Another Week

Another week has come to and end, another week ahead. Last Sunday I taught a Parkour workshop again. I enjoyed the group of people that attended, from various countries. They members also learned the techniques with a fair amount of ease, and after only about 30 minutes they were able to do a basic run.




On Thursday night last week the senior students, for whom the current semester is their final one, organized a banquet in honour of the teachers. In Korea senior students host such a banquet to thank their lecturers for what they have done for them during their years at university. As a teacher I can only say that it is a much appreciated gesture. This was the first such a banquet I've attended, and was definitely the best one so far. We were taken to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Kangnam, which included an excellent buffet.

There are only two weeks of classes remaining at the university where I work, which means that we are very focussed on finish the material in time. Of course this means that I've started doing lots of grading in order to finish the assignments and class tests before the final exams start December 13.
Saturday night I met up with a dance instructor focussing on Jazz and contemporary dance. We had a very interesting conversation, mostly comparing the similarities between dance and the martial arts. I learned a lot.

Today (Sunday), I attended a Taekkyeon tournament (as a spectator). Although I have seen Taekkyeon tournaments online, todays one was the first time for me to see in person. Most of the events were group events, with five members per group. If a fighter wins his bout, he stays on to fight the next challenger from the opposing group. In one of the sets, a girl stepped up and won against all the members of the opposing team. She was quite good. Of course, I enjoyed the adults fights much better, as they used much more intriguing techniques. I took my video camera with and will put together a video once I have time.

The tournament ended around 7PM, it was supposed to end at 5PM. Starving by then two of my fellow Taekkyeon mates and I went to Itaewon for dinner. We had fabulous Thai food, including tongue smackingly good Thai deserts. While having dinner it started to snow.

By the time I headed home it was snowing quite hard. At first I was tempted to take a taxi from the subway station to my house so that I do not have to walk to far, but then I decided to rather take the bus and enjoy the fifteen minute walk in the snow to my apartment. Although I've experienced it now for a number of years, snow is still a novelty to me—I grew up in Africa, after all. That white blanket that covers everything is to me a beautiful spectacle year after year.

Today America and South Korea performed their joint naval exercises in the West Sea; the largest ever naval drills.I guess they were pretty intimidating as North Korea didn't react much. Then again, there is still a couple of days to go as the naval exercises are planned to continue till Wednesday.

Parkour in Olympic Park

This past Sunday I hosted an introductory workshop on Parkour. We met at Olympic Park (South East Seoul) where I showed the attendees most of the basics. We did some precision jumps, a variety of vaults like the monkey vault, lazy vault, turning vault and the like, and also did some wall running. We finished the day with some PK-rolls on some of the grassy slopes in the park. In all, I've been in Korea for nearly four years, but this was the first time to do a proper Parkour session -- I didn't reallise how I've missed it until actually doing it again. How was pleasantly surprised that I could still do the basics with fair ease. I kept myself from doing any crazy stuff. I guess it helped that I'm still quite bruised from a heavy Taekkyeon sparring session I had the previous week. Parkour is such a great workout -- my leg muscles felt sore, in a good way, the days after the jam. The interesting thing about Parkour is that you do not reallise how much you are exercising because it is such a fun playful activity.

Many people (about 16) showed interest to attend the introductory workshop, although only six showed up. I'm guessing that since it was on a Sunday morning most people, when faced between the decision of sleeping in and exercising, chose to stay in bed. If I didn't host the event I would probably have slept in too. Nevertheless, since there was such a big interest I will try and host another workshop -- this time in the afternoon -- before it gets too cold. Unfortunately my Autumn weekends are running out. This coming Sunday I'm going ziplining, sliding with ropes through a forest canopy; the following weekend is Halloween; and the weekend thereafter I'm giving a bride away at a wedding. I also hope to go scuba diving one last time before winter hits us. The last place I'd like to be is in cold water during the winter; I get cold too easily.

Parkour, Friends and Stuff

A couple of years back I started doing Parkour. I met up with the "father" of Parkour in South Africa, Dane Grant and we just hit it off from the start. A wonderfully strange friendship developed practically immediately, which have stayed consistent even though we have only been in each others' company a handful of times. Dane has started to make the most of his Parkour experience and has recently starred in the Dunlop Zone advertisement below.



Dane learned Parkour from the founders of this art while he lived in England. When he returned to South Africa he started up Parkour - South Africa, to develop the art locally. It has grown tremendously; practically all major cities in South Africa has troupes of traceurs (people that practise Parkour) enjoy the freedom to be gained from this art of movement.

The video below is "The Making of Dunlop Zone", and shows how the add was put together. I'm sure my friends in the advertising business and video production will be interested to see it. The cinematography and editing are excellently done and, of course, my Parkour brothers are amazing!



Unfortunately I haven't done much Parkour since I've been in Korea. My time have mostly been taken up by all my martial art training. As the season changes and it becomes less hot and rainy, I do hope to go for a couple of runs before it turns cold and icy again.

