The Road to Disappointment.

Korea is a strange place.

So my first American football match was today.  I arrive at ten o clock, like I was supposed to.  I stayed all day like I was supposed to.  I trained and practiced with them like I was supposed to.  I reminded them that I'm awesome at rugby, and skinned tons of them in training, I nailed a couple of guys and made them regret  being opposite me.  I did everything an aggressive team sport dictates.

They got me suited and booted, which is just ridiculous by the way.  The pads don't weigh much, and the helmets are easy to see out of; but they quadruple your dimensions.  It's impossible to go through gaps, they just don't exist in american football.

Anyway, they put me in for a play, then took me out, then put me in, then took me out, (before the play began) they did the same thing to another guy, and we were both pissed so we threw our helmets on the floor; that's sacrilege in Korea, because, according to one of the coaches, 'the helmet is team.'  You can interpret that any way you want, but the upshot is that neither of us got to play because we were angry, and had adrenaline pumping through us.  Two things you don't want in a physical sport like american football.  Oh wait, did I get that the wrong way round?  Are you supposed to be psyched to play a sport like american football, or are you supposed to tickle the opposition players?  I forgot.

So I just wasted my Saturday for a bunch of assholes that wouldn't let me play, and who themselves are terrible.  Seriously, people were praising a player who managed to break a single tackle, that is a staple in rugby, and they couldn't do that.  There was one hit that was powerful, in the whole game.  These guys are bad.  Just give me one opportunity to sack the quarterback, or give me the ball once and let me run the whole length of the field.

Anyway, we got the adult equivalent of a time-out, and now I'm sunburnt, tired and, frankly, bored of the whole thing.  I think I'll find out more about the rugby team.

Then again, it would be pretty sweet to win a game for these guys, and then stick two fingers up at them halfway through the season, leaving them with nonrefillable shoes.  Revenge will be mine at the end of the day.  That and tons of touchdowns.

A Lot of Hot Air!

It basically came overnight, much faster than anyone predicted.  By the time I got up at 8AM (especially early to go out in what should have been peak storm times) it had already gone!

The shinkansen stopped running because of the safety risks, and the local services were severely disrupted on what was essentially, a bit of a windy, perfectly sunny day.

A number of shops were closed, and my friends' lecturer cancelled her university lessons for today because everyone thought it was going to be bad, but it turned out to be a reasonable day.

Last night sucked though.  A bunch of Italians, who are noisy at the best of times, were hysterical at being stuck in the middle of the storm and were crying in the hallways, literally, and generally keeping everyone up.  That coupled with the noise of the rain, (it hit overnight) meant I didn't get to sleep until 5AM.  I now dislike Italians, which is interesting because in Italy they're a part of the landscape; some countries travel well, Italy doesn't

The weathermen get it wrong here too it seems.

More pictures and whatnot to come at a later date.