The Day We Were Waiting For

June 6-12, 2011

Monday the 6th was Memorial Day, which meant it was also a day off of work. So keeping in true lazy fashion, Lauren and I took our time getting up and motivated on the day, despite an early call from John to go and see the new X-Men Origins movie. It worked out in my favour in the long run, because just after 2 I got a call from Frank about a posting on the Facebook support group for Wesley about him being awake. i quickly got up and tried to make some phone calls to see how real the news was, but they went unanswered, so Lauren and I got ready to head to the hospital and check it out. We were starving however, so stopped for some Subway with John, then went to the hospital for 530. When we got there, Wes' room was full of other friends who had come to be with him, and we unfortunately missed Monitta by a few minutes. I got filled in on the story, and it seemed that he had been declared "awake" by the doctors after showing improved signs of cognitive awareness and compliance to directions. He was still however, in a vegetative state, as is to be expected after being in a coma for 80 days, but everything takes baby steps and just having him wake up is a major step. After the hospital, as I was before, I continued to make phone calls to friends and supporters from hockey to let them know the good news, while I headed to Itaewon to let Dwayne from Stompers know the good news. Lauren came, and we had a drink while giving the details, then before it got too late headed out to get home and get some sleep. Lauren went back to her friend Azeem's place, and I went home and did some laundry and made the phone call home I had missed the night before. After that it was straight to sleep for some sleep before school the next afternoon.
Tuesday, it was back to the grind, so I got up early and cooked some food for work, then headed to the office to see what the damage would be like. It turned out better than I thought, and I only had to teach 3 very spread out classes, leaving me lots of time to do a bit of blogging, and story telling about our weekend. After work, I went to the gym and got in a good workout before meeting Lauren and going to drink some Korean wine called bokbunja in the park. It is something I haven't drank often since it is usually beer on the menu with all my friends, so it was nice for a change. When we were all finished, we went back to my place and threw on a movie to finish the night.
Wednesday I got up determined to make it to the hospital and see Wes and Monitta as I usually do, and secretly hoped that between Monday and then a miracle had occurred, and that he would be up and running laps around the hospital. It wasn't a realistic, but one can always dream. It was a good visit, and Wes had made some improvement in his ability to move his fingers in response to counting, as well as in his general expressions when he was being talked to. After the hospital I went off to work for my exciting day of no classes, which I filled with blogging galore in a futile attempt to get caught up on the weeks of notes I had drafted up. After work, I went to Gangnam to meet with (Spencer) Rocchi for a couple beers as well, because he was leaving at the end of the week, but I was all booked up with other meetings. He was there with Wes Koch from back home, and Dan Galdamez from hockey, and we had a few 7/11 beers, but called it an early night on account of it being a school night and Wes and I took the last subway home at 1245. The last subway however, only goes as far as Seoul University, so I got out and walked the 15 minutes home, grabbing some water along the way.
Thursday morning, I got up feeling pretty good since I had come home at a reasonable time and only had a couple of beers. I got up and went to the gym to get in a workout, because I knew I was not going to make it after work due to it being Alex and Louise's last night, and we planned on having a few drinks at Gold Bar. John and I got through our day at work, then hoped on the subway for Sincheon. We had talked about it being an early night all afternoon, and when we got there, it seemed like an achievable goal. But then, the party happened. Just after midnight, before the last subway would have been passing, Alex Beanland came in for his last round at Gold Bar as well, and though he said he was going to be there at 11 so that I wouldn't have to stay so late, it was a must that I have a drink with him. While we were having our drinks and saying our goodbyes, trays of tequila shots started coming around, and they had DOOM written all of them. I thought a couple shots wouldn't be a big deal, but when Louise wasn't doing hers, but instead feeding them to me, as was her coworker, I quickly reached my capacity for drunkenness, and stumbled into autopilot. Eventually, it was 4am and we called it a night and John and I shared a cab back to Bongcheon, where I dragged my smokey self home to crawl into bed. The worst thing about it all was that earlier in the night when John and I had planned on making it home at a good hour, Lauren had agreed to come and hangout at my place, and in my drunk dickery I had left her there alone. Though she was about it, and had told me to hangout as long as I needed, I still felt like a total dick, having left her alone at home. I slid into bed, unaware of how bad I smelt, and quickly passed out.
I woke up feeling less than up to par on Friday, and was quickly informed that I smelt like a brewery by Lauren. I wasn't ready to get out of bed yet, but to the hint and jumped through the shower to get the smoke and alcohol off me. Clean, I crawled back into bed and told Lauren all about how the night had gone, and about how John had returned the watch with no problems to ChaeChul. Eventually, it was time to go to work, so we got up and got a move on. Work was a bit of a struggle until I started feeling better in the evening, but there was still nothing I wanted to do more than just go to the gym after work and have a good sweat. That din't happen though. Instead, John convinced me to go to Itaewon for Adam and Fiona's goodbye/birthday party at Roofers. We were even ale to convince our coworker Jennifer to come with us, since she had only been back in Korea for several months and was unfamiliar and nervous about the entire Itaewon experience. Once there, Jennifer was blown away by it, and couldn't take it all in no matter how big her eyes could open. We went to Roofers, and after a couple beers I felt better, but still not like partying. Eventually the party moved from the roof to the bar, and by 230 it was high time for me to take off. Jennifer was ready to go as well, so we went out and got a couple kebabs, then walked up and down the street eating them, while I pointed out some of the different things/places she could do/go. When we finished eating, we got in a cab and came back to Seoul University, where she got out and I continued on to Bongcheon. I was home and in bed by 330, which was a step up from what could have happened with the group we were with.
Saturday morning came a bit earlier than I had expected it to, but I was feeling alright, and after a shower and some food, I was ready to go see Wes in the hospital. I made it there by lunch time, and was joined by Dallas who had also come in to see how Wes was progressing. His progress was only slightly further than that of Wednesday, but definitely in a positive direction making everyone happy and hopeful. I was a little aggravated about how Dallas and Monitta were trying to over stimulate Wes, and asking him to do more things than he could process, but I kept my mouth shut, because everyone is just trying to help. Eventually I left the hospital to meet John at Boramae Park, for what was supposed to be a relaxing sit in the park, because we both had playoff hockey the next day. When I got there though, he was drinking with some friends he had made, so when I sat down and they offered me a drink, I accepted and became the second one to break our no drinking pact. After the new friends left, we went to Sillim to get some fries at a place in the PODO Mall we always go to. It took a lot of convincing for John to get me to go there, but I caved and was glad that I did. Once we sat down, John we to the "bathroom", and came back with a new pair of running shoes I had been talking about getting for hockey since my other ones were pretty warn out. He confessed that it was a whole day set up to get me there, and it was really touching at how much thought he puts into his friendships, and how much he values the little things that I do for him during the week, like bringing him pasta salad at work. After our fries we headed home so we could get some good sleep before our games the next morning, John's at 10am, and mine at 1230. Once I was home, Lauren popped a little intoxicated from a party she had been at, and to give Azeem some space in case his date turned from just dinner into breakfast too.
Waking up Sunday morning, Lauren felt a lot like I did on Friday. I got ready and left for hockey at 11 so I cold get there and watch some of John's games, and left Lauren to get some more sleep. I got to the rink at 1130, just in time to watch John's last game, which they unfortunately lost to the Tea Baggers, putting them out of the past playoffs. My tam was up next, and for the first time in weeks we were back to full strength. We warmed up and got ready to play The Red Army, who had really put on a show in the last half of the season. We were sure we could beat them, but thought the best of three series would most likely go to three games. Our dreams of championship gold quickly began to fade in the fist game, as our team struggled to make the solid plays on the ball and to backcheck, leaving a lot of odd man rushes and scoring chances for a team with the best player in the league. It didn't take long until The Red Army scored, and from there, our goalie seemed to be out of practice and let in a few more easy goals. We lost the first game 5-3, but took it all in stride and tried to regroup for the second game. We came out stronger in the second game, and even Lauren, in her hung over state, came out to see what all the fuss was about. We took an early lead, and were playing hard, but again our fundamentals started to slip and the little mistakes were leading to goals against us. I had a few good hard moves on the ball, one that left me with a scoring chance and the ball just missing the net, and the other with me wiping out and losing my stick only to get up and charge the ball like a soccer player. It looked like we were going to be able to hold on to a win until a few stupid penalties, and some lucky bounces for the other team, crushed our lead, and gave them the go ahead goal. It was a crushing blow to be the second place team all year, then slip to third in the final weeks, only to get beaten out by the sixth place team, but they deserved it more than we did. After our games, we were all exhausted, but wanted to see how the rest of the games turned out; so I talked with Lauren for a few minutes, until she decided it was time for her to go get some more sleep, then grabbed a few beers and spent the rest of the day watching the other games and upsets. After the games we went to the baseball stadiums convenient store for a few more beers, before getting out of there. I had been texting with Lauren, and decided to go meet her at Azeem's place for a movie, so I took the subway over to Daebang and went with her to Azeem's. We were watching really weird movie, that was broken into 3 parts, then between parts 1 and 2 Lauren told me I had to go have a shower because I smelled bad. She just ins't used to hanging out with jocks, that's all. Having been smelly all day since hockey, and around other smelly guys, I guess I had forgotten how bad I must have smelled. I apologized for being the smelly kid at the party, and went to wash up before watching the second part of the movie. By the time part 2 finished it was nearly 330 and we were all looking tired, so I excused myself and wandered the foreign neighbourhood until I found a taxi home. Again, home to late to call home, I crawled into bed, and went to sleep.

