Volleyball

During LSG, I had many chances to try something new. Volleyball was definitely one of them. Frankly speaking, I like playing around with a ball even though I am really bad at ball games. So far I tried basket ball, table tennis, badminton, squash, bowling and dodge ball. In none of them I found myself good though. Haha. Yea, it’s a mystery that I still like ball games. Anyway, when I first saw people playing volleyball in Alaska, I wanted to try it too. Being not good at basket ball, table tennis, badminton, squash, bowling and dodge ball doesn’t necessarily mean I will be bad at volleyball, right? (Oops, I hope my critical thinking professor never read this diary)

Anyway, I learned the basic rules of the game, and how to pass or receive a ball. Many people gave me advice, but Thera, Ela, and Iskierka especially helped me a lot. (Thank you!) It wasn’t easy, but fun at the same time. Participating in games, I found something paradoxical though. On one hand, I wanted to get a ball so that I can pass the ball to someone else successfully. On the other hand, I didn’t want the ball to come to me because I was afraid of making mistakes. Although all I was doing there was making mistakes, I still felt embarrassed to make mistakes. In regard to this situation, Baduk is a really good game. First, you must play anyway. Second, you look still cool after making a mistake unless you show your embarrassment yourself. Overall, volley ball was fun.     

Simultaneous Games

I’ve played simultaneous games three times in LSG. 18 boards for the 1st one, 6 boards at the 2nd and 8 boards for the last time. If I recall correctly, I won 26 games and lost 6 games. Oh wait; you must be surprised by the number of boards at first simultaneous game, aren’t you?

Although I have played so many simultaneous games so far, I didn’t know there was different kind of simultaneous game. Thus, when Tasuki asked “Do you mind play simul. games with Jun, Fisz, and me?” I simply answered “No.” It was a few days after my arrival in Alaska, and I was realizing that Tasuki, the main organizer, was polite and caring. So I didn’t pay much attention to the purpose of the question. I understood the word ‘with’ as ‘playing at the same time, same place,’ which was quite common. Nothing to mind. However, soon later I learned that he meant literally ‘with.’ 

Four of us shared 18 games, walking around. It was fun. No fear. Here is one secret. People usually get nervous when they play a professional player at simultaneous games. Many of them have never played a pro before, and have no idea how strong their opponent would be. On the other hand, pro players usually seem comfortable. Maybe serious, but calm and easy. Yet, professional players – or at least I – also get nervous while playing simul. games. Why? ‘Cause we are not supposed to lose. For pro players, there is nothing worse than losing respects. And people easily judge pro players during the simul. games. One day, I was playing simultaneous games against 8 players. Players were surprisingly good at opening, and I was losing almost all games. At the time, I was inwardly murmuring ‘Oh, why did I give them so many handicaps? I am so dead now. What should I do?’ Well, eventually I managed to win 6 games that day though. Hehe.

Horse Riding

In Korea there is a saying “Don’t wait for a prince on a white horse.” Basically this means there is no perfect guy. Therefore, one shouldn’t waste time looking for or waiting for an ideal man. This phrase is from fairy tale, but has another symbol, horse. Horse has been a symbol of aristocracy and wealth for a long time. Although so many things have changed over time, still only chosen wealthy people can afford to enjoy horse riding as leisure in Korea. It’s both costly and time consuming.

As you may know, I received so called baduk immersion education. Since when I was 10 all my life was baduk oriented, and I didn’t really have connection with other world. I was also apart from family, and having difficulty in making friends in school. So, I started reading lots of books in my free time. Books were like my secret magical window that showed me different lives, people, and the world.  Due to the influence of books, I basically pursue experience and knowledge in my life. Therefore, I was happy to know that I could try horse riding there.

A horse back was higher than I thought. I didn’t feel much safe either. My first question on a horse was “Is it possible to fall down from here?” Silly question. But I just wanted to hear ‘No’ even if it wasn’t true. Unfortunately, Tasuki was too honest to comfort me. He said “Yes. That’s why you are wearing that hat.” So I was a little nervous at first, but soon got used to it. It was funny feeling to ride a horse. It felt like…riding a horse. Haha. But, seriously, I cannot think of any similar experience. Oh, I remember someone mentioned elephant riding. I don’t know though. I’ve never been even close to one.

3 People Rengo

Pair Go is difficult. Regardless your partner’s strength, you get to be stressed out somehow. Therefore, 3 people Rengo is needless to say. It’s even harder to predict where your game would go. You need to plan to decide where to play, but should forget about the plan as soon as a stone leaves your fingers. Though Korea Baduk Association doesn’t want its pro players to participate in amateur tournaments, Pair Go and Rengo are exceptions. After all, the pro player is no longer professional unless his/her partner is also professional. For that reason, I used to play Pair Go tournaments in Go Congresses.

In LSG, however, there was no Pair Go, but 3 people Rengo.  At first I wasn’t aware of it at all. One day before the tournament, Benerit asked me if I was interested in. It reminded me of that I was free to play, and spontaneously I thought it would be fun. So I made a 1.3 dan team with Benerit and Asia, his wife. Mentioning his wife, it also reminded me of that I was surprised to see many couples there. I pretended cool, but couldn’t help feeling envious of them. Well, there is a secret plan that Juggler and Iskierka made for me. So probably I should work on that.

Getting back to the Rengo, I didn’t expect our team to make to the final. I wasn’t taking it seriously, and thought neither were Benerit and Asia. But they turned out to be really serious. They were nervous, and embarrassed by their mistakes. For me, I tried my best to confuse our opponents with strange looking moves. The combination was successful. With a little help of luck, we made the second place at last. Though Benerit & Asia didn’t seem satisfied, I was quite happy with the result. OH, Asia promised me that she would study to be 1 dan. (She was 6K) I will remember that Asia! J      

Phantom Go

Do you know what Phantom Go is? It seemed well-known among Polish players. Is it also known in general Europe? Or in America? I don’t think Korean players are aware of this game though. In Phantom Go, you don’t know where your opponent played. So it seems unbelievably good in the beginning. As you find your opponent’s stones, however, you realize it wasn’t that good situation at all. While playing this game I felt so stupid. ‘Cause I couldn’t play knight’s move, diagonal move or one space jump. At first I did habitually, but soon I learned they were too thin. Because I had no idea what the opponent was trying to do, they were easy to be cut. And, it resulted death of one entire corner. Then I managed to sacrifice another corner. A lesson from this game. You should appreciate that you can see where your opponent plays. Therefore, pay attention to them.

I will finish my LSG diary here. Frankly speaking, I was planning to write way longer essay. Lots of free time helped me to think about many things, and I wanted to share as much of them as possible. Yet, writing about them turned out to be pretty hard. Homework from school bothered me, and I was getting tired of the whole idea too. So... The End of 2010 LSG.