Korea on Boozin'

Drinking is a different animal in Korea.  Koreans see drinking as a social event to bring together friends, family, and potential business clients.   It is completely socially acceptable to drink to the point of black out drunk all the time.  Drinking yourself silly is not shameful or dishonorable.

Especially for businessmen.   This is a direct contradiction to American business where the rule is to never order more than 2 drinks and don't finish your second!  But it is not out of the ordinary to see a Korean man in a suit stumbling and being held up by his buddy at 3pm on a Tuesday.

I've seen men in suits sleeping on the sidewalk at 10am.  I've jumped over a stream of puke coming from a guy sitting on some stairs.  If you don't believe me there is even a blog dedicated to pictures of people who are black out drunk in Korea.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from Black Out Korea:

You've Lost That Runnin' Feelin' Woah That Runnin' Feelin'

My Running Background

Running was my life in high school.  I was so passionate about running that I evaluated everything I did as to how it would affect me as a runner.  I was fortunate enough to be able to continue my running career at Hillsdale College, but my collegiate career was plagued with injuries, setbacks, and disappointments.  

I don't know whether it was my disdain for the Michigan climate or that I never adjusted to the different training, but sometime during my sophomore year I burned out.  Running just wasn't what it used to be for me.  I kept doing it because every once in awhile I would have a training run or a workout that reminded me of the success, talent and love I used to have.  

Running is too special to me to give it up forever, but after I graduated I went into "retirement".  I needed to take at least a year off of the strenuous training to clear my head of my discouraging collegiate career and let my body recuperate (aka get seriously out of shape). 

Running in Korea

Well, the running itch struck me here in Korea.  I heard about a running group called Seoul Flyers that is made up of mostly foreigners.  They inconveniently meet for runs while I am at work during the week and at 6am on the weekends (gross, I am so glad to be done with morning runs), however, they conveniently provide a very helpful service -- race sign up for people who can't speak Korean. 

I found an interesting 5K race and signed up for it.  It is pretty impossible to run living in the middle of the city.  It would be ridiculous to try to run in the packed streets or bustling sidewalks.  I'd have to take the subway or a bus to a park or the river if I wanted to get a decent run in but that would mean a sweaty and stinky ride back.  So, I resorted to something most true runners hate -- the treadmill.  I started running sparingly about two weeks before the race, so I wasn't expecting much.    

The race was quite an experience.  As the night approached, the rain began pouring.  Hundreds of Koreans in matching white, full body, hooded ponchos watched the pre-race entertainment or participated in games at the sponsors' booths.  It was quite chaotic.  As race time approached, I grew anxious.  I asked several people from the Seoul Flyers if they were going to warm up soon.  Warming up before a race doesn't seem like the thing to do in Korea.  That is, besides the group warm led by someone on stage consisting of everyone doing jumping jacks in their white ponchos in unison.  

I had a peaceful warm up by myself and then waited at the starting line for about 20 minutes because they didn't seem too concerned with starting the race when they said they would.  The race was a lot of fun.  It wasn't too crowded.  The course was dark and through a zoo, so wild animal aromas accompanied me on the rolling hills (how pleasant!).  The course wasn't marked, so I had no idea of my distance or pace.  I ended up getting 10th place running an 18:50.  

Overall, the race was a success.  I got some cool swag -- a dry fit shirt and a headlamp -- and met some new people.  I satisfied my running itch a little bit and will do so again at a Halloween race on Oct. 30th.  

          

Shocker Pen!

Before I left Amanda gave me a shocker pen.  You know, it is one of those trick pens that isn't really a pen.  When you click it an electric shock goes through your hand.  Well, I successfully pulled the trick on quite a few people before I started teaching by saying, "Look at this really cool pen Amanda gave me," including my sister Lauren.  After Lauren got shocked, she said I HAD to take it to school.  I was pretty hesitant considering a former Colorado deputy may serve over 27 years in prison for child abuse after he tasered some willing high school students, and I figured using a shocker pen on 6-11 yr. olds was roughly the equivalent.

I finally mustered up enough courage to take the pen to school.  The kids loved it, and we missed about ten minutes of class while the kids ran around the school crazily sharing the pen with every student and faculty member.  It was quite a riot when our principal Mr. Kim became a victim of the pen.

Here is a video from a hidden camera of some 1st and 3rd graders using the pen for the first time: