Weekend Warriors

Hi everyone,

Wow!  What a weekend!  I'll start off with the most obvious starting point, formerly #18 Wisconsin knocking off #1 Ohio State at Camp Randall in Madison!  A huge victory for the Badgers and I can definitely say I wish I was back in college to experience the after-party and festivities that went on well into Sunday morning back on campus.  For anyone that wasn't able to see the game or didn't read/hear about it, here's a recap and highlights from the game:

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=30289027.

Given that there is a huge Badger group teaching over here, we decided we had to find a place to watch the game.  Thankfully we were able to all get together at Sam Ryan's in Itaewon (이태원) yesterday (Sunday) afternoon to watch the game.  I came straight from frisbee, where my team, Team Squid, finally got our first victory of fall league, which was long overdue.  There were roughly 30 of us from Wisconsin at the bar watching the game and the atmosphere definitely made it feel like we were all back in Madison.  It was a great way to continue what was already a pretty great weekend.

The weekend started off well with payday last Friday, always a good thing.  I had to own up to a little bet that I made with Dave and so we went for the first half of our bet for a nice steak dinner at VIPS (a Korean steak chain restaurant) and then onto the PS3 room to try out the new Winning Eleven soccer game.  Those of you over the age of 40 can go ahead and laugh or scoff that this was legitimately on our agenda for the evening (and the weekend) but believe it or not, video games are a part of my generation's culture and how could we pass up a new sports game.  Plus, my interest in soccer has grown exponentially since playing FIFA and Winning.  Anyways, after some gaming we met up with friends in Hongdae (홍대) and hung out for the rest of the evening.  Saturday brought us to the frisbee field for some competitive pick-up games on a lovely autumn afternoon.  After the games we cruised to Itaewon for some delicious galbi dinner and some much needed jjimjilbang cleansing before heading out for the evening.  Two of the girls that came over with Dave and I, Jessie and Izzy, were having a double birthday bash and we met up with them for the rest of the evening.  Sunday was fall league and here's a picture of me from our game:

Getting the disc in power position, nice!

 

It was another great day for frisbee and it felt great to finally put all the pieces together for a win.  Next weekend is the league tournament so hopefully we can go on a little run and string together a few wins in a row.  Great to see the Vikes win this morning over breakfast, even if it was an ugly win, it still counts as a "W."  Awesome to see that the Leafs are 4-0, what a change from the beginning of last season, hopefully they can keep it up.  In other pretty exciting news, I'm going to a frisbee tournament in the Philippines, just outside Manila, at the end of November.  I'm pretty pumped to check off another country and see where all those great (well, most of them) nannies of mine came from (Cecilia, Josie, Fe, Delores...that's all I can remember).  I'm about 150 pages into The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and it is definitely a page-turner, very captivating writing and lots of intrigue.  I'm looking forward to reading some more before bed tonight.  I think that's all from here, as always, here are the goodies!

What I'm listening to: "The Boy With the Arab Strap" by Belle and Sebastian
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYZPTTgMGCk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVAZXZfIlNk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU5B53b9ntQ

Oh yeah, and Dad says hello:

Re-orientation and October Days

Hey all,

Sorry for the longer delay in between posts.  I haven't really had a whole lot to write about lately, not because I haven't been doing exciting things the past week and a bit, but more because I've been doing many things and haven't really had a good chance to sit down and collect all my thoughts together for a cohesive post, but here goes nothing. 

Let's see, on the weekends, I've been getting into a pretty good routine of playing Ultimate Frisbee.  Sundays there has been fall league that goes until the beginning of November and that has been pretty good, even though my teams hasn't won a game yet, hopefully this weekend we'll finally break on through to the wins column.  There has also been pick-up Ultimate on Saturdays the past few weekends because the weather has been pretty good here, much like it has been at home.  I've been spending some more time around Suwon on the weekends, mostly due to the increased social scene (not Broken) in the city.  In other big news, last Saturday night there was a trivia night at a popular Canadian pub/tavern/bar (pick your favorite title) called Rocky Mountain Tavern in Itaewon.  Some of you may remember this place as the establishment where yours truly celebrated a Maple Leaf gold medal for the red and white in hockey at the Olympics back in March.  Anyways, let's cut to the chase.  Years of preparation for such events under the strict tutelage of such well-renowned masters as Uncle Niel, Dad, and Zaide had me prepared to take on the greatest challengers.  The theme of the first round was music (Ummm...can you say domination?), the second round was geography and world facts (right up my alley), the third round was celebrities (Robyn, I could've used a lifeline here) and last was a potpourri round.  We ran away with a victory and the prize was great.  I knew all those hours of playing and honing the trivia skills would come in handy eventually.

Last Monday and Tuesday I had to go to a re-orientation training session designed for native English teachers who resigned with GEPIK.  I was ok with missing school for 2 days and it was good to see some faces that I haven't seen in a while and meet some new teachers as well.  The highlight of the workshop was the session on Korean pop culture and how to incorporate different aspects into your lessons to connect better with your students.  I promise I'll add some goodies at the end of the post.  On Saturday I had to report to work at an English Festival in Byeongjeom (병점), which is pretty close to Suwon (수원)  and my school.  There were 7 other elementary schools from my district at the festival and we each had a booth where the students (my advanced class) could do an activity.  My booth was a 'design a badge' booth where students could choose one design to draw on a badge that they could wear.  It seemed to go over pretty well and I got to leave early, which I appreciated.  Another school's booth was a letter writing activity and my students wrote me some very cute and funny letters.

Now, finally to sports.  I refuse to talk about the Twins too much, let's just say that was a let down, even if it was expected.  And how about the always scandal-ridden Vikings?  At least this guy is back

Good start for the Leafs, let's see how long that lasts for.  As for the Wild, I think they're happy to be back in North America.  The Badgers made the Gophers look even worse than they already have this season, it must feel great to be 1-5 with half the season still to go.  Why Maturi hasn't let Tim Brewster go yet is a mystery to me.  Next up for Wisconsin, newly anointed #1 Ohio State, LET'S GO BADGERS!!!  Also, the Flaming Lips are coming to Seoul on November 20th, so I figured I'd treat myself to a belated birthday present.  That's all from this side of the world.  Here are the goodies:

What I'm listening to: "What a Wonderful World" by Sam Cooke
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6F1zG0gKNk


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ9myHhpS9s&p=E7988B12AC73F6C1&playnext=1&index=32

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96I1GiHmNG4&p=A7A2D39329E25D38&playnext=1&index=14


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq-W-4Izjwc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1RlH97xTI4&feature=channel

The state song of Oklahoma:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk76rsV71S0

K-Pop:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTw-UM5Jy4E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTbC1UsBtek