6+3+2+1=everything

As of yesterday morning, Kris and I have moved out of our final home in Korea. It’s strange because such a thing is meant to be final, but for us, it isn’t. Between waiting for a UK visa that is well past due, sorting out other administrative issues, and packing our things away, we are making the most out of our extra time in Korea by busying ourselves with those that we care about. However, we are mostly just numb and want to join our family, cat and some possessions in the UK already.

As a consequence of the immmovable object that is immigration bureaucracy, Catsby was the first of our ‘Korean’ family to arrive in the UK a couple of weeks ago. Kris packed Catsby into his carrier and her things into one piece of luggage and two backpacks, and took him to Seoul. The next day, she bid him a tearful farewell and went back to the friend’s house where she is staying. She was originally intending to not go back to the island, as her visa was surely going to be ready in the following days. Surely.

That turned out to be an incredibly optimistic view of the sitatuation. Two separate requests for documentation and more than 20 working days later, we’re still waiting. She even had to return to Jeju this past Tuesday to request an emergency extension of her Korean visa, which would have otherwise expired yesterday. After an exhasperating couple of hours, she left with the necessary extension. The next day, she once again bargainined with bureacrats in order to have her South African driver’s license returned to her. This struggle was more understandable because she didn’t have the usual documentation to provide…because it was tied up in or unavailable due to the UK visa process. Passport? Nope, sorry, that’s with the UK embassy. Flight ticket out? Sorry, can’t book that because I don’t have a visa yet and don’t know when it will be ready. Eventually, Kris managed to get her license and end her adventures in administration, at least for the time being.

With that behind her, we worked together to return the dorm room that had been our home since the end of June to its initial state, devoid of any hints of our presence. Originally, I was going to do this alone – Kris wasn’t meant to back to Jeju, after all. I had made some progress, selling a few of the larger items and packing most of my things into two pieces of luggage and a backpack, with some of the household stuff packed into boxes to be shipped off to meet us in the UK. However, Kris’ packing skills are several tiers above mine, and she made my attempts look like Baby’s First Travel Training. It took most of the day, but in the end she got at least 25% more stuff into each bag and sorted all of the other things lying around into either a not-insignificant recycling pile or what would end up being two more boxes to be shipped.

We finished packing just in time to have one final dinner with some of our closest Jeju friends. We ate some good American barbecue, reminisced on some of our highs and lows of our time on Jeju, and generally tried to keep a hold of every last moment with these special people.

Everything that we’ve accumulated and kept from the last eight years of our lives packed away into six shippped boxes, three pieces of checked luggage, three backpacks, and one cat carrier, and yet we’re still in limbo. Kris’ visa is slated to come either today or next week, and I can start my process after that. We don’t know how much longer we’ll be here, and we’re frustrated that the lack of uncertainty means we can’t have any closure or properly say goodbye, in case we see that person again in a week. While two goodbyes are certainly better than none, we are wishing for the day we can say goodbye to the visa process and hello to the UK.

Bye Bye, Busan Bids

This past weekend marked the last mainland Ultimate tournament for Kris and I. Before COVID, Busan Bids was a staple in the Korean Ultimate calendar, and I’m glad that we managed to make it to one last one. While my team was not very successful, I still welcomed the chance to enjoy the lively spirit of hat tournament Ultimate that I look forward to so much. Even more special was to spend time with some of the people that have brightened my days in Korea.

Unlike K-Cup earlier this year, Bids for me was a weekend far more focused on the social aspect of Ultimate than it was on the games themselves. My team may not have won a game, but we we cheered louder than any of our opponents and rarely let our spirits drop. My weekend was more centered around trying to enjoy the atmosphere of the Ultimate community. Whether I was enjoying swims in the ocean with old friends, having a couple too many Long Islands at the bar on Saturday night, or chatting on the sideline watching others run far faster on the beach than I did, I tried to make the most of every spare moment by seeing the people that we will have to leave behind in a few short months. The occasion could be mostly happy because there were very few people there that we wouldn’t see again, either because we will see them on future non-Ultimate-related visits to the mainland or because they are coming to the Jeju Goaltimate tournament in June (if you want to be cool like them, sign ups are still open!). There were a couple of sad farewells and a few tears shed at the end of another part of our Ultimate lives here, but most of the time was happy (or hungover).

