Soccer in Korea.

I'm part of a social soccer group in Seoul. The team is called the Korean Pacific Women's Strikers. Nice bunch of gals and it's great to have a kick around with them. Mari the main organiser arranged a game for the team versus some Korean ladies. The event was funded by the US Army who Mari works for- hence the big banner. We were given towels printed with the game date on from the Korean ladies too which was pretty sweet.

The main feature - aside from the football was the BBQ lunch after. Huge bits of chicken smothered in BBQ sauce and heaps of potato salad. Clare was allowed on base to watch the game and have lunch which was pretty nice.

The Strikers acutally ended up playing 3 halves (?) because there were two Korean teams that turned up. I was quite knackered. Still Clare and I wandered the base a little and it took us about an hour to find a subway station at the other side of Yonsang base!

It's a pity that it takes so long to travel to play in Seoul otherwise I would go every weekend and become super fit. They are quite good at getting you running around the place!

Soccer in Korea. Part of the Good Neighbours program for the US Army and ROK.

Kelly's Birthday in Korea.

The other weekend it was Kelly's birthday. The birthday girl on the left in the picture was enjoying a spot of flavoured Soju with Joe and Rachel. They had tomato flavour which was particularly refreshing. Prefered the plum flavour though.
Seeing as it was Kelly's bash we though spelling out her name was a good idea. The night went on and we ended up at a Hip Hop club (Zen) down the road.


Kelly's birthday in Sinchon.

Korea's National Drink.

This is a sample of Korea's national drink. SOJU. It's so fabulous that there are dancing Soju bottles in the street encouraging more soju drinking. It was actually highly amusing to see these 5 bottles bopping away. It was a stinking hot time of day so I am sure the poor buggers inside were not enjoying themselves as much as the crowd that gathered.
More dancing Soju bottles!

Dancing Soju Bottles! 

Lotus Lantern Festival

The joys of Korean information seem to be that you can't really rely on any one source to give you the correct details. Also this information may be subject to change (with or without notice). Seriously one of the info pamphlets for the festival actually said this....Anyway this made it somewhat difficult to find out when and where everything was actually happening. We had heard that we could make our own lanterns but nobody seemed to be sure exactly when we could do this. Fortunately we ended up finding the correct time(despite the official website being written in 2004) and turned up on Sunday the 29th April to make our lanterns. The festival is a part of the wider celebrations for Buddha's birthday and the lotus flower is a symbol used to represent good luck and fortune.

The actual lantern making took close to 2 hours and it was peppered by countless photo opportunities as the Korean media and various locals took photos of the funny looking foreigners struggling to make lanterns. Julia actually got interviewed by KBS(Korean Broadcasting Service). Our lanterns turned out pretty well as shown below and it was worth the temporarily stained pink and purple fingers that apparently only I was left with....Must of been because I was the most diligent? My lantern took the longest anyway and I had to get Kezia to help me finish off the leaves at the bottom. Unfortunately despite our hard work none of us won a prize. We did all get mini lantern making kits so we will have to have a lantern making night some time soon I think.

Julia actually got interviewed by KBS(Korean Broadcasting Service). Our lanterns turned out pretty well as shown below and it was worth the temporarily stained pink and purple fingers that apparently only I was left with....Must of been because I was the most diligent? My lantern took the longest anyway and I had to get Kezia to help me finish off the leaves at the bottom. Unfortunately despite our hard work none of us won a prize. We did all get mini lantern making kits so we will have to have a lantern making night some time soon I think.

In the evening was the parade and for this we spent a lot of time sitting down. Sounds weird I know to be sitting for a parade but somehow we managed to choose the only position where people were actually expected to sit down to watch while everyone stood on either side of us.

If we stood up we were politely and then with more frustration told to "Sit down please" by the policeman in front of us. Eventually we moved to where we could stand up but realised we would have been better off where we were... Anyway we saw some amazing lanterns and national costumes sported by the many many people walking in the parade.

Eventually we decided we had seem enough lanterns to last us for a while and made our way back on the subway before it got too busy. Our lanterns were rather cumbersome on the train but we were only a few of many who were travelling home with their lanterns as well. It must have been an bizarre sight for any people who were unaware of the festival. All in all my lantern didn't sustain too many knocks and now sits above the tv waiting anxiously to be lit up like it was intended. Next year I think I won't go so easy on everybody and will really let my natural talent for lantern making come to the fore and take home the prize as well as the lantern.

Parade soldiers. Beads hanging down from their hats. Aren't their shoes cute? Carrying swords so don't mess with them.

Lantern roof at dusk under the tree. 

Drummers in fuzzy hats!? 

Lantern close up at eve festivities. 

Jogyesa Temple with lantern roofed courtyard. 

Monks at Eve of Lantern Fest 

In Sa Dong

If you want to see an interesting part of Korea then In Sa Dong is a good place to start. It is an excellent place to go shopping for arts and crafts.

It's situated between Anguk and Jongak subway stops and you can walk from one station to the other all the while checking out the miriad of shops. Eating in the area is great too. You just need to look in the alleys behind the main street to find restaurants and hofs (beer restaurants) of all shapes and sizes. The main problem is choosing which one to eat at! The photo above is taken from the Ssamzie Market looking down onto the back alley in In Sa Dong.

In Sa Dong - backstreets

Lantern at night.