EduCoug

It has been a while since our last post, but here are a few updates on our time in Chuncheon. It is hard to believe we are leaving here in two days. We have climbed a mountain, water skied, visited a temple on a mountain, and explored the 2018 olympic village as it is being constructed. We also visited the DMZ today. There will be blogs soon regarding that emotional, yet amazing experience.

To start this, Nick Frisk will discuss his impressions of Korea, having been here for two and a half weeks.

– Chris Lebens

Nick Frisk

Since arriving in Korea about two and a half weeks ago many things have caught the eyes of the members of this trip. Some things more than others but one thing that has stuck in my mind since the moment we arrived was the vast amounts of FREE recreational activities that are available to the general public. Much of this trip is focused on past, present and future Olympic, World Cup, and professional sport venues. But what about the ‘Average Joe (or Joan) Korean’ walking around town after a hard day at work? What is there for he or she to do to stay healthy in a culture where the food is so gosh darn good (see post from 7/1)?

The students at Washington State are lucky enough to pay a small fee within our overall University fees to have a recreation center available to us almost all day every day. However much like here in Korea once students leave school the only option left it to pay for a gym or create a workout based on home equipment or the surroundings. As someone who enjoys working out and staying active I know how hard this can be during WSU’s vacations when I do not have the luxury of a student recreation center or the money to buy a gym membership. The Korean government, who oversees the park system, in Korea has devised a great plan to offer fitness equipment to the general public at each park.

To the very moment of writing this paper, seeing these workout machines has been the most unexpected discovery for me on this trip (see picture 1). We first discovered these ingenious devices exploring a park just behind our dorm in Seoul (we have since moved on to Chuncheon). They are not much to look at if you do not understand them. They basically look like playground equipment for adults complete with swinging platforms, boat like steering wheels and strength testers. But they each serve a purpose. There are a couple of different swinging platforms for cardio based workouts, a platform for swinging oblique workouts and a platform for gut busting abdomen workouts. The strength machines are actually an arm press workout that uses your own body weight against you and finally the steering wheels are there just for fun! Now I did not personally use these machines for a workout while in Seoul, but every time I passed a park on the bus or while walking I would see parents just hanging out while their kids played on the actual jungle gyms.

Much like America, Korea also offers many bike and walking trails for residents to use along with the regular parks that have kid’s play grounds. Also very similar to America, Korea has many outdoor sport courts which are open 24 hours a day (based on lighting) peppered throughout the parks. In Chuncheon specifically, I have not had to time to explore the parks surrounding the university’s campus but while passing by I continued to see the trails and many more free recreational activities, like croquet.

I am looking at the parks here in Korea and I cannot help but think ‘what is your problem America?’ There have been many headlines in the past 10 to 15 years about how America is becoming over weight and people back home are not exercising enough. Well one thing we can do is upgrade our parks system. These little workout machines are brilliant not to mention a huge step towards promoting physical activity starting with the parents. Gym memberships can be very expensive in the United States so I understand why someone would be averted from purchasing one. If these workout contraptions were placed next to play grounds or youth sport fields it will literally start killing two physically active birds with one stone. I can also see how it can possibly be hard for parents to ‘find time for activities’ but if America were to take a page out of Korea’s handbook we would be taking a nice big step in the right direction.

Picture 1 – Photo credit to Mike Dempsey and his blog post on August 17, 2010. http://mjdempsey09.blogspot.kr/

Picture 2 – This is a scaled down model of the Olympic park in Seoul, South Korea (please excuse our tired traveler, it was along day). The thing that caught my eye about this park is just the overall size of it. Everything above the stadiums in picture is a huge park complete with jungle gyms, workout spots, trails fountains and the arch commemorating the games (halfway up on the left in the photo). Trust me it is much larger in person!

Chris Lebens: Now to hear from Josh Tyler about watching professional Soccer, visiting a temple, and water sports.

