Sunday marked the final home game of the season for your Gyeongju FC Marauders, and we ended the home portion of our schedule in true style -- by cavorting through a fountain full of Korean kids at the soccer complex.
The weather was hot and humid, as it has been all week and will continue to be for about two months. (I have already moved the mattress into the TV room of my apartment, where the only air conditioner, or "air con" as it's called in Korea, is located.) It was so hot, even some of our fans -- the best in the eight-team league, by the way -- joined us in the water.
I wanted to have someone take footage of me and the others in the fountain, but to be honest I was just too caught up in the moment. It's such a cool feeling when someone you don't plan just happens, and you just decide, "I will turn into a 7-year-old again." So I went in.
I shot the following video after one of my rounds in the fountain. The person you see at the 0:00 mark is Matt "The Sheriff of" Sweetingham, who put in a strong 90-minute shift at center back and and center mid. He's talking to one of his students, who later joined us in a waterfight. I briefly interview Geoff Hardaker, who has been with the club from the beginning and suffered an unfortunate ankle injury several months ago. He put in a four-minute cameo at the end, because we wanted him to experience a victory. So anyway, the video:
And here are your twice-victorious Marauders, courtesy of Susanne Han:
Front row: Murph. Back row: Sheriff, Hardaker, Seok-Ho, Mitchell, A-Jay, Mo, Brewer, George, me, Springbok Geoff, Pete, Park Ja-Son, Guvnor. We won the game 7-3, scoring six straight goals after we allowed the opener.
Now, you're no doubt asking yourself, what could possibly be cuter than Steve Moore with his shirt off? I'm glad you asked ...
You're welcome.
Can you name anything cuter than Baldy? Anyone who tries will be thoroughly ridiculed. But you may do your best by sending me a note here, or leave a comment on the Mark Fitzhenry's "Korea Blogging!" page here.
That's what somebody told me about half an hour ago. And the person was sober! Now, if I had to be picky, I'd prefer that the compliment came from somebody other than a 56-year-old Korean man. But the Korean woman who was playing with Baldy at the time didn't refute him, so hey, we'll just consider him correct in his assessment.
Tonight was a random moments kind of night for me. I settled for a lazy night and walked Baldy to a coffee shop in Siji Square. I have programmed myself to believing that everyone who sees Baldy will run for the hills. Not tonight. At one point in the square we were surrounded by eight to 10 people, mostly children, who stared at Baldy as if they never saw a dog before. He was a champ, soaking up their admiration and not delivering so much as a growl.
Later, these two girls came over, enjoying their creamsicles and staring at and petting Baldy. Through the magic of sign language and what little Korean I know, I told them it was OK if they ran their finger against the creamsicles and allowed Baldy to lick them. He would be their chingu (friend).
Then, on the way home, after 1 a.m., I ran into the aforementioned beautiful Korean woman who wanted to hold Baldy's leash. She just came back from the Philippines and plans to go to Australia next month. And while we were talking, the aforementioned man, a teacher who makes a habit of approaching foreigners and chatting with them to work on his English, joined our conversation. I helped him learn the difference between asking how long I teach for a day, and for each class. He dutifully took notes. Memo to Korean authorities: It was free and I was being helpful. Just being a good ambassador.
Now, heading to bars and getting smashed in good company has its purposes, but sometimes the best nights are the ones where you lay low and just take what comes.
America. F**k yeah. I've had more than a day to think about the Yanks' awesome 2-0 victory that ended Spain's 35-match unbeaten streak. This victory sent shockwaves through most of the world, including the U.S., where sports fans everywhere asked how the result impacted the College World Series.
I watched the entire match, which started at 3:30 a.m. in South Korea. I must say it was the coolest sports moment for me since the Celtics won the 2008 Finals. Spain was at nearly full strength -- no Andreas Iniesta, no Marcos Senna, but Xabi Alonso and Cesc Fabregas are more than adequate replacements. It was a victory over a world power in a meaningful tournament. And it came less than a week after it appeared the Yanks were not capable of beating a college swim team, much less the reigning European champions.
