Take me out to the ballgame

Last week I took a trip down to the port city of Busan.  This is the second largest city in South Korea.  I had a five day weekend because of a national holiday called Chuseok.  This holiday is essentially there version of Thanksgiving.  Everyone gets together as a big family and they eat food.  Plus in Korea they do take this time to visit graveyards and pay respects to their ancestors.  I guess you can say they are combining both Thanksgiving and "dia de los muertos" into one holiday.  When visiting the graveyards they trim plants and clean up the immediate area around the location.  Then they do also leave out food and drinks which is very similar to "dia de los muertos."  As foreigners we basically have a long weekend and so I was able to head down to Busan and see some of that big city.

One of the things I was able to see was a Korean baseball game.  In Busan the team is known as the "Lotte Giants."  So a couple friends and I headed to "Lotte" stadium to catch a game.  Here in Korea you are allowed to bring anything into the game.  This includes drinks and food.  So I did see people bringing in boxes of food and drinks to enjoy during the game.  We ended up getting tickets right next to third base for 12,00 won a ticket.  It isn't the closest I have been to home plate but we still were real close.

Now in Korea baseball where you sit in the stadium is an important fact in who you will be cheering for during the game.  For this stadium the third base side is actually the visiting teams dugout.  So we were cheering for the "NC Dhinos" who were playing the "Lotte Giants."  At the beginning of the game they did the Korean National Anthem but then nothing else. No first pitch which they usually do have at most of the Korean baseball games.  Obviously baseball is played the same with a little different style.  For example there were a lot more attempts at running while batting (think Ichiro even though he is Japanese) during the game then a typical American baseball game.  The particular game I watched was a back and forth game.  In fact it came down to the bottom of the ninth for the home team to win.  Baseball the game itself didn't change however there was some big differences between a Korean baseball game and American baseball game.

These differences could mainly be seen in how the crowd reacted to the ballgame.  So how it works is that while your team is up to bat there is constant chants and cheering.  These chants were done in unison and there was a person who was the ring leader for all of these chants.  In fact for the home team they had cheerleaders and a whole dance crew to lead the chants.  Where I was sitting (visitors side) it was one of the spectators who was in charge of all the chants.  It did feel more genuine on my side because we didn't need the extra motivation from a dance crew.  The chants were in Korean but some were universal because both side of the fans were using them.  Another difference was during a pitching change for the home team the pitcher did get a ride from the bullpen to the mound in a car.  Now I am not sure if that is only for that team or maybe it could be a give away, but either way it was kind of crazy.  Another interesting thing that happened was one time when the grounds crew was cleaning the field, both teams had everyone playing catch in the outfield.  This random break (in the middle of the sixth inning) lasted for about ten minutes and then the game resumed.  One thing that was a little disappointing was they didn't do a seventh inning stretch. So at a ballpark in America I would get a hot dog or a pretzel as something to snack on during the game.  Well in Korea they didn't have those items at the ballpark so instead I had some dried squid.  I have had it before on many different occasions, but I figured at a Korean baseball game I could have something that is definitely Korean.

Overall it was a  fun experience but did kind of remind me of a minor league ballgame atmosphere instead of the top level of play.  The season is pretty much over and they have a mini playoff.  They have less teams and so the playoff is against the top four teams.  This upcoming week there is midterm testing for some of the days.  I still am unsure of what days exactly but for those days I won't be teaching.  Plus usually it does mean we will have half days.  I need to plan a couple lessons for tomorrow.  Will write later.
 

Bag with drinks to bring into the stadium

The car used during a pitching change for the home team

Korean style snack bar

Squid at the ballpark 

  

First Responders Across Countries

So this picture here is in the English room at my school: 

It is one of the blinds that does keep the sun out when it is down (hence it being a blind).  Anyway there are seven total blinds and the pictures are of different landmarks including the Eifel Tower, London Tower Bridge, Statue of Liberty, the Twin Towers, etc.  It is safe to assume that these blinds have been here for some time now and that the various landmarks portrayed could have changed.  In fact today there is currently one new tower instead of the two pictured above.  It has been twelve years now since that horrible day and in that time frame a lot has changed.  I did ask my higher level students if they do know about that day in history.  Now keep in mind these kids for one aren’t from the United States and also were babies when it did happen.  Some of them did know while others did not. 

Each day I do see the blind it does make me think of all the people who were lost that day.  The various different types of first responders and citizens trying to help everyone out.  At the same time though it does allow me to think how lucky everyone is in the United States to have such dedicated individuals willing to help out. 

Here in Korea that isn’t the case.  Since talking to some co-workers back when we were having the fire drill it was interesting their reaction to the firefighting profession.  Here in Korea it is something you do not want to do and in fact the profession here is kind of looked down upon.  Basically if you are a firefighter than you are at a lower status than some other people.  Instead of being a firefighter it is better to be a business person, a doctor, a teacher, a general manager, or an engineer.  I know throughout the United States that isn’t the case.  You can go into any elementary school and some of the kids there would want to be firefighters when they grow up.  I personally have never seen a fire here so maybe they have nothing to do.  At the same time there is a lot more things firefighters do on a daily basis (at least in the United States). 

So the outlook on the fire profession here is different but what about the law enforcement.  Law enforcement here is in kind of the same boat as the fire profession.  It is something that isn’t a dream for people to pursue.  From what I can tell they basically are the individuals who didn’t do well in school or have no other job prospects and so they end up being a police officer.  A funny part to this though is that crime in Korea doesn’t happen.  Now I am not making the place like a utopia, but since living here I have not heard of anything illegal happening or seen the police have to deal with anything (the ‘crime’ numbers also back this up).  I know some people who leave their apartments unlocked all the time and nothing has been stolen.  Now I don’t think this idea of no crime is because of the great work the law enforcement does here.  Instead I would claim it is more of the culture and Confucianism playing a role in society.  Koreans have a very structured society and so I think that is what keeps the streets free of crime.