In one of the few moments when Kris and I weren’t spending time with others, we reflected on how hats have been some of our best memories in Korea, and how our experience of the community has shifted over the years. When we first arrived, we were fresh-faced and knew no-one. Then, gradually, we came to treat hats as extended family gatherings – opportunities to see people we knew but who lived on the other side of the country and didn’t play against often. Right before COVID, we were at least acquaintances with almost everyone. This time, we both noticed a shift – there had been an injection of new blood into the community whilst we were away on our little island, and we were a little unmoored by that. Our time truly was coming to an end, and others would take our spots on the sidelines when we moved on. It’s great to see for the health of the game, but choked both Kris and I up for a moment before we found a friend to get us out of our melancholy.

Overall, it was a heart-warming weekend. Kris and I said goodbye to Haeundae Beach, the site of Angel Hat, one of my best Ultimate plays ever, and Bids of years gone by. For two days, we had a break from worrying about the swirling uncertainty of the future (more on that next time). Thank you to everyone who made this weekend special, and hopefully we’ll see you on another field somewhere in the future.

Image credits: Featured Image – 차재관, Friends in the Sea: Paul deAngulo.

Seeing Jeju Through New Eyes

Kris and I celebrated the beginning of April by welcoming my parents to the island for a two-week stay. During their time here, we gave our best host and tour guide performances as we tried to show them what we love about Jeju. For Kris and I, it was a combination of revisiting old favourites and ticking off must-dos and Olle trails that we hadn’t quite done yet. By viewing the island as a tourist destination and not the place where we go about our daily existence, I was reminded about how special the island truly is and what we will miss about it when we leave later this year.

I’ve been lucky enough to have my mom visit twice before and my dad once, but this trip was the first time they’d visited together and their first time visiting Jeju, so it was a much different experience than previous visits. Kris and I have lived in Korea longer, and had a much deeper knowledge of the food and sights of Jeju than we did of Seoul, Wonju, Dongtan, or Korea in general on previous visits. This, combined with the fact that we have been more intentional of seeing Jeju than we were of any previous place since our early days in Korea, meant that we were much better-equipped to show off our current home.

We also have a car here, faithful Carsby, which we let my folks use for the duration oftheir visit. They stayed in a lovely hotel nearby that wass also close to the two mountains that Kris and I recently had tattooed. For the weekdays, we would give them a couple of recommendations of places to see such as museums (they were particularly taken by the 4.3 Peace Park, which tells the story of the horrors on Jeju during the mid-twentieth century), beaches, cafes, or any other attraction that could be reasonably driven to. Most afternoons I would also meet them for lunch, as I am allowed to leave the office during lunch hour. Kris joined us for a couple of these lunches, but mostly it was a time for me and my parents to chat and enjoy the best local restaurants nearby our house, with the four of us most consistently coming together for dinner after work. We have built a solid roster of regular haunts, and we hit almost every single one of them while my mom and dad were here. Even though these are places we love and go to regularly, it was fascinating to see how my parents would react. One recurring influential factor was my dad’s inability to use chopsticks, which made noodle dishes more of a challenge, although one that he nobly (or stubbornly) fought through to enjoy the new flavours. They were particularly enamoured with tantanmeyon (peanut noodles), a local hot dog restaurant (yep, what Western folk would consider ordinary hot dogs, just done really well), and of course Kris’ and my personal favourite, jjimdak.

While the weekdays were filled with work and reunions over food, our weekends were mostly spent on the beautiful natural sights of Jeju. Kris and I roped our parents (and, on one weekend, our dear friends Matt, Youri, and their adorable dog Yoda) into walking several Olle trails. We had specifically set some of the more special ones aside for this trip, to really show off different aspects of Jeju. On the first weekend, we walked a path specifically known for cherry blossoms on the week in which they were most in bloom. On their second, we revisited Udo island (famous for peanuts and peaceful walks through fields and small towns) and managed to survive Daesusanbong with only minimal whining. My parents managed to keep up with us young folk (athough they were never going to join us on a sunrise hike), and we all marveled at the amazing scenes that walking the island rarely fails to provide us.

