Soccer Game and Final Taekwondo Class!

Wednesday brought a very slow day at school. There were no classes because it was test day at every elementary school in Korea, so that meant I got to come to school and sit in the office all day with nothing to do. Jiny decided to take a vacation day on Wednesday, so I literally was by myself all day. As I was wandering the halls I came across quite the sight on the stairwell up to the 6th grade ofice. I noticed a broken bottle of glue on the floor. The bottle was in two pieces and there was a huge spill on the floor. I decided this deserved to be documented, so I ran to the office grabbed my camera and took a picture.

I talked to Mrs. Kim during lunch to see what time the teacher's got to go home and she said 2:00 p.m. However, going home at 2:00 usually means going to a movie or for a hike or something with the co-teachers. I told Mrs. Kim I was tired and would rather just go home and sleep and she said that was fine. Instead I decided to head over to the gym after school and get a work-out in before I had to meet up with Nicole for dinner before the soccer game. When I finished at the gym I headed home and took a shower and got ready and then met Nicole at 6:00 p.m. for dinner. We decided to eat in our hood for once because everyone always wants to eat in their hood. It took us about 20 minutes to decide where to eat. We finally decided on some shabu shabu from a restaurant a block away from my house. Dinner took us longer than expected, which we should have known would happen when we opted for shabu shabu. It usually takes over an hour to make/eat the stuff. We decided to also have a bottle of soju at dinner, which left us both feeling a little bit tipsy. Since were way later leaving dinner than we wanted to be we decided to just catch a cab to Munhak Stadium. We definitely got to the game later than Nicole wanted to be there, but we made it nonetheless. We were meeting a ton of friends there, so we kind of felt bad for being late, but shit happens. This was my third or fourth Incheon United soccer game and every game I've been to they either lose or tie, so I was bracing myself for defeat. Left: A view of the field. Center: Alexis, Shana and Beth enjoy the game while drinking some Hite. Right: Nick and I enjoying the game and our beers.

The soccer games are always a good time because we sit in the Inchen United supporters section, which is always the most upbeat and fun. Plus, they always sing amazing chants and wave flags and it's such a blast. During a break in the soccer game a bunch of kids came on the sidelines of the field were doing jump rope. Not just any jump rope, but a routine and they were so insanely good at doing jump rope in ways that I could only imagine. I decided to take a video of them doing the jump rope, but it is taped off the jumbo TV screen, so I could see it better. I have post the video below for your viewing pleasure at a later date.

Quite a few beers were enjoyed at the soccer game and the best part of the game was that Incheon United won. I got to see my first Incheon United win and it was pretty sweet. The goal was amazing in itself, so that made the game worth it as well. As we were leaving the game a fight was breaking out on the stairway outside the stadium, I took a picture of the crowd of people at the top of the staircase, notice the anger in their eyes...that could have just been because I took a picture.

Nick decided to teach Nicole and I how to shotgun a beer. It was pretty intense and made you burp a lot, but it was fun nonetheless. On our way to the train station to head back to Yeonsu for some drinks Nicole and I decided we wanted to see if we could get free shots of soju bought for us, so Nicole asked Nick to start doing the soccer chant and then all this Korean people invited us into the tent to eat and drink with them. I was at a table with two old men by myself and Nicole and Nick were at the table beside me. The men I was sitting with bought a bottle of soju to share with me and I did about 4-5 shots before I had enough. That shit is sick when it's not mixed with anything. When we had finally had enough we thanked everyone and headed back to Yeonsu on the train. We decided to walk to Mad Max (a new bar in Yeonsu) from the train station, it's about a 10-15 minute walk. Along the way the three of us decided to go running through a fountain. All of the Koreans in the park thought we were just ridiculous, but most of them laughed at us and our foolishness. It was hot out, so we needed some cooling off, the fountain was there, so we ran through it.

Nick decided to ditch out on coming to Mad Max and just went home, but Nicole and I weren't ready to call it a night yet, so we headed in for some beers. They serve many Western kinds of beer, so I got to enjoy some MGD's, but I didn't realize it would end up costing me $12 for two beers. Anyways, Nicole and I kept reqesting Big Bang and Wondergirl songs all night at Mad Max and the Koreans loved listening to us sing and dance. Chris, Damien and Shannon ended up meeting us at Mad Max when they were finished bowling and we hung out there until about 3:00 a.m. when we all decided we were too tired to continue the night. I got to bed around 3: 15 a.m., so you can imagine what waking up Thursday felt like :)

Ok, so waking up Thursday was pure torture, I only got 4 hours of sleep and was beyond exhausted. I also had 5 classes to teach that day, so I wasn't looking forward to this day at all. Jiny could tell I looked tired and when she asked me why I just said I had a restless sleep and she assumed it was because I was homesick, yeah ok sure. Like I was going to tell her I was hungover. Turns out I only had 4 classes because Jiny accidentally put the same class down twice. Usually, when I'm super tired it doesn't hit me until the afternoon when I'm sitting in the office going crazy. However, I got to leave school at 3:00 p.m. today because there was a meeting at another elementary school regarding a summer camp happening at the end of July. The meeting lasted about 30 minutes and then we got to take off. Since it was at Nick's school and Tracy and I were there for the meeting the three of us decided to go and grab some dinner at a restaurant by Nick and Tracy's. On the way to the restaurant we spotted a construction working in the middle of the road doing some work in the sewer. Construction workers aren't nearly as safe in Korea as they are back home. Notice in the picture how the only thing protecting him is the hard hat he is wearing and it isn't even strapped on.

We enjoyed our dinner and then afterwards we headed over to Tracy's to hang out and then I left for my last day of taekwondo. I was excited because it was getting harder and harder for me to enjoy going to taekwondo because it was so far for me to go. We only did taekwondo for about 40 minutes and then we had a mini presentation where we each recieved green belts, which was so exciting. Left: Me receiving my beautiful green belt in taekwondo...I know you are all jealous. Right: This is the entire taekwondo foreigners group.After the presentation we all headed out for dinner together at a Korean restaurant where we enjoyed samgipsal (not sure about the spelling) and each other's company. The dinner was paid for by the Foreigners Talk House, which is who we did the taekwondo through, so that was really special. After dinner a bunch of people decided to go for drinks at Rock Bar, but others opted to head home. I chose to go home, so Jenn, Ian and I headed back to Yeonsu together. I didn't get home until after 10:30 p.m. and I was already so exhausted from late night Wednesday, so I washed up and went straight to bed. I had noticed when I was hanging out with Nick and Tracy earlier that my feet were really swollen. I was kind of freaking out about it because they were at least double their normal size. Nick and Tracy assured me they were fine and it was probably do to the heat and standing on them all day to teach. I showed my friends and taekwondo and they noticed the swelling, so I as even more concerned. When I got home from the taekwondo dinner I decided to take a picture to see just how bad they were. I've posted it below so you can see as well. Try and find my ankle bones...I bet you can't. I think I will ask Mrs. Kim or Jiny to take me to the doctor this coming week to have them looked at if the swelling continues.