Doosan Bears!

This past weekend I went to my second Bears game of the season...and so far I guess I'm a good luck charm! They have gone 2-0 in the two games I've been to this season. Last year I went to watch them when I first got here and they lost in the 10th inning...so they are 2-1 in the three games I've been to.

I LOVE Korean baseball...not to knock MLB, but I think I'd go to a Korean game anyday! The crowd is loud and they cheer literally from before the first pitch. I think one cool thing here is that as small as Korea is there are usually fans for both of the teams...so even though Doosan had a home game, maybe like 40% of the crowd was cheering for the other team...so the atmosphere is really cool.

I've been a fan of Doosan ever since Hines Ward visited Korea after winning the MVP award in the Super Bowl. He went to a game and threw out the first pitch, so I just sort of adopted Doosan. I felt a little like a traitor cheering for Doosan since they were playing the Hanwha Eagles. The Eagles are from the province I live in (Chungcheongnam Province) but oh well! HA!

The game was really exciting, Hanwha got off to a quick start scoring 2 runs in the top of the first, but then Doosan struck back and matched them. Doosan added another run in the 2nd inning and led 3-2 until the 7th inning when they hit a 3 run HR and pretty much sealed the game. They went on to win 6-2, and so I was of course very happy.

The weather was really cold...I was surprised because it's been so warm here the last few weeks, but I braved the wind and a little rain. Ramen Noodles are popular here, and so I got some of those to keep me warm.

Hopefully I'll have a chance to go to quite a few more Bears games. One nice thing I've said over and over is that stuff here is priced right, Koreans don't feel the need to rip you off just because you're at a sporting event. Tickets were 5,000 Won (about $4) and then a big bag of chips was 2500 Won. Ramen was 2000 Won. I love the fact that I can do so much here for so cheap!

Cherry Blossom Festival/대천 Beach

Ok...well, the cherry blossoms FINALLY arrived like I was anticipating, and so this past weekend I went to Cheonan's Cherry Blossom Festival, and it was really awesome. Actually...I went to 대천 (Daecheon) Beach in the morning and then to the Cherry Blossom Festival in the evening.

We (Dana, Sam, I) left for the beach at around 10 AM. We had planned to leave at 9, but Sam overslept and honestly (even though this hardly ever happens) I did too (I woke up at about 8:50). I hit snooze several times and then then did the "Ok, I'm awake so I'll turn off my alarm, but then I actually fall back asleep" routine. I thought I was going to make us late, and when I called Sam he answered on like the 10th ring and I could tell I woke him up! HA! So, anyway...we took off for the beach. We stopped along the way and you can always tell the areas that don't see many foreigners because they all just stop and stare at you. So, we grabbed some snacks and headed down to the beach. We got there around 11:30. I was hoping to jump into the sea and take a swim...but when I got about ankle deep in the water, I quickly decided that there would be no swimming taking place (at least not on my behalf) as the water was freezing cold. The weather was nice, but the water was cold. So...we bummed around and looked at all kinds of sea creatures, and then strolled up and down the beach. Koreans dress a lot different than Americans at the beach. Very few people were wearing swimming suits...in fact...most people were wearing pants and jackets, and I swear it was mid 70s! I was surprised! Dana's friend lives there and so she met us for lunch, we had 해물탕 (Haemultang) which is seafood soup http://www.flickr.com/photos/misskoco/443445835/ It includes shrimp, octopus, and a whole bunch of other seafood. There were some really good things that I pulled out of shells! HAHA! Sam didn't eat much, I guess I am pretty adventurous when it comes to food. Anyway...I thought it was really good, and actually octopus is very delicious. So...after we ate, we saw a really cool hiking area that had some rocks, so we hiked around there for a while and got some really cool pictures.

We headed back to Cheonan and then went to the Cherry Blossom Festival later in the day. It was at a local high school (Bugil High School) and in the evening there were fireworks. It was a little crazy, I had never been up front for fireworks, but we were like literally in the very front row and the fireworks were exploding right over our heads. So, after they fell...all the little stuff from the fireworks was like falling all on us! HA! It was crazy! It was cool I saw some of the girls from the middle school too...so they said HI and I talked to them for a bit.

So...I had a great weekend...now that spring has finally arrived, I'm hoping for more good times. Good Bye winter!
:)