As much as doing activities and visiting places and walking and eating together gave us fresh perspective, it is in the small moments spent talking that I was truly able to reflect on the experience. A good chunk of conversation was taken up by the future plans to move to the UK (which is exciting, terrifying, and stressful), but much of the remainder was spent gushing about the island. Every experience, fresh or oft-repeated, was given life by hearing about how much my parents enjoyed it (or, in rare cases such as that of eating pig intestines, didn’t quite enjoy it so much).

My parents are likely the last family members who will be able to visit us before we leave Korea. Thinking about it that way, I feel a tinge of sadness that we weren’t able to show more of our loved ones our island home. Well, our loved ones by blood, anyway. Friends in Korea, there’s still time, and we’d love to show you around. Maybe come to the Goaltimate tournament here in June? We might be going soon, but sharing Jeju with others always helps us appreciate how truly lucky we are.

Feelings, Flashbacks, & Friends: K-Cup 2023

This past weekend was our last ever team Ultimate tournament in Korea. The next few months will likely be filled with lasts, but this hit us both more than we were expecting it to. That’s not to say that it was a sad time. On the contrary, it impacted us both because it gave us an experience that we haven’t had in years. We played with and against old friends and acquaintances, were lucky enough to be a part of a warm and friendly team, and said goodbye to a city that has been home to many a fond Ultimate memory. It’s strange how much running around chasing plastic has shaped who we are, and this weekend reminded us why that is.

The lead-up to this weekend was certainly not what Kris or I was expecting. Our previous teams are charitably defined as mostly for-fun teams. We focused on creating a team atmosphere that was friendly and about having the best time both on and off the field. Sure, we would have practices and do drills when we could, but our teams always valued enjoyment over competitiveness. Our team for this K-Cup, Bidbimbap, was different from the beginning. Among the first messages in the group chat established fitness and health accountability. There were regular practices that focused on skills that Kris and I couldn’t attend because they were all on the mainland. Both Kris and I were a little taken aback, but trusted that our friends who formed the team would strike a balance between competitiveness and fun.

This trust was well-rewarded when we finally met the team on Saturday morning. Everyone was lovely and keen to do their best while having a good time. It took us some practice and most of one game playing together to begin to work out how everyone plays together, but by even our second game we were putting together some of the most fluid passages of play I’ve experienced in Ultimate, all while celebrating every milestone and cheering each other on. There were moments of frustration and disappointment, for sure, but we would quickly realise that we were losing our spirit and someone would make a joke or start a cheer to get everyone energised positively again.

This consistently high energy and spirit paid off for us, and we ended up coming in third place and winning the spirit award (which is given to the team on basis of their rules knowledge, fair-mindedness, and positive attitude amongst other factors). I was particularly proud of the spirit award. Winning that is the goal of every team that Kris and I have ever been on, and the fact that we ended our club career in Korea with a spirit win is exactly how we would want to go out.

While my mind was in the game whenever we were playing, a lot of the time off of the field was spent in my own head, thinking about tournaments past and how this K-Cup compared to them. I was pleasantly surprised how well it compared. There wasn’t any inclement weather, the tournament itself ran smoothly, and I loved playing with the Bidbimbap goofballs. The only real negative pull on my emotions was how much I missed old friends that I’d played with that were no longer in Korea. With each passing year, that list grows longer, and soon Kris and I will be two names on other people’s lists.

The finality of it all hit Kris and I when we were alone, waiting for the train at Singyeongju station. Kris realised that we would probably never return to Gyeongju, and we both were silent for a moment, taking that in. We boarded the train and watched as its natural beauty blur into the background as we started our trip home.

K-Cup may have been our last club tournament, but there are still two more friendly hat tournaments before we leave Korea. One is in Busan in May. The other is on Jeju in June, just a couple of weeks before Kris leaves for good. If you’re in Korea or can make either of them, we’d love to see you there and play with you one last time before we leave Asia. The end is near, but it hasn’t quite come yet, and we’re going to pack every last moment of our time here with as many people and things that we love as possible. K-Cup showed me how fun competitive Ultimate can be, and I look forward to the chaos of hats in the near future.

