Meet and Greet in Ganhyeon!!!!

[nic*s]

dude! that was awesome. me, dee and jacek are sitting in the train station in wonju waiting for our ridiculously timed train, and i thought i'd be the first to say that was an fantastic weekend! i'm gonna hurt all week :) but it was sooo worth it. best climbing i've ever done, and best climbing i've ever seen. (the korean dude in the white pants looks like he's dancing with the rock!) good job everyone! i can't wait to meet you all again on other climbing trips and extravaganzas! (on that note, i'm gonna post about next weekend in ulsan. i know a few people said they were interested)

[skinsk]

a few people guestimated/head count who showed up. . .

please let me know if I forgot you!!!

the base guys got me the margarita fixin's but around that, here's my head count. . . unbelievable too many "new" people to even think I got all of everyone, but this was about one of the best weekends in Korea eveR!!

SO I AM hashing this out at home (still on the Gunsan Tequila!!). . . please add to it if you or someone else you know/remember/passed out with/belayed is missing!!

Sonia (me)
Rick (best bud. . and these days, f****** awesome climber/rope-gun!!)
Eric (the man, without whom, none of us would know any of us!!)
Mike (the ultimate best army guy, ever. . .)
Jake (shanja.. . fuckin'A . . . best Ozzie EVER and every Ozzie I met is soo friggin cool that says a lot!!)
(Hi!)Dee (man, one day?. . .you goin for Enigma?!)
Kim Lee (er. . . bestest KOTR member. . . and my homie fer now!!!)
Ricky (of Mokpo. . . bestest yeo dong saeng) and best blogger (check out her profile and read the blog!!)
Alex, Melaine, Keith. . . ****. . you guys are all leaving!!! :(
(I believe everyone above from the LAST meet and greet is basically everyone who is still in Korea!! which says a lot for KOTR!!)

and the "new" old people:
Karen (amazing woman who married Eric!!) and Sage (adoptee)
Greg, Jenn and Andrew. . . longtimer good loyal A+++ members/people who were a little far away LAST time, but are only going to be around a few more months. . . if you ever plan to go to Seorak/Sokcho PM these guys as they are about the best Karma/thoughful/hardass/badass but fully cool-with-any-level inspirational climbers you could hope for. . .

(OK, at 15 now?! Then there's. . .)
Well, Carry-(Anne?) and Marisa (also of Sokcho) and super cool chicks! C-A bein' from Zim. . . expanding KOTR's continental reach and all. . .
Mary Ross David John (and briefly Sam) adding to and replenishing our U.S. military contingent. . . geez. . ..Mary has quite the voice/guitar talent besides being a f****** amazing climber. . . if I were the jealous type, I'd be jealous. .

Sue Joyce Jason Jo and Aus? from Seoul. . . Joyce. . . great to finally meet you 'cuz I suspected you were so cool!. . .(I mean, the cats and all!) Sue. . .awesome. . . and amazing climber. . . we are so glad you came and hoping you will join us on many trips. .. Jason, psyched that you came because so many women came. . . we needed some single guys to balance it out. . .. . .
Tom. . . no experience necessary. . .glad you came out. . . hope you come to KOTR more. . . (Alex, make him log on. . . never too old to climb, etc, etc.. . .)
Kyung-Ah. . . as always great to see/be fed by you. . . and ******* awesome to see ya climbing!!
Crystal, Jenn, Jordan, Miguel. . . again. . . awesome to see such a Daegu turnout. . . and what a dynamic awesome woman-scene!!!
Deborah. . . I'm speecheless, flattered and will defintely find time to hook up with you soon enough!!! James. . . good to see ya again!
OK is the count 35 now?!!
Juls, Pat...I know I'll see y'all again (I'm almost out of the parafin and I WILL NEED MORE!!) Y'ALL rock!! If my brain wasn't on 0 now I'D SAY MORE!!
Nichole, Dee(rdra!), Jack. . . (I fell I am forgetting an Ulsanian? Yes? No?). . . I am definitely going to Ulsan this semester!!(anyone else reading this up for Ulsan maybe early Nov. . . PM/call me!!)

OK, and there was a Nathan and who was that from Louisiana and Tenn???

And of course. . . Brandon and Terri. . . fabulous couple from Yeosu. . . and Craig and Heather, the awesome couple from Gwangju!

OK, if I missed you and you were there (and I might have spent a bit of time with you and spaced it!! PLEASE FORGIVE!! Someone do a head count. . .I'm also wondering how the gender balance was?
(yeah, I tried to count my own post, but I was an English major and in 3 counts I got 3 different #s!!!) and if I forgot you, embarrassed apologies. . . either add to the thread and publically humiliate me or PM me and I will quickly edit this post and write about you/them!!

