What is Going on Back Home?

Now, most of you know that I am not the most politically-minded individual, but I do try and keep up with what's going on back home. Does it concern any of my fellow Canadians that the House of Commons just passed a motion to recognize the Quebecois as "a nation within Canada"? In my opinion, albeit overseas and perhaps uninformed, this gives the Quebecers all the fuel they need to hold another referendum and eventually seperate from Canada.

Not only that, but I am very scared how our national image will be perceived by other powerful nations. Will we now be representing ourselves as a nation that will give into demands by any of our ethnic groups? I blame the fact that our minority governments have had a recent history of short-terms in office, corruption, and no real authority in the house. Again, I am no real political scientist, so I am open to any criticism or rebutals you may have.

I am just very sick and tired of Canadian politicians and media claiming that Canada's biggest national treasure is our ability to be a multicultural nation. I think it was a nice move on the government's part to give our Natives a nice chunk of ice up in the North near the Hudson, and they even let them name it Nunavut. Side note; can anyone actually tell me what that name means without looking it up on Wikipedia or google? Focus Ron...

I guess what I'm trying to get is where does it stop? How long until the Maritimers want to be recognized as "a nation within Canada"? Before you know it, we will be recognizing Little China in Edmonton as "a nation within Canada"! Quick everybody try and get a piece of the pie before it's gone. And I thought we had seen the last of imperialism in the West. Then again I am not a political genius, and I know that I have quite a few very politically-minded friends. If you think I am wrong, then tell me why and put my fears to bed.

Je m'appelle Frightened

Awakening

Yesterday I called my friend Erin in Busan to see how her weekend was going. She told me that she was having a very rough day on account of her uncle had just died of a heart attack back home. She said that not only was it horribly sad but that she felt bad that she would not be able to attend the funeral.

It was at that moment that I realized for the first time since being here that I am helpless to anything that happens back home. I always just assumed that when I got back home that everything would be exactly the same and that I would just slide back into my everyday life.

I realize now that while thinking that way will create a little bubble of invincibility around myself, but guess what; life happens.

I just hope that I don't have to go through what Erin is going through right now. To all my friends and family, please be safe and healthy.

Ronnie

Gotta Love It

You know what I love about living in Cheonan? It totally has the small city feeling of Edmonton, but it takes just 37 minutes to get to one of the biggest cities in the world on the KTX (Aka. Fast as hell Bullet Train).

I went last weekend for my friend Lauren's birthday and had the time of my life. We went to this place called Itaewon which is like foreigner central. There were a few too many for my liking, on account of I didn't really feel like a rock star anymore. But a group of about 10 of us had a wicked time and crashed in a "love motel" on Hooker Hill. I'm not kidding, that's what they call this hill. I even saw my first Tranny in Korea.

Well the next day we went to a place called The Rocky Mountain Tavern. It was started by a couple of Koreans that came over to play hockey and then realized that hockey here is shite! Well we watched the Oilers destroy the Red Wings 4-3 in a shootout. There is nothing like being in a place like Korea and hootin and hollerin over a hockey game with some fellow canucks.

Long story short; we are all going back up to Seoul tonight for my friend Steve's birthday. This time we are going to an area called Haendae and it promises to be another epic night. I love my life!

Ronnie

Blargh!

I wrote a huge entry about always being sick here and yadda-yadda and then my internet cut out when I was trying to post it. 20 minutes of my life I will never get back. Now all you get for reading material is this.

Grumpy Bear

Daegu: The Final Frontier

Now I know what you're thinking. Saturday sounded great, so how did you cap it off on Sunday? Well, that's the best part of the story of my trip. By the time we got back to Matt's place at about 4am, my night was really just beginning. Do tell, you say? Alright this is how it al went down:

The first thing you should know is that Matt and I tried like hell to convince Erin and Mark to join us on what would turn out to be an epic adventure. To no avail though, they just didn't have the desire to climb a mountain at 4 in the morning. Oh well, more mountain for the rest of us is what I said, and Matt and I were on our way (not before taking some sweet and possibly incriminating photos before we left).

At about 4:20 we rolled into the little corner store at the bottom of the mountain for a few beers (3 litres to be precise) for we knew our journey would be long and arduois if we happened to sober up. Those little SOBs almost killed us in the end. We started the hike off with a scenic view of the man-made lake at the bottom of the mountain. It was pretty beautiful at that time of night/morning and we both gave it hommage by cracking the first two beers and cheersing to our new friend. On we went.

