I have been quite busy the last 1.5 weeks!! Last week at school I began my spring camp for the soccer team. The camp lasts for 2 weeks during the spring break (feb 14-25). Last week we focused on greetings, learning about England (where soccer originated) other sports, and foods around the world. This week we are focusing on numbers and learning to negotiate in English. The boys are all managers of soccer teams, we learned background and history of the teams, trade players, and Friday we use dice to determine what team will win! They seem to really like it so far!! I also found out some details about the coming school year; how many classes I will have, when I will have class, and received the books so I can begin lesson planning. Very busy at school!
I have begun my quest for a road bike, I found one this morning that is a fair price (maybe a bit on the expensive side), but worth checking out! I should arrange to see it this weekend and maybe bring it home if I like it!
I have my 2nd race coming up this weekend, Sunday! It's a 10k race. I am not 100% ready for it, but I know I will complete the race. I signed up for another one that is in March 27th. These races are all helping me stay on track with training and get ready for my 1/2 marathon in April!! I am still looking for a good marathon to do, the target date is June. I should do my first Triathlon of the year in May! I have a lot of swimming and biking to do in prep!!
This past Thursday, I joined a yoga studio! I got a very good deal, pay for 3 months get 1 month free, plus got a discount for paying in cash! I have been to the Bikram Hot yoga class 2 times and Power Yoga 1 time so far! I am able to go up to 3 times a week, and M-F they offer 3 classes per evening. The hot yoga should help with my lung capacity, and the yoga will help with my stretching!! I'm very excited to see how this will help my running/biking/swimming. :)
This past weekend I went out skiing!! I went with a group of 6 people, to a place called High 1 resort. It is Korea's newest resort, built last year. It was a 3 hour bus ride east of Seoul. At the top of the mountain we were at 2,800meters! The resort was built at about 1600M up, the longest run was about 1,800m (many of them were quite curvy). Since the last time I went skiing ended with a broken collar bone, I was a bit nervous to get on the slopes again. I would like to say after a few runs I was skiing like I used to, but that was not the case, I think it will take a few more ski trips for me to be back to usual. The views were stunning, from atop the mt, you could look out and see miles of mountains in all directions. This plus our recent heat wave are making me anxious for hiking!!
The weather this week has been worth mentioning, I really hope the warming trend continues, but who knows if it will! This week our highs have been 10-15C and over night lows about 1-2C.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
1st Race of 2011 Complete!
So the title of my blog indicates that I will be doing quite a bit of outdoor activity while I'm here! I have been outside to run a few times, joined a gym that had a pool - did a few swims, then joined a different gym, and I'm still searching for a bike, so not quite as success of a start as I had hoped for... but on Sunday I completed my first overseas 5k! I have now raced in 3 different countries!!!! Whooo!!!
The 5k was great! I bought a Garmin before I left the states, the Forerunner 305 (opted for it because it was one of the lesser expensive, but it also has some of the best features! For someone who does triathlons its an amazing training partner!) I used it too keep my pace for the 5k and it paid off. I finished up 3rd out of the 5k runners. There wasn't too many of us, and my time certainly did not warrant anything special! I was about 40 seconds slower then I wanted to be, but with my slow start to the training season and my break (starting in October after the Detroit 1/2), I was expecting to do worse.
The race was pretty small, I expected it to be bigger since they had the option for a Marathon, half marathon, 10k, and 5k! I took some photo's of the race start/finish line that I will post later. The weather discouraged some people, it was freezing out! I think about -6c. I did layer up in Brooks stuff!! (I have a partial sponsorship from Brooks, so I usually wear all Brooks while running!) Love there stuff!! www.brooksrunning.com :)
After the race, I went with a few of the runners to brunch! Yum!
This weekend, I also attended a swap meet! I got together with a group of my friends, some of which are leaving the country soon, and everyone brought things they don't use anymore! We all took time to look through the items that were brought and picked out what we thought we could use. I ended up with some new shoes, sheets, purses, and clothes! We also spent some time playing games! It was a blast! One day, when I go to leave Korea, I will be able to pay it forward and give someone the chance to take tons of free clothes home! I guess I did that in the states, basically gave away $1000s worth of clothes because I couldn't take them all with me!
Next race is Feb 27th, its a 10k! Can't wait!!!
I should also be buying a bike soon, I've done quite a bit of looking, and think I found one! Updates on that soon.
