Hello!

It's been awhile since I last updated. What have I been up to you might ask? Well, not much. I mean, that's not completely fair, but I guess life has slowed down a little recently as I have settled into a nice groove at work. My schedule is kinda cool: three days teaching, two days in the office. Good variety...and the best thing...it feels like I have two Fridays! It looks as though I'll have this schedule into the foreseable future too...so...like...yeah!

The weather here has been spectacular of late. Pretty warm (between 24 - 28 degrees Celsius) - but no humidity, and lots of sun! Oh, what a difference! Really, it's been the best weather since coming here - I guess because it feels more like a B.C. summer...warm but not moist! The humidity is really the killer... You know what? I even got a sunburn today, while playing soccer.

So, yes, I've been playing soccer here with HJ's church pretty much every Saturday now. I'm feeling more comfortable around the guys and it's been exciting to see the team grow over these past few weeks. I guess I kinda forgot how fun playing actual soccer games can be... For the record, we've won our last 2 games 4 to 2, after a 7 - 0 trouncing some weeks ago...

What else have I been up to? Truthfully, watching a lot of Korean TV... In fact, I have two current fixations: K-1 and Starcraft. Now, I'm not sure if you guys in the western world can wrap your head around these phenomenons. First, I had never even heard of K-1 before coming to Korea. Basically, it's like a combination of kickboxing/martial arts and regular boxing. It comes from Japan and has been around for about 10 years. Over here, it has a huge following. This is mainly due to Korea's fascination with their own Choi Hong-man, a K-1 Champion. You really have to see this guy to believe it...he's like the Shaq of boxing. He's 7 foot 2 and has gotta weigh over 300 pounds. Huge does not even begin to describe...

Anyway, K-1 is on TV, like, pretty much all the time... So, slowly, I have become hooked on this insanely intense sport. It's really the craziest stuff sometimes...it just blows my mind how tough these guys are. Respect.

Okay, now maybe some of you have heard of Starcraft. This was a PC game that was released in, maybe, 1998, but is still hugely popular over here in Korea. It's a sci-fi war-like strategy game, so it involves a lot of thinking, as well as quick actions. So, can you believe that there is not just ONE, but TWO TV stations dedicated solely to Starcraft tournaments?! This would be completely unheard of in North America. It's amazing..they have a whole pro gamer network, with multiple championships...I still can't really follow it all.

After watching a fair share of battles on TV, I decided to go out and actually buy the game. So, yeah, I am starting the process of becoming Korean, but trust me, I am not really even close at all... You have to understand how fast these professionals are on TV, they probably click more in 30 seconds than I would in 5 minutes. I give them props for sure, but I'm definitely hesitant to attempt any multi-player action any time soon. I'd be defeated before I even picked up my mouse...

As you can see, I've been spending my time wisely..haha.. Yeah, I do feel as though I've been a little lazy lately, but that's all gonna change soon... Next week is Korean thanksgiving (Chuseok) - which means I get a holiday! Virtually, I get the entire week off, as I only need to go in for the Monday. A holiday means one thing - I get out of my apartment to explore Seoul with HJ! So, likely, I'll take lots of beautiful photos to share with you later...

I hope everyone in Canada has a good thanksgiving as well.

Keep it real, alright?

-Paul