Rabble

I know it has been a couple of days since I have written in this thing. I have found myself less and less inclined to write in it. Even though I still find it a very nice outlet for me to voice my thoughts and actually practice my writing skills; I have grown tired of it. I am focusing on several things at the moment. I found out that my friend Stand is leaving South Korea early because he does not like his situation. He went to talk to his boss and they ended up agreeing to let him go early. He plans to leave December 1st. I am naturally not too happy about it, but he needs to do what makes him happy.

On a side note I have met a handful of foreigners in the town about 45 min away from me. I met them on my way up to Seoul. They were nice enough to invite me out to dinner one night. I enjoyed their company. They are a good group of kids; from what I learned there are about 9 of them in the town. It's a good thing I found them, but I will be leaving in a couple of months and I don't think I will be able to meet up with them much.

As far as the hash over the past weekend; it went extremely well. The GM left for japan for a vacation and put me in charge of the hash. So I made trail with another person. I also had to go through making sure accommodations, food, travel and drinks were together. I thought it would be an easy job, but it isn't. I was getting stressed over people, places, trail and everything that involved a hash. Honestly I didn't even do that great of a job. There were many aspects that I ignored or forgot about. Otherwise it was a great time; the people that came down and up from where they live had a great time. We had a large group of people, more than usual, about 17 people that did trail with us. I sang song with them and I had a great time making them act like fools.

As far as my week, it was relatively slow and boring. One of my co-workers decided to ask me to go and hangout with him and another co-teacher. Their English isn't too bad, so the night was pretty good conversation and what not. It was also nice to get out of my room and do something.


That has been the story for the past couple of days/weeks. I know that my posts have been getting less and less every time, but it takes a lot to try to find something out of nothing. I am making good use of my time I am reading more and starting to write my books.


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The End


Idol hands are the Devil's playground.


-Cezar-

Rabble

Time well spent

The weekend jumped off in the same manner it usually does. I decided to jump into a bus heading to Seoul. It was Friday night once again and I wanted to see my friends. I take the bus headed up to Seoul like usual. The nice part about the ride was that I met some foreigners in Buan, the neighboring city to me. We chatted a bit and they told me that there were 9 foreigners in the city. We chatted and exchanged information with each other. It was a nice surprise to meet some foreigners in the area.

I eventually arrive in Seoul. I transit in between subways like usual. I end up going to a local bar that all the hashers we hanging out at. The week leading to the weekend was special. It was a hash-marathon in Seoul. All through out the week there was trail at least once a day. I was only able to catch the tail end because I live about 4 hours away. My friends were happy to see me anyways. Once I arrived in the bar, I hear the happy greetings. I go around making my hellos and introductions. I met Hashers that had came in from out of country just for the weekend events. It was a nice sight and experience all together.

Saturday rolls around. I had 2 trails that I wanted to take part of; so I did. Trail was regular. Up hills and down slopes; climbing up and jumping down obstacles. I had the Yeongsan Kimchi H3* trail first. Their trails are usually something that I look forward too. This time I had company as I walked the trail, which is a nice change of pace. Trail started at 11am ended at 1pm. I had another trail that started at 1; so I literally had no time to waste. It was a special event for the Seoul H3, it was their 2000th run. We took a bus to the start location, about an hour away. The trail was amazing. I took a trail that took me up a mountain. I saw beautiful landscape. I was also accompanied by another walker for the trail. We chatted for a while. The trail ended around 6pm. We ended the trail in their traditional way. We started a fire and ate and drank around it. This pack was consisted on only men. So we were just that. Men around a fire sharing stories and laughter. Later on that night we head back into Itaewon. We go to a couple bars meeting up with other hashers. We go onto the night until about 3 am. We have our fun.

At one of the bars, a stranger approaches us. He started asking questions about who we were. I kindly explain what the hash is about and who these people were. We talk about it for about an hour. I started pulling in other hashers to sell the case. We talk about brotherhood and the trail. One of the hashers got a little philosophical. I explained to him that the hash wasn't about getting drunk, finding girls or debauchery. The hash is about the people and the relationship that we build. One of the hashers chimed in and made a comparison to the band of brothers. I cannot fully recall it, but I knew what he said was true.

