Touch Rugby in Seoul

Well, the Suwon Stormers are happily making their way through their second season of Touch Rugby in Korea. Two weekends ago, they played their second tournament of the season and came away with the Plate once again!

Note* If you're dumb about rugby, like me, then you should know that the Plate is for the team that wins the losers round... or something. In any case, they won some cash that bought many beers later that night at Scrooge's in Itaewon.

Next weekend the boys (and Sara) should be hosting their own tournament in Suwon! Hopefully they get a good turnout, but I know that even if they don't everyone will have a good time.

Over the past year I've looked on as bonds were formed between the different teams from different regions (mostly expat, but some Korean!). Touch rugby has been a great way to bring the international community together, and while the Stormers and their posse are all, mostly, young and largely unattached, it's really great to see the other team's out with their families- even watching the little expat kids play tough rugby with each other. Hell- even the Mom's are learning how to play (one gave me a black eye last year during my one and only attempt at playing )

In a way, I look forward to these tournies as much as the team, just because I know some good, old fashioned rowdy fun is going to occur at any time. And the BBQ is always welcome- and the kebabs!

Hope to see you all during the rest of this season!

Happy Canada Day! Like, a week ago...

Canada Day is one of those days in a Canadian expat's life that sting a little. It's like Christmas, only slightly downgraded. You want to celebrate, you want to be with your friends and family, drinking Kieth's and eating cake and barbeque- you want to be in your country, at the very least.

There are quite a few Canadian expats in Korea. If you listen to the statistics, you will believe that there are more Canadian ESL teachers than any other English speaking nationality in Korea (they apparently like the neutral accent). However, I recently heard that more Americans than ever are coming to Korea and Koreans are starting to hire them more than Canadians- they apparently work for less. I have no idea if this is true, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

But back to my nation's day of birth.

No Canada Day is complete without the following, in my mind: Canadian music, Canadian beer (or wine, whichever), a really big cake, BBQ and friends. Of all nationalities. Because Canada is so goshdarn multicultural.

At least, this year in Korea I managed 4 out of the 5 on the list. I was among good friends, we (sorta) had a BBQ, and I made the mother of all cakes (meaning: I made my biggest cake yet in Korea- not bad for a toaster oven) and we listened to some great Canadian musicians.

Friends from all over Yeongtong came to the park the Sunday before Canada's actual birthday. An Adjuma started screaming at us, saying we couldn't BBQ in the park. We took the meat to Sophie's house and cooked it, then brought it back to the park and ate. There was a lot of yummy food. There was Canadian trivia, and finally, there was a game of beer ball. Fun times.

Happy Movember!

Movember is something the guys from the touch rugby team have been working on all month. Doing what, you may ask? Well, growing some sleazy 'staches of course. Duh. Mo-vember. Don't worry, dear readers, it isn't all for nothing (like their girlfriends would be this supportive if they were growing moustaches for no reason)- they are growing 'stashes to rasie money for men's health issues! Hurrah! We all know that men don't necessarily like to go to the doctor to discuss a senstive health issue, but I am proud to say that Movember has been getting a lot of support from the expat community here in Korea and all around the world!

Here's the official website: http://www.movember.com/

And now that you know about Movember, you should, like, give them some money before November is over. This weekend. Do it for your Dads and brothers and boyfriends and husbands and friends. Anyway, even though it's a good cause I, for one, will be happy to have a clean shaven boyfriend once again on Monday. It has; however, been fun to watch our boys' progress this month.

Readers: who do you think won the 'stache contest?



What can I say. The girls are in FULL support of the guys. We went all out.

Here's Adian's...

Luke has a steady hand with a razor...

Paul, looking the creepiest he's looked in at least three months...

Pat with his handlebars (you can only really see his 'stache up close- he's just too blonde).

And, of course, Jeremy. Who can pull off facial hair because he's from South Africa. There, I said it.

Prepare Yourself.

If you recall my last few rugby experiences, you will agree that I am not the sportiest of ladies- yes? Me too.

So why the hell did I join a touch rugby team?

Actually, there were numerous reasons I was attracted to join this particluar team. Time for a list!

1. It is an all girls team, but also an all girls team made up of girls who have (for the most part) never played the game.
2. My friends created it after tiring of hearing all of our guy friends (and Grace) talk about rugby nonstop. It got boring just listening.
3. Our team is the girliest touch rugby team, possibly in the history of the game. We like sparkles and puppies. And lip gloss. And shoes. Our uniforms are tie dyed.
4. I needed the exercise.

So, my lady friends and I trained for about three weeks, learned the gist of the game and then participated in an international touch tournament in Seoul where we played against really good teams. We tried our best, but against these girls your best is not good enough. However; if they were ever planning on giving out "cutest outfit" awards or "most sunshiney attitude" awards we would have definitely cleaned up. Here are some pics:


While the real rugby players watched, I wolfed down an egg mcmuffin and hash brown for breakfast. It's not my fault that our hotel was on top of a McDonald's, ok?

And Rachael just couldn't imagine getting through her day of sports without some Starbucks. So we enjoy the comforts of home.

During the games, the guys tend to get really intense (angry). They spend a lot of time "discussing things" but by the end of the game they are still best friends. That's the nice thing about boys.

Coolest shirt ever. Go Dani.

