2006 NBA Dunk Contest

Youtube video of most of the dunks

Andre Iguodala's behind the backboard dunk

Andre Iguodala lost by one point to Nate Robinson, but Iggy's dunk was still incredible.

Milk and Basketball

A short time ago, I realized I hadn't drank milk in about a week and a half. That's an eternity for me. So I bought some milk and have been storing it in the communal refrigerator at my hasuk (boarding house). But now it smells like kimchi because there's kimchi in the fridge. Milk smelling like kimchi is not something you want to wake up to.

Also yesterday I played basketball at one of the only indoor courts in Seoul. It's decent, but it's crowded, and far. From leaving my door of the hasukjip to returning to the hasukjip, it took 4 hours. I only played one 20 minute game. This court is only open for basketball 3 sundays a month from 2pm -4:45pm. Let's just say I'm not getting any better at bball in Korea.

On the way to the basketball game, the canadian guy who also lives in my hasukjip told me that on United Nations standardized high school tests, South Korea usually scores 1 - 2 in the world, but by the time the students graduate college, they have the 88th most capable workforce in the world. Now this is just hearsay, but even if it's half true (and I feel like it is), that's staggering!

Why study at Starbucks in Seoul when you don't drink coffee?

I bought something at Starbucks for the first time in my life yesterday. I didn't want to, but I felt bad about using Starbucks' wireless internet for the second day in a row while drinking something from another store. It's not that I think Starbucks is evil; I just don't drink coffee, and prefer donuts at Dunkin Donuts or tea at a non chain coffee store.

But I might be spending more time at Starbucks, and not just for the wireless internet (The Internet cafes that are everywhere don't offer wireless, and I haven't found anywhere else to use my laptop in Seoul yet). I realized it's a great place to meet girls who are studying English. And also practice my Korean conversation skills.

Living in Seoul

I arrived in Seoul last Thursday. That meant I wouldn't get to spend the lunar new year with my host family, but that's okay with me because it seems like a repeat of Chusok, and I'm really excited to be living in a city with tons of things to do.

Gabe from W&M came up to Seoul on Friday night, and Mike and I picked him up at the train station and then went out. Mike left for China on Saturday. He works for a private english academy and the longest vacation time he gets off is 5 days, right now. I'm jealous of all the great Chinese food he'll get to eat. I tried going to a 'Chinese street' (according to the guide book) today, but there was nothing. It was great to see Gabe and hang out with him, we capped our Saturday adventures with dancing in Itaewon, and taking over the dance floor.

I live in a small boarding house type room now, and it's great so far. I get breakfast and dinner everyday, and the room is only $400 for the month. It doesn't have internet, which is kind of a blessing in disguise because there's not much to do in my room except study Korean, and that's what I'm here to do. I think the language classes start wednesday.

Links for 1-24

I posted a ton of pictures today. See all of the new ones here. They're from last december, my trip to America, and this past weekend. There's 58 total, but they are in a convenient thumbnail size so you should be able to see most of them easily.

Funny flash animation of George Bush and our country.

My friend Keith will one day be famous. He recently made TV, and I can almost hear the masses echoing Keith's wisdom, shouting "get them on their feet or at least off the streets!"

A dog bit my leg

Friday. Midday. Gyeryong, South Korea.

I was walking to school to play basketball with some of the students. I had finished my winter camp the previous day, I had just mailed some letters to America and transferred money successfully, and the weather was beautiful. I was riding high.

As a student, Jun Yong, and I were walking to school, we walked past a yard that usually has dogs chained up. I noticed one of the dogs barking and running toward us. Funny, I remembered thinking, his/her chain isn't chained to anything.

The dog run right up to us, and barked as we kept walking. Then the dog BIT MY LEG!

I continued on to school, where I checked out the damage. Just a scrape really, with a little blood. I thought since it was a crazy dog I should wash it off, and I did. I played bball, then had lunch with Jun Yong and then went home.

Then things got interesting. I have a history of not going to the doctor's when I should, and so I decided to google rabies since I know nothing about it. What I found wasn't comforting. The big symptoms of rabies don't really appear until 1-4 days after the bite, but by that point it's too late to do anything and the victim dies. I didn't want to die, and had few options sitting alone in my room in a city where I can't really communicate well with anyone, so I called the Fulbright program coordinator.

She told me to call the doctor attached to Fulbright. He wasn't in and I had to convince a doctor to answer my questions, because she hasn't seen me before and doesn't have a record about me. She said it didn't sound too bad but I should probably ask the dog owner about the dog. I couldn't really do that though. So I called my host mom, and then told my host sister what happened, and she told my host mom. Then my host mom called my host uncle, a doctor, who said that Korea doesn't have rabies. That wasn't that very comforting, considering Korea 'doesn't have homosexuals,' among other things.

So I went to a doctor. I knew I would have to endure a visit to the doctors in which I couldn't communicate sooner or later. My host sister brought me to the doctor and translated, and the doctor gave me antibiotics. Antibiotics doesn't do anything for rabies and I didn't think I needed them. They were also the same pills that my host brother took when he sprained his wrist.

From the doctor's office, I went straight to the gym. I was leaving for Seoul in a few hours, and that crazy dog wasn't going to ruin my chance for a workout. At the gym, the gym owner shows me a picture from the internet on his computer, and asks if I've ever seen this kind of dog. He says it's a nice dog, 'kind of like... man's best friend?' It was the same kind of dog that bit my leg today.