The highpoint of this last weekend was definitely my trip out to Jamsil stadium to catch the LG Twins play the SK Wyverns. I was joined by two of the new teachers (there have been three new teachers after my arrival, all female), or as my veteran coworkers call us “Saved By the Bell, the new class”. All three have just graduated university and are from Midwest or East Coast, so as a male ’07 graduate from WA state who worked for 3 years after college I am somewhat of an anomaly so far in the group.
We met up with one of the veterans from Canada who is unique in that he plays on the best ball hockey team in Korea (they recently won the tournament in Hong Kong and were dubbed “Champions of Asia”). This always reminds me of the movie Clerks with Dante and the gang playing on the roof of the Quick-Stop. One of our Korean supervisors also came out which was awesome because she was able to translate a lot of the chants for me.
"I'm not even supposed to be here today..."
While I was raised as a Mariners fan all my life and have seen them play at Safeco Field and it’s predecessor the Kingdome it has never been my favorite spectator sport. The constant breaks and slow rate of play paired with stretches of action-less innings and inane focus upon stats has always created a certain aversion in me. The high ticket prices and exorbitant cost of food and drink didn’t help the matter later on in life. Korean baseball watched at the stadium is a whole different ballgame.
It was fairly necessary to have a Korean friend or speaker there to fully appreciate the game. Every player has their own individual chant and there are numerous situational songs throughout the game. It was great having one of our supervisors there to help point out the clutch ones. You could bring in any food and beverage you pleased and the tickets were only $9. Add on to this that the fans were far less stoic, more like an American football game vibe and it’s an entirely different spectating experience.
This was also the first time I’d set foot upon grounds that had once hosted the Olympics back in ’88. Not monumental moment but definitely a little warm and fuzzy feeling. Too bad I probably won’t be able to attend another game for a bit since the Monsoon season started this week. Typhoon is coming in on Sunday. We definitely don’t have those back on the West Coast so I’ll be exposed to some novel elemental fury. Kinda stoked.
savagevantage 