Ta I Guh Jeu!!!

One thing about having a really busy week is a person tends to try to cram as much into the weekends as possible. Friday after work I came home, cleaned the whole house, took my short sleeved shirts to the cleaners to get one really good clean and iron before short sleeve weather, also took in my new pants to get hemmed, bought a casserole dish for scalloped potatoes on Sunday, looked for some shoes, made an entry to the blog, dug out my Kia Tigers paraphernalia for the game, packed a "just-in-case" bag for game day, charged the camera, did two loads of laundry, sewed a button onto a shirt, I mean I did EVERYTHING that needed doing. Everything but lesson planning for next week. That's for Sunday. Always has been for me. I am a firm believer that pressure turns coal into diamonds so I usually keep it until LATE Sunday.

Here it is early Sunday and all I have to do is thaw the meat for meatloaf, (which I will bake with the scalloped potatoes today), plan my lessons and monkey around on the old computator. That's what Sunday should be like folks. I'll probly take a nice Sunday nap too. Yeah baby!

But Saturday was awesome! I took the bus to Gwangju. It was full. Every seat had at least one person in it. One or two had a person with a kid on his/her lap. I got the seat in the very back of the bus on the very right side. Because the seats at the back are elevated I had to deal with the curvature of the bus roof so I was kinda kinked to the left for an hour and 20 minute bus ride. Not comfortable but worth it. I got to Moodeung Stadium, bought beer, and met my old baseball buddy Yong Hoon in the absolute best seats in the house. Unlike the bus, every seat was empty when I got there and every seat was free. So we sat in the second deck right at first base.

Here we are enjoying a Cass and an OB Blue. I hadn't seen Yong Hoon since the days I taught at Seogang College. He was one of my students. His major was tourism. Now he works for Hanatour, the biggest tour company in Korea. So I guess he did pretty well for himself. Musta been the good teaching. Heh heh. Hope he can pull some strings and get his old teacher some cheap tickets at vacation time...

The game itself coulda been better. It was a pitching duel. The Kia pitcher is a guy who I think is gonna get us a few wins this year all by himself. His name is Jose Lima. He used to play for the L.A. Dodgers. I suppose L.A. is a fertile hunting ground for Korean baseball teams since every scout probly has a relative they could visit there while scouting. I don't know if Lima's from Cuba, Puerto Rico, The Dominican, or Peru but I could hear him talking to himself out there on the mound in Spanish. He looks to be a good pitcher. He kept the Lotte Giants' bats pretty quiet. And in the 3rd inning the Kia clean-up hitter, (forget his name), and Choi Hee Seop hit back to back dingers to put us up by two runs.

The small pic is Lima throwin' heat. The bigger pic is Choi He Seop, (who played a while in the majors), trotting back to the dugout with Kia up 2-0. One big change I noticed is the turf. Moodeung had natural grass before so scores were higher. It's gonna be unnaturally perfect bounces now all over the field. That'll make it a better place for a defensive team to play. I HATE defence! So I'm not real happy with the turf. On the other hand, the Tigers have a pretty offensive squad this year. They should score a lot of runs.

Anyway, things were looking rosy for us Kia Tiger faithful. That is until Lima left. The only left-handed sidearm pitcher in the league was his replacement. He didn't fare so well. The bull pen gave up 4 runs and the Lotte bull pen surrendered none. 4-2 was the final score. For Lotte. Dang! Usually when I go the Tigers win. Okay, now with the excuses: A LOT of the regulars weren't playing. Lee Yong Gyu was on the Korean Olympic qualifying team so didn't play; Lee Jong Beom was there but didn't play; Chang Sung Ho only had one at bat; Hong Sae Weon is injured; Lee Jae Joo was there but didn't play... when I look at this lineup I can't wait to see what happens when they're all playing together! Add Wilson Valdez, who Kia bought from the L.A. Dodgers, (and who was hitting .343 in triple A ball), and the Tigers leading hitter last season to the mix along with regulars Shim Jae Hak, Kim Sang Hoon, and former Devil Ray Seo Jae Weong as a number 2 pitcher. Pretty darn solid! I think it's gonna be a good season.

So after the game I went to the batting cage, as I often do after a game, and slugged a few balls with Yong Hoon. Then we made a deal to meet at the Tigers opening day game April 1st against the Doosan Bears. I then walked to my friend Sam Shik's skin care clinic nearby. He was just finishing up. I sat in his office and talked for a while with him. Saw a few of his staff that I recognized and said hello. He showed me pics from his recent family trip to Guam and I showed him the pics on this blog from the Philippines. So then he wanted me to show him how to blog. Now he's got a blog too.

He invited me to go to a movie with his family. It was in celebration of his son Seung Min being elected vice president of his class. I wanted to go but, like last weekend, I was still on a mission to find some shoes that fit. I had recently been given a hot tip by another of my co-workers at Mokpo U. named Jocelyn. She told me they can custom make shoes at Shinsegae Department Store in Gwangju. It's right next to the bus terminal and pretty close to Sam Shik's clinic and Moodeung Stadium so I figured I'd better stay on task, (and in the same neighbourhood). Sam Shik drove me to Shinsegae in his impressive new Audi. Flash car, Sam Shik!

I tried on all kinds of shoes there and sure enough none fit. But try as I might, I just couldn't find the place where I could get shoes custom made. I was speaking sign language to a few Shinsegae employees but none of the workers on the shoe floor seemed to understand what I was on about. Finally I called up my friend Min Ha in hopes that he could help with some translation. Last weekend while I was eating at Outback Steakhouse, Min Ha was just across the street at T.G.I.Fridays. So I called him up and he was in Shinsegae! I was on the 3rd floor and he was on the 1st! He was meeting a girl for dinner and a movie. One of us must be stalking the other!

Anyway, long story short, he helped a LOT and I got some shoes!!! Well, I paid for them. They're being delivered next week Tuesday to Mokpo University. They measured my feet, traced them onto a piece of paper and everything. So these babies better fit. And they were on sale for a mere 188,000 won. That's about 188 bucks Canadian. Good thing I got them on sale... smirk. But at least I got shoes that'll fit now. So I got that taken care of finally. And for his translation services Min Ha got the Shinsegae points and a gift certificate for 10 bucks.

After that we went out for dinner. Guess where we went. You got it, T.G.I.Fridays. Here we are, Ji In, Min Ha and me. Do you think I'm underdressed?

I dunno if you can tell but I have a bit of a sunburn from the game. It looks like it may be short sleeve shirt weather already! Good thing I took the shirts to the cleaners.

After a super good burger and cheesy pasta dinner, I took the bus home to Mokpo. Got to my house around midnight. A full day to be sure!

In summation I'd like to say, na na na na - Ki, na na na na - A, na na na na na - Ta I Guh Jeu!