Blast From the Past: Kickin' (Soccer) Balls

Originally written March 14, 2007

Oh, Herro!

Well, as you may be able to tell the Fightin' Nagasaki Fly Hawk(s) FC finally showed their full potential and won the first game of the season! However, the game was not without some pregame drama as a riff between players and management became fully apparent. There are these two players, Chris and Owen, who have obviously been hit in the head too many times with hockey sticks. They both play for a hockey squad as well, and think they know all there is to know about soccer despite having never played competitively before. To make a long story short, Chris went off at Rob and I (on the team mailing list) for some really petty issues. Furthermore, Owen had been telling our players that we would be "thrashed" by Nagasaki University on Saturday (he must have figured we would miss him or something, both he and Chris had a hockey engagement--notice I didn't say "game" because hockey isn't a sport). If nothing else, this motivated the rest of the team and we came out swinging. The game was tied for about 30 minutes at 0-0, when we finally caught a break and made a successful attack on goal. The score was from one of our Japanese players, Kazuya. It was a low shot, the keeper appeared to have position but the ball somehow managed to squeeze on by him and into the back of the net. We took a 1-0 lead into the half, despite some good opportunities from the other team. Nagasaki U did not go silently into the night and struck back early in the second half to tie the score at 1-1. However, their goal (which was quite the spectacular header) would be their last shot on goal for the match. We spent the vast majority of the rest of the half attacking on their half of the field and eventually Aaron put away a corner to take the lead for good. The final score was 2-1 and it was an emotional win for Rob and I and a huge relief to the rest of the team.

We took this confidence into our next match, though it was not a scheduled one. Halfway through our subsequent practice this weekend a couple of firetrucks pulled up next to the field and all of these firemen started piling out and putting on soccer cleats. Well, they had 11 men, and we had 11 men and women (total) so we figured why not have a match? We were a little embarrassed that they caught us without our uniforms, especially since they had nice, matching navy blue Sasebo FD sweats. And in typical Japanese fashion, this wasn't enough, they brought out small red mesh vests to throw over their uniforms.It didn't take long to figure out that we would absolutely dominate them. And dominate we did. Final score? 4-0. They were nice enough to let us pose for a picture in front of one of the firetrucks. This week we are off to play in Saga City against another ALT team on St. Patrick's Day, should be a blast!*

The week certainly began strangely enough, with my predecessor, Kate, coming back to say, "Herro!" to everyone. From an outsider's perspective this might not seem too odd, but it certainly was from my end. I would compare it to how they always warn time travelers in cheesy sci-fi movies (with the exception of Back to the Future, which was excellent) not to go see your past or future self. I think it was equally awkward for both of us.

Also on tap this week: Junior High School graduation! I really loved my 3rd year students, but I guess part of being a teacher is learning to say, "Good-bye." Instead of class for the past few days I've had to attend hours-literally hours of graduation practice. They practiced everything from walking to the podium, to bowing together, to standing and sitting together and singing various songs. I remember our pre-graduation meeting going a bit differently. Something about, "NO MOONING THE CROWD!" or something...then we went out for pizza. Different culture.**

With the term winding down, I've been afforded a little more time to work on pet projects. I've taken full advantage of the time, as there are only so many Sudoku puzzles one can do without jamming a pencil into one's temple. I've started work on a paper about Japan's new militarism. I've completed about 25 pages in a little over two weeks-it might be 25 pages of glorious crap but it makes me feel better for accomplishing it! I hope to have a 40-50 page rough frame to help guide my future research finished by the end of March. So if you see any good articles about Japan, please send 'em along! No wikipedia articles...thanks. (Unless you find something really funny like one on Japanese Sex Robots or something). Well, I guess that's all for now. Be sure to fill out your brackets! And send love!

Don't moon the crowd,

-Zach

*Said game was not a blast. The Saga team was apparently under the impression that we were playing rugby and absolutely abused us.

**Tomato Head to be exact.

A Good Week for a Good Week

So, dear readers, you may have noticed my silence this week. Well, I've been busy, so busy, that I've had precious little time to devote to my beloved blog. Before I get started: last news first, I'm surfing the interwebs using my very own connection! Now where do I begin? How about last Saturday:

Wednesday, September 25, 2010

As per my journal:

Some days you just need to be a tourist. I was supposed to go to Olympic Park with some coworkers, but instead I waited around for a call that never came. So instead I'm on my way to Gyeongbokgung, "The Palace of Shining Happiness," built in 1394 by King Taejo, founder of the Joseon Dynasty. However, the original was burned down in 1592 and stayed in ruins until it was rebuilt in 1868.

