Playing Around With The New Camera

The Weekend Part II

On Sunday, my friends and I returned to the Seoul World Cup Stadium once again, this time to see a qualifying match between North Korea and South Korea. It was quite an interesting experience. Obviously, there weren't any (identifiable) North Korean fans there although there were a few men holding a North Korean flag behind the team. They were selling special "unification flags" at the game. A white background with an image of a unified Korea in blue. Simple, yet powerful. When the national anthem began playing a huge unification flag was displayed. It was an exciting moment. Anyway, the game itself was completely dull. Based on previous teams' results, it meant absolutely nothing and the teams played incredibly conservatively. It ended in a boring 0-0 tie. Still, just being at a game with 50,000 people, watching North and South Korea, is exciting in and of itself.

Pre-game ceremonies

South Korea in red, North Korea in white
Interesting how their colors coordinate...

The only indication of North Korean fans in the entire stadium
Two fans
(and yes, in true South Korea soccer fan style I am sporting light-up red horns)

After the game, shaking hands

The Weekend Part I

Saturday was an awesome day. First, I went to the travel agent and paid for my ticket to Thailand! I will be vacationing in Phuket ("Pooh-ket") from July 26th to August 2nd. I can not wait for the beach! Also on Saturday I bought myself a new camera. A Canon s5is. It is incredible and I am completely in love with it. It looks like this:

After these two big purchases, I went to a baseball game with my friends. My team (Woori Heroes) have been on quite a losing streak lately. They are in second-to-last place and ten games back from a play-off spot. Thankfully on Saturday they won 2-1 with two home runs. So here is the incredible thing: we've been going to so many games this Spring (I've actually lost count - we've gone nearly every weekend) that we have become great friends with the "fan club". The fan club has about 50 people and it is so much fun. We sit with them at the games and they give us free food and drinks and love the fact that we cheer for their team. My friends and I bought jerseys that we wear at the games. It is so much fun, it's like a big family. A few weeks ago I got picked to dance on the dugout in front of everyone at a sold out game and I was on TV!
Anyway, after all the games, the fan club people always ask us to come out with them for dinner and drinks and we often go.

Yesterday was so much fun, we went out with the group and I ended up sitting next to the manager of the stadium. One thing led to another and I told him my favorite player was Cliff Brumbaugh, a foreign player from the states. He's previously played for the Rangers, Rockies, and White Sox. [Each Korean team is allowed 2 foreign players. My team has one from the US and one from Japan.] Anyway, the manager told me that he had the home run ball Brumbaugh had hit that day (his twelfth this season) and that he would have him autograph it and give it to me!! As if that wasn't enough, he later told me that he wants us to wait around after the game next Saturday and he will arrange for us to meet the players, including Brumbaugh! So, next Saturday I get to meet my favorite team and favorite player! Anyway, I'm so excited. It's been so much fun getting into baseball here!

Enough talking, here are some pictures...

White Water Rafting

I went white water rafting last weekend for the first time. It was a lot of fun but the water was FREEZING. Still, I ended up in the river twice. Once when we went cliff diving (so exhilarating!) and once when the rafting guide pushed me in! It was such a blast though. The views were indescribable! I am so glad I got to see this part of Korea. After rafting we stayed at this condo-like place which was really nice. And, that night, the owners of the accommodations cooked us this awesome Korean dinner. Here are the pictures:

The River!

The rafters! Glenn, me, Dan, Fran, Jamie, Raphael
Canada, USA, England, Canada, Korea, Brazil
My helmet is blue because the red and yellow ones were too big so
I had to use a child size. Story of my life... :)

After rafting and dinner, taking in the view

Me...

There were rice fields everywhere!

The girls

June News

Well, it's almost 1/2 way through June. I have less than 4 months left here in Korea. It's so hard to describe how I feel these day. I want to savor these last few months and really make the most of them. At the same time, knowing I'm more than 2/3 of the way done makes me anxious to finish and come home! White water rafting was a blast. Unfortunately I forgot my camera so I'm waiting for pictures from my friend's camera so I can post them. I'll write a separate post about the rafting when I get the pictures.

