2011 Jeju Dirty Dozens Tournament

This past weekend I flew down to Jeju Island, just off the south coast of Korean mainland, for a huge ultimate frisbee tournament. There were teams from all over Asia, including Singapore, Japan, and China. A few players even flew in from North America! Each co-ed team has 12 players (7 on the field at a time), hence the name 'dirty dozens'

Team Kim Jong 'Illin

I flew in Saturday morning and went straight to the windy fields where we played four tough games that day (won 2/lost 2). We were seeded at the bottom in the 'A division' so our wins were a bit of a pleasant surprise. Everyone played well and were super pumped to be there. By the end of the fourth game I was totally exhausted; I don't think I have ever played that many in a row!

That night they threw a mustache-themed party at a local bar. Some of my favorite team costumes were from a Japanese team called 'clown punch' that dressed up in full clown costumes, or another team that dressed up as famous mustaches (blonde guy grew a Hulk Hogan mustache, cow costume milk mustache, Ron Burgundy, etc)

On Sunday we played in a windy quarter finals against a team from Singapore. The day before they had played really well so I wasn't too optimistic about the game. But everyone rallied and we won.. on to the semi finals!

Our semi-final game was against a Japanese team called 'Iku'. We were up at the beginning of the game but they managed to get a couple points up-wind and were leading into the second half of the game. From there we tried to hang in, but they ended up beating us by three points in the end. We finished the tournament tied for 3rd place, and were totally stoked.

Overall it was a great weekend of sun, friends, parties, and ultimate. Makes me want to play even more!

Photos after the Jump!

Friends are Never Far Part 2

My friend Meg sent me a great package from home. When I pulled out these photos I couldn't stop smiling!

Scary Story Time at Talking Club

One of my cuter students tells me a story about a ghost that decapitates a woman and terrorizes her friends.

2011 Adidas MBC Marathon

Me and Jue post race

On Sunday I ran another 10km!

This race was massive. Sponsored by Adidas, it had around 18,000 runners and a large sponsored area with games, contests, and samples.

I have been doing lots of bootcamp lately, and training for Ultimate on the weekends (though not actually training for the race), so I was a little nervous about how I would do in the run.

I finished with a time of 1:04:57! boo yeah!

After the race I literally kept running until I got to the free massage tent, where I snagged a spot in line and a lovely post run massage. Then we got our race lootbags and celebrated by going to a 2 hour buffet that afternoon.

I went home feeling pleased, although my body wasn't happy... both my legs and my stomach!

Hiking Mt. Bukhansan

On Saturday a group of us went hiking in Bukhansan National Park. Located in the northwest of Seoul, we were able to take the subway (brown line 6) all the way to the end and walk to the trail entrance!

Made it to the top!

Our hiking adventure lasted just over 4 hours and was tougher than I thought it would be. There were many parts of the trail that were built, however our route meant large sections of climbing up around fairly large, steep, granite rocks on unmarked trails.

The views at the top were fantastic (minus a large antenna tower crudely disguised as a tree). We could see other mountains far in the distance, as well as a large chunk of the city.

On the way down we stopped at a makoli tent to fill our bellies with haemul-pajon (seafood pancakes) and makoli (rice wine). Being the only patrons at the restaurant, I think they sensed we had no idea how far we were from the subway anymore and offered to drive us back.

My knees are still hurting, days later, but that will pass. Overall, GREAT HIKE!

click below to see more photos from the hike!