So...here's what's happened to me in the past 3 weeks. My back hurts. It's not killing me, but it's sort of a constant low pain. It sucks. What sucks even more is that in Korea if you don't spend a few weeks in hospital trying to play the insurance game you might as well bend over and wait for them to kick you in the butt with steel-toed boots...insurance will pretty much laugh at anything we ask for. They even tried to get me to pay 20% of the damages to my bike...even though the driver was at 100% fault. So...while the driver has been living life as usual, Rachael and I are constantly hurting and out money for medication and our bikes and we've yet to see a dime. Ugh.
In other news, I started mountainbiking again...and it feels amazing. The scenery here is pretty nice too, and the trails are VERY challenging...steep to ride up and you really have to watch yourself on the way down...Sometimes you just have to guess where the trail is:
Sometimes it's dreamy singletrack!
And sometimes you fly like Superman over your bars and overtake your bike...
It's been a while since I crashed on a trail, and I must say it was kind of nice for one reason: I got up, dusted myself off and kept riding...it's nice to know I can still fall without breaking a hip. 'Cuz I'm old.
In other biking news, I went riding the other day, then decided to kill some time by jumping on and off concrete stuff...well, I was getting too tired and screwed the landing...oops...
But I found a way to combine my passion for bikes with my passion for photography...while the wheel is off, I wanted to put a spacer between the brake pads to make sure I don't accidentally squeeze the lever...I found the perfect spacer:
In other news, I finally took the plunge and ordered a Canon S100!!! I have been looking for a replacement for my G9 for quite some time and the S95 was almost perfect, but not quite. There were a few things I wanted out of the S95 that it didn't have...wider lens, full HD video, ND filter, better high ISO performance. Well, it looks like the S100 answers all my problems. The S100 is only available in the U.S. right now and even there you have to snipe stores, as only a few of the majors ( B&H, Adorama, amazon) have it in stock for a couple of hours before they sell out and go on back order. So, I ordered one (I've owned probably over 100 cameras, and this will be only my second brand new camera!)...it's getting delivered to Rachael's awesome sister's house and Rachael is bringing it back to Korea. BAM! Big ups to those two fine ladies.
In other news...I kinda love Busan. So, I've been going there a lot more (I'm trying to make it over there at least once or twice a month). Here's something disappointing about Korean cities, though: they don't really have downtowns. You can have a massive city like Busan (5 million people) and there isn't really a definitive downtown with busy businessmen hurrying their way to a heart attack through a maze of skyscrapers. This makes me a sad panda. On the bright side, Busan does have beaches...like Gwangalli:
I also busted out my camera for the first time in nearly a month and went shooting at Kyungnam National University in Masan, one of my favourite places to bum around...kinda fun playing around with the little 50 1.8 on manual focus...
Cool little scooter...
In other news...we had a drill at school a couple of weeks ago...I wasn't sure what it was for...Fire? Earthquake? War? The kids helped me out...
Comforting haha.
Also...the year's winding down...kids are done their exams, so they're really not motivated to learn, but I still have to teach a few chapters...so I interlace teaching with hangman (their favourite game), which really helps get through the lesson..."quiz" is one of the hardest words I've managed to come up with in hangman...which requires me to draw elaborate pictures to keep the game going.
Here's something random...I HATE these things at home, but wow was it awesome to see something other than a Kia or a Hyundai on the roads...check it... Dodge Ram crew cab duallie...on the roads in Korea...I don't think a Ferrari would have stood out more than this thing rolling down the road in my neighbourhood...
In final news. I have been cleared to re-sign for another year in Korea. The final piece of the puzzle, my medical test, fell into place. Some excellent news all around...the glasses are really helping my vision, and I have the kind of blood pressure that lets people live to 145 years old...
Also, my coteacher informed me that I tested negative for AIDS and cocaine. Big sigh of relief there! I wonder if the Korean teachers have to take a test like that every year and then have it shared with the whole school (they don't)...not that I have anything to hide, but they really do treat foreigners like a bunch of filthy criminals sometimes and not even notice it.
Okay...that's it from me for now...I promise I won't go 3 weeks without updating again! Or I'll try :)
Cheerio!
T
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