Irish Football in Korea: never better

We went to Suwon last weekend, a city just south of Seoul, for the Asian Gaelic Games. During the summer, a group of Irish came together to form a team of Gaelic Footballers. They accumulated more members (of various nationalities) over the next few months, training every Saturday. We had a mini-tournament in August with the other teams in Korea, but on October 15th, we participated in the largest Gaelic football tournament in Asia, with teams from 14 different countries like Qatar, Singapore, Mongolia, Taiwan and Japan.  Busan team didn't have high expectations, as we were newly formed and most of us were still learning the basic skills... and rules of the game. But we made it to the QUARTER FINALS! And the men's team went to the semi's! It was a great weekend, but after 5 games we were exhausted.

We owe our 3/5 wins to Jackie, the only one among us who has any idea what she's doing - but more than that, she played in the senior county league back in Ireland. She's good (see above, the blond amazon annihilating everyone in her path). She has coached and encouraged us the whole way and we can only hope she comes back next year to do it again!

For those who are curious: In a nutshell, Gaelic football is rugby and soccer with a bit of basketball and volleyball thrown in. We score points in and over a goal and between rugby posts and the ball is moved around with our fists or feet. Here's a good clip to see it in action. We've had so much fun training and I've met the best group of women. I can't wait to start again next spring!

*First two photos taken by Kyle Schmitz, our faithful football photographer.

and to the left, our most exciting exhibit: the Gift Shop!

Guess what I did last weekend?

I went to the aquarium! We're into the summer rainy season now and Busan has a lovely aquarium, right on the beach. Can't go swimming? You can watch other things enjoy the water!

 

 Sandra and I made sure to arrive early to see the shark feeding show. A brave diver sinks down to the bottom of the tank with fish tucked under his armpits and another diver stands at a distance with a long stick to fend off the man-eating sharks! All the fish swarm him, and the sting rays flap past, back and forth, nosing in on the scraps. 

Everyone braces themselves for the sharks' arrival. Finally one approaches.... she's closing in... the diver holds out the fish...  and the shark sniffs it and swims away.

I have to say, as hyped up and terrifying as sharks are supposed to be, these lethargic nurse sharks seemed pretty content to glide slowly around the tank half asleep. I guess I would too if I were getting fed dead fish every day at regularly scheduled intervals.

The Giant Grouper and the sting rays were the most fun to watch... and I also enjoyed the deadly Lionfish, because I'd recently read a funny article on Slate about how we should be eating them.

It's supposed to be raining again this weekend. I'm going to have to make a list of rainy day activities. This was the best so far!

A Walk Across the Water

Two weekends ago the city of Busan held a "bridge walk" which invited everyone to take a morning stroll across Korea's second longest bridge. It was just over 7 kilometers of marching on a blustery, foggy morning, but the views were lovely and it was the most productive I've ever felt at noon on a Sunday.

There were a lot of families out for a day trip, and when we got to the center of the bridge we saw that many of them had stopped to have lunch and listen to the opera entertainment. They had a small orchestra set up and big speakers projecting across the bridge. I can't think of a better way to celebrate making the halfway point of a 7k walk!

Afterward we settled on the beach and had some brunch and beer. It was a wonderful way to spend a lazy Sunday. Sandra and I took a few more photos and you can see them here.

Traditional Mid-Year Hospital Stay

So a lot's happened in the last month! Most notably, I was hospitalized for 12 days after I went in to see about this "cold that just wouldn't go away."

 Turns out it was acute tonsillitis! And while I was less than thrilled about the mandatory 3 days of IV antibiotics, you can imagine my reaction when I was informed I also had acute hepatitis (though luckily not viral). The doctor hypothesized that my long-term fever and few weeks popping pills to relieve symptoms had aggravated my liver and spleen. Every other day we did more blood tests and every other day I was told I'd need to stay longer!

The first few days were beyond miserable, but after a week I was feeling so much better that I  started to enjoy the meditation time. The 6 month mark is good timing for a little break and bedrest. I made friends with some of the patients and their families who were immediately concerned I wasn't eating enough. They would bring me oranges and chocopies and mime eating whenever we passed in the hallway, while expertly maneuvering our IV bags to avoid collision. The nurses would slip me cookies and juice. One nurse made me a sandwich! Another little girl started visiting my room when she came to see her grandmother down the hall and we drew pictures and played cards.



By the end I was almost sad to go. I had gotten used to the visitors, the pill regimen, the meals delivered to my bed every 5 hours (like magic!). Even the 6am wake-up to take blood samples no longer phased me! 12 days in a hospital and it's like the outside world no longer exists!









Of course, it also helped to have such a fantastic girlfriend to bring me food and bottle after bottle of 100% juice from organic grapes etc... 

Or take over entertaining my guests when I got too tired.






I made my nurses a card when I left illustrating all the their contributions to my wellbeing: shots, IVs, pills, juice and sandwiches. They were so friendly despite their extremely limited English and constantly tried to cheer me up. "Fighting!" they would say with a fist in the air as they came to administer a shot in my butt. Another nurse told me I could smell her rosemary plant if I felt stressed because it always makes her feel calm. They were the sweetest. They laminated my card and put it on the wall.



And magically, what began as a nightmare, became something really great: a time to reflect on my time in Korea, meet fantastic people, and give my body a little break. I hope I never forget the experience. It also made me appreciate walking around unattached to an IV bag a lot more! The first thing I did on my first weekend out of the hospital was go to the beach. The weather's starting to be really nice!

Solar New Year in China!

