Monday, November 22, 2010

What just happened?

Where to start? 
Well...I met this father and son paragliding duo on a forum and have been discussing flying in Korea for a few months. Turns out they live very close to me and were going flying in Cheomchun this weekend and invited me along. So good so far.
I rode to trains at 6am to get to Song Tan Station in Osan. Somehow my 1hour trip took me near two and I was 20 minutes late meeting them at the station. This is where things get interesting. Feeling bad I naturally apologized profusely. Most people would reply "oh no worries" or "it's ok we were actually running late too" but I got "meh well we were here thirty minutes early". Then I was all but ignored as the family squabbled among themselves, in the car were two sons a daughter a mother and their father. Father, Paul, is an overbearing, socially awkward white army guy who belongs in the 1950's. His wife plays the role of submissive Korean wife happy to have a man that supports her and also takes care of all her thinking. Some of the family is dropped off and all that is left is me Paul and Allan. They open up when they start poring some of Paul's home mad whiskey. It was delicious! 
We took four flights in the smoothest air I had ever had the pleasure of flying. The club they are part of consisted of twenty 40+ year old pilots. They were very nice but spoke almost no English. We ate dinner at  a place half way between a restaurant and a home. The woman cooked for us and one other table then sat down and ate and drank with us. As a guest many toasts were made to me and I consumed large amounts of soju. Paul got drunk.
For the next several hours after dinner he told me his life story. It consisted of: drugs (EVERY drug you can think of), the devil telling him to do things, and finding Jesus Christ his personal lord and savior. He ranted about weird stuff. Allen excused himself and made himself scares for the next few hours. I found him later in the hall when I left to make an imaginary phone call. He said that his dad is harmless but it's embarrassing to see him like that. That's the SHORT version of the nights escapades. 
The next morning everything was back to normal, as normal as this man can be. We met the club and i found out there was a competition today, spot landing. The top prize 300,000 won! (about $300) I came in for a landing, perfect heading, perfect height, "I was going to WIN!". A strong thermal, now I am too high, turn to loose altitude, now I'm off course, back on course but too low! 10' short, a horrible showing for the USA. All in all 4 flights the first day and three the second, this was an amazing trip, awkward at times, but amazing.
This post has taken me three days to write, between being ill and working I only get to write in ten minute chunks here and there. Thank you for reading and posting comments, it really helps me stay connected to my old home. Pictures coming soon.

3 comments:

  1. WILL! :) SOOO good to hear from you. I'm glad I've got a place to go now to get the recent update from you. I hope your sickness is all gone and that you have a great Thanksgiving (although they don't celebrate it over there...). Check out arizonabird.blogspot.com if you want an update from me. I really DO miss you!!! Take care. ;)

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  2. Wow, Will its all sound very eventful! The food looks awesome! Glad you are enjoying yourself so far. Keep the Adventures coming! Happy Thanksgiving by the way.

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  3. OK, now I want the WHOLE story. lol! Happy belated thanksgiving! I hope you found a way to be an American and overindulge on something with lots of tryptophan in it!

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