In my three years on and two years off of climbing I've owned the bare minimum (shoes, harness, belay device, chalk bag and crash pad). It was probably because I started climbing in a gym and stuck to bouldering for a long time. It wasn't my trip to New Zealand that I really got into sport climbing and Thailand made me realize how sweet it is to be a climbing bum.
In the last month I bought a new backpack - big enough to carry a rope and small enough to not look like I'm backpacking through Europe. I also bought a helmet, although now I wish I bought a sturdier one, six quickdraws and a daisy chain. Since yesterday, I am the proud new owner of, not one but, two ropes. The first is now my dedicated outdoor rope. I think it's pretty bad ass rope. It's soft to the touch, feels thinner than 10.2 mm but is extremely gentle when taking a fall. This is opposed to the Sterling rope I bought yesterday. It's strictly the climbing wall rope. There's nothing really fancy about it. It does the job - stopping me from splattering on the ground. Even when being lowered on the Sterling rope I could feel how much more unforgiving it can be (compared to the Beal rope) when taking a fall on it. If you want to read more about fall ratings and impact force of a rope check out Beal's website. It's pretty interesting, to me at least. There's a cool video to explain the physics of it too.
The main reason I got the two ropes was because I didn't want to abuse the Beal rope. The Beal rope is also 60 meters long, much longer than necessary when climbing at an artificial wall. The Sterling rope is 50 meters. I wanted to get a 40 meter rope but what the hell. I actually wasn't even planning on getting another rope. I've been dirt poor the past two weeks because of all the purchases. Oh! I forgot. I bought some light hikers for hikes to the crag too. So, yeah, two weeks of being poor but climbing!
I mentioned to one of the guys at the climbing wall near my school I wanted to buy another shorter rope for the climbing wall. He said he'd keep an ear out for anyone wanting to but a 100 meter rope and splitting it with me. That was Tuesday night. When I got to the wall yesterday, one of the guys who works there (Seung-woo) said he had my rope in a locker. I told him that was impossible cause my rope was in my backpack. He pulled the rope out of a locker, gave it to me and told me it was my rope.
What happened was this. Last week one of the women I climb with had to replace her rope. It was core shot (frayed to the point of seeing the core of the rope). That's not as bad as it sounds. The core is still pretty strong, but once you see it, it's time to retire the rope. I assume she went ahead and bought the 100 meter rope and split it with the intention of selling the other half to someone else. Turns out the guy I spoke to mentioned it to her and now I have two ropes.
I'm quite happy with all my spending recently because I've used everything twice while climbing around Korea and will be using it to climb at Seonunsan this weekend. Plus it looks like, for better or worse, I'll be staying in Korea for my summer break. This is mostly due to the fact that summer break starts in three week. I'll have to do an English camp for a week or two during the break and I still don't have any information as to when and how long I'll actually be off from school. Instead of feeling frustrated (which is how I've been feeling all week anyways) I've put the word out to folks at the climbing wall I'll be here for the summer break. I hope to hit up the major crags without worrying about crowds. A couple of weeks of being a climbing bum around Korea will do me good. Now all I have to do is start looking at starting up my trad rack.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Thursday, June 19, 2008
The old man is snoring
This week the rainy season started in Korea. It's been cloudy and raining on and off since Monday. The good thing is the rain has brought some cooler temperatures in. I was having some trouble sleeping because of the heat. Yes, I have AC in my room but my throat has been sensitive lately (due to pollution?) and I didn't want to deal with a dry throat and what felt like a cold coming on. I didn't get to sleep until after 3am on Monday and face Monday morning on less than four hours of sleep. My students didn't irritate me nearly as much as I expected. I tried going to sleep in the male teacher's lounge but it just wasn't going to happen.
At the end of the day a bunch of students decided to skip my class. They're one of the worst classes (mostly because any class with this certain co-teacher is a bad class) and not that smart. Here's an example of the sheer stupidity of the students skipping class. Now one would think that if one if to skip class then one would not draw attention to oneself. Two dumb ass girls waved to me as they were standing outside of class and didn't show up. Supposedly, Korea has the highest average IQ in the world. This is another case where I don't care how well people test if they don't have any common sense. Repeat. Common sense is something most Koreans sorely lacking. I too could do well on a test if I memorized a bunch of stuff without understanding it. In fact I once did this on an exam and got an A without understanding a damn thing.
Recently,when I make comments like this bashing Koreans I wonder if I'm being an "ugly American." hmmmm
Where was I? Oh right. After work on Monday I went home and napped in my 80 plus degree room with 100% humidity in the air. I hate napping in those situations cause I usually wake up feeling more tired and confused. On top of all that I couldn't fall asleep until after 1am. That was two nights in a row where I drank warm milk to help me fall asleep.
Tuesday night I climbed at the artificial outdoor wall near my school. There is one route that I haven't been able to finish. I thought I had enough in me but I didn't. And I did a really bad thing. I let the rope stay behind my leg when I took a lead fall. It whipped me upside down and gave me a little rope burn. I forgot to bring long pants that day too, which would've probably cut down on the burn. Lesson relearned.
Random thoughts:
Patrick's niece N'shai (pronounced Nuh-shay) is visiting for the summer. It's kind of nice having an American teen around (she's 12). In her first two weeks here she's made some great observations. When asked about the differences between here and the U.S. she mentioned the spitting. People don't spit right where you're walking in the U.S. Cue the guy making the ever so pleasant throat clearing sound and spitting three times on the sidewalk at a busy intersection. Shai also mentioned how uncomfortable women here looked in their heels. "They have this miserable look on their face." But for some reason they feel they have to wear them. It's because trends dictate what you think, feel and wear here. Herd mentality. I'll stop before I feel "ugly."