Waiting for the End to Come

Every year, around this time, Kris and I become far less concerned about our current school year. With our contracts always ending at the end of February, we are always more worried about what is to come in March. While we initially thought that we might stay at our current job, a changing climate in education in Korea and the job itself has resulted in us once again looking for a new job to start in March. Kris has already successfully landed a position that she believes is far better suited to her, but I am still wading through the mire of job hunting to try and find that one job that is ideally-suited to me.

When we first started our current job, we were happy with the short hours and, for me, the short commute. However, as time has gone by, little problems have grown into larger issues. This is particularly true for Kris, who has more consistently had problems from the upper management of our company, and whose job situation was less ideal to begin with. She had to do a lot more commuting and deal with greater levels of bureaucracy than I did. Towards the end of last year, she decided that she would not be re-signing the contract, and began looking for a new job. In a stroke of luck, one of our close friends is leaving Korea, and her position would be vacant. Kris interviewed for the job and was accepted. Her new job may have longer hours, but it is 10 minutes from our house and will allow her more freedom to experiment with her teaching techniques.

For myself, I was content to continue in my current position. Unfortunately, the Korean government decided to discontinue English classes for first- and second-grade students at public elementary schools, effective from March. These students currently form more than half of my student base. As a result in the massive drop in potential students, the company has decided to not re-hire any teachers with my type of visa, and fill the gaps with part-time employees to save money. This decision makes economic sense for them, but it left me in the unfortunate position of looking for a job after the ordinary job season is mostly over. I am now scraping the bottom of the barrel for a position that is better than the average academy job, similar to the positions that Kris and I held in Dongtan in our first year of teaching. I am currently still being picky, and I hope to find something before I have to settle for a mediocre job.

We may be more settled in Seoul than we have ever been in Korea, but the cycle of going from job to job every year has not changed. Maybe this next job is one we stay at for more than a year. Maybe this next job will be our last year in Korea. Only the next twelve months will reveal what Korea has in store for us. I look forward to the new adventures, and, for now, look for a decent job to sustain us while we go on those adventures.

Autumn Ultimate Wrap-Up

While the past few weeks haven’t been filled with many posts on here, which is entirely a result of my sloth, they have been filled with, amongst other things, a great deal of Ultimate of all levels, from the casual Halloween Hat, to the last few weekends of ROK-U league and finals play, and finally the Ulsan and K-Cup tournaments at club level. These Ultimate events have certainly kept me busy, and made sure that there were many Mondays where I went to work with aching muscles and a smile on my face. Let’s briefly look back at each of them in turn.

Ulsan Team Tournament

In mid-October, I was fortunate enough to make the DnD roster for the Ulsan team tournament. I had missed out on the previous tournament, as I simply was not up to scratch for the team, but a combination of working on my skills during ROK-U and other players being injured or unavailable meant that I had the chance to prove myself at a club level again. For two days, teams tested their skills against each other to see who had the best line-up in Korea. DnD was seeded 4th from the results of the previous tournament, so we had a tough pool right out of the gate.

On Saturday, we fought hard against both Baekho and LGW (two teams seeded higher than DnD), but ultimately came up short. We won one game against the lower-seeded Flickachu, so the first day was not entirely doom and gloom. Personally, I felt like I had a highly positive day, particularly on defense. Even though that is typically my strong suit, I felt like I had an especially good day.

One of my lesser defensive efforts.

The second day was the playoffs. Our team came out strong, defeating Maxima, a visiting Japanese team, before falling to the star-studded UFO. From both a team and a personal standpoint, our performances weren’t quite as stellar as the day before. We left Ulsan satisfied, but with room to grow as a team.

Halloween Hat

The week following the Ulsan tournament brought Ultimate of a far different nature. For the unaware, a hat tournament involves all players being placed on random teams (controlled for skill level as best as possible). Oh, and everyone is encouraged to play in whatever costume you can manage to pull together for the weekend. Pieces of toast played against Minions. Larry Bird took on a ghost pirate. Thing 1 and Thing 2 confused everyone with their similar costumes when they had to face off against each other.