The next 2 hours or so were spent making our way up this mas of rock and taking cool pictures of the city below. Man did it look unreal from up there. It is always amazing how serene the busiest of cities look from on top of a mountain. All along the way were stone pagodas that people had made from loose rocks along the trails. We're talking thousands of rocks per pagoda and they ewere everywhere. Matt and I even had the cahnce to add our own little touch to some of them. Don't worry kids, I have some pictures on the flicker site.

At around 6:30am I was really starting to feel that something special was going to happen. It was starting to get light out, but the sun still hadn't woken up and we were almost near the top of the mountain. Added to this fact was the addition of many Korean friends hiking all around us for the first time of the night/morning. So Matt and I busted some serious ass to get to the top of the mountain for the show. What happened atr the top of the mountain is something that I will never forget...

There just happened to be 2 mountains right in front of ours across the valley of equal height and breadth. Well, Mr. Sun just happened to choose the slight dip between these 2 mountains to make his first appearance of the day. It was beathtaking and Matt and I sat there for a couple of minutes in silence and just enjoyed this amazing experience. We tried taking pictures of this marvel, but none were able to duplicate its resplendidness. I almost feel like I am ruining the experience by writing it down, but I gotta give my fans what they want. Which is also why I texted everyone back in Cheonan at that moment (6:45am) to share my experience. Let's just say I heard it from a few people when I got back home the next day.

After the sunrise, we decided we should probably try to make it back down the mountain as we agreed that the drunker we got the harder it would be. UNDERSTATEMENT! This is where the hops and barley almost killed us. I almost fell off the side of the montain run ning down and Matt almost broke his ankle on many seperate occasions. We made it though and saw and did some pretty cool stuff on the way.

First we came across a fully equipped outdoor gym about 3 quarters of the way down. Perfect spot for 2 white dudes who are intoxicated out of their skulls. Let's just say that we offended at least 5 Koreans and Matt will never look at a bench-press the same way again.

Second we saw this really cool looking tree that had all golden leaves surrounded by trees with red leaves. It was definitely a National Geographic moment. Matt took pictures and fell on his ass in the mud. Awesome!

The last thing we did before we left the mountain was definitely a cool, random, spiritual experience that one would only truly appreciate if they are in a foreign land. At the bottom of the mountain, right next to the man-made lake, were about 10 Koreans meditating in a circle to some directions coming from a CD player. We did what any visitor should; we joined them in their session. They were really cool about it and even tried to help our drunk asses with the proper technique. It was really relaxing and just overall a cool experience. We found out later that we had partaken in a session of Falun Dafa, a style of Meditation. Super Cool!

We finally returned to Matt's place at around 9am. We had some noodles to warm up and went to bed. When Erin came over the next day to grab a train with me back to her home in Busan, she was livid to hear how much she had missed out on our adventure. The three of us decided that we since we had done it up together in Busan and Daegu, that next month we would rip it up Cheonan-style. I can't wait!

Ronnie

Daegu Part 2

So I woke up at noon the next day at Casa Del Bruce Lee. I felt good and ready to kick Daegu's ass all over again. Bruce and I decided to go for a little stroll in West Daegu park, a little place just 15 minutes from his apartment. What he failed to tell me was that the park was also home to Daegu Tower. So we walkked through this really neat part of the park and I totaly felt back at home like I was walking throught the river valley. When we got to a clearing and I saw the tower, I knew it was on. So we walked through the amusement park at the base of the tower and eventually made our way to the bohemuth. Let me tell you kids, the CN Tower's got nothing on this bad boy. You could see all of Daegu (population 4 million) and the surrounding moutains. It was very serene and beautiful. We spent about an hour up there just enjoying this beautiful view of this most beautiful city. I'm sorry for you Bruce Lee enthusiasts because this is where the saga ends.

So I said goodbye to Bruce and made my way toward Daegu train station to go and meet up with Matt (my friend from Daegu) and Erin (my friend from Busan). Matt got there just a short time after me and we met up with his American friend Mark. Since we had no idea when Erin would arrive and since she has no cell phone, we decided the best idea would be to get some beers and get primed on the steps of Daegu Station. The looks from the Koreans ranged from those of pure admiration to those of pure disgust. Although we did have to old Korean dudes come andd hang with us for some time. Neither of them knew how to communicate anything other than "Beer Please" and "Cigarettes Please". They were pretty cool though, and totally took the heat off of our "No-respect-getting-drunk-on-some-damn-steps" asses.

So Erin rolls in around 8pm and we're off to go and get some chow. We decided to go for some $6 buffet action on account of we're starving. I ordered us some of my new found love (Bec Seju) and we pigged out on Korean delicacies.

