Fall has enveloped the Korean peninsula. The rice fields which blanket the countryside around me have tinged yellowish-green; it's quite a sight to see. The dearth of vegetation and trees still remaining have only partially begun to welcome autumn which is to say they're spattered with bits of yellow and green. The air has noticeably lost its merciless humidity thank G-d or thank goodness; divinity or not, I'm appreciative of the cooler weather. We're a month and a half into my second semester of teaching a language I, myself, am still trying to conquer. The novelty and some of the new found wonderment of teaching has wore off and with it has come the enduring task of facing a perpetually confounding reality. I'm taking a Korean language class at the nearby university and am slowly, agonizingly learning bits and pieces of a world which has long remained so damn elusive. Naturally it makes life a little more bearable when you can ask for more milk in your coffee or are actually able to discern the contents of the menu you're looking at. Yesterday, (Sunday) the history teacher at my school called me at about 10 in the morning to invite me to go to a Korean baseball game. In the reckless depravity of college, calling me at 10 in the morning would be an excellent way of hearing my voicemail. Now, my usual weekend mornings around town consists of getting up around 8:30-9:00. Walking down the street a couple minutes to the nearest 'restaurant' which specializes in making these toast egg-cheese sandwiches. They spread this sugary sauce on the wonder bread (to my constant dismay, you can't readily buy whole wheat bread in most places here) and you can get different things on the sandwich like ham, tuna, or the Korean favorite, bulgogi (beef sauteed with a special and completely overrated Korean sauce). I usually get just the standard egg-cheese (they use bon-fide American cheese btw) and sometimes when I'll feel a bit like a heathen I'll order it with ham. Anyway, I usually get one of these sandwich toast type things and read whatever book I happen to be reading at the time for an hour-two hours. I happened to be reading when I got invited to go to the baseball game. This game was the second I've attended but unlike the last one, this game was a playoff game. The atmosphere at Korean baseball games are pretty intense, at least the ones I've been to and they both been sellouts. If I said 'electric' that'd be the wrong and overused word so I think I'll just stick with intensely different to throw in an adverb for good measure. Nearly everyone has thunder-sticks and when your team is at bat your chanting pretty much the whole time. It's definitely a lot more participatory then American baseball (and not coincidentally, American democracy). Most of the chants are in English- big surprise there, which makes it easier for me to get into the merriment. The have ultra attractive cheerleaders that dance on top of the dug out in between innings- needless to say but this is obvious denigration to women and spectacle of promiscuity is certainly something the imperialist MLB should learn. The downside to all this was my team, the Doosan Bears ended up losing. The series is now tied 2-2 (best of five) and the winner of this game goes on to the Korean World Series (aaaaaaaaa oooooo!!) They play tomorrow night (Tuesday) at 5 should you might want to watch the Doosan Bears take on the SK Wyverns (it's a dragon type animal- I had no idea either just like when Weeks explained what a yeti was to me). Well, it's 10:42 and my bedtimes is nearing. Next time maybe I'll discuss whether I have seasonal depression (seasonal affective disorder), melancholic depression, or the much diagnosed manic depression in a special upcoming blog entitled- why the bleep have I been feeling so shitty lately?
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