Passover and Jeju Dirty Dozens Tournament 2011

Hey all,

I apologize again for another long overdue blog post.  I got caught up doing some other things (frisbee practices, dinners, GRE study, watching NHL and NBA playoffs, etc...) and ended up forgetting to put something new up. But, the good news is that now I have some free time to get a few new posts up on the blog.  As some of you know, I just got back from a trip to Beijing over the long weekend that we had in South Korea, so I'll have another new post up, hopefully in a day or two, about that trip.  For now, I'll just stick with the month of April (Passover and the Jeju frisbee tournament).

I know some of my dedicated readers were concerned about how I was going to celebrate Passover in Korea this year.  Last year, as some of you might remember, I went to the Air Force base in Osan for Seder.  Unfortunately, this year, Seder was being held on a Friday, instead of Monday or Tuesday, so I couldn't make it down to the base, because I was flying out to Jeju that night.  Instead, on Tuesday night, we had a mini-Seder at my friend Raef's apartment.  For the first time in a few years, I actually made something to bring to Seder.  I found a pretty easy charoset recipe (which is pretty easy to make in general) and made a pretty solid batch.  We also had some chicken, delicious potatoes, some great vegetables, and of course, matzo ball soup.  Seder was very enjoyable and I wish I had taken some pictures so you could see how we celebrated.  Alas, you'll just have to use your imaginations.  The best part about Seder was probably the great leftovers I got to take home with me.  It was a full week's worth of good food.

In the middle of Passover, we had the Jeju Dirty Dozens Frisbee Tournament (April 22-24).  I left for Jeju Friday after school and got in at a decent time Friday night, enough time to have a little fun at the registration party and catch up with some friends who I hadn't seen in a little while.  The whole weekend was pretty windy, which as you can imagine, plays a huge factor at a frisbee tournament.  Luckily for my team, it was a positive factor for most of the weekend.  Our team was seeded 8th at the tournament and we lucked out in being able to sleep in Saturday morning, because our first game wasn't until the second round of games.  Our first game on Saturday was against Huwa (from Shanghai).  We came out pretty strong, thanks to the hard work of our zone defense and took half time 6-4 and continued our strong play in the second half to win our first game.  The second game of Saturday was against Shiok (from Singapore).  They were a little tougher of an opponent, but again, the zone defense played a huge role in our team's success on the field.  We took half time again and eventually won our second game as well.  Next up for us was the #1 seed in the tournament and the top team in our pool, Iku (from Japan).  We started the game trading points to 2-2, but then Iku got out on a run and took half 3-6.  We came out flat in the second half and Iku ended up winning 5-9.  After completing pool play, we had a cross-over game (played for Sunday's seeding) against Whisby Nation, who had already won their pool.  We started off trading points with them as well, up to 4-4, but then Whisby started pulling away.  They took half 4-6 and in the second half, we ran out of steam and lost.  Yet, we were pretty happy with our overall play on Saturday, going 2-2, meaning we had already beaten our seed and were now seeded 4th going into Sunday.

There was a tournament dinner and party on Saturday night, as per usual at frisbee gatherings, and the theme this year was mustaches.  Here is just a sample of how people incorporated the theme.

The party didn't last too long on Saturday night, mostly because people were tired out from a day of Ultimate and were gearing up for a big day on Sunday.

Sunday was a big day for all teams, including ours.  We weren't just content with beating our seed at the tournament; now that we had accomplished that goal, we looked to contend for finals on Sunday.  Our first game Sunday was the quarter-finals against SARS (a mix of players from Beijing and Hong Kong).  This game was super close the entire way through and after going down 5-7, we scored two points in a row to take the game to universe point (sudden death).  We ended up winning the game on universe point 8-7, which was huge for our team.  Here's a pic of me actually jumping for a "d;" don't let the picture fool you, I actually got the "d," just with my right hand.

It may appear like I lost the "d" here,
but I actually hit the disc with my right hand.

After beating SARS, we had another shot at Iku, who we had lost to on Saturday.  We started this game very strong, playing very aggressive offense and defense and went up 6-4, before letting up three points in a row to give up half time 6-7.  The second half was a determined battle between both sides, who traded points until Iku got a second upwind break point, which was just enough for them to pull away from our team.  In the end, we lost 9-10, but it was a very hard fought game for both teams.  A loss in the semis meant that we had finished tied for 3rd place with the Seoul A team.  Overall, Jeju was a pretty awesome experience for our team, who finally came together after a month or so of indifferent practices and played one full and exciting weekend of Ultimate.

Since Jeju, life has been pretty good.  Spring has definitely sprung here in Korea, although the last few days have been a bit wet.  Last week was a pretty easy week for teaching.  My school had Sports Day practices almost everyday, which meant that on Wednesday and Friday, my classes were cancelled.  In addition, last Thursday was Children's Day, so we didn't have school.  Just by luck, Children's Day coincided with Cinco de Mayo and one of the Mexican restaurants in Seoul held an outdoor music and food celebration for the holiday.  The weather was really nice and it ended up being a great way to spend the day off.  That's all from here for now, a full write-up of the Beijing trip will be up in the next few days, so stay tuned.