My nails needed some pizazz before the game, so I painted them pink of course!

Our beautiful team of sparkly princesses.

My running shoes. Duh.

After we lost all our games (and I got a black eye) we had some free beer and wine and cheered on our guys, who made it through to the next round!

Jeremy and this guy from a Korean team had a dance off before the game, natch.

And we continued to drink and shout encouragement...

Then the guys won the plate! Again!

And Pat got, like, five tri's or something awesome like that.

And here are the Stormers and the Sunshiners! BFFAA.


And in true Suwon style we made our way to the wine tent.

And we celebrated Grace and Rachael's birthday! Happy birthday!

It was raining and we were all pretty soaked.

After the tournie we went to Scrooge's in Itaewon for the awards ceremony and a free dinner. It was yummy. The guys got a trophy!

And promptly used it to drink beer. The end.

Home, Sweet Home.

So I was on vacation for about three weeks in between finishing my first contract with Maple Bear and starting my second, and of course I went home to see my family and friends that I had been missing all year. It was absolutely wonderful to be back in my own country, although I found myself missing Korea and wishing I was partaking in the activities of my friends here. So what did I do while I was home? WELL... not much, actually. It rained for pretty much the entire three weeks, it was unseasonably cold and I spent most of my time catchig up on the Food Network (hands down the number one thing I miss while I'm in Korea).

I did; however, make it out on occasion and also managed to take some pictures so I can share a bit of my homeland with all of you:



My Mother and I on Kelly's Mountain, Cape Breton Island. Going to visit my Aunt and Grandparents... oh, and going to do some major second hand shopping at Valu Village. I'm a thrift shop addict, and there are certainly no thrift shops in Korea, so I had to get a year's worth of shopping finished in one afternoon. I did pretty good.

My crotchety old Grandfather. He's a character! To my left is my Step-Grandmother, Ann. Together they make quite an odd couple and often my Grandfather will come roaring down the road to my house, screaming "I hate that woman", "Put me in a home", and so on. I love them dearly.

I spent a lot of my time stuffing my face with food. Fish n' chips from home just can't be beat, I'm afraid.

This is at the beginning of the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton, near the little Acadian village of Cheticamp. Home to said fish n' chips and one of my favourite spots on the island.

Me and my Daddy-o. We had a lot of nice bonding (beer drinking and fishing) time while I was home.

My island is full of little fishing harbours. They're quaint.

Dad and I caught 14 lovely trout in about 2 hours. It was a good day in the brook. Freezing, but good!

My mom and I made it down the province to the Annapolis Valley where I went to university, and on the way down we had the first (and only) completely sunny day during my vacation. I like driving through farming country.

So beautiful and green...

We made it back to my university town where I was able to reconnect with some old friends. Like the tiger stripe dog that I used to see walk down the street every day when I was working at the cafe.

The lovely, historic town of Wolfville. Home to Acadia University and home to me for four great years.

I was able to visit lots of old friends, coworkers, professors- it was pretty great.

You may remember my friend Jesse from my "Remembering St. Patrick's Day" post. Well, he is still in Wolfville and hopefully graduated by now. I think I've convinced him to move to Korea.

My favourite thing about my trip to Wolfville was that I was able to partake in my favourite activities: people watching, coffee drinking, socializing and doing crosswords.

It was very hard to say goodbye to Chelsea. As well as the rest of my family... but next I was off to see my brother in Toronto! I'll save that for the next post.

America: Eff Yeah! (Happy Belated Fourth of July)

We celebrated the Fourth of July much the same way we celebrated Canada Day- actually, no. We just celebrated with the same people I guess. But either way, I think we would have done the United States proud. There was American Football, a cake that was supposed to have an American flag but the icing was too runny and it all kinda melted (it worked out ok, though, because at that point we just dubbed it the "Melting Pot" cake), some non-American beer, but that couldn't be helped, a good old fashioned BBQ and to top off our celebrations (and in true American style) we fired off some fireworks around midnight. It was great!

The cake in all it's melted glory: I made Patrick tell everyone he made it because I was embarassed to be associated with such an awful icing job. But then everyone loved it and I took back the credit (so selfish).

The guys played football and the girls made fun of them. That's how we roll. Really, we should have just gotten off our asses and played with them, but it was such a hot day. Just look at the state of my hair, and that's just from sitting down. I mean, honestly.

Grace and Lindsay think this is the girliest picture ever taken of the two of them. Just thank the photographer, ladies, just thank the photographer.

Aidan's already got his shirt off and he hasn't even finished his first beer. I think this might be a record. The guys had a good time playing football, though. The majority of them aren't American and haven't really played the sport so it was a nice introduction.

Waiting for the meat to BBQ the girls were just too hungry. So we proceeded to eat Rachael's macaroni salad with our bare hands. Sexy, no?

The party took places at Aidan's, natch, since he has the best apartment out of everyone. It's huge and it has a deck (it's loacted on the roof of the building). Here's Kim, Ciara, Kamal, and Michelle enjoying the fresh air (and the Cass Lemon).

And here's Patrick almost killing himself (and apparently our friend Luke) with a firecracker. Luckily, Aidan came to his rescue and pointed it in the right direction seconds before it went off. Phew.

And, like most nights out with our Now Bar people, the night turned into one big group-hug sing-along. I love these people.