finally... a city with (musical) importance...

It’s been a while since I lived in a city that loves music as much as I do… haha… who am I kidding, I have never lived in such a city. I lived fantasizing about such places (in Canada those cities would be Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver). Growing up I woud drool whenever Much Music would play their concert listing ads (MuchMusic = MTV = same same). These were really flashy adverts telling you which awesome bands were coming to ‘a city near you’. Yes, I highlighted something in that statement, they would also say coming to ‘a city NEAR you’, after this a list of days/places said concert would scroll onscreen. To bring an end to the suspense I can tell you that Calgary rarely had a day set aside, and only if you considered 1000km close could you believe their ‘near’ tagline. Instead my body’s liquid reserves would switch from the drool of eager anticipation, to melancholic tears.

As you can probably imagine I grew up rather stinted in my concert development. Luckily, recording devices were invented long before my birth, and the recorded sound had an easy to collect medium, and collect I did, why? I did it because I was raised in a house by parents who had a love for music. I was raised with dates,  names, and genres that allowed me to explore all that music had to offer. My parents also had an organized love for music, it had a role to play in our lives. There was music to relax to (Stevie Ray Vaughn – The Sky is Crying), to drive to (Pink Floyd – Pulse or Momentary Lapse of Reason) and, even music set aside to clean to (Billy Idol- Vidol Idol). I can even tell you my musical firsts with genuine enthousiasm; My first tape: Weird Al Yankovic’s Bad Hair Day (the one with Amish Paradise on it!). My first CD(s): (given) Chumbawamba’s Tubthumper (still awesome, I listened to it yesterday…seriously), (bought) Rob Zombie’s Hellbilly Deluxe. My first concert was Colin James at the Calgary Stampede, but it was so horrible that my Dad and I credit my first experience to our next concert together, AC/DC.

My love for music spread into all facets of my life in fact I even wrote about my narcissistic obsession for music in a uni paper, aptly entited ‘music is my consumerism’. I got an A (or 1.3/4.0/93% depending on your grading scheme) justifying my obscure view of music, fucking eh! I would later go on in Uni to achieve a 95% overall average in a year long (two semester) History of Rock & Roll course (side-note, I would work at Blockbuster during the scheduled lecture periods). Before you switch off, and stop reading, I don’t include these facts and figures to brag comrades! I include them to demonstrate and numerically prove my love/fascination/obsession for the art of sound.

To bring cities and live music back into play, I consider them vital in terms of gauging a love for music. The recorded sound can undergo numerous changes after the fact; live audio can rarely pull of this deception. I gauge how good bands are based on live performances: Example a positive case; At the first (and only) White Stripes concert I attended, onlookers described me as a retarded 5 year old flailing around in my seat, my gf at the time was a tad embarrassed, but mostly laughed (I have little recognition what I did, it was the closest I have ever come an out of body experience) It can also have a negative effect; When I first saw Metallica perform (the dreadful St. Anger Tour) I didn’t pick up, or turn on another song of theirs for over a year! (lucky for them they came back to Calgary and they totally redeemed themselves)

The only way that I would ever be able to make up for the lack of live music in my life was to see basically everything that came to Calgary. With such an approach I had a lot of repeats, Finger Eleven 8 times, Matthew Good (including MGB) 8 times, Thornley 5 times and Our Lady Peace 6 times. Most would not recognize these bands, because for the most part they are small Canadian bands, the exception would be Our Lady Peace who was a big Canadian band. Calgary either got smaller-medium sized Canadian bands or relatively larger International acts, which would come on the 3rd or 4th leg of tours (rarely at the beginning). Calgary was not a great market for emerging acts.

There are two reasons this happened in my opinion, firstly while I was growing up Calgary didn’t have a great population base or enough wealth to draw acts there in the first place. Calgary often had to be combine it’s market with Edmonton’s (300km away) to attract bands. This actually created sub-scenes that thrived based on acts, example! Edmonton had the hardcore punk scene, Calgary had the metal scene, and this was reflected in bands choosing cities to perform in (AFI (pre emo)- went to Edmonton, Avenged Sevenfold – came to Calgary). This fact leads to the second reason: Alberta was geographically isolated, often emerging acts travel by shitty van, and with only one city to choose from, and little else there to justify the travel costs, they would say fuck it.