Halloween Hat was a high-spirited, fun weekend that seemed to be enjoyed by all. While smaller than previous iterations of the tournament, those who attended all looked like they were having a welcome break from the seriousness of ROK-U and the Ulsan team tournament. It didn’t really matter who won. The main goal was to have fun, and it was met many times over.

ROK-U Fall League

Interspersed before, between, and after the two tournaments above was the Fall 2017 season of ROK-U, the largest Ultimate league in Korea. Although for the past few seasons, Kris and I had played for the Wonju Knights (a team Kris created), this year brought change. Since we had moved to Seoul, we were no longer eligible to play for our old team. We were instead placed on Seoul Hammers, a team who had won the league the previous season.

On the team with us were a number of players that we had seen around and befriended in the scene, but hadn’t had the opportunity to play with. Kris and I were both excited for the season, as after the initial practices, our teammates were highly spirited and had the right balance between a drive to succeed and the desire to play for fun and growth.

We started the season strong, finishing at the top of the league standings. We only lost one game during league play up until the weekend before finals. Then, our strongest player had to leave Korea, and that left our team with a major gap to fill, which we struggled to do. We came together in the end, only dropping one more game, but the team dynamic was clearly different, and roles were still uncertain.

Come finals weekend, and we once again struggled to find our rhythm. Our opponents, on the other hand, came out firing. We fell behind early in the first game, and while we did gather ourselves towards the end, we didn’t have enough to overcome the early loss of points. We were knocked out in the first round. We played a couple more games in the consolation bracket, which was more of the same.

Overall, our first season on a Seoul team was a fun one. The team was a great group of people, and both Kris and I learned a lot from the experienced players on the team.

K-Cup

The final event of the Korean Ultimate calendar for the year was K-Cup – one of the premier club tournaments of the year. I was once again fortunate enough to play for DnD. Like with the Ulsan tournament, some key players on the roster were injured, and our squad was smaller than it usually is, particularly in the male department. This meant that the men would have to step up and play more than they usually would at a club tournament. I was nervous about this, but secretly also excited , as it would give me extra time to hone my skills in a highly competitive environment.

The smaller roster certainly taxed the players on our team. Having to play over five hours of Ultimate on Saturday left many bodies hurting by the end. We had to play LGW, Baekho, and Boom (the three top seeds for the tournament) and Flickachu (seeded below us). The roster was different to that of Ulsan, and we had not had time to practice before the tournament. As a result, our chemistry took a while to get flowing optimally. Our games against the three higher seeds ended with us going down, b meshing together better with every game. This left us in a good position to face off against Flickachu. We ended up taking the hard-fought game. On a personal note, I sadly had to sit out the last half of the game to prevent injury to my calf muscles. I was frustrated by this, but happy with my performance on Saturday overall.

The story of DnD’s K-Cup Sunday was similar to that of our finals performance on Seoul Hammers – our opponents came out firing before we could mesh together, and we couldn’t recover from the early pressure. That dropped us down to the consolation bracket, where we didn’t quite come together again.

I was happy with my own personal performance at K-Cup. My defense was strong again, and I even snuck in a few scores here and there. I also know what I need to work on – mostly fitness – and I have months during the winter to hit the gym and get faster and build my endurance.

Whew! So much Ultimate! I enjoyed every moment that I spent on the field, with all of the teams and people I was lucky enough to do to share it with. I am, however, also looking forward to the off-season. Not having to get up at six in the morning every Saturday to travel to the not-terrible Gumi or sometimes other places will be welcome. As will the extra free time to engage in my other hobbies. Still, at the back of my mind during winter break will be the countdown clock to the start of the new season. I’m sure it will be here before I know it.

Supercharging Enjoyment: The effect of fast Internet on my gaming life

Growing up in South Africa, having a fast Internet connection meant you could watch videos on YouTube without having to pre-load them. When I moved to Korea over two years ago, my definition of what fast Internet meant changed. Now I could download entire games in under an hour, and watch live streams in high quality. This movement to fast Internet changed the way I game drastically.

South Korea boasts the fastest average Internet connection speed in the world at 20.5 megabytes per second (Mbps). It also has the highest percentage of broadband higher than 10, 15, and 25 Mbps per second. South Africa’s average internet speed is a paltry 3.7 Mpbs, more than 6 times slower. South Africa’s peak connection of 18.9 Mbps doesn’t even breach Korea’s average speed. I had one of the better connections in the country, and I was still astounded at the difference.

