Glory Days

12-03-2011

A lot has happened in three months. Apart from my teaching job, my life and all of the free time in it has been consumed by football. If I'd had a little more discipline and forethought,  I'd have made time to post regular updates of our team's progress this season, chronicling the ups and down of playing American football in Korea. It's too late for that now. The best I can do is to type whatever feelings I have in me right now on Saturday night, 13 hours before I take the field with my teammates to play for the KNFL Championship of Korea. 


Part of me can't believe we made it. The other part still can't even believe I'm playing this sport in this country. Tomorrow will be the biggest game of my whole life. I've played in and won championships in tournaments or city leagues over the years; lots of them. But we weren't on tv. We weren't in newspapers. The only fans who'd come on a regular basis were mom and dad (love y'all). Tomorrow we'll have a few hundred crazy fans coming to watch us and cheer for us to bring home that trophy. I've never played in a game this big, but I don't feel any pressure because I believe in the other 40 guys who I've stood shoulder to shoulder with all year.


My pregame preparations have already been set. I bought my 2L bottle of water and bag of bananas for the guys (first come, first serve). I've got my gameday breakfast lined up for the morning - oatmeal and raisins (thanks to Jenny for the last minute delivery). I just took my dose of Nyquil (8 hours before my wakeup time) to ensure I get a good night's sleep, and I have my Saturday evening movie queued up and ready to go as soon I'm done with this. Every night before a game I've watched a different football movie (Any Given Sunday, The Replacements, The Program, Rudy, The Blind Side, and The Express), but tonight I'm going to watch The Warriors. I've never seen it, and a certain friend is constantly quoting to me a certain famous line from that movie whenever we talk, so tonight is the night. Seems fitting. 

The game will take place on our home field, unlike the last 2 games we played where we had to travel down south to Daegu, a trip that begins for me at 530am and ends after midnight. It'll be nice to sleep in and wake up at 8am for this game. The opponents are the Domino's Breakers. Yes, Domino's pizza is their sponsor. One of our sponsors happens to be Subway, so it's going to be a battle not only for the KNFL Championship, but also for fast food supremacy in Korea. Actually, we just really don't like these guys. They gave us our only loss of the season, 27-28, and now we get another shot at them. Come to think of it, it's a lot like that inevitable LSU-Alabama rematch that's going to take place in January.  Looks like we're Alabama, and we're looking to get even.


So that's it. Because of our loss to the Breakers in the regular season, we had to play last year's defending champions in the semi finals to make it here.  We put them away and now we have one more game to win. They don't like us; we don't like them. It's going to be a hard fight for 60 minutes. I just pray that every player will be able to walk off the field the same way they came on, just with a few more bruises than they had before, and for us, a certain piece of hardware for our coach to put on his mantle. Go Warriors.





 

Five Hundred Bucks

9-26-2011

Last week I had the privilege of doing something great when some players on my football team, the Seoul Warriors (last blog: Working on a Dream), decided to hold a fundraiser for the Pearl S. Buck foundation. It's mission is to support and enrich the lives of orphaned and underprivileged bi-racial children in South Korea. As a foreigner-based team in a Korean football league, it's difficult to gain favor in the eyes of the competition, especially when you're already the best team in the league (we'll prove it this season). As guests in this country and in this league, we have to continuously earn our keep and fight for every inch of respect, both on and off the field. Even then, we've been shown that we will never get a fair shake, even from the refs. Nobody in Korea wants to see us win except for us. For that reason, we have to do what we can to give back to the community, and in doing so build good will and favor among the locals. So we decided to hold this event to not only give some exposure to Pearl S. Buck, but to build a better image and get American football on the map in Korea as well.

The event was called Race to the Top. The idea was that every available player on the team would ask their friends, family and coworkers to sponsor us as we ran up Namsan Mountain to Namsan Tower, the highest point in Seoul. We started the fundraiser about 3 weeks ago, and did the run last Wednesday, Sept. 21st. It was a cool night and a challenging ascent, but we were all in it together. There were news journalists and photographers at the top, as well as a representative from the Pearl S. Buck foundation waiting to greet us. It was a great night and a good little bit of exercise as well.

