(yes, this is a little late, but better late than never!)
 |
| Day 11 - Exploring Cultural Traditions |
Saturday began with the promise of our first free day since our intense pace had began and we all pushed through Saturday with the knowledge that Sunday was ours. We started our day with lectures at Korea University. The first was an insightful lecture on US-Korean relations that even involved a Forrest Gump reference and the second was an interesting lecture on Korea’s economics that was full of lots of facts and figures that kept you thinking.
After our lectures, we enjoyed lunch in Insadong, which is quickly becoming my favorite shopping area. It stands out from other markets because many of the goods are higher quality and are classic Korean souvenirs/gifts with an artistic slant on them. After lunch, we headed to a place called the Yoo’s Family House and learned about some different aspects of Korean culture – but it was essentially a playing-Korean-house session. We did a tea ceremony and took turns pouring for each other, we made prints from wood blocks, and then we played dress-up.
Dressing up in hanbok, traditional Korean attire, was everyone’s favorite. Imagine thirty-four adult men and women dressing in bright, colorful clothing, with thirty-four cameras being passed back and forth. It was a little nuts, but a lot of fun. My friend Leeanne and I were given bridal gowns to wear, so we had extra fancy costumes! One of my other friends, Mark, ended up in a ridiculously ornate red and gold guilded outfit that would have been one of royalty (and he was loving it!). We all had a lot of fun, took way too many pictures, and laughed at how ridiculous we all looked.
 |
| Day 12 - Korean Baseball = Awesome! |
And then we were free for Saturday night and all day Sunday! Hoorah! I am going to admit that I crashed really hard on Sunday (please bear in mind that I’ve been going non-stop since June 21). I slept in, enjoyed a leisurely morning and afternoon, and then headed to the Korean Ballgame. I had high hopes of doing so many other things, but I could feel myself recharging as I took it easy and decided it was more important to survive the remainder of the trip.
About two thirds of us attended the Korean Baseball game, and it was another event that was one of the highlights of my trip. I am not a huge baseball fan, but the experience itself was awesome! From the second we stepped off the subway we were transported into Korean-baseball-mania. Our senses were assaulted by the fragrances of dried squid and other dried fish as we reached the top of the stairs and found ourselves on street level. We were soon weaving between stands selling various forms of seafood, beer, water, and souvenirs for the game.
Click on the links below to view videos I took from the stands:
The "Mary had a Little Lamb" cheer
Some glimpses of baseball mania
The fans were hard core and were engaged in elaborate, coordinated cheers through the entire game. To enhance their noise level, the majority of the fans used thundersticks (which I quickly bought to join in the fun). The cheers were led on each side (the Giants side and the Bears side) by four dancing cheerleaders and one male who would take turns standing on a stage and leading the crowd. There were also mascots circulating through the crowd (I was on the Doosan Bear’s side) that were not your normal mascots. I watched one of the mascots pull a thunderstick out of a spectator’s hand and hit them over the head with it. When the mascot came up to the top deck, where we were all hanging out, he was very physical and friendly with the people who tried to pose for pictures with him. One of the chants that the crowd was most into was one to the tune of “Mary had a Little Lamb” and many of the other cheers involved clapping out creative rhythms with the thundersticks. The game was a LOT of fun and to make things even better, the Bears (whose side we were sitting on) won the game!
No comments:
Post a Comment