mountain morning

After doing four races in the last 6 weeks, I told myself that I would switch things up this week and get off the treadmill and into the mountain for some fresh air running. 


It had always been a plan of mine to get into more trail-y running once I got to Korea, and there is really no excuse not to, when I have a perfectly mountainous mountain beneath my feet. 

Jangsan in the am

This morning, I bundled up in my tights and my giant garmin and trekked up the hill. 
The first part of the hike is through city streets which are about 75 degree hills (I have no idea if that makes sense but on the protractor in my mind it does).   


When I finally reached the trail I had to stop to walk a couple of times and tried really hard not to worry about my pace being infinity minutes/km.  


It's hard to trail run and NOT get philosophical. I've read several descriptions of it and though I'm trying to not be cliche, there really is something magical about it.  Flying over rocks and through trees when you might twist your ankle/knee/crack your head open any second is a pretty fantastic feeling.  It scares me like nothing else, but at the same time I can't get enough of it.


As someone who finds it nearly impossible to live 'in the moment', trail running may be my cure... when you are focusing on every single step, branch, twig and surface your toes touch, you really have no choice but to live in the moment you are in.  

I made it a ways up the mountain, then decided to turn back for the downhill ride.
Just when I was half-wishing that I had a flat road to lay it all out and sprint down, I realised that I didn't recognize anything around me and I was actually very lost.  Given my sense of direction, I was not surprised and had suspected I wouldn't have an easy way home. 


But!  After finding 2 mountain-side graves, a few dead ends, circling around in 3 parking garages, and ending up in a school in a neighbourhood I didn't even know existed, I made it back to my front door with Mountain Run #1 under my belt.
Thank you Jangsan.

Waeguks Got Runs

Today marks the end of a mini-era: 
the last race of 2010.... unless we magically discover another one, which is not unlikely.

waiting for the marathoners to roll in at Dadaepo...

After cruising through yet another week at Haeundae Corem, Tim and I did a quick workout at the gym on Saturday am and then ventured out to Nampodong, west of our part of the city, but the 'centre' of Busan.  Because the race this morning would have taken over 90 minutes on the subway to get to, we decided to go part way, stay in a Love Motel, then leave from there in the morning.


Nampodong is on the way to Dadaepo ( our race destination) and it is a busy place with lots to do, eat, and buy, so it was the logical choice.  


After about 45 minutes on the subway, we got off in Nampo, and found a Love Motel within 12 minutes.  This was our first time staying at one (besides when we first arrived, which was arranged by the school), and I could not believe how easy it was.  


Refresher: Love Motels are abundant in Korea.  They are cheap motels which charge about 30$ a night and provide a really decent room, with a giant tv and often a computer as well.  Their main purpose is for love-making amongst young couples, and probably business men ( and women?) who are spending the night with people they shouldn't be.  


Just in case we had forgotten what a Love Motel was for, when we checked in, we were given a small ziploc bag with 2 toothbrushes, a razor, body wash, and 2 condoms. 
'Checking in' involves giving the front desk guy 30 $ and taking a key, no questions asked - except ' one night, or two?'.

what else does one really need?

Despite being right across the street from a busy pub, the room was great and was much better than waking up at 5 to take a 90 minute commute to the race. 


We spent the evening shopping around and eating Kong Bul and McDonalds.... can't complain.


On Sunday morning, we woke up and made our way to the subway, where we happened to get on the exact same car as Kylene and Ian, the lovely people who have organized all of the foreigners at the road races in Busan.  After meeting up with some more foreignys, we took the shuttle bus to the race site in Dadaepo and made ourselves at home... IN OUR VERY OWN TENT!! (Thanks Kylene!) 

yeah, we do.

There were people racing in all distances, 10km, 1/2 and full marathon and everyone did great.  The weather was perfect, and the course was flat and all road, out and back.


