The MVP, The DMZ, and The Farewell Party!

Monday started off our last week. It was hard to believe that over 21 days had already passed, and I had only 4 more. But my nostalgic moment was pushed aside by our sports day; an entire morning full of athletic competition. What could be better? Maybe a full day of athletic competition, but a half day is pretty swell J We commenced the day with basketball. Basic basketball: 5v5, standard game. I played pretty well, scoring 10 of our 16 points. We then moved onto Korean dodge ball, which was an interesting and fun event. We then had Korean wrestling, which entails holding onto the opponent’s cloth “belt” with both hands and trying to not touch the mat. I lost on a technicality, as my knee touched the mat before I was going to slam my opponent. Ah well :/ We then had a one legged chicken fighting type game, with a “queen bee.” It was first to win 2, and we took home the victory in straight games. Our final event was soccer: classic battle on the grass pitch. Good thing I bought my new Nike cleats the day before so I was ready to go! We were down 0-1 at half, but after a goal by a teammate and a penalty kick (as a result of a hand ball—caused by an upper ninety shot from yours truly)—we were up 2-1. We finished the match victors, and the Red team took home the crown! We had closing ceremonies and I was named MVP! Out of 100+ people I’d say that was a pretty good achievement J I got a cool crown off leaves, Roman style!

After sports day we ventured into the largest marketplace in Korea: Namdaemun. I picked up a very cool looking FC Seoul uniform, complete with jersey and shorts, for $35. Namdaemun was another market that went on for days. I would venture to say it was 5 times as big as China town, maybe even more! We ate dinner and headed back to the base. We had a relaxed evening and got ready for Tuesday and the DMZ!

Tuesday we left at about 10 for Panmunjeom, or the DMZ (for you non-Korean savvy folk). We drove for about an hour before arriving. We got into busses and had a briefing on how we should act and what not to do. We then began the tour. We made it to the conference room from back in the day when North and South Korea had meetings. I even spent a little time in North Korea, just to see how the weather was J It was definitely an interesting, yet very weird situation. Such a tense, stressed atmosphere existed, and you could see it resonate in the Koreans. We hit the gift shop and headed back home! We had pizza dinner, and because two of the professors wanted to see HoMever store, I was glad to accompany them. I went ahead and purchased another pair of (In the photo above, I'm in North Korea!) cleats, well, because it was a superb deal! We spent a little longer than intended, and finally made it back by 8. We had our presentation group meeting that started at 6. I thought it wouldn’t go long, but I turned out to be dead wrong. I arrived and explained myself, and everyone forgave me for my tardiness. We continued working, not very efficiently, until our stage time at 1 a.m. Immediately after that I hit the sack!

Wednesday was our day to present. We did a combination of 5 different cultural things we saw in Korea, and it went well. I think our group got a B+. The presentations, because we had 10 groups at 30 minutes each group, lasted until the afternoon. I hit the bank up with Jee Hye, and spent some time in conversation before returning. We then headed to our farewell party. Our farewell party was definitely a great event. There was excellent food and drink (free Bud and Caprí) and we had a good closing. We did our secret angel revealing (finding out what person was taking care of us all month), and I even won a door prize! It was a nice mp3 player that was shaped as a Mickey Mouse head. I had a friend that really liked it, so I sold it to her pretty cheap. We returned to the school and chatted and hung out.

Thursday was our official last day. We had closing ceremonies in the morning, which led all the girls to tears. I was pretty sad myself, but not crying sad. We had lunch and went on one last shopping expedition. I picked up a Korean flag and some good gifts for the family (Man I spoil you guys!). We got back for dinner and then a soccer match during heavy rain! I played well, scoring twice. After our match Les and I headed to the Ginjil bon for one last go. We spent 2 ½ hours there enjoying the saunas and hot rooms before heading back. I said some good byes and packed up my stuff. I hit the sack at 3:45, with wake up at 7 a.m.!

Last day and reflection are coming up next post. Thanks for reading and leave some comments 벤