What's with Korea? - Part V - Baseball-mania

Here in Korea, what seems to unite the sporting population and allow for extra long lunch breaks is baseball. It hasn't always been this way, as Beckham-mania and soccer took root back in 2002 filling the stadiums as the country hosted and surprised in the World Cup and then the subsequent start-up of the K-League - which now plays in stadiums two-thirds empty.

These empty stadiums are a direct result of the restoration of baseball as the ruling sport. Baseball has a long tradition here, but it is the recent success on the international stage - twice runners up in the World Baseball Classic, Gold Medallists at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and epic contests against rival Japan - that has made it the spectacle it is now - mascots, dancers, a cheerleader, and tons of songs - and sent soccer back to the sidelines of the national sporting consciousness.

But I will attempt to keep this brief, if only for the fact that after weeks of careful planning, I only managed to take in two innings of action!

But unfortunately for you the reader, this was not because I was drunk or asked to leave, but because in the wisdom of the higher ups in the Korea Baseball Organization, they moved up the start time of the game to avoid rain. Not a bad idea, and from the 30,000 or so in attendance, all indications are many people knew about this late change, but as I am not an avid reader of the Korean dailies, and don't listen to the Korean radio, I was in the dark - this is the second time I've ventured to this end of town in search of sports, the first being for a soccer game, only to have the wrong information...ahh, the joys of travel!?!

Fortunately we had a friend join us, who was equally in the dark, but had two of his students inside the park who came out to find and rush us into our seats in time for the bottom of the seventh inning, just in time to see my new main man, #10, smash a frozen-rope two-run homerun, which turned out to be the game winner! He will forever be #10 to me, a Korean homerun legend as I've been told, as I cannot pronounce his name, even if I could remember it, but he is my main man nonetheless, and I've got his jersey to prove it.

That's him entering at the bottom left...solid homerun trot!

So despite missing seven and half innings we saw the most important hit of the game, downed a few beers, found a new sporting hero to cheer for, but even more important than that, because of my hero's homerun, got to witness 30,000 screaming fans chant and sing in unison, which is my favourite part of sport and is always equally exciting no matter what country it takes place in. And then to top it off, we got to participate in the time honoured Korean sporting event tradition of putting plastic bags on our heads! YES!!
Sports! Gotta love'em!

#4 - It's called futbol!

I have always been and always will be a bit of a sports nut. If there is a competition, I want to watch, participate, comment, or in any other way be involved as much as I can. I find it interesting and entertaining to see how people preform under immediate stress, and there is no other arena where stress can be focused on one singular outcome while having no real impact on life. It is a microcosm of life, but fortunately, it is just a game.

In my recent travels, this love of sport has introduced me to games outside of the one's we associate with North America (hockey, basketball, football and baseball) and have grown to include rugby and cricket. Yes even cricket!! Did you know Canada is the most successful cricket nation outside of the test cricket nations, putting us somewhere in the realm of 8th or 9th in the world, meaning outside of hockey, cricket is arguably our most successful team sports venture! A Canadian even holds the record for the fastest 100 runs scored in World Cup history and we have recently qualified for our third straight World Cup in 2011!!

But more than any other sport, soccer has taken centre stage in my sports obsession as it is easily the most popular sport on the planet, and the one that is easiest to begin a conversation about while traveling.

And this brings me to #4 on my top ten list over the last couple of years, soccer in Ecuador.

#4 - It's called futbol

I knew when we left for Ecuador, soccer...ahem, excuse me...futbol, was going to be a central part of my experience. We were headed to Quito which is home of the Ecuadorian national soccer team, and I knew like all South American countries, soccer is a part of the national fabric. But all second hand knowledge takes a back seat to first hand experiences, and in this case, nothing could be truer.

On arriving in Quito, I was instantly aware I was somewhere else on the sporting landscape when my Toronto FC shirt was instantly recognized. I mean this was August 2008, this shirt wasn't even completely recognizable in Toronto yet. But here I was, getting off the plane in Quito proudly sporting my city's kit, hoping to inform the masses about this phenomenon called TFC beginning to take root in southern Ontario, only to have it recognized for what it was instantly - a new team playing in a crap American league. Ouch! Fortunately this was the hardest lesson learned, the rest were enjoyable experiences punctuated with singing songs, marching, standing in the rain, hitching rides in the backs of trucks, falling out of trucks, watching police and fans do battle (with the fans often coming out on top - as with many things, who wants it more usually gets what they want), and with a feeling that life and death rests with the outcome of this game. I even got to witness some industrious individuals who found an interesting way to make a buck or two! (Blogger's note: take a moment with these next two pictures to really grasp what you are looking at! Yep, that's a keg in picture #2..nope that's not beer being pulled out of the false bottom!)