As for my part in the fundraiser, I sat on my hands for almost 2 weeks because I didn't know how to approach this thing. Since I don't live in Seoul, it was hard to raise money for our team since most folks in my area will probably never even come to a game, and the few people I'd mentioned it to didn't give me much confidence. I was frustrated, and the kids were lined up to get a big fat zero from me because of it. However, on the last morning before I had to submit my pledges, I decided to go for broke. I changed up my approach and decided to send personal facebook messages to the small handful of people I knew in Korea, putting the emphasis completely on the charity while still mentioning my team as the hosts of the event. I honestly wasn't expecting anything, but I wanted to at least say I'd tried. What happened after that left me in awe. It was slow at first, but one by one people started to respond to my messages. $10 here, $20 there. I was over $100 in a couple of hours. Then, two amazing friends of mine, Ary and Cheng, were inspired enough to ask their friends on my behalf if they would participate. $300 was raised between the two of them, and by the next morning when I had to submit my pledges, I had $500 total! I was ecstatic. If I'd gotten my act together sooner, I know I could have raised a lot more money, but it's much better than the goose egg I had the day before. It was exciting to see so many people willing to contribute, and all of the folks who participated were happy to do so as well.

Of all the people I sent messages to (roughly 30 or so), more than half of them responded. Of the ones who responded, 100% donated money to the charity. That's the part that touched me the most. True friends are ones that care about what you care about. I found out how many real friends I had that day in Korea, and it was a marvel to behold. I'll never forget it, guys. As for the rest of the team, we raised close to $2000 altogether. It could have been much more, but it turns out that military personnel can't participate in fundraisers, which left about ten of us to raise money. However, many of the soldiers still did the run, so we had a nice turnout.

We presented the check to Pearl S. Buck on Sunday at our season opening game against the league champion Daegu Phoenix on our home field at Yongsan Military Base in Seoul. We had around 300 fans in attendance, and even the Korea Herald was present to cover the event. I'm sure the publicity and exposure they received will be worth much more than what we were able to contribute. Oh, and by the way, we beat Daegu 31-7. I couldn't think of a better way to start the season.

Working On A Dream

9-24-2011

It's 8:12 pm on Saturday night. I got home from practice in Seoul a few hours ago. For dinner I re-toasted the other half of a flatbread tuna sandwich that also accompanied 1 1/2 cookies that I ordered from Subway earlier in the day. I will end the night studying my defensive playbook and eventually fall asleep watching Any Given Sunday. Compared to most other foreigners in Korea, this will be a relatively quiet night, but I need my rest. Tomorrow is a big day. Tomorrow I play football.

My team is the Seoul Warriors, and we play in the Korean American Football Association (KAFA). We are mostly Americans and Canadians, but the other teams in the league are primarily Korean. Although soccer and baseball are the two major sports in Korea, the KAFA is slowly growing to include 6 club teams, as well as 36 university teams. The Warriors were formed in 2010, and though it's our sport that we've been playing our whole lives, we didn't win the championship that first year. Having joined the following off-season in February, it was a pleasant surprise to me to find out that the Korean teams didn't roll over. They can actually play. So we've been preparing since March to get that title, and hopefully all the hard work will pay off starting tomorrow.

Most folks don't even know that American football exists in Korea, but we're trying to change that. Through word of mouth, fund raisers and public events, we've been slowly building our expat fan base. It's fun to win, but it's even better when you have folks cheering you on! Since our club consists mostly of English teachers and US soldiers, we have two big networks of people in Korea draw from. Tomorrow we expect to have several hundred friends and family members in the stands, including some colonels and generals. As the season progresses, we hope that number will grow.

As for the caliber of players on our team, many of the guys have played college and semi-pro ball, not to mention all the soldiers who are also in tremendous shape. That left a normal guy like me a little intimidated at first. I've put in a lot of work to get stronger, faster and quicker, but in the end you either know how to play football or you don't. My natural positions are Wide Receiver and Defensive Back/Safety. I am focusing primarily on the defensive side of the ball this season, and if practice is any indication, I'm expecting to see time at DB and S, but I may even play some Outside Linebacker on passing downs. We have a lot of skilled players on both sides of the ball, so we will be rotating in and out regularly to keep everyone fresh. For me, it doesn't matter what I play, as long as I'm on the field.

So my dream begins tomorrow. After highschool I thought it was finished. No hitting or breaking tackles. Just pulling flags and two-hand touch. It's a privilege that I took for granted when I was young, and I won't make that mistake again. I am so excited right now that I'm probably not going to be able to sleep tonight. Tomorrow I play football again.

