Rafting/Bungee Jump Weekend

A few weekends ago, I went white water rafting with a bus full of foreigners. It was a great time as we played paintball on Saturday and went rafting and bungee jumping on Sunday. Quite an extreme weekend. Here are some pictures to tell the tale:

Myself, Jackie, Shauna and Jay awaiting instructions (in Korea) on what to do when we are on the water. I'm sure it will be helpful. Everyone's eyes are a little squinty as we had to get up at 730am but didn't care much about that the night before as we partied at the motel.

All suited up and time for some more safety instructions. This time accompanied by a demonstration. A much better idea.

A group shot before we hit the water.

Our boat/team aptly named Team #1. (L to R) Shauna, me, Jackie, Evelyn, Jay (top) Matt, Jack, Angee.

Action shot in the water.

Paddling our way to victory. The air was warm, but the water was freezing (it was early May). We tried our best to stay away from other boats so we wouldn't get ourselves into a splash war.

Another group shot at one of the break points along the river.

And after a running start it's bungee jump time. This was in a city called Inje and it was a distance of 63m over a river that wasn't very deep, which was not very reassuring.

Woo hoo. The bungee cord is attached. It didn't feel like it was for the first two seconds.

Time to relax. The bouncing is over and its time to slowly get lowered back down to earth.

We also played some paintball on Saturday. Unfortunately I have no pictures of that as no one was foolish enough to risk bringing their camera into the war zone. I bought a new camera last week, so I hope I can post more pictures than before because I used to have to mooch other people's pictures. The last few weekends have been a little more quiet since the rafting weekend as I have stayed in the city. But it has been a nice break from never being at home on the weekends.

Next: I will be going to an international friendly soccer game of Korea vs. Netherlands on Saturday in Seoul, so hopefully I can take some good pictures there!

Hope everyone is doing good at home and starting to enjoy the warm weather. Talk to you soon.

Random Writings and Adventures

I am just approaching my 10 months in Korea mark and last week my school told me that they have a plane ticket for July 7th from Korea back to Toronto. For one reason or another I choose to delay my departure from Korea. Whether I will be teaching more or travelling around the region I am not exactly sure. But it looks as though for now I will not be coming home any earlier than July 7th. Sorry, but I had to pass on the news!

Now for something more fun. I recently joined the iWorld. That is, the world of Ipod and I must say it is one amazing piece of machinery. I bought an 80gb Ipod video and it can basically be used as a computer. I have all of my pictures, mp3s and lots of movies on there. The best part is you can take it all on the go. So, I have been pretty excited about my new toy lately and have been taking it everywhere. Anyway, enough about that.

The weather has really warmed up lately. It was too hot to be wearing pants today (but I was because I didn't know any better), and its only going to get warmer. I haven't really been able to get out and explore much on my motorcycle lately because I seem to be out of the city every weekend. That reminds me, I will be going to the North Eastern coast of Korea for some white water rafting, paintball and bungy jumping next weekend. It should be a really good time, except for the bus ride, which takes 6 hours!

Now onto some fun things I've been up to.

Jackie's Birthday Weekend in Masan:

A bunch of us decided to go down to Masan for Jackie's birthday back in April because that was the city that she used to work in. The Jeonju Crew (the city I live in) wanted to show our solidarity, so we showed up in the fancy uniforms seen below. Self-designed t-shirts and blue ties for the boys; red for the ladies.

Don't we look good?

Jack, Matt, Evelyn and I showing off our threads.

The birthday girl and I.

Havin' a good time, havin' a good time!

This would be about 5am after a big night out. I wasn't passed out, I was just resting until our food came.

Arm Wrestle a Foreigner Night:

The premise: Make signs in Korean that offer the chance to win shots of Soju (the cheap Korean liquor for about $3/bottle) for beating a foreigner in arm wrestling for the low, low price of about $1 per arm wrestle.

The location: The busiest night life section of town, near Jeonbuk University.

The mystery wrestler: Batman.

The result:

It seemed to be a popular event.

The mystery wrestler has been summoned. Batman prepares for his opponent.

A rare photo-op of Batman. Doesn't he look strangely familiar?

One of Batman's best defenses: intimidation. The challenger ran away screaming shortly after this photo was taken.

Batman taking a time out in the Batcave (actually a bar under construction) with his Bat-friends to enjoy a beer.

You can guess how this ended.

That's enough for now. I will post some pictures of the rafting trip when I get back. Hope everyone is well at home.