Coincidence / Lance Armstrong

2008. 10. 19

Since he has been living in Suwon almost 10 years (on and off, of course), he, whenever leaving home, feels like he'd encounter someone he knows of. And it never is wrong.

After spending a couple of hours at the library and parsing the vignette in Genesis where Jacob runs into God (or God in a form of man) and wrestles with him, he exited the premises, expecting to bump into someone he knows. And he did.

She was one of the colleagues that Oh worked with while volunteering at the international health clinic on campus. That was their first encounter after Oh came back from the states. They have been meaning to meet with each other, but well, Oh has been busy and so has she.

Anyways, they were glad to see each other and decided to have a little conversation over a cup of coffee. And they unfolded the past couple months of their lives. The nurses that Oh used to work with at the clinic were all doing fine other than some of them broke up with their boyfriends. And Oh and the lady talked about their work, good ole times and whatnot.

After promising to have a get together with all the clinic personnel later, Oh said good bye to the lady and got on his bicycle. Then, he thought that this area is too comfort for him. He knows the place too well and so from a certain point, it has served as a comfort zone for Oh. Some say that stuck in a comfort zone is bad and some say it is not. Sometimes Oh feels jaded with the same things, the same buildings, the same roads and even the same people almost every day. But then again, he also believes that making adjustments to a new environment and being alone might not as good as being in a comfort zone and feeling snug.

At any rate,

Back at the library, Oh was reading Time and spotted a spread reserved for Lance Armstrong. While reading the article, something struck Oh. It was about why Lance is always up for a challenge. After he retired, he challenged Boston Marathon. And now he plans on riding again. I bet he's earned enough money and reputation, has a beautiful wife and must be living a helluv life. But still he is trying to broaden his horizon. Here is an excerpt as to where Lance's motivation comes from.

And while parsing this segement, Oh felt like Lance was talking about Oh's reason to exercise. Oh, at the gmy, feels like he owns the gym. He is yet a skinny and lean Korean man, but works out and really enjoys it. The two hours at the gym everyday is when no one can not interrupt Oh. He feels lucky and gracious for having a healthy body and thus can even move. Sometimes, when Oh goes to work, he runs into this particular man with disability. Just like Oh's passed uncle who suffered from stroke, the guy, relying on a metal cane, limps. Whenever Oh passed by the guy, he feels guilty a bit for doing that. He is pretty sure that that guy would even notice Oh, but still in presence of people with disabilities, Oh feels like he owes something to them. Ah.. he misses his uncle today more than ever, to whom he even could not say good bye or sit next to his death bed.

Something to think about

2008. 10. 18



Maybe this is what befell.

Maybe. Maybe not.

By letting someone let go of you, you let go of him or her.

Random people

2008. 10. 17

On his way to work, he always runs into these two particular people in the morning. Since Oh commutes in a bicycle, he does not want to put on the brakes, but to rush to the office, beating the traffic. But sometimes he thinks that it would not be such a bad idea to get off the ride and say hello to those two people.

This sounds insane, Oh thinks. But when you think about it, it actually is not that despicable. Of course, it would be awkward and weird, but it would not be that crazy to talk to random people that you bump into every morning. Well, come to think of it, people accost strangers and say "Hi, my name is so and so. I thought you are really beautiful. blah blah blah..so.. Can I get your number?" (Oh's pickup line is way better than that, btw)

Anyways. Sometimes when Oh thinks that he is running late, he hopes to run into them and thus realizes that he is not late actually. And it has occurred. This is a very tiny moment of happiness that one can easily have during a day.

This reminds Oh of his stay in Iowa a few years ago. He took "Society and Language" and it was a lecture. So, there were more than one hundred students in classroom. Oh, as one of a few Asian students in class, was always sitting in 3rd front row. In the class, there was a girl always sitting in the front row. She had a difficulty in hearing and so there was an sign language interpreter with her all the time. This was very shocking to Oh in that this would never happen in his country that is NOT people with disabilities-friendly. And except for the prof, the girl, as Oh, did not talk to anyone, but the interpreter. So, Oh occasionally thought of talking to her and becoming friends, not out of pity or sympathy.

And one day when Oh was walking on campus, someone called him out. Oh did not reckon him at all. But the guy said that he is in "Society and Language" as Oh. And they started to walk together and talk about the class. And it turned out that they both lived in the same dorm, Courier (Shoutout to All the Iowans! Let's go Hawkeyes") So since then, Oh came to have an acquaintance in his class.

Unluckily, Oh does not recall the name of that guy. They did not even exchange email addresses or whatnot. But still that particular day when the sun was beating down on Oh who thus needed to wear a pair of Oakley sunglasses still has its spot in Oh's mind and this is why Oh considered his visitation to Iowa was one of the best times in his life except the fact that he lost his uncle and cousin 10 days apart and there was nothing Oh could not about it besides mourning and suffering.

