This fits in nicely with my own priorities. Approaching 30 years old, I'm starting to have the existential crisis of wondering if I am too old to ever again be in the best shape of my life. At 25 I could ride my bike 100 miles from the ocean to the peak on Mt Arrowhead without and special planning, but last year I had to quit running 22 miles into a marathon! Actually, more important than the extra motivation to get into top form, I'm just happy to be able to play some competitive ultimate on a regular basis.
Now that I live only a couple hours (and less than $10 by bus) from Seoul, I can, and will, go up there any weekend that I don't have anything better to do, and there will be a high level, high intensity frisbee practice or pickup game waiting for me. I tried this out last week. From my apartment - 5 min walk to bus station, 10 minute wait for bus, 2 1/2 hour ride, 20 min subway - to the field was really not bad at all. It was a cold day and the tundra was frozen, but I got a warm feeling from seeing some friends who I hadn't seen since August, and we were sprinting around to stay warm besides.
Afterwards we went out for a very tasty, but not very filling Indian dinner. Here we also got a taste of this strange modern world. During the conversation a scene from Conan the Barbarian came up: "What is best in life?" asked a warlord. "The open steppe, a swift horse beneath you, and a falcon on your arm," answered one warrior. "Yes, that is good, but what is best?" Conan knew the answer: "To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women!" Not a minute after we orally relived this great scene, 'Dre had found it on his iphone wifi, plugged in a phone size projector, and there it was, in true crisp color and sound projected on the restaurant wall.
I should be up there again right now, but this weekend is Lunar new year and there are 36 million cars on the road in Korea. The 2 hour drive is expected to take 7 today, and it is snowing anyway. So I'm staying home and will explore some more Jeonju instead.
5 comments:
I'm glad you took the names out of your previous post :)
I have a couple questions. First, in your previous post you talked about the abstinence only education that was being taught at your school. You can guess where I stand on this issue but my question is: is abstinence only education more feasible due to cultural differences in Korea than in the states?
Second, do native Koreans work out to look good like so many of us do in the states or is exercise done for pleasure and general fitness?
I think here is the same as the states (and anyway the kids at this school are pretty westernized). Abstinence only is a pipe dream. Certainly we should encourage the kids to wait, but they're gonna have sex eventually so they better know of the risks inherent and of the defenses against them. Personally, I'm glad to have had condom use firmly set as the course of action - isn't it almost like a second loss of virginity the first time you forgo the precaution?
Actually, to prepare for any possible confrontation Audrey asked our secretary what is commonly taught in sex-ed in korean high schools. You should know, Sunghwa is a prototypical five foot nothing, one hundred and nothing lb asian girl. So it was funny to see her eyes go wide even in retrospect as she described being shown for the first time a diagram of what was supposed to fit inside her. And of course they were told all about pregnancy, stds and safe sex practices.
As to your second question:
a fair number of koreans do want those 6-pack abs, but the fitness culture is far less prevalent than in the states. In fact, one thing I have never seen is a Korea just going for a casual run on the streets or in the park.
The ideal body image is slim, not musclebound, so there are very few bodybuilders, also, I think genetic metabolism and the types of food available make obesity less of an issue, and thus exercise for its own sake less common.
I feel your pain re: aging and ultimate. Thankfully this year (at the age of 30), I'm in good shape thanks to lots of lower body work in the gym, and I'm healthy. I've almost completely ignored any endurance training outside of ultimate, but I don't think it has impaired my performance at all. My weight-lifting program focuses on short sets, supersetting between upper/lower, and finishing with sprints.
Hey Colin, good to see you stealth blogging. (I just noticed.) I liked the Conan anecdote. That might be one of the most compelling reasons I've yet heard for actually investing in some of these newfangled technologies.
Post a Comment