A Good-Bye in Busan

May 30 - June 5, 2011

After having left my bike down the hill Sunday night and walking home with Lauren to hangout and watch a movie, I stayed in bed late because I really didn't want to go to work. Eventually, getting up was a must, and I got ready for work, and headed off, again leaving my bike at the bottom of the hill because some Ajuma (older lady) had set up her food stand in front of it. Work was a breeze since it was the kids last days, and all we did was watch movies and have snack parties. After work I went home and made some food to get me through the next couple of days, then called it a night and went to bed.
Tuesday morning, I felt good enough to get up and go to the gym before work, which I really needed to do so I could stretch out my muscles from Sunday. At work after the gym, I cruised again with more movies and snack parties, and on my breaks I finished up the online essays that had come in late over the weekend. After work it was back to the gym for another workout, then I met Lauren and we went to hangout at my place and watch a movie, while I regaled her with how unorganized my school was for the new semester that started the very next day.
Wednesday morning I skipped my visit to the hospital, and instead opted to enjoy Lauren's company a little longer before I had to get to work and see what senselessness the school would be up to. And disappointed I was not. Mine and John's schedules were not yet ready, along with the students classroom assignments, so when the kids showed up it was utter chaos, not to mention that we had Korean teachers all over us about when we would be coming into give them break. I laughed when I got my schedule and discovered I had zero classes on Wednesday, and then spent the est of the day making point form notes for the weeks of blogs I needed to do. While I was on break from blogging, I ordered bus tickets for a bunch of us to go to Busan on the coming Friday for Alex and Louise's last weekend in Korea extravaganza. It was a bit of a muddle trying to buy tickets online, because there were conflicting messages with my Korean bank card, and in the end I ended up pre-purchasing half the bus and needed a Korea to help me cancel half the tickets and finalize the purchase of those that we needed. After work, it was back to the gym, then home to get some rest from my oh so busy day.
Thursday morning, I got up and packed up some food before heading to the gym to get in a good run and some weights. Two hours later it was off to work, where my schedule was much more robust than that of Wednesday, but still open enough to allow me plenty of time to check out pages of rage comics. After work, I went back to the gym and rode the bike before showering and meeting up with Lauren to hangout while I got my things sorted for going to Busan, and for hockey when I came back.
Friday morning I got up and went with Lauren down to the subway station so that she could head home, or possibly to the police station to deal with her old schools shenanigans, then headed off to the hospital myself to see Wesley. Wes was doing much better than the last time I saw him a couple weeks ago, and had been on a new brain stimulus medication since earlier in the week, and it was paying off. He was more attentive and responsive when I walked in the room, and he was beginning to respond to commands involving moving his fingers and hands. His mom and I talked about how exciting it was, and how much hope it gives to him waking up very soon. After my visit, I went off to work to get the day under way, and over with, so we could get off to Busan at 11. Work was good, and since I have been teaching the same kids and books for almost a year now, it was easy to get right down to work without having to prime the kids for what was going on. My classes finished by 9, as did John's, so we both quickly went home to grab our bags for Busan, before coming back to sign out for the night at 10. We went straight to the subway station and caught the train to Express Bus Terminal to meet Alex adn Louise, and Lindsey for our 11pm bus to Busan. Like typical foreigners, we thought we would grab a few bottles of soju and mix for the ride, but not too much because there is usually a stop along the way where we assumed we could buy some more. On the bus, our seats were not together, but after some no shows and some friendly asking, people moved and we were able to sit together. Once the bus hit the highway, we broke out the soju and got into talking, only to be quickly told to keep it down by a Korean man, because it was a night bus and people were sleeping. Disappointed, we cut our volume and drank quietly until the rest stop. Then disaster struck! The rest stop had no alcoholic beverages! This was a real shocker, given the fact that at every other place in this country, alcohol is readily available and abused. We solemnly got back on the bus and rode the rest of the way to Busan with nothing but each other for companionship.