And blah, blah, blah. The palace was nice, but nothing as spectacular as the Forbidden City or even the Imperial Palace in Kyoto. That said, the weather was perfect and it was really nice to just get out into the city and stroll around. The highlight of the trip was actually bimimbap for lunch.

Sunday, September 27, 2010

I was long over due for a haircut when I went into a foreign-friendly barber shop near-ish my home. I've been a little hesitant to get a haircut so far, mostly due to a particularly traumatic haircutting experience in Japan. The haircut ended up being OK, not great and not as short as I wanted, but it works.


Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Today began with some drama, as Sydney inadvertently startled an old Korean woman getting off of the elevator in the morning. I heard her walk straight up to the doorman and start bitching about my dog. I wasn't surprised when I was called into our Vice Director's office to have Joe tell me that he had received a call from the apartment and that "Neighbor were complaining about her being too noisy." Of course, this was total bullshit as other foreigners surround my apartment, left, right, and below. In fact, I even asked a nice South African living directly next-door to me if he could ever hear her and he told me, "She's as quiet as a mouse."

Other than that mess, our school celebrates birthdays once a month, and I don't think I've ever seen so much food. My kids inundated me with pizza, chocolate cake, fruit, rice cake, iced coffee and juice.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Today we kicked off our two-days of monthly tests for our afternoon students. This was a nice change in pace from our normal school schedule, when we usually devote all of our time to lesson planning and teaching. Interestingly enough, these tests actually created more work for us because we had to grade all the essays.

After work I met up with a couchsurfer, Mark, and his entourage of coworkers for drinks and noraebang (Korean karaoke). I'm not normally one for the mid-week throw-down, but on Thursday I had a field trip and more testing, so I was pretty sure I could work through any and all possible hangovers. I've also not had much opportunity to meet and hang out with many non-coworkers, so I felt like I owed it to myself. It was a blast, despite not being able to find "Come on Eileen" or "Carry on our Wayward Son." The five of us ended up crashing back at my apartment around 3:30.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Despite being tired and popping Advil like candy to combat a headache, I had a great time on our field trip. It was at the Korean Folk Museum, inside of Lotte World which is a giant department store/theme park. My kids spent the day taking turns climbing all over me while I tried to explain to them what was going on in the diagrams and displays. It was really nice to see these kids have a chance to...well...be kids. I feel like they are all terribly overworked, sometimes they should just be able to cut loose.

For being in a department store, it was a surprisingly good museum, but it was a bit odd exiting through cosmetics.

Friday, October 1, 2010

So the gods of noraebang have smote me once again. Last time I went, I came down with tonsillitis two days later, and this time I've come down with a cold. I would like it if my immune system started doing its job at some point.

A Man, a Dog, and The Mountain

I awoke to my alarm at 7:07 this morning with one thing on the mind: I'm going to climb a mountain today. When I peaked out the window through my blinds, any remaining doubts were immediately nullified, it was going to be a great day. It was sunny and clear and the air even had a touch of an autumn chill. I ate breakfast, packed a sandwich for lunch and headed out with my traveling companion, Sydney.

Now, I had heard that I could bring my dog on the subway but this was my first attempt to actually do it. When we walked up to the turnstile there was no one around, so we just slipped through. A man waiting for the next train was delighted to see her and then asked me with a puzzled look, "Can you bring her on here?" I guess so! For the first few stops, Sydney was visibly disturbed by the whole experience. She crawled up on my lap and was shaking out of nervousness. However, by the time we reached our transfer station she was more or less fine. On the second train several Koreans spent most of the trip trying to get her attention every few seconds. She sniffed their hands, let them pet her, turned around and returned to my feet to curl up. This process repeated for the next half an hour.

Even before we left the train station I was blown away from the scenery. The mountains seemed to come out of nowhere, right out of the urban landscape. Now, I must confess it felt strange going hiking when you could reach the destination by subway, but I didn't really have much of a choice in this situation, did I?

