8 pounds down in one week -- about six more to go

Yeah, I'm a little crazy.  The price one pays for wanting to be in a lower weight division for his first grappling/jiu jitsu tournament.  Anyway, I'm still excited to be able to participate in something that may be a very big tournament in Seoul next weekend.

I'm still jumping around with the idea of going to Eastern Europe sometime at the beginning of next year.  It doesn't look like I'm getting any responses for the college jobs that I applied for here. I've also thought of going back to the states and getting back into that life, but I owe it to myself to spend a little time in Eastern Europe, where things are much different than Korea.  Sure Korea has been good to me in  many ways, but I think it's time to move on.

I spent a day in Fukuoka, Japan this past weekend also.  The Japanese are so much more disciplined than the Koreans.  It's great to see a large percentage of the population with manners.  Also, there are specific areas for people that smoke out in public.  In Korea, you just smoke anywhere.  In Japan, not so much.  They also seem to be much healthier as well.  They love their parks, and they love talking their animals and kids for walks at the parks too.   I'll post some pictures later, but I just wanted to actually throw an update on here before I head to sleep.

I'm so so sorry !!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!

I've been horrible about writing in this thing as you can all tell -- the two or three of you that read this thing these days.  Happy Turkey Day to everyone back in America. I miss you all, and wish I could be there right now.  I'm glad that I did have some thanksgiving food on Sunday night at a local used bookstore though.  The lady who runs the place is Korean-Canadian, and she's doing Thanksgiving dinners this weekend, and she also did them last weekend.

I went to the dinner with one of the greatest women I know -- Marina.  Marina and I dated for a small time last year.  We probably would have dated longer, but my future was uncertain to both of us.  She's the most respectful woman I've ever been around in my life (with exception of some that I am related to though).   We always enjoy our company with each other and there's never a dull moment either.   We ate the dinner with another Russian girl she knows and her boyfriend, who is from PA.

Anyway, I'm in a tough diet this week for a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournament that I have next week in Seoul.  So far, I've cut about four of the ten or twelve pounds that I need to have cut in nine days.  I'm doing it the healthy way at least -- chicken or eggs and lots of veggies every day -- for dessert, I have some milk, fruit, or yogurt.  

Well, I just wanted to give a little bit of an update -- Korea and I may be breaking up soon also -- more details to come in my next post -- which I hope will be tomorrow or Saturday morning.

Take care everyone!

Loss of a coworker and the gain of a Chi-town Boy!

So over the past weekend, I was a little active as the things were just getting started.  First of all, we had a little going away party for Courtnie, who decided not to chance her work status in Korea, since her tourist visa was almost up.  She caught a plane back to San Antonio on Saturday afternoon from Seoul.  Friday night, I cleaned my apartment so I could have a bigger place with a nice table in the kitchen area, and more space too.  I moved all of my stuff out between midnight and 2 am to Courtnie's apartment. During this time I was also cleaning my apartment, because Michael, our new teacher was moving in early Saturday morning.  We were told Friday afternoon or evening, that he would be moving in.  Originally he was going to get Courtnie's apartment, but I decided to take her place, and give him mine.

I did manage to wake up at 6 am, Saturday morning and carry Courtnie's HUGE suitcase downstairs, and lugged it down the road to the taxi area in our neighborhood.  Then, I was able to fall asleep, after reading this wonderful book that I just recently finished.  I'll give a review on the book soon. Fall of Giants is the name of the book though.  Great piece of literature by Ken Follett.

 It's nice to be an even bigger apartment as well.  I've cooked dinner or breakfast probably three or four times already.  I may even cook for Annie when she comes to visit next weekend as well.  She came this weekend, but only for Saturday night.  She left Sunday morning and visited her family in a city that's near Daegu.  I spent a few hours at a Jiu Jitsu tournament watching some of the guys that I train with near my work.  The tournament was fun to watch, but the few foreigners that participated didn't do so hot.  This was just a local tournament, with almost all of the athletes from just this one city.  There were even seven or eight girls that fought as well. 

Some Random Pictures

I thought folks may enjoy some randomness over the last week.

                                           Korean Coworker Jason, along with Miss Brittany

                                           This bowl is brought to your table as soon as you walk in this restaurant

                                         Jack, yours truly, and Miss Courtney

                                         Some of this fish was alive only seconds ago

                                             My home cooked meal Chicken Spaghetti

                                        Need some candles for your birthday?? How about Roman Candles?

Middle of the week

Happy Hump Day Everyone!!! So it looks like I will be staying at my current job for much longer than I expected.  One of the girls is going home since she's had even more trouble with her paperwork than me.  Well, at least this time around she's struggled just as much.  FBI background checks evidently are taking a long time to get done these days.

Anyway, I was able to spend some good time last weekend with my coworkers. Brittany, Chris, Courtney, and I all went on a hiking trip to the local park that is pretty close to our apartments. I just didn't realize that there was an entrance right down the entrance from our apartment.  We were all pretty tired when we finished our 8 km hike, but it was enjoyable, and the scenery was great (minus a few clouds in the sky).

Sunday, I stayed at Courtney's place for most of the day watching UFC, and then watching Paranormal Activity movies too.  We actually started the day off around 8:30 am, with a trip to Home Plus. That way we both had our grocery shopping for the week taken care of.  The Paranormal watching was fun, but the third one felt like a lie.  We watched the trailer and it seemed that all the good parts were missing from the actual movie itself.  Brittany came over and the three of us watched The Last House on the Left, which is a pretty good movie, done by Wes Craven.

Anyway here are some pictures from our hiking trip.

                                           Courtney with some locals

                                             Four of EFL's five foreigners

                                             The new guy -- Chris

                                               Courtney

                                           Brittany

                                               Your's truly