A Day in Busan

My first excursion with the work this year was to a baseball game in Busan. A bunch of the teachers went, plus Mingyu and his family, and the brother and friends of one teacher. Once we all got together there were 15 of us. Jeez, man.

We were to meet at the Geongeoptap Rotary entrance to the park. Now that I live in a new apartment, this is apparently a 40-minute walk. I talked to Grace, the head Korean teacher, about where to meet, and she said she was picking up Moriah at her apartment. I suggested that I go there and catch a ride with them, since I'm only three blocks away, but for some reason she was not too keen on that, despite the fact that she was driving both of us plus Leon to Busan, anyway. I don't think she was considering how far I would have to walk to get to the meeting point or that I'd at least have to pay to take the bus there. I was kind of pissed about that whole situation.

Anyway, 11 of us met there at 11:00 (Mingyu and fam would meet us later) and headed off to Busan in three cars. Then I found out that the game didn't start until 5, and I had a "What? WHAT?" moment. But unbeknownst to me, the plan had been to go to a restaurant and spend the afternoon in Busan before attending the game.

The restaurant was called Hugsiru (I think that's the appropriate romanization...) and each party got a private hut outdoors in which to eat, keeping the large glassless window (with shutters) and the door open for a nice breeze and view. We had duck cooked three different ways: cooked inside a squash, roasted with bean and rice stuffing, and cooked in some unexplained way and put in slices on a platter. It was awesome. I especially loved the duck. And the squash. All the other perfunctory side dishes were fine. I didn't like the stuffing much. But I liked the squash. And the duck.

The restaurant had some a little garden/greenhouse/animal cruelty area next door. There were two bear cubs:

If you can hear that motor sound in the background, that's not a motor. That's the sound the bears were making:

And a bird that says "anyeonghaseyo" (the standard greeting). I swear I thought it was a kid doing a funny voice when I heard it from across the garden. Didn't get any video, though. Sorry.

Here's the greenhouse:

And there's this little model of a traditional Korean village. I love models.

Monkey, monkey, monkey. And baby monkey:

You can see it charge the cage at the end. Both the adults did this to me a few minutes later, much more violently, because the baby was trying to eat an electrical outlet hanging off the cage, and I was taking it away. Sorry, parents. Just trying to help.

All the twittering you hear in the background is most of my group and maybe some others involved in the opening of the door of the bear cage. I guess it was unlocked. Someone in my group was doing it. Moriah was watching next to me and she said the bear kind of got out, but I guess it didn't run away and they got it back in. Boy, that's dumb. DON'T TRY THAT AT HOME, KIDS. Or anywhere.

Nice bird:

Nice bunny:

After eating we had a group meeting in the street on what to do next. We ended up at Haeundae Beach, which kind of disappointed me, since I hadn't brought my bathing suit. It sucks going to the beach and not swimming. But I rolled up my pantlegs and waded a bit, as everyone else who was with me (except Grace and Stella periodically) formed a straight line along the shore and watched me creepily. Then I sat on the sand and they watched other people creepily. Leon suggested Grace and I made a sand castle, but I don't work well with others, so I made one myself. I wanted to do more stuff with it, like make watchtowers and stuff, but then everyone wanted to leave, so this was all I got:

Finally, we went to the baseball game: the Lotte Giants (the Busan team) vs. the Seoul Heroes. I say "finally" only to indicate it was the last thing we did, not any impatience on my part. I once spent the first three innings of an LA Dodgers game thinking the teams were warming up, that game is so boring.

Anyway, Korean baseball is less boring, but only because the fans are so avid. Although the stadium (and the field, haha) seems smaller than in the US, I think more people show. It looked like there were only a few dozen seats empty, and everyone was really glad to be there. I'm relieved that the place was so packed: the traffic getting to the stadium was murder.

See how many people showed up?

Hear how HAPPY everyone is!




The group was slightly separated. I sat with Moriah in the front row of our section, behind third base. It was a good view. The beer is super cheap there, though the price changes vendor to vendor, I found out. The first beer we got was 1500 won apiece, and the next was 2000 won, but a 12 oz can of beer for under two bucks is a great deal. There were no hot dogs, but fried chicken abounded, and everyone in the group got some when those of us with Grace finally arrived.

There was a lot of fun with people getting caught on camera and being put on the big screen. Some people kissed, some danced, some laughed and pointed, others hid. Typical sports camera behavior. A guy set it up so he could propose at the game, too. That was cute. The cheerleaders were dancing on a platform across the stadium from us, and the shots were unfortunately too tight. We lost the general effect of the choreography and sometimes would catch one of the girls making a mistake while she was the only one in the shot.

The Giants won, 4-3, to the joy of the audience. Then we went home. It was a long day.