Gotta go fast!

A faster, more reliable connection to the Internet has meant many things for me as a gamer. I can download games much more quickly. A beefy triple-A game that I would have had to leave downloading overnight in South Africa is ready to go in under an hour in South Korea. As a result, I am now much more willing to purchase a game on sale. I want to play it on a whim, I can start a download and be playing it within the hour – there is no pre-planning required. Because I can download and play new games so rapidly, I am now much more cognizant of how much time I spend playing any particular game. I no longer put hours into a game because it’s better than waiting for a new game to download. I don’t play games past the point at which I stop enjoying them.

The most prominent example of this to me was my experience with Sukeban Games’ VA-11 Hall-A. I enjoyed the first couple of hours exploring the world of robotic cyberpunk bartending. The fact that it seemed to be a visual novel with a small bartending mini-game intrigued me. I spent a handful of hours happily serving a colourful host of robotic characters their desired alcoholic beverages. After a particularly long session of the game, I took stock in my head. I mentally assessed whether I had enjoyed that playing session. I decided I hadn’t. So I uninstalled it and browsed my embarrassingly large Steam library for a new fix. I was playing The Game Bakers’ Furi within 20 minutes.

I now spend less time invested in games that are not right for me. This means that I have more time to dive wholeheartedly into games I enjoy. I quickly establish whether I am interested enough in a game to stick with a game until I have completed it. Then, I act on that decision. I have finished more single-player games recently than I had in my last few years back home, without letting up my love affair with Dota 2’s unmatched online multiplayer experience.

Higher-quality internet also means better connections to the online gaming world. This includes online games, streaming sites like Twitch.tv, and video sites like YouTube. I am no longer worried that my connection will drop in the middle of a game of Dota 2 or Hearthstone. In the past, this would mean agonizing defeat unrelated to my mediocre skill level in both games. I lose enough because I’m a scrub, I don’t need technology acting against me as well. With Korea’s superb Internet, all my online gaming grief is a result of my skills, not my game connection. I also consume a great deal more gaming-related video and stream content now than I did back home. My wife and I watch our favourite streamers while we eat dinner, and the quality is always set on the highest. I watch replays and guides for Dota 2 and Hearthstone. I also try to keep up to date on the latest news in the world of esports and gaming as a whole.

Looking back on these changes, I believe that they are largely positive. I only play what I am truly enjoying, and I play more often because of this. I have matured from a frothing-mouthed gaming cultist into a seasoned games enthusiast. I am now willing to opine maturely about the latest gaming scandal or development in the world of gaming. I do not feel the need to flash my gaming credentials nearly as much as I did back in South Africa. Now, gaming arguably plays a bigger role in my life now than it did then. Korea truly is a gamer’s paradise. When the time comes to leave its sheltered shores, I will miss many things. I suspect that the Internet speed might be up there with my newfound friends and life experiences.

Six on the Beach: Six More Things I Learned

When I first attended the inimitable Six on the Beach hat tournament in 2015, I had barely dipped my toe in the world of Korean Ultimate, and had never before played Ultimate on the beach. After that amazing first experience, I wrote up six things I learned from the weekend. Last weekend, I was fortunate enough to attend the latest iteration of the event, and here are six lessons that I brought with me from Sixes 2017.

Cleaning up seaweed is not as gross as you would expect

When we arrived at Bukbu Beach in Pohang on the Saturday morning, raring to compete, we discovered that a large portion of the beach was covered with seaweed. We would need to clear it up in order to have all of the field space that we needed for the four concurrent games that the tournament required. I thought it would take hours. However, with dozens of players helping out, the entire beach was relatively seaweed-free within an hour, and games were only slightly delayed. It was great to see almost everyone who was at the beach helping out to clean up. We shoveled it into bags with discs, rakes, and our hands if necessary. Wet seaweed is definitely less pleasing to handle, the slimy texture far less desirable than the crisp texture of its dried brethren.