After arriving at 4am Saturday morning on the bus, we took a taxi to Haeundae Beach to find a place to stay and get a few beers. None of us were tired, so we drank until the sun came up, then went to sleep for a few hours to recharge for the rest of the day. Some of us slept earlier than others, like Alex, Louise, and I, while John went to wander the beach and take pictures, and then when he came back Lindsey went. We slept until 1130 before getting up and getting ready for the beach. By then, Frank called and came to join us from his jim-jil-bang he stayed in the night before. Once together we set out to find Lindsey on the beach then get some breakfast. John had his heart set on Mexican and margaritas, but the restaurant was packed and none of us wanted to wait. Instead, we grabbed a bucket of KFC and and bag of beers, then hit the beach. The beach was a little chilly with some pre-afternoon wind, but once you were seated it was alright.
We enjoyed the beach from 1230-6pm, meeting up with Thomas and Jeanne a couple hours after we had sat down, and strolling around the sand sculptures that had been created for the festival going on. As it began to cool down, we went back to our room to take showers and chill out inside for a bit, then hit the streets to find a place for dinner. We had a hard time finding a BBQ place at first, and all became a little annoyed with Frank's determination to lead the party to suitable place, taking us on quite the back street adventure. In the end a little side street sam-gyup-sal and dwaegi-galbi palce was found, and we feasted like a bunch of hungry beasts. We finished eating around 1030 and headed to the strip to see what the bar scene would be like, and to meet with Brett and MiSeon, who had come in on the late bus after work. Since it was a long weekend, and so many foreigners had made the trip to Busan, the bars were packed, and no worth venturing into. Instead we sat around outside drinking soju and convenient store beers, and sharing laughs until around 3am. THEN it was fireworks time. We grabbed a handful of fireworks from the store, and a few more beers, and hit the beach to set them off and conclude the celebration of Alex and Louise's last weekend in Korea. Since fireworks are always fun, I don't need to tell you we enjoyed it, but when they were all gone at 4am, it was definitely time to pack it in. We all headed back to the pension/motel we had payed for, and everyone went to bed except John and I who hung out in the hall finishing our beers and texting people back in Seoul until almost 5. By the time we crawled into bed, everyone was out cold, and we were not looking forward to the impending morning alarm.
A mere 90 minutes later, my alarm went off and John and I had to get up to leave for Seoul. I guess it's not that we had to, as much as we both wanted to make it back for our hockey games, and not let our teams down. We grabbed our things and jumped in a taxi for the train station, hoping there would be spots on the 7 or 730 KTX back to Seoul. We missed the 7 am train, but were able to get on the 730, and with some water and snack bars, settled in for the 2.5 hour ride. Once we were on the move, I noticed some empty seats, and took full advantage of the situation, laying out over two free seats and pulling my hood over my head thus completing the cocoon effect. I was able to get in a solid 90 minute nap before we got back to Seoul at 1015. We caught the subway back to Bongcheon, where I rushed home and switched bags, then headed out to my hockey game for 12. I was going to be a few minutes late, but when I made it there, the games hadn't started yet on account of none of the refs showing up. It gave all the teams a few extra minutes to warm up, and by 1230 we started playing with a single ref. We played against a depleted but competitive Rig Rock Black Ambers team, but with our goalie on vacation, we still lost the first game 8-6. The second game was a close one as well, but we were able to pull it together for a 3-2 victory. After the games, as tired as I was, I stuck around to watch the rest of the games until John's games at 6. After all the games were over, and things were cleaned up, a group of us went over to Gangnam for a last dinner with Tony Heikkila. We packed into a dak-galbi place, and even Lauren came to eat and witness what was a CBHK gathering. The service was a little frustrating, and after having to ask for multiple things, multiple times, we were all frustrated and ready to get out of there as soon as we finished. Luckily, we made it out of there without going crazy, and were able to make it home on the last subway. It was a little late to call home, so after a refreshing shower, and some tidying up, it was off to bed, and lights out on another week.

The group has slowly been slimming for months now, and with Alex and Louise getting ready to go, the reality of this lifestyle is sorely realized.