Three days after arriving in the city, we took in our first SD Quito game, and I was hooked. Solidifying this love affair was learning a few weeks later at the start of the school year that by supporting SD Quito I was now in direct competition with about 98% of the students at my school who were supporters of one of Quito's other teams, Liga de Quito. And anyone that knows me, knows I enjoy talking a little smack, and there is nothing I like more than talking smack with students - finally I can outwit...sometimes!?!

The next game we tried to take in was a double-header featuring the three teams from Quito playing in the top flight (there were two other teams from Quito playing in the lower league, with countless others playing at a multitude of levels from amateur, semi-professional and professional). My beloved Quito was playing in the second game of the day, but we thought we'd try to get there a little early to catch the end of the first match - boy were we in for a surprise. Despite having tickets for the games, there was no getting in as security had bolted the gates shut - no getting in or out. This seemed to actually be expected as many people waited patiently for the final whistle of the first game, but when it became obvious they were not planning on letting nearly as many people in for the second match as were waiting to get in (this might have had something to do with not being able to get out!?!), well then things took a little turn. Nothing dangerous (yet) or anything, just your average people scaling the wall surrounding the stadium, and then running in a million different directions, overwhelming the security and police on horse back. The term 'Chinese fire drill' comes to mind, but I believe that to be offensive to the Chinese, so if I ever witness scene that ever comes close to replicating this , it will forever be known to me as 'an Ecuadorian double-header'!

Eventually security relented and we managed to squeeze into the already packed stadium, finally making our way into the stadium itself. Problem was, we were about 12 deep in the standing room section making it impossible for anyone we were with to get a view (our passions hadn't rooted deep enough that we were willing to just be in the stadium for the sake of being there...yet). What finally ended our little escapade was when turning to inquire about the noise taking place at the doors immediately behind us only to see a group of fans(?) thrust past security, swing the security doors wide, and watch as 200 or more souls come crushing into the stadium. Fortunately being tall, and a gringo, I manage to avoid most of the crush, and fortunately, Tasha being small and quick, managed to duck into the washroom. On that note, we left, but another lesson was learned, get there early! Really early.

As I mentioned, Quito has a number of teams playing at a high level of competition, but there are two teams that reflect, and thereby divide, the population more than any others - SD Quito, with its history based in old-Quito, and Liga de Quito, the relative new kid on the block, representing new-Quito. Old vs. New. Proletariat vs. Bourgeoisie. And despite my feelings that sport should never be taken too seriously, this is not the case between the fan bases of these two teams, and tensions run high. But wanting to see this first hand, I took part in a rare experience that I will never forget - the march onto Liga's stadium.

Meeting at SD Quito's training facility a couple of hours before the game, a few hundred Quito supporters clad in azul y rojo (blue and red) begin the rouhgly 2 km walk over to the stadium, singing and dancing along the way, picking up stragglers so that by the time we reach the stadium we are in the neighbourhood of 2000 people. What makes this even more interesting is everyone knows we're coming so we are met and escorted in by police while getting jeered and yelled at by Liga fans. It was quite a scene, which was excellently captured by a gonzo journalist here.

And while professional futbol in Ecuador can divide a population, the national program does the exact opposite, uniting a population with one goal in mind, making another World Cup - Ecuadorians, while passionate about the game, understand that winning the World Cup is something that is likely to never happen, but qualifying and being better than other South American countries, well that is a tangible success they can get behind. The excitement and fervour even draws in the most casual of observers, who can't help but take part as the city comes as close to shutting as it can for one event. And we were fortunate enough to be around for the initial stages of qualifying for the World Cup on 2010, meaning we were in for a treat - meaningful games between continental rivals that I would argue exceeds even the European competition as it is the same 10 teams time and again battling for 5 spots.

But what it really is, is 60,000 fans crammed into a stadium that supposedly holds only 50,000. Dancing, singing, living and dying. Screaming, cheering, yelling, spilling beer, hugging, high-five'ing, cursing, all while crushing, or being crushed by, the person next to you. Standing in the rain for three hours to hold our seats - remember earlier lesson about arriving early - only to be told to sit when the game starts!?! Ecuador lost 1-0 to Colombia. Standing next to a fence hoping not one more person tries to come into the section and then not giving a crap when Ecuador scores goal and after goal!! Ecuador beat Peru 5-1.

