Sokcho was great, but we decided it was time to head back to Seoul. I still haven't spent any appreciable time here, which was a big part of my vacation plan. Seoul is the second largest city in the world, and it has tons of stuff to do. The little towns offer just a sliver of the immense urban mass that is Seoul.
So the drive back to Seoul is of course fraught with more mountains. We managed to make it through these in the rain this time, which reduced my sports car experience significantly. That's ok though, the views were still pretty awesome.
Koreans are really funny in some weird ways. Like the way they explicitly associate stamina with male genitalia. Guys in Korea go crazy for different kinds of food and drink that will increase your sexual prowess or even make you urinate with greater strength.
This alcohol supposedly gives you that extra edge you need to get the job done. I don't doubt this based on the little glass that comes with it.
Whereas Americans might find this statue a bit offensive for its phallic resemblance, Koreans find these little sight gags kinda cute. Even my family loved to make jokes about male stamina and its relationship to the intensity of an erection.
Confucian culture in general tends to focus on the male as the head of the family and carrier of traditions and culture. Thus, bearing a son is quite important (especially if you want someone to take care of your grave, ensuring your peaceful afterlife). This piece of wood supposedly will give a woman the power to accomplish this feat. My ulkay (brother's-in-law wife) gave it a go, since she's only got a daughter.
Again, since Korea is a small country, we made it back to Seoul pretty quickly. I was able to drive fast enough to make it on time for the baseball game younger bro invited us to. I guess this made up for that long drive he dragged me on. Unfortunately, we were late for the game because of the astounding traffic within Incheon (city right next to Seoul). At least we got to watch tv.
My bros all live in Incheon, so they are of course fans of the Incheon home team: SK Wyverns. SK is a Korean telecom and oil company (they have a lot of strange crossover business here). They are in the final tier playoffs against one of Seoul's teams: Doosan Bears. Doosan is a construction equipment and manufacturing company. I get the feeling that all the Korean baseball teams are corporate sponsorships like this. This is one of the first differences from American baseball; Koreans have no shame rooting for their team that is explicitly a corporate advertising vehicle.
Korean baseball is played the same as American baseball, but attending a game in person is wildly different. Americans treat baseball like most other sports. We go to a game, and wait for something exciting to happen. If nothing happened, we probably wouldn't get excited. Koreans, however, will cheer and yell non-stop. They even do this when the batter isn't ready yet. It doesn't matter who's winning, it only matters what team you're rooting for. I suppose they're more like European soccer fans. This is pretty much how they treat most sports too. I think Koreans even work harder at being fans than Americans do. That said, I didn't really appreciate that the cheerleaders and superfans with their wacky balloons just wouldn't stop shrieking. It's only baseball after all. Maybe I'm just being lazy about it.
In the middle of the game, a famous Korean comedian made some rounds in the stands with a camera crew and interviewed us. He asked me which team I was rooting for and whether I liked my wife. I'm sure I looked like a stupid wehguk saram (foreigner). We heard later from another guy in the crowd that they aired it that night. With little comedic interviews like this, Korean tv producers usually add some text to the effect of "what a dumbass" and sound effects to emphasize the silliness. I hope that I was no exception, but sadly I didn't get to see it. They might have just cut me out and focused on my wife's intelligible commentary.
No comments:
Post a Comment