Movies in SK: Captain America!

7-29-2011
Captain America has made quite a comeback in the last decade or so. When I was a kid growing up in the 80's, he was not even in the discussion when it came to who was cool in comics. Thor wasn't either for that matter, but I've already talked about that (Movies in SK: The Mighty Thor!) In a time when big guns, bigger muscles, and adamantium claws ruled the comics world, a guy with a shield, a flag, and 1940's sensibilities couldn't catch a break. These days however, thanks to Marvel putting A-List writers and artists on the book, Cap has commandeered the cool kid truck and is driving right along with the rest of the Avengers (April 2012) into the upper echelon of superhero icons.

So how exactly do we know Captain America has made it into the A-List hero conversation? Two things: first, he died (Captain America #25, March 2007) and eventually came back to life. All the great ones do - Batman, Superman, Spiderman, the X-Men, etc. Secondly, what do all of the aforementioned heroes have in common? That's right - they all have movies based on them. Now Cap can be included in that list. Although Iron Man, the Hulk and Thor have never actually died in the comics (though Thor has visited the underworld on numerous occasions), given their current courses in pop culture, I'd expect at least one of them to possibly bite it, albeit temporarily, in the next few years.

So speaking of said movie who's image graces this entry, what was my verdict, you ask? Well, it was my most anticipated film of the summer, even more so than Thor, mainly because I thought Cap had a better chance of being a "good" movie than Thor. I had mild expectations with Thor and was pleasantly surprised. I had moderately high expectations for Cap, and for the most part they were met. My biggest fear from watching the trailer was the realism of the cg representation of Chris Evans as wussy Steve Rogers before he is injected with the Super Soldier Serum (no spoilers I hope since this was shown clearly in the trailers). As in the trailer, the movie fell victim in a few scenes to the infamous "floating head" effect (also see Green Lantern 2011), where Chris Evan's head didn't quite feel in sync with the tiny, golem-like body it was attached to. There were also a few effects of Cap "super" jumping here or there that seemed a little quirky, but that's about it as far as complaints go. It was cool to see secondary characters like "Dum Dum" Dugan and Bucky Barnes make it appearances, and where would Captain America be without his arch-nemesis, the Red Skull? Hugo Weaving was an excellent choice to play the Nazi commander/Hydra cult leader, and his makeup was fantastically well done. Looking back, I would've loved to have seen Cap single-handedly take on a score of green-suited Hydra soldiers, punching and shield-bashing their faces in as he does in the comics, but you can't squeeze everything a fan would want into a 124 minute movie. Overall it was a fun superhero flick and another excellent showing from Marvel.

On a few side notes, Korea released this film a week after the US, which was contrary to previous recent Marvel Studios releases Iron Man 2 and Thor, which were each released a week before the US. Lame.
Also, the movie was not called Captain America:The First Avenger in Korea, Russia, or the Ukraine, but instead it was simply titled The First Avenger.
Lastly, in contrast to all the other times I've reviewed a film and complained about the small, unenthusiastic Korean "crowds", there was actually a decent number of people at this showing, which was around lunch time on opening day, and around half stayed until after the credits! Either I've been previously going to the movies at the wrong time, or a lot of Korea is secretly reading my blog! I think it's the second one.


Grade: B+

Locked In

7-28-2011
ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?! The NFL lockout is over, a few men have figured out how to share 9 billion dollars, and the gladiators of the gridiron will be patrolling the fields once again. Mark your calendars for August 11th, ladies and gentleman, because New England is hosting Jacksonville at 730 (ET) to kick off the NFL pre-season, and you better believe I'm tuning in. However, it's not because I care a lick about either of these teams (except maybe to see Tom Brady, whom I'm using one of my 2 allowed man-crushes on), but like the rest of America, I didn't know what I had until it was gone, and I'm ready to make up for lost time.

138 days. That's how long it's been since the lockout began. No free agency. No training camp. No official off-season. Now we have 2 weeks. 2 WEEKS until kickoff! From the NFL's side, they're probably frantically running around now trying to get everything in place for the start of the season. On the other hand, with 4 months of activity condensed into 14 days, it's sort of like an NFL Christmas for the fans. Or would it be more like Hanukkah...plus 6 days...? I feel like I've somehow acquired a real life version of Madden, where you would normally blow through the off-season in a matter of hours to get to the start of the new season and back to playing the games again!