A perusal of the message boards, naturally, talks in extremes. I'll stray from that. The U.S. put together a game plan that clogged the middle of the pitch. Spaniards will bitch that we didn't want to play football, but piss on them. There is more than one way to win a match, and the fact that Spain was unable to adjust or take advantage of the space we gave them wide is not our fault. I don't know if this victory is a grand sweeping statement that we have arrived blah blah blah -- the same thing was said in 1994 and 2002 -- but I can sum up my emotions in three words.
Have any questions? Comments? Predictions for the final Sunday? Send me a note here, or leave a comment on the Mark Fitzhenry's "Korea Blogging!" page here.
It's February. The class' name is Courage. There are six, maybe seven students in there. Half of them go by English names: David, Charlie, John. The other have kept their Korean names -- which is fine and dandy for the Korean teachers at Yale Language School, who call them by their real names anyway. But we foreign teachers like students to have English names, to reinforce that it is an English academy and they should be speaking English almost exclusively.
Finally, one of the students acquiesces.
"My name is George W. Bush," he tells me with a smirk.
I know, Obama, not Bush, appears in the headline. But there is an Obama at our school. And besides, I knew "Obama needs to learn English" would grab your attention more. We all know "Bush needs to learn English" would be as big a stunner as, say, "June 26 follows June 25." Never misunderestimate my ability to write a headline.
For the record, George W. Bush is quite the clever first-year middle school student. He pestered his new teacher into giving him his cell phone number. The teacher relented. One time several months ago, the teacher responded to one of George's messages by asking him what was up. "NOT MUCH. JUST CEILING," George W. Bush replied.
Most of our students' names are traditional. The trendy U.S. baby picks -- Ashley, Jordan and the like -- make way for John, Tom, David, Tim, Jenny, Daisy, Amy, Jessica and similar selections, although I have taught only one Mark (and that was while covering for their usual teacher).
Here are some of the odder choices for English names at our school:
One. The student's given Korean names are Han Na -- which translates to "One." So she agreed to be called One.
Pocari and Sweat. Pocari Sweat is a Japanese drink company whose products are popular in South Korea. Many subway stations have Pocari Sweat vending machines on the platforms. These two students sat next to each other and thought it'd be funny to have these names.
Tuesday/Friday. On Tuesday, his name was Tuesday. On Friday, his name was Friday. You think he knows this song? Or this one?
Bono. No, not that one. This is the name of a company that makes pencil cases. So she took that name.
Bryan, Ryan, Tryan and Pryan. All in the same class. Those comedians.
And finally, this brief story. A teacher I know at another school has a student who called himself Sensation. Later, Sensation told the teacher he wanted to change his name. The teacher begged off, because Sensation was just too cool a name to drop. The student's choice for a new name was Gonzalez. Then, when the student wrote his name, he wrote "Sensation Gonzalez." The teacher's name is Scott Fish, his instrument of choice is drums, and the band he plays for is called Sensation Gonzalez.
If you teach in South Korea and have a name or 10 to share, do so by sending a comment here, or you can leave a comment on the Mark Fitzhenry's "Korea Blogging!" page here. And, because I'm that kind of guy, you can comment even if you don't teach in South Korea.
Meanwhile, since I gave you the "wrong" Bono earlier, here's the right one, singing the opener of the greatest Super Bowl halftime show ever -- although we all know the real party started about two hours later.
That's the idiom I taught one of my Elementary-6 classes today.
The opportunity arose when our textbook listed some celebrities. The model was Gisele Bundchen. The actor was Brad Pitt. And the TV star was Carson Daly. I think you can piece together the rest.
Strategically placed Busan subway note of the day: Stop No. 230 on the Green line is named Mora. This blog would be worth diddly poo if I didn't follow up on that:
Could you make a first down? Did you run the ball? Did you try to run the ball? Tell me by sending a comment here, or you can leave a comment on the Mark Fitzhenry's "Korea Blogging!" page here.