Dear Colleagues: Why You Gotta Make Life So Stressful

May 23-29, 2011

After having played my legs off the day before, I slept extra hard and late on Monday. I woke up with barely enough time to make some food for work, and had to trust that my apartment wouldn't burn down while I had a shower with the stove on, then got off to work with but a few minutes to spare. After I signed in, I had to run back to the movie theatre and pick up a few more tickets for my kids, because I had run out by Friday and still had a couple classes to give to. Luckily, the students wrote their DT Tests, the tests that determine if they get to go to the next level, the previous week, so in most of my classes we just played vocabulary games to help them study for their Korean vocabulary tests they still had to do. Then, in other classes we just watched movies and relaxed for a change of. After work, I took myself straight home to watch some TV and get some more food made up since I had been so late in the morning, and have a conversation with Lauren on Skype about getting together since she had recently come back to Korea. Before I knew it, it was 2am and time to go to bed.
Tuesday morning, the second day after hockey, for the first time in a long time, hurt worse than on Monday. I seemed to be more stiff and sore than usual. So, after a quick bite to eat I headed off to the gym to get in a run and some weights, and hopefully work out the lactic acid and tightness. After the gym, I went to work and got to work on the students' second draft essays, which were just as horrible as usual. Work whizzed by, because I was playing games or watching movies again, and when it was all over I went to meet Lauren to watch a movie. We agreed on Pirates of the Caribbean, though I had already seen it on the Friday, but I kept that to myself and thoroughly enjoyed it for a second time. Since the movie didn't end until after 1am, instead of going back to her friend Azeem's house, where she is staying, and waking him up, she came back to crash at my house. It was nice to see again, and catch up on how she had been the last little while.
Having Lauren over for the night, and not wanting to be rude and take off on her in the morning, I skipped my usual visit to the hospital and caught up some more with her. Eventually it was time for me to get to work, so we headed down to the subway station for her to head to Azeem's, and me to work. Wednesday marked the official last week of the semester, and just about every class was have snack parties and watching movies. This gave me some extra time to finish up some online essays, and do some point form notes for my blog that I have gotten behind on yet again. After work it was off to the gym again to try and stay on top of my training, but the weight gain euphoria I had felt the week before faded as my weight has begun to drop again due to the heat and my lack of appetite/sweating like crazy all the time. When I was finished at the gym I headed home to have some food and watch a movie before calling it a night.
Thursday morning, I got up and went to the gym in the morning to see my friend who works there, SeongWon, and of course to get in a good run to start the day. After the gym it was off to work for another walk in the park day of movies and snack parties, though there were a few more essays that trickled in over night that had to be marked. Then, though I had known since Wednesday, at the end of the day Jean pulled John into his class for a chat about some "stuff" the Korean teachers had brought up about him in their weekly meeting. It was no surprise to me when Jean told me he had to talk to John, and even the things he had to talk to him about were things that had come up in the past. The Korean teachers we upset about how John acts and talks around them, and they even went as far to say it felt like they were being sexually harassed at times. I can see where they are coming from, because he isn't the quietest or most candid about what he thinks, and has even made me question what the hell he was doing from time to time. Other complaints included him frequently leaving his classroom for non-class related reason, or interrupting the Korean teachers classes for non-class related reason. I know how they feel on this aspect, because he does it more often than I care for to me, even though he has been told not to. He simply has a problem focusing, and doesn't see being reprimanded as a problem in his mind. There were a few other things, but they were mostly due to a lack of understanding between cultural jokes and references. Needless to say, the end of the day was an awkward one when John realized I had known he was going to get talked to and didn't tell him, and was upset. I explained to him that it was because, Jean had to talk to him when he had time, and if I had of told John, then he would have bugged Jean to no end. From there it went as I thought it would, and John started making rounds to ask/interrogate all the teachers about what had been said and who said it. I warned him not to, and that it wouldn't help his case, but it's just how he works. After work, I went back to the gym, and stayed as far away from the tension at work as possible. I even had the pleasure of meeting Lauren after the gym, and hanging out watching a movie at my place while I told her about the fiasco at work.
Even with Lauren at my apartment Friday morning, I got up to get to mine and John's prearranged man date to watch Kung Fu Panda 2. Though I thought I had made it clear she could come, Lauren didn't want to intrude on our date, and I dropped her off at the subway station on my way to the Egg Yellow building to meet John for the 1030 showing in 3D. The movie was fantastic, just like the first one. It was hilarious and action packed, yet had moments that were very touching. All together it gets two thumbs up from me. After the movie, John and I took a few minutes to try yet again at winning a stuffed Hulk hand out of a claw game that we had so desperately tried to win earlier in the week. Only this time, our wasted dollars were not in vain, and after several attempts, we pulled it into the chute and were the happiest kinds in the theatre. Feeling impressed with ourselves we continued down to the street to have a couple beers with Eric before he left the next week, and people watch. Eventually it was time to go to work, and when my bike wouldn't start, John and I had to double to work on his scooter, making a quick stop at his house so he could change his clothes. Again work went by quickly, with more movies and snack parties, until the end of the day when I got a series of texts from Brady about the new watch John had acquired the week before. It turned out that the Friday before when he had gone to Gold Bar to meet the group without me, he had gotten super drunk and stolen a $800 watch that was sitting on the bar. In his drunken stupor he didn't remember taking it, but it turned out to be ChaeChul the bartender/bouncer's watch, that he had taken off while breaking up a dispute between a couple of people. The bar had narrowed it down to somebody from our group since they were the last ones in there, and even further to John because he spends most of his time by the bar. I relayed the fact that they knew it was him to John and told him that he had to give it back. He put up a bit of resistance at first, saying if they didn't know it was him for sure why should he, though he actually felt about having done that to someone who is a good friend of mine at a bar I really like. I let Brady know that John would bring the watch back as soon as he could, though with working two jobs it would be hard to get there for a few days. ChaeChul was cool with that, and happy that he had located it and would be getting it back. Stressed out yet again by the actions of John, I went to the gym to sweat it out. My workout was short however, because dealing with the watch took up so much of my time after work, and I had promised to meet Lauren again, so didn't want to stay too long at the gym. When I finished working out, I had a text from John about grabbing a beer at our spot while I waited for Lauren to show up, so went to meet him and calm things over. Luckily, everything was cool and we just chatted about tings at work and the watch without any conflicts of opinion, and when Lauren showed up we went our separate ways. I took the walk home and some time at home to rant about it to Lauren, then we threw on a movie and chilled out to calm my nerves.
After a stressful couple of days, and a late night, I stayed in bed late Saturday missing my visit to Wesley again, but it would have only been a short visit, as I had plans in the late afternoon. When Lauren and I finally got, I made us some eggs and ham, then got ready to go to Scott Brady's wedding. It was a very last minute choice for me to attend, since I had told him I would go but had gotten no directions to the time or place. Luckily Rob Gibson hooked me up, and told me it was at the War Museum at 5pm. That gave me just enough time to have a shower and get dressed before running out the door hoping to catch a taxi and not get into too much traffic. It wasn't meant to be though, and I ended up stuck in traffic on my way to Samgakgi, and was 10 minutes late for the wedding. It was an outdoor, very traditional wedding, that only lasted about an hour. After the ceremony there were some pictures, and then a buffet dinner where all the hockey players sat together and made sure Scott's money for the all you can drink option wasn't wasted. After the buffet, we all headed over to Scrooges in Itaewon, where they had the second floor booked out for a more reception like get together. There was food and free beer from 830 until 1230, and when they closed up at 2 Rob Gibson drove me over to Gangnam on his bike so I could meet up with Alex and Louise, Frank, Brady and SoHyun, and a couple others whose names escape me. I hung out with them and had a couple more drinks at Voodoo, then called it a night as we all headed out to get cabs around 430. As I usually do when trying to get a cab from that area, picked up some water and walked down to Kyodae where it is easier to get a taxi. It gives me time to sober up and get some fresh air before I get home and sleep. I was home and sleeping by 530, which was way better than I thought the night was going to go.
Sunday morning I woke up feeling much better than I had anticipated around 11, but took the chance to lay around in bed until 1, when I got up to get ready for my hockey adventure for the week. Our games started at 4 against The Teabaggers, and though we had our guys back from Hong Kong, we were still missing a couple good forwards to vacation and tests, and now our goalie was gone for a wedding so Gibson would have to take net for us. Things didn't look good for us from the beginning, as we came out flat and lost the first game 4-1, but as we regrouped, the second game looked to be ours until a few collapsing moments occurred and we lost again in the final moments 5-4. Disappointed again with a double loss day, I sat around drinking a few beers and talking with other players until the end of the night, then cleaned up and headed back to Seouldae to pick up my bike. Things just kept going down hill from their. When I got to the station, I had to maneuver my bike out around a bunch of pedal bikes in order to kick start it and ride it to Bongcheon. In doing so, I managed to scrape the top of my foot on the kick stand and ended up bleeding all over my sandal. Regardless of the blood, I rode it back to the grocery store, then went in to get my weekly supply and walked home, leaving my bike on the street. After putting away my groceries and having a shower I went down to meet Lauren at the subway station so we could hangout. When I tried to get my bike to start so we could ride it home in stead of walking up the hill, it wouldn't start, so I had to leave it there for the night. Once home for good, I called home to catch everyone up on the details of my life, and vice versa, then it was time for a movie and a good sleep ; )

Movie Tickets!! Ouch My Wallet :(

May 16-22, 2011

Having collected money after Emily had left on Saturday, I got up Monday morning earlier than usual so that I could do my normal cooking and such and still have enough time to stop at the bank before work to put the money into Monitta's Korean account. On top of putting the rest of the money in, I transferred some money of my own home, and got a new bank card. After that I went to work to sign in, but left immediately to go pick up the movie tickets that I give to my best students at the end of each semester. It is an expensive prize, $220 for 30 tickets, but since I do not give them anything during the 3 months I teach them, I figure a big prize at the end helps keep them motivated. I made it back to work just in time to start at 240, and throughout the day gave out the coveted movie tickets to my best student(s) in each class. Luckily, since the kids had already written their final test, to see whether or not they move to the next level, the week before, I was able to play some vocabulary games with them, making my day go by much faster than usual. When work was over, I went home and chilled out with Goah and some TV until it was bed time.
Rejuvenated Tuesday morning, I got up and went to the gym before work, and had a good run and weights session to get the blood flowing. It was a good thing I did as well, because at work it was that time of the online cycle when John and I had to mark first draft essays again. As per usual, they were overall poorly done, but the silver lining was that it was the end of semester, so many students had given up on doing them. It's not the best attitude to have towards it, but after trying for months to get the information across to them, only to have them write in every way you told them not to, you begin to care less and less. After work, I went back to the gym to ride the bike, and sweat out the frustration of the students essays, then it was home for some eggs and a shake, before throwing on the TV and going to bed.

