Touch Video

This video is by no means an indication of the level of Touch I am playing over here. At all.

I wish.

Found this video posted on the Korea Touch, Tag, Rugby website. Not even sure where it is being played - although I am thinking Australia. Maybe.

But hell, smooth moves, sweet passes, quick steps.

Cheeky passes, sailing dives, pace plus more.

I love the open move with the double whammy sidestep. And I definitely need to split as soon as I dump the ball. Anyhows... enjoy.

Hong Kong Touch Tournament

Another stamp on the passport. Choice.

But yes, Hong Kong. I know Barnaby Weir claims Wellington 'packs a lot of punch'. But Hong Kong packs some sort of an Asian-fighter-mega-karate-chop-punch. Plus more.

Heading to Hong Kong made me realise what, and how accustomed I have become to Seoul. Hong Kong was amazing. It's super modern, tall and skinny, beautiful, green, clean and feels relatively spacious despite the millions of elbows you bump on the street and the millions of high-rises that contribute to a glamorous show of a skyline. And did I mention it's modern? So modern. Beautifully modern. And everyone speaks English. Yet I continually tried to speak Korean. To the taxi drivers, shop keepers and generally anyone I met. I never realised how much basic korean I have adopted into my day-to-day life.

And there are SO many Westerners. Our first night there, Friday, we went to Lan Kwai Fong, which is an area full of western style bars and pubs, where punters spill out over on to the footpath and establish some sort of an informal street party. And it is loud, busy and FULL of westerners. It was the most foreigners I have seen in one place in yonks. The music was loud, the pubs were busy, and I could understand everyone's conversation and everyone could understand mine. The people watching was great but sadly I admit, I experienced some culture shock with the whole scene. Admittedly I was tired, originally hung over which quickly changed to drunk due to drinking on the plane and a little buzzed out. Or massively buzzed out if you want the details. But to be honest, it was all a little too much for me. So I stuck around for one beer, but only at Dad's request. I think he was a little disappointed that I suggested leaving. Poor form huh.

On our way home though we went to a 24 hour supermarket. Now, I have had numerous people comment on how one of the things that blow them away when they go home is the supermarket. The options and the variety numerous to say the least. I always thought that was a little weird but each to their own. But wowsa, going into that supermarket was like going into a toy store before Christmas. When 5 years old. "wow, salt n' vinegar chips" "oh my god, look at all the fruit" "MUESLI BARS!!!" "Greek salad?! Quiche. Awesome." "Check out all the cereal. Oh, and porridge." and my favourite... "Holy shit, they have pies!" I ate so much all weekend. I without a doubt put weight on while there.

The amount of beer we, or well I, drunk also added to this situation. And so cheap. At the 7-eleven, a tall can of Heineken cost around $1.50NZD. The cost of beer I have discovered, is an essential part of my travelling queries and stories.

Saturday bought on the reason for the trip, The Hong Kong Inter-Cities Touch Championships. It was a warm, smoggy day with an early start. The first thing I noticed when I got there - how fit all the women looked. And how hot their legs were. I definitely needed at least another month of training to feel up to scratch there. Damn them and their hot legs.

We unfortunately had our hardest game first against the Hong Kong Development Team which consisted of some very fit young people, with some smooth cuts, angles and a HK 7s team member with awesome dreads and mean pace. Yeah, he smoked us a couple of times. To be honest though, if we had come up against them second game round we probably could have taken the game. But in saying that they had the harder semi-final when we crossed pools.

Our next two games we took easily with some decent tries coming out in our second game. Smooth moves, dives and pace down the side line gave all 4 of our supporters something to cheer about. However when we crossed into the semi-final we bombed. Badly. Our game plan went out the window, our defence turned to custard and mouthing off at the ref's never helps anyone. Or their team. We should have won the game, but we let ourselves down and lost. My team mates heard me lose the guts at one team member in particularly and discovered the extent of my foul language and rage. I was left to my own company for at least a good 30 minutes post game, as everyone let me simmer down.

Once I got myself out of the bad mood though we moved onto some good times at the ground watching some of the best touch I have seen in years. The Beijing Team, which consists of two ex-NZ players, totally carved up and were smooth, effortless and entertaining while doing so. And although a mixed team they were entered in both the mixed grade and the Open Mens grade. The finals were played back-to-back and they won both. They were wicked. As the night progressed though our team proved just as entertaining with Loren treating us all to a streak across the soccer game that was being played at the end. Might I add, the dinner there was amazing that night.

