Saeng il chuk ha ham ni da

A big thank you goes out to Daphne (and her boyfriend), Kate, Deanna, Patricia, and Hani (teachers from my school) for buying me two birthday cakes and surprising me at the restaurant/bar last night. That was amazing and you guys are amazing people... I'll miss you A LOT. Thanks also to Patrick, Jung, Chris and Adam for showing up... and a big thanks to Dawna for orchestrating this surprise. I was quite impressed... how do you plan a surprise party for someone you live and work with? When did you have the time?

In other news, Thailand tomorrow (after I work today... on, you know, the day I didn't get off.)

- Gilad

A Box of Love

No, not that kind of box.

With my 24th birthday looming around the corner and being here in Korea, I wasn't expecting much in the way of gifts. Not that I ever do, but you know, away from family and friends it's just a little more difficult.

Well, to my surprise, I walked into work yesterday and saw a box from a Bryson Parks. I lit up and it made my day. After opening the box, I found out that Drew and Chase were a part of it as well. Awesome.

What was inside the box?

1. An empty pizza box from our favourite/local/cheap pizza place in Waterloo. It's a shame the box was empty but after not seeing it for eleven months, it was still awesome.
2. A tub of protein powder. Awesome! I was running low and needed to pick some up anyways. Great timing.
3. A book of 500 smoothie and juice recipes. You guys know how I love my frozen dairy products.
4. A Spanish phrasebook for my future travels to South America. Really handy.
5. A Men's Health magazine. Not only will I learn how to improve my body more but I'll have tons of stuff to read whilst on the toilet! Seriously, I was running so low on material that I was starting to read the back of conditioner bottles. Too much information?

This was the best gift I could have asked from my best friends. Thanks guys. You rock!

And yes, Seinfeld.

- Gilad

People, indeed, are awesome!

Thanks Chris for sharing this awesome video. I need to do something like this. Hmmm...


Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

- Gilad

One Month

Dawna and I are one month removed from returning to Canada. That means we've been here for eleven months, and well, WOW! Only one more month left in Korea. Can't believe it!

- Gilad

Sweet Yukata

Mark, from Japan, recently sent me a sweet yukata, among other cool Japanese items. It's so... Japanese. Check it out!






- Gilad

Lotte Giants and Sashimi

Last week, along with Patrick and Jung, I was able to head to Busan's Sajik Stadium to visit their beloved Lotte Giants host a baseball game against the Doosan Bears. Although our (Lotte Giants) team lost 3-2, it was a pretty crazy game to attend. The stadium was packed the fans were nuts at all times. Every player has their own song/chant that the whole stadium gets into. In fact, everything has a chant. When someone catches a foul ball, the whole stadium chants for the guy/girl to hand it over to a child. When the opposing team tries to pick off a runner on first, the chant has a designated chant for that as well. Lots of similarities to the game back home but lots of subtle differences as well. $7 gets you a ticket anywhere in the stadium... you decide where you sit. Rather than eating hot dogs, everyones snacking on gimbap (rice wrapped in seaweed... kinda like sushi) or fried chicken... and just like back home, there's tons of obnoxious, drunk guys acting like goofballs. Some former MLB players also play for these teams, but like you can imagine, that obviously means they're not MLB-leveled players anymore. One thing I found hilarious is that all the teams are named after big-name Korean companies. You have the Hyundai, Doosan, Kia, Lotte and other teams. All the teams are based out of a city... so Busan has the Lotte Giants. Rather than cheering for the name of their city (i.e. "BUSAN! BUSAN!") everyone cheers the name of the company... so you have tons of "LOTTE!" "LOTTE!" changs going on. Great marketing strategy!

Good times.


Sajik Stadium in Busan.


The scoreboard. That American flag you see represents their lone American player and same goes for the Mexican flag next to it.


Near the 8th inning, they handed out orange garbage bags for everyone to pump air into and put on their heads. I guess it serves three purposes. The first, you can support the home team by wearing their colours. Secondly, you can pick up all the trash around you after the game is over. And third, you can look like a giant douchebag.


The orange bags.


A stadium full of orange bag heads.


Cute little girl struggling with her bag.


Patrick, the douchebag.


One of the thousands of Lotte chants.


Another Lotte chant.


After the game was over, we headed over to the beach for some sashimi (raw fish). This experience never gets old. We head to a fish market where we scan over tons of tanks housing different kinds of live fish. We pick what we want, it gets slaughtered and gutted in front of us, and it's all ready to eat. One second it's alive, and the next it's being dipped into various hot sauces and being eaten raw. Delicious!


Assorted fish... and that dish in the top left corner is the live octopus that is still moving around after it's been killed.


Not really sure what this fish was called but it was delicious.


San Nakji... or live octopus.


mmm... sashimi!


- Gilad

They're SO damn good at English!

My kindergarteners just rocked that open class I wrote about earlier. They were all funny, cute, and smart.. they knew everything and knew it well. I just finished it up about 20 minutes ago and I'll be getting feedback later today. I hope my boss agrees that it went well... I'm excited to hear what she has to say. What a relief to be done! Now, in the batter's cage... DAWNA PACHKOWSKY (who doesn't quite have such well-behaved, cute and intelligent students).

- Gilad