Ultimate Frisbee

Last weekend was the Gnarley Nines International Ultimate Frisbee Tourney. Jeju entered 3 teams and I was on one of them. There were 27 teams in total. They came from far and wide to participate in this, the 4th annual tournament. There were teams from the US, Korea, Japan, China, Philippines, and I believe Thailand amongst other places. There were 3 divisions and my team was thankfully in the 3rd division. That is the division that is not so competitive and people out for a good time and a little competition.
The tournament was spread out over 2 days. The first day was for rankings for the playoffs. Saturday was a hell day. We played 4 games, 3 games right in a row. Each match lasts to 11 points or a 55 minute cap. Most of our games went to cap. It was a rough couple of games. I think we had one healthy person on our team at the end of the day. Mostly muscle strains and bum knees and the like. I pulled my alkalies tendon. It hurt to run, but I played on. We needed everyone out there and everyone was in pain. Plus when your in a match, pain doesn't bother you.
We ended up winning 2 games and losing 2 games on Saturday. We lost a heart breaker. We were down 5-1 with less than 5 minutes to go and came back and tied the match and losing in a sudden death overtime. The other loss was to another Jeju team, a team we practice with every weekend. We are an evenly matched team. We just couldn't play. The day got windier and windier as the day went on and it was our last game of the day. So on top of being dead tired, we were dealing with gale force winds. We lost that one by 2 points, 2-4.
The next day we won 1 and lost 1 and were knocked out of the playoffs. That sucked. All the games we won during the tournament we handled the other teams. Most ended up 11-2. But the game that knocked us out of the playoffs, we got handled, their girls were good tossers and fast runners. I found out after the game why we got beat so badly. They were a division A team. That is the top division and they were placed in the C division for the playoffs. So they just flat out played us.
So it was a good weekend out. Pretty sweet deal as well. The entrance fee for the tourney was about 50 bucks. With that we got 2 nights in a hotel, 2 nights of food and drinking. Food and Drinking were included, Soju and beer. Lunch at the field as well as more free beer and soju and a free Frisbee. Saturday night they threw a party for us, the theme of the party was scandles. A few people dressed up, but most did not. It is kind of a hard topic for people to dress up as.
Most teams were sponsored as well. We had shirts made, 2 pairs of shorts, a bandanna and socks donated to our team.
Oh yeah I almost forgot on of the best things about the tourney. I got to use my Mongolian. On the way to the fields on Sunday, someone found out that I used to live there and there was a MONGOLIAN guy playing on one of the other teams. A team that we crushed the previous day. So I introduced myself and talked Mongolian for a while. Good guy, fun guy. He was his teams cheerleader. Keeping them laughing and motivated. I have lost some of my Mongol, but I still managed to get by. I was so happy to speak it again. FAN-FRICKIN-TASTIC!!!!!

Chair Racing

Ah! Mondays. I love them. Today might be my last Monday at the Center. We were informed today that this will be our last week working in the schools that we have been working at. Our Center opens up on the first. So we will be moving out there next week. I am looking forward to it. Today we had a meeting with Ellen. She is the director of the foreign language centers. She came and told us that we would be taking part in the opening ceremonies. We are just running things in the sim labs. I don't know if we'll be giving speeches or anything. Hell I don't even know where I'll be going for the most of next week.

But now on to the title of this post. Today at work, typical Monday, we (Arielle and myself) started off the usual way. Checking email, doing crosswords and reading. When we started sliding around the room in our chairs. It progressed to a designed figure 8 race track. I am proud to say that I won. I kicked ass. I rocked the house. I won with a triumphant block with a double chair push block. There are obstacles that we can use to our advantage. Arielle was coming around the corner, when I threw two chairs to block her and rolled my way to victory.

Parent observation

Last week my co-teacher informed me that the students parents would be watching my classes today. Of course she didn't tell me until it was time to go. She has a tendency to do that. It is not a quality I like in her. Most of the time when she tells me about something, it is right before it is time to go. I've been sitting around in the office, all day with nothing to do. I finish at 12:20 and sit here until 4:30. It doesn't take me all that long to plan for my classes the next day. I usually do that on Mondays anyway. She was stressing out. She called me several times during the week to ask me questions.

I wrote her up a lesson plan and told her to do whatever she liked for it. Take things she liked and get rid of stuff she didn't. That seemed to satisfy her. That is until 4:30 yesterday. Apparently she ran through the lesson with the class and they thought it was to difficult. I was done for work for the day and really did not want to write up another plan. I sent out a quick email to her explaining my new idea. She then proceeded to call me and text me throughout the night. I guess she didnt' really understand what I was trying to do. The kids had a firm grip on the topic. They have been studying the same thing for the past 3 weeks trying to look good for their parents. It was a bit of overkill if you ask me. I would have prefered to teach something new and not rehash the same ole thing just to look good in front of their parents.

But it was all good. I killed that lesson. I rocked the house. I am a god. No, I'm that good. People worship me. I know what I am doing and I am good at it. She got her wish that the parents liked the lesson. The principle was happy. Everyone was happy. My next lesson was also watched. I don't know why that one was. The parents for the 5th grade seemed to enjoy that lesson as well and that one had minimal prep. I would have to say almost no prep. I didn't even know what they were learning until I stepped into the classroom. Which is fine at this school They seem to be a bit behind my other school, so I have covered and planned for these classes already.

Jeju delicacy

Friday I got a call from my co-teacher asking me if it was ok to stay late. There was a PTA meeting that they wanted me to attend. I was fine with it. It meant free food and drinks. Though it was a bit pointless for me to go, as I am only teaching here for another week. Or so I think. I haven't been well informed on the subject.
It was less of a meeting and more of a dinner party. I guess the parents take the teachers out to eat to get to know them before the real PTA stuff starts. We went to this nice restaurant overlooking the ocean. Beautiful really. I was then informed about the night's fare. Black Pig

Black Pig is a delicacy on Jeju. It might be a delicacy in all of Korea. The Black Pig lives a life, no other animal would like to live. At least that is my thought. Traditionally the black pig is put into outhouses. It lives it's life eating the waste, we poop out and piss out. Then on special occasions, it is hauled up and killed and eaten. Though now thanks to plumbing, it no longer fulfills that duty. I am sure in parts of the countryside it still wallows in the deeps of the outhouse.

It tastes like pork, as it is pork. But there was something else to the flavor. There was a uniqueness to it. I don't know what it is fed now. They could still be feeding it shit. I would have to say that I enjoyed it.