For an excellent piece on some of the past qualifying games and South Ameircan qualifying, plus a rad picture I didn't take, check this out.

Sport can be an insight into the psyche of a nation - what it wants in it's athletes and teams is often what it wants in it's people - but more than anything, it's a rip-roaring good time!

#5 - How this all came to be

One of the excellent aspects of traveling is throughout the experience you are afforded opportunities to learn new things about places and people, and thereby learn a little something about yourself. This is not one of those occasions.

However, what follows though is one of the greatest learning experiences I've had in my short time here. It showed me the character of someone I care deeply for, and proved to me once again, that many things can happen on a day, and it is how we eventually deal with those changes that makes life interesting and worth living. And in the end, life can be no different than how it is.

#5 - Quito to Toronto back to Quito to Toronto to Busan!?!

We had just finished an exciting, at too many times frustrating, year in Ecuador. But it was the end of June, a time that is difficult for any teacher to be anything but excited. The school year was over, we had fresh new opportunities to move forward, and best of all, we were headed home - truly there is nothing finer than returning home, no matter how good the travel has been. Needless to say we were excited about the summer and what the immediate future held.

Little did we know...

A little over 10 days into our return we learned some things that were going to make it impossible for us to stay in Quito for the following school year - I do not want to delve into it any more than that for now, as there still remains some anger and disappointment, but there is enough fodder for a future post about how to treat people, or more to the point, how not to treat people.

Anyways, the news came as a shock, especially as it came while we were home visiting, and had thought we were moving forwards in a positive light. To make matters even more interesting, many of the things we hold dear to us were back in Quito. After the initial shock of if it all wore off, we got down to the business of figuring it all out - and this is where the highlights (and lessons) come for me.

We could have easily cut our losses and figured out a way to stay home, but this would have made those losses particularly difficult to manage financially as neither of us had a well paying job to fall back on, and in fact, we had been counting on the relatively low cost of living in South America to get us back in the black. As lucky as we were to have teaching jobs in Ontario, they would not be available to us until September 2009, so we had to do something. And while there was a sense of urgency, and even panic at times, it did not take long to dive headlong into the next adventure - Korea!!

And so began an odyssey that took us from Quito to Toronto through Atlanta, back to Quito, again through Atlanta, for four days to pack up all of our stuff, and then turn around back to Toronto, through Panama and Houston this time, where we got to relax in the - find a job, figure out where we are going to stash all our crap, while getting visas, record checks, etc., so we could be ready to get to go to Pusan (through Vancouver and Seoul) for the start of our new contracts - kind of way!? That was twelve airports in five countries, at a time when we were supposed to be doing nothing but catching up with friends and family. To say our heads were spinning is an understatement, but it was also where the lessons of the experience revealed themselves.

Blogger's note: Houston wins for best airport as they had amazing burritos, thanks Bones, and a piano player playing on a grand piano underneath a big chandelier surrounded by the taco joint where we got our burrito, and other run of the mill food court establishments!

It was one of those times where you wish it wasn't so, but was kind of exciting at the same time, and the less we looked backwards at what could of been, the more exciting it made what we were dealing with. Sure we left great friends and a great neighbourhood in Ecuador, but we were pretty sure that what we were doing was going to be at least half as fun. It was certainly a challenge and at times frustrating, dealing once again with university transcripts, police stations and consulates, but what it showed, especially as I get to look back on that time, is the strength of character in one Ms. Forster, but also an opportunity to revel in the love and support we get from our families and the friends we have made along the way.

And in the end, I couldn't have imagined it all falling into place better. Sure there are times when we miss the people, and the vacation time of Ecuador, but coming here has opened so many other possibilities for us that it really seems this was all part of the plan from the beginning. I mean, we are now getting ready to spend three fabulous weeks in Bali soaking in the sun, relaxing in the - should I read my book on the beach or in this nice hammock? - kind of way, and I am even going to get my diving certification for a fraction of what it would have cost me in Ecuador. Then after Bali, we get to continue fulfilling dreams (which really life should be all about) as Tasha heads to Thailand for six weeks to become a yoga teacher while I get to check off from my life's to-do list, a cross-Canada train trip.

So it's not about how it was or how it should be, but about how it is, and it is always just as it should have been all a long.