Josh Tyler

Today marks two and a half weeks since we have been in Korea and it has been an amazing experience. Everything that we have done has been such a different experience that you just learn so much from a different perspective. Korean culture is just incredible, the generosity, the humblism, the generosity of the people here is mind blowing. People here treat you with so much respect without even knowing you. They greet you properly, they thank you for everything, and they just want the best for you regardless of the situation. It truly is something incredible, these two and half weeks have shown me what I can do better just on a day to day life to make people around me better. The culture here is just like nothing else.

My experiences since the last time I have posted my blog have been amazing. We went to a soccer game, saw an incredible museum about the World Cup in 2002, we went to a temple that was built over a 1000 years ago, and today (7/9) we got to meet the President of Kangwon National University and we experienced Korean water sports. The only way I can explain the experience is once in a lifetime. The students that decided to come to this country made the best decision possible. I can speak from myself saying I was on the fence about the idea of coming to Korea, but I am so glad I decided to come. Dr. Rhee and Dr. Lebens make this experience just incredible, everything they have organized has been awesome.

Something that I really enjoyed since I last posted was the incredible temple we had the opportunity to visit. It started by going to Koreas largest dam (Soyang dam) and then taking a boat to a base of a mountain and hiking to the temple halfway up the mountain. The temple, Chung Pyungsa, was absolutely beautiful and well maintained. It was built over 1000 years ago, and legend has it, if Korean temples last longer than 1000 years they become very spiritual and a Korean National Treasure. The upkeep of the temple was incredible. The temple itself was from the Buddhist religion, and one of the few temples that survived the overwhelming attempts to get the religion out of the country. The temple had a great story to it that just explained the way of the Buddha. The temple was incredible. The entire process of getting to the temple was awesome.

Today (7/9) we got to experience Korean water sports. We were able to wakeboard, ski, and tube on a lake. This was just like home on a hot summer day with your friends. It was a nice connection to home because some of us (including me) miss our family and friends. We also were able to take some of the Korean students that we meet initially at WSU in February. We all had a blast experiencing the water sports. I really enjoyed wakeboarding because its something I usually do every summer and I was glad I was able to do it in South Korea. Also, to be able to say I did it here is awesome! I am taking every day in full stride and experiencing what South Korea has to offer and I am really enjoying my time here. I cannot wait for what’s in store next on this amazing journey!

Video link here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOmwyYxvMkY

More to come from the “Cougs in Korea”.

We have moved from Seoul Tech to the Kangwon province of South Korea we are now at Kangwon National University. The air is clear and the city is more like Pullman. We are surrounded bu tree covered mountains and as Dr. Hwang from KNU describes, “ the leisure sport capital of Korea. While here we will visit the future home of the 2018 Winter Olympics and many other sport related activities. These will include mountaineering, water sports and leisure activities (what we call recreation). We will be on water, in mountains, and possibly in the air, even though our insurance does not cover it. If the choice is made to participate I will draft a waver and have it approved by WSU before any such activity happens.

Needless to say, the experience of traveling from one part of the country to another is priceless. J.T. Cook of Cougs Guys and Gals and a Sport Management Senior decided to write on this experience for you all to “hopefully” understand. I miss you so much Pullman, and WSU! Here are some very entertaining words from J.T.

– Chris Lebens

“Bali bali,” has been the theme of the last two weeks in Seoul; a phrase that can be translated to “hurry, hurry” in English. We would meet in the morning to run around a city occupied by millions upon millions of busy people and get back to the dorms in evening, sticky from dried sweat and exhausted from the day’s activities. Always running and always busy, something that is good for me because it means that I’m being active and learning new things. Seoul was incredible with so many new cultural experiences, food, and sporting facilities to learn about, but Sunday we bid farewell to a place that pushed our cultural limits and hopped on a train to a new and exciting place.