Playing a day of Ultimate on less than 6 hours of sleep might result in afternoon naps

Pohang, the city that hosts Sixes, is 3 hours from Seoul by KTX. Kris and I foolishly stayed up late the night before, and I didn’t sleep on the KTX. This meant that I did not have the sleep that I was accustomed to playing on, and fell prey to a savage nap attack. Thankfully, I fell asleep under the cover of a gazebo, so I avoided waking up to sunburn in addition to the surprising loss of time.

When selecting a love motel, shopping around can result in a better deal

Normally, when Kris and I visit Pohang, we stay in a place called the Queen Motel. We do this because it is very close to the bar where Pohang parties are always held. The closer that we are to the party, the better. However, on a friend’s recommendation, we tried a different motel nearby, and saved 10 000 won ($10, R100). More money to spend on festivities!

Your wife may get upset when you forget to watch her play Ultimate

Kris and I ended up on different teams this tournament, and our teams happened to be in completely different pools. This meant that we played at different times, and could watch each other’s games. Kris noticed this, and diligently watched most of my games. I, however, was far less on the ball, missing all of her games on the first day. In my defense, some of them were lost to the aforementioned nap. Nevertheless, I may have ended up slightly in the dogbox and made up for it on the Sunday by watching her games where I could.

The mere sight of a plastic guitar can bring back a load of memories

One of my favourite game series ever is Guitar Hero. The simple delight of being able to simulate playing epic tracks in a videogame appealed to both my gaming and musical natures. I spent an inordinate amount of time playing every Guitar Hero game from Guitar Hero 3 to the final Warriors of Rock. I was also pretty good at it, earning the title of top player in South Africa in the final year of the title’s competitive cycle. At the party, I noticed that the bar had a plastic guitar controller leaning against one of the walls, and I was thrown upon a wave of happy memories and desire to revive my love for the genre.

Six on the Beach truly is a must for any Ultimate player in Korea

Every form of Ultimate in Korea has its appeal, from the relaxed competitiveness of ROK-U to the challenge of club play. However, no weekend of Ultimate in Korea can rival Six on the Beach for the sheer joy of playing the game for enjoyment. Results don’t really matter. What matters is that you are having a good time playing the game that you love on a beach surrounded by a large chunk of the Korean ultimate community. Whether you are a fresh arrival to Korea looking to feel out the scene or a seasoned veteran of many years, there is nothing quite like Sixes, and I can’t wait to see what next year’s iteration brings!

Nanji Braai 2017: A Taste of SA in the ROK

Last weekend, I was fortunate enough to attend the Nanji Braai, an event hosted by the owners of the fantastic South African restaurant Braai Republic, at the Nanji camping grounds in Seoul. For those amongst you who are not aware, braai is the South African version of what Americans would call a barbecue or grill. While I did do some braaing on my recent trip to Geoje island, the Nanji braai was the most authentic braai experience I’ve had in Korea so far. For an afternoon, I felt as if I were spending an afternoon back in South Africa, and all it took was a tent, a fire, some raw meat, and some of my best friends in Korea.

A braai is not a complicated event. There are not a lot of airs and graces, and the food that is prepared is not elegant or complex. It is in its simplicity that the bonding power of the braai lies. For my group at the Nanji Braai, all we brought with us were drinks. The Nanji camping grounds rented us some tents, chairs, and a braai. The camping grounds also had a convenience store, where we could buy necessaries like charcoal, ice, and snacks, without having to cart them with us around Seoul. The most important aspect of any braai is the meat, which we pre-ordered and was given to us upon arrival. Within an hour of arriving at the camping grounds, we had a fire going, music playing, and memories in the making.

Tending to the meat in the early stages of the braai.

The braai that we had been supplied with was large and sturdy, but the same could not be said for the metal grills that covered it. The two pieces of grill were only just large enough to cover the braai, and they were prone to slipping off the edge if they were nudged too hard. This made flipping the meat difficult. More than once, we had to save a rough piece of boerewors (brown sausage) or lamb chop that had slipped through a gap in the grill and onto the coals. However, apart from meat falling into the fire, the actual cooking went smoothly. The ease of preparation allowed everyone to simply kick back and enjoy the sunny afternoon and good company.

More meat meant more hands needed on deck.

