We ride bikes.

I've been wanting to write excessively - or maybe I've always dreamed about writing excessively - for some time. Since I've been here, my schedule has been totally defunct. Back home, I was able to work, find time to read, watch TV, walk aimlessly around the lofts, smoke cigarettes with Sepp or Walter, muse about the pervasive role of language and hermeneutic disharmony, revel in the phenomenological experience of a sunset over the water tower, etc. Now, I spend ridiculous amounts of time lurking on ESL Cafe, reading about teaching in South America, France, following endless links, it goes on and on. Overall, I guess I've been a bit undisciplined. Though, I have been studying French and Latin in my free time, so I've been somewhat productive.

My last post depicted last weekend, but it was actually the weekend before last. I didn't get around to actually finishing the post, and ended up posting it a few days before. It wasn't that long, but, remember, I've been lazy.

On Friday we went down to Jungang station for drinks. Rodi's friend that teaches somewhere further south came up to hang out for the weekend. We drank beer and soju and talked and laughed about things I can't remember. Rodi's friend, Mike, was pretty cool. I slept really well that night. I'd been battling with insomnia lately, so that was a treat.

Saturday, we watched a baseball game in Seoul. Normally, the tickets would have been cheap, maybe 9,000 won, but since it was a holiday, Memorial Day to be exact, tickets were like 20,000 won. Not a big deal. The stadium was packed, but not quite as big as stadiums back home, maybe 3/4 as big.

We had to sit in the stairs, but we still had a good view. Matt and Micky were cheering for the Doosan Bears. They got their asses kicked. Apparently the Lotte Giants are one of the worst teams in the league currently, but managed to shine on Saturday. It felt good to watch a baseball game, drink beer, hurl insults at Garcia (some outfielder that used to play for the Yankees but now plays for Lotte), try to follow the Korean cheers, and admire this beautiful Korean lady that was two rows down from me. Saturday was fun.

On Sunday, Nate and I rode to Daebudo Island. It was a long ride, nearly two hours. At first, we projected maybe an hour worth of riding, but half way into the trip, we realized our grave miscalculation, but refused to stop. The bridge alone was 12km long. We didn't get a chance to see too much of the island, though we did get chased off some temple grounds by a Jindo.

After about a half hour of riding around, we tracked back a bit and ate at this seafood restaurant on the the coast. Our seats overlooked the water and some hazy islands in the distance. The coast wasn't particularly beautiful, but I found it somewhat enchanting for some reason, probably just because it was next to the sea. There were people scattered along the muddy coast walking and searching for clams.

As soon as we sat down, a guy from one of the tables nearby started throwing up over the balcony. It wasn't exactly appetizing to see, and several of his friends came over repeating sorry multiple times. They were all drunk off soju and couldn't speak any English, but that didn't stop them from insisting to converse and ask us over to drink Soju. Our waitress, who spoke conversational English, interpreted some of what they were saying. They were all kind-hearted. We ended up getting a free bottle of Soju out of the mix.

After eating, we began our two hour bike trip home. It was a little chilly, but after riding for about 15 minutes, I warmed up. It was nice riding on the bridge, aside from my sore ass. Riding non-stop in partial darkness is very meditative. I thought about everything on the ride back: living in Korea, the ocean, how many calories I'd burn from the ride, what i plan on doing after Korea, my family, trying to learn new languages, everything.

When we got back, I took a shower, then headed to the theater with Nate. We didn't want to ride our bikes, because we were way too sore for that. We watched Night at the Museum 2, because it was the only new English movie out. It was ok.

Despite the exhausting day, I still had to take a sleep-aid.