One of my Korean co-workers arranged for us foreign teachers to go to a baseball game in Busan with him. This is something I've been waiting to do since I landed here. Baseball is just as popular as back home (a runner up only to soccer in terms of popularity.) and since it's Korea it comes with a whole lot less hassle. Let me list all the ways Korean baseball is awesome.
1. No traffic jams. We take the subway.
2. You can bring a picnic or 2 pizzas like we did.
3. No pat downs. Insane security is not needed because Koreans don't smuggle weapons into sporting events.
4. No profanity (at least that I could understand or gather from body language). Koreans keep it classy.
5. Good seats are only 10 bucks.
I'm sold.
Fans at Lotte Giants games wear plastic bags on their heads to show their support.
This is Kevin, one of my Korean co-workers. He's a really nice guy and always helpful.
When in Rome.
Leave it to a Korean girl to make a plastic bag cute.
Americans getting their cute on.
The Lotte Giants are no Cubs but I'm planning on having a summer fling with them. Go Lotte!
______________________________________________________________ Korean vocab: Baseball/야구공 /YAH-GOO-GONG
Edward, my co-worker: "Are you coming to the concert?"
Me: "Uh, what concert?
I've always been a little out of the loop but it's even worse in Korea. I'm glad that I run in circles of people who know what's going on. As luck would have it, Edward happened to know about and invite Courtney (My other American co-worker) and I to a free concert at Ulsan University. Apparently all Korean Universities have a festival week in the spring. I'm so glad we crashed this one because it turned out to be one of the best nights I've had in Ulsan.
DJ DOC is really good. The music is high energy, catchy, and event though it's 80% sung in Korean I could still sing along with parts of it. The music has a very international sound, with Latin, Jamaican, and African flavors popping up unexpectedly. Check out the clips and links below. You'll find yourself rhythmically singing along in no time.
This concert felt really unique. It was really intimate for a free concert by a very popular band. We showed up right before the concert began and still managed to get about 20 feet away from the stage, although it did take some fancy footwork. DJ DOC arrived in a regular car and drove through the front entrance like a regular person. He was flanked by some soccer-mom style minivans. Sometimes Korea is so unexpectedly low-maintenance. Also, the concert-goers were so polite. There was minimal pushing and shoving. When he concert finally ended after three encores people orderly shuffled off the soccer field and over to the booths serving booze, chicken, fish cake soup, and other drinking fare.
Speaking of post concert festivities, our night was just about to start. Edward, Courtney and I sat down for a beer, one of which exploded all over me as the guy tried to open it for me. He was way more apologetic than necessarily and gave us some free drinks after he mopped me up. After beer and some light snackage a group of drunk and extremely friendly Koreans approached us and rather easily convinced us to be friends. We later joined their gang of hilarious characters at a beer tent across the ally. And that's where we stayed drinking soju and beer and chatting animately until 4am. I love when memorable nights happen by chance.
Check out his fan! Rock star.
Edward and Courtney throwing up their "L"s.
Festival tents.
Post-concert, pre-Korean friends noms.
______________________________________________________________ Korean vocab: University/대학교 /DAY-HAK-GYO
**** This post is a month late. ******Click on the pictures to make them larger.
Temple areas, bridges, and other public spaces had been decorated with brightly colored lanterns for weeks. So, I had an inkling that something exciting was about to happen. That something was a three day weekend to celebrate Buddha's birthday!
Buddha's birthday is a pretty cool holiday because most people get the day off work, the weather is usually nice, if you go to the temple you can eat free bibimbap, there are parades, and there are pretty lanterns everywhere. I celebrated by going to Seoul for the Lotus Lantern Parade, an annual parade packed with dancers, lantern carriers, and giant, brightly lit floats. This parade blew all others I've seen out of the water.
But first.... a snack!
This is what our snack looked like before it was fried.
This whole ally was filled with street food.
Mmmm, giant blood sausage.
Now to the parade.
Chillin'
.
Kisses for my fish lantern.
I call this one 'Linabean with Lotus'.
Haha. Love how this float parked under the street sign. Perfect.
Peace out!
______________________________________________________________ Korean vocab:Lantern/칸델라 /CON-DAY-LA
Holmes: Your face looks like it was made in China!
That's the best comeback I've heard in a while, and it was delivered by an 11 year old kid who has only been taking English classes for about 2 years. I was darn proud of Holmes.
Now that I no longer have to be wrapped up like a mummy every time I step outside, the itch to get out an see Korea had gotten really strong. I've spent the past few weekends getting in touch with nature. One day, I made like a Korean and I climbed a mountain.