Wednesday morning, I got up a little later than I had wanted, and headed off to the hospital. When I got there, Wes' caregiver told me I had missed Casey and Monitta by only a few minutes, so I didn't get to have as in depth update as usual. Mrs. Oh his caregiver did tell me that he had been doing good, and that the doctors had started giving him steroid injections into his legs to keep the muscles strong. I stayed for a short visit, then had to leave so I could get to work on time, and get back to marking the students awful essays. After a flurry of essays, the day was done and it was time to go to the gym. After another good bike ride and some weights, I went home for some food, TV and sleep.

Thursday morning I got up and prepared some more food for work, then packed it up and headed off to the gym, trying to get back on track after missing so many workouts the week before. Feeling good after the gym, I went to work to hand out some more movie tickets and watch some movies or play games with my classes, then marked essays during my breaks. By the end of the day, John and I had done all but a few first draft essays, as well as a few second draft early entries. Once again it was off to the gym after work, but this time it was to make up for the fact that John and I had another man date planned for the next morning. 

John called me early Friday morning to make sure I was still down for our movie date, which I was, so we planned to meet at the Podo Mall Lotte Cinema for the 940 showing of Pirates of the Caribbean : On Stranger Tides 3D, the fourth movie in the series. I rode my bike there hoping the impending rain would hold off, and made it just in time to get our tickets and catch the opening of the movie. The movie was very well done, and we both liked it more than the previous two, which were too wrapped up in love stories and not about as much pirating. This one did have a love story, but it was down played so that the real adventure could stand out. After the movie, we went outside to see that it had begun raining, and that the skies promised more to come. John had to go pick up some more medicine, and I wanted to get home and make some food and take a shower before work, so we went our separate ways, and both got wet riding in the rain. At home, I made up some food and had a shower, then walked to work instead of riding. Luckily, the rain stopped during the day, and by the time work finished I was able to walk to the gym without getting wet. I had a pretty good workout to finish off the day, then went home and ate before watching a movie and going to bed.

Even after getting a good nights sleep, I woke up Saturday feeling down and kind of mopy. It didn't help that it was a gloomy and rainy day. Feeling as I did, I skipped going to the hospital to stay in bed and watch Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and instead just called Casey to see how Wes was doing. Later in the afternoon, the rain cleared up and I decided I would go to the Haebongcheon (HBC) Music Fest to see Trevor's band play. I didn't plan on being there for very long, and ran into some other hockey guys while I was there, who were at varying degrees of party mode. Eventually I ran into Thomas and Jeanne, who were there to watch some bands before going to meet our other group of friends in Itaewon for dinner. I hadn't planned on staying after 9pm, but when I heard about dinner, I couldn't refuse seeing everyone. So, instead of going home at 9, I went over to Itaewon to meet with everyone for dinner at an Indian restaurant behind the Hamilton Hotel. Dinner was good, and John even came around from the wedding party he had been at, and with him he brought his "new" watch that he had somehow ended up with after going to Gold Bar the night before with Alex and Louise. When dinner was over, I made for the subway, as I was trying to have an early night before playing hockey Sunday with a depleted team, but John convinced me to go with him for one more beer at the wedding party he was at on the condition he would split a cab with me at 1am. I'm not sure why I went for it, knowing full well in the back of my mind that I would end up going home alone, but went for it anyways. Sure enough, after a couple beers, John had disappeared and left me talking with a couple guys he knew from snowboarding. Knowing it would come to it, I balked at myself as I took a taxi home by myself at 130. As silly as I was to have stayed, I had a good time, and had stayed relatively sober, so going to bed I didn't feel too bad.
Since I got home at a decent time, and had drank a fair amount of water, Sunday morning I felt great, and got up just after 11 to get ready to go play hockey. I knew it was going to be a long day because half of our team were not going to be at the game. Our best forward and two defencemen were in a tournament in Hong Kong, another good forward was busy writing a mock exam, and another good forward would only be playing the first game because he had to pick up his family from the airport for his coming wedding. This left us with our normal goalie, a couple good forwards, a handful of mid-range forwards, and a defence made up of one good player, myself who isn't that bad, and a guy who has no idea. I got there at 1 for our 2 O'clock game against the Red Army, who were equipped with almost their whole team, including the best player in the league. We tried our best to stay positive, but knew that it was gong to be a long day, and I was glad that I had done some extra sprints on the bike throughout the week, because I was going to need to play long shifts. Little did I know that by long shifts, I would end up playing almost the entire time, because the other defencemen were in great need of breaks than I was. Our first game, we came out strong, and played as well as we could, but the Red Army got the upper hand, and even though I was playing their top player as well as I could, the number of other players on their team that can finish started to take its toll on us. The eventual result was a mercy of 7-0 in 30 minutes of play. Exhausted, our team took a short break to talk some strategy before the next game started, and like all our matches, we came out stronger in the second game. We played a more conservative game, trying not to always race to the puck, and to dump it when we were collapsing. It worked out at first, and we took a 2-0 lead, but once again fatigue set in and we watched our lead fade away. We were able to hang on and play the entire 45 minutes in the second game, it still ended in an 8-3 defeat, and I had played all but 5 minutes of both leaving my entire body sore and depleted. We were very disappointed in how the day went, but I took solace in being told that I had played well against the top player. Our hole team was a little upset, but we still stuck around for a few beers to heal the wounds of the day. One beer led to another, and some long conversations later, it was the end of the 6 O'clock game and time to clean up, then go home. I could barely move by the time I made it back to Bongcheon, but made it to get groceries before going home for a long hot shower, and a phone call home.

Expats Coming Through Again :)

May 9-15, 2011

After such a long day on Sunday, I once again took the opportunity to sleep in on Monday morning while contemplating the idea about having another benefit for Wesley. Eventually I had to get out of bed and make some food to take to work, then shower and get out the door for my long day of classes. While at work, Trevor contacted me about having found a venue at Stompers in Itaewon, and thus meeting with the owner Dwayne after work. I couldn't say no, even though I wanted to, so we arranged to meet there around 1030 to talk it out and share ideas. I didn't end up getting htere until nearly 11, but that was OK, because there was a poker game going on, so Dwayne was a little busy with that. We talked about the door prizes we would raffle off, and how much to charge at the door. Dwayne donated a bottle of Jack Daniels and Jagermeister, and Trevor and his wife had secured a gift certificate from Zelen, a Bulgarian restaurant. We also decided that we would charge a minimum cover of $1 at the door, and that I would canvas the area later in the week for more donations, and to put up posters that had been donated by another friend of Trevor's. We finished up just after 12, and Trevor offered to drive me home, since he lives out in Incheon and it is somewhat on his way. I took him up on the offer and by 1230 I was home to get some sleep, because instead of having Tuesday off like most of the country for Buddha's birthday, we had to be in at 930am for a special open house fun day for the kids.

