Day 2 box score

So 2012 is already about at it’s halfway point, so reflecting back on what has passed from the year I decided to put up my stat sheet for the past 6 months. I was struggling hard to write… not find inspiration to write because I have too much of that. What I am really searching for is time and the ability to organize my thoughts, feelings, and experiences enough to present them logically to you all so that you can follow my life. I’m struggling at even keeping up with myself though… so good luck.

Matt’s Box Score:

GP	CV	ME	TVSF	BR	BPW	BGW	JA	JO	MM
130	5(±8)	$1350	7±30	7	14	±150	53	0	∞

            For those of you experienced in statistics I’m sure you can read that box score no problem. For the rest of you I think that I can break down each category for you so you can understand my statistics. Each day I will write for one of the statistical categories so that this blog post doesn’t end up being 15 pages long. I also want to get back into the groove of writing, so if I can write every day for the next 10 days I hope I can get back on track.

More important than understanding the quantity of the stats is to understand the quality of the stats, just as it is in basketball. Kobe Bryant had a couple 40-point games against the Thunder in the past round of the playoffs, but the Lakers lost in 6 games. On the other hand, the Heat are 6-0 so far in the playoffs when Lebron scores 30 or more points, and the Heat are 3 games away from the NBA playoffs. I think that Lebron is having a much more quality playoffs than Kobe had (or has ever had, but that’s another discussion) even though Kobe may have had better numbers in his short playoff stint. So now that you have seen my numbers, I would like to break them down so that hopefully you can understand the quality of my life in the past 6 months.

CV= Countries Visited

            This one is pretty self-explanatory. Since January 1^st of 2012 I have been in five different countries. My brother and me like to try and keep count of the countries we are really allowed to say we’ve been to[1] and here are a couple of our rules:

1. You have to leave the airport
2. You have to remember some part of the trip- meaning that you cant count places that you went to when you were 2 years old because you cant possibly remember that trip.

… And that’s really about the extent of our rules.

            Anyway, according to our rules I have spent time in 5 countries since the year began. At New Years I was in Ankara, Turkey then returned to Goma, DRC where I was living. While in Goma we took two weeklong trips to Kigali, Rwanda. On May 1^st, I moved from my home in Goma back to the states. I flew back to Chicago to spend time with my best friends for a little bit.

            I lived up my time in Chicago with my beautiful girlfriend Sophia, and my studly little brother Aaron. I felt like each day I spent with them got better and better. For the week and a half I was there I felt like I was in a dream.

            After a week and a half in the states I came to where I am now, Shanghai, China. I am here to visit my sister and brother-in-law as well as work a bit as a substitute teacher and basketball coach. I have been here now for 3 awesome weeks, and I’ll take a second to really write about my time here:

Being in Shanghai has been great, but it’s probably not the same kind of experience that a lot of people have when they travel here. From the moment I got off the plane I felt like I was in familiar territory (Even though I have only been here once before for an APAC volleyball tournament). The city of Shanghai reminds me a lot of my hometown of Seoul, its just dirtier, is missing the beautiful mountains, and has infinite foreigners.

The reason I have been so comfortable here though is because of my family here. My sister and Ben (Brother-in-law) have a great little apartment, which I immediately felt at home in. The first day I was here I came in to work with Ben and KK just to chill and see their school, but I was put right to work as a substitute TA in the elementary school.

Now I know I am writing this pretty informally and it might not sound that crazy, but I was the substitute TA for the Pre-Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Borden. The funny thing about that is that when I was 4 years old Mrs. Borden was my pre-K teacher[2]r. So in the first day of me being in China I felt at home even in the classroom I was substituting in.

Anyway, that was just the first day and I could ramble on about my time here in China, but I will move on. Just want to write that I am having the time of my life with my big sis and bro just working, exercising, cooking, and just doing what it do in the Big Shezzy.

            So that goes through my past 6 months of travel and life. In the box score you can see that I have a ±8. For those of you less math literate than me that symbol is plus-minus or the confidence interval.[3] Anyway, I added the plus-minus because I have visited other countries, but they don’t fall in line with me and my brothers rules, and others were within 2 weeks of the 130 day (now 131 day) period that I am writing about. In my travels I spent over 15 hours in the airport in Kampala, Uganda and about 7 hours in the Brussels, Belgium airport. Though this doesn’t count within my rules of visiting a country, I technically visited these countries, so that accounts for a ± right?

            So that’s two of the eight extra countries. In the two weeks leading up to New Years Eve, my parents treated me and my brother to a great cruise and trip through Bavaria and Eastern Europe. The two-week trip included Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary. I decided I could count these in the ± category as well because I feel like bragging about my awesome trip. (:P)

            That accounts for six of the eight extra countries, so what are the other two? Next Friday, June 8^th (the last day of this blog series) I will be traveling from Shanghai to Riga, Latvia to coach some basketball. Again, even though I haven’t traveled this yet, I am still counting this trip to again brag about how awesome my life is. On the 8^th I fly from Shanghai to Riga, but with a 15 hour layover in Moscow, where I very much intend to leave the airport and indulge in Kremlin, Vodka and Borscht before getting back on the second leg of my flight from Moscow to Riga. So that will be two more countries that I hope to add in the next week or so.

            I have been blessed to have traveled so much in my life and even more so, so much in the past 6-7 months. Even though I am pretty much completely broke (stay tuned in the box-score for more on that) I have still had great opportunities to travel and live a life way outside of my expense range. I could spend hours and hours and pages and pages on this topic, but I will put you out of your misery now.

Special shout out to the Ju$t Cuz Thugs. HOOODY HOO

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[1] The way my siblings and me grew up in Seoul, Korea gave us the unique opportunity to travel all over the world. As we have each grown up we have continued that same love for traveling and seeing the world. I don’t know when the last time me or any of my siblings have spent more than 8 months straight in one country. I don’t say any of this to brag, but instead acknowledge that I understand and appreciate the great blessing I had growing up to travel and see the world. I also appreciate the love for travel that I continue to have which is opening my eyes to the world.

[2] Think about that… How small a world is it that I would show up in Shanghai and the day I do I am called in to substitute for my pre-kindergarten teacher from my school in Seoul, Korea.

[3] That’s right get on my level or die.