It’s funny how some small events seem to stick on your memory forever. You don’t really know why certain things are stubbornly lodged into your memory, but you know not even a brain toothpick could get rid of them.
One of those memories is of me and my friend Brandon riding down a hill on a large board on top of a skateboard. We sat on either side of the large board seesawing it like airplane wings and steering it to the bottom of the hill. What I remember best was the sound the skateboard made as it rolled down the hill. The sound of the wheels on concrete was much louder and deeper than a normal skateboard because the large wooden board seemed to amplify and contain the sound. It really did sound like an airplane taking off.
Anyway, my friend Brandon just sent me a photo I didn’t know existed! That’s my brother Connor in the center.
Brandon Katz, Ben Heine, Aaron Heine
Tags: Brandon Katz, heine, kids, skateboard
Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
I was in line at McDonald’s on Wednesday when an older Korean man began speaking to me. He seemed very excited to see an American and he asked if he could join me at my table. His english wasn’t very good, but he had a lot to say. I told him I rode my bike here and he said he too was a rider. He invited me to come riding with him sometime. I said I probably would and I gave him my business card with my email address on it.
He sent me an email a few days later. Now in his email I’m sure he used some kind of bad translation software for writing it but I assure you, he does have an interesting, and I guess you could say, broad vocabulary. For example, when I went up to buy a second hamburger at Mcdonalds he said my appetite was ravenous and gluttonous. Makes you wonder about the methods people go about learning English here in Korea. Below is his email.
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Tags: biking, korea, mcdonalds, seoul
Posted in korea | 1 Comment »
In my Jan 13th entry I thought I was hot shit on skis. Snowboarding was another story. This was my first time snowboarding.
To make a long painful story less painful I’ll just tell you of two falls.
The first happened on my first run. I had no clue the ground was hard as cement so when I hit the ground I really busted my ass and screwed my wrist up pretty good.
I’ve seen fake snow before, and it looks like snow. What covered this mountain did not look like snow. It was tiny pieces of ice, kind of like salt, but a little bigger. It was very slick.
The next serious fall happend to be my last run. I was starting to get the hang of it and and made it to the bottom with some speed. Out of the blue - BAM! I hit the ground hard. My head hit the ground knocking my goggles and hat off. I mean it when I say the ground was hard as concrete.
I am now sitting on a large black and blue bruise and typing with a wrist that will need some kind of brace.
Tags: fake snow, fall, injury, korea, ski, snowboard
Posted in korea | 3 Comments »
I was at Gagnam station at the back of the line. Everyone was pooring into the subway. Just as it starts to fill up all the doors slide shut. Normally they don’t just shut the doors as people are trying to enter. The guy to the right gets sandwiched right down the middle but squeezes out pretty easily. The girl to the left wasn’t so lucky. The doors shut right on her neck, and her head was stuck inside the subway. She couldn’t get out, so a few people pulled the doors open. Pretty funny I must admit, but wouldn’t have been so funny if that train had moved about 5 feet. Guard rail would have taken her head off.
Tags: gagnam, head, korea, seoul, subway, train
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
