"I was unprepared"

 Hi everyone!

As everyone has already figured out, we suck at blogging this Olympics. But I’m going to go ahead and blame this on the Koreans, because we never had time to do it, because we had to allow massive amounts of extra time or delays to everything we did. I’ll also blame myself for having a bias that Koreans would have their shit together when it came to logistics, but it turns out, that is not the case at all. I offer the following case studies:

Transport Night 1: We finish with a night event in the mountains at what seems to be a reasonable hour, and head to Austria House for a beer. After closing down Austria House at around 11:30, we walk back to the shuttle stop, where we JUST miss one shuttle, and think we’ll only be waiting about 30 minutes for the next. There are NO volunteers (apparently, in Korea, it takes 10 people to wave goodbye, but zero to keep buses running to get people away from events), but we’re told by someone else that the last shuttle will come at 12:39. It never comes. Lara has to go DEMAND from a bus full of police that they call us a taxi home that costs $75.

Transport Night 2: We’re in the mountains at one event, and look at the transit time to another mountain stop. The time to travel adds up to 45 minutes. We add 45, because we wanted to be safe, so we allowed an hour and 30 minutes. 2 hours and 45 minutes later, we arrive to the event, late.

Transport Night 3: (Any night)

Us: Shuttle number <insert shuttle number> ??

Volunteers: no <insert shuttle number> today

OR

Us: (get on bus going to somewhere)

Them: (kick us off bus, drop us off in wrong place, go wrong way on the loop)

Concession stand 1: We hear there is no more beer. We take a gondola to the bottom of the mountain to go buy a 6 pack

Concession stand 2: I’m told there is no more beer by a volunteer in line. I leave the line, then see someone getting it. Turns out, this is a trick they used often on us to try to get us to leave the line, when in fact, beer was usually already either there or on its way (also keep in mind it was generally a 15-30 minute wait for concessions). The best version of this was when the guy came back in line with his translation app and I handed it to him over the fact this was happening at every event. His last response: "I was unprepared" (with a shrug, of course) 

Concession stand 3: We wait in line for ONE HOUR during ski jump, basically missing the entire event, and all because the volunteers didn’t direct us to the concession stand where you could get beer AND watch the jumps.

Concession stand: (every concession stand)

Me: Orders item on menu

Them: Sold out. Not available. (arm cross)

I feel like all of the issues we’ve experienced diminished my enjoyment of the games a little this time, because at least one bad thing happened each day. Unfortunately, I was comparing it to Sochi, and things ran smoothly (at least in terms of transport, which was our biggest issue), and if something wasn’t right, a Russian would move mountains to fix it for an American. This wasn’t the case in Korea. There were lots of sweet “Sorrys” and shrugs, but very little in the way of fixing things in the moment.

Luckily, a two handed wave and a smile at the end of a grueling day that you commuted 3 hours each way plus in between to get to can fix a lot of the wrong. I will miss the goodbye lines at every event, and all of the friendly smiles we got each day at every event we went to. More on the GREAT things we experienced here in my next post! 

My Body No Longer Knows How To Process Water, Only Beer

Sorry we haven’t posted recently, but our second night at Heineken House resulted in international shenanigans on such a grand level that our livers and brains needed some time to recover.  We barely managed to make it to Men’s Giant Slalom, where Ted Ligety did not have a good day, followed with Men’s Aerials, where the eastern Europeans own that sport.  I’m guessing it has something to do with their obsession with gymnastics! 

We hit up women’s ski halfpipe the next day, where we got to see the “Hungarian” skier do her safe but boring run.  An inspiration to us all, I think.  Find whatever loophole exists to get you into the Olympics.  Sounds good to me!!!  Who wants to start training for curling? 

After ski halfpipe, we took advantage of a 24 hour schedule break to visit Seoul.  We bought bags of skin care products, and with the way Korean women’s skin looks, we are going to look like our teenage selves soon enough!  They literally sell face masks in bulk packs, like 10 at a time.  They also dump a million samples into your bag at checkout.  Free BB cream!  Free sample mask!  Free glow crème! 

Speaking of skin, we are feeling like we’re getting some great color here, but not from the sun-from the WIND!  It is bone chilling, serious wind and that’s definitely one thing that we’re happy to leave behind.