Unfortunately for me Seoul was an even more desolate musical marketplace. K-pop reigned supreme, and even if I did like K-Pop the music was so overly produced the acts rarely toured. In my two years in Seoul I only saw one act of any notoriety whatsoever (That act happened to be Eric Clapton, stadium picture above). I always felt that major cities in the world got better musical acts; Seoul proved me wrong. It is one of the largest cities in the world (#3 by population) and boasts few acts. It wasn’t the population draw that was the issue, it was the fact that Seoul is not near shit (geographic isolation), and bands would incur massive logistic costs to play there. Most bands play the summer music festivals because they can also play the Japanese music festivals either before or after.

 During my hiatus from Canada, Calgary proved to become more relevant to bands. The reason has to do with the population base. Alberta is a growing province; it has an increasing population but more importantly increasing wealth (because of Oil). The factor that bands really care about is the wealth increase, and the geographic isolation factor become overruled because the two markets split their dependence on each other. Back to my prior example, the dominance of the Edmonton hardcore scene, and Calgary Metal scene became irrelevant because both markets had created enough wealth to attract bands to both cities. In the short time I was home this summer I saw Coldplay and the Black Keys. Also demonstrating the shift, Coldplay (pictured at the top) started their North American Tour in Edmonton, and the Black Keys (pictured above left) came to Calgary on the second leg of their North American tour (before they went to Europe).

Finally reaching my conclusion, I’ve moved to Europe, a historical mecca for music. Hamburg in particular has an amazing history in terms of live music. The Beatles made a name for themselves here playing countless hours between 1960-1962. These years are viewed as crucial in their development due to the fact that they would often play 3-4 sets a day for weeks on end. There are several outstanding live venues around the city where you can catch musical acts in all stages of development; I checked out the Alabama Shakes (who I believe deserve to break into the big time) in a venue of 400 people. Hamburg also has the Large acts covered; Muse will be here in December on the first leg of their tour (also going to Calgary on the first leg of their N/A tour).

Hamburg is in an opium den of music, a place where ear-gasms should be a regular occurance, but I currently live under the fiscal constraints of student life. The city is alive with the sound of music, but I’m held to a tight budget that creates the question, dinner or concert? Do I eat? Or do I see so and so? It’s a question that would enrage many starving people in the world, and perhaps my mother (I swear I eat green vegetables everyday mom!). I should be brought to tears, and film a panning ‘NO’ sequence in the pouring rain (which would be easy cause it rains a lot here!). Finally I live in a city of musical relevance, but I lack the funds to actually partake. It’s like salt on a wound, kicking a man while he’s down, or any other cliché attempting to convey meaning of a shitty fucking situation. However! There is a catch my friends; I’ve been lucky enough to meet, rent the couch of and, befriend a concert promoter. Everyone can say they are on a concert guest list, but the difference is that I can add to my addiction by actually knowing someone who is, VICTORY!!!!

the war on christmas: the eastern front...

Every year in North America it seems that Christmas takes another blow. Some religious organization, or atheist movement takes offence to something related to Christmas. One such example, the infamous shift from 'Merry Christmas' to 'Happy Holidays'. This year the Colbert Report informed me about the FOX news  segment  'The War on Christmas', and I thought I'd add my own entry about Korea. 

Christmas in Korea is really not that big of a deal, it's more of a non event. The holiday is more a reflection of a commercial holiday than a religious celebration. I have not spotted a single nativity scene anywhere, although there are random reindeer, and decorated Christmas trees scattered throughout the neighbourhood. One of the pizza parlours I frequent is the proud home of one such reindeer. He proudly showed off the reindeer on my last visit.

I scouted out to find Santa, or well a physical incarnation of the man in red. Like the nativity scenes he was nowhere to be found, alive that is. Gangnam (a trendy affluent area of Seoul), did have several plastic versions tied to streetlamps, and before you ask, no none of them were Korean. A year ago I was building Pepsi displays honouring jolly old Saint Nick, and this year I can't even find a Coke bottle with his likeness.

