Jeju Island and the Hospital

Last weekend, we made plans to head out to Jeju Island after class on Saturday, and then get back to Daegu Monday at 12:00pm (I work at 3:30). Everything worked out totally fine, and the island was awesome and weirdly dead because it was the off-season. I like trips during the off-season (look through my pictures in Nova Scotia), so it was awesome for me. Everything was really cheap and readily available with no lines or screaming children. We saw all the sights that we wanted to see (photos at this link: My Facebook), and we got to stay in a nice hotel for cheap. The next day we woke up totally refreshed and ate a huge breakfast. When we arrived at the airport, we suddenly realized the exhausting day that we were about to embark on.

We walked up to the Korean Airlines counter and their was NO one in line. It didn't really dawn on us why until the counter lady had a terrified look on her face when we asked her to check into our flight to Daegu. This was at 10:15, and our flight was to be at 11:10. She couldn't tell us that our flight was cancelled, so she typed a bunch of stuff and called her colleague over to break the news. Chuck ran to the bathroom when we heard this news. We all had to be at work at 3:30pm. We needed to get off of the island and to our town in the middle of the country in 4 hours. We checked flights to Busan (one hour train ride to Daegu)... cancelled. The next flight to Seoul (Gimpo) with Korean Air was at 12:49. That wouldn't be enough time to get to Daegu. We frantically started to check other airlines. We found one plane that was leaving for Seoul in 30 minutes (it was 10:30 now). They sold us tickets and we had to run to the gate. The departure time for the flight from the southern most part of South Korea to the northern most part of the country was at 11:00. The ticket said the arrival time was at 12:05 (this must be some kind of miracle right? No, its just that the Korean airlines don't take an hour to leave the gate and they don't take an hour taxiing to the next gate). We landed at 12:05 and we were in a taxi by 12:15 heading to the KTX train station. So far so good.

At the KTX train station they had the next two trains, 13:00 and 13:30, listed as sold out. We NEEDED to get on that 13:00 train. We were contemplating getting on and just playing dumb but Chuck talked to the ticket counter. It was 12:51 at this time. They sold us standing room tickets (we had to sit between the coach cars [inside of course]). We ran and hopped on the train. The arrival time for Daegu was 14:49 (2:49pm). "We'll make it!" At 1:00pm I called Young and asked him to grab a work shirt for me out of my apartment and bring it to work with him (we were all clean and pampered because of the fancy hotel that we stayed at the night before). We got to Dongdaegu KTX station. I ran to the subway. It was a straight shot to work on that subway line. I said "bye" to the other three. They were going to make it, too. I showed up to work at 3:30. Perfect. I was on time, and had time to make my print-outs. Except something went horribly wrong.

I showed up to a flustered mess at work. They had been stressing about me and trying to get a hold of me. "Why didn't you call?!?!" They had cancelled my class. Someone had caught wind that the Daegu Airport closed and assumed that I wasn't going to make it. My phone was dead, so they called and called. I called Young using Emma's phone at 1 to ask him to grab a shirt, but didn't think to call anyone else. Why didn't I call anyone else? Because I had spent my whole day ensuring that I was going to get there in time, and I did. If I was stuck up at the airport in Jeju, I would have had time to find a phone charger, charge it up and let them know that I was going to miss class. I didn't call because I was going to make it. I'm not going to call work to let them know that I am going to make it on time today... That leads me to the next development this week:

I ruptured the tendon that leads to my big toe on Wednesday morning. I was cooking breakfast and I dropped the bowl that I was mixing the eggs in. Somehow the bowl landed and broke into 4 pieces on my foot. One of the pieces sliced my foot, deep. I hopped to the bathroom and spent 30 minutes trying to stop the bleeding. I called Brent. He was at the hospital, so I asked him to bring me some gauze and tape. He showed up to what looked like a murder scene in my apartment. We got the bleeding stopped and cleaned the wound with alcohol. He suggested that I go to the hospital, so I did. I hobbled down to the hospital (about a 20 minute hobbling distance). When I showed up, they were closed for lunch. I had to go back at 2:00. So I staggered back home and made it back at 2:00, dressed for work (again, I had to work at 3:30). The doctor was nice and speaks decent English. He immediately said that my wound needed to be sutured. When he started the surgery, he noticed that my tendon was ruptured. After making me look at it (::shudder::), he sutured the tendon up with 13 stitches, then 26 stitches on the top of my foot. They got me in a splint and a boot and I am now on crutches.