It takes a lot to ruin a good meal at one of my favorite Daegu restaurants, Dong Moong Tigi, home of the best Korean barbecue that we know of. Suffice it to say "a lot" happened.
I was preparing to leave when I realized I had left my housekeys inside my school.
This realization occurred at 12:30 a.m.
Yale locks its doors around 11.
And then, a few minutes later, I realized I wasn't the only one who'd suffer by not getting into my apartment that night...
This story has a happy ending, but not without the requisite dumbassness you've come to expect from me. All the credit goes to Hong Jae, our helpful assistant whose job is to keep all of the foreign teachers at our five campuses happy. I called him, having no idea if he'd pick up. He later told me that the reason he answered is because I wouldn't call at that hour if I didn't need him. I told him where my keys were. He made a couple of calls. He called back, said he had no luck, but he had an apartment in another neighborhood where I could crash for the night. That's great, I told him, but Baldy might want to be walked before then.
So Hong Jae called another contact -- Soo Young (I think that's the correct spelling), a woman who had the keys and passcards to get me into Yale. I met the two of them outside the building shortly before 1. We entered the lobby and I took the elevator to the seventh floor. I looked through the glass doors. My keys were a mere three steps away. I pressed a button for the glass doors to slide open and ... they didn't.
A smart person would have traveled back to the lobby and asked to be let in.
I pulled open the glass doors.
You can guess what happened next. Buzzes. Beeps. Rings. Lights. Oopsie.
I grabbed the keys, walked out of the teachers' room like nothing ever happened, and boarded the elevator. Upon my return to the lobby, I said, well, I think I did something stupid. Sure enough the phone at the front desk was ringing. I answered, and although I did not understand the Korean on the other end, my guess was it had something to do with the alarm I set off. So I handed the phone over to Soo Young, and she set the record straight. I left Yale with my keys. My dignity is another story.
Strange days indeed: I have not encountered much violence or crime here, but a trip downtown Saturday produced two incidents. I walked past a young Korean who was on the ground, the right side of his face and his light blue shirt stained with blood. I've seen Koreans yell at each other, but never fight. I walked past him later and saw him upright. In another incident, some foreigner was caught stealing purses at one of the clubs downtown. The boyfriend of one of the victims was just waiting for a good reason to pound him, but to the best of my knowledge it didn't happen. The Korean police were there, and some Koreans were able to talk to them on the victims' behalf. I didn't stick around to see how things turned out. I'm not saying this stuff never happens. I just don't hear much about it.
Bonus hometown note: Birds win! Birds win! Your Keene High Blackbirds are again state baseball champions of New Hampshire. Congrats to coach Tom Fowler and the rest of the Birds for adding to our fair city's rich baseball tradition.
Two more excuses to get Baldy in this blog entry: Here are a couple shots of "The River," the spot where I spent my Sunday evening at a birthday bash for fellow teacher Catherine Andrewes. She was celebrating her ... um .... 21st birthday. Yes, her 21st.
The rocks in the middle of the river is popular among locals and foreigners who live in Siji. It's a good 25- to 30-minute walk from The Ghetto.
Baldy was a hit, but you probably knew that already. The boy was scared at first but soon learned that Baldy's just too cute and well-behaved to ignore.
Questions or comments can be sent here, or you can leave a comment on the Mark Fitzhenry's "Korea Blogging!" page here.
I wandered through an art gallery, observed a teen scene best described as anime on steroids, strolled through peaceful gardens and threw myself into a hub of rampant consumerism. And that was just during a three-hour span.
While four days is not enough to see everything in Tokyo, I saw as much as I could. Except for the maid bars. Sorry Derek. There is so much to share that I have added a page to this blog. It begins with where I spent much of my time: the subway system. Before the blog is finished, you'll read about shrines, wacky kids, the view from the 45th floor, a lucky sandal, and who knows what else. But not maid bars. Sorry Derek.