We had decided to meet Mark at this place downtown called Old Skool (so named cause they drop some phat beats). We hung out there for a while and played some pool. I also made a cool new friend. It was this cool iguana that was like a mascot for this place. Probably because he had mad worm eating skills and you could take him out and carry him around the bar.

So we strolled out of there at... I lost track of time at this point. We wandered aimlessly for a while and ended up, guess where, Monkey...again. It was cool though. We got in for free on account of our rock-star status and for the next 2 or 3 hours we owned this place. I mean we were dancing on the stage on the bar, and pretty much did whatever we wanted. We weren't rude about it, but we definitely felt like Mick and the gang.

The four of us were able to wrangle together a posse of about 7 other peoiple to come to this Canadian bar called the Thunderbird. This place was a bit small, but was loaded with Canadians. It was the first time for me since I've been in Korea that if you told me I was in Korea I would have called you a liar. This part of the night was pretty blurry so in no particular order here is what I remember: Me and Matt getting schooled at Fuseball, pissing in the girls bathroom, having a talk with some uptight broad only because I was pretty sure she wanted to do me, and having a heart to heart with Moose (the owner of the Thunderbird). Oh, and Matt just happened to piss on some people. For more info on that check out his blog at www.matthewnorick.blogspot.com.

So we grabbed a giggly, giddy, drunk as hell cab ride back to Matt's place with high hopes of getting inot some more trouble. And let me tell you, it might have been 4 or 5 in the morning, but there was still a lot of livin g yet to come on this night kids. But that is a story for another time as I feel I've given you enough carrot for now.

If you would like a photographic summary of the events just described, you can check them out at http://www.flickr.com/photos/ronniea/

See you next time when we discuss Daegu Part 3.

Peace

1st Installment Daegu

There are really two parts to my trip to Daegu. There's the Bruce Lee saga and there's the Matt and Erin epic. I will begin my tale with the former.

So I meet up with Bruce at about 9:30 pm on Friday night. He picks me up from Daegu Station downtown. He's looking new and improved from the Bruce of old. Not only does he still look lethal, but now he looks dangerously spry as well. I might have made that last part up... Oh well, he's still Bruce-rip-your heart-out-of-your-chest-in-a-nanosecond Lee.

So he asks me where I want to go on this fine evening. I says I'm Baego Pah (Super hungry in Korean) and we're off to go have an adventure downtown. Oh, did I mention that we took off in the Korean version of an Escalade (I can't remember the model but it was a Hyundai). I felt like royalty and/or a gangsta driving around in this mutha.

So wepark the lowrider and we start walking around downtown to find a suitable eatery for 2 individuals of our calibre. No sooner than I was tlking about my respect for out-of-the-way Mom and Pop shops did Bruce spot just such an establishment. We headed in for a sample of their delicasies. We went for Sam Yap Sa (thick as back bacon that you rap in laeves wih a host of garnishes). It is a pesonal favourite of mine.We also ordered some Bec Seju (traditional Korean liquor). It is much tastier and cleaner than Soju.

The best part of the dinner was the fact that the owner kept wanting to touch my face and show me off to all the women in the restaurant (there were oly two and I'm guessing they were no younger than 50). He kept bringing us Servisuh (on the house) food and drink, and kept tellingme how handsome I was. # months in an I was still getting rock star status in Korea.

After dinner we decided to go shake our ass at a nightclub.We settled for a nice respectable joint called Monkey. You need know only two things about our time spent at Monkey;

1. Not only can Bruce Lee kick some ass, but the dude can dance like a Mofo.

2. I don't care for dancing with Korean girls.

Bruce and I tore that dance floor up and no matter how we approached the situation, as soon as we entered a 2 foot perimeter of a Korean girl and her friends, they would jet almost instantaneously. Now I had had this same experience a million times in Cheonan before, so I asked Bruce if this was th norm. He assured me that good Korean girls liketo pretend that they are getting down with you. but any time there's a possibility of human contact Korean girls get ultra shy. Imagine that, it's like a whole world of you can look but you can't touch. It was like dancing at a Junior high dance all over again. There were dudes dancing with dudues and girls dancing with girls, but hardly any mixing of the sexes in this godforsaken place.

We rolled out of the club at about 3:30 am and Bruce called for an extra driver. They actually send a dude to come and drive your car and because the company is so big, he just gets out wherever you are going and someone picks him up. We got back to Bruce's plce at about 4am and his parents were still up waiting for us (most Koreans live with their parents until they get married). I feltike we were pst curfew and his parents were going to give u shit. I passed out in the spare room unbeknownst to me that the next day would be one of my best ever.