Tuesday, was the tenth, which was Buddha's birthday, but instead of being out to enjoy the festivities and parade, we had to come to work for a school promotional day. It was similar in set up to the last ones we had, but the students couldn't bring their friends this time. Instead they would be using their online student miles, similar to air miles, for doing their homework, to purchase prizes and food. They also had the chance to play games with the Korean teachers to win more points, so they could buy more prizes. The day, though not a holiday, was a great way to get up early, and not waste a day off. Fortunately, it was a rainy day, so it is highly likely that I would have spent the day inside being a bed worm. The kids really enjoyed it as well, which makes it all the more worth it. When it was all finished at 430, John and I helped clean up the class rooms and market room where we had worked, then headed across to the 7/11 to have a couple beers and sit out front of the store. Jean finished up a couple things and joined us, but eventually it got too chilly, so we went over to our chicken place to get some food and a few more beers. By 830 we had our fill of chicken and beer, and all decided to head home and try to get some things done before the next day. I however, got home and immediately fell asleep for 2 hours instead of doing anything productive. When I woke up it was 10pm and I was wide awake, so I took to doing all the things I had planned on doing earlier. I did some laundry, washed the floor, washed my dishes, and then cooked up a storm until nearly 3am before the grips of sleep grabbed me again. So it was off to bed again, but this time with far more accomplished.

Wednesday morning I got up, excited to get to the hospital to tell Monitta and Casey the news about the concert we had arranged for the weekend. They were thrilled at how supportive the community had been, and continues to be, and as we took turns filling each other in respectively, on the details of Wes and the benefit. After my visit, it was off to work, where once again, Trevor and I talked throughout the day about the bands, door prizes, and getting posters printed and up around the area. After work, I went to the gym to get in a light workout, but didn't stay to long so I could get home and get some sleep in order to get an early start on Thursday.
As early as I could muster, a mere 10am, I got up and out of the house, so I could get to Itaewon and canvas for donations. I started with picking up the gift certificate from Zelen, then proceeded to walk down the entire street of restaurants behind the Hamilton Hotel, asking at every restaurant if they would be willing to donate to our cause. Unfortunately, I had to leave messages at all of them, because apparently managers/owners do not work before 5pm, and nobody else is allowed to make executive decisions. So, I left a bunch of messages, with high hopes that some of them would get back to me. Then just when all hope was lost, the Italian restaurant casAntonio, that said they would donate a $50 gift certificate once I brought some documentation of our event. From there, I went to Ali Baba, a Middle Eastern restaurant, and they agreed to donate 50 free appetizers to give away at the door, but under the same circumstances that I bring them some documentation of our event. With lifted spirits, I headed to work and called Trevor to see how his poster guy was doing, and to tell him about the promised donations. Trevor had assumed I had gotten the emailed finished copy of the poster from his friend, but when he found out I didn't, made a phone call to find out when they would be done. It turned out that Colin, the poster guy, had been tied up, but promised to get it finished and to me by the next morning. At work the rest of the day, I spent some time making information posters, with the complete story and pictures of Wes' condition on them to give to the restaurants, as well as a rough event poster of my own, in case Colin didn't come through. After work, I went to the gym to get a good work out in, and get rid of some of the stress that organizing things so last minute can create, then went home to get some sleep.
Low and behold, Friday morning I got up and and had no event poster in my inbox. I sent Colin a text, and he said he was just finishing it, and that he would have it to me by noon. Feeling that would still leave me enough time to get some printed and make it to work, I went with John to COEX Mall to see about getting his iPod fixed. Unfortunately, John was more worried about having beers, and every time I lost sight of him, it was because he was off buying more beers, and before long we were were late for work, and just getting to the Apple Store. On top of now being late for work, I still hadn't received the finished posters, and John couldn't get his iPod fixed. Full of disappointment, we went to work. Just as we got into the office I received a text saying Colin had emailed me the finished posters, so I had no choice but to print them out at work, then go to Itaewon to hand them out. I quickly went to the places that had promised donations, then set about putting up posters around the area for passer byes to see. I did get a little flack for putting them up in some places, but I was in a hurry and really didn't care about what people were saying. When I was done, I rushed back to work, which was a fatal error, because I took the subway the wrong direction, and ended up 4 stops out of my way. I made it back in time to start my classes at 6, but was not in the mood to teach by that point, making the last four hours of the day stretch out forever. Having started the day with beer, when work was over it only seemed fit to go have a couple more, so we went to our favourite chicken restaurant with Eric, had some food and a couple pitchers, then called it a night and went home. I was able to get into bed by 2am, which was good, because I knew the next day would be a long one.
Saturday morning, I was up around 10am and out the door to go see Wes. Casey and Monitta were at the hospital, and had been since the caregiver had left Friday afternoon. Casey was getting ready to head home for some rest before going to the benefit, but Monitta was going to stay for the day, and said she probably wouldn't make it out. We talked about how much better he had been doing with his therapy, and how strong he had gotten, then about when they might take him off of his current medication and start him on the brain stimulus medication they had mentioned. I stayed at the hospital until just after 4, then headed home to get ready for the fundraiser. I had a shower and got all the things together that I needed to bring, and headed out of the house just before 7, so I could meet with Alex and Louise, and Trevor and EunJu for some dinner in Itaewon before going to set up at Stompers. We had some Thai food, then made a quick stop at Ali Baba to pick up the appetizer coupons, and made it to Stompers by 9 to get set up. Before the bands even started there was a lot of people there to support the cause, and by the time the bands started at 1030, the place was nearly full. The bands were great, donations generous, and everyone had a great time. John and a large number of hockey guys even showed up after biking the Han River all afternoon, as did Frank, Brady, SoHyun, Emily, Dallas, Angelo, Whitney, and Casey. John even took the chance to apologize to Frank for the incident at Gold Bar, which was really big of him. Between the second and third band we raffled off the alcohol and restaurant gift cards, then let the last band finish the night in style. Everything was wrapped up by 130, at which point the place cleared out rather quickly. I stuck around and talked with some of the band members, and helped clean up until Dwayne returned from own show at another bar, then we had a couple beers together and chilled out for a bit. I had sent the money home with Emily, who left after we stopped officially collecting money, but was still getting the odd donation, and after talking to her and including what I had been given, we raised 1million Won again for Wesley and his family. Hearing such a high number made everyones' night, and made it all worth it. Around 330 I decided it was time for me to head home, so I said my goodbyes, and headed down to the main street (via the stairs as to avoid walking down Hooker Hill) to catch a cab.