The Lonely Planet calls the Koreans "The World's best dressed hikers," and I'm inclined to agree. Dobongsan is no Everest, it's approximately 740 meters tall and takes a little over an hour to hike to the peak from the entrance of the park. I wore a tee-shirt and jeans and carried a light backpack for water and my sandwich; I felt horribly, inadequately under-dressed. Everyone I saw, spare for the occasional foreigner, had hiking jackets, pants, boots, walking sticks, hiking backpacks, gloves, hats, etc. On the walk from the train station to the park I could have stocked up at any number of places, had I been so inclined, everything from hiking gear to soju. There was even a Dunkin Donuts at the entrance to the park.

However, we ran into a bit of a snag at the gate, a stern-looking park ranger pointed at my dog, told me, I assume, that I couldn't bring her into the park, and then walked off. I guess he was expecting me to just turn around and head home. Well, we hadn't hauled our asses all the way to the other side of the city to not hike, so we booked it into the park and started our ascent.

The climb itself was great. Most of the trail followed a stream up the mountain, and for the most part it wasn't too challenging. Sydney took well to the mountain, too well, in fact, I had to keep pulling her back so I could keep up. We took a couple of breaks on the way up, and I brought a small bowl so she could drink water.

The summit seemed to come out of nowhere, and the view over Seoul was breathtaking. The size of this city is difficult, if not impossible, to describe. Despite knowledge to the contrary, I can't help but believe this city to be infinite. We stayed at the top for a few minutes, taking pictures, drinking water, and taking in the view, but there was more to see! I had read about a couple of temples throughout the park that I definitely wanted to visit.
BUT we did not make it there. The moment we started back on the trail another park ranger was standing in the middle of the path with another stern look on his face. This would be the end of the line for us, we were sent packing off of this nature oasis in the middle of the metropolis. At first he wanted us to take a different path back down the mountain, and I'm using a very liberal definition of "path." As a matter of fact, I couldn't tell where he wanted me to go, but it looked steep, unmarked, and dangerous. When I tried to point back the direction I came, he objected and pointed back down the mountain. We were at a bit of an impasse: he wanted me to walk off a cliff, and I wasn't too keen on the idea. Thankfully a younger ranger came a along and he negotiated with the old, grumpy man. Then he told me, "I think that way is steep and very dangerous." I agreed. "So maybe you should go back the way you came." So I departed. The old man probably thought if I did that I would just go back to hiking other trails, which, was tempting. However, I didn't need to be told a third time, I decided to play it safe, and head back down the mountain.

We arrived back at Gangdong Station (my stop) slightly before 1 PM, completely exhausted, but happy as could be.

They Call it Soccer, too

I had originally planned on posting this the next day, but then again, I hadn't been planning on ending up in the hospital. But, better late than never! Enjoy:


September 11, 2010

15:40

So I've been in Seoul for two and a half weeks and have hardly seen the city. I've only crossed the Han River three times--today--and twice to the casino. I had to change things up. Obviously, I'm away from Sydney so much that I hate being away anymore than I have to. I will have to find a balance; hopefully having a permanent place and in-home Internet will help.

Right now I'm riding the #5 line to the World Cup Station on the opposite end of the city. I'm a bit curious how long this journey will take, but I should learn this fact sooner rather than later. I'm on my way to see F.C. Seoul play...um...some other team. Its Foreigner Day, so I'll get a ticket, beer, and a hot dog for only ₩10,000.

...some dude just wandered through the train, yelling, trying to sell some flashlights or something. When I looked around and saw everyone doing their best to try and ignore him, I followed suit.

16:23

On the #6 line now, almost there. Some chick is talking her boyfriend's ear off and he's completely ignoring her while playing a baseball video game on his cell phone. I'm not sure which is the bigger stereotype: the gabbing girlfriend or the unresponsive boyfriend?

17:09

Ticket in hand! This sort of feels like that scene from Caddyshack where they open the pool to the caddies for 15 minutes and all hell breaks loose.



I walked around the stadium grounds and found a small, but nice pitch with dozens of young kids, practicing, all in their F.C. Seoul jerseys. I don't know this with any degree of certainty, but many clubs have feeder programs, often extending down to 6 or 7 year old kids leagues, and I'm betting this was case for these kids. I walked around the pitch, and hoped the parents didn't think I was some pedophile for taking photos of their kids.