In other news...I have tickets to see South Korea play North Korea in a World Cup Qualifying Match on June 22nd. It will be quite strange I think. There will, of course, be no North Korean fans at the game. But it will be so incredible to see the two countries play. It's a big game too. Both teams really need the win.

The weather is really heating up. You wouldn't know by the way Korean people dress though. Korean women are afraid of the sun. Being tan in this society still comes with the assumption that you are poor and work outside (an archaic idea but it's still alive and well here). Many Korean women young and old carry parasols when they are outside to protect them from the sun. Even if they're just walking around the city. I have to admit, as someone who loves to lay on the beach at the Jersey Shore, soaking up the sun, it's a strange idea. Also, Korean people generally sweat less than Westerners. So even when it's hot you'll see many people wearing long pants and long sleeves. The heat just doesn't affect them the same way.

Teaching is still wonderful. Right now I have 8 classes on M/W/F and 4 classes on T/Th. I got the most precious note from a student yesterday. I didn't edit it, because it's cuter that way!

"Dear Teacher. I loves you. Because you is very wonderful and beautiful. Because your face is very wonderful and your eyes is very beautiful. Thank you for being my very happy teacher. You are my wonderful teacher. I love you, teacher! Love, Seung-Hyun."

That is the kind of thing I will miss.... That and the fact that they always always always have perfectly ripe avocados at the grocery store here. I love that!

May

Where did May go? I blinked and it's suddenly gone! Now it's June and the Korean rainy season has come early. It's not supposed to start until late July/early August but it's been raining for 4 days straight and showing no signs of stopping. Last weekend was a blast. My friends and I had the opportunity to watch a soccer match between South Korea and Jordan. The match was held at the World Cup Stadium in Seoul where, as the name suggests, many of the World Cup games were played back in 2002 when Korea and Japan co-hosted the competition. This particular game was a qualifier for the next World Cup which will be held in South Africa in 2010. The stadium is huge, it holds 68,000. It was the biggest sports event I've ever been to. The best part, which we didn't realize until we got there, was the we had front row seats, right behind one of the goals. It was an incredible view. Here are some pics from the day...

We went for lunch on an outdoor patio in Hongdae, the university district. After lunch we played cards for a while and enjoyed sitting in the sun. These are two of my British friends, sporting Korean soccer jerseys, and looking excited about the game.

Not much beats a relaxing game of cards on an outdoor patio in the sun.

Outside the stadium we saw this crazy fan: His top half is painted and he is wearing a Korean flag in lieu of...pants I think. How very patriotic!

My best friends and me. Do you like my Team Korea t-shirt? It says, "Again Dream!"

A Canadian and an American in Seoul...

Hopefully you can tell how close our seats were - front row...No one in front of us!

During the Korean National Anthem the fans hoisted up this giant Korean flag over all of these fans. It looked incredible.

A close up.

Pre-game huddles. Korea is red, Jordan is white.

Korea had a 2-0 lead in the 2nd half but Jordan came back to tie it. There were so many excited Jordanian fans running around after the stadium. One older Jordanian man ran up to me after the game and asked where I was from and if I like Jordan's soccer team. I had to say yes, of course, and he was so excited he picked me up in a gigantic bear hug.

So that was last weekend. But the fun never stops here in SoKo... this weekend my friends and I are going to the next province over for some white water rafting. I've never been, so I'm nervous but everyone says it's so much fun so I'm sure I'll enjoy it. Pics from that will be up next week...

Teaching continues to be wonderful. I can honestly say I love love LOVE my job. Teacher's Day is a holiday here in May and basically just involves students giving gifts to their teachers. A brilliant idea if you ask me! I received many presents including several pairs of socks, vitamins, beauty products, chocolates, flowers, and (of course!) a variety of rice cakes.

Well, not much else to report. I promise I'll blog next week about my white water rafting adventures.