Korean Mafia

I get the feeling that being on the rugby club here in Korea is like being in the Mafia. I don't mean we're involved in organized crime or anything (although that might be cool!!). But I do mean that I feel incredibly hooked up.

Since I've been floating around here, I've taken roadtrips, gone to parties, visited places or events that many people never do, and met some really cool people.

This past weekend, we went out to Vivaldi Park to go snowboarding. I wasn't gonna go on account of poverty, but with some arm twisting and a generous offer to borrow money, I went along. We got a discount on a bus to the hill. Once we got to the hill, a friend of a friend of a friend (seriously!) picked us up in his gangsta car (showed us pictures on a little video screen inside the car with a remote while peeling around mountain curves.. cool :S). We went to their house - a little room with a tiny kitchen and no furniture. We hung out with 3 or 4 snowboard instructors (they're on call here until about 5 am - weird!! at any time a call can come in and they have to gear up and bust on over to the hill). One of the guys cooked for us - we had bulgogi, omlette, noodles in black sauce, pork cutlet, etc. It was awesome and amazing that he managed to churn this out using two gas burners and probably one pan. It was also his birthday - so soon the night turned to drinking games, Korean and English. Soon enough the Korean guys were all red-faced and falling asleep - most of the Canadians were not even a little buzzed. Haha.

Anyways, the next morning, we got board rentals all arranged for us - 10 bucks each (as opposed to 30), got our lift tickets for 40 bucks instead of 60. And were let loose on the hill.

At first I was all laughing at the baby hill and all the people on it going slow. "I'll kick their ass!" I thought. And then I strapped my board on to go tearing down the hill. I figured I'd do one run down the baby hill just to test out my legs - hadn't been boarding in 8 years after all. Suddenly I fell down and cracked both my knees. Then I was inching down the snow, frozen in a hunched position, periodically collapsing onto the ground. I bet I looked real cool. Especially in my size-too-small boarding pants!!

Well, it turned into a fun day. Every run got better - especially after a tip from the "ski god" Marie-Eve ;) After which I could turn down the hills. Nat and I also spent a good chunk of the afternoon in Starbucks warmin' up with a bev. Hey what's a day on the hill without a hot drink?

The weekend was awesome, but was strange to just roll into Korea and be so well looked after. There has to be some mafia-rugby connection, Right??