The other day we had a company wide sports day, which meant all the branches got together at a spot and spent the day doing all sorts of activities. The draw that I heard repeatedly was that the company had spent a million won ($1000, for you dirty Americans) on meat along. With a bill like that, how could you pass up?

I love my branch. Our head instructor spent the night buying me shots and encouraging us to go out clubbing only to text us at 9 in the morning to "remind" us to show up on time! Also, we were given these lime green collared shirts with the implication that all the other branches would be wearing similar uniforms. Of course, we showed up and were the only ones. We tend to be a group that stands out already, and proudly so. We don't really need the assistance most of the time.

The day started out with all the groups breaking up into teams and participating in a variety of sport goodnesses. A good portion of us showed up late (for obvious reasons) and so we jumped on the nearest team and started playing/cheering/recovering. With great pride, our team took first in dodgeball (huzzah!), then got combined with another, lesser team (awww), only to be lead on to glory by Busanjin's own Jef (huzzah, redux!). We took the lead with such invigorating and Olympic-worthy events as Pass-the-People-Along-On-the-Tarp(?), Blow-Up-the-Balloons, Pop-Said-Balloons, and Bounce-the-Enormous-Ball-On-the-Tarp. It was a tarpy, balloony kinda time. Needless to say, I feel confident in declaring us the winners, though on a day like that, how could you be a loser?

I have to admit, I really do enjoy stuff like that. I met up with a lot of people that I haven't had near as much contact with. It's easy to get insular here, since your work routine combines with your foreigner routine to shut you off from a lot of others. Sometimes you're tired, sometimes you don't want to put the effort in required of somebody in a different country and want to hole yourself in a wall. I realize I've slowed down a bit since I came here; every weekend I was in a new place before and saw new things every day. You need stuff to keep you invigorated or else you fall in the trap. I guess that's the same anywhere you go, but I don't want to squander my time here since it's already limited enough.

We also celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving yesterday with a potluck dinner at the coworker's place. Gotta say, I couldn't name a single Canadian holiday before I got here and now I'm jumping at the chance to join everything from Canadian Independence Day to Canadian Kwanzaa (please, let that exist...). Also, I miss cooking since it's so cheap here to eat out and I'm a lazy bastard. So if anyone has some new recipes/cooking ideas, send them my way. I only have a stove, no oven (baking ain't so big here), no microwave or anything really, no space for much. So if you have ideas on delicious meals using only a range and the sweat o' my brow (maybe not actually IN the food), post em up! Otherwise, later all! I'll have more actual Korean culture soon, I swear!

P.S. No, I probably won't.