A night at the stadium

Korea isn't exactly a melting pot of cultures, so it was cool to see this Ecuadorian pan flute band in the subway. I would love to see these guys play at a local bar.

Here are photos of some of the fans at the Busan soccer stadium. There must have been about 40,000 screaming fans for the Korea, Argentina game. Korea lost 4-1 but that didn't dampen their enthusiasm for their team.


I showed some of these photos to some 6th graders. When they saw the 2 above photos, one said. "Teacher, why girls? why?" I didn't really have a good answer. But I guess Korean girls show support for their team by dressing seductivly. You would have thought we were at a night club watching the game based on some of the ladies' outfits.

"Fighting!"

I think that's a mask of park Ji Sun, He plays for Manchester United. Anytime they showed him on the screen all the fans screamed like a 12 year old at a Justin Bieber concert.

The lower lever of the stadium. People got to stadium 2 hours before the game to secure these seats. remember, the game is in South Africa and we were just watching it on TV.

Another great costume. I used this one in class the next day with 5th graders. I made them describe this girls outfit.

I think I have a case of yellow fever.

More cute girls with thunder sticks. Not quite sure who the sugar daddy is though.

Korea...Fighting!

I ran another road race in Busan, this one a half marathon. This time I was legally entered into the race. The race went pretty well considering that I wasn't even planning on competing the day before when I was coughing up a lung and couldn't really breathe. But I decided to do the big boy thing and run it anyways. Seeing as I had trained for it, planned for it and paid for it. The biggest bummer of the race was the timing. I had to miss the USA-England soccer match/insult and drinking fest. Though I'm sure there will be upcoming drinking, soccer and insult fests that I can attend in the next few World Cup weeks.

So back to the race. it was real purdy. The course worked its way up a dirt road into the mountains outside of Busan. It was all on dirt roads and paths...and hills. not great for running super fast, but nice to look at. The Korean runners give lots of support too. It was an out and back, or should I say up and back course. On the way back, like 90% of the runners I intersected gave some sort of shout of encouragement, or a grunt or a V for victory sign. It put a smile on my face, which isn't that easy 8 miles into a half marathon.

I ended up running 1:20 and getting second place...and collecting 200,000 won in prize money, which is 165$. This was a nice surprise and something I knew nothing about. But it will definitially keep me training, as the competition here isn't too strong, but the prizes are.



So the World Cup started. you may not know this in America, but in Korea it's huge. For the opening match vs. Greece, Busan opened up their world cup stadium from 2002 ( which, by the way sits empty 350 days a year, just like the stadiums in South Africa will.) About 40,000 red dressed Red Devils turned out. Click on the little movie above and listen to the crowd after Korea's second goal. They go nuts. And that's not me screaming. Promise.


Some Korean girls showing their pride for the soccer team. I'm told girls take pictures with peace signs up by their face to try and make their face look smaller, which is a sign of beauty. Judge for yourself.


They put like 6 dancers in the middle of the field to liven up the crowd. They looked like little ants running around. They broadcast the game on the big screen at the other end of the field. It was a great atmosphere. You could bring all your own beer, sit in the stadium for free and make lots of noise. Unfortunately this was the last event of my night. Most of my friends used this as a warm up to the other games of the night, that didn't conclude until 6am. Next weekend, is what I say. I'll show those young kids how to party.


Here are a couple pictures of my local beach, Dadaepo beach at sunset. It's 4 miles away and a pleasant bike ride. There is a nightly fountain show with lights and music. Just imagine the Bellagio fountain with people sitting around it in beach chairs.

Also, the weather has been beautiful. I saw some Seattle folks post on Facebook about how great the weather was for 3 days. I wanted to respond that it has been that nice for the past 7 weeks here. It feels nice to experience my first spring.

Happy erection day...i mean election.

I've been asked by multiple people, and when I say multiple, I mean more than 1 and less than 3 to keep the blog coming fast and furious, so I'm back with yet another installment. Though It's lacking on quality photos and salacious, controversial stories. It is full of what I've been up to, which is having a really good time.

It's been election time the past few weeks. For campaigning the politicians get groups of people, put them on street corners, blare loud music and make them dance, smile, wave and bow. it's noisy and i like it. Some foreigners complain about the noise it causes outside their window, but I would trade it anyday for the semi-trucks and car accidents outside mine.
It was an important election, more democrats won, which goes against the prime ministers party and there was a strong turnout, 53%, the highest in 15 years. But now it's over and the streets are free of singing and dancing for another year.

Here are some of the reasons why don't have ton of crazy things to share.
*I'm not traveling, I'm just living. After being on the road, in a new city, town, village, campground, bus station for the past 4 years, I'm now grounded in one city. And it feels great. I'm playing sports, getting in really good shape. making friends that I'll keep for more than week. Riding my bike around town,( and risking death every time), going hiking, hitting the beach, going trail running with the legendary Alison Lewis, staying out till 5am, going to baseball games.
Things started a little rough, but overall I'm having a really great time and am really happy.

I took my bike to some new areas and found hundreds of older Koreans, called Ajima's and Ajashis, drinking, eating, singing and dancing. This group gave me some chicken, soju and raw fish. As you can see they were all in their special uniforms of bright colored vests and huge. visors.
Yes, I know the photos are pretty sparse, I didn't have much to sort through. The two days that were photo worthy i neglected to bring my camera. One was a dinner with a few of my co-teachers. We went to a raw fish restaurant, their choice not mine. I had my first experience with raw octopus. It was served on small plate, drenched in oil, still quivering, turining and squirming and sticking to the plate. When you put in your mouth you have to start chewing right away, or it will suction on to your tongue. We also dined on some fried fish bone, sea snails, shashimi and sea weed.
The other was another baseball game, but this time we sat in the foreigners only "excitement zone." Complete with cheerleaders between the innings, and a man in a white tuxedo who dances and leads chants for all the players. The highlights of the nights were getting interviewed by the English radio station in Busan and starting a rouge wave. I guess you are only supposed to participate in the wave when it's started by a certain cheer zone, or atleast not by a bunch of foreigners. The sent security to our zone immediately to squash the already rolling zone, but it did not happen.

Above is a plate of food. Gimbap and donkas. It was really delicious. It cost 5000 won, or a little more than 4 dollars. No tax, no tip. So the cost of food in South Korea is similar to Costa Rica. The food here is awesome. I eat out all the time and it barely costs more than cooking at home.