Until then, here are some photos and a video to whet your appetite:
The band is 2NE1, the song is "Fire," and the introductory video is 157 seconds of K-Pop bombast that's missing only Howard Finkel announcing their combined weight and their hometown as "from Parts Unknown ..."
This video is from their debut performance, May 17, on the SBS program Inki Gayo, which literally translates to, "We debut the latest crap song that will stay in your head all day."
Reader mail update: I do appreciate when you comment on my posts. Here is one from a few weeks ago, courtesy of Pete Reinwald, who lives in Chicago by way of New Port Richey, Florida: "Yo Fitz. I've been reading about the I Ching, and I read that those four hexagrams on South Korea's flag represent heaven, earth, water and fire. I'm wondering how much in your daily travels that you encounter references or symbols to ancient customs and spirituality."
Pete, I received the message and will answer it in due time. I know the Tiger is a key symbol here, I believe it is grounded in religion, and it is on the Korean Football Federation's official logo. So there's a start, no?
Tokyo update: I have organized my 234 photos and videos and started putting together some posts. There is so much information from my four-day trip that I am creating a separate page for it. Members of this blog's official Facebook page will receive a message when the page is up. If you are not a member of that group, keep checking this space and it should be up soon. Or just join my group, you lazy twerp.
Questions or comments can be sent here, or you can leave a comment on the Mark Fitzhenry's "Korea Blogging!" page here.
I have been in Tokyo for about 31 hours and I have seen as much of this immense as vibrant city as I can in that period -- and that's just the rail system. Here are sentence-long snippets of what I have done so far -- I would do more but I am typing this from a computer that costs a buck every 10 minutes ...
The trip here: Your attention please: Try not to give anyone swine flu.
Narita Airport staff: Incredibly helpful, thanks to their flawless English.
Tokyo's rail system: More lines than Ned Beatty's pro-corporation monologue in "Network."
Shinjuku: Holy crap, every beautiful person in Tokyo is here.
Shibuya: Holy crap, every person in Tokyo and every tourist on Earth is here.
The Harajuku youth culture: If you have ever seen it in a department store or a comic book shop, they're wearing it.
Meiji Jingu shrine: The most serene place in Tokyo.
National Art Center: If only my words could do this building the justice it deserves.
My feet: In need of a massage.
My wallet: Don't ask ...
A more detailed account of the trip will appear after I have returned Tuesday night (Korea time). Meanwhile, if you have questions or comments, send them here, or you can leave a comment on the Mark Fitzhenry's "Korea Blogging!" page here.
Tonight after work I'll be taking the high-speed train to Busan. Saturday morning I will leave for Tokyo. I'll try to post an update or two from there, but given that I have only four days/three nights there I'd rather spend my time sightseeing, so you may get a four-part opus or something. Either way, I promise to my dozens of fans that I won't let you down.
Until then, here's a live performance of "Woman From Tokyo," pretty much the only song worth a darn from Who Do We Think We Are. The live version is often very short because the bridge is difficult to replicate live. So here you go. Sayonara.
Questions, comments blah blah blah can be sent here, or you can leave a comment on the Mark Fitzhenry's "Korea Blogging!" page here.
That's what a middle school student asked me today.
The source of the question was a game created by Lanternfish, a Web site used by Korean teachers when we're looking for something to do outside of the textbooks we are given. In my case, I have a special conversation class for middle school students, and lately only one person has been showing up. The good news with that situation is, I can focus on what she needs to learn, and then work on it. There are no distractions. Just me and a student who wants to improve.
The best tools for this scenario, I have learned, is to play board games. No, not this one. Or this one. There are many companies that have prepared board games to help ESL students learn, and there is a very good reason for this. It's because many English as a Second Language classes begin this way:
Teacher: Hello, class. Today we ...
Student: Game!
