Texas Hold 'em

Got myself into a regular poker match, ever Tuesday after work at a pub called O.B Camp. I went last night and got wasted, went all in on a guy who I thought was bluffing, after I went all in he looked at me and said "You know that I'm American but did you know I grew up in Vegas" Won't be doing that again. So I've been reading up on strategies over the net, gotta get my 10 bucks back!

Shit.

My lips are traumatised, I have a red ring the size of the old 20c coin going over the top and bottom lips, it's cause of that dam trumpet, I look like I got ring worm or that I have been doing something that I shouldn't have been. If this is all I get for supporting the Korean Red Devils, who lost, and being an obnoxious git with a plastic trumpet in one of the largest cities in Asia I'll take it, cause I wouldn't want to turn into Earl.

Seoul and the Plastic Trumpet.

It was actually Uruguay who took on the Red Devils at Olympic stadium on Saturday night at 8pm local time!

What a weekend, it was made exceptional because of 6 pieces of Red and Blue plastic moulded into the shape of a trumpet, we got a bargain on them. We all met up at Homeplus McDonalds, had breakfast, bumped into another Kiwi, (I can't believe I had never met him before) caught a cab to Gupo where we boarded the K.T.X and settled in for the first leg of the trip. First beer out of the way by lunch time on the train and reached Seoul by 3pm where we quickly established some ground rules for the trip. Basically there was only one (At this point) If we need to make a decision, whittle the possible answers down to two possibilities and flip a coin. After a dodgy first flip it worked a treat for the rest of the trip. We caught the subway to the stadium, settled in outside it next to The GS25 (A Dairy) where we were mixed Soju with Aloe Vera and Beer bought the customary red supporters hat, scarf and t-shirt and the Trumpets and sat outside getting pissed for the next few hours waiting for the match to start. These trumpets turned us from simply lads out on a piss trip in Seoul to obnoxious drunk foreigners intent on making as much noise as possible.

This was the first time I had ever watched a soccer match live and it was a pretty good one to watch, the stadium was built for the 88 Olympics and was massive, I have never even seen one so big, Like most sports grounds they didn't let you take alcohol in but they obviously hadn't come across foreigners who specialise in this time honoured past time. I had any obviously method that has worked in the past, I filled my pockets with Soju and had a half empty bottle in my hand as my sacrificial "Me no speak Korean" bottle. it worked a charm. In side we had to walk up 4 flights to reach our seats and we weren't even at the top! The Fan's were amazing, they really got into the chanting We started up a few English ones but they were quickly drowned out so we tried to remember the Korean one's much to the amusement of our neighbours. Korea lost but not to worry cause it was a cool experience. But not as good as 6 pissed blokes trumpeting their way through Seoul's subway system, we had school kids apologising to us for Korea's loss (I think) and as we were 6 school teachers we had them doing our punishments!

The night out was a bit of a blur, I remember the trumpets the most and for some unknown reason I started talking in a Mexican accent and refused to speak to any one who would not reply back in the same accent. It was amazing who many conversations I had! Around 4am we were all wasted and as you do, we all lost each other, I spent the night wandering Seoul while the others ended up in 4 different hotels, we all meet up again for the train ride home and that was that.

At one point I did get into a taxi and ask to be taken home to Gimhae before the driver very politely reminded me that I was in Seoul and that that would cost a fortune!

Next weekend is a new adventure, an Ice Hockey match in Daegu.

C'mon Black Caps.

What's the differnce between a cup of tea and the Pakistani Cricket Team?

On Saturday I am off to Seoul to watch a Soccer test match, it's South Korea vs either Uruguay or Uzbekistan, I can't remember which and I don't really care, I'm going cause the Koreans are fanactical about thier team and I reckon it will be cool to sit in the crowd. Plus a night out in Seoul.

I can't get over the Pakistani cricket Team, they suck, coach dead, police investigating murder, they refuse to play out the tournament, get forced to, Captain quits, Out of tournament and they all talk funny. I'm glad I'm not one of them when they get home, they are going to get strung up by their crazy fans.

Tea stays in the Cup longer.

The aftermath

I am suffering from a two day St Paddie's hangover, I know I shouldn't mix my drinks but hells bells it was St Paddies! I also manage to find a bar for $15 All you can drink, that was my downfall. I had two firsts on the weekend,

1) First time I have thrown up due to alcohol in Korea

2) First time I got ripped off by a Cabbie, I did manage to get him to stop and pull over (Refer Number 1) He was one pissed off Korean! He started yelling at me in Korean and I was so pissed and tired I gave in and gave him his price, normally I can get them down a bit but this guy was not a happy chappy!