This happened ages ago. I know it. You know it. And, finally, the much anticipated photos of this adventure have been posted. I've sorted through them and these are the least blurry of the bunch (poor quality owing to my pawn shop camera that is on its way out!) However, I have recently been gifted a new, better camera, and I'm already more motivated to share more about Korea. So stay tuned :)

The Shanghai pictures are HERE.  (They are hosted by Facebook, but you should not need a Facebook account to see them. Let me know if you have any trouble.)

Hills of Hadan

The entire city of Busan has been built up between and around little clusters of small mountains and I love that hiking is so available within the city itself. I haven't done any of the larger peaks, but I went for a walk yesterday up a small mountain behind my apartment building. This is the view of my neighborhood:

 

And these are the lovely little trails that run along the ridge of the hills. It's been so so cold lately, but no snow. Not many leaves either, just a lot of brown : )

Spam: For Your Smile

Koreans seem to love Spam, have I mentioned? It's often served next to rice, sometimes it's fried in egg and eaten as a side, and it's a main ingredient in some soups. I was beginning to accept their bizarre love of this canned, precooked meat product until I walked into the store the other day and found this:

 

What is this, you ask? Why, this is SPAM: For Your Smile! A giftbox of luncheon meats perfect for the Spam-lover in your life! Nothing makes your face light up like opening a birthday present full of canned "meat." Or if you're looking for more variety, you can get the Dongwon brand luncheon meat gift package that includes cans of tuna!

 I know what's on my Christmas list next year! 

"Teacher! He say me grandfather fish!"

Three months in and I’m relaxing into this position. I won’t lie and say that it wasn’t a rough transition at times- in fact it still is- but all things considered, I enjoy the challenge of my hectic job.

Last week, my boss told me that because the readings I am teaching are so difficult that the Korean co-teachers would touch on the material every week to strengthen comprehension. It’s only a few paragraphs and it’s true that a Korean can probably explain in 5 minutes or less what takes me half an hour to outline in caveman English: “First match, win, Second… Two… two match, lose! Why he lose match? Change computer! Computer change!” Anyway, I continued my classes spending more time on reading fluency than actual comprehension until two days later when my co-teacher, “Lucy,” asked for a word.

LUCY: What are you teaching [6 grade class]?

ME:  Oh, we’re doing a unit a day, why?

LUCY: They students told me you were just reading the text and answering the questions.

ME: Yes... That is what we do every unit.

LUCY: Well they don’t understand. You can explain to them?

ME: Uh… yes? But it’s really hard for me to explain in English.

LUCY: Okay, good. You explain to them.

~Conversation Over~

Effectively this reverses my boss’s previous assertion that I would have help, but I know better than to do anything other than nod. It doesn’t matter. We’re going to slog through these units the best we can and so help me I’m going to have their workbooks all filled out at the end of the month!! It’s just funny because it is not an uncommon occurrence and now a 5 minute task to promote understanding has become a 30 minute battle for the attention of my overworked, 12-year old students. I take their cell phones, I  jump up and down, I sing the material, I draw outrageous pictures on the board… In 3 months time I’ve become the fastest improviser you’ve ever met. (Many days I’m handed the material 2 minutes before class starts!) But come on, it’s not the most efficient system.

One time Lucy conceded that, “Yes, it is a little harder for you to control the classroom. But it is hard for everyone.” At the time, I thought maybe this was true. Of course, I know that what the Korean teachers deal with is nothing compared to the sheer chaos that goes on during some of my classes. Not all of them, no- not even the majority, but enough to keep me on my toes and constantly changing my approach. This, my friends, is what you call a challenging job. 

And now I know from experience that there is no way to even approximate the environment inside any other teacher’s classroom. Walking down the halls of our English floor I hear silence and occasional Korean instruction. Peer inside the rooms and dark heads of hair are bent over English workbooks. Studious. Calm.

Enter my classroom and the noise is deafening. In order to cope with one class in particular, I have begun to imagine that all 10 of the eleven-year old boys are autistic. They’re up out of their seats, climbing under desks, yelling at each other, punching each other,  pulling on my arm, running up to the board to draw pictures, stealing each other’s pencils, throwing things. Screaming, “TEACHER, TEACHER, TEACHER, TEACHER, TEACHER, TEACHER, TEACHER!!” so much that I have effectively separated myself from the word; I almost don’t hear it anymore. I tell them to be quiet, try to reward them for calm behavior but it has no effect. Two of them sit silently and patiently while the rest make crazy noises and jump up suddenly, unprovoked, to dance and scream in the aisles. When I get one of them to read, I cannot hear him above the din. The class takes place in the only classroom with a projector which is yet another cause for distraction as the students are forever seeking out the remote control. Nothing amuses them more than seeing the “SAMSUNG” logo appear in blue on my head as I explain what a lobster is. When I steal it back and place it on the ledge of the chalkboard, they “accidentally” fling an eraser up by my feet and excuse themselves to retrieve it while trying to sneak a hand around my back, grasping at their true target. And it Never. Gets. Old. Frequently, it’s so much nonsense all at once, I just burst into laughter. This does not help my stern teacher façade and may be why none of them take me seriously. That and the fact that they don’t understand most of the things that come out of my mouth. Even when… me… talk… slow… like… robot. And gesture! My life is a perpetual game of charades!!

But the bell rings and I deep breathe as they chant their Goodbye Song that goes something like, “See you! Hab a na-ice day! Dank you! Por your! Teach-Ing!” Scurrying away, they shout “Bye teacher!!” with the biggest grins you’ve ever seen and I can’t be mad. (…Unless, of course, they’ve made someone cry. But then it would just be another Thursday!)