Korea is starting to feel more and more like home, and if I ever get a handle on the language (I'm still stuck on my few silly phrases that don't really get me anywhere), I'm sure I'll fit in quite well here. Yet... there's always "something to write home about" in daily Korean life, and today, it's Volleyball!
Every Wednesday, the staff at school plays volleyball. I remember the first Wednesday - everyone was so excited to see me on the court, as I'm a genuine monster in height and size by Korean standards, so they felt certain I could spike the ball like no one else could. Sadly, these thoughts quickly proved wrong, as they saw how uncoordinated I am when trying to pick my feet off the ground, and how my height did little to translate into skill on the court. But they saw potential, so they started to set up "training" times for me.
But why train? We only play against our own school, we put every teacher on the court at once (it's usually 10-on-10), and no one is really any good except the gym teachers. Yet there's a "need" to be great. My principal will at times stay late with me, setting and bumping the ball back and forth, and teachers are constantly showing me how to 1-2-3-jump-uh and SPIKE-UH!And it seems that maybe all this training has worked, if only a little, as the last time we played I dominated the game, though I'm a little embarrassed now because of it. I won't go into my amazing volleyball antics (I still really am terrible) but I'm not sure how good it is to encourage an unfair physical advantage to become so competitive. Remember that movie "Meet the Parents" where Ben Stiller, pressed by his in-laws to play harder, spikes the ball into the girl's face? Well, I may not have made anyone bleed, but when I crushed the poor tiny kindergarten teacher to the floor, I certainly felt like Ben Stiller did. Only everyone was giving me high-5's.
We also had Sports Day at our school last Friday, which was a really great event put on by the parents and teachers, though of course there were a few unexpected hmoments to mention as well.
The first was the race - a race between myself, the school principal, and a grade 6 girl. Why? I don't know, no one was watching, it wasn't any kind of kick-off event, they just decided we should race. I'm told that I should have let the principal win to make him look good, but wow was he slow. At least he beat the grade 6 girl.
The rest of the day was measured out in starting lines and cups of coffee. That's what I did - start a race, have a cup of coffee, then do it again. I don't really drink coffee, so after the 4th big cup they gave me, I was feeling flat-out loopy. If only the had fed me I may have help it together, but despite the heaps of pizza given to the kids, I was only allowed little buckets of re-constituted deep-fried chicken. And coke, they gave me lots of coke. When I was finally fed, it was fresh octopus, which I did manage to eat but not without some serious grumblings from the ol' tummy.
To close, I'll emphasize my point on the volleyball matter - here's the clip from "Meet The Parents", enjoy http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/02b0ebc616/meet-the-parents-volleyball-scene-from-rihannaisagoddess
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