When I got into the stadium, I almost immediately spotted Benjamin, a Swedish exchange student I met last week through a couchsurfing event. We watched the game together and complained about the total lack of talent on the field. The first half was a snooze, other than the occasional show from the cheerleaders. The talent was poor all-around, and any goal-scoring opportunity was a result of a mistake.

The venue was a great place to watch the game. Despite the pouring rain, most fans were high and dry under the roof, that extended out over the seats. As the name suggests, it was constructed for the 2002 World Cup, and has a capacity of nearly 70,000. Sadly, even with the large foreigner turn-out, the crowd was tiny in comparison to the stadium. I couldn't help but think about what the stadium was like at the height of competition, particularly while hosting the home team.

The game picked up in the second half, with F.C. Seoul coming alive to route the other guys 4-0. Only one of the goals came on a decent strike, the rest were terrible mishaps on defense, including one inexcusable cross that found its way past three defenders and eventually into the back of the net.

After the game we headed to dinner and then a Western-style bar called "Beer O'Clock" and managed to get a pretty decent pale ale on tap. Arsenal and Bolton were playing, and it was some nice detox to see some Premier League football after watching the sport being butchered for 90 minutes earlier.

The Royal Pooch

So far, I think I've been asked about how Sydney is doing more often than myself. This is perfectly understandable, she did not choose to come here and living in a small apartment in a huge concrete jungle is not an ideal living condition. Both in coming here and in my day-to-day life, she is my first and foremost concern. When I was debating checking myself into the hospital last weekend because of the price, I asked myself if I would spend that much on Sydney if she were sick, and the answer was decidedly, "Yes."

Aside from the long work days, the worst part about living here is not having a nearby park to go to. She's fine with long walks, but it's good to get her off leash and let her run around too. Also, all the dogs here are of the small, yippy variety--and from what I can tell--not very sociable. I had to go to a workshop today, but before I left I took Syd on a nice walk. We ran into one of the aforementioned small dogs, and for one of the first times since our arrival, the dogs were allowed to sniff each others' crotch and ass to their hearts' content.

When we arrived back from the workshop, I immediately got on my bike and headed home. Everyone else was standing around, asking each other what they wanted to do tonight, etc. When I said I was leaving, I got a few strange looks and for the umpteenth time, I had to explain, "I have to get home to my bitch."* Yes, I have responsibility beyond work and myself. No, I'm not going to make Sydney wait one second longer than she must to go outside. Sydney is waiting for me at the door, and ready to jump all over me and play. That never gets old. She makes it very difficult to have a bad day when I come home to that.

I took her outside, past the disapproving doorman, to find more foreign teachers (from another school) congregating near the street corner. Their faces light up and I hear, "Wow! A big dog!" "A real puppy!" and the like. Only in Asia are Sydney and I are considered "big." One girl, Clara, offers to walk my dog while I'm away after about 3 seconds of conversation. I was prepared to offer big bucks and/or sexual favors, but I kept that to myself for the time being. We then walked about a half an hour down to the Han River Park. It appears to be a thin sliver on the map, but a thin sliver in a city the size of Seoul turned out to be a huge chunk of real estate, and extremely vibrant. Syd and an off-leash Dachshund had a rather humorous exchange: the Dachshund chased and barked at Syd, she turned around to look at him, and the Dachshund ran away. This pattern repeated itself three or four times before we just decided to walk on.

After watching the sun set over the Han River, we found an undisturbed patch of grass, about 30 by 40 yards, and I let Sydney off leash for just the second time in Korea. If you've never seen Sydney run, you are missing out. She has a beautiful stride, it's fast and graceful and she can make turns on a dime. When she runs with other dogs, she'll outmaneuver the rare dog that is quicker than her, and she'll outsmart the even rarer dog that is both quicker and more agile. While I've never wanted to own a farm, she almost makes me want to get a flock of sheep, just so I can watch her herd. She ran perfect laps around this small, open patch of grass, and when I called her over and asked her to sit, she did so with a huge smile on her face. While exiting the park, she looked up at me and smiled, as if to say, "Thanks Dad, I needed that." Truth be known, we both did. When we got home, she ate and then collapsed, spread eagle on the floor. It's always good to be the King, but some days, it's great to be the Dog.

*One co-worker voiced her disapproval at my frequent usage of this phrase. I told her I didn't say it for her enjoyment, I said it for mine. I think it's funny, and will continue to say it.