"I met God yesterday. I spoke in a language that humans can't understand. But God did”

Figured I'd post an update on happenings in my life, as the last week or so has been pretty interesting and, no shock here, I have tons of time to burn here at school. So let us begin.

I'll start out with a capoeira update, so those of you that don't care or know anything about capoeira may be best served to skip the following passage. I've gone to several classes now, and I thought I'd discuss my observations for all the capoeiristas (hope I spelled that right) back home. As this is my first experience with any group outside of Omulu Guanabara, shit is quite different. I think the majority of the capoeiristas back home would love “conditioning” here as there is no running/sprints/vomit inducing moments/fireman's carries or conditioning in general. I miss that stuff, mainly cuz I was good at it. With all this acrobatic shit we do I just look like a big, clumsy oaf. The results show in the roda, as it doesn't appear like almost anyone has much endurance to speak of. A night's training is split up into 2 hour long sessions, with an hour break in between for students to practice, stretch out, or rest. Each class begins the same with stretching and some strenuous exercises clearly focused on improving/strengthening areas necessary for floreio (lots of bridge pushups, pushups, and squats). From here, we sometimes do some work with repetitions of the basic movements, armada, quexada, mealua frenche, mealua ge compas, esquivas, etc. (I must apologize for the terrible approximations of Portuguese for the names...I went phonetically, sorry). Given the amount of beginners and near beginners, I feel like a lot more time should be dedicated to this, but I don't teach the class. Again it shows, as many in the class can do walkovers and fancy shit like that but their ginga and overall flow/conversation in the roda leaves ohhh so much to be desired. After 25 minutes or so of stretching and what have you, we move either into basic combinations or like yesterday, straight into floreio stuff. As I'm not an absolute beginner, I hopped in with the higher level group who was practicing the move that Collin had been working on when I left. The one where you begin to kick through like a mealua ge compas, but rather than bring your kicking your foot all the way around, you use your rotation and momentum to and flip over onto your feet. Kinda like a walkover, but just not from standing position. Should probably find out what that is called. We did that, with more mat work focused on handstands and headstands, until the end of class, where we were summoned to the roda. Here is where I will most definitely miss the States, as it leaves quite a bit to be desired here. For starters, we have yet to string up or use any berimbaus for the roda. Just attabaque. How the fuck do they expect me to get my swerve on (shut up, I can use that word) without the berimbau? Music has been a disappointment in general, as nearly nobody sings and even the clapping is very weak. I can only shake my head and imagine how badly Carlos would have gone off on everyone, possibly physically harming some, if not all, of them. The lack of focus on flow/capoeira movement really shows up in everyone's playing as, outside of the top students, nobody seems to be able to hold a conversation, just simply doing moves near the other person. For the most part, the students don't even seem to force the opponents to dodge the kicks. I got a big “ooooohhhhh” gasp from the crowd when I pulled a quexada on the Korean girl in class (I was shocked, Korean girls doing more strenuous exercise than badminton, crazy) and actually forced her to dodge. Or maybe it was because I was able to kick all the way over her head without her ducking. Or maybe it was the fact that I was standing 10 feet away when I attempted the kick (go, go Gadget legs!) Not sure. Another cringe worthy moment is everyone when they buy in. Ohhh god, I'm glad Carlos wasn't there to see it, as he would have stopped the roda every time and probably would have had to check into the hospital for all the burst blood vessels in his head. The foreigner guy is particularly bad. He does the typical newbie/white cord awkward entrance (I'm not sure I wanna go in now..ugg, should I just in...ummm), but to add to that, once the players have seen him, he proceeds to quickly jump in front of the guy he is replacing and basically box him out and sometimes back up into him to actually move him out of the circle. Now, I know what would have happened had he done that to a high ranking cord...he would have gotten chapaed in the back, maybe back of the head. For a newbie that's alright, but he's been training for over a year. Yikes. This may all sound like a lot of griping, but I'm actually ecstatic to be able to train again. I guess I just got spoiled for how good I had it back in the States. There are some definite pluses to the training here. Obviously, there is the focus on floreio that wasn't there back in the States, which I needed at some point. I completely understand why Carlos doesn't do any of that shit with the group back in Madison, as there are clearly more important things in capoeira then flashy high flying stuff. Like the whole give and take nature of the game. Whatever, maybe it's the “style/appearance over substance” mindset that is so prevalent over here. The group could also be deemed quite “professional” in some ways, which begs the question, “Is it really a capoeira group?” They have their own gym, specific for the class, with its own sign outside the class. When I paid the monthly fee for the class....I paid by credit card. Yeah, a capoeira group that is well enough off to be able to accept charge cards. What the fuck???? I'm so used to the money envelope back in Madison, that I nearly pooped myself when I paid by credit card. Where the hell is all the money coming from? Honestly, I feel a little like the group is a less than authentic capoeira group as they aren't living month by month, money wise.

