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!!!!!!

Feels like SUMMER!!!

Hey gang!! Quick note to update the week here:

Last Wednesday was a Korean national holiday called Children's Day where the entire country (and most of Eastern Asia) is off and supposed to treat their kids to something special (I guess??). They don't move their holidays to cause a 3-day weekend here so Weds it stayed which broke up the week BEAUTIFULLY! with no kids of my own to treat to anything, Sarah and I treated ourselves to a relaxing day downtown including, a tatoo parlor that was so sketchy we had to RUN away from what Sarah had been considering, getting abducted by giant slices of toast - seen below, the arcade, batting cages and finally Galma park right near my house. We were chatting at the park with muc and enjoying a beer when i got recruited into some pick up basketball! sorry to generalize, but people are short here and basketball is NOT the most popular game in Korea - what i'm saying is; for the first time in my life i felt good at basketball! one more advantage to add to the list! ;) the whole day was beautiful and, naturally it beat the pants off of working!


Friday came and we celebrated our Irish friend, Paddy's, early birthday at one of our new favorite local bars, "yellow taxi". the Irish sterotypes stop with his name however since his birthday shot request was not for whiskey, but TEQUILA. Cheers, buddy! sorry we missed out on Busan Saturday night! :) Picture below is Paddy, Alastair and a friend of Al's.



Saturday we went to one of Daejeon's theme parks, Kumdori Land with muc and had a blast! i'm especially proud of my newest addition to the international hug-five collection shown below and proudly displayed as my facebook profile pic. I'm reasonably sure i saw the mascott teaching it to a couple of korean children shortly after. ;)



picture below shows muc maybe not enjoying the rides as much as I did! :) sorry muc, too funny to not post!

Sunday morning, I attempted to run a 10K race but got shut out at the gate. I couldn't figure out how to register online since there was no English function and so i figured i'd show up and go for it at the gate... not so lucky. made our way back to the rock wall later on in the day though and that always makes up for any misfortunes that may have happened. Another good friend from back home who came over here with me, Marilyn, came with us and overcame her fear of heights enough to climb all the way to the top of the 60+ foot wall on her first go! was very impressive and i have a feeling she'll be back! :)

Otherwise, everything is GOOD to say the least. enjoyed the more relaxing weekend in daejeon quite a bit as it will be the last one for a while - some wild and crazy weekend adventures come up each of the next 5 or 6 ending with two glorious weekends back home and adding another little sis to the family - no my mom's not pregnant.... i mean Michelle is marrying Tony.

Speaking of Mama, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MA!!! you're the best and I love you a ton!! Thank you sooo much for all the love and support over the years! i'll give you a call in the (my) morning (your Sunday evening).

SUMMERTIME!! GO LIVE!

Weekend perfection!

Well, these past few days have been unexpectedly amazing without even leaving Daejeon!

Korea is mostly mountains which leaves only about 30% of the total land available for buildings to accomodate the more than 50 million residents. And it's only half the size of Minnesota to begin with. To put it into perspective; picture cutting Minnesota in half; then, take away 70% of the land and make it too mountainous to do much with. Finally, then; multiply the population of the state by 10! Yeah, 50 million people in an useable area about the size of New Jersey.

I'm sure you get the idea... there's not a lot of space that goes to waste here! Businesses stacked on top of eachother for 8 or more stories, generically identical skyscrapper apartment building complexes as far as you can see, elevators to move your car up and down in the parking ramp because they didn't have room for an exit when they built it, cars parked on the street, sidewalk, driveways and alleys 3 or more deep with no way out. It's crazy here! it seems that most cars leave a contact cell phone number in driverside window of their car so that they could be reached if one of the dozens of cars they just parked in needs to leave (imagine that??). The streets are narrow, the buildings tall and the people in a hurry! keeps things interesting!!

So with all the crowding, i'm sure you can imagine that there is little to no room left for golf-courses. Korea's solution? Screen golf!!

It's not unheard of back home, i know. But these things are impressively accurate from driving to putting! as with almost everywhere, you are free to bring a backpack full of beer, snacks and soju and enjoy as you please! golf for a couple hours or as long as you make it take to get through 9 holes for about 14 dollars each!

This has become our new Thursday night tradition recently! picture above to prove how terrible my stroke still is despite increasing the practice! :)

Saturday morning allowed me to find some incredible running trails along the Han river about a half mile from my house! As I got further away from the downtown area, paved river path turned into shoddy bricks, turned into dirt trails, turned into full-fledged mountain hiking/running/mnt biking trails!! i ended up on top of a mountain before i ever could bring myself to turn around and got waaaay more of a workout that day than i had bargained for when i set out. good thing too because i've recently registered for a half marathon in Seoul at the end of this month! :)

After that, Outback steakhouse with my babe and lots of darts and beer to follow!

Sunday was sent from Heaven as i met up with some climbing folk i had met at the bars here and they took me to the Daejeon climbing wall!!!! a more than 60-foot wall put up by the city, totally free and open every day about 4 subway stops from me! SWEET GLORY!!!

ISN'T IT LOVELY???? :)

We got Sarah back in the action too! she hadn't climbed for a couple years since college but jumped right back in and looked like a natural after getting her feet off the ground!! very excited to have met a dozen AWESOME new climber folks here in my city just as the summer is starting up!!!

Then off to the Daejeon Hanwa Eagles basball stadium for some 'triple-A' equivalent baseball with Sarah, muc and company! picture the St Paul Saints prices and sized ball-park paired with Viking-serious fans! These people are NUTS about their semi-pro baseball. The game went to extra innings and the crowd was insanely into the action the whole time so of course we had a blast.... oh did I mention; once again FEEL FREE TO BRING YOUR OWN BEER!! that's right, byob (or snacks or a whole meal - anything) to beautiful summer baseball!

Some St Paul schwennies reppin' the Twinks in S.K.

A quote came over me while I was running on Saturday morning that I thought i might share: "It's better to die living than to live a whole life like you're already dead!"

Cheers, thanks for checking in!! :)