Sunday, March 16, 2008

St. Paddy's Day


Top of the mornin' to ye! This weekend was spent celebrating St. Patrick's Day here in Seoul. On Friday I went to an Irish bar in Itaweon and got to listen to a bit of Irish music for a while, which was fun. Then on Saturday night, there was a "Who's Your Paddy?" party co-sponsored by SIS and Korea International School. The beverages were flowing and I got to eat some interestingly colored sausage! Luckily I felt well enough this morning to go to church and play some ultimate frisbee!
I've heard that the Koreans feel a certain affinity for Ireland. Partially it's because both countries have been invaded and run by other countries, most recently when the Japanese took over Korea. I've seen a chain of stores here in Seoul called Innisfree and there seems to be a lot of shamrocks that appear on greeting cards and folders and whatnot.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Becks!

The Korean fans.
Becks is #23.
Believe it or not, that's him!
Waiting for the subway after the game.

On Saturday, March 1st, the LA Galaxy pro soccer team came to Seoul and they brought their most famous player, David Beckham. It was an exhibition game and I had heard that Beckham might not play at all, but he actually played the whole game! I'd never been to a professional soccer game and it was really fun! I had a much easier time paying attention than I do at football games. And, of course, seeing Mr. Posh Spice was quite exciting! There were a ton of Westerners there. The game was tied 1-1 at the end of 90 minutes, but then they had penalty kicks and the Korean team got more than the LA team, so I guess they won.


After the game, we got on the subway and it was the most crowded experience I've ever had. Luckily we only needed on be on that train for about 5 stops...otherwise it would have gotten really claustrophobic really fast. I could not believe how many people were packed into each car! We went out for Mexican food at a restaurant called On the Border, which I'd never been to. It was really good!