Good night with Fist Fights...

A quick update. [Note: The next two posts actually precede this one. Somehow they were saved as drafts and never posted...woops]

Last we talked, there was a field trip. The weather was still nice.. So since the last post I've been having (more) fun like a freshman in college. Just to give you an idea, 2:00 a.m. last Saturday night was the earliest I had gotten in a cab headed for home in at least a month. If it's still dark outside, that's early...

School has been really great actually. I have seen such an improvement in (almost) all of my students! It's amazing. Soon after I got here (I think I was with the students for one month) I had to write progress reports... WHAT?!?! I made up stuff to write for basically every student. Next month is progress report time again. And I really feel like I'll have a lot to comment on for most students. (Still not looking forward to progress reports though...)

I've gotten back into working out. I joined a gym with my coworker and every Tuesday evening a group of girlfriends get together at the beach (I love how I can say that so casual... at the beach) and one friend organizes and plans a circuit workout. And then we stick around and have girl talk afterwards. BUT, two weeks ago I hurt my knee :(

In 2005 I tore my ACL, MCL and meniscus and had (I would say grueling) surgery to repair the former. I was doing mountain climbers and afterwards I got this awful pain in the same place as my MCL tear... A German... well not sure if he was a doctor or what... man insisted he look at my knee (at a bar, no less) and insisted it was my meniscus and a quick surgery would repair it. NO. Even though it would be super cheap, I refuse to have surgery in Korea. I've rested my knee and taken it easy for two weeks. Now I'm ready to try again.

Now I'll address the title of this post. Living in a town with a Marine base and small Navy base, you'd think there would be tension between the two branches and just the guys themselves. I mean when too much testosterone is mixed with alcohol, the reaction often is restricted to the upper body and results in swinging of the limbs, etc.

Surprisingly, I have yet to see a fight started by a military man. Instead, fights are started by Koreans, which now I know also have a lot of testosterone brewing that reacts with alcohol. The first fight was on a Thursday night at a popular bar. It's pretty big and everyone was spread out in their groups... All of a sudden, back in a corner where pool tables are, a fight breaks out. A (surprisingly large) Korean was causing a ruckus and pushing and shoving other Koreans (which I found out were his friends). The bartender (male) and owner (female) go over to break it up. He then pushes and shoves them!

That's when the American marines get heated. No one pushes a woman. So they try to get a piece of him (and ultimately stop him) and they're pulled back by their counterparts. So the guy is still pushing and shoving, throwing punches and neck-holding people. They finally get him to the door. And he still has outbursts and lunges at individuals. I stayed back but was still scared. What if he made eye contact and lunged at me?!?! A mug was thrown and broken, a Korean was punched in the face. The cops were called.

Now to note the "duty" of Korean cops... After literately 40 minutes, the guy is taken outside and the cops are asking several people what happened. He's still trying to fight. Ok in America, if someone was still trying to fight even with the cops arrived, he would get arrested, tazered, hit with the light stick or all of the above. The cop takes one guy's hand, then the other and forces them to hold hands. And they walk off together. End of story. (And ps, the guy was STILL trying to fight people an hour later while getting into the cab.)

The next night (I wasn't there but heard eye-witness stories) there was another fight, started by a Korean university student. Apparently the guy was looking for a fight with anyone and everyone. He swings at one foreign teacher. A friend of the teacher (also a teacher) sees it so punches the Korean. Then the Korean's African friend punches the teacher. Breaks his jaw in a couple places. The teacher had his jaw wired shut and surgery to put plates in his face.

I'm glad I have only small doses of testosterone in my bloodstream. Oh no! What happens when I reach menopause and no longer produce female reproductive hormones? Will I want to pick fights too?!?! Haha.