A Visit from Family and a Baseball Game

It's been a while since I've posted here, and there is much to tell! Since my last update my parents, along with my cousin Michael, have come and gone and Anika and I have since seen our first match of, “America’s favorite pastime” Korean style. First, I will share a bit about my parents and Michael’s visit.

The three of them spent about a week here with Anika and I and it was a very special and meaningful time. Together, the five of us were able to celebrate the first crossing of the Pacific Ocean by the three travelers, as well as my father's birthday on March 30th. Unfortunately, Anika and I had to work five of the days that our visitors were here with us, but we were able to enjoy the mornings and evenings with them.

We had a number of enjoyable experiences and adventures together. We managed to visit Gyeongbuk Palace, N Seoul Tower, Insadong Market, Namdaemun Market, Yongsan Electronics Mart, and the Korean War Memorial all in the few hours that were available to us during the week. Michael and my parents were able to do some other exciting things without us and they enjoyed their time exploring Seoul. The five of us ate dinner together a few times after Anika and I were done with work. The food and conversation was great and it was comical and entertaining for Anika and I to watch three Midwesterners struggle with chopsticks (pictures are below). We were also able to have a nice breakfast of bacon, eggs, and roti buns (a sort of leavened pancake) and on dad's birthday we had a desert of ice cream cake from Cold Stone at our apartment.

Anika and I were sad when the week came to a close and it was time for our guests to head back to the U.S.A., but we are greatful that they traveled so far to spend a little time with us. Mom, dad, and Michael... your visit was truly a blessing to Anika and I and we will always cherish the memories of the time we spent together in a far away land. Thank you for helping to make our adventure in Korea a special one!

And now, a brief review of Korean baseball.

If any of you watched or read about the World Baseball Classic, you should be aware of the fact that Koreans know how to play baseball. Not only did the Korean team advance farther in the tournament than team U.S.A., but they also challenged the defending champion, Japan, in the final round. As some of you may know, Korea lost to Japan in the championship series, but the fact that they made it so far is itself a testament to the quality of Korean baseball.

Unfortunately, the match featuring the hometown team, the Woori Heroes, was anything but quality. The Heroes hosted Incheon’s SK team at Mokdong Stadium this weekend, and Anika and I were in attendance at the Saturday evening game. The final score was 3-10, and though the result was disappointing, the game was still fun to watch and for a short time it almost made us forget that we weren’t actually in the United States.

Other than that, things have not changed much. The weather is getting much warmer and the temperature has been staying around 70 degrees all week. The cherry and magnolia blossoms have been at their peak this week, and soon the trees will be green and the heat and humidity will rise to near intolerable levels paired with copious amounts of precipitation. So, we are enjoying the climate while we can and making the most of the short window of beautiful weather.

That’s all for now! Thanks to all our readers for following our blog and for giving us motivation to write about and share some of our experiences. Following are some pictures. For more recent pictures see my flickr site here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30160499@N03/