Lotte Giants!!

A few weeks ago I took Kelsey to a Lotte Giants game. The Giants are the professional baseball team in Busan and while being the worst team in the Korean Baseball League, they have the biggest stadium and the most dedicated fans. This was her first baseball game, pro or not so I was excited to introduce her to my favorite sport. Koreans love baseball and they are very passionate about whichever team they support. There were quite a few noticeable differences between a Korean baseball game and a Major League Baseball game. The first difference I noticed (which didn't shock me at all) was the stadium food. As we walked to the stadium we had to pass a long line of vendors that were selling beer, jokbal (steamed pigs feet), beer and soju (Korean's adult beverage of choice), all of which (and anything else you want) can be brought into the stadium. Instead of hot dogs and nachos, the vendors were hawking squid jerky, rice and fish cakes. A beer in the stadium (not that I drank any) cost 3,000 won ($2.50) compared to $7 at a Braves game. Each player has their own cheer when they come up to bat. I wish I would have taken some video becuase they were fantastic. There is also many team cheers that the crowd would sing throughout the game. By the time I realized what was being said, the cheer was over and I had to wait until that players next at bat to participate. All of the fans brought big stacks of newspapers and made homemade pompoms to cheer with. By far the most surprising event of the night took place in the 8th inning when the ushers came out and handed each fan an orange plastic bag. I initially thought the bags were supposed to be used to clean up your area of any trash, which would not have surprised me since Koreans are very clean. However, the bags were not used for trash cleanup, but were instead used as decorative items on everyones head. Some people wore the standard bag of air on top of their heads, some made their bags into mickey mouse ears and some fashioned their bags into masks so that only their eyes and mouth were visible. It was quite a sight to see 25,000 people with orange plastic bags on their heads and one that I will not soon forget and qutie frankly look forward to reenacting. About 5 minutes after the game ended, all of the light in the stadium were cut off to keep people from hanging around. By the way, the hometeam won so all in all it was a great experience.

Intentional walk...

I met my students at school for some baseball today.  I chose teams but realized that one team was a player short.  The team that was short a player immediately asked me to play with them.  I typically just umpire and let the kids have fun but I was excited to get to play.  After going 2-2 with 7 RBI's in my first two at bats, I was intentionally walked on my third at bat.  I was amazed at the baseball IQ of the kids and am fairly confident that not many people can say they have been intentionally walked during a pick up baseball game.  Granted I was playing against 12 year olds, but still.

Dr. Fish

Let me start by saying how amazed I am that I have been here for four months. It seems like yesterday I was getting off the plane in Seoul, scared out of my mind. I never would have imagined that Korea would become so comfortable. There is never a shortage of strange sights, interesting events and amazing people to get to know. Last Wednesday, my "friend" Kelsey and I went out for coffee and to experience the phenomenon known as Dr. Fish. Dr. Fish exists in the US but most states are banning it due to health concerns. I could go about describing Dr. Fish in many ways, but I am going to let the pictures speak for themselves and just tell you that you pay to submerge your feet in ankle deep water, to have hundreds of small fish eat your dead skin. The fish don't have teeth, so it doesn't hurt, but it is slightly uncomfortable at first and feels a little like dozens of needle pricks. Many people swear by this method for getting rid of dry skin or other skin ailments. I, on the other hand, will not become a regular customer but did enjoy the experience. And to give you a little price comparison between Dr. Fish in Korea and in the States, we paid 2,000 won ($1.75) for 30 minutes compared to as much as $50 in the States for the same amount of time. Korea is good on the wallet!

There is 27 years of dead skin build up on those feet for the fish to enjoy.

The fish liked Kelsey's feet better than mine.

Kelsey would only go one foot at a time. It took the Korean girls behind her about 20 minutes to stick a foot in the water and the fish in their tank were half the size of ours.