Bicycle

Some of my earliest memories are of me on my yellow and red tricycle. I then moved on to a little bicycle with some support wheels that was slightly bent which meant that they did not support me all the time. It was a Christmas or birthday gift. I remember racing down terrible gravel roads struggling to keep my balance. Learning to ride the bike is something I did by myself. Much of my childhood victories were solitary experiences.

I grew up with BMXs and later mountain bikes. I've never enjoyed racing bikes, finding it boring. I guess it is for this same reason that I enjoy to do parkour, but I strongly dislike jogging. Parkour, like mountain biking, presents you with interesting terrains and forces you to come up with creative on-the-spot solutions.

The guy in the video below proves me wrong. He deftly uses a racing bike like a mountain bike, combining the speed and smoothness of racing bikes with the dexterity and excitement of a mountain bike.



I've been contemplating getting a bicycle. I use public transport all the time. From my apartment I need to walk about ten to fifteen minutes to catch the bus. Getting a bike will greatly reduce that time. I also live at the foot of a mountain, so having a mountain bike may be great fun. Of course, it is quite unlikely that I will go mountain biking much. As it is my time is so finely sliced that I doubt such fancies of going mountain biking will come to much. Nonetheless, I still walk daily to the bus stop, so a bike may still come in handy -- at least to save some time, if not to provide some pleasure.

My New (Parkour) Shoes

Last night I went to buy myself some running shoes. My close friends and family may know that I actually hate running. I do, however, love parkour, which involves running, jumping, climbing, and the like. I forgot my previous parkour shoes in South Africa (a pair of New Balance), which is unfortunate since I trusted that pair of shoes a lot.

Since it is starting to warm up again, I my want to go for some parkour runs in the not too distant future, so I needed some shoes. Choosing shoes that are appropriate for parkour is not easy. It must have the comfort of a running shoe, but with really good cushioning to act as buffers when you jump off of high things. It should also have excellent grip as many of the parkour movements entail precision jumps. Slipping could cause serious injury. There should also be a fare amount of flexibility as different movements require you to place your weight on the balls of your feet, or in the centre of the sole. If you cannot comfortably pull your toes back, you may not be able to land precisely on the balls of your feet, which again could result in injury.

Most of the shoes I tried out had terrible cushioning and half of them did not have good grip. Also, most of them were horribly hard. I at last settled for a pair of Reeboks. I’ve tried a couple of Nike’s already, but wasn’t too impressed. Then my friend who went with me tried on these Nike Dual Fusion running shoes and spoke highly of them. Although I’ve already settled on the Reeboks I decided just to test the Dual Fusions. They turned out to be very comfortable. The grip is good and the shoe is quite flexible. The base is also quite soft. I’m not too sure how its shock absorption is and will in any case add a shock absorption layer as I usually do with my parkour shoes.

Surprisingly the shoe was actually quite inexpensive.

This afternoon I took a dash to the gym. (Usually when I go to the gym I would run there as part of my warm up.) The shoes were really comfortable and wonderfully light. I look forward to trying them out during parkour session.

Other shoes that are really good for parkour are the Merrel Slams. Unfortunately I didn't see any.

Movie Reviews

Following are some movies I’ve seen over the last couple of months but did not have time to write proper reviews for. I hope this will suffice:

Sweeny Todd (2007)

A great creepy horror-musical in Tim Burton’s trademark gothic style, starring, Jonny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter . A must-see for any Tim Burton or Jonny Depp fan.

Yes Man (2008)

Jim Carrey plays in this cheerful movie about a man that has to say “yes” to everything. Not the best movie ever, but it is a charming feel good movie with just enough magic to lift the spirits.

The Legend of Ip Man (2009)

An excellent kung-fu movie and a must see for anyone that likes the genre. Although I saw it in Chinese with Korean subtitles and might have missed a little of the plot, it is undoubtedly one of the better martial art films I’ve seen in a long time. It is a semi-biographical account of Yip Man, the Wing Chun instructor of Bruce Lee. Donnie Yen, acting as the legendary Yip Man, does not disappoint. Over all a exceptionally crafted film.

13th District: Ultimatum (2009)

The sequel to 13th District, this French movie is an action packed movie, tailor-made to my adrenaline sensibilities, featuring extraordinary parkour and martial arts. Any parkour or martial art enthusiast will enjoy this movie, as well as anyone that likes the action movie genre.

Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (2006)

An action packed Japanese anime. This is a classic movie in the genre with a good plot, with the Little Red Riding Hood story weaved into it.

No Regret (후회하지 않아) (2006)

Another movie exploring homosexuality in Korea. A sad tale with some surprising twists in the plot. The film did not go the stereotypical route when portraying homosexuality. One theme in the movie is the fate of male and female orphans in Korea that are released from orphanages at the age of 18; with no money to continue further studies in the highly competitive Korean society, many of them turn to prostitution to earn a living. A sad reality.

200 Pounds Beauty (미녀는 괴로워) (2006)

A parody of the extreme plastic surgery culture in Korea. As part of the recent cultural subconscious, I think it is a must-see for anyone living in Korea.

