I wish I could tell you there was a rational explanation for this video, but, it's just Korean silliness. These videos were all taken on the same day, within a few hours of each other, within about 10 yards of each other. Just an average day of walking around a busy park in Seoul, and people doing weird things for no reason and having not a care in the world about those watching them. Obviously, it's better with the sound on.
I love zoos and aquariums. Love em. You throw me at a zoo and I can stand and watch the monkeys in action all day. Same goes for penguins and seals at aquariums. I heard great things about the COEX Aquarium here so I decided to give it a go, and it didn’t disappoint.
Right upon entering, you’re going to notice a different setup than any aquarium you’ve been to before. They have a whole section showing foreign species of an animal right next to the domestic kind. Pretty cool seeing what the frogs, crabs, etc. look like here compared to what I’m used to seeing in the US.
Japanese Spider Crab
The use of space is also amazing here. The use of modern devices as fish tanks was very unique and nothing I’d ever seen before.
Other nice features such as a huge tank you can walk underneath make it nice too.
An Amazon themed area make you feel like you're in a jungle and has some other animals you wouldn't normally expect to see at an aquarium.
Also some pretty funny signs...
Here's some random pictures of animals there...
Video of a shark, Dr. Fish, and a little show some scuba divers put on who go into a huge tank to swim with the fishes and turtles.
I highly recommend this aquarium if you are in or visiting Seoul. There's also an aquarium in the 63 Building, but it sucks. Don't go to it.
The COEX Aquarium is inside the COEX mall which is at Samseong Station, Subway line 2 (green line).
The pictures and video above are from a 2010 World Cup game which took place at 3:30AM on a TUESDAY night (Korea vs. Nigeria). Yes, there were thousands upon thousands of people gathered together at 3:30 AM to watch a soccer game outside. Not only that, but there were concerts (very famous Korean bands), dancers, cheerleaders, fireworks, everyone wearing the same colors, etc. Every time there was a game, kids at school were wearing jerseys to show support, and a lot had temporary tattoos painted on as well. I was getting shout outs from random Koreans on the street when they saw me wearing my colors. It was an amazing experience but believe it or not, it wasn’t the best one I had here. Last Saturday night I had the pleasure of experiencing one of the best sports atmospheres I’ll ever be a part of in my life.
The World Cup fever over here was out of control and I was all aboard the Korean bandwagon. Despite the rain, stadiums, Seoul Plaza, parks, and other venues throughout the country were filled to the brim with people to watch a game that would bring them to the quarterfinals. Although they lost, the atmosphere was amazing and the game was VERY exciting itself. All lead to a memorable night.
Somewhere over the past 6 years, I started becoming very apathetic towards caring about whether a team I like/liked won or lost. I recently realized that since August 2004, I have spent as many days outside of the United States as I have inside of it, so my ability to watch sports has been limited. Thus, my fandom has declined and I could really care less. Plus, I never cared about soccer.
But living in and loving life in Korea, I was really gunning for them to do well. A South Korea win, and a US win over Ghana, would have pitted those two teams against each other in what would have no doubt been an even more epic night. I guess I’ll never know what that night would’ve been like, but I am happy I got to experience the 4 other games which are well fun, whether they won or lost. I guess I’ll go back to my usual apathetic self, but I hope someday comes where I get a similar experience to the one I had the other night, only this time I hope my team wins. FIGHTING!
(minus points for drinking a little too much in front of my coworkers. Whoops. Oh well, it's happened before!)
World Cup Madness Part 1
Confession, I haven’t watched a soccer game since the 2002 World Cup, ironically, that was the year South Korea hosted the World Cup. The atmosphere in South Korea back then was insane, here’s a picture of what the City Hall area looked like in 2002 as well as a picture of the stadium they built for the event.
How would this time compare in 2010? Well, probably nowhere nearly as popular/raucous, but since they show the games in public outside on huge televisions, I couldn’t help but check out the City Hall area in Gwanghwamun . Here’s some great clips of various things happening last Saturday night when they played Greece. Pre-game, during the game after a goal, post game celebration, and chaos on the streets. Make sure the sound is up. There’s fireworks, screaming, thunder sticks, musical instruments, etc.
There was also TONS of gear on sale. I picked up a soccer jersey(not worn here), bandana, soccer scarf, and these two amazing buttons.
Yes, I swear, that nice family DID want to take pictures with us.
AMAZING experience, and again, since drinking in public is legal, it made it all the more fun. Oh, and it was raining too. I was worried during the day that might kill the atmosphere or make less people come, but the rain actually made it more intense. Great night!
Next game is on Thursday, probably just watch it at a bar with my coworkers. Hopefully I behave myself in front of them.
None of my students ever heard of St. Patrick or his parade, neither did my Korean coworkers, but there’s loads of English teachers in Korea and that includes a decent sized Irish contingency. Anywhere there’s Irish people, there has to be a St. Patrick’s Day Parade. So, Korea, its government and its people did their best to provide an authentic St. Patrick’s Day experience for foreigners and locals alike…
The St. Patrick’s Day parade took place around the Cheonggyecheon stream which runs through the center of Seoul. Imagine a nice little walkway like this going down Broadway in Manhattan for a bit. The parade route was probably half a mile around the stream.
Nothing too crazy, one free Guinness for everyone, a makeshift golf driving range, face painting, music, Motorcycle gangs, dancing, rappers, the usual.........
The Seoul Snow Jam was a Big Air Snowboard contest which is part of the Snowboard World Cup. Professional riders from all over the world travel around each year competing on the World Cup circuit, accumulating points in each competition until a winner is crowned at the end of the season. Having the event here is part of Korea's push to get the 2018 Winter Olympics.
This contest took place in the middle of Seoul at a place called Gwanghwamun. Imagine a massive snowboard jump being built around say, the Empire State Building, right in the middle of 34th street with loads of traffic going by on the side. It was pretty impressive. Here are some pictures, GIFs and a video at the end with a dozen or so short clips of the guys going. Really got me psyched to go skiing soon...
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