School trips

Every now and then, as epik recruits, we manage to go on a school fieldtrip. They are mostly boring trips to places that no one really wants to go. Every now and then, something stands out.

On my last trip we went further into the mountains to an area near a small town called Youngwal. This trip was made up of four visits to museums and lunch at a buddist temple. It sounds like an interesting trip but when you cannot read a word of Korean its a different story altogether.

In South Korea evryone is proud of a 'South Korean' island called Dokdo. The reason for this is because there is a waging battle between the Japs and the South Kopreans over this peice of land. If it were Japanese territory, it would extend their fishing rights among many other interesting things. I met a man by the name of Jai Ryong who wrote a book on this topic and made an effort using maps dating from the 16th century to prove the Dokdo is Korean. He gave all my children a lesson on, "Why Dokdo is Korean Territory".

He was so passionate about the topic and he came across very strong. When he was talking, I felt like a was getting a lecture from Hitler himself. He was talking in Korean but I knew axactly what he was saying. Every time he would say 'Dokdo', the kids would say, 'Korean', or, 'Nay' which is not the correct spelling but it means yes. Half way through the lecture, I got hold of his book and started reading it to really understand what he was saying. It is brilliant how he used geographical maps to determine that Dokdo is Korean teritory.

At the end of the lecture I told him that I was really enjoying his book and he gave me a free autographed copy. I will mail him to ask for permission to put a couple of pages on my blog in the future. Inside the book he wrote......

                      "To Marc Radloff, from Jai Ryong"
                       "Dokdo is the KOREA island"

I loved this and it really portrayed his belief and shows how passionate he is about his work.

Young Mi (my co-teacher) and I looking for South Africa on an ancient map

Some of my kids and co-workers

Young Mi and I with the kids acting a fool

Staying true to the jumping photo legacy and doing it in the lecture venue

My main man Jai Ryong and I

Jai Ryong's book

His awsoem autograph

Supper with the teachers at the end of the day

CRAZY HOW THINGS WORK OUT

Wow, this weekend was one that never went as planned at all due to many unforeseen and known circumstances. This being said, it turned out to rock! I wouldn’t have changed the outcome for the world. Friday was the best school day of my life. I was sick and had to go to Gangneung to the doctor and it just so happened that I had a friend from Seoul with me. Al Ward. We ended up playing nine games of ten pin bowling, buying a laptop, going to the doctor and meeting up with Giuli for supper.

We had an early night and planned to go to Jecheon for the cherry blossom festival on Saturday. It took us four hours on a bus to get there and on arrival; we were shoved onto a small bus with seventy people. It was an absolute nightmare. We could not believe that it was possible to do this (believe me it is). We started our approximately half an hour journey to the festival when Al states out of the blue, “guys, how funny would it be if we broke down now”. We were about one tenth of our way there when we were alarmed by a noxious smell of burnt oil.

Cherry blossom in town

Crowded bus (70 people)

After the bus broke down

Where the bus broke



Ok, so now we stuck in the middle of nowhere, we are frustrated, we don’t have a taxi and we do not know how to get hold of one either. Along comes a Korean couple, our saving grace! They ask, do you want to share a taxi? We scream out, YES!!! Another problem, there is five of us. Our new Korean friend makes a call and calmly says, “It’s all sorted”. The taxi arrives and once again, we are on our way to the cherry blossom festival. Only this time we were with new friends.

About five minutes after getting into the taxi, we see a traffic jam in the middle of nowhere. The taxi driver turns to us and says, “I’m not taking you through that, it will take another three hours”. WHAT!!! We had about enough of this stupid festival now!

 

Trying to find a place to eat

A place that sells you with pictures and surprizes you with the reality of the situation

We headed back and Al had been talking about drinking all day and I was ready to join him. When we arrived back in the city, we invited our new friends to lunch with us to get drunk and forget about our nightmare of a day. They had a similar experience as they travelled all the way from Seoul. They kindly accepted and joined us on our mission to forget about the day. It wasn’t even two Soju’s down and we were all on top of the world as if nothing bad had happened all day.