Being in Korea, I've missed most of the news and drama surrounding the 4 month lockout, only catching bits and pieces online, or chatting with friends and family back home. That dull period of the year after the NBA Playoffs and long after the Super Bowl was briefly interesting again with the USA team tearing through the Women's World Cup and news of college football scandals, but now it's time to come back to my one true love. So bring on the rivalries, the trash talk, the homers and the haters, because Sunday and Monday nights are made for football, and I'm ready!


Here are a couple of videos I found today on youtube. One is a "thank you" from the players to the fans, the other is Reggie Bush + Arcade Fire.

NFL Thank you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2E1bOBXAgE

Reggie "Lift Off": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUV4YKbiVxQ

Wanted

May 3, 2011

I want him; I want justice...and there's an old poster out west, as I recall, that said, "Wanted: Dead or Alive." - George W. Bush, Sept. 17 2001

It's been a couple of days now since I heard the news. I've read the articles and accounts, I've watched the news clips and videos. I even watched Obama's whole public address. I've discussed it at length with my parents, friends, co-workers and peers, and I've heard and considered multiple sides of the story. I believe in a man's right to live, but I also believe in justice. Every man must be held accountable for the things he's done. If you ask me, Osama Bin Laden was Adolph Hitler without the resources. He was responsible for thousands of deaths with a mind for many more, and a quick bullet was better than he deserved.

I'm glad he's dead.

On Monday afternoon (Sunday night in the states), a close friend of mine sent me a text message from the U.S. saying OBL had been killed. I thought it was a joke at first. The guy was a myth; a real life Keyser Söze. It had been so long since American forces had begun hunting him (almost 10 years) that I had assumed that maybe he was already dead or that we would never know for sure what became of him. After all that time, to finally receive confirmation that the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks had finally been tracked down and disposed of (like garbage), I was genuinely relieved. I guess I thought we'd never get him. To be honest, upon hearing the news, I immediately went online to find pictures or video, not because I wanted to see a body, but because I needed proof. In hindsight, it probably wasn't the best course of action for a teacher on the network at a public school, but luckily I didn't find anything.

The national response was immediate: celebration everywhere. I thought, for one moment, that this was something that every American could agree on; in a way, unifying. I guess the detractors had to take a few moments to gather their thoughts. It didn't take long though. Instead of healing and closure, old wounds (and mouths) were just opened up again. I'm not saying that going crazy in the streets to the news of a man's death is the appropriate response, but neither is criticizing people for the way that they express themselves, or tweeting and facebooking contrary, callous remarks, just to get a reaction or make yourself sound more intelligent. However, this is the nature of humanity, especially when it comes to war. Do I want this war to end? Yes. Do I wish it hadn't taken us 10 years to find that son of a b****? Of course. I wish we had caught him on September 12th, 2001. Do I believe, over the span of these 10 years, that our government has acted according to the best interests of the United States of America and for the safety and security of her people? For the most part, I do. I'm not saying there haven't been mistakes, and things haven't all gone as planned, but I'm still proud to be an American, and anybody who's not can go to France.

Lastly, what did I do in response to the news I'd just received? Well, I was in the middle of a school day, so I took my last class out for ice cream. The kids wanted to know why. I didn't really know how to explain to them in an appropriate way that they could understand, so I just simply told them that too many bad things happen in the world without a reason, so why not some good ones every once in a while? They were okay with that. Sometimes ice cream is better than words.

So that's my 2 cents. It took me a few days to gather my thoughts about this whole thing, but I wanted to have some sort of record of my feelings at this time to look back on in the future. Most of the time I just get embarrassed when I go back and read old journal or blog entries. I don't have any answers, and this blog isn't meant to start or end any debates. This is just a public account of my time living abroad and my thoughts along the way.



"We got him." - America, May 1 2011

Movies in SK: The Mighty Thor!

04-29-2011
Well, I finally got out of my blogging funk, and all it took was seeing my favorite childhood super hero on the big screen to do it. You might be thinking to yourself, "Thor? Really? What about Superman, Spiderman...BATMAN??". Well it's true, I can remember drawing all 3 of those guys when I was 4 years old (and my mom still has the pictures to prove it), but those are the names everybody knows and associates with comics. By the time I was in 5th or 6th grade, I needed to choose a hero who wasn't "bandwagon", someone that proved to my friends I was legit, so I chose Thor. Why? Simply, because that's who my dad liked when he was a kid, and that hammer is wicked cool.

