Baseball and Rainy Days

A week from now Sami and I will be on the island of Borneo attempting to summit Mt. Kinabalu, the highest peak in Southeast Asia. We are less worried about the arduous nature of the trek (three days to get to the top and back down) and more concerned with the potential for inclement weather. In preparation for potential precipitation, we have recently purchased waterproof hiking pants, backpack covers, gloves and ponchos to go along with stiff new hiking boots.

Actually, we should be quite accustomed to the rain by now. It has rained steadily every day since we have been back from our visit in the states, and seemingly, every day before that. The week before last, a typhoon spiraled over Korea and woke us up at four in the morning, first with a soft mist through the screen window and later with the violent whistle of 80 mile per hour winds which blew shingles off of 20 story high rise apartment buildings.

The typhoon was said to have been tame in our inland suburb of Seoul. I walked to school and saw that only the youngest of shallow planted trees lining the parking lot had toppled onto car hoods. School was only delayed for one hour.

Despite subsequent threats, new typhoons have not appeared, but the intermittent drumming of rain persists. Unlike Oregon, it seldom rains for an extended period of time. Today, when we ventured out to purchase hiking apparel, a steady mist blew in sideways, but this is the exception to the rule of short bursts of torrential dumping and cracking thunder.

2:00 p.m. The view from outside of our apartment during what was supposed to be another typhoon.

And here is the view two hours later at 4:00 p.m.

Yesterday, despite a 100 percent chance of thunderstorms, we braved it out to a baseball game between the Doosan Bears and the Lotte Giants. The event was organized by the recruitment agency that brought us out to Korea- Global Campus. We haven't done anything with them since Sami injured her arm in a boating accident a year ago. Despite being absent from the last couple of Global Campus events (we have no hard feelings from the incident, we were just busy during the other events) we have kept in touch with people we've met through them, and it was great to see them at the game.

In the Korean Baseball Organization, there are only eight teams. Each team is named after its corporate sponsor- Doosan and Lotte are major companies but the Bears are one of two Seoul teams and the Giants are from Busan. There are also the LG Twins, Samsung Lions, SK Wyverns, Kia TIgers, Nexen Heroes and the Hanhwah Eagles. The team with the best record automatically makes it to the Championship Series. The 3rd and 4th place teams play a series (I think maybe only 3 games, but I'd have to look it up) and then the winner plays the 2nd place team to see who goes to the Championship Series.

The best part about Korean baseball games is that you can bring your own alcohol into the game (I mixed 2 bottles of soju in a water bottle with some juice but you can buy it there for a little bit more). Outside the stadium, vendors sell your typical stadium fare, ttak (sweet rice cake) and dried peanut butter squid.

Vendors outside the stadium. Much more informal and less corporate than you would see at an MLB game where they have control of every detail.

The tickets are very inexpensive, maybe the equivalent of seven or eight bucks, and the stadium (at least in Seoul) is rarely more than half full. However, the people in the stands make noise for the whole game and even treat it more like a college basketball chants with organized chants and songs. The fans bang thundersticks throughout the game and each team even has its own troupe of skinny cheerleaders in short shorts.

Cheerleaders

We had a great time even though our Doosan Bears lost 12-10. There was a ton of hitting and I even got to eat a Whopper (yes they have Burger King and KFC there if you aren't into dried squid). Afterward, drunk on sojuice, I slept on the subway ride home and dreamed about standing on top of Mt. Kinabalu, looking out over a sunny and rainless paradise.