That's right; I climbed a mountain!
Mt. Munsu (먼수산) is a very small mountain but let's not quibble over a few kilometers. It was a really cool experience. I fluttered between feeling completely exhilarated and completely miserable the entire way up. The view and feeling of accomplishment were totally worth the pain and sweat though. I'm now on a mountain climbing kick. I hope to conquer a few of the other peaks in the area before the unbearable heat of summer descends.
(Click on the images to make them bigger.)
Photo credit/ Jeff Colonel
There's this little village at the base of 먼수산 that has small farms, oddly modern houses,
and a nice restaurant where I used the bathroom twice.
Photo credit/ Jeff Colonel
Photo credit/ Jeff Colonel
A peek inside one of the many greenhouses that dot the Korean countryside.
Photo credit/ Jeff Colonel
About 2/3 of the way to the summit.
Photo credit/ Jeff Colonel
These beautiful lanterns hanging at a temple near the top of the
mountain were to celebrate Budda's birthday.
Photo credit/ Fawn
Waygooks at the top.
Photo credit/ Jeff Colonel
Hanging out in the bamboo forest on the descent.
More on my other late-April/ early-May adventures soon!
Also, I'm stealing this idea from another American blogger in Korea. I'm going to start ending my posts with a Korean language footnote. You followers will pick up Korean in no time! I'll give you the English translation followed by the Korean word and then a simple pronunciation guide.
______________________________________________________________ Korean vocab:Mountain/산 /SAN
I've been lazy about checking American news, but I happened to pop onto NYTimes.com before work yesterday. I almost didn't know that OSAMA BIN LADEN IS DEAD, in spite of that being the only topic for American new sources.
As an American, I know I'm expected to feel something about his killing. It seems anti-climactic to me though. Perhaps because it took 10 years. Or, because I'm half a world away from the places that it matters. In Korea, no one cares. Or at least, I don't know that they care because of the language barrier and the fact that I've put my TV in my closet. I'm an apathetic American at this moment. If I feel anything, it's mild disgust.
The way the media is projecting this, the way our president speaks of this "mission", it's very political stunty and a little bit slimy. Obama is trying to win an election so I understand why he wants to hype this up. Seriously though, check out how many times he says "I" in this clip: http://youtu.be/K8j8LpwDo7Q
If Obama didn't win the popular vote in the last 48 hours I'll be surprised, although I don't think he deserves it for this reason.
I hate that this is another excuse to confuse terrorists and the entire Islamic faith. However PC people pretend to be their still making ignorant comments and fearing fellow Americans who happen to be Muslim. I've seen so many misguided Facebook statuses today that I've stopped looking at the News Feed.
I have only seen glimpses of the aftermath of this announcement but I haven't liked what I've seen. There is no question that Bin Laden was a bad man, did terrible things, and even deserved to die. I wonder, though, if dancing in the streets really an appropriate reaction to his death. Isn't it little gross to rejoice in the death of another human being even if he is an enemy? Shouldn't this news be taken with sober relief or just acceptance? I can't say for certain, but the that fact that I question it makes me think there is something wrong here.
I can understand a joyful reaction from people who lost loved ones on 9/11 or who have been risking their lives in uniform to find this man. I imagine it's a kind of closure for them, and I don't begrudge them that. I don't mean to belittle this for those who have been affected by Bin Laden's actions and directions. However, to see people that I went to school with in the mid-west, people who haven't followed the story for 10 years, who can only give the barest details about what the American War on Terror is about, people who have only felt the impact of the entire conflict at airport security making this into a personal victory just rubs me the wrong way.
I understand that a man is to be excited by the successes of his country in spite of his direct involvement. Patriotism and all that. But we didn't win the war. One man is dead but there are still hundreds of Americans risking their lives on foreign soil everyday. It's not over. And I don't feel certain that anyone is any safer than they were two days ago. I wonder, is the average American truly excited by this one man's death or are they actually excited that there is something else to talk about besides the economy?
Again, this is my perspective from my tiny apartment in Ulsan, South Korea where all is quiet and the closest encounter with a terrorist is that annoying dog that lives next door. Well, there's Kim Jong-Il too but South Koreans don't take him seriously either. My isolation has perhaps skewed my vision a bit. I don't pretend to be super informed on this subject. This is what I've been thinking about as I've been researching it over that past couple of days. What do you think? Tell me what it looks like from your side of the screen.
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