To the best of my knowledge, Thor was the first comic I ever collected monthly. It all started in 1989 with The Mighty Thor #411. In that issue, Loki breaks Juggernaut out of super villain jail to fight Thor, who is already wiped out from a previous battle with Doctor Doom. Juggernaut gets the upper hand and is about to lay the final blow when a mysterious group of heroes appears on the scene and saves the day...THE NEW WARRIORS! That issue was their first appearance as a super team, and they eventually went on to have their own book. Consequently, the 2006 version of the New Warriors triggers the event that leads to the Marvel Civil War, which eventually ends with the death of Captain America, who is getting his own movie this July! Calendar marked.

As for Thor (2011), I kept my expectations low. I've been a disappointed fan too many times over the years and I'm tired of getting hurt. To be honest, I was more excited that I was seeing the movie a week before everyone in the states than I actually was about the movie itself. Just like Iron Man 2 last year, I get to hold this over you guys for 7 whole days. I know y'all still have me beat with, you know, living in America and all that, but I'm still gonna celebrate this one. Anyway, the movie exceeded expectations. Far exceeded. I didn't know who Chris Hemsworth was before last night, but he embodied Thor perfectly. And by the way, I don't know if it was CG or not, but he was buff. Like, super jacked. The Spartans in 300 had nothing on him. Tom Hiddleston playing Loki was also perfect. Natalie Portman as Jane Foster didn't get on my nerves as she usually does, but can she please just stop being in fanboy films? They should have pulled her card after the prequels. Then you have Anthtony Hopkins as Odin. Nuf said. Throw in Heimdall, Lady Sif, the Warriors Three, certain Thor-related villians and some "special" cameo appearances, and it was another home run (in my opinion) for Marvel. My only two "personal observations" about the film were that 1.) they spent just a bit too much time telling the story of him as a mortal, and 2.) I wanted to see Baldur the Brave. Other than that, everything was really cool, especially watching it in 3D, which is something that has kind of been played out as of late, but it worked.

After the movie, every Korean filed out as soon as the credits started rolling. Once again I was the only one left in the theater. I know I've commented on this before, but it still makes me laugh that none of them stay for the end of the credits, especially for these movies when you know there's gonna be a little extra. Actually, one girl did come back in this time and sat back down halfway through the credits, staying until the end. I was thinking to myself, "Maybe she's the one!", but she peeled back out the second the final scene was over, before I'd even gotten out of my chair to go talk to her. Oh well. At least I know now that there's at least one Korean fangirl in Ansan. Now if only there was an LCS in the vicinity...

Grade: A- (fanboy bell curve)

Finally, A New Blog Entry!

4-1-2011

April Fool's!

Hong Kong, Hong Kong

2-28-2011
Day 357 of 365: Hong Kong. Is it a city? Is it a country? Is it an island? Well...yes. Having always had a fascination with Kung Fu movies and Hong Kong cinema, I finally had an opportunity to visit Hong Kong for the Chinese New Year (aka - Lunar New Year), which took place during the first week of February. Though it's not officially celebrated in the U.S., the Chinese New Year is a national holiday in just about every Asian country. Many businesses close their doors for a few days at least, and some for up to 2 weeks or more. There were many festivals that week to celebrate the "Year of the Rabbit" in addition to all the sites, food and attractions of Hong Kong, so we just tried to soak in as much as we could.

Taking our own week-long vacation from school in Ansan, two fellow English teachers and I embarked on a 5 day trip that had us constantly moving from place to place. We didn't have much time to remain at any one site for very long, but I did spend a fair bit of time in the famous Lady's Market. I never thought to ask the locals where the Lady's Market got it's name from, but it is THE place for guys and gals alike to find whatever you're looking for in Hong Kong. New, used, real or fake, chances are there's somebody selling it there. Everybody's trying to make a buck, but it's not always on the up and up. For instance, while I was shopping alone (the 2 gals had made their way to Disneyland Hong Kong), an Arab guy asked me if I was interested in a fake Rolex on the street, but instead of showing me his stock right there, he wanted me to follow him 2 blocks, into a sketchy building and up an elevator. My "shady meter" was already going off just by talking to the guy (He was Arab. I'm just saying.), but when we got to that elevator, something in me was just saying, "walk away", so I did. Am I saying that he and his people were going to roll me for all my money or kidnap me and hold me for ransom? Not exactly, but I didn't want a fake watch bad enough to find out. Here's an idea: have your shop on the street level, out in the open like normal folks.

