The Iceberg

Anyang Andres 47 ORGBOB 41

Just a quick update on the progress of the Anyang Andres fantasy football team (since I know everyone’s dying to know).

After rolling to a 9-1 record, the Andres stumbled a bit down the stretch, losing three of their final four games (though there were no stinker performances in any of the games) to finish the regular season at 10-4.  That record was good enough for the top seed and a first-round bye in the playoffs.  Last weekend Anyang took out the Wonju Wobblers 62-50 in the semi-finals.  This weekend they face Oh Roh Gi Boong Oh Baang (what a mouthful) for the Hines Ward trophy.  Andre is looking to exact a little revenge, as ORGBOB gave the team its second loss of the season in week 11 (96-74).

Matters of concern:  How much will Romo play now that the Cowboys have clinched home field advantage?  (Damn you, Favre).  Can Adrian Peterson get back on track?  Will Phillip Rivers ever pull his head out of his ass and realize that Antonio Gates is the best tight end in the NFL?  Will the coach of the Rams punish Torry Holt for bitching him out in last week’s game?  These questions and more will be answered this weekend.

My prediction:  Anyang Andres 88  ORGBOB  72

Good god!  I’ve been busy lately.  Last July I took over the coordinator position at the school and since then my plate has been pretty full doing…well…let’s just say lots of “administrative” stuff.  A bonus to all of the extra work is that I get to travel to Hanoi in February as a representative of our school to our sister school in Vietnam.  Hopefully, if all goes well there, down the road I’ll have the chance to visit India, China, and Japan as well.

But that’s not what this post is about.

A couple of weeks ago our school held its winter festival.  I’ve got to tell you, the kids at our school are amazing.  I already knew that the majority of them were smart, but I had no idea how talented many of them are as well.

Students study at the school until 10:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.  As if that were not enough, they come to school every other Saturday to take part in their club activities.  Each student joins a club at the beginning of the year.  There are a variety of clubs, including a club that produces an English-language magazine, a movie making club, a modern dance club, a soccer club, a musical club, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese (but sadly this year, no English) theater clubs, a fashion design club, and many, many more.

Many of the clubs use their Saturday meetings to prepare for the winter festival.  In addition to the club performances, a few individuals of extraordinary ability also perform.  The kid who I wrote about here sang and, I must say, he was pretty good.  But, for my money, the kid who stole the show was the first-year student in the video below.  Unfortunately, being the idiot that I so often am, I was worried that I wouldn’t have enough battery life for the whole show so I didn’t record his performance to the end.

Reminds me of when I was 16.  Except that I was a maestro of the baseball diamond.  That’s right, baby, yeah!

While I’m at it, I’ll include a little of the Korean-language theater performance.  The girl who played the lead character (황진이) was particularly impressive.

So…I’m checking out the Seoul Immigration Office website to get some information on the new criminal background check required for E-2 visa holders…

…and I scrolled down to the bottom of the page, where I saw this…

Included with that embrace is a good frisking, it seems.