봉구 Or bong gu, in romanized korean, is very simply the most erratic combination of volleyball and soccer ever. The funniest part? My co-workers LOVE it and they are EXTREMELY serious about their bong gu. So don't even THINK about laughing. haha Let me describe to you the ridiculousness surrounding this game: I was sitting at my desk happily researching my lesson plans for next week when Eunyeong (my co-teacher ^.^) asked me "Would you like to think about going to auditorium for teacher's day?" This is the way that Koreans phrase everything, I don't really understand it, but, they ask me if I would, or could like to think about doing anything; they never ask me straight out. So after some confused dialogue I ended up trekking to the fourth floor with Eunyeong to the gymnasium (which I didn't know existed until yesterday). We arrived there and all the teachers were dressed in their workout outfits. A side note here, Koreans are extremely serious about their sports, they always wear matching outfits, have sweat bands, and wear tennis shoes. They don't mess around. So there we were in the gymnasium, everyone was wearing these cute little outfits, everyone but me. I was dressed in dress pants and button up blouse. Win. As I walked in they looked at me and said "B! B! B! Mori B!" I smiled and nodded, "Ya! B!...What's that?" They smiled and nodded, I smiled and nodded back. Well once the smiling was finished I was watching them line up on the courts, 13 on one side of the court, 13 on another side of the court, suddenly there was a chorus "Mori! Mori! lsjdf23480faj (this is to signify the Korean words that I didn't understand)" One of the women jogged up to me, grabbed me by the arm and pulled me onto the court, everyone turned and smiled at me, a few gave me the thumbs up sign and we were good to go. Except that I didn't know what we were playing, nor the rules. Awesome. So turns out, with this game you can use your feet, hands, or head to push the ball up in the air. Same principles as volleyball in that three hits and then over the net, except that the ball can bounce on the ground once, but not twice. Right. Good to know. Well after about an hour of this game my team lost, or won, i'm not really sure. I'm also not sure what the strategy for this game was, but i'm sure there was some. Anyways, at least i'm finally getting invited to group outings?
There is definitely a well-earned lesson in this: take everyday as it comes, go with the flow, and always remember to smile. The longer that I stay in Korea the more I realize that those three little sentiments are everything that I need in order to maintain my sanity. I'm also starting to believe that those sentiments don't conform specifically to Korea, they should be applied to my entire life, regardless of the country. The simplicity of my life here is wonderful, no car, no debt, no bills, no real means to communicate. It's amazing how once you've been stripped free of your material bonds that you realize the things you needed the most were really a smile and an ok.
Anyeong!
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