The only bit of sight seeing I partook too (apart from just driving around in Taxi's and buses, which I think does still show you a bit) was the ferry we took from Jordon across to Won Chai. It was around 9ish at night so we were treated to some spectacular night time lights of the skyline. And it truly was beautiful. Again, the modernity and scale of the place really shone through.

Hong Kong is leagues ahead of Seoul and South Korea in terms of 'this day in age'. It is so well set up, full of money and business. If not a little 'the right place to be seen, with the right people, wearing the right clothes.' It would definitely be a great place to live, and I'm definitely thinking it would be an easier place to live than Seoul. Not too sure why I am trying to compare the places, they were always going to be leagues apart in similarities.

So Hong Kong on it's own accord...

Hong Kong is: food glorious food. Beautiful buildings. Tall; buildings, buses, trams and people. Skinny; buildings, buses, trams and people. Great urban landscaping. Great scenery. Huge. Colossal. Cramped. Allusion-ally spacious. Western. Rich. English advertising. Expensive advertising. Crowded. Busy. Surprisingly quiet. Awesome. Wicked. Great. A place I will definitely go back to.

I give Hong Kong two thumbs up. Would give it more if I could.

Quick, short and sharp. And young.

As some may have noticed from my status on Stalkbook, the countdown is over, and the fun indeed has begun.

The parentals have arrived, the working weeks are short and the adventures for the weekends are upon me. And aplenty.

Oh the grandness of life.

But yes, Maggie and The Nevster are here in Seoul. Have claimed my bed, and making their mark in my tiny one room apartment. Oh yes, we will be one tight family unit at the end of this little excursion. So far so good however. Beyond that, it's been awesome seeing them. And if anything they have surprised me immensely as to how much they have gone about their own things, how much they have researched and read up on the place, and how little they are looking at me for help/directions or an itinerary. Which is a good thing seen I have known for months about their arrival, and done nothing but discuss and talk to others about what they could possibly do. Yet neither organise, nor write down, a single thing. Except the Hong Kong trip, which although a surprise, and a large payment out of my pay packet - wasn't met with quite the enthusiastic response I was thinking I would get. Instead "You didn't. Really? I was quite looking forward to sitting at Soho by myself and having a few beers and listening to music." And that was the end of that discussion.

Yep, thrilled was not the response I got for the Hong Kong trip. Thrilled/love is what the response was for the local Soho bar though. However, I always knew it was going to be an absolute hit with Nevster. The first night we went there, Dad pretty much got kicked out of the place by Mum. And on the return walk home from dinner, again the foot was firmly planted down by mother as she stopped Dad from heading back up the random, narrow stairs to the sound of sweet, sweet music.

Thursday night, which IS the beginning to the weekend, brings a few friends into Seoul to have a few drinks and dinner with Ma and Pa. Should be fun times, and with Friday being the day we travel to Hong Kong it will mark the start of a great weekend.

So yes, a short working week it is. Work at the moment has taken a bit of a turn for the difference. I have been teaching a three and a half year old for the past two months one-on-one, which has been pretty cruisey. But, I have now acquired a new student, and a whooping 31 months old. When her mum told me her age, I actually questioned as to how many months are in a year. 31 months - anyone else finding that a little ridiculous to be sending a kid to learn English for 6 hours a day? As can be expected - she has the concentration of a 2 year old, doesn't know how to share, cries when things don't go her way, and to top it all off is a stroppy wee biatch. Today she threw a cup at me. Lucky for her, I have the reflexes of a turtle and she has terrible aim. It ended up hitting my 3 year old instead. At present, I'm not really liking her much. Way too much effort. And dare I remind you, I don't do effort.

For the next month though I have a 2 week holiday and 2 short weeks at work. Yeya. Next weekend we have the DJ Festival, then I head camping for a week with the crew. Oh the fun times to be had.

And to top off all this excitement. I got sun burnt in the weekend. Oh the tanning process has begun.

