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So it's been a pretty exciting week here in Seoul, with the olympic spirit in full swing, Koreans are practically glued to their television sets. At the top of the list might be Korean swimmer Tae-Hwan Park who nabbed Korea's first ever Olympic gold in swimming.
Next you've got the crazy soccer games (two of which I've caught). It seems like every discussion I've had with my debate students ends up a conversation about the olympics.

For those of you who can't keep your faces glued to the tube, here are a couple of medal count links you might find helpful:

This first one is courtesy of the infamous Yahoo, whose board of directors is still in tact btw. It ranks based on total number of medals.

This one is the official count by the Beijing Olympic Website and ranks based on number of gold medals.

Finally, I just wanted to throw down an excerpt of a pretty interesting article I read on ESPN.com

No way met no quit.

"I changed," he said. "I thought, 'That's ridiculous. I'm at the Olympic Games, I'm here for the United States of America. I don't care how bad it hurts, I'm going after it.'

"I just got a super charge."

What transpired during the final 50 meters was the stuff of Disney movies. It was the kind of thing that should land Lezak a co-starring role with Phelps on cereal boxes and network morning shows. And if Phelps does complete the great eight and pocket a $1 million Speedo bonus, he should cut a check for one-eighth of that total to the guy who kept the quest alive: Jason Lezak.

It's a great piece to give you a jolt of patriotism... ESPN ARTICLE

And last but not least... I'm going to be kick'n it with Scholar Jon and Big EZ this weekend. Should make for a good time.. I'll also get the new camera I ordered.. so hopefully I'll have some very amateur pictures to throw up on my newly created flickr account... See you soon!

So I was hanging out with Jane and Christine last night, it was good to see them and have some dinner. Nothing like a little naengmyeon and galbi to help catch up... Anyways, afterwards we went to this cool little place to have a drink and met up with some of their friends. As we're sitting around the table talking one of the girls next to me looks over and tells everyone (in Korean) that I look like this really famous actor from American movies. Visions of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li start running through my head.

For a moment I even had flashbacks to elementary school when kids would ask me to show them karate because I was asian, and obviously if we had smaller eyes, we should have learned karate from an old drunk war vet while growing up...anyways... Then she named the actor: I clench my teeth as I hear the name Tom Hanks. What? are you serious? Then it started to make sense... She was native Korean, so I suppose if i look a little bit like "whitey" (as my other friend describes it) then sure.. okay Tom Hanks.. "But which Tom Hanks?" I asked. To which Christine responded, "the younger one." Hmm.. Tom Hanks from Big? After a few mineutes of trying to imagine the implications of being told I look like the "Big" Tom Hanks, I felt I could accept it as a compliment. Nope, too late. The actor had changed, and a couple of the girls were describing another movie... really great acting, really handsome star... yup that who I look like.. that guy.. but what was the movie? Wait for it... The Shawshank Redemption. Yup, I've just been told I look like Morgan Freeman from Shawshank :\ (maybe Elliott and I are closer than I thought?) Now I can't help but laugh... Okay.. I look over that this girl and try to squeeze out a.. "thank you?" to which she replies that it's "the other guy." Tim Robbins? My response, "thank you?" and we should call her a cab, because she needs her sleep.




I'm thankful for ridiculous comparisons from both sides of the ocean regarding we "exotic blends" ;) including the awkward situations they bring and the laughs that follow.