Hey Mr. Trampoline Man

Greetings

Today marks the end of our second month in Korea. I can’t believe how fast the time is flying by as it seems like just two months ago we were leaving Canada. Because it’s such a monumental day I wanted to share with you something that is uniquely Korean.

It’s kind of funny but whenever I’m walking around Ulsan I’m always thinking of how I can share what see with you through the blog. Some things stand out as obvious entries but other things have to be worked on to make them half way interesting on paper.

That being said from the moment I saw the following I knew that I wanted to write about it.

From a quick glimpse it sort of looks like a shack or maybe some kind of antiquated bomb shelter. The first day that I walked by I knew that I was in love. I didn’t know what it was or what it was used for but I knew that it was ugly, gigantic, and therefore cool.

Upon a deeper inspection it turned out that it was a massive trampoline. Or rather it’s a series of trampolines tied together and covered with tarps and netting.

What makes it truly cool is that it's located right beside my academy and another elementary school. I couldn't even imagine how fun this beast must be if you were seven years old. Hell, it would be fun if you were 24 years olds.

It seems to be owned or at least run by a strange old man. Using the skills we learned over our collective nine years of university experience we gave him the imaginative name of " Trampoline Man".

He collects a small fee from the children and in turn they get to jump on it for a while. The old guy always smiles at us so I was a little worried when he stopped showing up. It seems that the children just jump for free these days. I don't know if he has turned his back on capitalism and is promoting communism by letting the children run the trampoline themselves or if he's having some sort of free week long promotion.

Regardless I have included the following picture as a tribute to him.

Here you can see the chair that he normally collects his fee from. So here's to him, master of the trampoline and master of the bouncing industry.


I included this picture to show you just how close the thing is to the street. I always imagine some poor heavy kid jumping too hard and flying through the roof onto the street. Not that this thing would ever be allowed in Canada in the first place (whether that's a good or bad thing I will leave for you to decide) but I think that its closeness to the road would induce cardiac arrest in most parents.

Here's a view from above it. I climbed a tree and took the pictures while holding on with one hand. That's the kind of commitment I have to both this blog and to you, the reader. Speaking of risking your life, look at this bad boy. It seems to be held together by glue and good intentions. Ha, I wonder if they would let me bounce on it. If so, I can test my theory about some poor heavy individual bouncing right onto the street.


Here's an extreme close-up on the rigging. I hope this boy has his tetanus shots because he's going to need them. I'm pretty impressed by the setup overall and kind of wish that things like this were allowed back in Canada.

Our children are growing up scared of their own shadows and glued to computer screens while Korean children risk death by bouncing on something that's about as safe as betting on the Vancouver Canucks to win the Stanley Cup (sure it was a cheap joke but hey nothing wrong with that).

These things are actually all over the city. Some are nicer but some make this look like the Hilton of four ring trampoline structures.

As of this moment I'm going to add getting a photo of the trampoline man to our list of quests that include finding the beautiful beaches, and finding myself a nice cold slurpee.

Today was two months in Korea. Tomorrow will be two months and one day in Korea. Funny how that works.

Cheers

Shayne