The morning started with a pretty laid back attitude, as Dr. Rhee made a pretty smart decision to leave a good 4 hours early to reach Yungson Station in plenty of time to catch the two o’clock train to Chuncheon. If you haven’t already heard, we hadn’t been the most punctual of groups over the last two weeks so leaving at ten in the morning for a trip we’ve made multiple times was definitely a smart call. We gathered at the CU Market to grab our coffees, and embarked with suitcases that weighed more than Courtney and backpacks that made us look like a group of bipedal turtles.

The first leg of the trip was the walk from the dorm to the bus. Now this may not sound like a very exciting part of the trip, but it is the part that made us realize just how long of a day we were in for. As we all arrived at the N13 bus, we realized one person was a little slower than the rest of us. I looked over and noticed that Professor Lebens was simultaneously lifting and rolling his suitcase. An awkward movement that can only be explained by a broken wheel. The score stands: suitcase – 1 and Professor Lebens – 0. Eventually he got to the bus and we struggled lifting the suitcases up the steps inside, but we prevailed and proudly took up more than half of the space on the bus.

When we arrived at the subway station entrance, we were pleased to find a plethora of escalators and elevators that would assist us in reaching the depths of the station and then back above ground in order to get on the number 6 line. One of the perks of leaving so early was that the “bali bali” attitude that had plagued us for most of our stay was beginning to fade. We were able to take the time to have Korean breakfast sandwiches and coffee at our terminal and even though we missed the first train, it didn’t matter because we still had three and a half hours to complete a 16 stop train ride.

As the train pulled up, the game started because, along with our always late reputation, we had also lost a few people to pre-mature subway door closing. A feeling that can only be described as mixed reactions of hysterical laughing by those looking out of the subway doors and seeing the facial expression of the person left behind. Do not worry, we always reconvened at the next stop and joined the lost soul on the next train. Anyways, this was a time that we definitely did not want to lose someone so we strategically split ourselves into teams of two order to efficiently load not only ourselves but also our shadows on wheels onto the train. Good news, we succeeded. WSU Students – 1, Seoul Public Transportation – 0.

The train ride was smooth as most of us has a place to sit and we had enough space to place our suitcases nicely between our legs so that inertia would take our luggage to the other end of the train, as Picture A so nicely illustrates. Apparently Dr. Rhee didn’t get the memo because every time the bus stopped and started, he would just seem to follow his freely rolling suitcase back and forth between the students and Professor Lebens on opposite ends of the train.

When we arrived to Yongsun Station, we still had a couple of hours to kill so we decided to leave our luggage in a corner where one of us would stand guard and make sure everything was safe while everyone else went and got some food (big thanks to Indigo, Professor Lebens, and Tipton for their service). As we walked around the mall, we came across a little puppy adoption center where you could fawn over the cutest and littlest puppies. I have to say it took every inch of my being to not walk out of that building with the little guy in Picture B. Seeing him was one of the highlights of my day so I had to share.

We made it with plenty of time to spare so we got yet another chance to hang out in a corner with our luggage to wait for another train as you can see in Picture C. When we got on the train we had our own seats that we could spin around 180 degrees so we could face one another. That lasted a good 30 seconds because knees were touching other knees and it was just uncomfortable. We settled in for what we thought was going to be two hour train ride. About an hour into the trip, me and me and my fellow classmates were writing essays or beginning to doze off as we pulled up to the Nomchuncheon station. I faintly heard Dr. Rhee mutter something in Korean on his phone as he stood up and commanded, “Get off the train!” The next 30 seconds became the epitome of “bali bali” as that’s all it took for the sleeping to wake, the studious to pack up, and for bags to be on the ground ready to get off the train. You would think that would be an ample amount of time for us to be able to exit, but as we started heading for doors, they slowly began to close as we heard Dr. Rhee mutter, “we didn’t make it, we have to get off at the next stop.”

