This past Weekend

Hi all!

Sorry it has been so long since I have written anything. I have a few updates for everyone, but a day or so after my last post I got sick. This killed my writing aspirations for the week. Fortunately, I was able to rebound in time for this past weekend; the most exciting 24 hours of my life!! Though it might be phrased better if I say that I have not done as much crazy stuff in a 24 hour span.

I was invited by my Korean friend Hero to tag along with his University's English group for an overnight trip to Gangchon, just outside of Seoul (I think). Hero formed the English Club at his school, and I must say he did a darned-fine job. Originally there were over 80 applicants - so he had to do interviews to shave it down to a shade under 30 or so. The people he let in were picked mostly on their personality rather than strictly their English skill. It definitely showed because they were a really fun group of people. There were 22 Koreans along with 5 native English speakers invited along. Generally, he invites out some of his American friends to grab dinner and drinks and just speak English. This is great for a young chap like myself because they usually pick up the tab on the meal and drinks to thank us for going out. I would honestly do it for free, it is so much fun to be around them!!

Anyway, back to Gangchon. We left on a Friday night for a day of "mountain biking and bungee jumping" as it was pitched to me. How could I pass this up??

The 27 of us took 2 vans (which sat 11 apiece) and an SUV to get there for a trip that took roughly 2 hours with terrible traffic. I learned a lot of Korean travel games that will definitely come in handy. We drew tiny sandwiches for who would cook. Of the 27 sandwiches, 8 were packed with wasabi and the others were regular. Luckily, none of the Natives drew a sandwich packed with wasabi, especially after watching those who were unlucky trying to eat it! The ones who didn't have to cook kicked off the night by heading to a miniature carnival. It had 2-3 rides, a batting cage, and some cheesy games like throwing darts and shooting bee-bee guns. We went on "The Hurricane", a ride that works by spinning everyone in it from side to side while simultaneously spinning you around. It was tons of fun, and I have pictures of the whole weekend that should follow this post by no more than a day or two. The ride was rather tame in the grand scheme of things, but exciting enough to worry me about bungee jumping if I freaked out about this baby one.

It provided short lived food for thought because we ended up going home to a grand meal of Korean barbecue. In fact, they had four grills going at the same time. We had a nice long night! In fact, one of my new Korean friends, Nicholas, had such a great time that he couldn't find our lodging and ended up staying with a new set of Korean people he met that night. He actually went missing into the late morning the next day, but more to come on Nicholas in a bit !! ..

The next day we woke up early and hit the road. We got to the bungee jumping place, and then took an elevator up. It was only 25 meters high, so from the ground I was able to talk a big game about how weak it looked. However, things are always different judging by one's point of view. From up there, it looked hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. Added to the scariness factor was that the floor was a steel see-through grate.
- 2 Quick Notes: It was not over a bridge (man made structure) and we were strapped up by our backs.
About 10 of us or so were up for it. All of the Americans, plus Hero and a handful of new Korean friends. *Reenter Nicholas* Nicholas, after the long forgetful night, was not feeling quite so well. He had me laughing the whole time because he did in fact go bungee jumping. While we were 25 meters in the air, nervously awaiting bungee jumping, Nicholas was asleep face down on the platform. He stayed asleep until it was his turn and as he stumbled off the platform to jump I swear he looked asleep and motionless the whole time. His limp, noiseless body bungee'ing around had me laughing pretty heavily.

I went third to last, and it was about as scary as anything I've ever done leading up to it. However, actually doing it was fantastic and I can't wait to go higher and connected at the ankles. I will probably be just as scared but it is about as fun as it gets.

We headed out to the place where we were supposed to go mountain biking. Still a little sick, and after a long night, mountain biking wasn't high on the priority list. When we got there, though, we had no trouble upgrading from a mountain bike to an 4-wheeler ATV. I mean, is this even a decision for people? The prices weren't that different. I don't get how anyone rents a mountain bike in good conscience with an ATV sitting RIGHT THERE next to it. I can't believe I have gone this far in life without driving one. It was awesome!!

2 hours on an ATV was the perfect way to close out my overnight trip. We ate a great lunch, hopped in our vans, and came back home. I managed to get to sleep around 8 PM that night and slept for a solid 14 hours or so. the nice things that come with an overnight trip vs. a full weekend sometimes can only be measured in sleep!!

The only negative about the whole weekend was that I saw my SK Wyverns force a Game 7 in the Korean Baseball Championship only to drop it to a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 9th against the Kia Tigers of Gwangju. To make matters worse, I have a bunch of friends in Gwangju and now I have to put up with whatever trash talk comes my way.

My cousin Steve should be arriving in Korea soon, and I will be visiting with him at some point next week. I am super psyched!!

Hope all is well with everyone - you are all in my head more than you know and I miss you guys dearly!! From my family to friends to Westwood, I wish you the best and appreciate all the emails I get from everyone!!