At the beginning of the race, as I was standing at the very front ( of course), a Korean man beside me started yelling at the race announcer, who then called me out and pulled me out in front of the race and started talking to me in Korean in front of the entire crowd. He managed to ask me my name, say ' Hello baby', then spoke a paragraph of Korean before saying " Merry Christmas" and sending me back to the race start.  


The race itself went fairly well.  I found it a bit challenging and didn't run the pace I had hoped for.  I have been scaling back on the outdoor and longer than 5km runs this past couple of weeks and I felt like I had lost some of my endurance today.  I was in 4th or 5th for most of the race, and ran the last 3 km with a Korean man who told me he recognized me from the Yangsan race last weekend. 


I ended up coming in in 5th with a time around 42:30 or so. Not my best time, and not an amazing time, by any means, but it was not overly difficult and therefore I am not overly upset with it.  


Ian came in 3rd! Yay Ian!  And we both got to be on the ( 5 person ) podium for guys and girls respectively.  This means I now have in my possession, another giant glass trophy, and I also managed to pocket 50$ cash!

After all the runners came in, we actually ended up BACK at Kong Bul ( after a meander through the streets of Nampodong ) and had another meal of beansprouts, pork, and spice. Trust me - it's much better than it sounds. 

Kong Bul with some new running buddies

It is now 7pm, and another awesome race day is complete. 


A big thanks goes out to Kylene and Ian the leaders of 'Waeguks Got Runs' ( Waeguks are foreigners) and without whom we would not have had nearly as positive of an experience as we have with all the races this season:)

Pay Pay RO Day

Just because no blog about Korea would be complete without it, here is an entry about PEPERO DAY!

Coincidentally, this is a day off work for us at Corem School, but it is also PEPERO DAY!
An indepth explanation can be found on this handy wikipedia link:


Pepero wikipedia article

Basically, because the date is 11-11 ( November 11) and the number "1" looks like a pepero stick, this 'holiday' has been created as an opportunity for people to give each other pepero sticks.  


Peperos come in a few different varieties but are all chocolate covered (or filled) wafer sticks, some covered in peanuts or almonds. 

A Pepero Display at the grocery store.

The day is compared to Valentines Day in that it is largely a commercial opportunity for the makers of Pepero. 


Just thought I'd fill you in, as some lucky people may be receiving a sample of these delicious sticks for Christmas :)

third race is the charm.

New money, new clothes, new race place and new age.... all things that have happened this week!




My birthday was on Friday, November 5th.  Along with all of the lovely birthday wishes from friends and family all over ( including a card with a DONUT in it! Thanks Little C :)),  I was treated with a surprise birthday display in the kitchen when I woke up... complete with Rilakkuma propoganda - much needed.  I also got some awesome compression socks, which  - though I'm not sure how they work - are sure to take hours off my race times. 

At work I was treated with a decorated desk, awesome cards, and a cake!! This was the second cake for the staff at Haeundae as Brett teacher's birthday was November 4th.  We are a little spoiled sometimes.

On Friday night, we met up with Christine and Brent for our first sushi meal in the Kay oh Ray at a place called Niki Niki Sushi in PNU.  It was AWESOME, and I could have eaten the entire meal a second time and not felt sick. 

Following this, I used my new pay cheque to get myself some hot new kicks at the Mizuno store, also in PNU.  All in all a wicked birthday.

don't touch my shoes rilakkuma. you're too lazy.

On Saturday we had to go into the school for an open house that was held for parents of incoming Kindergarten students. We spent an hour reading stories to the kids and making origami tomato purses...not a horrible way to spend the morning, and Tim has a new 6 year old fan who I will name Andrea Read if I get the pleasure of naming her when she comes. 


We then went for what turned out to be a giant shopping spree.  I have been SO sick of all of my clothes since about my second week here, and have been dying to buy new things (couldn't bring much in 100lbs of luggage).  I did pretty well and managed to spend at a rate of about 100$/5 minutes.  Very efficient.  I am glad that it isn't as hard to find clothes that fit as some people told me, and I got some really great buys  including a winter coat and my favorite new hoodie... 