Luckily the next stop was about three minutes down the track and we were officially in Chuncheon. The first thing you hear Courtney and Nick say as they exited the train was, “I like it here,” because the air is clear and the scenery is beautiful. We have heard Chuncheon is a lot slower than Seoul, which is good because now we hoped that “bali bali” won’t be as frequently spoken as it was in Seoul. I think I speak for everyone when I say we are extremely excited to see what this beautiful city has to offer and I look forward to being able to write about more great things in eight short days. Let another new adventure begin!

More to come as we explore this side of the country. #JT

We toured 2 of the 2002 World Cup stadiums in Korea. We had the opportunity to watch the Suwon Blue Wings in their home opener while welcoming back a World Cup player. Kimber chose to share her story with you.

Suwon World Cup Stadium

So far during our time here in Korea we have toured multiple facilities, but in my opinion the best tour so far has been the 2002 World Cup Stadium in Suwon. From the outside it may look like just another stadium, but on the inside it is breath taking. This stadium was built specifically for the 2002 FIFA World Cup matches and is filled with vibrant colors that amaze the visitors. The seating within the stadium swirls from blue to green, then yellow to orange. The pitch is filled with perfect, deep green, striped grass that is highlighted by the multi-colored seating. Each tunnel within the stadium is filled with pictures or memorabilia from the 2002 World Cup games in order to forever remember Korea’s accomplishments from that year. Not only did Korea make it to the semifinals that year, but it also united as a country that had been striving and fighting for success. Although they did not win the World Cup, they did succeed as a country.

Upon arriving at the Suwon World Cup Stadium, I thought it would be just like the previous stadium we visited, which to me did not stand out very much. But, once I stepped foot in the doors of this stadium I quickly realized that this was nothing like the last World Cup Stadium we visited in Seoul. Maybe it was the gameday atmosphere or just the enthusiasm from the people who worked at the stadium, but either way, this stadium made me feel excited. Not everyone is able to get private tours of historical stadiums, but I, along with my fellow Cougs, were lucky enough to be some of the people who were lucky enough. Being able to walk around the halls of the stadium, through the museum, and into the players’ locker room was more than I could have wished for. I will admit that just over one year ago I did not care about soccer at all, but since then I have developed a passion for the sport. So, having the opportunity to kick the same soccer ball that the players practice with, along with being able walk onto the grass of the pitch, made me feel like a kid in a candy store. It was hard for me to contain my excitement. Not only did we get a tour of the whole facility, but we were also invited to watch a match between Suwon and Gangnam later that evening.

During the soccer match we were able to sit wherever we wanted. Right behind the Gangnam players’ bench, four rows up, we had the best view in the stadium. Not only did we get a front row view of the game, but we were also able to observe the fan section. Watching the Suwon fan section was like watching the Seattle Sounders fan section, but better. Each fan was wearing the team color (blue), and the fans in the front rows were waiving giant flags throughout the whole game. The greatest difference that I noticed was that the Suwon fans did not stop chanting or waiving the flag throughout the entirety of the game, no matter what. Although I had great front row seats behind the players, I wanted to experience what it was like to be in the fan section at this game. As I approached the fan section, I could feel the electricity coming from the crowd. No one was sitting; everyone was standing, jumping, and chanting for their team. Each time Suwon was about to score a goal the crowd would go wild. The passion emitting from each fan was intoxicating and made me love and appreciate this sport even more. I could only imagine what the atmosphere must have been like twelve years ago during one of the actual World Cup matches. This was the best day so far this summer, no contest. Getting a private tour of the stadium along with joining in on the excitement of the fan section was more than I could have asked for. Whether I was a soccer fan or not before this day, it was an experience of a lifetime that I will never be able to forget.

I cannot say that I have seen a stadium more majestic or amazing than what we saw last week. The experience we had at the 1988 Olympic facilities, was nothing short of amazing. I am excited to share thoughts from Courtney Gold, a Sport Management major. Her story is touching and I hope you are moved by it and that she conveys to you how powerful of an experience this was for us. Following Courtney is a piece from Derick Margerum regarding the same venue. He mentions how we were even allowed to run on the olympic track! Enjoy this post from Courtney and Derick.

