Tuesday, March 11, 2008
say 'hello'.....
a few years ago, i stepped off a plane in seoul and found myself in the ex-pat neighbourhood of itaewon. jetlagged and starving, i wandered the streets at 6 am in search of some food but unable to speak a lick of korean and completely ignorant of korean food save for some bad kimchi i had once. nothing was open at that hour except for a small, hole-in-the-wall place which the adjuma (grandmother) warmly waved me inside as i peered intently to see what sort of food she was cooking up. i ducked into the narrow entrance and clutched my hands to my belly and what i hoped was hunger showing on my face. she let out a string of korean , probably asking me what i wanted, but all i could do was shrug my shoulders, hold my hands out and smile a lot. i pointed to a few things on the counter near her cooking area that i liked and she laughingly ushered me to a seat, unable to stand seeing anyone go hungry in her vicinity. as i perched on the red, plastic stool, i wondered what would arrive at the table for me, not unlike the feeling of excited anticipation on christmas day or my birthday. when she continued to put assured smiles in my direction, i knew i was in good hands. i also knew i was exactly where i suppose to be in the world in that moment.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
this ones for greg....
as i chatted with greg the other day on skype, he reminded me that i still had at least one person who checked this blog 'so could i write something, please?' well, here is how my day went.....
yesterday as i was recovering from a saki/snowboarding hangover, it started to snow heavily and was accumulating quickly. i knew if it was building up in town, the ski hill would be getting dumped on and today would certainly be a coveted korean powder day. when it was still snowing at 10 pm, i made the decision to put packing up my apartment aside for the morning and proceeded to make the best 'play' list on my ipod to keep me company as all my usual boarding partners were back at school. by 7:30 am , i was out the door and greeted by a thick blanket of white covering the city which only increased in density as i drove the 30 minute trip to yongpyeong. with a belly full of anticipation, i turned off the highway and made my way to my favourite board rental shop and laughed to myself to see the parking lot buried under 20 cms. of new snow. leaving the car at the side of the road, i tossed on the flashers, ran inside the shop, and the owners knowing me well already, had my size boots and board ready to go. the laughing inside me continued when 10 minutes later i pulled into yongpyeong's parking lot and found myself to be the third car there. boots on, board in hand, ipod tuned up and the gondola deposited me to the top of the mountain. the snow was thick, fluffy and better than i could have imagined. once i had the bindings done up tight, i skipped songs on the ipod until i got to my latest favourite song; teagan and sarah's 'the con', cranked it and jumped up in a 180' to clap my hands together in playful delight. it was pure bliss. singing at the top of my lungs while getting face shot after face shot, having to jump-turn due to all the powder, and taking every jump i could fathom-it was 'the' day.
on my fourth run down with chris cornell crooning in my ear , i was about to pass by two guys taking photos of each other (this is korea after all) when one of them called me over as we shared a grin. i had to cut a sharp turn in order to make it over to them and with the ample snow building up on my board, i wasn't able to slough off enough speed to stop until i landed right in front of, and on top of, who i later learned was 'june'. we all shared a long goofy laugh over this, exchanged some info and of course some pictures. a few minutes later, seon from seoul joined us and we proceeded to whoop it up over the next few runs, enjoying the company and similarity in riding. june and ha jeong liked to go fast and burst out of their turns. seon also liked the speed but had the grace of a ballet dancer as she dug into the snow. i was the total powder hound and stuck to the sides and where ever i could get out of bounds. on the lift rides up, i openly admired the spanky gear the korean crew was decked out in; full burton and arcteryx with the latest boards and bindings of which they were making good use.
after 4 or 5 more runs, june asked me if i'd like to join them for some kimbap and coffee which i readily agreed to. we went inside only to find starbucks had closed at the top for the season and june suggested we go back the bottom for lunch. i thanked him for the offer but as i only had 45 minutes left on my free morning pass, it wouldn't be possible for me to eat and get back up the gondola without paying for the afternoon session. the group was intent on having me there for lunch and ha jeong even offered to pay for my ticket. i laughed and said yes to go down, figuring i had put in a seriously good morning session and should head back to get to the packing anyway. we made our way down yongpyeong's longest slope of 3.7 kms and was led by ha jeong into the facilities. i expected that we would head to the basic, albeit expensive, fastfood restaurants but i heard the words 'galbi' and 'gogi' (beef and meat) being tossed around and wondered where we were heading to and perhaps i should hit the bank machine. before we proceeded to the restaurant though, ha jeong said we had to go to the ticket office. as we walked over, he told me that he and seon were finished for the day but he wanted june and i to board together for the afternoon so he wanted to buy my ticket. he brushed my protests aside and said he had lots of money and wanted to use it to continue this 'happy day'. i bowed deeply as he presented me with such a generous gift and was utterly grateful at such kindness.
unravelling our layers of gortex and fleece as we walked to the resort's restaurant, i finally got a good look at my co-riders and found myself a little caught off guard. with their baggy burton boarding outfits and riding styles, i took them to all be somewhere between 25 to 35. as you do with koreans, we played the age game and soon found out ha jeong was 60, june was 55 and although i didn't ask, i suspect seon was close to 40. as more information was shared, it turns out ha jeong is a 'famous' korean zen master monk, june is his assistant and seon is ha jeong's student. i had been boarding with korea's finest enlightened.
