First Birthday in Korea (and baseball game)

Homesickness is particularly bad around special events. I know that's probably a "No, duh!" statement, but I can confirm that it's completely true now. The week leading up to the event is as bad as or worse than the actual day itself, since one has played up the drama and melancholy so much and when one finally hits that day, one thinks, "Oh, this is a day. The 24-hour kind. Maybe I'll live through it." I suspect there's a lesson there about not worrying about tomorrow.

Regardless, I was pretty depressed the week before my birthday, but I did have the sense to realize that I needed to be around people, so I did let people know it was coming. My birthday ended up lasting almost a week, with celebrations and deliveries before and after the fact.

On my birthday itself, my South African friend and neighbor took me out for lunch and coffee at a cafe near our schools. It was good conversation, and nice not to have to eat on my own. It was my last week on break, and I had sort of been avoiding school, but the only way to see if a package had come from my parents was to go into the office. I almost didn't venture to check, but as she was leaving to go back to her school (she still had to go in for office hours), my friend talked me into checking. I sneaked in, and was crestfallen to see that nothing had arrived, so I left the building quickly, starting in the direction I had come (there are several ways in and out), but changing my exit at the last moment. Just as I got to the door, the postal delivery man drove up, carrying a US Priority Mail box! Couldn't have been better timing! The box was filled with cards, sweets, a fall scarf woven by my sister, and some awesome baking mixes and other cooking ingredients for a taste of home!

After I unpacked all of that fun, I made my way into Seoul to meet a friend who was leaving the country that day. She had just finished her contract, and I wanted to hang out a little longer, even if it was just at a coffee shop and running errands. It seems like moving from a foreign (to me) country to anywhere, even back home, would be difficult. We had a good visit, though too short of course. She had quite a trip ahead of her before moving back to Canada--9 days each in Thailand and Vietnam! I find myself saying final goodbyes to people in a lot of stores and subway stations... Too many goodbyes in a community like this one, and March/August frequently have high departure rates, since that's when the new semesters begin.

From the far east side of Seoul, I got on the subway to come a few stations in the direction of home. Getting off at Sports Complex station (green line 2), I got ready to attend my first baseball game in Korea! I had expressed my interest in a game to a Korean friend at church and she graciously booked tickets for a group of our friends who were able to hang out that evening. We had five in our group. The teams playing were the Doosan Bears (we were sitting on their side, so we cheered for them, not having particularly strong preferences one way or the other), and the LG Twins.



Let me just say... Koreans know how to cheer at sports events. I guess the world cup and Olympics taking place in Korea in years gone by helped this skill develop. When they have a cheer leader, this person actually leads the whole seated section of fans in cheers. The long, inflatable clapper bats are a staple for these games, and it's easy to tell which team supporters are on just by these items alone. Each player on the team has his own theme song that plays over the loudspeakers, and the crowds cheer their name and "Home run!"

The field was closer to a minor league size ballpark, but it was still a cool stadium. I'd say that the general athletic ability was somewhere close to USA minor league too, since their momentum was definitely flagging by about the fifth inning. No way was someone going to rush his way to first base. :) They did have a pretty sweet home run, caught by excited fans way up in the bleachers, and a few foul balls went into the stands above where we were sitting.

Traditional snacks at the game include Coca-Cola, beer, fried chicken, and... dried squid! I tried some of it. Not a fan yet, but it might grow on me if I give it another try sometime. It was like squid jerky kind of, a jerky sort of texture but a little fishy tasting. Quite a few people around us smuggled in their own snacks too. Here's a picture I found on the internet of some Korean dried fish snacks.



The Doosan Bears won, I had a great celebration with friends, and over the course of a couple of weeks, I received several fun and thoughtful gifts from friends and family. I mentioned above that my mom sent lots of baking mixes for me to prepare in my little toaster oven. I didn't know at the time that I was about to get an amazing convection oven a couple of weeks later! The birthday was hard leading up to it, but people made sure I didn't feel lonely or forgotten, and it was a day full of good memories.