Last night was our final event, Nordic Combined, and we got to witness Germany go from 0 medals in NC ever to a total podium sweep!!!  The crowd was going crazy!  Jessica got branded by a German early on when she asked to get a picture with them, and they marked her face with the German flag.  Very apropos for Berlin’s newest resident, I think.

Korea has been one long dance party.  At the events, there is always music playing, and everyone is dancing or moving to it (exception is ice skating), in Seoul when we were shopping, there was music blasting outside in the streets, and inside the stores, it’s just a ongoing music fest.  We, of course, loved it.  Dancing all the time was a great way to burn off all of those calories from the beer.

You have not been to a sporting event until you have been to a sporting event where people are eating bowls of ramen.  And by bowls of ramen, I am referring to tubs the size of small movie popcorn.  Get on this, America!  All you need is boiling water and a dream!

We got the chance to visit 2 other places in Seoul-the Samsung interactive exhibit called D’Light and Changdeokgung Palace.  We did a Virtual Reality roller coaster ride (it was AWESOME!) and some really cool uses of tech to manipulate our images and track our movements.  Changdeokgung Palace was packed with young women wearing the traditional Korean costume and taking pictures in large groups and with some professional photographers.   After I did some brief googling, it turns out that this is becoming more and more popular amongst young Koreans.  There are a lot of rental shops where they can get outfitted for their fabulous friends photo shoot.  I want to dress up as an old timey cowboy or pioneer woman and get a friends photo shoot at the OK Corral or Little Big Horn.  Let’s do this, guys!

The palace was incredibly beautiful-the detail of the painted wood and the mix of indoor/outdoor space that is so enjoyable to experience.  Just when we thought we saw the highlight of the castle, there was another treasure around the corner. 

Favorite Korean people:

-Each shuttle bus to events had a TV mounted in front with various events being broadcast.  One particular driver just wanted to watch his stories, so that bus was blasting Korean soap operas.  It was amazing

-The guy in the Seoul subway video that was running on repeat.  He was wearing a hot pink glittered blazer.  I loved him.

-The 70 year old woman that started jumping up and down when I did during a song and how happy she was about it.  Serious health and wellness goals, that one!

-The cab driver that spoke just enough English to be hilarious, yelling “LET’S GO!” when our address finally came up in his GPS, and excitedly kept saying “Okay?  OKAY!” when dropping
us off.  Honorable mention goes to the Korean cab driver that peeled out of the gravel driveway upon leaving, like he couldn’t get away from us fast enough.  We couldn’t stop laughing for 5 minutes.

-Josh & Jane, our Airbnb hosts-they were so kind and helpful, telling us we were beautiful the day we dressed up for figure skating, to being more than cool when we missed our scheduled shuttle time with them the day after Heineken House.  The place was tiny, but clean and the hosts couldn’t have been more kind.

-Definitely NOT the Korean Airbnb host that thought we were prostitutes.  It’s a long story, and we’re not POSITIVE she called us prostitutes, but she was giving us a stinkeye that told us she thought we were up to no good when ALL WE WANTED WAS A CAB AND THE KAKAO TAXI APP WAS HORRENDOUS

-All the adorable babies and kids dressed up in snowsuits and Olympic gear.  My fat Asian baby obsession was more than fulfilled and satiated for sure. 

-Definitely not the Koreans that organized the transportation, trained the volunteers, and organized/stocked the concession stands.  To be fair, the concessions were markedly improved around the halfway point of our stay, but an hour long wait in line for beer at ski jump was my breaking point.  From then on, I just ordered a million beers for myself.  They weren’t going to get warm-it was c-c-c-c-c-c-cold outside!!!

-The Korean volunteers that were always so friendly and kind, welcoming us to events and saying goodbye, and matching our energy levels when we responded.  The two handed wave just makes you feel good-both giving and receiving!!

Favorite Olympic Moments

5.  Taking a ski lift for a beer run

4.  Watching Nathan Chen redeem himself.  You guys!!  This kid!!! He’s just 18 and he bounced back like a pro!!!  I will definitely be there in 2022, for him AND Vincent Zhou!! 