-Chris Lebens

After being in Korea for almost two weeks now I am slowly beginning to adjust to the culture, food and weather. Being a picky eater, I am proud to say that I have tried foods I would not have tried in the states. Besides trying new food I have had the privilege to visit places that I would have never had imagined. I have been able to see places such as the 1988 Olympic Stadium, Olympic Park, Olympic Memorial Museum, and the Korean Olympic Training Center.

On Tuesday July 1, 2014 the group made the trip out to the 1988 Olympic Stadium. Now this was something I was excited to see due to the history of Korea and their efforts to inspire their country after years of economic tragedy. After South Korea was annexed from Japan in 1910, they were left in economic ruins. The Korean people were hungry and looked upon as a hopeless country. When they were granted the 1988 Olympics in 1980, there was a sense of hope. Walking up to the stadium I tried to picture what it would be like when the stadium was being built. I then tried to feel the emotion of those who were able to actually experience the moment of the opening ceremonies. The excitement and joy of the Korean people must have gone beyond leaps and bonds. Beyond the actual emotions of the people it must have been an amazing sight to see what the country of Korea could do when given the opportunity to host the 1988 Olympics. Seeing the outside of the stadium I was impressed to see how advanced South Korea was in their architecture. It was also interesting to see the effort that was made and the money spent to make this event a success. In the states we see more focus on professional sport athletes, rather than amateur athletes. Once we were able to enter the Olympic Stadium I could not believe how big it was on the inside. Just imagining the opening ceremony and the screaming fans in the seats of the stadium is an unreal experience. Below I was able to take a step back and capture the inside of the Olympic Stadium and get the chance to go onto the track and field. Having this opportunity is one of many that I will receive on this trip that I will never be able to forget about it.

Now moving on, July 2, 2014 was the day the group made the trip out to the Korean Olympic Training Facility. This was a moment to remember because this training facility is not open to the public. Knowing this I did my best to soak in all the amazing things I was about to see. One of the first places we went into was the athlete’s training room. I have been in gyms before, which many of us have, but nothing like the one we were about to see. It was huge, offering the best equipment to all the Korean athletes who had the opportunity to train in this facility. A few of us then saw some climbing ropes and thought we would give it a shot and see how high we could climb up.

Needless to say I personally did not do that well. It was definitely a funny experience because I realized that it was more difficult than I imagined. It gave the others and myself in the group a good laugh and something we can remember upon our return home. Most of the buildings we went into were empty because the majority of the athletes were on their break, but we than walked in on a women’s handball practice.

Before walking in we were told to be quiet because there was a practice going on. I did not think we were going to see any athletes training, so seeing this was a great treat. As mentioned prior I noticed that there were some differences in the way the United States conducted sport from Korea. Korea definitely took more time, money and effort in making their amateur athletes a success in not only the Olympics, but the Asian games as well. This particular day I felt extremely special because many people will never be able to experience what I had that day. I saw actual amateur athletes in training and the facilities that made them a success. I will never forget what I was offered and could never express enough gratitude to those who made this trip to the Olympic Training Facility possible.

Just in the short week and a half that I have been in South Korea I have had the opportunity to see and do things that many could never dream of. As the days and weeks progress I will further report on the many new experiences. I am beyond grateful that I was able to go on this trip to see and experience things with the group of people that are here with me! Without them, this trip would not be the same and I would not have gained the memories I have received thus far. Go Cougs!

Now from Derick Margerum, Sport Management major.

Happy 4^th of July from Seoul, South Korea! We have been in Seoul for almost ten days now and this experience has been a blast so far. What I like about Seoul is that there are always things to do whether its visiting historical sites, stadiums, and markets you name it and this city probably has it.