After lunch we said our goodbyes to our new friends and made our way to Wonju. When we arrived at Wonju we wanted to try and find a hubly bubbly/shisha/waterpipe for myself and Al. Back home we used to get together and smoke and just chat and hang out. It took a good while to find the place and convince the owner that he should sell one of his hublies, but we got it right and we were soon on our way home. We had a great night smoking hub in my bathroom and just chilling. The next day we said our goodbyes after lunch and I took Giuli to see her cherry blossoms which were a swear word to me at the moment.

Having fun at the festival

Gambling, so addictive

Hanging out with the dreaded cherry blossom

Stoked with the great day

We not only got amazing cherry blossoms, we got a festival! It was such a great end to a strange weekend, where everything we planed never panned out but everything that panned out happened as if it were planned.

Our new friends



BUNGEE AND OLYMPICS WITH FRIENDS

Chuncheon was the destination choice for the weekend! We were invited to join beer Olympics which was an excuse to see friends, dress down, and have a few beers and loads of fun. This was the plan for the evening but what about the morning? I thought we should definitely do something exciting! I decided to see if anyone was keen to do a bungee jump before the Beer Olympics got underway. Turned out that there were a few people keen and we made plans to meet up the next day at the bus terminal.

The eager jumpers and I

All Harnessed up

When we arrived at the bus terminal we were met by thirteen eager jumpers. The excitement was mounting as we left for our jump destination. I still have no idea what the place is called but it’s near Nami Island. On arrival we realized that the bungee jump was in fact a body harness jump. This seemed to put a damper on the mood until we all realized it has to be done. We all bought our tickets, some of us wondering if it would be scary to jump off a 55m platform in a body harness. That being said I was one of those people who was pessimistic about the outcome.

The excitement grew as we put our harnesses on and I started getting excited too. The mood of the group was infectious. There were thirteen of us, ready to take the plunge!

As we arrived at the top, it became real to everyone that we are doing this, no matter what! It’s always awesome to see someone that is so S**T scared, do a jump that pushes their limits completely. To watch them make that decision to walk off the edge and fall toward the earth with nothing but a bungee cord attached. In our group we had one guy in particular that simply put, was terrified! His name is Jason Singh. He was one of two to turn around and try again. He was ready to give up until he made the decision to just do it! He walked to the edge for his second attempt and crept his toes over the edge. He jumped overcoming a massive challenge in his life. He inspired me to push myself more! I can’t wait to skydive and progressively get to my dream of wing-suit skydiving.

Taking the leap



Rushing like a champion



Stoked with life

 After the jump, we went to the Beer Olympics. Our team was called “soo caa free daaa”. It’s apparently a mix between Canada and South Africa as our team was made up of Canadians and South Africans (No S*** Sherlock). We went all out and continued the spirit we had almost left in South Africa. Although we didn’t do well at the Olympics, we won in effort and pride. Below are some pictures of the champions that took part in that which will be known as the greatest battle ever known to umpalooooooompas.

Keen to win (game face) On the right is Ferg who is always keen to push the limits

The awsome crew

It turned out to be a great weekend away and I feel like our ‘Gangwon’ group is definitely getting closer to one another.

Giuli and I buggid after a great weekend

IF YOU LOOK FOR SOMETHING YOU WILL FIND IT

I need excitement! I need to live!

I’ve been I South Korea for almost two months and I feel like everything I do is the same. Nothing is really getting me hyped, I feel like I’m travelling the straight and narrow.  I need to do something that gets the blood pumping, something that makes me feel alive again!

This was the mindset I had when going to a nearby city called Wonju. It seemed like an ordinary Saturday at first. We met up with friends at the bus terminal, helped an Irish friend called Fergus get a cell phone and went for lunch. It’s at the lunch that things started going pear shaped. I was invited to a jimjibang which is commonly known as a public bath. For those of you that know me, I have no problem being naked while body boarding, no problem streaking but for some reason bathing with a bunch of men scared the hell out of me.

