daegu guys on an island who happened to be wearing his DUFL t-shirt this summer!? STRANGE HOW THINGS WORK OUT! (Thanks, Chris! sorry we knocked you out in the semi's!)

Thank you, Pandemic!!!!! :)

Icing:

On Halloween day, some of my teammates hosted a tournament in Daejeon where everyone who signs up is dropped into a hat and picked out on to random team for the weekend. This is where I first got my hand in a game i had slowly been learning about throughout the disc season - "The Icing Game" i guess you might call it?? whenever someone tricks you into unknowingly grabbing a Smirnoff Ice (a kind of lemony malt liquor drink about as strong as a beer) you have to drop to a knee and slug it down. they might hide one in your backpack, in a bag of tortilla chips, in a cake box or even hanging on saran wrap over the toilet bowl for when you lift up the seat! ;) that's the fun of the game; you always have to be on your toes!

Enjoying my first Icing at the 2010 Daejeon Hat Tourney. tastes like kool-aid spiked with sprite! what's not to love???

Halloween night was an absolute RIOT with all of the frisbee peeps in town! We went as the Daejeon Sparkle Party (which I'll thank most of you to not pry too deeply into) but it vas a super fun opportunity to dress like ziz posh gay German-Austrian man. Who vouldn't have a great time viz zat, yah?? :)

........ (sorry, Ma!) :)..........

Our costumes - The Daejeon Sparkle Party with John Lennon and Yoko.

Life at work has been incredibly functional and civil these days! Enrollment is still MUCH more healthy than previous months (and climbing weekly all the while)! we have a boss who DOESN'T live in her office, and co-workers who teach and truly care about the kids! All of which seem like a given, i'm sure... but trust me when i say "you'd be surprised!"

Once our new boss was comfortable in her role, I was able to step back down to my normal duties as just a teacher and eliminate some of the extra hours and stress that came with the brief stint as English Teacher AND Educational Team Manager. Things are going great now and the school is a place that anyone should be proud to send their kids!!! (p.s. none of my bosses will ever read this so you know i'm not just ass-kissin!)

The Kid's College - Dunsan crew on our November field trip to the flower festival!

Little "Amy". I snapped the photog because someone was jumping on my back and i wanted to see who it was. It accidentally turned out to be one of my favorite shots of my travel so far.

This is a part of my life that i will NEVER forget (thanks in part to pictures like this one).

me and Muc surprising my co-worker Da-Jeong. Most Koreans would consider this kind of behavior out of the question as it does not 'save face'. guess Muc and I haven't been in Asia long enough to adopt that one! ;)

muc caught me showing off a little bit! :)

running out of chances to climb at my beloved Daejeon Wall!!

Pandemic season end party!! a LOT of people got iced that night!

The Daejeon boys doin' their thing up in Seoul for Gina's birthday!

There's no people like frisbee people!!!!

*smooch*

Sarah and I are doing better than I could easily explain to you in a couple of paragraphs, so you'll just have to take my word for it. it couldn't be more perfect!! we've started to realize that our time in Korea is winding down a bit and with exactly 3 months to go.... it will be over 'tomorrow'. with that, will start our next chapter that involves 2 months of travel and a few months of family vacations back home!! Broey will be meeting us here in Korea in the middle of Feb and then.... the world is OURS! the heavily edited (but nearing finalization) itinerary is....

(March) Vietnam

Cambodia

Thailand

Malaysia

Singapore

(April) Egypt

Italy

Switzerland

France

Spain

(May) ALABAMA

(June) MINNESOTA

Can't wait to see everyone again back home or out on the road somewhere!!

The people reading all of this probably already know and have her in your prayers, but please keep my aunt Mary, (who recently found out that her cancer has made a resurgence) in mind!! We love ya', Mary!! Be strong!!!!!!