The Christmas hangover that is usually associated with the days following Christmas, didn't occur. It seemed like the country was ramping up for New Years, instead of winding down from an overdose of Eggnog (a virtually nonexistent novelty). Pretty much this country boasts an absence of Christmas. Sure it is a holiday, but it is a holiday celebrated much less than many others. Christmas day in Korea was a day like any other, I didn't notice even a single store closure. New Years appeared to have more of an effect on the nation, as there were a handful of shops that didn't open. Since drinking is a national past time in Korea, that seemed to make sense.

Although Christianity is the prominent religion in Korea at 26.3%. That doesn't mean much when almost half of the country is non religious (49.7%). So perhaps there was a war at some point in Korean history that wiped the yuletide spirit from the nation. At the very least though, I think the numbers can help allow you to draw your own conclusion.

Religion or not, I'd say that my biggest loss came in the bakery department. I for one love Christmas baking. I love the excuse for people to make delectable cookies, and other baked goods. I spent Christmas day drooling on Skype, as my parents showed off the loot they sat in front of at a friend's house: Nanaimo bars, brownies, and sugar cookies were all waiting to be eaten, 8,500km away.

I was however able to find and enjoy some premium baked goods in Korea, It simply required a Google search, and clever timing. I suppose that is the best benefit from living in a city of 20 million plus, there is a niche market for everything. Yet when Christmas becomes a niche market you know that you are a long way from home.

The gang deals with the North Korea situation (II)... 'nobody loves you when youre down and out'

The situation in the North has pretty much become a same same issue. In Canada there are cold fronts that drift down in from the arctic. They are often despised, and yet Canadians weather these cold spells. They do so while uttering under their breaths that global warming should take them out at some point.

In Korea we have a similar issue, although instead of being a cold front that drifts down, it is a large ego that descends south. I don`t know how much detail I need to go into on that, so I`ll leave it like that. Yet like Canadians it seems to have become a practice for Koreans to utter that the ego will be dealt with at some point. That silencing will occur through starvation, or a communist extinction event.

Both appear to occur with the same frequency as well. Since I've arrived in Korea this is the 4 or 5th time the North has stirred up shit. That seems close if not higher than the amount of cold fronts in Canada.
After my (not so) brief introduction I can reach my point.

I have a small theory as to why the north chose Tuesday to attack. I think it was because they were jealous, I don't think it has anything to do with wanting to start a war. If they really wanted to start a war, they could have easily attacked last week while the G20 was going on. They wouldn't have to worry about the Obama if they knocked him off (although that might lead to a communist extinction event ie. an American invasion).

I've done some brief searches online, and have come up with a possible conclusion. After a (short) search I was unable to find any information on music in the North. People don't really know what the Kim's listen to, well besides their propaganda filled national anthem. This goes for father and son, well more father than son. Either or we know very little.

Shortly before I found out about the attack I secured my tickets for the upcoming Eric Clapton concert. In fact I found out about the concert about an hour before I found out about the attacks. I think they were upset that Eric isn`t visiting them, and that was why they attacked. You may say that that notion is preposterous, absurd, or horribly implausible, so I will present another argument supporting my asinine conclusion.

Last week there were fears that North Korea would attack in some way shape or form. Security at the G20 summit was insane, they had an entire section of the city cordoned off, so that the leaders of the free world could gather Gangnam to chit chat. As we all know there wasn't an attack, and that one actually occured this week, the same day that Eric Clapton tickets were shown on Interpark (a Korean equivalent of Ticketmaster. I highly doubt this was a delayed reaction, and that it took the North a week to fully hit the launch button.

So there it is, a somewhat rational argument for why the North was pissed off.

just a thought.

same same... just korea (IV)

I’d like to explain a part of my absence from the blogging scene. Last week was Chuseok. Chuseok is a three day festival that the Koreans celebrate on the 15th day of the 8th month according to the lunar calendar. This year those days happened to fall in the middle of last week September 21-23. I spent my Chuseok holiday in Sokcho and Samchuk. I am planning on writing a short blab about those places in an upcoming blog.

