Skate or Die!
Trip Start
Aug 07, 2007
1
8
111
Trip End
Ongoing
Uijeongbu,
Korea Rep.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
We have formed a tradition of a Friday night poker game over the last three weeks. The group last night was Booby and Gretchen a couple that I work with, Doug and his girlfriend he a chef from Calgary and her a Korean national, Abdel a South African Boxer that runs at a pretty good pace, Chris a yank with a good sense of humor from New Orleans, and Milton a yank from Georgia that reminds me of Matthew Mcconaughey. I went out third and Chris went on to win the pot with Bobby finishing second. We played in my cramped room, as I like to call my meager living space. I prop the bed up against the wall, pull out the table and surround it with chairs. The game ended at 145am. What to do now? Chris suggested heading to Tom's Bar. Abdel, Chris and I jumped in a cab and headed across town to the downtown core of Uijeongbu to meet Milton who had left an hour earlier after I knocked him out on an all in...payback from last weekend. So with skateboards in hand we were on our way. The ride was cheap and White Chris payed the fare as well as drinks at Tom's with his winnings. What a good sport. The shot of tequila we had nearly did me in, but I made my constitution check and was OK.
"Lets go riding" Milton said.
The four of us grabbed our boards and hit the pavement. We cruised around the streets of the downtown "BU" and passed drunken Koreans and ladies of the night eyeing us with seductive cat like eyes. In a culture with out mainstream skateboarding we attracted alot of glances and yells. We rode and rode. It felt amazing to be on a board. Was thinking of you Charles! Brought me right back to the late eighties and early nineties when I was skateboard obsessed. The freedom I felt buy cruising around a little buzzed but not enough to impair me was awesome. Of course I was using Abdel's trick board and they were all on two and a half foot long boards with enormous wheels that seemed to carry a push forever so I had to push extra hard. Milton was puzzled buy my pushing technique, foot on the back of the board and lead leg pushing into a regular foot stance. We quickly became lost and Milton asked a cab driver in Korean where the Burger King was...and land mark besides Tom's.
We soon found ourselves back in the company of three ladies from England, here teaching as well, and Black Chris too. The ladies invited us to party at their place so the eight of us jumped in cabs and drove for a bit to their place.We grabbed some booze and headed up to the roof of their building. Black Chris played tunes off his laptop and one of the ladies had two glowing balls on rope which she swung around with skill and precision making a nice light show. We had a good laugh when Abdel tried and pelted himself with the orbs. At about 430 am we were accosted by tenants in the apartment below the roof. I guess the skateboarding on the roof was making to much noise. We relocated into the lassies apartment. I can't remember their names but I do remember asking one if she watched Dr. Who a British TV show about a time traveler which I used to watch as a kid and have recently found it here on DVD. She said "of course". It was good fun to have a similar interest.
The Gin and Tonics flowing the one of the ladies initiated a game of " I never ever...". This game gets very personal and you learn alot about people who you don't really know that well. We played a couple of rounds and I was very tierd so I passed out on the floor. I woke about 30 minutes later and at 630am we headed out for a skate home, minus one White Chris :). Abbey and Milton suggested I take Chris's board, a monster long board. We set out and hit the streets. Milton successfully guided us home as we dodged dogs and early rising locals. I soon found myself in familiar surroundings. We said our goodbyes and I went home and crashed in my bed.
Later this morning I went to a travel agent with Colton to plan our trip to Thailand during Xmas. I will have to really focus on getting my debt paid...but it's so hard when you can do so much in this part of the world. When will I ever be in this part of the world again? Of course the romantic idea of being debt free is very seductive.
Kevin teacher
Comments
Sk8 or Die!
Hey K... I had visions of 'Animal Chin' with you 4 guys skating down the streets. Must be weird to be on a board again, and you make me want to take the cobwebs off my deck!
Love the stories, always good to hear from you!
You should also post your address on here somewhere.
Chucky