Japaneesee Baseball

We had a few extra vacation days to kill in our contract, so we took a quick 3 day trip over to Fukuoka, Japan. I'd been wanting to catch a baseball game in the land of the rising sun, and this was our opportunity.

The stadium was North American size, and had a strong resemblance to the dome in Toronto, complete with a retractable roof and corporate sponsorship (this was the Yahoo! Dome). The place was packed. We sat in the bleachers, which were situated in center field. The seats had no backs, which was a bit of a letdown. We realized that we'd be doing as much standing as sitting though...every time the home team was up to bat everyone stood up, chanting and cheering. There was a brass band behind us, playing trumpets and trombones while waving giant flags in the air. Beth and I were the ONLY people who did not have small plastic bats to tap together. This is because these cost about $20. They are serious over there.

Beers are $10, but the vendors aren't carrying cans around, they've got small kegs strapped to their backs. Asahi, Kirin, and others served up on draft to you right where you sit. That's service.

There's no 7th inning stretch, but in the 6th inning there's the ceremonial releasing of balloons. Yes, for $5 you can get 3 balloons that you release with the other 30,000 fans in attendance. It was quite a sight.

The game was a full 4 hours. I chalk this up to slow delivery by the pitchers. There weren't any games or activities happening between innings, and the change happened pretty quickly. I couldn't believe how long it took. After the game, which the home team won, they held everyone there for fireworks. This was a big disappointment. The three measly fireworks were fired as the dome opened (why it was closed all night I have no idea), a lackluster finish to a great game.

The Love Hotel

Young adults live with their parents until they get married here. Koreans get married at around 30 years old, but it's common to date for 5 or 6 years before that. So where does one go to find a little privacy? The Love Hotel. This country is littered with these cheesy hotels, and they are the best place to stay when you are out of town. Even though the idea of them might seem a little seedy they are very clean, furnished, and affordable. Beth and I have stayed in many of them, and I took some pictures while we were out of town in Busan. We've seen some that varied in quality and cheese factor, and this one excelled in both categories. Unless you find a real dump the room will have a flat panel TV, all the toiletries you'd ever need (and then some), complimentary tea, water, and juice, a jacuzzi, and a queen sized bed.

Sometimes they even have adult vending machines in the halls. I have no idea why it's called "Green Love."

Work Trip

We had to take a trip for work this Wednesday with all of the teacher at the academy. This meant:

No class on Wednesday

Free food and beer for two days

A small "pension" on Geoje, an island off the south coast of Korea

It was one of the best "work" trips I've been on. We had a private bus transport us down south, stopping along the way for coffees and snacks. We stayed at a hotel right on the water, did some sightseeing, and came back for a bbq and drinks.

The typical bbq spread doesn't look very different from back home, but a lot of the food is. We had sushi, kimchi, hotdogs, and samgeopsal, which is thick cut bacon. There isn't any bread, we put the bacon on lettuce leaves.

They cook hotdogs here by cutting them on each side, I'm not sure why. They are all on sticks because they don't use buns typically.

This is the bacon I was telling you about.

A little rock skipping after dinner with Chang Ha's son.

Once the sun started setting, more drinks and food came out. Korean's love to eat while drinking, so there was a smorgasbord of chips and snacks, and before it was over we'd ordered fried chicken. During all this we did some acapella singing. I chose "My Girl" because I knew the lyrics but most of the teachers whipped out their cell phones and found the lyrics to their favorite songs so they could sing them properly. An empty can of beer with scissors was our microphone.