For now however I’m gonna delve into some Same Same. Chuseok is a major Korean holiday. It is a festival celebrating the end of the harvest. Does that sound familiar? For any Canadians reading October 9th is basically the same holiday, for any yanks the date is November 22nd.

I found it pretty interesting that the Koreans celebrate a similar holiday as we do. Well at least they historically celebrate a similar holiday. Yes they celebrate Christmas and New Years, although they aren’t rooted into history. Christmas is a major commercial holiday (surprise!), and the Koreans seem to prefer to celebrate Lunar New Years over our calendar New Years.

I’ve spent my entire life on the N/A continent and I’ve always been under the impression that thanksgiving is a truly North American phenom. For some reason I was ignorant in this belief, I’m sure you could blame a lot of things for this misguided truth; I’d like to blame TV. I literally just thought Chuseok was only described as a thanksgiving type holiday because it was in the fall. I was shocked to discover the roots of Chuseok, both Thanksgiving and Chuseok are worship holidays (I think I just find anything religion related kind of shocking). The objects of worship are obviously different, but both cultures decided to worship their deity after the harvest. In N/A families usually all gather together and give thanks, in Korea families also all gather and are thankfull for the harvest. Although the Koreans go one step further, Koreans visit their ancestor’s gravesites and make them tidy.

Food is also an important element of the celebration, although both serve different animals. Most Koreans have never seen a turkey, let alone eaten it. I have a couple students that dream of tasting the giant bird, and I told them the many splendors. Koreans don’t have one animal over any other that they serve; I’d assume their tables are covered with a million side dishes (like most meals).

The special item for Korean feasts is a little honey and seed filled rice cake. A Korean rice cake is not the dried up Frisbee you are probably thinking of, a Korean rice cake is a little moist dumpling. I’m not the biggest fan of them; I find them quite doughy and tasteless despite the honey and seeds. I would much prefer to look at the dumplings that I would eat them. They are highly moldable, and come in all sorts of shapes. Traditionally they are crescent moon shaped, but things change, Turducken is hardly tradition yet it caught for ‘trendy’ southerners (I don’t know if you could ever call whoever came up with Turducken trendy, but what the hey).

I didn’t really use the holiday for its specified purpose, I used the time to act like a tourist. I arrived in Seoul on the actual Chuseok holiday (September 22) and it appeared that most of the city wasn’t celebrating or playing tourist, it was business as usual. For some reason I found this to be a comforting thought, perhaps I was happy that people weren’t celebrating with their families, I couldn’t.

...when i grow older... (i will act younger)... just like a wavin flag... (pt II)

The amount of national pride for soccer here makes me miss Canada. I had to live vicariously through second hand reports what the nation was like after Olympic Gold. That moment doesn’t last very long, as much as I love Canada, I love what I am doing here. Anywho, back to soccer, the hopes and tension in Korea is pretty awesome to behold. Let me say that i’m not naïve, I’m aware that Korea is not very likely to win the World Cup. Yet that single victory brought about a wave of jubilation like I’ve never seen before in this country, or any since Canada won Olympic Gold in 2004.

A couple of my kids are really caught up in the tournament. I am treated to a daily update in my Reach Out class, Nathan knows just about everything there is to know about the World Cup. I swear he even knows the vegas line on all the games. Every class on monday i entered was chatting about the World Cup, it didn't matter the age, or the english ability. Park Ji-Sung is the same in english..haha...Parents are dressing their kids up in Korean Football gear left right and center. It’s not unusual to spot a red jersey flying through the halls of the school (there are signs that say no running, most of the kids aren’t tall enough to see them. Let alone read them).

I guess I really shouldn’t be that surprised that the kids are caught up in the tournament. At night every Korean seems to be glued to anything broadcasting the games. It doesn’t matter who is playing, Koreans are watching (I was walking around last night and passed a group of 6 men watching a game on their cell phones). I wonder if they cheer against North Korea. Do ya think they hate the North Korean football team like I hate the Vancouver Canucks? The adults that are glued to the TVs are quite like children themselves. I’ve mentioned before that Korean’s like to drink. My time at City Hall on saturday was another fine example of this. I don’t believe there was a sober person near the venue. They say drinking alcohol makes you act like a child, it reduces you an infant like state. So my 12 yr old bookie student Nathan is probably acting the same age as most of the inebriated adults. I should ask him what england's chances are this year...

