Today is our one day off after two 6-day weeks in a row. We’re tired and about ready for the end of the school year (June 13). We wanted to get outside, but it’s been POURING and windy all day, so instead, you get a blog post!
Spring means reviving outdoor sports. In the last few weeks we’ve gotten to experience a couple fun Korean sports worlds.
Jeju has its own professional soccer team.
Jeju United Soccer Field, built for the 2002 World Cup. Pretty much always feels empty now…
The day we went, they were selling 5,000W (~$5) tshirts in their team color orange. Go Jeju!
Amazingly, they won the day we were there! I mostly noticed. 🙂 There were about 10 of us there having a great time and entertaining the locals with our English cheers.
In other sporting news, Patrick is the token westerner on this year’s Korean business staff baseball team. Corporations/professional places around Jeju Island form teams, and the business part of KIS (admissions, finance, kitchen, etc.) have their own team. They play teams like the Police Officers and the Marlboro Company staff.
Patrick in his Typhoons uniform.
They have rules about Westerners – no more than two playing any game, and they’re not allowed to pitch.
The pitch. We sat on a grassy hillside to watch.
Before the game, both teams take the field and bow to each other to show respect and wish good luck.
Patrick catching. He’s easily the biggest guy on the team, and can’t speak to the ump, but the basics are pretty international.
Patrick at the plate.
Post-game team picture with the cheering section.
The level of play was a lot like little league. Almost all runs were scored on walks or errors. But the team bought their 8 fans some gimbap (rice, egg, meat and veggies rolled in seaweed like a California roll), and we had a great time cheering on our guys.
Our final sports news of late goes back to when my parents were visiting in November. We ran a 10k race, and just got the catalog to advertise next year’s race.
Race catalog.
Picture of Beth and our teacher friend Kate doing the pre-race warm-up.
The whole family posing with the mandarin race mascot.
There was hardly a page in the whole 20+ page book without at least one photo that included Beth, Patrick, or one of our two running buddies from KIS. I think they like including the white faces in the advertising, or we’re just really photogenic!
Just three weeks of school left. We’re counting down and looking forward to our travels to Ecuador and back to Colorado.
Much love from Korea!