Hopefully I will be able to pass myself off as a Maori sometime soon. With something resembling a tan, combined with my sprint training hopefully resultingly resembling speed and pace, and with 7s training perhaps I will be able to pull of the sidestep and dummy to show up all those fools fo' shore.

Until then, peace out my niggas.

My Tattoo

"Ka iri nga koa nui e runga i ahau"

... here's to the things that make me happy right now...

1. My crew in Korea. They rock. Totally rock. Massive, colossal, big ups to Fiona, Loren, Carla, Tom, Browna, Carla Dawson, Jase and Allie. They make the weekends amazing, make the weeks bearable and make this place awesomely livable.

2. One night stop overs to the UK and good old school friends. Awesome ones like Bronwyn. Nothing better than catching up with a school friend you haven't seen in years that you grew up with. Nothing makes you realise more, where you are from.

3. Good weather and Spring to have sprung. I am now understanding why so many Asian students at Otago University stood under the Cherry Blossom Trees and took photos.

4. Sports. Right about now... Touch and 7's. Touch and the upcoming trip to Hong Kong - hello motivation to actually get out there and train and run. 7's... it is a wonderful change to be able to play against girls (as opposed to Touch where we play against the guys due to being the only girls team) and carving up. Nothing better than winning. Not that I'm competitive or anything.

5. Yeouido Park and the Hun River. The river is still brown, the air is still hazy with pollution, the grass isn't quite green, yet the weather is warm enough for us to all hang outside until 10pm at night to throw a rugby ball around. And a Frisbee. Not that I can throw a Frisbee. That doesn't make me happy. But I'm willing to work on it.
6. Knowing I only have 10 weeks left at CLS. And only 7 of them are full weeks. Catch you later Kwonny.

7. Only 1 weekend until Mum and Dad get here. Only 2 weekends until I go to Hong Kong for the Touch Tournament. Only 3 weekends until the DJ Festival weekend. And therefore only 3 weekends until I get 10 days off work. 10 DAYS WITHOUT KIDS. Which includes a 6 day camping trip to Doek Joek Do. With, an awesome crew, with wicked minga styles.

8. I found Museli Bars and Tim Tams at my local shop. What choc-o-holic wouldn't be happy with this simple fact.

9. My friends and family. Had a conversation tonight (yes a brief one seen it was about my feelings) that made me realise how much I still miss my friends. And how supportive and wicked they all are, despite you all choosing to live in places such as London. Why are you all there? The photos kill me. As for the family - I'm stoked they are all back in Aotearoa. They are the reason I want to go home.

10. The fact that I'm happy, and realise I'm happy, makes me more happy. And resultingly, make me happier about the the rest of the year. As much as it is up in the air. And who the hell knows what I will end up doing.

Ka iri nga koa nui e runga i ahau... May happiness rest upon me.

I hate umbrellas.

So the weather has definitely turned for the better. Well, in temperatures that is. Over the past week or so we have consistently made the high teens, and a couple of twenty-type numbers have even been reached.

Unfortunately, with this warmer weather comes the rain. And umbrellas. I strongly dislike umbrellas. And I have always attempted to avoid using them, although that isn't going so well over here.

Another thing I strongly dislike, and which is my biggest annoyance factor while living over here, is the MASSIVE lack of spatial awareness Koreans have. Walking the streets - usually at a faster pace than the normal high-heeled-wearing, arm-linking female Korean - is a frustrating ordeal for myself. As they negotiate the uneven footpath, in heels, with an apparent inability to walk without holding hands, or talking on their mobiles, they veer from side to side and leave you no option but to walk on the road. Which considering the way in which the motorcycles and scooters run the footpaths, it ain't that bad of an idea some times.

But life has got worse. Koreans with umbrellas.

Nothing is highlighting their lack of spatial awareness more. A mobile phone in one hand, that is linked to their friends arm, while holding their purse on the other hand and an umbrella... an extension of themselves. Hell, they can't even negotiate themselves as it is. Let alone a contraption that makes them taller and wider, with numerous metal spike-like ends.

Walking the streets of Seoul in fine weather is annoying. Walking the streets of Seoul with an umbrella is incredibly frustrating. Not to mention dangerous.

And then you run the streets of Seoul. In the rain.

It's like catching the rapid train to Rage Town. And I jumped on at the first stop.