Well tonight is the second game (Korea vs. Argentina), and I’m stuck at work till 9. The game starts at 8.30. So I’m pretty choked that I can’t go to city hall like I was able to for their first game. Instead I am going to hit up Yeonshinae and attempt to see the second half, without the pomp and ceremony the morning teachers will enjoy at City Hall.

Anywho.. I had a couple of my kids write stories about watching the first game of the world Cup. I’ll include Amy’s story, in all its unedited glory!

I just see world cup. There is Greece and Korea do soccer. When one Korea soccer player corner kick Jung-Su-Lee shout the ball so we had one goal. And the onthor time, when Jee-Song-Park run a bal. Jee-Song-Park shout the ball so we can had a two goal. So we can win! I felt very excited.

This is not an admission of guilt...

I’ve become quite the hypocrite. I used to be huge on ownership, you know things and stuff, I started to shed that mantra about two years ago. I couldn’t immediately shed all aspects of the North American belief system. I held onto some last articles. Some possessions, mostly: music and movies. Many people know about my dream to one day have a CD and DVD wall in my house, completely alphabetized and enormous. I used to stand by my decision to support the movie and music industry with authority, almost to the point of scoffing at illegal downloaders. WELL… Korea does messed up shit to people.. I’d been downloading some movies and music at home before I left, but Korea completed the shift. How?? Simple..

The internet in Korea is continuously ranked as one of, if not the highest in the world for download speeds. According to a report published in February this year Korea ranked numero uno. Average download speeds in Korea are 12Mbps, Canada sits at about 4.25Mbps, and the Americans are at a lowly 3.88Mbps. While geography issues can be brought up in defense of the American and Canadian networks. Korea still beats them hands down, and there are many reasons why.

The first and perhaps the most important (yes i'm aware i should have kept this till the end.. but HEY my blog.. mine..). The Korean government is responsible for the creation of the network, basically they built it. The Korean government has invested millions of dollars to help ensure that Korea boasts the highest download speeds and fastest internet in the World. While the American and Canadian governments have sat on the sidelines in hopes that competition would drive the internet speeds higher. Competitive market forces have not won any medals here, in fact they sit broken and dejected like the Jamaican bobsleigh team.. The fact that Korea is a small country with large population density has definitely helped out, To use this as an excuse doesn’t really work, Similar to yelling at sports teams on tv, Canada and the US have taken a passive approach to building their internet networks. Korea is taking a more proactive stand. If the Canadian and American governments were not passive in their efforts, and tackled the issue a similar way who knows?

What is known, is that neither the Canadian or American governments have any plans to take over the internet network development in their respective countries. Both Governments rely heavily upon competition to drive the development of the networks. Both countries will however provide subsidies to develop parts of the network. They only provide a handful of these subsidies to the select providers in each country. Competition what? Rural areas in both countries are hindered by the lack of financing for their internet networks (was the story for me in Balzac). Government will usually hand out the subsidies to tackle these rural network issues. At least the Canadian and American governments at least realize funding problem, and try to help out.

The Korean government, on the other hand, has recently unveiled a $25 million plan to establish a faster network in Korea. Their ultimate goal is to have their internet download speeds running at 1Gps by 2012. This is an average speed btw, I have already experienced these speeds while downloading large files (They may or may not have been movies...no comment) and had them downloaded in a matter of minutes, rather than the period of time required for a good nights sleep. The Korean Government’s plan is to run a fiber optic cable into every building. This is a situation where Korea will benefit from its geographical situation. The population density and small size of Korea will allow it to undertake an otherwise enormously expensive venture. The government wants to kill two birds with one stone with this venture. Fiber optics will enhance the internet speeds for one, and it hopes to use fiber optics to launch a new HDTV network with 8 times the clarity of standard HD broadcasts. The potential for fiber optic cable is almost limitless. It’s the Tim Taylor response to the internet and television!