Today was our third race day in Korea.  We travelled by subway to Yangsan, which took almost 90 minutes.  Quite a hike.  It was an absolutely beautiful day, about 18-20 degrees and sunny for the run, and the leaves are changing so the mountain views are really spectacular.

We met up with Kylene, Ian, Bren and Adam ( who we met in the first race) and also met a few new friends, Christina, another CDN, and Simon, Adam's friend who lives in Hong Kong. 


Tim ran the 5k and WON (!!!!!!) but he didn't register so he just veered off the course before the finish line. Makes up for the disappointing non-finish in Gyeong Ju a few weeks ago!


I ran the 10k and had  a pretty great race.  I was relaxed the whole time, and didn't see any women around me for the entire race.  The course was really flat, so I found it pretty boring and started out a bit too fast, so my pace slowed down a bit too much for a big pb. As I was coming in, I saw the finishing ribbon still up and thought that I'd WON, but then they handed me a card that said 2nd, and Tim told me that an old tank of a woman had come in around 39:00.  


After passing in my chip, I got a back with the best post-race kit yet.... eggs and Ramyeon noodles. 


So, although I was slightly disappointed to not win, my time wasn't great ( not sure of it, but I think it was low 42:00/high 41:00) so it would not really have felt like a legit win if I had come first. 


Adam ended up coming in 3rd, so us foreignys really represented!

I FINALLY got to go up on the podium, and it was hilarious.  They had about 15 paparazzi cameras on us, and played a song similar to the star wars theme at full blast.  I truly didn't know if I should laugh or cry.  I was given a 10 lbs glass trophy as well.

10 lbs of second place bling.

We were given little slips, which when we took to the race organizers, they gave us  cash prizes! Adam got 100,000 won ( 100$ ) for coming 3rd, and I got 200$! Yessa!!! 
That definitely helps to offset my heavy spending spree yesterday.

sorry we took all your money, Korea.

So, after a lovely fine dining experience at Breeze Burns burger place in Somyeon with the crew, we made it back to the dong for a soak at the jimjillbang. Now we are back to our humble abode, which although the toilet and tap now only work about 30% of the time, it's still our home.

Good day in the Kay oh Ray.

treek or treat

Happy Halloween!

kiwi class. 

Today was Halloween day at school. This meant we:
- rode on the bus that picks the kids up for school and got our pictures taken with each child  before they got on the bus
- got to school and took pictures with each class 
- did Halloween activities ( after taking a class picture in a DIFFERENT room)
In other words, the day was largely a photo op. But, I'm not complaining... I've never been accused of  being camera shy.


Tim was dressed as a Ninja Turtle ( Donatello.... don't know why, Raphael is cool - but rude) and I wore a CHEETAH costume. My costume choice was mostly because that's what I could find at Homeplus ( department store ). Halloween is known here, but not really commonly celebrated. There were 2 tables of children's costumes and Halloween decorations at a 5 floor department store, which is about 2% of what you'd see at home. 


The kids seemed mostly confused by our costumes and I am not really sure that they understand Halloween ( who does? ) but they all seemed to have fun, which is the real spirit of Halloween. 


The kindergarten kids rotated through 3 different rooms: 
-Face painting
-Haunted House
-Egg on a spoon race


Given my kinesiology degree, I of course was partly responsible for the spoon race room. 
The kids did surprisingly well ... shorter = lower centre of gravity I think.

egg on a spoon.  universally accepted low organizational game.

The haunted house sounded like it went well - managed to get a couple of kids to cry, but I didn't get a chance to tour it myself. 


Face painting was done by our resident artist Romy ( and a very male Randi teacher). I couldn't even try to pull off some of the stuff Romy was managing to do.

randi ( or maybe randY) teacher.

We finished the morning with a gluttonous meal ( sent in by parents ) of chicken, sandwiches, gimbap ( korean sushi), fruit, pizza and..... DONUTS!!


I think my final donut count for the day was 4 regular size and an about 10-15 timbits. Not a bad score. 