Two posts in one morning?!? WTF?!?!
They're having a national test today. Because of the test, I don't have classes today. I assume it's some kind of aptitude test. I'm sure they'll all do very well cause they've been studying to pass the test. 'Nuff said.
At the end of the day a bunch of students decided to skip my class. They're one of the worst classes (mostly because any class with this certain co-teacher is a bad class) and not that smart. Here's an example of the sheer stupidity of the students skipping class. Now one would think that if one if to skip class then one would not draw attention to oneself. Two dumb ass girls waved to me as they were standing outside of class and didn't show up. Supposedly, Korea has the highest average IQ in the world. This is another case where I don't care how well people test if they don't have any common sense. Repeat. Common sense is something most Koreans sorely lacking. I too could do well on a test if I memorized a bunch of stuff without understanding it. In fact I once did this on an exam and got an A without understanding a damn thing.
Recently,when I make comments like this bashing Koreans I wonder if I'm being an "ugly American." hmmmm
Where was I? Oh right. After work on Monday I went home and napped in my 80 plus degree room with 100% humidity in the air. I hate napping in those situations cause I usually wake up feeling more tired and confused. On top of all that I couldn't fall asleep until after 1am. That was two nights in a row where I drank warm milk to help me fall asleep.
Tuesday night I climbed at the artificial outdoor wall near my school. There is one route that I haven't been able to finish. I thought I had enough in me but I didn't. And I did a really bad thing. I let the rope stay behind my leg when I took a lead fall. It whipped me upside down and gave me a little rope burn. I forgot to bring long pants that day too, which would've probably cut down on the burn. Lesson relearned.
Random thoughts:
Patrick's niece N'shai (pronounced Nuh-shay) is visiting for the summer. It's kind of nice having an American teen around (she's 12). In her first two weeks here she's made some great observations. When asked about the differences between here and the U.S. she mentioned the spitting. People don't spit right where you're walking in the U.S. Cue the guy making the ever so pleasant throat clearing sound and spitting three times on the sidewalk at a busy intersection. Shai also mentioned how uncomfortable women here looked in their heels. "They have this miserable look on their face." But for some reason they feel they have to wear them. It's because trends dictate what you think, feel and wear here. Herd mentality. I'll stop before I feel "ugly."
Two posts in one morning?!? WTF?!?!
They're having a national test today. Because of the test, I don't have classes today. I assume it's some kind of aptitude test. I'm sure they'll all do very well cause they've been studying to pass the test. 'Nuff said.
A month of sports
It's been over a month since the last post. I can't for the life of me remember what's been happening. It's been blur of me following the Stanley Cup playoffs and NBA playoffs. Unfortunately, because of the time difference I only got to watch a few basketball games here and there. The best moment was watching game six of the Stanley Cup finals live because I didn't have to go to work that day. The worst thing about that - I was having an argument on the phone while trying to watch the third period. In hindsight I should have hung up and left it at that. It only diminished my joy for getting to watch the championship game a little bit. For the record, I'm glad I was wrong about doubting Osgood.
I'm ecstatic the Wings finally came through after being a dominant team every year in the regular season only to fail come playoff time. Babcock is like the Bill Cowher of hockey. He's one of those coaches you'd like on your bench cause he looks like he'd jump on the ice and take down an opposing player. There was one Steelers game when Pittsburgh threw an interception in overtime and the defensive player was streaking down the side lines where Cowher was standing. He was absolutely pissed off watching the guy run toward him. Cowher had his fist clenched so tight he was white knuckling. There was a split second there where it looked like Cowher was going to clothesline the guy. Those two guys are guy you play for cause you know they've got your back.
One last thing regarding sports: Go Boston! HA! HA! (Nelson voice) Kobe and the Lakers blew it. I love it when Kobe fails. MJ you are not. I hated Jordan til near the end of his career and I missed him when he retired. Basketball wasn't the same for years afterward. MJ dominated in a way that Kobe never will. And he won championships with way more gumpy white guys (Bill Wellington and Luc Longley) than Kobe has had to play with. I'll never root for Kobe and I won't miss him when he's gone.
Now baseball has the stage all on its own. The Giants aren't that bad and the Tigers are a huge disappointment. Ok. The sports tangent is over.
I'm ecstatic the Wings finally came through after being a dominant team every year in the regular season only to fail come playoff time. Babcock is like the Bill Cowher of hockey. He's one of those coaches you'd like on your bench cause he looks like he'd jump on the ice and take down an opposing player. There was one Steelers game when Pittsburgh threw an interception in overtime and the defensive player was streaking down the side lines where Cowher was standing. He was absolutely pissed off watching the guy run toward him. Cowher had his fist clenched so tight he was white knuckling. There was a split second there where it looked like Cowher was going to clothesline the guy. Those two guys are guy you play for cause you know they've got your back.
One last thing regarding sports: Go Boston! HA! HA! (Nelson voice) Kobe and the Lakers blew it. I love it when Kobe fails. MJ you are not. I hated Jordan til near the end of his career and I missed him when he retired. Basketball wasn't the same for years afterward. MJ dominated in a way that Kobe never will. And he won championships with way more gumpy white guys (Bill Wellington and Luc Longley) than Kobe has had to play with. I'll never root for Kobe and I won't miss him when he's gone.
Now baseball has the stage all on its own. The Giants aren't that bad and the Tigers are a huge disappointment. Ok. The sports tangent is over.
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