Meeting a Girl

Eric and I were walking the other day to Garf or whatever you called it (its a French version of Walmart that is in Korea). We were talking when these girls came up to us. This one girl just started talking to us in English. We were pretty surprised since she was Korean and most Koreans don't walk up to foreigners like this.

So we were vibing with these girls. We got their names and all. They find out where we lived and we found out one of the girls goes to KAIST. It was like everything is on the up and up. These girls must be feeling us, you know.

Then the girl flipped out a book. I was thinking, why is she handing me a book. And then you know the next words that came out here mouth.....

We are Jehovah Witnesses.

That's life in Korea. Always be prepare for shock.

Gotta get your game up (BBall Version)... and on to Volleyball

Today (June 26) was my first trip to the court at KAIST. I was rolling with my friends who went their to play volleyball. Arriving at the court, I saw several guys already shooting around. I didn't know what to expect from the ballers in Korea. Knowing that I might be a little rusty I went to the other side of the court.

Of course being the typical American, I did a couple crossovers and random AI like dribbles as I walked to the other side of the court. After I made a couple of layups and awfully missed jumpers, one of the Koreans came over to see if I wanted to ball.

I went over and after a discussion, which was in part Korean and part English, we decided to play a game of 3 on 3. I had "tall Lee" (Yes, Lee was his name or probably the name he told me since it is assumed that foreigners can't pronounce Korean names) on my team, playing like a forward. And then my other teammate was Dave, the all sport Asian who played like D Wade. Trust me, Dave was gangsta. Must have been the North American experience.

I learned several things from ballin here in Korea. First, they don't play aggressive ball like in the US. They don't play that "knock you so hard your momma loses a tooth" street ball. They call fouls, etc... The bball game is not intense and people don't get upset if they lose. Its a nice friendly game. Maybe, we are too competitive in the US. They kept telling me, "Too aggressive, Too aggressive". At least they didn't throw up the X with their hands (the universal way of saying no in the world it seems.)

Oh yea, these guys are freakin PURE shooters. I mean you leave them a little space, and they drained 3s in your face. It got so bad, I felt like a sink. But I did rep US street ballers with a couple crossovers, layups, no look passes, etc... I had them ooh'ing and ahh'ing.

Just know this: Play man defense on these cats because they are so used to playing zone defense. It knocks them out of their comfort zone. Note, Koreans when playing in the US play zone, it will confuse and knock Americans out of their comfort zone. And everybody who plays Europeans, be aware of their crucial picks....

Well I dished out my bball knowledge so on to volleyball. Well, I suck. These cats were killing me. At least they were willing to teach me volleyball and were patient with my volleyball ineptitude.

The craziest thing I saw in volleyball was this 6+ foot asian dude spiking the ball so hard at this teeny weeny asian girl. She took it like a G. I mean the way the ball hit her knee, I thought she was done for the day. Man, you should have seen it.

The true volleyballers are out here in Korea. You best come correct and prepared if you going to vball.