Waking up Sunday was a bit of a pin, but since I didn't play until 6pm, I took my sweet time getting motivated, and packing up for hockey. I got out of the house and to hockey in time to watch some of the 2 O'clock game and the 4 O'clock game, before my game against Shank's Dublin Dynamo team. It was a hard fought battle at first, with the Dynamo taking the first game 3-2, but we came back strong in the second game to win it 4-0. Then again, I stuck around to clean up before getting on the subway to go home, stopping on my way to get some groceries and a pizza. Once home, I devoured the pizza, then called home, before getting cleaned up and going to bed.

It's Children's Day, Better Act Like It

May 2-8, 2011

After such an upsetting show against John's team, I slept in Monday before getting up to make some food and get my week under way. I made up a big batch of tuna pasta salad and some stir fry, then showered and headed into school. Even though Monday is my long day, I start with a great bunch of kids, and the rest of the day falls into place with some not bad classes as well. After work, I went home and prepped some food for the next day before throwing on the T.V. and calling it a night.
Tuesday morning, feeling spry and ready to go, I got up and had some breakfast, then went to the gym before work. It felt good to get a good run in after a day of rest, and when I was finished, it was off to work for the afternoon. Then again when work was finished, I went back to the gym to get some time in on the bike and with the weights. After the gym I went home for some food, and then it was off to bed.
Keeping in stride with my regular appearances at the hospital, I got up Wednesday morning and headed over to see Wesley and his mom. Wesley's improvements were minimal, but things like his physiotherapy were taking less and less of a toll on him, and he was beginning to show signs of improved strength. It was a good visit, and when I left I headed straight to work, arriving a little earlier than usual. Work went by quickly, and seeing as Thursday was Children's Day, a national holiday, John and I headed over to Gold Bar after work to celebrate his friend Lindsey's birthday. Alex and Louise also came with a couple of Louise's friends, and we had a great time, shooting the toy bubble gun John had bought, and dancing. At one point in the night, some drunk and slutty girl made Louise angry, and there were some angry words said, most of which I missed out on, so when I tried to help I was completely lost in the situation. Things calmed down as fast as they had started, and before we knew it, it was 5am and time to go home. John, who was much drunker than I was, and I got in a cab for Bongcheon, and when we got back to our neighbourhood, we got off closer to his house so he could get home easier. Myself, I went over to the subway station where we left our bikes, and rode mine the 5 blocks home so that I wouldn't have to go back for it in the morning. Not the smartest choice, but whatever. By 6 I was crawling into bed, and looking forward to a good long sleep.
The long sleep I was looking for, fell a few hours short when John called me at 11 to ask how he had gotten home, and if I wanted to go get a beer. I told him I needed to sleep for another hour before I even considered leaving the house, but after I got off the phone with him, I only laid in bed drinking water and watching T.V. Eventually he called me back after some more sleep himself, and put the rush on me to met him at the station with my bike so we could ride over to meet a bunch of hockey guys, and Alex and Louise at the baseball game, and make the most of our day off. I quickly hopped through the shower and threw on some clothes, then went to meet him. We rode over to the baseball stadium, through traffic and over sidewalks at times, but made it in time to get some tickets from a scalper, then enjoy a few Family Mart beers while we waited for the rest of the gang to assemble. The game was the LG Twins vs. Dusan Bears, and was a great game to watch, once we got in there after the third inning. We enjoyed a few more beers during the game, then a few more after while we waited for the crowds to die down. Eventually, once the traffic cleared, people started taking off on the subway, and John and I decided to ride our bikes over to Gangnam for a burger near his old school. It was delicious  and really filled the gap all the beer had created. When we were finished eating, we got back on our bikes and finished the ride home. The fresh air felt great, and helped sober us up a little. We got home just after midnight, and it wasn't long before I crawled into bed, exhausted.
After two days of substantial drinking, I woke up feeling crappy on Friday. I thought it might go away as I got ready for work, but then at work it settled in for the day. It didn't help that I didn't teach until 6, so I had to sit at work thinking about it for 4 straight hours. Nonetheless, when work was finished I was feeling a little better, and went home to make some apple crisp for Melanie and WonJong's house warming party in Suwon. Having burnt out my large stove burner earlier in the week, I had to do it all from the little burner, meaning I had to do it all in 1/3 the normal portion sizes and combine it all after. This method made for quite the long evening, and I didn't finish cleaning up until 230 in the morning. After that I was pretty awake, so I watched some T.V. until around 330, then drifted off to sleep.
Saturday morning, I tried to get up nice and early so I could get to the hospital at a good time in order to help Monitta out with anything she needed before I would have to leave for Suwon. I stayed with her, and talked about how he had been doing until around 230, then headed home to pick up the apple crisp, and head for the bus to Suwon from Sadang Station. Unfortunately, I had forgotten it was the day before parents day, which meant a great number of Koreans would be trying to get back to where their parent live to have a visit. When I got to the bus stop outside of Sadang Station, the line for the Suwon bus was almost a block long. The buses were running with extra numbers due to the overwhelming amount of passengers, and in the end I only had to wait for 3 buses before it was my turn to board. I had a short nap on the 45 minute ride to Suwon, then called Melanie when I was close so WonJong could come meet me at the bus stop. Once we found each other, we waited for another 15 minutes until Brett and MiSeon showed up, then went over to their house, where Louise and Alex, Brady and SoHyun, and Mel were all hanging out getting dinner ready. While Alex and WonJong ran the barbecue, the rest of us sat around taking and getting things ready inside. To eat, we had hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken shish kebabs, with potato salad and regular salad as sides. After the main meal, we all sat back and watched Mel and WonJong's wedding video, which had a cameo by Louise and Alex, then turned our attention to the apple crisp and ice cream cake myself and Brady and SoHyun had brought. As a combination they were fantastic, thought there was a slight mishap when Brady stabbed his hand trying to cut the very solid ice cream cake. It was nearly a fatal injury, but he pulled through and we moved onto dessert time, which coincided with board game time, having vetoed the idea of noraebang. We played Trivial Pursuit as 3 teams of 3, and boy did we ever feel like a bunch of schmucks. We all consider ourselves to be of average intelligence, but the questions in the edition we were playing were out of control. We were having the hardest time getting correct answers, but in the end, the team that I was on with Brady and SoHyun collected all the pie pieces and won the game. However, by that point it was already well into the night, and neither the subway nor buses would be running for a couple more hours. We decided that was the perfect time to dig into Alex and Louise's ceviche, which was a delicious finale to the evening. After that we stayed up and drank a few more beers until the buses started running again at 530. Once they were up and running, we walked over to the station, and I got on the bus back to Sadang by 6am. The ride went much faster this time, as time seems to fly by when you are passed out, and when we arrived at Sadang I transfered to the subway to make it home by 7 and crawl into my bed.

