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5月1日 Adventures in Korea Day 1The thing i love about being a teacher is that students always have to have vacation time, which means, teachers have vacation too! For spring break, my friends Chuck Berk, kyle, and I took a little weekend get-away to South Korea. We left Friday March 24th and returned on Monday, the 27th. This was a trip to remember!
The excitement started before we even set foot in Korea! Our flight was scheduled to depart at 6:45pm and we almost didnt make it. We got to Narita airport at 6:10pm. Running through the airport, cutting in line at immigrations, triple checked at customs, we actually made it on the plane! Seriously, I think they were giving the "In case of an emergency, your seat will act as a floatatioin device" speech as we stowed our backpacks!
Since we did book the cheapest flights possible, we arrived in Incheon, Seoul Airport about 11pm. Instantly, we had to find our hostel and get some food. We took a bus from the airport that was suppose to drop us off right by our hostel....and guess what, we missed our bus stop and traveled about 20 minutes out. Yep, totally out of it and mystified by the city of Seoul, we overshot or destination and had to revert to clever, quick thinking. Hoping that the subway was still running this late at night, we consulted a map and sorted it out. Finally, arriving at the correct station, we did a bit of wondering and finally found the hostel. We checked in, dropped our bags and headed out for the nearst korean BBQ at 1am. It was marvelous ^_^
The next two days, we did as much as we could. First, freshly showered, we were on a mission to find authentic korean food and we found a little mama&papa's place after about an hour of walking in downtown Seoul. The reason why we chose this particular restaurant was because everyone inside was old and korean (I find that old people are picky about food). The instant we sat down, I felt the elders having a stare at us as we sat down, but within a few minutes, they all just laughed and thought it was funny. The lady of the house came and took our order and only spoke in korean....kyle and chuck both ordered bibibap. I think chuck got bibibap cause he didnt know anything else. I just pointed at a guy eating at another table and said, "that please." You know what? She understood what I wanted by my gestures. We got our food and damn it was delicious. I wish I had taken a picture of it because OMG it was soooo spicy. For a while I thought it was a plot set against the foreigners! "We'll give him something to remember! Spice it up!".......Jyeezus......we paid and left.
Next, we went and visited a small historic castle in the middle of downtown. The colors and presentation were a lot different than that of Japan's, which I should mention, burned down all the Korean castles during its occupation. You know what? Korea is an interesting place. Reading about it's past revealed that it is similar to Vietnam because both were fought over by warring nations. Both were/are split into north and south. Both had outside intervention like america, russia, etc. Both have recently been through war. With this in mind, I had much respect for the people of Korea and how much they have risen in recent decades. Seeing the castles and walking through the castle grounds made me realize the strength of Korea. It was a nice insight to historic Korea.........and it only cost a dollar to get in ;)
After our historic time travel, we wanted to visit something upbeat and modern. No, not korean prostitutes.... The next stop was Nandaneum Market, which is also known as fashion plaza. This marketplace was wall to wall full of people. The allies were packed with goods from, imitation socks to kimichii flavored cookies! We spent a lot of time here just getting lost and imersing into the scene a bit. I saw the weirdest thing here and I don't mean to be rude in anyway. I saw a legless man lying on his stomach adjusting a AM/FM stereo system that was set on rollers. He obviously was collecting money for his music entertainment services, but as he was adjusting his make-shift stereo system it encountered a descending slope and his stereo starting taking off on its own. Luckily, it didnt go far and he was able to catch up to it and again and continue to make fine tune adjustments. The market was lively, it had a soul of its own. The people and shopkeepers were nice and friendly. Everyone knew how to speak Korean, English, and Japanese so it made for easy conversation and haggling. We all bought a majority of our souvenirs here. To the next spot.
After stuffing our stomach's with more hot and spicy dishes, we were headed for a club night out in Seoul. This was something I wanted to see for a long time. I've long heard rumors that korean women were amazingly beautiful, but up until this point, I didnt notice it at all. Not even one! Finally, when we arrived at club B2.....We opened the gates of Heaven. It was like a different world. There were beautiful ladies everywhere. We danced till our little feet couldnt dance anymore.......and took a cab back to the hostel. It was a wonderful day.