In other news, I got drunk. Blacked out and did things that I cannot recall. Ohhh boy. The trouble started last Saturday when I decided not to eat lunch before or after capoeira, not to mention the fatigue from working out, then I followed that genius move with not eating dinner. I “wisely” decided that 1 slice of pizza and various bar table food would be sufficient for my appetite. Me smart. I also started drinking quite early, with the festivities beginning at the language exchange around 7 pm. In my defense, I didn't black out till 12:30 or so, and I had been drinking at a steady pace after that. I began by playing some beer pong at the language exchange. Yeah, they have it here, since the foreigners became fed up with the lame Korean drinking games and wanted to show them how it was done. I won both my matches. I say “I won” since Max, my partner didn't offer much support. First game: Eric 8 cups, Max 2. Second game: Eric 6 cups, Max 4. He assured me they play beer pong in New York, but I have my doubts. Many of his shots had a “Ohhh my god, how did you miss the table that badly?” feel reminiscent of Mr. Stephen Neal. After vanquishing all foes and the booze in the process, the gang moved to Hongdae and more drinking. Nothing too memorable to note until I blacked out. Last thing I remember is trying to go to the bathroom and stumbling quite badly. Apparantly, I maintained my really awesome demeanor once I blacked out. Thank god. I really didn't want to be one of those guys that just wants to pick a fight and gets all pushy. I'm looking at you Stephen. At some point I actually, I'm told, went up to a Korean girl and asked her to dance. She obviously said yes. Actually, saying that I asked her to dance would be giving me too much credit. Despite all the liquid courage, I still had to ask Amy to make the introductions with her table. I'm glad that even when I'm blacked out, I'm still ohhh so me. A picture does exist of this, for all the non-believers. The girl's face is not terribly noticeable, since she isn't 6 feet tall, like myself. At some point we decided to leave and I had to basically be carried. I was refused entrance to the jimjilbang because I was just too drunk. When they asked me to stand and walk on my on to prove how not drunk I was, I promptly fell over. So I'm told. Eventually, they found a hotel for everyone to stay at and I crashed and would not move from the doorway. Thus I awoke the next morning lying on the floor of a hotel room, contorted in some uncomfortable position with only one shoe on. I don't think I'll be doing that anytime soon.

My other amusing adventure took place last night on the train coming home from capoeira. I was standing alone in one of the many standing only areas on the train, when a young Korean female wanders into my area. I had heard her say to someone that she was going to Yangpyeong, so naturally I was curious, as to see a young, attractive woman from Yangpyeong is akin to seeing a giant panda in the wild. They are like an extremely endangered species in my town. Just old ladies and middle aged moms (shut up, just shut up, don't say anything) in town. She eventually struck up conversation with me, and we conversed as much as possible for a short time, given my terrible Korean and her slightly better English. The chat got interesting when she asked me a question in Korean that I didn't understand. She subsequently pulled out the book she had been reading earlier. It was the Bible. Ohhhh shit! Here we go again. I originally was worried, but she turned out to be quite nice. And besides, if I have to listen to rascict and bigoted trash, it might as well could out of an attractive face. I was gonna faze them out anyways. This way I'll have something to look at in the meantime. Now things got kinda crazy as she bluntly states, and this I'm not joking on, “I met God yesterday. I talked to him by myself. I talked in a language that humans can't understand. But He did.” In my defense, I was impressed that I didn't just fall on the floor laughing at this point. I was curious to hear more. She also said that she was so excited to be able to talk to me, as she really wanted to tell everybody about what had happened to her. When I told her I was a Christian, she responded with “Hallelujah”. Classic. You heard it first here, there is a new prophet on Earth, sent to guide us through these dark times, and she is a 20something Korean woman. So when she goes global and starts healing the sick and helping the world find JC, I can say that I knew her when she was just a crazy lady on the train. That is all for now.