But, more about that in the next installment of "Ronnie Goes Out For Korean".

Ronnie Out (for now)

Daegu Part 1

Bruce Lee!

Wait for it!

Good Times I promise!

Message from Ron's Liver:

Save Me please! With the ridiculously cheap price of beer and soju, coupled with Ron's penchant for good times, I'm dying over here. I mean, I know I've had my disagreements with Ron's brain before, but I thought that was all in the past. I thought we worked through our differences. But this...this is just cruelty. If you don't do something soon, I'm gonna quit. I swear it, this time I'm gonna quit. I swear...Oh who am I kidding, I'm gonna suck it up and keep on truckin'. In fact I think I like being depended on. It gives me a sense of purpose. Hey, I'm feeling better already. Cheers!

Love the Lotte

As promised, I took a little trip down to Seoul with some girls from my work to see the amusement park mecca that they call Lotte World. Well let me tell you, it might just have been the best time I've had in Korea yet. I'm not sure how to narrarate my experience to you so that you might fully understand how awesome it was, so I'll just spew out some verbal diarrhea and hope it flies (bad visual). Alright, here goes...

We started the day off at the Express Bus terminal at 10ish (we were of course late for our bus and had to grab the next one). So we were off for our return to childhood at about 10:30am. It only took an hour to get to Seoul on the bus which is actually quicker than the train (less stops). We then took the subway from the bus terminal to Lotte World and we were on our way (time of arrival 12pm). Then here's what happened...

Mary, Jaime, Kelly, and I got the regular pass for $24 while Marcie got the special pass for $30 (what's the difference???). We made a bee-line through the inside of the theme park (more on that later), and we hit the outside for some E

Love the Lotte

As promised, I took a little trip down to Seoul with some girls from my work to see the amusement park mecca that they call Lotte World. Well let me tell you, it might just have been the best time I've had in Korea yet. I'm not sure how to narrarate my experience to you so that you might fully understand how awesome it was, so I'll just spew out some verbal diarrhea and hope it flies (bad visual). Alright, here goes...

We started the day off at the Express Bus terminal at 10ish (we were of course late for our bus and had to grab the next one). So we were off for our return to childhood at about 10:30am. It only took an hour to get to Seoul on the bus which is actually quicker than the train (less stops). We then took the subway from the bus terminal to Lotte World and we were on our way (time of arrival 12pm). Then here's what happened...

Mary, Jaime, Kelly, and I got the regular pass for $24 while Marcie got the special pass for $30 (what's the difference???). We made a bee-line through the inside of the theme park (more on that later), and we hit the outside for some Extreme Riding! As Marcie and Mary had been there before, they knew where the good rides were. The first stop: a sweet roller-coaster ride through water and tunnels. One problem though; Lotte World is like every other theme park in the world and there was a huge line to get on the ride. The sign said the wait time was 60 minutes and it was almost dead on. By the time we got to the front we were like kids in a huge theme park. As we went through the gates to get on the rides, we were stopped by the resident ticket agent. It seems our penny-pinching had cost us an hour; the $24 ticket was only for admission and shows, for a measly extra $6 you can actually get on the rides. The girls were steamed... enter Super Cocky Celebrity Ron. I talked to the ticket agent and asked her to let us on once and that we would then go and get the proper tickets. Her expression let me know that she had heard this before from the likes of me, but a little smile and a little wink and we were on our way. The ride was super awesome and we were having a great start to our adventure. Then, something else heppened...

We got off the ride and we went to go and get some water. Screaming at the top of your lungs has a way of drying you out. We then went to go on what would be one of two free-falling rides. The first was much shorter than the second and served as a sort of training tool on how to scream while falling at about 200 feet a second. Also, Marcie said she would not go on the super tall free-fall so it was a ride that we could go on together. After, the first one we had an insatiable thirst to get on the second one. We all gave our cameras to Marcie and ran to the line for the "Gyro Drop" on account of it spins while you are going up. It so sweet because it is so tall that you can see much of Seoul as you ascend the monster. When we got up to the top I looked down and I nearly crapped my pants. I couldn't even make out individual people on the ground, they were all just a mass of people I imagined that I would use as a crash mat at the bottom. We dangled at the top for what seemed like an eternity and then.... OOOOOOOOHHHHHHH SSSSSHHHHH********TTTTTTT! Wow, what an adrenaline rush. We must have falen 600 feet in 2 seconds, it was amazing. Then we took a 180 degree turn....