As far as food goes, dim sum (endless small-portioned waves of fried, boiled and steamed foods ranging from chicken and pork dumplings to jellyfish and chicken feet) is probably what Hong Kong is best known for. The food in Hong Kong was delicious and reasonably priced. As in Korea and Japan, I made my obligatory trip to the local McDonald's to see what kind of new and "exciting" burgers the U.S. is missing out on. However, the menu was very similar to back home. I did order a fried red bean desert pie, but it wasn't quite what I was used to. Red bean is a very popular dessert flavor in asian culture though. One thing I didn't realize before going was how much English is spoken in Hong Kong. While there, I found out that Hong Kong was a long time colony of Great Britain, which explains the dual languages. Chinese is still the first language, but English definitely runs a close second. It was rarely a problem getting around in the city since most signs were in English, and people on the street were almost always able to help us when asked.

The highlight of my trip was a solo adventure I took toward the end of our visit. The same day that I almost "bought" a watch and the girls went to Hong Kong Disney, I made reservations to take a harbor tour on a traditional Hong Kong style junk boat (pictured above). "Junks", which were primarily used for fishing back in the day, have long been a symbol of Hong Kong. Although there are not many left today, they are still very iconic and beautiful to look at. Hong Kong is famous for it's nightly laser-light show on the harbor skyline, and the junk tour was a perfect way to view it.

Since our flight back to Seoul was actually scheduled on the Lunar New Year's day (which I later realized was why our flights were so cheap), we missed the main festival happening that day. I imagine it was like a chinese version of the New Year's day parade back in the states, so I was a little disappointed. However, I had a great time overall, and may even make plans to go back this summer when a friend of mine will be there as well. I definitely think the home of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan is worth another visit!

Explosive Clearasil

01/26/2010
Day 324 of 365: I don't fly often. I didn't fly much before 9/11, and post 9/11 I didn't fly for about 3 years, largely due to school. After graduating in 2004, I started to travel more, and therefore began experiencing the hightened levels of security that had been implemented in the US and abroad. As a result, I've had some interesting encounters which lead me to ask, "What's the strangest thing you've ever been delayed by airport security for?".

It only takes one dummy to cause the FAA to add new rules and regulations to airport security checks that will affect and inconvenience domestic and international travelers forever. There's a whole list of these guys who can't play nice with others. Remember the shoe bomb guy? He's on the dummy list. Now I have to take off my shoes at the airport. Was there a guy who tried to smuggle a bomb on an airline with his laptop? Probably. I'm not sure if it's wise to Google "bomb" and "airport" together, so I'll just stick to hypothesizing.

I have to give it up, there are some creative people out there. I mean, did a guy really make a bomb out of the foil from an Eclipse gum package? Must have, because I've been searched for that. Or, has anyone ever endangered passengers on an airplane with a plastic letter opener shaped like a samurai sword? Those were actually confiscated from my carry-on bag on my way back from Japan, but I can sort of understand. I didn't check any luggage on that trip, so I was screwed. And then there's the Ranch Style Beans that I brought back to Korea from Texas. RANCH STYLE BEANS!! I can just imagine a conversation on the airplane going something like this:

Passenger A: "Do you smell something cooking?"
Passenger B: "Yeah, it smells delicious. Asiana has definitely upgraded their in-flight menu."

And then a guy with boots and a cowboy hat jumps out of his chair with 6 cans of beans strapped to his chest, threatening to crash the plane unless they serve him some brisket and potato salad.

Fortunately for me, the women who searched my bag was reasonable and let them pass, but she actually warned me that most people would have confiscated them. I don't doubt it.
LAX Airport Security: "Hey guys! Lunch is on the stupid Texan!".

Now that I think about it, the one time I actually had something dangerous, an Exacto Knife, which is a razor sharp art knife, security missed it and let me pass. It wasn't until I was sitting in a coffee shop inside the airport that I reached into my bag for a pen and found it there. I was scared to death that it had gotten through and went to turn it in. However, in hindsight my word choice wasn't the best.