One of the most surprising aspects of the day was discovering that the Irish Cricket team beat Pakistan at the Cup! good on them for making it easier for the Mighty Black Caps!

It is not a good idea to have sculling races with Pints of Genius topped up with Jagermeister.

I just remembered, I invited my self to a game of cricket in Gimhae with 20 Pakistanis out by the Bus Terminal, I met Paki John at the pub on Friday, we got to talking about Cricket, I gave him heaps over Aktar, bought him a pint and got myself into his match. Wait till I see him again with his team out of the cup , coach dead and captain gone home!

St Patrick

Tomorrow is St Patrick's Day, this is the only Catholic Saint that has a feast day that I remember without fail, tomorrow I will celebrate Mass in one of his Churches, though this building does not have the fine steeples of churches the world over or the magnificent altars and vestments known to many. People should remember that the congregation can meet anywhere and that place will be accepted. For it is written

"... it is not the building that makes a Church, it is the people who gather and worship that makes the Church..."

I will openly reconfirm my open and honest faith in St Patrick in one of his many Palaces of Worship. I will make the pilgrimage to O'Briens, the first ever Irish owned bar in South Korea, it is in Changwon, there I will give homage, with both financial and spiritual ways and I will shake many hands in an act of friendship, strangers who have not yet met, brought together by our Saint, St Patrick.

Let us bow and heads and pray.

Don't touch that dial, it's hot, so hot it hurts. 93FM

I may as well mention that my Boss got fired. Oh well, whatever, nevermind. One good thing about it all is one of the teachers here has become the new Director, that means she has no time for teaching, until she is replaced all her classes have been doubled up with the other Korean teachers classes. This means less classes but bigger classes. What I'm actually trying to say is I now start work at a quarter past four and finish at 9. What should I do during the daytime? Fishing?, Swimming? Movies? the choices are endless... and I get paid for the classes I have lost.
MMMMWWWHHHAAAAAA.

You all know I won't do any of that, but what I will have is ...recovery time! As my Grandmother would say GO SUCK AN EGG.

It's been a while

What's the Craic?
I know this ain't a Kiwi term but I've been hanging out with a few Irish people lately and that phrase is used as a greeting and they gave me a mission. I chose to accept. I have been teaching all my students to say it as a greeting, I figure I may as well have a little fun, as if teaching Koreans to speak with a Kiwi accent isn't!

I did meet an interesting dude on Friday night, I had met him before but hadn't really spoken to him. he has just moved from Gimhae to Busan and had his final night in Gimhae, we got to talking and he said that he was leaving heps of stuff behind in his flat and that I was welcome to it. So about 3 in morning we crawled to his flat and I emptied it of coffee tables, chairs , couches, towels, sheets, the works. He helped me carry it down the stairs on to the street and then on to the main road where I was going to find a taxi to help me get it all to my place. What a job that was, I was boozed, trying to carry all this stuff laughing my head off as I kept on dropping everything and trying to convince Taxi drivers to stick it all in their cab and take me home. Everyone was keen to help but didn't want to take the sofa so I kept on trying again and again to get this bloody sofa home but to no avail. So I finally got most of the stuff crammed into a taxi it was so full the driver couldn't physically move the gear stick into 4th as my coffee table was in the way, blocking half of the windscreen (My half!) So I was in a cab being driven in the typical Asian style, you know, no steady foot movements, up and down on the gas all the way, my vision was blocked, he couldn't get into 4th so the engine was screaming, boozed up to my eyeballs on a mix of Korean Lager and Stout, the driver attempting to correct my Korean, I'm in desperate need of a leak and I'm thinking to myself Only in Korea could I get away with this. We get to my flat after about a quarter hour for a five minute drive ( as I couldn't see out the windscreen and as my vision was a bit blurry before it got totally blocked, I had to rely on drunken Korean speech in a Kiwi accent) he helps me get everything out, helps me lift it all the way up to my flat(3 flights of stairs) and only charges me the equivalent of N.Z$1.50! I gave him 5 bucks and what was left of my smokes. I went back the next day for the sofa but it was gone. Some other Wiguk probably nabbed it, reminds me of stealing couches back in Palmy.