We were hungry so we decided to go for lunch. We were all talking about trying to find a neat little restaurant. Whadda ya know, the first restaurant was little mexican pad. It was my first time having mexican in Korea and it was awesome. I had a taco/enchillada comkbo topped of with a Corona. It was real Corona too and the food was really good. One problem though, it was soooo filling and it had tons of beans in it. I was a walking loaded weapon. We walked around for a bit to work off our full stomachs. We must have walked around for an hour or two before we decided to hit more rides. Then the penultimate moment of my trip came to fruition....

We decided to hit the "Gyro Swing". This thing was massive and super intimidating for me on account of I get sick on rides that spin. Not only did this ride spin but it was like a pendulum and reached a pretty substantial height at the top of its swing. What this meant was that sometimes you were going down face first and sometimes backwards, coupled with the fact that your feet were about 2 inches from the ground upon re-entry. I'll tell you right now I have no qualms in saying that this ride was "THE BEST RIDE EVER"! After we got off, my legs were shaking from being pumped with so much adrenaline. I felt like I was going to trip down the stairs. I figured that I had also gotten a bit dizzy from the spinning and I had to sit down for a few and collect my wits through the help of my friend Beer. The story should end there, but....

We went inside with every intention of leaving this bastion of enjoyment. Kelly really wanted some candy so we went in search of just that. We were pleasantly surprised that it didn't take long to find a candy store. Imagine that, a candy store in an amusement park. I loaded up on $6 worth of Jelly Belly's and fancy chocolates. Now we were ready to go right? Not even close. When we were walking a little behind the scenes we came acrosss more rides that you would never know were there unless you went for a little snooping around. The first ride we went on was "Jungle Adventure" and it was just a little tubing down some rapids. ASSAH! (Korean for Awesome; Also my new Favourite word). We then found a little roller-coastert action. Do you remember when I said I would come back to the inside. Well, I opted out of the roller-coaster on account of I was still a little sick from the Gyro Drop, so I went up top to check out the girls and I realized that the inside of Lotte World is modeled almost exclusively on Galaxyland in West Edmoton Mall. They look almos identical to each other and the only difference between the Roller-Coasters is that this one had one loop to the Mind Benders two. Crazy that I would get the most nostalgic about back home in an amusement park. Then, something amazing happened....

Being totally spent on rides we were now ready to leave. But wait, what is this... a show? It sure was, and it was spectacular. They had a huge stage on one side of the park and they had a bunch of dancers putting on a show. Guess what? They were all white! They were quite a spectacle to watch let me tell you. There was good dancing, a chick made of rubber(she did these moves where she contorted her body, I think she was an alien), and a trapeze artist. God times, and a great way to cap off our evening. It was now 9:30pm and time to go. This is where the story ends right....

Wrong, when we got to the bus terminal the last bus back home was sold out so we had to book it across town to get the last train home. It is weird but buses and trains quit running at very early times in Seoul (around 11 - 11:30pm). We got to the train station at 10 minutes to 11pm and was ablke to wrangle standing room only tickets on the last train back home. We had made it by the skin of our teeth (I don't really know what that expression means, do you?). We got back to Cheonan at 12am and I said goodbye to the girls. We agreed that we had all had a great time and that I was the most amazing man they've ever had the chance to hang out with. Okay, maybe I made that last part up, but it was a super awesome time. End of stroy....

You can check out my pictures from the Lotte World Experience on my flicker site at http://www.flickr.com/photos/ronniea/

Bye kids

Coming Attractions

This is just a quick message to let you know what's upcoming in my life.

On Saturday, I am going to this place called Lotte World with a bunch of friends. It is owned by this huge corporation here in Korea that has Lotte Marts everywhere in Korea that are kind of like Wal-Marts. They also own baseball teams, soccer teams, you get the idea. Anyway, Lotte World is a big amusement park like DisneyLand. So we're gonna go and get our rides on Korean-style. Totally can't wait!

Next weekend I am going to Daegu for a little reunion with - wait for it - Bruce Lee. He is moving to Toronto for 7 months so he wants to get crazy one more time with the rotten one. I am also gonna rock it with my friends Matt and Erin on Saturday which promises to be epic.

I don't want to get to far ahead of myself, but I am also starting to plan my Christmas break trip to a little place called Thailand. Oh Baby!

So everyone that is getting excited about sharing my future adventures via this blog... can I get a "Hell Yeah"?

Ronnie