In addition to buying a sewing machine (yay!), I have begun playing Dungeons & Dragons on Thursdays with a group of friends. I've always been curious about it but never had the chance to play, and here I am! It is pretty entertaining, I'll give it that. Though I'm not sure how exciting of a player I am, given that I am usually zapped by the end of the day.
There is finally a burlesque class in Busan that also offers pole and is near me, so I am going to check it out this weekend and see if it is up to snuff. A friend of mine from D&D has started a Sacred Harp singing group, which I have yet to experience but am looking forward to, and I am also adopting a cat next weekend! So I will have a lovely kitty friend to come home to on these long winter nights.
But my main activity as of late, and one that I hope to really pursue steadily from now is, is roller derby.
I was first introduced to roller derby when I was in high school and my best friend took me to a bout. I had never even heard of it before, and it was an amateur league in Phoenix that was just skating flat track at a tiny hockey rink. I was immediately fascinated and actively went to bouts throughout the years, and have always wanted to join, but always found some reason or another not to (money, transportation, etc.). That league now plays at one of the biggest stadiums in Phoenix and draw loads of people and vendors to their bouts (this is the Arizona Derby Dames btw), and they even have a traveling team.
Before coming to Korea, I had done some research on my own, in pursuit of a derby league and was happy to discover the ROKD (Republic of Korea Derby). However, much to my disappointment, they only had teams in Seoul and Daegu. How could they not have a team in Busan?! So I e-mailed them asking for more info, and was met with "Well, if you can get enough girls interested, then you can start a Busan team!" Eehh, not exactly what I wanted to here after being here for only 2 months. But I thought, you know what, it's worth a shot, so I posted in a bunch of the Busan Facebook groups, asking if anyone was interested and I got a good number of responses.
We now have 8 skaters (we need 6 more to be an official team, so if you know anyone!), of all different levels, and I can honestly say that it is one of the best things I've ever done with my spare time. At first it was kind of daunting, having last been on roller skates when I was about 12, but with some practice and confidence, I think I'm a pretty decent skater! I had always wanted to play sports as a kid, but never really had the opportunity, and now I can finally revel in the feeling of athleticism that roller derby gives me. Not only is it a great workout, but it's great to be on a team and to be playing a game and getting that rush. All this, and I haven't even played in an actual bout!! I also got nominated to be the team's treasurer, so that's lovely too! I can't wait to see where this takes me :D
So naturally this was a shameless plug for the team. Anyone who is even vaguely interested should come out and give it a go, you've got nothing to lose (except maybe your balance).
안녕
Sam
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