A mere three hours after crawling into bed, it was time to get back up and get ready to go play hockey at 12. We were playing Leahey's team, The Black Shaft Revelations, who have been our top rivals all season. We played two hard fought battles and came out with a 3-4 loss and 4-3 win, which was the really the best we could hope for against such a strong team. It would have been nice to squeeze out both wins, but you have to take what you can get. Sejin, Blake's old friend, showed up after my game, and we watched John's games at 2 and drank a couple beers, and laughed at John as he played. While we were watching John's game, Trevor Clements, and player from The Black Shafts approached me about having another fundraiser for Wesley. It just so happens that he plays in a couple different bands that were looking to have a gig, and thought it would be a great opportunity to make some money for Wesley and his family. Trevor had already set up a venue and bands, all I had to do was get the man power and some door prizes. It was a great opportunity, so I jumped on it and said we would love to be a part of it. After that we stuck around watching a couple more games until 7, when it got a little chilly and we got hungry. John had left to go to the first session for his tattoo  so Sejin and I went to Gangnam to get a bite at a Mexican place near Big Rock, and then went to an outdoor bar to have a couple beers. Eventually, when John finished his tattoo session, he came and met us for a beer, and then Sejin took her bus home,and we took the subway home. I missed my trip to the grocery store, but luckily I hadn't used up all my food stores from the week before, so I would be alright for the short week ahead. Then after my weekly phone call home, I had a shower and called it a week.

Thank You for the Reminder

April 25 - May 1, 2011

After an incredibly long weekend of hockey and fundraising, my sleep went uninterrupted until around 12 Monday, when I got up and made some food before heading to work for my long day. My legs were still pretty whipped, so I spent most of the day trying to stay seated. After work, the night consisted of a little bit of cooking, and a little bit of reading before my eyelids couldn't take it anymore, and I went to bed.
Tuesday morning, I was still feeling a little lazy, but i tried my best to get to the gym for a bit of a workout. I got in a quick run, and a few weight exercises before it was time to shower up and get to work. The little that I did made me feel much better, and I felt much better at work having gone. After work, I went back to the gym to get in a good bike ride and some weights, and to ultimately have a good shower since my shower had been giving me problems. After the gym, I went home and had a feast of processed cheese, ham, and crackers, and a protein shake before throwing on a movie to fall asleep to.
Wednesday I got up and went to see Wes in the hospital, and check how he had been since the weekend and meet his cousin Dylan, who had flown in for a visit. His progress was still moving forward, albeit slow, but forward nonetheless. His left eye was showing great signs of responsiveness, and to certain audio cues he would turn his head and stare. I stayed at the hospital for a couple hours, and then left so I could get to work on time. Work was filled with a flurry of second draft essays to be checked and graded, which made the day go by quicker, but more frustrating. The only reprieve during the second draft essay check week, is that I have no trouble failing the kids who did not make sufficient changes, which lessens the work load. At the end of the day I went to the gym to ride the bike and lift some weights. Then as I finished and weighed myself, I was delighted to find that I had hit an all time high of 77kg. Looks like the trouble is paying off. After the gym, it was home for some food, and to get some sleep.
Thursday morning I got up happy about the night before's weigh in, and got myself ready for the day with a good breakfast, then headed out to the gym. After a good run, I did some light weights, then hit the shower so I could get to work and get back on essay marking. Between John and myself, we were able to get almost all the essays finished by the end of the day, making home time extra exciting because we knew we would be living it up on Easy Street the next day. Then again at the end of the day, with the affirmation that my work was paying off, it was back to the gym for some biking and lifting. That and I knew I would not make it the next morning, because John and I had scheduled another man date. After that it was off to home, and to bed.
Friday morning I got up extra early to meet John and Eric at the Lotte Theatre to watch Thor in 3D. The movie started at 940, so I naturally left my house at 940. Luckily it was nice out, so I rode my bike over to the theatre, and was able to make it there and meet them just 10 minutes late. So really, I helped us miss the previews. Thor was a pretty good movie, though I was a little disappointed that it was more of a love story/life lesson movie, but a good movie nonetheless.  When the movie was over we hung out for a few minutes, but the skies were turning grey, so I rode my bike home to make some food and get ready for work. Work was good, and I used the first 4 hours of not having classes to check the few essays that had trickled in over night, and then it was of to my classes. My day was going as smooth as any Friday goes when all you want to do is get out of work, and then in my very last class I had a kid make my day. When I walked into, my kids had been having a juice and snack party with their Korean teacher, and immediately half of them started pleading to go to the washroom. I quickly squashed their dreams by say "No", but then added "You can only go to the bathroom if you are going to pee your pants". Then to my surprise and dismay, one of my boys replied, "I'm Peter Pan!". Bewildered at how he thought I said Peter Pan, and in turn came up with his response, I just stood there for a moment and laughed. That comment alone was enough to get me through the rest of the day, and when work was over I went to the gym to make up for my missed workout in the morning. Then it was home for some food and a good nights sleep.
Saturday morning was a bright and early one so I could get up to the hospital to see Wes and help Monitta out after her long night alone with him. I got there just after 1030, and stayed until just after 7pm so I could get to Itaewon for SoHyun's birthday party at Ho Lee Chow, the American Chinese restaurant in the Hamilton Hotel. I was a little late for dinner, but was able to get my order in and eat without being that guy everyone was waiting on. Over dinner I had the chance to tell Melanie and WonJong, Alex and Louise, Brady and SoHyun, Thomas and Jeanne, and Frank about how well Wes was doing, and about the medications he was on to prevent any seizures and infections, and how well he was responding to them. After our dinner, we all headed over to Bungalow for a few drinks. It was a great, but expensive time, and when we decided to leave Brady had to call it a night on account of his back acting up, which meant SoHyun and Frank also left. The rest of us continued the party over to Club Zion, the reggae bar, where we continued to have a few more drinks and dance a little. Eventually things got weird when some dude came up behind me and started stroking my dreads and asking me to dance. I RSVPed "No thanks", but he was having none of it and pulled me out of my chair and started dancing. For every step towards me he took, I took two back, and soon enough he got the picture and left me alone. When we were all finished laughing at my expense, it was time to go out into the light of the rising sun and get some McDonald's before sticking a fork in the night. After some food, it was onto the subway for the trip home. I was in bed by 7, which was not exactly what I had in mind, but that seems to be the story of my life.
After sleeping for only 5 hours, I was awoken by a call from John about when I was planning on heading to the hockey rink. Since we played each other in the 4 O'clock, I told him I wouldn't be going until closer to 2, so I could watch some of the games before us and get warmed up for our game. We met at the subway station just after 2, and rode to the Sports Complex together while talking about the night before, and our games to come. The Bush Pilots, lead by Peter Mosca, played well, and our first game ended in a 2-2 tie. But, the X-Men pulled it together and came out strong in the second came to win it 4-2. After our games, we stuck around to watch the 6 O'clock game and have a couple beers. When the games were over, and we had finished cleaning up, we hit the subway to head back to Bongcheon, where I went to get groceries and a pizza before heading home. Then, while at the grocery store, the super sweet teller who always helps me saw that I had a cut on my hand and blood all over my shirt, and flew into mother mode, got out all the ointment and bandages I would need to fix a bullet wound, and fixed me right up. At the end of a long day, it is acts like that, that make the difference, and remind me of how caring Koreans outside the collective really are. With my bandaged hand, groceries, and pizza I headed home to call home and have a shower, before calling it a week and curling up with Goah for a good nights sleep.