It's been an interesting week.

Trying to not spend any money today...

We get paid tomorrow and I have been spending money like crazy lately. I want to hold on to some so that I have some room to work with when I get done here. Today and yesterday I have been going through the day trying not to spend any money at all before work. Yesterday I succeeded because my iPod was reformatted when I hooked it up to Emma's computer, so I had to spend the whole day working with my computer and my shotty external hard-drive. Today, I have had nothing to do. I went on a long run hoping that that would take up a decent amount of time, but it only took up about 40 minutes. So I have had to spend the rest of the day playing around on the computer listening to music and searching out new music. It has been an relaxing day so why do I feel like a bum?

The work schedule during the last half of last week and last weekend was totally irregular. The switch of routine made it feel like a bit of a break which was good. Travis, Emma and I hung out most of those days and nights. We went for a hike, we played a lot of darts, ate about 8 octopuses total and went for another trip to Gyeongju (on Sunday). I got to hit a huge prayer bell. That was fun.

This weekend (Saturday night, Sunday and Monday morning), Chuck, Travis, Emma and I are flying to Jeju Island. Everyone who I have told has said to wait until it gets warmer, but I really like seeing places on the off-season. I'm looking forward to this one!

Here are some pictures that I hijacked from Emma from last weekend:

Anyone want "itarian" tonight?

Wish I didn't have that goofball smile in this picture...

Bulguksa: A temple built in 550 AD and renovated ever since.

Bulguksa

Ringing a huge bell on top of a mountain that looks over the sea.

Dongdongju: Traditional creamy rice wine

Catching Up

I didn't do much last weekend. Everyone went out to celebrate the end of intensives on Saturday night. I slept until noon on Sunday, which I hate doing. I told Emma that we needed to get out and do something, so we ended up heading down to Busan to see the aquarium and to get fresh sea food. The sun had just gone down by the time we got down there. We went to the beach and walked around for a bit, then went into the aquarium. Which is pretty similar to Denver's Ocean Journey (or whatever its called now). They actually had a lot of awesome exhibits, like the worlds most toxic fishes, penguins, otters, sun fish and a huge shark and ray tank/tunnel. Oh and jelly fish. That was awesome! I really want to get a jelly fish tank when I get rich. Then we went for sea food on the ocean. That was obviously good.

The first half of the week was typical, just teaching/babysitting, but yesterday (Thursday) was Lunar New Year. Everyone in the country had the day off and nothing was open. It was seriously like walking around in a zombie (pronounced "jomby" to Korean kids) movie. I went for a hike with Emma and Travis over on their side of town. It was warm and sunny out. We then went downtown to try to find something to do. We found some Seafood, some coffee and some bar games. Now, to teach two more days before the real weekend. I think I may be doing a quick trip to Gyeongju to check out some of the major stuff that we missed a month ago.

Just Cruisin'

Today is my last day of intensives (extended workdays)! Hooray!

Now I can get my mornings back to myself to do whatever it is that I used to do with my mornings. Usually sleep in and then go to the gym, I guess. Meh, it's just nice not to constantly have somewhere to be. Exciting.

Last Sunday, Young and I got up early again, for the third weekend in a row, to go skiing. This time we went to a new resort, well actually an old resort. It's called Muju-resort. It is the lowest in latitude (not ever a good thing for snow conditions), the highest in altitude (makes for weird snow/ice) and the only resort in a national park. It was strange seeing hikers come up the slopes that people were skiing (or falling with extreme speeds) down. I saw some heroic crashes, the kind that the parties involved don't get up or even move for about 10 minutes. The rental facilities there are horrible. They tried to give me 153cm skis. I normally ski on 180s, and thats if they are twin tips. I am 187cms tall, and they wanted me skiing on 153s. I was able to haggle them up to their largest skis in the house. This pair of 183s that were awkwardly standing alone in the back of the racks. Something should have struck me as weird about this.