Next!
Day 2: North Korea, DMZ, and hike to Seoul Tower.......
4月12日 End the nonesense, back to realityOkay! So enough of the ACL crap, back to reality and whats going on with me and the world.
Well, for a long long time, I've had this interest in playing guitar and I've owned one for a while, but never played it. Finally, motivated like frogs on lilies, I'm actually picking up the guitar and practicing! Big step for me because I really really suck with music. The last choir class I had was probably in 6th grade. The only instrument I played was also in elementary school....the violin! And Jyeazus, i was crap at that too! The teacher just didn't have the heart to tell me. Bless her kind soul.
So why the sudden interest? I really wanted to get a taste of what it would be like to play an instrument. I think music is such a beautiful thing and would be a total tragedy if I was to pass from this world and never experienced the joys that come along with playing a musical instrument, especially one as rockin as the acoustic guitar.
This is my a pic of my guitar. I had my friend kappa, win it off yahoo auction japan for about 100 bucks USD. Yamaha FG - 423TBS tobacco sunburst!!!
**Guitar music that i love include, Dave Matthews Band, Jack Johnson, Beatles, Eric Clapton, smashing pumpkins, shins, radio head, RHCP.....etc. Rude AwakeningImagine this,
You play among Earth's beauty....running, dancing, jumping in fields of freshly blossomed flowers. The sky is blue and the sun's heat radiating over your body as sweat drips from your brow. In moments like these, life as you know it couldn't be better. You relax and try to take in all the good things in life........resting, you fall asleep; life is like a dream.
Upon waking, there is severe pain in your leg. You are no longer in the comforts of your own home. Voices yell out your name. Slowly from your slumber, you awake disoriented, lost and confused. The only thing you are sure of is the fact you are in the most pain ever endured in your life's entirety. Quickly, your leg is lifted and lowered........as you hear nameless voices in the background. Suddenly, within minutes, the bed you lay upon moves................... You lay there wishing the pain to end and it doesn't matter how.
The bed stops.....a new room......new faces. Unadjusted, you lay there motionless. Your leg is strapped with ice trying to chill your flesh from overworking and adjusting to the new. For the first time, you realize that something so simple as lying down could be such a painful event. Finally, you remember, you just had ACL surgery.
No more fields, no more flowers, no more walking.
This is how I recall my experience in the hospital on February 7th, 2006. It was the first time in my life that I was injured. Also, my surgery was done in Hachinohe, Japan, which made it a bit more discomforting because everything here is done a bit different. Not just a language barrier.................
This is an experience I'll never forget. On this day, it confirmed the realization that I've been having. You see, when I was injured in the summer of 2005, I got a glimpse of reality and mortality in a quick 'BANG'! I am human, I can get hurt. My body is affected by the things I do and the things I don't do. Before this, I lived as if nothing could ever happened to me. I thought I would never get hurt....maybe just heart broken but not physically disabled to the point I couldn't walk. This really hit home because this meant I couldnt snowboard, surf, play any sports for that matter.
This has lead me to a new path in life. After my ACL injury and realizing that my health is more important than a few cigarettes.........I decided to quit smoking in September 2005. I made a lifestyle change to become more physically fit so I can partake and hopefully excel in the activities I love...........protect the things you love.
I've been working on a short story about my entire experience in the hospital. When I get it done, perhaps I will post it here.
april.12.2006
2月24日 Torn ACL!!! How it all happened.....Hello all...