The 5k was great! I bought a Garmin before I left the states, the Forerunner 305 (opted for it because it was one of the lesser expensive, but it also has some of the best features! For someone who does triathlons its an amazing training partner!) I used it too keep my pace for the 5k and it paid off. I finished up 3rd out of the 5k runners. There wasn't too many of us, and my time certainly did not warrant anything special! I was about 40 seconds slower then I wanted to be, but with my slow start to the training season and my break (starting in October after the Detroit 1/2), I was expecting to do worse.
The race was pretty small, I expected it to be bigger since they had the option for a Marathon, half marathon, 10k, and 5k! I took some photo's of the race start/finish line that I will post later. The weather discouraged some people, it was freezing out! I think about -6c. I did layer up in Brooks stuff!! (I have a partial sponsorship from Brooks, so I usually wear all Brooks while running!) Love there stuff!! www.brooksrunning.com :)
After the race, I went with a few of the runners to brunch! Yum!
This weekend, I also attended a swap meet! I got together with a group of my friends, some of which are leaving the country soon, and everyone brought things they don't use anymore! We all took time to look through the items that were brought and picked out what we thought we could use. I ended up with some new shoes, sheets, purses, and clothes! We also spent some time playing games! It was a blast! One day, when I go to leave Korea, I will be able to pay it forward and give someone the chance to take tons of free clothes home! I guess I did that in the states, basically gave away $1000s worth of clothes because I couldn't take them all with me!
Next race is Feb 27th, its a 10k! Can't wait!!!
I should also be buying a bike soon, I've done quite a bit of looking, and think I found one! Updates on that soon.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Back to Reality - Kindof
It's Monday again... and I'm back at work! This week will be a very easy one. I have to introduce myself to the students, so in all the English classes I'm just saying hello and a few things about myself. The students are back this week for exams and for graduation. It's a bit odd to how the school year works around here. Winter break from the end of Dec - after the lunar new year (Feb 7th this year), then class for 1 week. Then a 2 week "spring break" and a new school year will begin on March 2nd. For the spring break I will be teaching the soccer boys again. It's cute, their parents want them to take English because they think their kids will grow up to be great players that will play soccer all over the world ;) It's a good thing I didn't plan to travel anywhere in Feb. I will save all my travel for spring/summer/winter!
I enjoyed having a week off very much! Although I just got here, a vacation to do some relaxing was very nice. I am not sure I made the best of it, but I sure did have a good time!
We have had some "great" weather the past few days! Mild winter temps, 0-5degrees C, feels much better then below 0!
The first of the races that I have signed up for is next weekend, it's just a little 5k! I am very excited for it. It will kick off my big race season. I have been a bit off in all my training, but with the break in the weather I'm excited to be back out there running! I am in search of a new bike, since mine in the US was sold before I came, I need to get a new one. I'll post whenever I buy one. I'm hoping to find a good used one and not have to buy new.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Happy Lunar New Years!!!
Oh gosh, so much has been going on!! I have so many things to update about!!
The Good - It's vacation!!! I have managed to make it out to see the War Memorial. It was a great thing to see, I took tons of pictures!! (They will be up soon as possible). It is sad to think about the 4million people who lost their lives. It is also beyond amazing to see how far the country has come in only about 50 years! This whole place has been built up SO MUCH and the technology is grand!! Yesterday was the Lunar New Years! Thousands of people out in traditional dress, exchanging gifts, sight seeing, and spending time with family. The holiday is a 3 day event: the eve, the day of, and the day after. It is traditional to give gifts of food or money, that tradition was started in the 50's when certain food items were hard to come by. So as a parent, you should give gifts to your parents and to your children. As a grandparent, you do not have to give gifts, but can and usually do to the grandchild. As a child, you do not have to give gifts either but can to both your parents and grandparents. So if you are the parent, you have to give gifts to your parents and children but often do not receive any gifts. It is not customary to exchange gifts with friends or co-workers but sometimes happens. Not quite like Christmas. For the past few weeks the stores have been filled with gift sets - a box of apples for $40! I saw a set of different meats/beefs all boxed up for a gift for $200!! Beef here is pricey, its mostly all imported, for a pound you should expect to pay circa $17.
The Bad - I ran into a small streak of bad luck - eek! But nothing to get me down, bank fraud in USA bank acct and my laptop crashed! Slowly working on getting both taken care of... but the bad news with the laptop is that even though I have a netbook to keep me online till the laptop is fixed, I can't get the pictures off my camera and on line! My netbook doesn't have any SD card slots and I didn't bring the camera cord. Boo!! I'll have to see about using someone else's!