Remember I am on my 3rd day of >6 hours sleep and am not at my mental best. . . or it might be that I met you after the margaritas set in.

[normalcyispasse]

What a crazy, awesome weekend. Thanks for everyone who made this happen! I'm going to be hurting for a while (my fingers are missing lots of skin and I have some tendonitis as usual) but it's totally worth it!

[shanja]

Yeah-nah it was definately a good couple of days, thanks to everyone who came, cooked, climbed, cleaned, conversed or otherwise contributed to a very up-vibed little meet and greet. Umm, we hope to catch up with you cats around the place again soon. Deborah, Craig and Heather did you guys make it home from Daejeon OK? Sorry about the slow trip back...did anyone else get caught in that traffic jam on the expressway? Crikey!

[skinsk]

Don't forget to post and look at the photoplog!

I have a few neat videos-- Mary singing (slightly too large for an e-mail attachment), Deborah twirling and John? (it's kinda dark) slacklining. . . I'll try to burn/send to y'all.

I am still so psyched. . . what a great vibe and a beautiful weekend!

[yohja134]

Thank you everybody for being awesome nice funny rock climbers!
i finally feel at home in Korea. great memories, great climbing swimming hiking food fire twirling chatting and more! Thank you for lending gear, belays, food and camping stuff too.

I want to return the hospitality. My home is open for any travelers and i welcome you to visit me in Sancheong. I'll tempt you with my river raft


The final weekend of chusok (10/7,10/8) Jinju has a namgang lantern festival. this is 40 minutes from my place. its a great sight, draws many viewers, you'd love it if you love brightly lit boats floating down a river in a festive atmosphere!!

i'll be leaving seoul friday night 10/6 or saturday 10/7. who wants to join me?

[newclimber]

WE had a fantastic time too! Looking at Sonia's list of people I noticed that there were so many people that I didn't get to meet. Bummer. I just wanted to say thanks you to everyone... for coming, for cooking, for posting pictures, for being so cool, for lending us equipment, for teaching us and giving us tips and pointers, for top-roping for us newclimbers, etc.. Awesome weekend! SO glad we decided to go. Thanks a mil!

[juls]

Im going to say more or less the same thing as everyone else....it was wicked meeting all of you, partying, climbing, chatting.... it definitley made being here in korea worth it!!

Ricardo...i left a pair of black shorts and a purple top on the back of your vehicle - i left it there to dry and forgot to get it b4 you left.... if you/someone else have them let me know and keep them safe...they're my favorite things to climb in!!

Take it easy everyone.... most likely see you n Ulsan on the weekend!!
julie

[nic*s]

that reminds me... we were among the last to leave the site and found a few things. a mini mag light, a marlboro pocket knife and a travel pillow. i've got the first two, not sure if anyone grabbed the travel pillow. let me know if it's yours and we'll see how i can get them to you.

[Shagymb]

Those two things are Sonia's she used them on friday and they never got picked up.

Dito to all the above.

Later,

Mike

[Eric]

Awesome, awesome weekend! I'm stoked so many folks made it out.

Cheers,
Eric

[hulk]

Yeah, big ups to everyone who made it. Great weather, wicked rock, cool people. Couldn't ask for much more really.

[ricardo]

Wow...what a killer weekend!!
Couldn't believe how many folks came out (note to self...double p-cake mix next time). Too many to meet everyone. Hopefully I won't have to wait 'til the spring M&G.
I can honestly say that without this site and the (growing) KOTR collective, I would have left Korea months ago.
Cheers all!
-rick

[punchy]

awesome weekend all. great to meet those of you i got the chance to. sorry i didn't get the chance to meet those of you i didn't... err... get the... chance to... meet. :/

it was a blast. cudos to eric once again for birthing this little pack of ours into life. may the brother/sister-hood continue to grow.

maybe we should start thinking 'secret handshake'?...

greg

[skinsk]

Oh right-- tell me 45 people show up in Korea and only 4 have any photos. . . even if you don't want to post, I am intereseted in anything anyone has of the Meet and Greet. . . please PM or e-mail (but better yet, post under "Fun Photos". . . the old "photoplog")

[ricardo]

yeah...post em!!
do it, do it!

[normalcyispasse]

No kidding! I was looking forward to a panoply of photographs but, and this portends poorly, presumably people procrastinate posting public pictures.

--B.

Oh right-- tell me 45 people show up in Korea and only 4 have any photos. . . even if you don't want to post, I am intereseted in anything anyone has of the Meet and Greet. . . please PM or e-mail (but better yet, post under "Fun Photos". . . the old "photoplog")

[skinsk]

panoply. . . passe, please. . . preferably "plethora"

[Shagymb]

Ok so you goaded me into it. I put up a few that I have of the Meet and Greet. Life got in the way.

[rosscanup]

I just posted a whole load and I've got more...