I have benefited from all this immensely; I haven’t been kept in the dark on new TV or movie releases. I’ve also been able to keep up to date with the music scene in North America. ALL while wasting little time! You’d figure I’d be paying a ton for this government sponsored internet. The opposite is true.

Internet prices in Korea are cheaper than both Canada and the US. Um...okay… cheaper is an understatement. Korean internet runs 4x faster than the US at 1/2 the price. The average internet price in Korea is $28/month (close to what I pay), compared to $48/month in the US. I couldn’t find average internet costs in Canada, but I checked out Shaw Cable for Calgary, and for a comparable internet download speeds to what I’m receiving in Korea, $95/month (Not including the dl limits). What’s the reason for the cheap price in Korea? Actually it’s kinda funny; Korean’s are paying less for their internet because of competition. There are literally hundreds of internet providers in the country. I think its hilarious competition is having the correct effect in Korea, and not in North America.

Due to the high download speeds intellectual property theft (Internet piracy) has become a major issue in Korea. The faster internet speeds crippled the countries music and entertainment industry in the late 90s. Recent changes to the law have allowed the Korean government to attempt a crackdown on this crime. Similar laws in Canada and the US don’t exist yet. Like the development of the networks, North America is a tad behind!

While I realize my recent shift into hypocrisy, I’ve attempted to defend my current situation with government sponsored initiatives. I also realize the efforts in Korea aren’t universal, and the path Korea has followed could not be easily followed by North American governments (the whole massive expense thing). I still believe that some effort should be exerted, the armchair has a great butt groove, and governments should get off their ass. I dread my return to the world of slow ‘high speed’ internet. Perhaps I will resume my possession crazy mantra instead of battering keyboards and wasting time waiting. For now however, I’ll enjoy downloading files faster than it would take to buy them.

'hows this for muchiness'

There are a couple of minor differences between balzac and seoul.. downtown balzac consists of two churches, a 1950's relic gas station, and crossiron mills.. downtown seoul has all that in spades.. The populations of the cities aren't remotely comparable.. but balzac has crossiron mills.. Seoul has a public transit system that rivals the best in the world.. balzac has the school buses crossiron mills bought to ferry carless employees from calgary, to its existance in the middle of nowhere.. Seoul has a nightlife i can't really call nightlife because i've witnessed sunrises.. crossiron mills.. *cough* i mean balzac, doesn't have any restaurants or movie theatres. They are currently under construction.. One thing both bustling metropolis' DO have in common is that when i'm asleep i have found no difference between either!!!

There are plenty of things i love about balzac, don't get me wrong.. My parents live there, it's been my home for quite some time.. my introduction was a long winded way of saying 'there is tons of shit to do here', i don't simply teach and retire to my quiet matchbox...

I have quite the schedule ahead of me..
March 20th - St. Patrick's Day party in a park in downtown Seoul (yay green beer)
March 27th - Shipwrecked.. booze cruise down the han river
April 10/11 - Paul Oakenfold's in town on the saturday, my birthday on the sunday
April 17th - Seoul wide scavenger hunt.. i'm a proud member of team Suck it, Lick it, Pound it
May 8th - Seoul World DJ Festival (largest outdoor dance festival in Korea)
July - 9 days of vacation.. NO idea where i'm headed yet...
August - Rock Festical (Oasis headlined last year)

in July i plan on attending the mud festival.. its all waygooks.. (okay i should explain this term.. i don't think i have yet.. a waygook is what the foreigners are called here.. its our 'n' word if you will.. we can freely use it to describe ourselves, as blacks with 'n'.. but we like that its our word.. and only when we use it).. where was i.. OH YES.. mud festival!!.. its a weekend of mud.. you jump, slide, slip, and frolic in mud... if there is a win win scenario.. i believe that is it..

I have also started a free 'survival Korean' language class its an 8 week program.. Three hours every saturday, and i am learning to read, pronounce, and write korean.. i will also learn helpfull phrases, how to give directions, read a menu.. all the fun stuff!! I learned how to write my name in Korean last week.. It looks like a house.. i'm impressed..


since my intro was so long i will simply conclude with.. i'm a busy bee..

The difference between a tear and a yawn..

