Samseong THUNDER!!!!

So, we needed something to do over the Lunar New Year break.  I really did nothing all that interesting all break long...until Tuesday.  Tuesday, most of the teachers, Charity and I went to a Korean Basketball League game.  I really wish I knew the name and location of the other team.  The team we cheered for was the local Samseong (pronounced "Som-Song") Thunder.

(if you want to see all the pictures you can go here, I will however show you a few of the highlights...)

Personally, I found the fact that we were at the Seoul Olympic Complex at Songpa-gu, Seoul, to be somewhat monumental.  According to a very limited research (me on the internet) there have been 8 Olympics in the USA- 4 summer and 4 winter.  They were at St. Louis (1904), Los. Angeles (1932 & 1984), and Atlanta (1996) for the summer and Lake Placid (1932 & 1980), Squaw Valley (1960) and Saly Lake City (2002) for the winter.  All those, and I have never been to the historical locations after the games had come and gone.  

I know that was a sidetrack, but hopefully a...somewhat educational one.  The point really is that I enojyed the historical aspect of the location.  Now on with the game...

Here is a quick peak at a couple of the outside shots:

While certain aspects of the experience were very similar to basketball games in the states I thought this guy was humorous...

You might not be able to tell on the video but he was wearing a full suit and tie and he has on white gloves.  I have to say his level of animated actions were awesome!

The "cheerleaders" on the other hand were really nothing much more than entertainment at time outs, half-time and mini-events.  Although they did do this which was entertaining but probably not for the reason they thought it was going to be...

The game was pretty good but the experience was way better.  Both Korean and English come out of the loudspeakers and tunes that I knew being sung in a different language probably using different words.  Overwhelming at a few times but totally wonderful most of the rest of the time.  I really wish I knew the language...

After the game we went to On the Border (yes it is American, but it was still really good) and because of the size of the group we got a nice big room in the back.  And while I can make a lot of comments about the various whimsical and slightly silly but I think this does speak volumes about how observant we Americans are.  See if you can figure out what I am talking about...

If your guess was "why didn't you guys hang your stuff up, they provded hangers" then you can see what we missed in our excitement for burritos, enchiladas and refried beans...

Well that is about all I have for now.

Bye for now...

One Lazy Lunar New Year

I wish I could say that I have been productively using my time over the Lunar New Year holiday (referred to hereafter as LNY) but no I have been spending nearly every waking hour goofing off. While I have not been the most productive of people over the holiday, I have enjoyed the brief respite.

On Saturday we went to Coex which is at the Samseong subway stop. For those of you that want to follow along at home:

Here is the Subway map.
And here is some info about the mall.

Here is a little taste of the crowded subway:

We traveled down the green line from Bongcheon about 7 stops to Coex. It is HUGE!!! I think we walked through most of it throughout the next several hours. First we went to a little store that was trying very hard to be "All-American." They had jelly-belly beans and Campbell's soup. It was a little funny to see what the Korean's thought were main staples of the American life...

The girls checking out the "American" Store:

Then went to the food court (it was about 2:30 or so and we needed a snack) and located a bastion of Westerner mall-rat sustenance-Auntie Anne's. As you can see it was enjoyed all around:

Waiting in line...

Reaping the rewards...

Enjoyed by all!
After Auntie Anne's we walked around and saw all the shops. Strangely, many of them were something straight out of middle America.

Towards the end of our time there we went to Uno Chicago and had deep-dish pizza and hot-wings. Again, not terribly Korean but tasty nonetheless.

Sunday after church we went to the grocery store (we had just been paid and our cupboards were bare). Mylinda got Bulgogi meat and some noodles which she prepared later for dinner and it was sooooo good! On a side note, it was pretty cool to punch up my PIN on the ATM and see that we had a couple million in our account. (for those of you that know the exchange rate, that was funny, otherwise please realize that I am referring to WON and not $)

Monday I slept in till almost 10am. My beautiful wife on the other hand woke up before me and proceeded to clean almost every square inch of the apartment. Her cleaning ethic is something to be commended. Now if I could only find my stuff...

Today we are going to a basketball game. I am really not sure of the details yet, but I am pretty sure that I am going to cheer obnoxiously loud and make a spectacle of myself in memory of Beta games at BJU.

Talk at you later...