Hello again, my wonderful readers!
I hope that you have been well and that summer is setting in well in your lives. It definitely feels like summer over here, and I'm really loving the weather, although I keep thinking that I hope it doesn't get too hot too quickly.
Now, since I've never been too great at holding back exciting news, here goes: my frisbee team won the championship game this past Sunday! Woo hoo! And, to boot, I was the honor of being the male playoff MVP. Another Woo hoo! Of these two things, I had really hoped that the first would happen, and the second definitely caught me a little off guard, but it was a sweet moment nonetheless. My team all played really well, and it was definitely a privilege to play with such stellar people this year. The only bittersweet aspect is that soon many of these fine individuals will be departing Korea all too soon. This weekend marks the beginning of the end as there will be a big Going Away party for a couple of the folks already. Departures and separation will definitely be a continuing theme this summer.
Even though this frisbee season has technically come to a close, it doesn't mark the end of playing anytime soon. Already there are 3 or 4 game weekends lined up through the middle of July, including a weekend trip to Fukuoka, Japan the last weekend of June. As you can imagine, I am especially excited for this impending adventure. Granted, it will be a quick weekend packed with frisbee and bookended by too much time traveling, but otherwise it should be a grand time. And now's the time as well when the fall season's teams are being established. I'm still a bit on the fence as to whether or not I'll play again in the fall because this season's done a number on my body (specifically my legs and knees), and it does take up a lot of time when it's in gear. At the same time, though, hanging out with the frisbee folks and building those relationships has been a definite highlight of my life so far, and considering the progress i've already made in developing these friendships (and even my own frisbee skills), it would be a big waste to cut things off already. Oh, decisions. hah.
What else is there. In the past 2 months we've had a couple school field trips. We went to the local zoo, which was just as much fun and as depressing as it ever is. Seeing how the kids can approach and slightly interact with these amazing animals cements my belief that the idea of zoos is great. Seeing how the animals live, though, in their rough, small pens or cages equally cements my belief that treating any living thing like this is terrible. And then just last week we went to a local park/open field where the kids got to just run around and play outside for an hour or so. This kind of trip is great because it reminds me that these children do get some free time to enjoy life; we don't' have too many opportunities like this during the usual schooldays, so it felt fantastic to get out and just play.
Last month I did also get to go away for a day trip with a few coworkers to one of the southern coastal cities. We went there to see a temple on a small mountain and just get away for a bit. This also felt fantastic. Not necessarily because of frisbee alone (although most recently it's been a primary cause), but also because of the full schedule I keep, I haven't made as much time as I want to for traveling around this country. There are so many parts that I've not even come close to seeing. I'm certain I've said this before, but I'll say it again: I think Korea's a very beautiful country, and each time I get to go sightseeing, I'm reminded of how much I'd like to see even more. I'm hoping that come July, I'll be able to get out a little more for some of that sightseeing, since the weekends of this month have already been committed to other things by this time. I really hope to hike some big mountains before the end of summer/beginning of the rainy season, but we'll see how that goes.
Here's my final story, and then I'll close. A little while back I took a jacket to the dry cleaner's to have it cleaned because it had been far too long since the last time that happened (maybe never that's happened while I've owned it). The jacket came from Old Navy, I think, and it's a tan corduroy material. As I dropped it off on a Wednesday, the owner looked at the coat and said something to me in Korean about how the sleeves were a different color (a lighter shade of tan) than the rest of the jacket. I'd never really noticed this before, and so I responded saying that it was ok because I thought that maybe the owner guessed I might be concerned about the color difference when I got it back, and he didn't want any blame for making a mistake. This is one of those times when I wish I'd had the vocabulary to explain, "No, this is just the style of the jacket, and it's ok." On Saturday I returned to reclaim my clean jacket and low and behold, the jacket was wonderfully clean … and also wonderfully one color from one sleeve tip to the other. haha. Moral of the story: I still need to learn more Korean.
And now I have a final note for all of you: I was just thinking about this last night between writing the beginning of this message and finishing it off now. Since I've been here and for the duration of my stay in Korea, friends and family have gotten married or will get married, have graduated or will graduate, have birthed new lives or will bring new one into the world, and I'm missing all these things. Sorry I can't be around for these momentous events. I do daily wish that Korea were closer to home, but unfortunately that's just not the case. And since it isn't/will never be, I hope that you'll extend me a little extra grace and continue to keep me informed about your lives and how things develop and change. Even though I'm leagues away, I still wish to celebrate and commiserate with you in both your joys and struggles.
I love you a lot, and I wish you loads and loads of happiness.
pfn,
bg
ps- again I'll include the link to my Youtube page: (http://www.youtube.com/user/bengraves321). Since the last email, I've reorganized and added new things on that page, such that it has quite a few videos there. Please browse around and see a bit of my life -- at school, on the field and in other times around those. By the next time I write, hopefully I will have straightened out more photos, so that I can share links for those as well.
pps- and as always, here's the link to the blog that has this and all previous messages (http://bginkorea.blogspot.kr/).