3.  Meeting up with the McGuirks at Beer Chicken Pub before Ski Jumping, drinking yards of beer and catching up with the second coolest set of siblings at the Olympics.  The wait for beer at ski jumping almost dampened the evening, but it was saved by ordering 20 beers and then drinking them all.

2.  Snowboard Halfpipe-Gold medal for Shaun White, great performances by the other Americans, an awesome dance party followed by a phenomenal party for snow volleyball at Austria House, where we got free booze and ponchos, met several Olympians, followed by a visit to the medals plaza, followed by a great time at a place called Beer Chicken Pub with our friends Dave and Mike

1.  Heineken House night 2-Canadian tuxedos, a ginger dance off, conga lines for days, and the end of the night spent in a karaoke bar, belting out Gangnam Style.  

BRB, buying all the skin care and seeing the sights in Seoul!

Next event, LAST EVENT, tonight!!!!  Nordic Combined!!

The Little Things

Pleasure Ride

About a month ago, I saw this cool YouTube video on a street food market in Pyeonchang, so when we had some time yesterday before our evening event , we decided to try to find it.  So we took the train to Pyeongchang , found out it's not even really much of a town, and no one knew what I was talking about.  Turns out the market was in Pyeongchang-gun,  which is a totally different place.  3 hours and an infinite number of shuttle buses later, we finally got to eat food.  The good news is that we got to see the absolutely beautiful region during our never-ending sojourn .  We also got to see more of the town called Dallywaygeong or something like that-it's where opening ceremonies and all of the medal ceremonies take place  We realized we had been here the night before to see Shaun White get his medal, followed by beers and fried chicken at a place called Beer Chicken Pub.  I love an accurately named restaurant, don't you?  Their beer is super cheap, but they charge 17,800 won for a platter of 2 kinds of French fries and a baked potato?  What an ideal combo, I know my friends and I often split along the lines that

Biathlon is one of my favorite Olympic events,  and this race did not disappoint!!  An Austrian came out of nowhere to win the bronze, and we got to see a ton of crazy Norwegians celebrating their gold medal!

Speaking of crazy Norwegians,  I saw one with a full painted face go on a tirade about the slow and inefficient concessions  (it is slow and they run out of everything ), then collect what had to be at least 20 beers for his group, carried in a big box. He is my new inspiration and hero, and I have adopted his enthusiastic attitude towards buying LOTS of beer!

We thought Austria House would be a party because of their medal so we returned but it was just before they closed and a little dead, but a friendly group of Austrians befriended us immediately , buying us sounds of Mozart liquer,  which is schnapps with chocolate and it is delicious!

The evening ended in more transportation frustration because the shuttles are not reliable and it is beyond annoying.  Get it together, Korea!

Snowboard Cross was absolutely bananas!!!  We met so many fun people from the US Army and Navy that were such a fun time!  We also met the brother of a Snowboard Cross Olympian that injured her Achilles tendons during her practice runs yesterday.  OUCH!!!  He told us he owned an airplane and a great place to stay if we visited him in Alaska.  Since he was handsome, we obviously believe it's all legit. 

We met up with our favorite set of Olympic going siblings, the McGuirks, at Beer Chicken Pub for a pre-Ski Jump party, and had a fantastic time catching up with them!!  They were able to convince their oldest brother to come to the Games, and he was such an excited participant, especially when he was asked to take multiple pictures with Korean families and kids.  We stood in line for an hour for beer, and we have just come to accept that the Koreans will not get it together, and we will just order 500 beers together. 

Men's Figure Skating tomorrow!!!  Our costumes are AMAZING.

Lesley drops everything

We are currently on our way to Women's Snowboard Cross so it's time for an update!!

I, Lesley, have been a giant klutz. It's become a running joke on what I can drop on myself while eating or drinking or doing ANYTHING at all.

I have compiled the list of all the days and things spilled. I'm almost proud of myself for this achievement.

Day 1: beer and teokbokki (spicy rice noodle)
Day 2: gluwein at Austria house
Day 3: bulgogi (on a white shirt no less)

At 4 days in, I'll keep you posted on the day's stain.

BEST day EVER!

There are a lot of reasons why yesterday was the best day ever. Let's start with the main one:

SHAUN WHITE TOOK HOME GOLD!

