Havin' a blast, but first....

THE REDSKINS ARE GOIN' TO THE PLA-A-A-AY OFFS!!! THE REDSKINS ARE GOING TO THE PLA-A-A-A-AY OFFS!!!!

Sorry. Had to get that off my chest (dancing on the chair in this coffee shop probably wouldn't go over very well). I didn't get a chance to see the game or even read much about it other than the score, but I'm happy my boys are in. Hopefully I'll be able to pick up the games when I get back to Korea.

Anyway, to the present; I'm havin' a great time. I'm currently in Whangmata which is a beach town similar to, but smaller than Cape Cod or Plymouth, MA. There will be a great surge of people this weekend for the New Years (they say the town goes from 5,000 people to 70,000 over the New Years holiday).

This vacation has been what vacations are supposed to be: relaxing at the bach watching the cricket match, eating a ton of good food, and getting on the piss. Glen and I are both having a rather slow day due to celebrating New Year's Eve Eve last night (I found a place that sells Irish Mist, so I've been in trouble from the get go). Will probably go back to the bach (Kiwi slang for "vacation home") and start on the piss once again. WOOT!

Once I get back to Korea, I'm going to put together a brief dictionary of Kiwi slang. It'll be CHOICE!!

THE REDSKINS ARE GOING TO THE PLA-A-A-AY OFFS!!! THE REDSKINS ARE GOING TO THE PLA-A-A-AY OFFS!!!!

New Zealand - Dec. 21

SWEET!! I thought I'd lost this post

Well...it's been an entertaining trip so far.

After a miserable 12 hour flight, I arrived in Auckland last Tuesday and was met by my friend Jo at the airport. We went to Jo's mom's house so I could get a quick shower and change my clothes and then went off to find some food. After stopping at a gas station, where I found out why I should've gone to duty free for some smokes ($10 NZD a pack!!!!), we headed down to Auckland Harbor for some lunch. The area where we ate reminded me a lot of the Marina District in San Francisco with it's toney, somewhat upscale cafes and psuedo nuveau cuisine. After lunch, we headed into downtown Auckland to find me a hotel and get my train tickets to Wellington. Once I got settled in to the hotel, Jo and I went to the station and got my train tickets. On the walk back to the hotel, we passed a bar that, lo and behold, had the Monday Night Bears/Vikings game. Needless to say, I stopped for a beer. Since Jo had some things to do, she left me sitting content with a beer in hand and football on the telly. The other immediate similarity to California is that you CAN'T SMOKE ANYWHERE!! Fortunately, the place I stopped at (which doubled as an Off Track Betting establishment) had outdoor tables where you could smoke and still see the TV.

The "Three in the morning and I've got nothing better to do" list.

I haven't done one of these in a while so here goes:

1. Bob Marley & The Wailers - Misty Morning
2. Dick Dale - Miserlou
3. Too Much Joy - Goodbye Ohio
4. Rossington Collins Band - Don't Misunderstand Me
5. Chris Duarte - Poison (Commit A Crime)
6. Private Eye - Beneath The Wheels
7. Jethro Tull - Life Is A Long Song
8. Robert Gordon w/ Danny Gatton - Twenty Flight Rock
9. Styx - Too Much Time On My Hands
10. Guadalcanal Diary - Everything But Good Luck
11. Pink Cream 69 - Here I Am
12. Joe Satriani - Crazy
13. Queen - God Save The Queen
14. Rush - Entre Nous
15. Jimi Hendrix - Taking Care Of No Business
16. Louis Armstrong - I'm Not Rough
17. Bob Welch - Precious Love
18. Dave Matthews Band - #36
19. Voodoo Glow Skulls - The Drop In
20. Tygers Of Pan Tang - Don't Stop Now
21. Steve Earle - Amerika v. 6.1 (The Best We Can Do)
22. Funkadelic - Balance
23. Teenage Head - Ain't Got No Sense
24. Goo Goo Dolls - Acoustic #3
25. Jethro Tull - Black Sunday
26. Marillion - Going Under
27. Hardcore Superstar - Last Forever
28. The Clash - Listen
29. Frank Zappa - Chocolate Halvah
30. Henry Paul Band - Longshot

Finally! The semester is over.

This blog is a little late given that the events soon to be described happened last Thursday, but better late than never.

For this past semester, Thursdays have always been long tedious, affairs. My day started at 6:50 am and ended 6 classes later around 4 pm. Last Thursday was an exception simply because it was the last day of the semester. My early morning institute classes had ended the previous Tuesday, and my classes were simply party and game events to celebrate the end of the semester. The students for my last class of the day had decided earlier in the week to head to Gung-dong for dinner rather than meet in class, which, of course, was perfectly fine with me.

Normally with these things, especially with the freshman students, you don't get a very big turnout because it's getting on to the final exam period, and the kids have to study. So I was fairly surprised when a good 15 students showed up at the designated meeting place. Once everyone was gathered, we headed down to Sum-gyup-sal Street (my made up street name because there are something lke 20 sum-gyup-sal restaurants in a one block street) and found a place that could accomodate us all. Thus, the party began.

I've been out with students many times in my tenure at CNU, and sometimes you get a group of students that are simply no fun. They don't talk or drink, and you sit there looking at your watch wondering when you can escape. Thursday's group enthusiastically embraced the party concept. Most of these students have relatively limited English skills, but once the soju began to flow, they all loosened up, and the game was on.

After dinner, we headed down the street to a beer/soju hof for the "Second Stage". There we engaged in several drinking games; my faovorite of which is called "Titanic". The "Titanic" game consists of floating a shot glass in a half full glass of beer and then taking turns pouring soju into the shot glass. The person who sinks the shot glass has to chug the drink. It takes a steady hand which, of course, is more difficult once you've had a bit to drink. Needless to say, I NEVER lose in this game, hee hee.

All in all, it was a fun night. After the hof, the students headed back to their various homes or to the library to "study". Ian and I headed to Santa's to continue the party. Ian, who had had a very rough week (he was informed that he wasn't getting his contract at the university renewed even though the administration could not provide sufficient cause. Can you say "Labor Board"?), decided to head home early. I stayed on with a few other folks and spent the night drinking and playing Killer Pool (even won twice). It was a nice way to start my vacation.

Michelle and "Genius"

The "Hye-ran Progression": Wooo Hoooo!!!

Oh my...

ZZZZzzzzz...

Hey! Don't point that thing at me!

"Pumpiy" and "Sol"

Havin' fun!

The whole thing was a good laugh!