[Part 1] 018. 19 August 2010 Thursday

After breakfast this morning, Jeannie and I spent the morning surfing the net and shopping on Gmarket before getting ready to leave for Dongsoo's place at around 1pm+.

Taehun drawing his father

Taehun drawing Jeannie 

Busy at work

어머님 drove Jeannie and I to Dongsoo's place and along the way, she stopped by Paris Baguette. 어머님's so nice! She bought 7 pieces of bread for Jeannie, Dongsoo, Leegeun and I to eat during the baseball match later on in the day. At Dongsoo's place, we played with his dog, 까미, and Dongsoo also gave us a crash course on baseball game rules. I've played softball before, during a PE module in RGS but have long forgotten the rules. Furthermore, softball's slightly different from baseball.

Later in the afternoon, we took a bus to Bupyeong Station where we shopped at Artbox before taking the subway to Incheon Munhak Stadium 인천 문학 경기장 to catch the 6.30pm baseball match between SK and Lotte. We reached the stadium at around 4.30pm, 2 hours earlier to reserve good seats. As Dongsoo had a free ticket and a discount coupon of 1,000KRW, Jeannie and I only had to pay 4,500KRW each for a ticket. Also, we were with Dongsoo and his friend, Leegeun, who are very enthusiastic SK fans so we sat at the home (SK) fans' area.

area near bupyeong station

walking towards Artbox

walking to the stadium

we were seated at the SK side while Lotte's fans sat on the opposite side

this guy blows the whistle whenever a player hits the ball over the foul lines and into the spectators' area

Dongsoo and Jeannie with her 700KRW Artbox fan

me with my fan

the other SK fans

pre-match game

still playing the pre-match game

such a cute and supportive family

the free area where spectators sit on the grass and watch the match

The match finally started at 6.30pm and every time it was SK's turn to play, this guy would stand on the stage and lead everyone in the cheers, together with cheerleaders and mascots. Everyone was asked to stand up and cheer together while Jeannie and I followed blindly and tried to learn as much as we could. 

During the game, there was even a marriage proposal made by a guy and apparently, this happens at every game (as we were informed by Leegeun).

Really crazily enthusiastic fans who know every single cheer and song for SK.

SK lost to Lotte...6-3 :( But nevertheless, it was a really interesting experience! And every time we stood to cheer for SK, I had to hold my camera in my hands and not in my bag because I was afraid that my camera would be stolen when my back's facing my bag. In total, we stood up to cheer for 9 times. But the thing about cheering, especially for Jeannie and I who are noobs, is that we don't know the cheers and songs and have to keep watching the cheerleaders. This takes our eyes off the match and we often miss quite a lot of exciting action.  

There was even a Kiss Time event whereby the cameraman would randomly film couples/families and those who appear on the big screen will have to kiss the one next to them so we saw couples, mother-and-son and father-and-son kissing. 

Each time a change of pitcher occurs, the new pitcher arrives in style in a white car. 

the head cheerleader who led us in the SK cheers

change of outfit for the cheerleaders

After the match ended at nearly 10pm, we spent some time taking photos until we were chased out of the stadium...haha. 

Dongsoo

Leegeun and Dongsoo

Me, Jeannie, Dongsoo and Leegeun

Leegeun insisted that he had taken a photo of Jeannie and I but I don't quite see our faces in this photo -_-

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the stadium: we sat on the left side while the Lotte supporters sat on the right side

with the polaroid pictures for Dongsoo to bring to army when he enters in 2 weeks' time

My outfit for the day: Gmarket blouse (which was delivered yesterday) and my G2000 black shorts. The weather's so hot here that I'm more comfortable in shorts and slippers than the usual pants and heels that I wear back in Singapore. I've never ever gone out of my house in shorts and slippers before back in Singapore but look what the heat here has done to me...

getting out of Bupyeong Station

for HOF

the beer is placed in this little slot/hole in the table where the temperature is kept at 4 degree Celsius

our very late dinner at nearly 11pm

somehow, Jeannie's and Leegeun's side was colder than Dongsoo's and mine

this is my area

Jeannie trying to warm the beer

compare the difference between the 2 glasses placed at different slots

my side finally got cold enough

Leegeun's and Jeannie's rather similar shoes

Dinner was a very interesting affair and we exchanged information about Singapore's and Korea's drinking games. Obviously, Jeannie was the one sharing information about Singapore. I admit, I'm not quite a Singaporean and I don't even drink back home. I know nuts about any games! We learnt quite a bit about the Korean culture as well and the bill for each person was 10,000KRW. Initially, we wanted to take the train back but we missed the last train and had to take a cab back from Bupyeong to Youngjin's place for 7,000KRW at nearly 1am.
Indeed a very interesting experience...thank you, Dongsoo and Leegeun!