And we were lucky enough to see it. I say lucky, because the day started off a little rough. The night before, we hit up the Heineken House for the first time. While we were there, the Dutch won a gold medal, so of course we had to wait for him to arrive to the party after midnight. And party we did. And dance we did. A very difficult taxi procurement wasn't helped by the millions of tiny Heinekens I had consumed. So, after a few hours of sleep, we got dropped off at the bullet train. Which we then took to the wrong station, had to turn back, and we were in danger of missing halfpipe. We had to take a very expensive taxi ride up to the venue, and take a painful, slow, crowded walk up (logistics don't seem to be a strength of the Koreans). We arrived just a few minutes before Shaun did his first run.

It was incredible. After being there in Sochi to watch our guys fall again and again, watching him nail his first run so beautifully with such an awesome, supportive crowd was a memory I'll never forget. We took a quick break to get food, which continues to be a challenge here. They basically had sold everything except porridge with beans and this anemic gorgonzola pizza that I hope I never have to see again. Pro: They had Power Ade, which helped with the hangover situation. We luckily missed him falling on his second run on our concession break, but were back in a great position for his third and final one. He was the last snowboarder to finish, so it went straight into the awards ceremony and then he was being interviewed for ages. There was a lot of American flag waving, and the crowd was so happy for him.

We took our celebratory mood and decided to try to find Austria House, our favorite spot at the Sochi Olympics. It was slightly more difficult than Sochi, where it sat right next to the main train station in the mountain cluster. This place was like trying to find some Edelweiss. We had to switch shuttles twice, and ended up only getting there because a very nice woman with an Austrian guy spoke Korean and asked to drop us off on the side of the highway at Austrian House. They were having a snow volleyball demonstration outside.

Once we got there, we went straight for the delicious food. The schnitzel, kasespatzle, and gulasch soup were just what we needed. After a round of drinks, we decided to stand outside for a different view. It had been really quiet, but suddenly, there was a DJ. DJ Mister In Style. And then the media started getting there. Then the free gluhwein started. We started meeting people, including the organizers of the Austrian House and Cameron Myler, the 4 time American Olympic luger. We got more free gluhwein. The announcer, Stefan, was amazing. They were teaching us moves while they televised the snow volleyball match with some very famous volleyball players on the court. We developed a crush on Nik Berger. We drank more gluhwein. We danced. A lot. We got free Austria House ponchos. Prince Albert of Monaco showed up, along with even more media. We hung out with Stefan, who was even cooler in person than he was running the party. We pretty much had to be dragged out of Austria House in order to get to the medal ceremony for Shaun.

We stopped at some mall-like place to get some food, and it was our best Korean so far. I had some spicy cold noodles, Lara selected something she saw on someone else's plate, and Lesley had a spicy squid dish. Afterward, we were having trouble getting transport away from the area, and luckily I saw a woman with a USA hat on and asked her where we could get a taxi, she asked where we were going, and then said "It's your lucky day, I'm going there and I have a car". She got us right up next to the medal ceremony plaza. If we hadn't found her, we certainly would have missed Shaun's medal ceremony.

For those of you not at the Olympics, there is a little ceremony after the event at the venue where they get a little animal, but the actual medal ceremony is that night, in a special location. It's not even in Olympic Park this time, so when they put in the footage of the torch, it's a bit misleading. Each round is presented by members of the Olympic committees or organizations from different countries, and then the national anthem of the gold medalist is played while they raise the flag behind the crowd. Last night was apparently the most crowded night so far, which we don't think was a coincidence given Shaun's big win. It was his third gold, and the crowd was going crazy for him.

Afterward, we met up with our buddy Denver Dave and his friend Mike at a local "Chicken Beer" restaurant. The Korean owners there were the sweetest. After polishing off 4 yards of beer and some soju, we thought that we needed to get to bed earlier than we did the night before, so we had our guy from the restaurant help us negotiate a taxi for 5 people back to Gangneung, rather than trying to get two shuttles and the train home.

SUCH a great day, and one I will not forget!

We're now enjoying our first day of partial leisure, which will likely be followed by some boozing at biathlon tonight!! Thanks for following, post any questions/comments/challenges in the comments!!