Dae Gyo Fighting!

"Fighting" is a Konglish word that Koreans use to encourage each other, believe it or not.  Sweet irony, huh?!  Examples are as follows:

Me: Gosh, I feel terrible today.  My head hurts so bad!

Monica: Chelsey, Fighting!

Co-worker: I have to go home tonight and cook for my mean husband and spoiled kids.

Me: Fighting!

Student: Chelsey, I have a big science test tomorrow (exhausted and defeated).

Me: Fighting!

Me: My open class (teacher evaluation class) is next Tuesday! I'm so nervous!

Co-worker: Chelsey, fighting!

Get it?!  It can't be directly translated to one particular english word, but it basically means any and all of the following; Cheer up!... You can do it!...  Try your best!... Don't let it get you down!... and Go, go go!"

So you can imagine, when we got down to our final match tonight, in the once-a-year Yeong-do Island Teacher Volleyball Tournament, that "DAE GYO FIGHTING!" was the most common phrase heard between plays!  Unfortunately no amount of "fighting" cheers could have helped our team! We were given our heads on a platter... and to add insult to injury, it was against Aaron's school!  The 2 women's games lasted less than 45 minutes total and my school's team never made it past 7 points on either game! haha!

The good news was, we had a lot of fun and proudly sported our matching tacky blue and white polyester polo uniforms (which were $70.00 each and paid for by the school)!  

(Me and 헤란)

Water break!

Individual team picture!

Check out that hideous form!!  

Come on guys, lighten up a little!  This is supposed to be fun!

"Spike it Chelsey!"   Eeehhhhh

I'll sum up our last chance at the Yeongdo Teacher Volleyball Championship with a common Korean phrase, "Aye go!"  Which I like to directly translate as "Uhh, that was terrible!"  FIGHTING!!!