Sunday rolls around. I grab breakfast with the hashers. I have some great conversations and laughs. They leave for another trail that I can't take part of because of time restrictions. I walk around Itaewon and pick up a couple of things that I need for myself and head back home.



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The End


Brotherhood isn't given it is earned.


-Cezar-

Time well spent

Clarity

I have been reading a book that my parents gave to me when they visited me. Basically this book is trying to help me become a better writer. It has given me some real insight into the mind of a writer. It has actually given me better ideas on how to write which I really like.

So yesterday I had the whole day off so I really started reading the book. I didn't get a chance to finish it, but I got many good tips. The biggest and most important tip I received was that it's a conversation. A conversation between me as a writer and you as a reader. I need to visualize you as a reader. I need to make sure that I am clear as if we are having a dialog.

It's really something when you realize something as significant as that. I always had the reader in mind when I write, but never considered it to that level. I really had one of those "AH HA!" moments. I am excited to read more into this book because it seems to have golden nuggets of information for me.


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The End


Limitation is where you find your imagination.


-Cezar-

Clarity

New path Same road

The weekend was interesting to say the least. I spent it with a group of new friends. They are in a neighboring town called Iksan. I have known them for quite some time now, but rarely spent much time with them. I had focused my energies into hashing and Seoul and Jeonju that I let them slip through my fingers. This past weekend I decided to spend the weekend with them. It turned out to be a good idea all together. They were a good group of kids that I could really connect with and have fun with. We spent most of friday night and saturday night going around doing some shenanigans. I haven't laughed or connected with a group of kids like that in a very long time. Which made me sad because I know what is going to happen. The more time I spend with them; the more time I will really connect with them. That will make it extremely hard for me to leave. I have grown attached to many of the people here and that is causing me some problems. I know that I will be leaving in a short amount of time and that will make things harder for me. I am really torn between states of mind. I want company so that I don't get too lonely, but I also don't want to get too attached. I know how I get. I am an emotional man. I have an open heart. This will prove to be more difficult when time comes for me to say goodbye.


Just to mention. I had duties for the hash on saturday. I had to lead the group in ceremonies. The trail was decent, but I got lost of trail for a while. I was lucky to run into another hasher, she helped me by calling and getting directions for me. I often complain about shiggy, trails with rough terrain, but I saw the non-shiggy trail and I didn't like it too much. After taking part in trails with a lot of shiggy and interesting obstacles, I kind of long for hurdles. I complain about climbing hills and mountains and going through rough terrain, but in the long run, it just more interesting that way. I would like a happy medium of a trail, that would be the best solution.

I digress, the weekend was great. It was a real chance for me to connect with people that I am starting to care for. It was also a nice change of pace; it felt slower. It was wholesome fun; I actually spent some time playing jenga at a bar and it was amazing.




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The End

New path Same road

Lack thereof

Ok. So Monday rolls around. I had another day off so I decided to take Manny on a tour of my town. We went to a local temple that I always show the visitors. He enjoyed seeing the history and oldness of the temple. I enjoy that area for its peacefulness. It is situated in a huge piece of land. There are trees and greenery everywhere. It is a peaceful 1km walk towards the temple itself. When you walk around the temple you will see the local mountains surrounding it. It is one of those sights that is best savored sitting on a bench taking in the scenery. There is chanting playing all through out the area which gives it more of a relaxing feeling.

After the temple I take him on a walking tour of my whole town. We share a couple of good laughs. Then we eat the local Chinese food in the area, which Manny instantly fell in love with. Then I try to take him to the top of a small look out point to watch the sunset, but we missed it. We just ended up having a beer and talking about life.

Manny had fell in love with Korea the instant that he arrived. I would like to think that I helped because I already knew the area and knew where to go. I also think that taking him to a Hash was a great idea. I made him a hasher, and I couldn't be happier.