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

One of the best films I have seen. A great story, great acting, great cinematography, great musical score and eight Oscars wins! I definitely recommend this movie. I will forgive it for pushing Dark Knight aside a bit, the latter still being my favourite movie from 2008.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

Much awaited, starring Hugh Jackman and Korean-American Daniel Henney of whom I blogged about a couple of days ago. Honestly I was disappointed. There are too many plot faults and the computer graphics and special effects were not on par with the other X-Men movies. Of course, all X-Men fans will see it; it's just a pity that it did not live up to expectations. If you are not a fan of X-Men, or of action movies, I suggest you give this one a skip.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles – Season 1

In preparation of the fourth Terminator movie coming out later this year, I started to watch the Sarah Connor Chronicles series. I didn’t expect much, which was a good thing since it left room to be surprised. Not the greatest series ever, but not bad either. Lena Headey is not Linda Hamilton, but she’s quite a tough lady nonetheless (remember the queen in 3oo?). An enjoyable series, especially for fans of the Terminator meme.

Parkour: A Series of Comics by Monty

Parkour in South Africa and Abroad

One of my hobbies listed in this blog is parkour. I’ve even posted some photos of it in the past. But if you are still not sure what it is, read this news article, which was posted in The South African (a newspaper for South Africans living abroad). The article features my friend Dane Grant who showed me the ropes in parkour. (Or let me rather say, he showed me the ropes in parkour and then we became friends.)

The YouTube-video below is a Virgin Softdrink TV commercial with Dane (wearing the cap) showing his stuff.

Brille en pille en tienrandnootjies

Toe ek klein was het Ouma Hannie (my ouma aan moederskant) altyd gepraat van brille, pille en tienrandnootjies. Dit was haar uitdrukking om na die oumenstoestand te verwys. Totaal afhanklik van brille, medikasie en 'n skamele pensioentjie.

Gister, terwyl ek liggies parkour-toertjies oefen, het my bril gebreek. Die neusbrugkussingtjie aan die eenkant van die brul was heeltemal skeefgebuig en toe ek daaraan raak toe breek dit mors af. Die bril sit toe skoon lomp op my gesig en in 'n desperate poging om weer balans te kry, toe breek ek maar sommer self die ander neusbrugkussingtjie af. En nou is dit die lense wat op my neus druk. Ek het lang oogwimpers. Ongelukkig is oogwimpers glad nie brilvriendelik nie. My wimpers raak aan die lense en sorg vir ergelike irritasie. Met die bril wat nou juis so vlak teen my gesig is irriteer die wimpers nog meer en omdat ek 'n olierige vel het vee my wimpers nou sulke kwashale olierigheid oor die lense. Boonop is die balans van die bril steeds uit.

Ek kan nie wag vir my eerste betaling nie. Daar is soveel wat gedoen moet word en 'n oogtoets en nuwe bril is hoog aan die lys. So dis my huidige kondisie. Nes oorle' ouma is ek ook afhanklik van 'n bril. En dan is daar die velmedikasie en vitamienes en minerale wat ek daagliks afsluk. Ouma Hannie, nie lank nie dan praat ek ook van die brille, pille en tienrandnootjies.

Vriende op die hart

Vanoggend word ek vroeër as gewoonlik wakker – seker so net na vyf. En die eerste ding waaraan ek dink is (weereens) my vriend Ruan. Sedert ek Korea toe gekom het is Ruan gedurig in my gedagtes. ’n Aanhoudende gevoel van onjuistheid. ’n Dringendheid oor sy welstand. Ek kan nie verklaar wat daar agtersteek nie – ’n tipe broederlike besorgdheid, ’n intuïtiewe voorgevoel, ’n telepatiese skakel met iets wat hom pla?

En toe begin ek maar, soos ’n paar keer van te vore, vir hom bid. Gly uit my bed uit tot op my knieë en dink aan my vriend aan die anderkant van die wêreld. Aanvanklik wou ek weer terug klim in die bed, maar besluit om hom sommer gou te bel. Dit was seker so elfuur in die aand aan sy kant, terwyl die dag net begin breek het aan myne. Dit was lekker om met hom te gesels. Hy vertel my ook toe van ’n berg akademiese opdragte wat onlangs moes klaar en ander dinge wat stres veroorsaak het. Dit blyk dat ek tog op ’n vreemde manier in voeling is met sy gemoedstoestand.

Ruan en ek het ontmoet deur ons gemeenskaplike stokperdjie Parkour. Ons het ook vinnig agterkom dat ons ander dinge deel, soos ’n inherente rebelsheid teen “die sisteem” en ’n belangstelling in filosofie. Ek en Ruan het die oggend van die dag voor my vertrek na Korea vinnig gekuier oor Mozart-roomys. Ek het soos gewoonlik my aan die Super Caramel-geur verlustig. Dis ook waar die foto geneem is.

The photo in this post is not a Creative Commons image.

Milliseconds of freedom