I just simply wanted to write showing that between different countries there are different outlooks on people who are first responders.  I guess it is a good thing that I am from the United States since one day I want to be one of these professions.       

"Color Me Rad"

This last weekend I went on a little trip.  This trip took me up to Incheon.  Incheon is a city that is up next to Seoul.  In fact Incheon is considered part of the Seoul National Capital area.  Whenever someone flies into Korea they are in fact flying into Incheon instead of Seoul.  From Incheon to get to the center of Seoul it can take up to an hour considering the amount of traffic.  I was able to take a direct bus up to Incheon so that way I didn't have to deal with the Seoul traffic.  The reason I went up to Incheon was for a little run.

It was a 5 K race and is known as "Color Me Rad."  These runs happen all over the world and it happened to be in Korea this last weekend.  The idea behind these runs is it is a fun run for the people who participate and then the money goes to a local charity wherever it is being held.  The local charity was "The Special Olympics Korea."

 Now the question of why it is called 'Color Me Rad?'  That is because you start off the race with a white shirt and then by the end of the race there is all kinds of color all over you.  This works by every so often you run through these areas where they throw color all over you.  So at the beginning of the race I ran through an orange color, then some ways up it was purple, then blue, then pink, and then finally yellow.  The colors are a powdery substance that is basically corn starch with some other things.  It didn't taste that good.  When running through the area it was really dusty so it was kind of hard to not taste the color.

I was up there with some people that I had met in orientation and we also ran into other people we knew.  Since it is simply a fun run they were letting people start in waves.  We were in the first group and started at nine in the morning.  When we did get back to the finish it was a lot busier with more people.  So I am not sure how many people ended up running but it seemed like a good amount of people.  We plan on running a 10 K in November so I will need to start running more often.

These last couple of posts have been about some fun activities or festivals that I have been able to attend.  I bet the next couple posts will show some more insight into Korean culture.  This week is a normal school week with nothing big happening at school.  At least I don't know about anything big yet, and actually I would find out at the last minute anyway.

Boryeong Mud Festival

This post will talk about a festival that happened earlier in the summer.  I didn’t have a chance to post about it back then because it happened right before going to Thailand, and I was busy getting ready for an English summer camp.  First a little background knowledge.  Before coming to Korea I found out that I was going to be living in the state that I live in now (Chungcheongnamdo).  Once I found this out I did look up the different things that happen around my home state.  I did find out about this particular festival I am going to describe in a minute and I thought it would be pretty neat to go if I have the chance.  About two days before getting on the plane I found out that I will be living in my current city (Boryeong) and that happens to be the location of this particular festival.  Once figuring that out I knew that I would be able to make it to the Boryeong Mud Festival.

This festival takes place for two weeks usually around the end of July and has been going on for fifteen years.  The reasoning behind the festival is because there is natural mud pits somewhere around my city.  This mud is nice for the skin and they compare it to the mud at the Dead Sea (I think the Dead Sea mud was better).  So this festival is held to draw attention to the mud and the health care products that go with this particular mud.  It does happen out at the beach which is about a five minute walk from my school.  The festival started on a Friday night but for that whole week leading up to the festival they were setting up the two stages and everything else that went along with the festival.  Then on Friday the South Korean Black Eagles (air force aerobatic team like the Blue Angels) were practicing it seemed like right over the school.  Plus there was music being played from the stages so the students were pretty distracted. 

The festival basically is a huge party with mud, blow up slides, music performances, Air Force Aerobatic team performances, fireworks, and more mud.  On the weekends there were a lot of foreigners out at the festival.  It was the busiest I have ever seen the beach.  Then during the week (after school I could check it out) it was mainly Koreans.  Since it is in my hometown I was able to go each day.  The first weekend was the Air Force performance and fireworks and so that was pretty neat.  We barely found a spot on the beach.  Then the second weekend it wasn’t as busy but still pretty crazy.  That weekend there were some music performances that I watched.  Plus the whole time there was free mud with paint brushes to get covered in the mud.  Of course the Sea is still right there and was the best way to wash off the mud. 

Overall it was a couple good weeks and with the festival being so close was pretty convenient.  Even though I have played in the mud before it was pretty interesting to have a festival solely for mud.  This week it has been back to school like normal.  I have the same amount of classes as before but different times to teach.  Basically it is about twenty different classes.  The level of the students range from false beginners (act like they know nothing, but in fact know some of it) up to my conversation class where the best English speakers at my school.  Still the highest students I would consider at a low middle school level compared to students in the United States.  This weekend I will be going up to Incheon.  It is right next to Seoul and is actually where the airport is located.  I will be heading up there for a 5k race.  It will be a fun run because it is a "Color Me Rad" run.  I will leave it at that and describe it in another post, but first I need to go to the run.  Attached are some pictures showing the mud festival.  I will write later.  

Beach with no Mud Festival (picture was taken yesterday) 

Still known as "mud plaza" even without the festival (picture was taken yesterday) 

Mud Festival (Taken about the same spot as picture above)

View from English room at school (Can you see the big slides where "mud plaza" is located?)

Before the actual show (picture taken from English room at school)

One of the designs they did at the Mud Festival

Over the water during the performance at Mud Festival