Anyang Halla

It's a tuesday morning and I have a gap between classes, so I thought it would be a good time to update my blog. Last weekend I started Friday night by going out with a couple coworkers and grabbing some bbq pork. Most restaurants in Korea don't have private bathrooms, and the public ones are usually in the staircase, they are cold, dirty, and normally out of toilet paper so I was ecstatic when I found a clean private bathroom in the bbq pork place. Score!
On Saturday I woke up not feeling that great (understatement) and when I was abruptly woken up by my cell I was irrationally mad "Whose calling me at this ungodly hour?!" I flipped my phone open to the unfamiliar voice of my landlord. Through broken english I got the gist of what he was trying to convey to me: stay at home. repair men are coming. five minutes. I then looked at the time, 1:20pm, ok fine, not exactly the "morning" but I felt awful.
I unlocked my door and waited for my landlord. When he came in we exchanged a series of points and gestures. I pointed at the broken light and the dripping faucet in my bathroom and he tried speaking Korean at me while I stared at him blankly.
"You stay, STAY." He said.
"Um, ok.."
"Stay home. Repair men... today, tomorrow, monday... okay?"
"What?"
At this point I had already spent two afternoons waiting for these repair men when they were actually scheduled to show up and now he wanted me to wait in my apartment on a Saturday?
"I have to leave at 4." I said, and held up four fingers and then pointed at the door.
"4?"
"Yes, I (point at myself) have to leave (point a door and make korean crossed arm symbol for "no" or "stop") at 4 (hold up four fingers)"
He nodded and left, and I hoped he had understood me. After he left it occurred to me that I had no food, no water and I really wanted to take a shower but I could not do or get any of these things while I waited for the repair men. I snuggled back into my bed and watched the Simpson's while I waited.
Luckily I have nice friends in Korea so Tyler brought me some Chois Tacos (delicious) while I waited for the repair men.
After the repair men finally came it was almost time to go to the Hockey game. Our friend Jae was bringing us to the Korea Halla game vs the Japan Eagles. *** Jae also informed me that people cannot get into the SKY universities with a hockey scholarship so I retract my previous statement.
When I first got to Korea one of the recruiters for my company gave me the english magazine Seoul and there had been an article about Kim Ki-sung, one of the Halla players, he's possibly going to go play for the NHL and he's the top player on Halla. I had mentioned this to Jae, so on the ride to Anyang Jae told me that if Halla won, Kim Ki-sung said I could take a picture with him. (Jae went to university with Kim Ki-sung) I got really excited and nervous and then my "dear" friends Matt and Tyler started calling me a Puck Bunny. I didn't know what it meant but I knew it couldn't be good.
Me (on the defense) "What is a puck bunny?"
Matt, "It's a girl that has a thing for hockey players."
Me, "I don't have a 'thing' for hockey players!"
Matt, "uh, you dated one, you're a puck bunny."
I grumbled to myself while I waited for a retort that never came. This is what happens when I am the only girl. Then Jae asked what a puck bunny was and Matt described it as the equivalent of a groupie and that's when my purse came in quite handy as a weapon.
The game was great, and there was a huge Canadian turn out, in our section there must have been about 35% westerners and all the guys that were sitting behind us were Canadian. In Korea the liquor laws are different so people can bring their own booze to the game, so the guys behind us were chugging vodka out of the most conspicuous bottle they could have brought.
Halla won and we went downstairs to meet Kim Ki-sung. I'm not sure if people take pictures with athletes in Korea because the whole situation felt very awkward. Everyone shuffled me over to Kim Ki-sung and I just sort of stood next to him until Jae started chanting "put your arm around her!" No sooner had he done so did I hear his girlfriend (who was standing behind us) say something in Korean and he whipped his arm away. Awkward. In the final picture I have a goofy smile and he had his hands conservatively at his sides.
In Korean hockey they don't play by the violent north american rules, so there were no fights. But I kept subconsciously expecting a fight the entire time. Tyler noted, quite accurately I think, that Hockey makes you blood thirsty. The guys behind us kept yelling "FIIIIIGHT!!!" To no avail. The closest the game came to a fight was when one of the foreign players, Brock Radunske #25, got annoyed and shoved one of the Japan players. Maybe he forgot what country he was playing in, he IS Canadian.
Then I ended the weekend quite pleasantly but going to a spa with Kathy, we went to "Sinchon Rest" where we paid 6,000 won and got to enjoy hot tubs and saunas for as long as we pleased. They even have napping rooms at spas if you want to take a break. I left with my skin feeling so soft and nice, I will definitely go back there.