The blatent patriotism that canada demonstrated while they held the olympics was astounding.. i've said for quite a while that i appreciate canada more when i am not actually in the country.. although by the looks of it, i'm missing out on one hell of a party..

i had a very hard time watching the olympics this year... i came out with the idea i would download all the team canada men's games,and watch the rest streamed off CTV.. well when i arrived for the first two weeks i had no internet...that messed up the downloading plan.. and apparently CTV won't allow their stream of the olympics to be viewed internationally.. it was quite the blow.. I was only able to watch events in korean..

i've been asked a couple times about the figure skater.. and the answer to whatever your questions are is.. YES... that woman is revered here as a goddess...she is everywhere.. commercials.. newspapers.. magazines.. i haven't really seen any bilboards. but i'm sure she's on them too.. Korean's have tv's in their cell phones.. you see people with these little antenae's coming out of them while they silently ride the subway.. well when the short program was on.. that was playing in my classroom.. the korean teachers and one of my bosses huddled around this little tv.. every jump they would hold their breathe...only to vibrantly cheer upon her landing.. and its a jump.. so it took a second.. but there was an obvious process at work there....

As for the men's gold medal game.. it was the only hockey game i was able to watch live.. the game started at 5am in korea.. talk about a pain.. SO the plan was to go to itaewan and head to canadian bar...aptly named rocky mountain tavern... at around 10pm.. a whole 7 hours before the game started.. and try not to get too drunk that we would forget the game..

Well i can tell you that we succeeded.. we arrived at the bar around 10pm.. it didn't really start getting packed till about 2 or 3am.. Gill and i made a pact.. NO shots, NO chugging, and pace ourselves.. We both made it, although both with the aid of energy drinks.. The game however.. HORRIBLE.. the bar was using an internet feed.. the first 6 minutes or so you couldn't see because it lagged so much.. we then got kicked off the feed for the next couple minutes of the game.. i'd love to say i blacked out and missed it.. NOPE.. the bar blacked out, and made me miss it.. once the bar got a feed that didn't lag or kick us out.. good luck reading any of the names on the jerseys.. and to be truthfull you were mostly guessing where the puck was.. I SWEAR none of that was because of drinking.. i was a good boy remember...

The bar was about 75% canadian i'd say. 24% of arrogant americans (bastards)... and the remaining 1% didn't care (yet stayed in the bar till then anyways..)there was one in my group.. she got so tired of telling people she didn't care who won.. that she had 'i don't care' written on her face in red eyeliner.. neutrality has never before been so aggressive..

'the goal'... much like the interviews with sidney crosby... i never saw the puck go in (see above paragraph if you can't connect the dots).. i simply heard people screaming.. i then screamed.. jumped up and down like a 4 year old and hugged everyone in my vacinity wearing the maple leaf.. screaming 'we won..we won..we won'.. the atmosphere was electric.. that game created a moment for all canadians to remember.. mine will not be any different, although just a different soil under my feet..

i finally managed to leave the bar about 11 hours after i got there.. i fell asleep on the subway and missed my stop...i managed about four hours of sleep that day...

Vancouver

First post..

technically first day..

i'd call it zero hour, although that has some tricky connotations to it, DDay and all.. Although it does feel quite similar. I am surrounded by televisions blaring a countdown, the invasion of canada??.. kinda feels like it.. this could possibly be the worse day to leave the country, the day every single canadian is flamboyantly proud to be one, and we are even being invaded by the germans (don't mention the war).. the two previous occasions i've left the country i have been able to sneak out the back door unnoticed, quietly cheering my escape. instead it appears the country is focused on its invasion. i even hear vancouver is hoarding explosives!

as my future year in korea looms over me, i am more or less focused on the next two weeks. and NO, not the short training period i look forward to...i am left trying to figure out how to keep up to date with the olympics and not find out the hockey scores.. a tricky tightrope indeed..

anywho.. i await my 12 hour flight to Korea, and i've watched over two hours of the torch relay.. i should really be sleeping, i should really have been put to sleep by watching it.. instead i stare at the countdown on tv. watching the timer slowly struggle to reach zero, when the indeffinite invasion of canada begins, but before that happens i shall quietly attempt to slip out the side door.