Work Hard...Play Harder

 So what should one do with oneself on a Friday and Saturday without  home football games and work to worry about? Apparently this oneself decided to do an epic amount of playing. I don't think I will have all of these adventures piled up like this again soon but it was fun while it lasted. Friday night was a World Cup Qualifier between Korea and Lebanon. I wanted to see a soccer game while I was here, I didn't know it would be on this level. This was an early round qualifier and held in the smaller stadium seating about 40,000. Luckily we went with a couple of teachers that are soccer fans and knew to seat us near the locals. Tickets were about $15 US and well worth the entertainment. Often times you see soccer fans get out of control and start fights and other nonsense but not so here in Korea. (At least not this time). The only comments
came if you were in someone's line of sight. The rest of the time you picked up on the cheers from the crowd and just cheered as loud as you could. After all you are in Seoul on a Friday night after a long work week. Everyone needs to get behind a team and cheer. Word to the wise, don't go for the "snacks" being offered. Bad beer and dried squid just don't seem like my kind of sporting event food! On the success side, navigate Seoul on a Friday, including T money cards and public buses!

A brief 7 or so hours later I found myself back at the school and on another bus to Donggang with about 18 to 20 colleagues for a rafting expedition. Mind you it was a tough choice...bus to Costco... bus to rafting...hmmm. The trip took us about 2.5 hours into the mountain regions of South Korea. It is such a beautiful and lush area! Due to traffic, we wound our way through some 2 lane roads that had all manner of things going on. We saw more houses and orchard area. The trees are thick and beautiful, many deciduous and many evergreen. I expected that when I got off the bus I would smell pines but sadly no. It just felt calm and indescribable in its beauty. It was the first chance I had to see cranes flying in and around. Not much in the way of wildlife but beautiful nonetheless. It was fun to be rafting again, the rapids were not upper levels but is interesting to try and follow a guide who doesn't speak any English. Luckily some of us had been on the water before so we were okay until we had to make sudden reverse paddle decisions. You'd think I would have been the trouble maker of the bunch but I was an angel compared to a couple of them. At one point I watched one of our 5th grade teachers dive out of the boat and try to pull several of us in from the water side. The one that threw me though was watching our high school counselor jump from our boat to a raft with Korean girls and take out their guide after a water fight. Mind you this man is of good size, older than me by a bit with a full beard and played football for Montana. The faces of those girls and that guide were priceless as were the gales of laughter from all of us. When Rick joined us back on our raft he said, "you should have seen the look on that guys' face." I can ONLY imagine what that guide was thinking at that point. You really should never "egg on" a group of white people for a water fight. Especially when they are teachers. Especially when they know street rules.
On the quiet journey home though, I had time to think through some things though. What an amazing country this really is. To have rebuilt, literally from nothing, in 60 years. I watch my students go to school from 8 in the morning until often 10 at night and then do their homework. Their families have that same work ethic as was evident when riding the subway and buses at midnight after the game. Yet these hard workers, take such pride and value in the little things. Going through the orchard and vineyard areas, you saw each individual fruit or bunch of grapes wrapped on the vine or tree in news paper or in bags to protect them from the birds. Every single one. Nothing is to be wasted. They create gardens and livelihoods on mountainsides that most of us would pass up in a heartbeat. It is a country that constantly surprises me. I just get caught up sometimes in the extremes that the people here go to, whether they are locals or expats. They work very very hard. They play very very hard. There is no in between. It is very different from what I am used. But it is surprisingly satisfying as well. I can honestly say I made some very distinct memories over this weekend and it isn't over yet!