Tuesday and Wednesday passed by rather quickly. Manny was still in town but he had to leave Wednesday morning. He planned to go back to Seoul to meet up with my friends and do some stuff. He really wanted to visit Harley again to acquire his shirt. My friends up there were kind enough to give him a place to crash and show him around town.


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The End


The road split in two, right and left. I decided to go straight.


-Cezar-

Lack thereof

3 days

So I recently had a 4 day weekend. One of my closest friends came to South Korea to visit me. He needed an excuse to visit South Korea and I gave him one. These are the events that transpired.

Friday:

It was a Korean national holiday, it was their thanksgiving. I went to Seoul the night before because there was a special hash one of my friends asked me to go to. He was holding an event. The hash was going to happen on the 38th parallel. So for those who don't know, that means near the DMZ. There is a hashing group that does runs near the DMZ and it was his turn to make the run. So I gladly participated. I mean how many times can someone say that they hiked near North Korea. It was an interesting experience all together. I had a good time running it. I had a chance to laugh and share stories with my friends again. The run was around 1 ish and ended around 4ish. My friend Manny landed at 6pm, so I had decided to leave around 6 for the airport. I thought that security would take much longer then usual because there is a scare of Swine Flu and the Koreans are being super careful. So I jumped into a bus around 7ish and arrived around 8ish. I find Manny already sitting and waiting for me. Apparently it took him only about 30 minutes to clear security.

So I picked him up from the airport and I thought I could just take him to one of my favorite spots in South Korea. I assumed that we would be able to get a Hotel room in the area, but I was wrong. We walked around for 2 hours looking for a room. We found no open rooms at all. So I place a phone call to a Hashing buddy of mine and she made some calls for me. She found us a place to sleep with at one of the hasher's house. He was on his way in to throw some darts for the night. We head into the bar ahead of him. I find a handful of Hashers already there. I make introductions and start having some laughs. We head to his place to sleep around 12ish.

Saturday:

Manny and I wake up early. I promised him a great breakfast. We head back into town to get some food. We take a bit of a walk to the restaurant. We find out that it is closed because of the holiday. I was really pissed. This was one of my favorite spots to eat at and they were closed. So we had to settle for Mcdonald's. So we relaxed and ate the breakfast. We waited for one of the hashers to pick us up from eating and take us to the beginning spot for the hash. Manny got introduced to the pack. He goes through his paces as a virgin. The trail was nicely set up. We had to do some crawling under fences and climbing over fences and scaling high walls. I complained the whole way through the trail, but honestly that was one of the most entertaining trails I have been on. Manny got to see how a trail was set. He caught on to the lingo and how to spot trail quickly. He enjoyed it very much. One of the most surprising moments was when he got unofficially named. The pack liked him so much that they gave him a name. He was referred to as "Exit 164", because they asked him were in Jersey he was from he answered Exit 164. They all laughed and started referring to him as such.

Later on that day around 2ish. Manny and I and some hashers jump into a train heading to Osan. One of my friends was leaving Korea forever, so we all wanted to say good bye. As a hasher saying good-bye meant going on trail and having a nice party after wards. I am not going to bore you with the details, but fun was had by all. A lot of the trail actually involved garbage. The hashers thought it would be funny to turn me into the garbage man. So any chance they had they gave me garbage and we all laughed about it.

Then we went off to have fun in town.

Sunday:

There was another hash to be had, but Manny and I had enough for the weekend. I decided to show him around Seoul. Manny had hopes of getting to visit and see the Harley Davidson of South Korea. So we walked and walked for about 2 hours asking directions and we eventually find the store. Manny's eyes were filled with joy. Then we get closer only to see the gates shut and the lights off. Then I quickly saw a vein grow in Manny's head. It was funny and scary at the same time. I felt bad for the kid. It was one of his major things to do while in South Korea. So after cooling off a little we walked around town more. We stumble onto a couple of gems, but that didn't make him feel better. So we hop a train then a bus and then another bus to my town.


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The End


Friends are just really good enemies.


-Cezar-

3 days