The Olympics

As everyone is aware the Olympics just ended this past weekend. It was quite the experience here in Korea.

Back in Canada there really isn't a lot of hype for the Olympics and if you didn't care you could probably live through life without knowing how well the country was doing. That was not the case here. It seemed that everyone was full of national pride. The events Korea was in were on tv's all over the country. You couldn't eat in a restaurant without seeing the Olympics on T.V...and that was frequently the case for variety stores and just walking down regular streets in down town.

Further more, my students were always informing me of the new medals Korea won and rubbing it in anytime a Korean beat a Canadian. Especially in baseball because the students are well aware I am a big fan.

I took the bus home from Seoul one weekend in the middle of the games and watched the Olympics on the T.V. in the bus the whole time. I saw a bit of everything from the weight lifting monster to hand ball and boxing. Made the long bus ride easier to tolerate.

Another nice thing about the Olympics is they were actually live events that I was able to see, and not at weird hours of the night. The time zone isn't nearly as different from China as it is when I attempt to watch sports back home.

On Saturday night I met some friends at the Holy Grill to watch the baseball game. They showed up late so I watched the 1st inning in a busy pedestrian section in the heart of downtown. Korea got 2 runs on a home run during that time. The whole street erupted in applause and cheering. Quite the experience.

Korea ended up winning the game, but their pitching made it interesting in the final inning. With a one run lead and the bases loaded, only one out their pitcher managed to get the batter to hit into a double play. Anything less would have tied the game.