Today, I brought three games for my student (English name Helena). Each one focused on a conversation skill. I knew one game focused on using the future tense, specifically the conditional (would). I asked Helena what she would do if she won a ton of money. When she said, "I will ..." I knew what game to play: this one (copyright Chris Gunn).
The great thing about this game is that students cannot answer with a "yes" or "no." It forces them to talk, which, as you can imagine, is ideal for a conversation class. We took turns, we asked each other the questions on the board, and by the end of the class she understood the difference between using "will" and "would." (If you're not sure, "would" is used in a hypothetical scenario such as this: "If I ever had a date, I would talk endlessly about the second season of The Young Ones until the woman left the restaurant.")
So what about my answer to her question? My answer, and I kid you not, was this. If I had a teleportation machine, I would zap myself to New York, find some Yankees fans, and ridicule them until they were furious, and I would teleport someplace else right before they would beat me up.
For those of you who attended the 20th reunion and wondered how much I have changed, I think I just answered your question.
Naturally, I can't close without a You Tube video, so in honor of my strategically placed reference of The Young Ones, here's the centerpiece of the second-season opener -- the University Challenge competition between Scumbag College and Footlights College Oxbridge. And yes, that's Hugh Laurie as Lord Monty and Emma Thompson as Miss Money Sterling.
Have any questions? Comments? A desire to see me stuff 604 marshmallows up one nostril? Send me a note here, or leave a comment on the Mark Fitzhenry's "Korea Blogging!" page here.
To give you an idea of how messed up my sleep patterns have become, I had an easier time staying awake for a sporting event that began at 3:45 a.m. than I did trying to wake up in time to watch Bruins and Celtics games at 9 a.m.
Then again, we are talking about the European Champions League final, whose annual worldwide television audience is surpassed only by live updates on what Michelle Obama is wearing. This year's version was a dream for football (soccer) fans. In one corner, Manchester United, on a three-year run as England's champions. In the other, Barcelona, Spanish champions and torchbearer of pretty football.
The scenario had to have been a dream for the good folks at Commune's Lonely Hearts Club, which already is hopping as Wednesday turns into Thursday on a weekly basis thanks to its open mike night. Indeed, around 3:15 a.m., there were still at least 40 people in the place, and I'd venture to guess fewer than half cared about the football. But when 3:30 hit, a crowd of at least 30 people were gathered around the big screen, watching a Korean station show an endless supply of Park Ji-Sung highlights. (More on his popularity later in this entry.)
It's fun watching a match with Man United fans because they draw upon their endless library of terrace songs. There's the Dimitar Berbatov song (to "Another One Bites The Dust"), the Paul Scholes song (to "Kumbaya"), and this ditty to the tune of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" about injured midfielder Owen Hargreaves, a player hated by English fans until they realized, hey, he's pretty useful. Go Owen! We always loved you!
The gentleman in the left foreground is Anto Griffin, who like me is a manager in the Korean Foreigner Football League, and who unlike me isn't ugly. Anyway, the lyrics: Oh Owen Hargreaves, you are the love of my life/Oh Owen Hargreaves, I'll let you shag my wife/Oh Owen Hargreaves, I want curly hair too. For a hilarious song to honor Park Ji-Sung, and samples of 497 other songs (you think I'm joking, don't you?), click here. And for the Pet Shop Boys' cover of "Where The Streets Have No Name" that integrates the song seamlessly, click here.
While Man United provided most of the fans, Barcelona was represented as well. I think I counted three supporters -- including this one, a Liverpool fan whose hatred for United runs so deep he bought a Barcelona sweater and printed the lyrics to Barcelona's team hymn, just to antagonize the Red Devils fans.
As for the match itself, if you haven't heard by now how it went, here is my summary. United threatened for nine minutes. Barca scored on the first chance they got. United said, "Give us the ball back." And Barca said, "No."
When I climbed out of the basement, the sun had risen and Koreans were on their way to work. And I was off to bed.