The Ugly ;) I finished work on Friday with a big smile on my face knowing that I don't have to work again for 10 days!!! Last weekend was spent up in Seoul! Went up on Friday night with the girls from Anseong, and had some of my friends in Seoul come meet us out. We went to this place called Monkey Beach for a fun night of dancing!! Saturday was spent relaxing and bumming around and Saturday night was filled with dancing and signing!! It was my friends last weekend in town before she set off back to the states. The norabang is such a fun place, it completely puts Karaoke to shame! Sunday, I made my way back to Anseong for some relaxing! I re-arranged a few things at my apartment too, making my living room a bit more functional! Monday evening, I enjoyed some coffee and honey bread downtown with a friend. Tuesday morning I caught a bus to Bundang!! I had to do a quick exchange on some jean, had a fabulous lunch at an Indian restaurant! Yum curry!! Coffee, and then a subway trip up to Gayang for the rest of the evening! We went out for a night in Hongdae, which is a university area, so there are many young people, a good mix of Koreans and foreigners! We went out with a group of teachers. Wednesday was the war memorial followed by some delicious Korean BBQ and a night in Itaewon! We went to a few different bars and a club for some dancing. Two of the bars we went to were foreigner bars, its odd to walk in a see nothing buy foreigners. Thursday was spent relaxing and cooking! We made a delicious pasta - home made sauce, garlic bread, and salad! Yum!!
Last night I made it back to Anseong. I think I'll be here the rest of the weekend. The weather is beginning to warm up, so I think i'm going to do a bit of hiking! There are some beautiful mountains surrounding Anseong!!! :)
The Good - It's vacation!!! I have managed to make it out to see the War Memorial. It was a great thing to see, I took tons of pictures!! (They will be up soon as possible). It is sad to think about the 4million people who lost their lives. It is also beyond amazing to see how far the country has come in only about 50 years! This whole place has been built up SO MUCH and the technology is grand!! Yesterday was the Lunar New Years! Thousands of people out in traditional dress, exchanging gifts, sight seeing, and spending time with family. The holiday is a 3 day event: the eve, the day of, and the day after. It is traditional to give gifts of food or money, that tradition was started in the 50's when certain food items were hard to come by. So as a parent, you should give gifts to your parents and to your children. As a grandparent, you do not have to give gifts, but can and usually do to the grandchild. As a child, you do not have to give gifts either but can to both your parents and grandparents. So if you are the parent, you have to give gifts to your parents and children but often do not receive any gifts. It is not customary to exchange gifts with friends or co-workers but sometimes happens. Not quite like Christmas. For the past few weeks the stores have been filled with gift sets - a box of apples for $40! I saw a set of different meats/beefs all boxed up for a gift for $200!! Beef here is pricey, its mostly all imported, for a pound you should expect to pay circa $17.
The Bad - I ran into a small streak of bad luck - eek! But nothing to get me down, bank fraud in USA bank acct and my laptop crashed! Slowly working on getting both taken care of... but the bad news with the laptop is that even though I have a netbook to keep me online till the laptop is fixed, I can't get the pictures off my camera and on line! My netbook doesn't have any SD card slots and I didn't bring the camera cord. Boo!! I'll have to see about using someone else's!
The Ugly ;) I finished work on Friday with a big smile on my face knowing that I don't have to work again for 10 days!!! Last weekend was spent up in Seoul! Went up on Friday night with the girls from Anseong, and had some of my friends in Seoul come meet us out. We went to this place called Monkey Beach for a fun night of dancing!! Saturday was spent relaxing and bumming around and Saturday night was filled with dancing and signing!! It was my friends last weekend in town before she set off back to the states. The norabang is such a fun place, it completely puts Karaoke to shame! Sunday, I made my way back to Anseong for some relaxing! I re-arranged a few things at my apartment too, making my living room a bit more functional! Monday evening, I enjoyed some coffee and honey bread downtown with a friend. Tuesday morning I caught a bus to Bundang!! I had to do a quick exchange on some jean, had a fabulous lunch at an Indian restaurant! Yum curry!! Coffee, and then a subway trip up to Gayang for the rest of the evening! We went out for a night in Hongdae, which is a university area, so there are many young people, a good mix of Koreans and foreigners! We went out with a group of teachers. Wednesday was the war memorial followed by some delicious Korean BBQ and a night in Itaewon! We went to a few different bars and a club for some dancing. Two of the bars we went to were foreigner bars, its odd to walk in a see nothing buy foreigners. Thursday was spent relaxing and cooking! We made a delicious pasta - home made sauce, garlic bread, and salad! Yum!!
Last night I made it back to Anseong. I think I'll be here the rest of the weekend. The weather is beginning to warm up, so I think i'm going to do a bit of hiking! There are some beautiful mountains surrounding Anseong!!! :)
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