Spencer's agency invited us to a baseball game tonight. We, of course, accepted. We ended up going with Irene and Susan (former booker at ACE Models). We had VIP seats right behind the plate. We ate KFC and snacks while we watched America's sport...in Korea. We were cheering for the Doosan Bears. Rooting for Doosan is like rooting for the Yankees. They're consistently the best team in the league (though the Korean league consists of 8 teams...all within the city of Seoul). Each fan section has their own stage equipped with huge speakers, cheerleaders, and a yell leader. They let you bring in your own food (and alcohol)...so there's a lot of drunk people which comes in handy when it's time to cheer. Each time a team is hitting, the whole fan section stands up and chants together. They have a song for each individual player when they're at bat. They don't even play music because the fans are so loud. It's literally nonstop yelling and cheering. Nothing like baseball in America.
About halfway through the game, it started to rain pretty hard. The fan sections cleared out pretty quick as people ran for cover under the bleachers at the top of the stadium despite having umbrellas and ponchos to keep them dry. You know how Americans never leave the house without their phone and keys? Well, Koreans never leave the house without an umbrella. You'll be hard pressed to catch a Korean out in the rain without an umbrella. It's kind of freaky how prepared they always are. They really took the scout motto to heart. Anyway, back to the rain....
They had to postpone the game and cover the field to prevent it from getting too muddy. Luckily the rain didn't last long and we were up and running again in almost no time at all. Unfortunately, the rain brought with it a LOT of bugs. It was all one kind, and they were nasty. They were about 1 inch long with 3 antennae sticking out of their tails. Pretty gross. They were swarming the air directly about the crowd and then out of the blue they would nose dive and land on tables, heads, food, etc. It was a little freaky. Spencer was the real MVP as he diligently picked them off of me when they landed on me. I returned the favor somewhat more reluctantly, but told him that if there was ever any doubt as to whether or not I actually loved him, now he knows for sure. Under no other circumstance would I pick bugs off of someone. The bugs eventually settled down and most of them landed on the net or up by the lights. When a passed ball would hit the net though we were back to square one. It was quite the experience, but we had so much fun. I'm so glad that Irene invited us to go. We never would have thought to go to a game otherwise.
Doosan won the game which made Irene and Susan happy (even more so in their inebriated state). Korean baseball is a crazy experience, and an absolute must for anyone who visits South Korea. There is absolutely nothing like it. We're planning to go to more games but sit in the fan section instead to get an even more authentic Korean baseball experience.