Back to the random commuters that Oh passes by everyday, one day Oh might muster up courage to say hello, or at least to give them a nodding, or mutual eye contact that says "Hey, you guys. Have a nice day. Although I can not say it out loud."

Drinking/Midnight Workout

2008. 10. 16

Oh comes home almost 11:30 PM, tired from workout. Why did he work out later than he usually does? Well, the story goes back to four and a half hour ago.

On the verge of leaving for home, he was coerced to go drinking with some of the colleagues. Oh really did not want to because A. he needs to work out and thus is repelled by the idea of drink (well, he has never been a big fan of Soju or any kind of booze) B. he thinks that going out on a Thursday night is one of the stupidest ideas. Well, he is a newbie and thus sometimes needs to put up with people's yanking his chain around. But this is not too bad at all because A. he will get to know more about the coworkers and B. get free dinner :) and C. comes to realize how much he cherishes exercise and the strings attached.

So, at a local bar, with 4 different people, Oh started to drink. Well, it was not too bad. Only two shots of Soju and that was it. Normally, when drinking in Korea, you need to drink as much as people you drink with do. In particular, if someone older than you, or whose social status is higher than you, such as your boss, you need to just greet your teeth and throw back Soju. Well, the ambiance of Oh's company is not that coercive (irony, huh?) and Oh does not have to be forced to drink. Anyways, after 90mins, he left the scene, headed home, changed clothes, packed up and speed walked to the gym.

Though it was pretty late, there were still some people working out late. Well, the gym is located in the middle of the drinking alley, there are a lot of people starting to work late. Anyway, after saying hello to the trainer, Oh started to stretch out and later get on the treadmill.

As if trying to sweat off all the smoke and Soju seeming to be circulating in the every single vein of his, he ran like crazy. After solid 2 k run in 10 mins, he was perspiring like a pig and got off. Today is to work on chest pectorals and triceps. Oh asked the trainer to assist him intermittently. While finishing up the last set for tricep, the trainer accosted him and began to drill Oh like Death. Feeling his tricep torn up, he feels adrenalin kicking in. Ah.. this is a good pain! The reason I work out. The very sense that you are alive! (not a masochist!!!!) And he would like to pursue the feeling as long as he can.

Russian Kids

2008. 10. 15

Just like yesterday, Oh took some foreigners out to lunch. This time it was a bunch of Russian kids and school faculty from 28th Bladivostok school, a sister school of Suwon Foreign Language Highschool. Well, it is a long story, but let Oh put it in a huge nutshell.

Suwon Foreign Language Highschool has established an exchange program with some international highschools over the world. And this time, the local school invited Russian students over to Korea since they were invited to Russia this past February. So the school decided to get some sort of support from Oh's company who took them upon the offer.

So, Oh has been a liaison with this teacher at SFLH and promised her to provide as much support as possible. And Oh and his boss decided to give away some promotion DVDs of Gyeonggido and to buy the visitors from the coldest place in the world a nice decent Korean food at Korean Folk Village in Yongin. So, Oh needed to head down to Yonggin to treat Russians.

Whenever Oh hears the word Russian, he feels a certain connection. He attended one of the most prestigious high schools, a foreign language one in Seoul and majored in Russian, which he hardly remembers anything about other than greetings and whatnot. So, when Oh was at Korean Folk Village and was going to the rendezvous place, he tried to recall some Russian words that he learned back in high school. Well, it was no avail.
Sitting next to the principle of the Russian highschool, Oh tried to understand what she was saying in Russian. Well, later, he found himself speaking English to her.

Russians. They look cold, arrogant, strong, tough, introvert and sometimes very reserved. But no one should not look down up them. Remember back in the 70's? The Star Wars? They have potentials. Their long and cold winter is what makes who they are.

Once Oh and a good friend of his were talking about Fedor Emilianenko and amazing boxing skills. And he does not seems to train at a state of the art gym or be helped by personal trainers or whatnot, but work out and run outside and use some rusty dumbbells. And yet, he is THE BEST MMA fighter in the world right now. So, I suggested to my friend that Fedor might be staying at a deserted nuke silo and under the aegis of Putin be working out with the best physiologist, doctors and trainers in the entire Russia.

Anyways, after sending off the Russian kids and some Korean teachers from SFLH, Oh walked around the Korean Folk Village a bit and saw a number of Korean kids on a picnic. They were so many of them. At one point, Oh was surrounded by them and all of sudden was reminded of his adolescent time. When on picnics, Oh wanted to sit next to the girl that he liked, or just merely leered at her from time to time, waiting for her to come and talk to him.



Lots of thought ran thru his brain. What was he like when he was a kid? What did he do when on a picnic with his friends? One thing for sure is Oh was very self-centered. Very. And Oh still thinks that the trait still lingers inside of him. Sometimes Oh chalks it up to the fact that he is an only child. Well, there are millions of only children who are not selfish, so Oh just pins it on himself. Then, he exists the village and gets on the bus back to the office with two hot Korean pizza for the collagues in his bag.