After lunch we arrived at the jimjibang and collected our key for a locker that they issue you with, to put ALL your belongings into. I was in a flat PANIC! I looked at a friend and calmly said, “After you”. He dropped the pants and I followed. All five of us ran naked to the bathing area. The bathing area is like a huge bathroom with a Jacuzzi, pressure shower, sauna, scented sauna, and a cold pool. As soon as I got over the whole men all around me naked thing, I realized it was so awesome. I felt like a champion after. There are a few no no’s. The main no no is, DO NOT LIE ON THE BED IN THE BATHING AREA. If you do this, you will be cleaned by a naked old man. The cleaning involves every inch of your body, use your imagination.

After this we went for supper and a relaxed beer or five at the pub. Well that was not meant to be. We were on our third pitcher of beer when we got a free one from a guy in a wheelchair and a HUGE guy in a suite. We said thank you and carried on with our night. Next thing another pitcher arrived together with one order of big suite guy and wheelchair guy. Fergus was chatting about boxing to the wheelchair guy and next thing we knew he said he was in the Korean Mafia and things started to make sense, guy in a wheelchair, big suite “protection”. Oh SHIT, we were all thinking it. The big guy broke a mop and started swaying it in his drunken state and hit the guys at a table next to us about three times before the whole table stood up and confronted him.

This being said it was the wrong move. The boxer in the wheelchair rolled toward the argument and laid his first punch. This led the others to think that it is a good idea to push him over. Mid push over the big guy went wild and laid into everyone (like four guys). They barely fought back and all took a beating. The guy in the wheelchair was throwing punches, never mind just slapping. We quietly paid our money and made our exit while they were busy. It was pretty intense watching all this going down.

If this was not enough excitement, I encouraged friends to bungee jump with me the next day in Cheongpung land. Talk about taking advantage of the hype. The next day things actually went as planned. The friends I encouraged to jump with me stuck by their word and pulled through. The jumpers were me, Fergus Butler and Jennifer Charboneau. When we arrived we were all still pretty calm although I could feel the excitement brewing inside me. When we were paying we saw that we could do an ejection seat and a massive swing as well for an extra 20 000won which is nothing in Rand. So we did it, we paid for all three. We needed a fourth to pull through for the ejection seat and Evelyne Laurin helped us out even though she was feeling real sick.

The full crew, Nick, Me, Ferg, Giuli, Lilli, Ev and Jen

The tension was now peaking. We had to set up for the first activity, the big swing. I could see that reality had set in for all three of us. At the time we didn’t even know what the big swing was. We went with it and it turned out to be the three of us together being pulled up by a crane and then released to do a massive swing through the air. It was so much fun and I would consider it to be more fun than scary. The craziest part was that they made me pull the release mechanism at the top of the crane. I counted down and I couldn’t pull the mechanism, mid complaining it went!

Me and the crew that joined us to the jump. from left to right its, Ev, Jen, Ferg, Lilli, Nick and then me

The crew making a fool, good times!

flying through the air, spectacular feeling

The tower we were pulled to the top of

We now knew that we were in for all the activities. It was such a good ice breaker for what was to come. Up next was the ejection seat which is a chair for two strapped to two bungee cords which get tensioned. This was such a rush and really got the blood flowing! After this we were all pumped to do what we set out to do, the bungee jump. This one was about 60m high and on a crane. We all got into the lift and we then realized that this was real and it was time to grow a pair. I was up first followed by Fergie and Jen.

Ferg and I getting ready to get our worlds rocked

Jen and Ev getting ready to fly

I was terrified! I loved it! The feeling of being in that position is incredible and gets you feeling SO ALIVE. Needless to say we all took the plunge and we had never felt more alive! It was like no other feeling! I knew that my dream of base jumping with a wingsuit was one step closer! I’m jumping again next weekend and I’m doing my sky diving license soon! Things are finally coming together. I found sports that really make me happy. I can’t wait to see what I’m capable of doing! I can’t wait to find my limit and then push it.   

The feeling of being free makes me feel alive, it makes me who I am.