after a lavish lunch, again ha jeong's treat, june and i grabbed a latte as we bid farewell to the other two and headed back up the gondola. between runs on the chairlift, june entertained me with his travel stories of mountain biking all over the world and i introduced him to some of canada's premier music (wintersleep, i mother earth, teagan and sarah) by sharing an earphone. although we were both feeling tired, the snow was still so good, i kept saying 'just one more run!' until we were both beaming from exhaustion and made our way down once again. he asked if i could give him a ride to ha jeong's house just 10 minutes from the hill which turned out to be in a stunning 2-storied condo. after a quick cup a tea, we shared a hug good-bye and thanked each other, smiling ear to ear.
if i've ever questioned why i travel the world, it was days like today that offer me the answer.
yesterday as i was recovering from a saki/snowboarding hangover, it started to snow heavily and was accumulating quickly. i knew if it was building up in town, the ski hill would be getting dumped on and today would certainly be a coveted korean powder day. when it was still snowing at 10 pm, i made the decision to put packing up my apartment aside for the morning and proceeded to make the best 'play' list on my ipod to keep me company as all my usual boarding partners were back at school. by 7:30 am , i was out the door and greeted by a thick blanket of white covering the city which only increased in density as i drove the 30 minute trip to yongpyeong. with a belly full of anticipation, i turned off the highway and made my way to my favourite board rental shop and laughed to myself to see the parking lot buried under 20 cms. of new snow. leaving the car at the side of the road, i tossed on the flashers, ran inside the shop, and the owners knowing me well already, had my size boots and board ready to go. the laughing inside me continued when 10 minutes later i pulled into yongpyeong's parking lot and found myself to be the third car there. boots on, board in hand, ipod tuned up and the gondola deposited me to the top of the mountain. the snow was thick, fluffy and better than i could have imagined. once i had the bindings done up tight, i skipped songs on the ipod until i got to my latest favourite song; teagan and sarah's 'the con', cranked it and jumped up in a 180' to clap my hands together in playful delight. it was pure bliss. singing at the top of my lungs while getting face shot after face shot, having to jump-turn due to all the powder, and taking every jump i could fathom-it was 'the' day.
on my fourth run down with chris cornell crooning in my ear , i was about to pass by two guys taking photos of each other (this is korea after all) when one of them called me over as we shared a grin. i had to cut a sharp turn in order to make it over to them and with the ample snow building up on my board, i wasn't able to slough off enough speed to stop until i landed right in front of, and on top of, who i later learned was 'june'. we all shared a long goofy laugh over this, exchanged some info and of course some pictures. a few minutes later, seon from seoul joined us and we proceeded to whoop it up over the next few runs, enjoying the company and similarity in riding. june and ha jeong liked to go fast and burst out of their turns. seon also liked the speed but had the grace of a ballet dancer as she dug into the snow. i was the total powder hound and stuck to the sides and where ever i could get out of bounds. on the lift rides up, i openly admired the spanky gear the korean crew was decked out in; full burton and arcteryx with the latest boards and bindings of which they were making good use.
after 4 or 5 more runs, june asked me if i'd like to join them for some kimbap and coffee which i readily agreed to. we went inside only to find starbucks had closed at the top for the season and june suggested we go back the bottom for lunch. i thanked him for the offer but as i only had 45 minutes left on my free morning pass, it wouldn't be possible for me to eat and get back up the gondola without paying for the afternoon session. the group was intent on having me there for lunch and ha jeong even offered to pay for my ticket. i laughed and said yes to go down, figuring i had put in a seriously good morning session and should head back to get to the packing anyway. we made our way down yongpyeong's longest slope of 3.7 kms and was led by ha jeong into the facilities. i expected that we would head to the basic, albeit expensive, fastfood restaurants but i heard the words 'galbi' and 'gogi' (beef and meat) being tossed around and wondered where we were heading to and perhaps i should hit the bank machine. before we proceeded to the restaurant though, ha jeong said we had to go to the ticket office. as we walked over, he told me that he and seon were finished for the day but he wanted june and i to board together for the afternoon so he wanted to buy my ticket. he brushed my protests aside and said he had lots of money and wanted to use it to continue this 'happy day'. i bowed deeply as he presented me with such a generous gift and was utterly grateful at such kindness.
unravelling our layers of gortex and fleece as we walked to the resort's restaurant, i finally got a good look at my co-riders and found myself a little caught off guard. with their baggy burton boarding outfits and riding styles, i took them to all be somewhere between 25 to 35. as you do with koreans, we played the age game and soon found out ha jeong was 60, june was 55 and although i didn't ask, i suspect seon was close to 40. as more information was shared, it turns out ha jeong is a 'famous' korean zen master monk, june is his assistant and seon is ha jeong's student. i had been boarding with korea's finest enlightened.
after a lavish lunch, again ha jeong's treat, june and i grabbed a latte as we bid farewell to the other two and headed back up the gondola. between runs on the chairlift, june entertained me with his travel stories of mountain biking all over the world and i introduced him to some of canada's premier music (wintersleep, i mother earth, teagan and sarah) by sharing an earphone. although we were both feeling tired, the snow was still so good, i kept saying 'just one more run!' until we were both beaming from exhaustion and made our way down once again. he asked if i could give him a ride to ha jeong's house just 10 minutes from the hill which turned out to be in a stunning 2-storied condo. after a quick cup a tea, we shared a hug good-bye and thanked each other, smiling ear to ear.
if i've ever questioned why i travel the world, it was days like today that offer me the answer.
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