** A middle school student told me he actually went to bed the night before the final at 11 p.m., then woke up at 4 to watch the match. Park Ji-Sung means that much to South Korea. I have been told that MBC ESPN's broadcasts of Man U matches regularly give a notation at the top of the screen, in Korean, that states whether Park is playing or not. I have not noticed it. I do recognize the regular in-game poll, however, in which Park Ji-Sung's name is among three receiving votes for something, and he always receives the most. I'm guessing it's a text poll for man of the match. And after every match, MBC ESPN shows Park Ji-Sung highlights -- good passes, bad passes, shots, every time he cleans out his cleats. This part I am not making up: During a program dedicated to showing all the goals Man U scored in this year's Champions League, one of the highlights was Park entering the game as a sub for Carlos Tevez.
** Something I'd rather not hear again after a cab ride: "If he was asleep, that was the third time I've been in a cab with a sleeping driver." Those words, uttered by co-worker Thomas Finn, were uttered Friday after pub quiz night at Commune.
** "The Simpsons" do Korea. I have several students who, when somebody gets a wrong answer, provide the Nelson laugh.
Questions, comments, demands or dating tips can be sent here, or leave a comment on the Mark Fitzhenry's "Korea Blogging!" page here.
Some rather rushed notes, for those of you who check my blog in South Korea or can't sleep in the States:
** I am heading for Tokyo on Saturday, and I have no idea what I am going to do other than hit the Tokyo Dome for a Yomiuri Giants game. Yes, I am just adopting teams left and right, but more on that in a moment. I land Saturday afternoon and anticipate reaching my hotel around 4 p.m., after which I will hit the subway, get out at a recommended stop, and walk around. I have a suspicion that there will be plenty to see.
Meanwhile, I am pleased to report that I will finally have an iPod, just in time for the subway ride to Dongdaegu Station, the KTX ride to Busan and the (hopefully successful) flight to Tokyo. I bought the iPod online through Apple, mainly because I know it'll be not pirated and immediately compatible with my iTunes library. However, there is a customs tax for electronics being sent into South Korea, and it's 100,000 won ($100 USD, exchange rate aside). I suppose it's better than the North Korean tax, which is, I believe, getting shot.
** I attended another Samsung Lions game Saturday, and you'll be pleased to know our Lions scored seven runs in the seventh inning to topple the two-time defending champion SK Wyverns. Two notes on the Wyverns. One, this is a wyvern. Two, in a pub quiz on Friday, the second question was: Other than the Samsung Lions, what four Korean baseball teams are named after animals? And of course, I got it right.1 Our three-member team, The Society For Putting Things On Top Of Other Things, led after the first of three rounds but eventually lost out to a team with, and this is just a rough guess, 17 members.
** More thoughts from my third Korean Baseball Organization game: When the Lions need a big hit, the crowd just won't shut up. When they need a big out, particularly a strikeout, the crowd will remain seated. Very odd, considering such prodding is a reflex at Fenway and Yankee Stadium, and done everywhere else when the scoreboard reads, "MORE NOISE, YOU UNEDUCATED GITS!" ... Credit to friend Simon Wegner for noticing something I hadn't: There is no public address announcer introducing batters. ... Sometimes the starting pitcher will throw a warmup pitch or two or 10 in the bullpen before he trots out to throw his warmups on the mound at the start of an inning. ... The seven-run rally was done solely with walks, singles and doubles.
** Here are your world's cutest nieces, Sarah and Kate, showing off their stuffed Samsung Lions mascots courtesy of Uncle Mark:
** And finally ... Marauders win! Marauders win! Seven days after a rather tired and potentially hung over Gyeongju FC lost 14-0 to Busan United, we defeated Daegu United, a team based at the Army base Camp Walker, 5-1. I don't have any photos that capture the moment, so I am following the lead of the man who scored first for us, Springbok Geoffrey Holtes, by providing a video of "The Final Countdown."
Questions, comments, demands or suggestions of what to do in Tokyo can be sent here, or leave a comment on the Mark Fitzhenry's "Korea Blogging!" page here.
