sketches from the last month or so

I've experienced some things in the last little while. I will now share them with you...

Kickin' it
A few weeks ago, I saw a TV show about these 2 guys training for a Korean Martial Art style called Hapkido in Seoul and I thought it looked kind of interesting. I found (had my head teacher find) a local place that met my standards and payed a rather high amount for a month of training. The place instantly impressed me as the whole floor was made of a foamy hard-wood patterned vinyl. I had an urge to childishly collapse onto the floor for fun, but I didn't. I wanted to keep a kind of stoic foreigner mystique so I stayed in control.
The teacher was some kind of master in his day. There are photos of him on the wall and he's doing some crazy things so I decided that I shouldn't make fun of him, and that he was adequately suited to teach me. He doesn't speak any English, however. It's been going surprisingly well considering I have no idea what he tells me to do.

On the first day, I was excited to do some sparring and 2-footed jump kicks but he thought it was best I learn how to fall down. Although this satisfied my earlier craving, falling was significantly less glorious than I was expecting. But, I suppose you gotta walk before you can run. Or, rather, fall before you can kick. So I've been going every other day, fallng like a pro so I can have a brightly coloured belt for when I get home. Wish me luck.

Teeth on lap
I was on the subway last night heading out for a pint, when I observed a very intoxicated old Korean man. He was sitting in the old people section with his feet up (as was his want) reading the paper. He seemed perfectly content, minus the random sleep-driven, full body nods.

As I watched his progress with the newspaper, he took out his teeth.

I wasn't sure that's what they were at first, but when he pressed them back up into his gums, I figured it was a correct assumption. I think he just needed to clean them. Perhaps flick off some food, shake out any foreign particles, etc. He was not phased by the audience. He snapped his wrist with the teeth in hand (like a hockey player packing chew) and went on reading.
Once the teeth were replaced, he yelled at me to sit down. I didn't because I was terrified of any other self-cleaning rituals he had planned for the ride, so I respectfully declined his offer. He spent the rest of the trip yelling at me, possibly insulting me, but I can't be sure of that. This happened in the span of about 5 minutes.
The subway is an endless source of entertainment.

Mud
Last weekend I was in an area called Daechon (not to be confused with Daejon) at Boryeong beach. It was Mudfest, and every single foreigner in Korea made the journey to get muddy and sunburned (in that order).
As we debussed, we wandered around the area in search of our minbok. It's a room with no furniture, a few fixtures and a bathroom. Ideal for sleeping on the hard floor. It was cheap and perfect for all muddy intents and purposes.
The festival was almost exactly as I had envisioned. Picture masses of people covered from head to toe in a kind of greeny-gray sludge.
Before we got to the main drag though, I saw random couples wearing dry, crusted mud walking among the normal people. It looked kind of like a post-apocalyptic society where the mud-people and the non-mud-people were living in perfect harmony. I was inspired.

The day was filled with various ways to get very dirty. There was a prison where people throw pots of mud at you, there was wrestling, racing games, a band shell and a beach all in the span of about a square km.
I saw many good friends both randomly and planned and fired off Roman Candles. Fireworks and beach are always a wonderful combination. Unless you're engaged in some kind of warfare, but that's for another blog.
I was terribly sunburned, remained in my muddy bathing suit for the whole weekend, and destroyed my phone. But it was great fun. I recommend that you mud up at least once a year, twice if you work in finance.



That's all I can really think of. The fam is in China now and I'll see them on Tuesday. Next weekend we're all off to Japan so I'm excited. I expect to have a utility-belt full of stories upon my return.

You should just bookmark this site now, to save the unnecessary address typing time.

If you'll excuse me, I must peel skin from my back and forehead.