My favorite costume was Jack Jack's. He was dressed as Spiderman, nothing special besides a mini unitard with a hood, but his size and the way he moves make him the cutest kid in the school.  Pretty sure I'd let him get away with murder ( and he often does ).

jack jack.

We went through the activities again in the afternoon with the elementary kids and I think all the teachers are now pretty Halloween'ed out.  


I felt a bit smug today, kind of like Halloween is 'our' holiday, and that made me happy.
It also made me smile to see the look on the faces of people in our neighbourhood as they noticed a turtle and a cheetah walking tail in hand down the road....

firey works.

oooooh.ahhhhh.

Last night was another adventure in Busan.  The International Fireworks Festival was on this weekend, so we had planned to go to Gwangali Beach to watch the show.  We headed out around 6pm because we had heard that it was VERY crowded and we needed to get there early.  

The bus was the first taste of the crowd, wall to wall, no wiggle room.  Tim and I were talking loudly in English, saying things we probably wouldn't if we thought anyone could understand us, and then a Korean girl about our age and she said " Hello! How are you?". HA! We ended up becoming friends with her and exchanged some info when we parted ways on the subway. Min!

We were meant to meet  Christine at Suyeong subway station and were met with walls of people when we got off the train... so we were a bit late, but found her eventually.

We walked to Gwangali, stopping at a Family Mart for a drink on the way, where we met a Korean couple who have a son studying at York University in Toronto.

We didn't really know where we were going, but we just followed the giant crowds and eventually found our way to the beach, picking up a few pogos on the way, of course. All the best foods....

At the beach, were more people than I've probably ever seen in any place at one time.  I have no idea how to count people, but I want to say 100-200 thousand people.

We staked a spot on the road, and just sat like the Koreans who were having little picnics on their little mats. 

The fireworks started  - with a bang! - at 8, and went for about 50 minutes.  It was AMAZING.  I have never seen fireworks like that before. Just, non-stop amazingness.

From where we were we couldn't get the full effect, but seeing them from the beach with the bridge in the background must have been unreal.

Following the fireworks, we went to a bar called Thursday Party and ended up seeing a few of the teachers from our school. I also finally ran into Liz, a friend from Montreal who was the person who hooked me up with her recruiter for Corem.   

Funniest part of the night:  

I dared Christine to jump into the back of a pick-up truck that was driving by at about 10km/hour. She bolted out into the street, barrel-rolled into the bed of the truck, then threw up over the side of the truck. With about 100 people watching. 

Finally the driver noticed , stopped, and she got out.  She actually didn't throw up, but just spit out her drink because she was laughing, but a throw-up makes the story ten times funnier. 

Good work Cage.

After staying at Thursday Party for a while, and teaching some freeze dancing, I escorted Tim down the street to find a cab.  As we were waiting for one, a car pulled up, and let us in.  Tim told him where we live and he said he'd take us there ( in some Korean way ). I thought it was a little strange that he stopped for us but chalked it up to Korean hospitality ( warning #1).  As we started driving, I looked at the guy driving and noticed that he was wearing a grocery bag on his head (warning #2).  As I turned to Tim and told him I thought we should maybe not be in this guy's car, the driver, swerved around a corner and almost drove into a group of people crossing the street (warning #3).  I told the driver to stop and we made a swift exit from the death-mobile. Thank GOD!

Lesson of the night: don't take rides from men with bags on their heads.

We finally made it home in two pieces,  after about an hour of cab hailing.

rilakkuma

what.

this guy is my new life. 

I have seen him around before but now I finally know who he is... RILAKKUMA.

He is Japanese, and he is also known as 'relax bear'.

Mostly i like how his limbs just flop all over the place and his face is either eating, or neutrally frowning ( kind of like me).

From his bio:

"Rilakkuma, true to his name, enjoys relaxing so much to the point that he despises standing up and is often seen lying down while sleeping, watching television, or eating his favorite foods (which include dumplings, pancakes, and pudding). "