May 6th 2007 - Hash House
May 6th 2007
500th Hash in Ulsan
This week started off with a good rest after the sea trial. I was a bit worn after sleeping on a couch for two nights. So we took the day off and went looking for a dive center. I wanted to check out the possibility of a dive trip one of these days, and to my luck, I found a small dive center who appears to be doing trips in the weekends. "Appears to" because we still have a little language issue .... this should disappear when underwater, which is a nice bonus !
Thursday Paula went on a daytrip to Gyeong-Ju with the wives of the foreigners compound (the Hyundai complex has a club house which arranges trips from time to time). They went to a small folk craft village, had lunch at a fancy hotel and then went sailing on a swan ! I think this was the highlight of the trip, as they shared the trip with a group of korean ladies, who spent the whole boat trip doing karaoke without backing!
Saturday was holiday here in Korea, which we obviously had to celebrate all friday night. We went out to eat with my collegues and, needless to say, spent most of saturday resting in bed ! I had great plans to go see a windsurf tournament about 1 hour south of here, but never made it. Not a bad thing, as I later heard that it had been cancelled due to the weather. Later that night we went to the foreigners compound for a wine sale. Some guys had come up from Busan (2 hours south of Ulsan) to let us try some different wines (with the wicked motive of actually selling us this wine), so how could we not turn up ? Well, it turned out that the first wine we tried was a Galan from Chile, which is made by a fraction of Paulas family. So 4 hours later we left with 15 bottles of wine ! The first time I've seen Paula pay 10 dollars for a bottle of wine and still smile !!!
Today, sunday, was the day of the 500th Hash House Harriers run in Ulsan, and as I had enjoyed a few runs in Damascus some years back, we thought it would be a good way of spending the day. About 150 people turned up ! They came all the way from Seoul to run with us - that's a 6 hour drive! For those of you who don't know what a Hash is, it normally involves a lot of expats, beer and food (in equal amounts) and a very nice walk/run in the countryside. It was good fun and even though Paula normally isn't too keen on trekking, she enjoyed it. Later she said that she'd do it again another time. After the Hash, we went to pick up a friend of ours, Francisca, and her baby Anton, who will stay with us for a few days, while her husband is on sea trial.
Esta semana fue un poco distinta al resto, Peder volvio del sea trial el lunes y el martes tuvo dia libre, asique lo pasamos tranquilamente en casa y visitando un centro de buceo para programar futuros buceos aqui en Corea.
El jueves yo tuve un paseo a Gyeong-Ju con las señoras del grupo Hyundai. Fuimos a ver un pequeño pueblito de artesanos, compramos algunas cosas, almorzamos en el Hilton Hotel y luego hicimos un paseo por el lago con un grupo de señoras coreanas que venian de otra cuidad Busan . Ellas con un animo increible nos cantaron canciones y nos enseñaban otras. Lo pasamos super bien.
El viernes salimos con los compañeros de Peder a comer y luego jugar pool y el sabado estubimos casi todo el dia en casa. Luego en la tarde nos llamaron unos amigos para avisarnos que habia una prueba de vinos en el compound y que estaban a buen precio, ya que, aqui en Corea los vimos son bien caros; asique para alla partimos.
Para sorpresa nuestra encontramos vinos chilenos y entre ellos los Vinos GALAN ! lo que me puso contenta y por supuesto promocione como loca para que la gente ahi comprara. Al final salimos con Peder con 15 botellas de vino chileno !
Hoy domingo era el dia de la caminata numero 500 de los Hash House Harriers en Ulsan , y como Peder habia hecho algunas en Damasco nos incribimos para ir . Eramos como 150 personas entre niños y adultos . Vinieron algunos de Seul ( son aprox. 6 horas manejando ). Para los que no saben que es el Hash : es normalmente un grupo de Expats ( gente que vive fuera de sus paises solo por trabajo ) , cerveza ,comida y caminata generalmente en la montaña . Fue super entretenido , a mi me encanto y ya estoy preparandome para la proxima ! Luego del asadito despues de la caminata de 2 ,5 horas nos fuimos a buscar a una amiga , Francisca que se quedara con nosotros 3 dias , mientras su marido esta haciendo el sea trial.
Here's some of the wives on tour ...
Aqui algunas de las chicas del Tour , Marlene, Jill, Youra, Rose y Carola .
And the folk craft village they saw.
Una de las tiendas del pueblito de artesanos .
They are still talking about the boat trip with the korean delegation performing korean pop songs !
Una de las cantantes del paseo en el barquito, super amables las señoras , nos cantaron todo el viaje !
Not a weekly report without Peo !
Como siempre una foto del Peo en el reporte semanal !
For the Hash, we signed up at the old foreigners compound. This compound is about 20-30 years old, so almost ready for demolition ! Everything moves fast here and no houses are built to last very long.
Para el Hash , nos incribimos en el Compound antiguo. Solo tiene 20-30 años y ya esta listo para demolicion ! Aqui las casas y departamentos no son hechos para mucho tiempo. Aqui yo lista para partir !
It was a pretty walk through the mountains.
La caminata que duro 2.5 horas en la montaña .
And a steep descent.
Aqui ya empeznado a bajar , llegamos uno de los primeros "categoria caminata" , algunos corren , otros caminan , es bien libre y todo el mundo lo pasa bien .
After the run we waited for the last guys to return before getting on the bus back to the old foreigners compound, where the BBQ was awaiting us.
Al llegar a la "meta" nos juntamos a tomar una bebida y a esperar que llegaran todos para partir al asadito !
This last photo wasn't taken this week, but shows the kind of nature we were walking around today. It is very pretty here ...
Esta foto no es de la caminata , pero es el paisaje que vemos normalmente en Ulsan. Es bien bonito aqui ...