On the second run down the hill from the top of a 4.3km run, I was leaning into my second turn and my binding fell off. Yep, my whole left binding. It did give me a chance to look like Lane Meyer in Better Off Dead (skiing on one ski). I somehow McGiver'ed it to mildly stay on for the rest of the run. Then I went in to the lodge and attempted to explain, then gave up explaining and started repeating "new skis, new skis, new skis". They put me on a pair of the next longest skis, 160s. That was at noon. I was not having a good day. Then it started snowing, I found an awesome corner of the mountain with a bunch of double blacks (basically steep blues) fed by the only lift with no line. The rest of the day was actually awesome.

The boys and I also watched Korea lose in the Asian cup game against Japan. That didn't make anyone happy. Though it was fun to pretend that I know how to understand sports again.

'Til next time!

Korea Extreme!

Just watched Aspen Extreme again, it's been 20 years since i saw it last. The crevasse and avalanche scenes some how aren't as real or terrifying anymore...

We went skiing again last weekend at high 1. This weekend, I think Young, Brent and I are going to Yongpyong, at least I hope so. I have been indoctrinating myself with awesome ski movies throughout the week. I need to get out and reenact that awesome "Powder 8 Competition" ending scene.

Other than that, not much news. Work has been kicking my butt. These long weeks are almost over though, just one more week until it's back to normal.

I'll sign off with an awesome quote from Aspen Extreme (1993):

"Can you swim?"

"Like a fish." ::jumps in the pool fully clothed::

Skiing!

Last Sunday, Young, Emma, Chuck, Travis everyone from Sigi and I went skiing with their hapkido instructor. We left at 4am on a 4 hour bus ride and got to the resort at about 8am. We rented everything (they gave me HUGE parachute pants). We had a blast. Some people were not having a ton of fun (Travis), but most of us were smart enough to wear coats. The resort is called High 1. I'm still unsure where it was. Young and I are heading up there again this weekend.

Sorry for the short entry, I have to get to bed. I've been meaning to write since I got back on Sunday night. 

Here are some pictures of High 1 that I stole from the internet:

New Year at Gyeongju

Well, I would love to write about Friday night but it seems that I hit my head and lost my memory (not really, mom).

Anyway, moving on to Saturday, Jan. 1. I had made a promise to myself to wake up and spend the day in Gyeongju with Brent. Gyeongju is an hour away from Daegu on bus, and it is highly recommended by every Korea tour book. An awesome thing about the bus ride is that it only cost about 4 dollars each. We spent the day wandering around the town and eating ssambap (I recommend it). It was a beautiful day. We then went to our hostel which is tucked inside the older part of the city. The hostel building and courtyard was about 150 years old and it is built around a well that is the same age. It was a pretty cool place. Emma got into town after she got off work and we walked around the town for a bit before heading back to the hostel.

On Sunday, we had a bunch of options of places to spend the day. We decided to head out to the coast to see the worlds only underwater tomb, The Underwater Tomb of King Munmu. The bus ride out to the coast was one hour long and it cost $1.50. We spent a good part of the day walking along the coast and eating fresh seafood. In the afternoon, we headed back into Gyeongju and decided to try to find the museum. We ended up not finding it but we found a really great area called Anapji pond. It has been reconstructed to resemble what it looked like during the second and third century. It was beautiful at night! Then, we went back to Daegu.

This month, I teach intensives which means that I teach 12 hour days on Tuesday and Thursday on top of my normal load. I taught my first one today and I'm actually liking it. Skiing this weekend!

Pictures that I stole from Emma and Brent:

Our Hostel - Sarangchi

One of the many tombs in Gyeongju

The Underwater Tomb or King Munmu

Brent chasing birds

Me and Brent

Good fresh seafood

Anapji Pond

Anapji Pond