I have missed the experience of a braai during my time in Korea. The unique combination of a gathering of friends around a fire with music blaring over light-hearted conversation followed by everyone stuffing their faces full of well-cooked meat is something that happened so often when I was in South Africa. Going out for Korean barbecue should be similar, as most of the ingredients are there, but it’s just not quite the same. I thoroughly enjoyed the Nanji Braai, and Kris and I are eagerly awaiting the next installment.

Geoje Island, and Reflections on Trips Past

Over a week ago, my cousin departed after an all-too-short visit to our humble abode in Korea. In our time together, we showed her the usual sights: Kris did a bus tour with her, we ate jjimdak (our favourite Korean food) three times, and we scrambled to show her as much of the Seoul that we love in the couple of days that we had. For four of her days in Korea, Kris, Catherine, and I went on a trip with Waegook Travel to Geoje island, one of the most southerly points of Korea. This proved to be the highlight of Catherine’s stay. Between seeing the attractions of Geoje, eating more great food, and spending time bonding, Geoje reminded me of the things that I had enjoyed in the tours we took when we first arrived in Korea.

When we arrived in Geoje after almost six hours on a bus from Seoul, we laid our belongings down in the pension where we were staying, and were quickly whisked to a nearby beach for some kayaking. As an activity that we had done when Kris’ mother visited us in 2015, it brought back memories of that, both in the similarities and differences between the two scenarios. Thankfully, the kayaking in Geoje was on a sunny, relatively windless day, so Catherine and I were able to spend more time catching up and enjoying the view around us than frantically paddling. We paddled around an island at a leisurely pace before returning to shore.

We found an island! Kris, our new friend Chris, myself, and Catherine

Later that evening, the tour offered us the option to go on a sunset cruise around the smaller islands surrounding Geoje, and we jumped at the opportunity. Drinks in hand, we took in the beauty of the surroundings with mediocre music (blaring from a speaker controlled by women with questionable music taste) and the gentle rocking of the boat to lull us into contentment. The ride lasted just over an hour. This was a good thing, as towards the end, the sun had set and the wind began to gust more intensely, and everyone on the boat was thankful to return to the warmth of the bus.

The four of us enjoying the sunset cruise

After the whirlwind first day, our schedule settled down. One aspect of the trip that exceeded other trips before was the food. Every night was a culinary event. The first and last nights of the tour were spent braaiing (the South African term for barbecuing or grilling), which was a good mix of longing for home and succulent meat. Red meat is uncommon in Korea, so enjoying thick steaks and lamb chops were rare treats for Kris and I. On the second night, we ventured to an Indian restaurant called Bombay Brau, in the foreigner district of Geoje. There, we ate the best Indian food that we’ve had in Korea. While it was expensive, it was worth the price. Kris has already mentioned plans to return to Geoje simply to visit that restaurant again.

At night, we dined like kings, and during the day, we filled our time with activities, relaxation, and good conversation. We ziplined over a beachfront, we climbed up the side of a mountain to reach a disappointing waterfall, and we saw some more of Geoje’s natural attractions. We made new friends, and rekindled our friendship with Catherine. The lazy afternoons in Geoje were great times to find out what was going on in her life, and the lives of my family in Australia. Other trips that we’d been on before had kept our schedules jam-packed with stuff to do, but I quite enjoyed the fact that we had decent time to ourselves. As an introvert, being around a lot of people for long periods of time tires me out both emotionally and physically, so having the time to recharge in the middle of the day kept me cheerful for the most part. There was one stage where all 60-odd people on the tour were under one small roof braaiing, and the noise was too much for me, but I was mostly very happy to be with my wife and cousin, exploring somewhere new.

Life’s a beach sometimes. Yes, I went there.

All three of us look back fondly on our time in Geoje. The balance between exploration and relaxation, the quality of the food, and the decent level of organization all aided our ability to kick back and enjoy a rare long weekend in Korea. Catherine may only have been gone for a few days, but we already miss her. The next major holiday to look forward to is at the end of July, where we take summer vacation. It might be a tough few weeks, but we’ll stick it out for the chance to have another holiday like our one to Geoje.

All images in this post credit of our friend Chris McMaster, except for the final picture.