Me: "Uh, excuse me?"
Airport Security A: "Yes. How can I help you?"
Me: "I think I have something dangerous in my bag."
Airport Security A: "...What do you mean...dangerous...?"
Airport Security B: (Reaches for his gun).
Me: (Oh crap that was stupid. Panic!)

At that point I said it was an art knife. They told me to give them the bag...slowly. It was unnecessarily tense for a long 15 seconds. Needless to say, they kept the knife. I like to think that on that day I contributed to LAX's security quality control.

Lastly, there's the infamous Clearasil incident. Having been pulled aside for having a tube of face soap that was twice the amount allowed, I was more than happy to let them keep it if it meant I could be on my way. "It's only $7, ma'am." I said. "No big deal.". Out of the kindness of her heart, she told me that she would run a quick chemical check, and if it passed, I could keep it. "Cool!" I thought. (That stuff is kind of expensive). So she swabbed the rim with a Q-tip and then scanned it on a machine. After a few seconds she said, "Uh, oh.". "What's uh,oh?" I asked. She replied:

EXPLOSIVES DETECTED

"#@&% $#@$ *&^%#!!! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!!" was my response. Honestly though, I was halfway laughing because of how ridiculous the situation was. So I asked, "What happens now?". In that instant, a large black man appeared out of nowhere and said, "Now I'm gonna have ta search ya.", at the same time snapping on his latex surgical gloves. Ok. No problem. I've got nothing to hide.

Large Man: "Have you done this before?"
Small Me: "I...'m not sure...?"
Large Man: "First thing I'm gonna do is take my finger..."
Smaller Me: (Oh God, no. ) ...(and looking for somewhere to run)
Large Man: "...and trace it along the inside waist of your jeans."
Me: "Ok. Noooo problem." (relieved)
Large Man: "Then I'm going to take my finger..."
Me: (No! No more fingers!) ...(and avoiding eye contact at this point)
Large Man: "...and I'm going to trace the inside of your collar."
Me: "Sigh". (This will make for an interesting blog post).

After that it was a series of "non-invasive" patdowns and I was free to go. Obviously they kept the soap. I asked if this sort of thing happens a lot, but they dodged the question. Then I asked if I could take a picture of the "Explosives Detected" readout to show my friends, and he gave a definitive, "No.".

Fair enough.

The Austin Bucket List

01/17/2010
Day 315 of 365: The most common thing people asked me when they found out I went back to Austin for the break was, "What did you do while you were there?". So, for those people, and for the pure enjoyment of recounting my adventure home, I prestent: The List. It includes every restaurant I wanted to eat at, every errand I needed run, and every item I wanted to buy while I was home, taking into account that I might not be back for another year, (Key: O = Yes, X = Ran out of time)

Restaurants:

Catfish Parlour - O
Taco Cabana - O
IHOP - O
Dan's Hamburgers - X
Thundercloud Subs - O
Chili's - X
Rudy's BBQ - X
Katz's - O (Ate there on Dec. 30th; closed for good on January 2nd. RIP Katz's Reuben)
Fuddrucker's - O
La Fuentes Mexican Resaurant - O
Chuey's - X (Fail)
Yogurtland - O
Gordough's Donuts - O
Long John Silver's - X (probably better for my health that I missed this one)
Schlotzsky's - O
Random Korean Restaurant in Austin - O
Conan's Pizza - O

Not on the original List but made the cut: Maudie's Tex Mex, Kerbey Lane Cafe (Kerbey Lane and William Cannon locations), Torchy's Tacos, River City Donuts

Errands/Stores:

Best Buy - O (twice)
Walmart - O (3 times)
Bank - O
Champ's - O
Howdy Honda - O
Barton Creek Mall - O
Finish Line - O
Express - O
American Eagle - O
Papa John's - O (my old job)
Costco - O
The High Ball - O
Post Office - O
Day After Xmas Shopping - O!
Tron Legacy - X (fail)

Not on the List but made the cut: The Fighter, Pitch n' Putt, True Grit (but I fell asleep), Monday Night Football (but I fell asleep), Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (but I fell asleep)...jet lag got me on a few of these.