Yes it's true, i tore my ACL and just had reconstructive surgery on Feb. 7th of 2006. Prior to this, i've never been injured before so i really didn't know what to expect. Now looking at the whole thing, gotta say i was a fool. I thought this would be a quick `in and out` kinda visit to the hospital and boy was i wrong. ONE, i forgot i was in Japan which is never just 'in and out'. Its always 'in, waiting around until someone who knows what they are doing helps you out, and then out'. TWO, yah...uh, did i mention it was Japan? Well, all kidding aside i just thought it would be something minor and that i would be back on my feet in no time! バカです！
About 6 months ago, i hurt my knee playing basketball. One moment i was in the air skyin` up for a rebound and the next moment, i came down and my leg was straight. God gave people knees for a reason and i just chose not to use them at this particular moment. You know, there was a moment right before my foot touched the court i knew something wasn't right. You know what i'm talking about, im sure your gut speaks to you too! In my head, i tried to bend my knee but i was so tired my body just didn't react. After i heard a 'pop', i knew something was terribly wrong. With all that weight coming down and nothing givin` my knee twisted while fully straight and extended and trust me, it wasn't painless
 . The fact that i couldn't walk off the court on my own two feet, i was sure something was wrong! COLLEGE DEGREE PAYING OFF BABY!!The next day, my friend Kyle drove me to the doctors and guess what they did. They took an x-ray, felt it a bit and told me it would be alright in two weeks! At this point, i could barely walk......i had about 45 degrees of knee mobility. I thought this was kind of strange so within the next two days, i went to see another doctor. He told me 3 months and i would be fine.......this was after i got x-ray'd and MRI'd. I don't blame the doctors for being bad doctors, i was just shocked by the fact they didn't really know what the problem was, but never thought about referring me to another doctor that specialized in joints, especially knees and shoulders. I just felt a bit brushed off and that my well being and health didn't matter one bit to these people.
5 months past, i still was not healed and i thought, wait, the doctor told me 3 months and i'd be able to play basketball again.......so i figured i would have another look and finally, i got a doctor who knew what he was doing. Within a minute of looking at my old MRI i took 5 months ago, he told me my ACL was torn. He felt it and was 100% sure. He suggested surgery and to be quite honest, i was happy to hear what the doctor had said. Not because i was happy to have surgery, but for the plain and simple fact he knew what the problem was. He didn't gasp air between his teeth and tell me i would be fine. He was honest and competent. I respect that. I felt like this huge mysterious weight was lifted because for 5 months, i didn't know if i could ever play basketball, snowboard, or surf properly again. Now that problem was identified, it was time to deal with the solution...........surgery.
12月12日 APPI week 2, Dec. 10thYo, im finally trying to update this thing!!!!!
This week, i was able to take some more photos while driving up to APPI SKI KOGEN.
Here is the link to it in English if you wish to check it out!
APPI in ENGLISH = http://www.appi.co.jp/foreign_country/english/01ski/index.html
Keep in mind the site is shite, but it might give you a better picture of what kind of mountain it really is.
Among the pictures, are rice fields covered in snow! Snow!!! There arent too many countries that have rice fields with snow so it was a great photo op.
Also included this time around is my 絵馬 which is picture horse. Towards the new year, you are suppose to write your goals on this wood house and traditionally, the picture is of a horse. My English teacher is cool and he just has all the kids do what they want on it so that they are a bit more interesting and diverse! GREAT JOB MR. Nakaya!
Till next time
thomas
ps. tabs get your site up so i can make comments too!!! 12月5日 2005, autumn leaves in japan....last one Sorry i havent been able to update. I know i get lazy and i dont do shit now and then. Not that i mean to, but here are the pictures off a lovely weekend driving around Japan and checking out the beautiful leaves. I really love the natural beauty of japan and this trip was no let down. The area is in Sai-mura (sai village) its a tiny vill. on the northern most part of mainland japan. Figure i would go around and take a lo tof pics cause this will probably be my last chance to do so here since it is my last year here. Please enjoy the pics and if you have something nice to write i would love to read it.............. enjoy.
thomas 8月2日 F@CK CARS!!!Yep, its true, i got a bike after two years of being in Japan. Its yellow and bright......picked it up in Aomori City for 30,000 yen. Which is pretty much like $300 USD. Woooooohaaaa, its a GIANT ROCK 4500..... It was said that riding a bike is good for the knees, hope its true. Feels like back to the BMX days! |
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