Shopping - (E = Expensive in South Korea, i = Impossible to find)

Socks and Underwear - O (not expensive or impossible to find, just my American preference)
Polo Shirts (E) - X
100% Whey Protein (i) - O
Deodorant (i)- O
US Power Strip (i) - O
Dress Shoes (black) - X
Running Shoes - X
Brown Shoes - X
Football Cleats (i) - O! (It's nearly impossible to find a size 12 of any shoe except in Seoul)
Face Soap -O (funny story about that...)
Dill Pickles (i) -O (screw Korean sweet pickles)
Nyquil (i) - O
Clif Bars (i) - O
Maple Syrup (E) - O
Vitamins (E) - X
Peanut Butter (E) - X
Under Armour Receiver Gloves (i) - O
Backpack (E) - O
Garbage Bags (i?) - X

Not on the list but made the cut: Ranch Dressing (i), a ton of American chocolate (E) for the kids (as I shove this Reese's Peanut Butter Cup into my mouth), Ranch Style Beans (i), Wolf Brand Chilli (i), Lipton's Onion Soup Mix (i), Captain Crunch (i), Fruity Pebbles (i), Bean Dip (i), Giant Marshmallows (i), Pop Tarts (i).

So, subtracting the X's from the total number of items on my Austin Bucket List, my completion percentage would be at 74.51%. However, if I added the addtional 20 items that made the cut, I would be brought up to 81.7%, which is a solid B-, just like in college. Ugh, that shoe shopping killed my average.

So that's my list. What's yours? I'm interested in hearing what some of you Austinites would do if you only had 8 days out of the year to spend in the ATX.

Next blog: Explosive Clearasil.

My Hometown

01/09/2011
Day 307 of ???: After being away for nearly 10 months, I found my way back home for a week that may have been worth another year in South Korea.

I hopped on a plane from Seoul to Austin at 8pm on December 22nd, just 4 hours after the semester's last day of school had ended. I flew back to South Korea at 6pm on New Year's Eve, arriving in Seoul just 24 hours before I had to be back at school again. I averaged 4 hours of sleep per night while I was home and I didn't eat at the same place twice. In short, I acted like I wasn't coming back for a while. It turns out I won't be. I'm staying to teach for a second year in South Korea. I made the final decision this week, but it's something that'd been on my mind for a while.

The idea of going home for vacation was a little strange to me, but to be honest, it may have been the best vacation I've ever had. I knew exactly what I wanted to do, where I wanted to eat and who I wanted to see. I brought 3 suitcases of Korean gifts home with me, and I took 170 lbs. of American goodness back to Korea. The fact that everything made it both ways intact is a small miracle. I was pretty efficient in my game of luggage Tetris too, especially in packing for the trip back to SK. After being away for so long, I was surprised at just how normal it felt to see my family and friends once again. They're people that you always expect to be there, so sometimes you forget how special they are. Only having 8 days to be with them, all the normal things we did together had much more meaning to me. Eating at Kerbey Lane with Isaac and the boys, hitting Plucker's with Jason and Robert, making a run to Barton Creek Mall with Philip and JC, doing Gordough's with Gilbert, and going to Westgate to see True Grit with the folks were all priceless, even if I was too jet lagged at times to express it. I even enjoyed the ordinary parts, like driving on Mopac, making Walmart runs and going to Howdy Honda to get the oil changed on my Civic. It was the same old Austin, just like I hoped it would be.

So the question now may be, "If Austin is so good, why not come back in March?". I think the simple answer is that I just don't feel like I'm done with Korea yet, or the other way around, or both. In many ways I've just begun to hit my stride here, and I think leaving in March would be too soon. It's like I've just hit 5th gear but now all of a sudden I have to exit the highway. I want to see where another year will take me. On one hand, that non-committal side of me dreads signing another 1 year contract, but on the other hand, that's what kept me in the grinder to persevere when things got tough during the first year. I made it through and I think I'm better for it. Having just seen everyone I care about so recently, they are very present in my thoughts and I miss them dearly, but at the same time I am excited to have this opportunity in SK continued.

Lastly, my deepest thanks to my family and those who care about me for your thoughts and prayers throughout this year. I'd be a fool to think that I got by solely on my own natural strength. If it wasn't for those prayers...and this magical think called the internet that allows me to stay in contact with many of you, I probably wouldn't have the guts to go on this adventure. I look forward to seeing what this next year has in store, as well as sharing it with whoever is reading this out there.

First blog of the new year done.