During the first couple weeks of the trip I got really got to see what Seoul is all about. I am somewhat of a picky eater, but coming into this trip I knew I was going to have to expand my horizons and try new food. For example, on one of the first few days eating in the cafeteria we had squid for breakfast! This shocked me because I don’t like seafood and I was sure they wouldn’t have it for breakfast, but it actually was not that bad. Squid for breakfast was just another unique food that was offered here in this culture, so I had to be prepared on what food came at me next. Many of the adventures led to us exploring the vast array of street markets that sold a variety of things from food to jewelry, and we even enjoyed some fun at Lotte world amusement park.

The main reason why I wanted to come over here was to experience the sports culture, and explore the many stadiums and facilities that Seoul has. On Tuesday we visited the Olympic Stadium site as well as the park. The Olympic Stadium was a majestic beauty right in the heart of the city. It was a little run down but it was very similar in look to the Los Angeles Coliseum, and spewed great Olympic history. Carl Lewis raced at the Olympic Stadium where he won gold in the 100 meters and long jump in 1988 (Sports Reference, 2014). We were fortunate enough to enter the stadium, and just the thought of being inside a stadium where the greatest athletes in the participated was a surreal experience. The group decided it would be awesome to run a lap around the track, and I did my best Carl Lewis imprecation when I finished. Inside the Olympic Park there is a museum adjacent to the stadium that contains historical artifacts from all the Olympics and that was really interesting. It was really awesome to go to an Olympic site for the first time to learn and experience what it was like back in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

I have learned a lot about South Korea in the week and half we have been here. I hope to gain better insight about sport and culture in Korea, and I am excited for the upcoming opportunities in the next few weeks.

More to come!

By criminal justice major Tipton Hayes

Visiting Korea, has been a great experience. I have always been a transit- and walking-to-your-destination type of person. As we started are experience it was a one and half hour drive from the airport to our new place on the other side of Seoul. It was nice to take a cab from the airport but, given the copious amount of transportation options that Seoul, has. I was looking forward to taking the rail into the university.

I love being able to walk down to the subway system and hop on a rail car and be there quickly. It has been a great experience to be on the subway and meet with Koreans. I also love that you can use the internet on a rail car. I think that is fantastic. Korean phones also have TV on them. Accessible transportation to sport venues is essential in order to provide quick entry and fast egress once the event is completed. My photos were taken at Doota mall, overlooking Dondgaemun History and Culture park. Dongdaemun subway stop is a few blocks away from these to fabulous places located in Euljiro. There are many shops in this area of town you can get anything very cheaply and even bargain the price down. This is also a site of a baseball stadium it has now been repurposed after artifacts were found. A museum is also there to show case many of the old equipment from the stadium and player memorabilia. The space was very tiny but, seemed full of items from the 1920, 30, 40 and etcetera.

Hopping from metro to train, bus, or cab has been extremely simple. One can even use their bus card for a cab fare. This to me shows to me that the systems are very intelligently integrated. I have yet to take a cab that had a fare more then $7.

Everyday our professors have planned out an event, even if we do not visit a sport facility there are many event management areas in play. We have been lucky to receive personal tours from the palaces that we visit. It takes a while to learn about the venues and I really appreciate how knowledgeable the staff are when listening to them tell us about the venue or when I ask questions.

By WSU track athlete Indigo Williams

Today, the sport management group and I got to travel to the 1988 World Olympic Stadium. When we arrived to the stadium we were able to walk around and look at what an Olympic stadium really entailed both inside and outside. This athletics facility grabbed my attention in so many different ways that at first I was over whelmed with joy but then with a little bit of disappointment.

I personally was amazed at how big the venue was, but actually very shocked by how run down the outside looked. When looking at the pictures and statues of some of the best athletes in the world, I found myself asking one question, “why does this place look like no one cares for it?” After talking with the group we were then told that this facility does not get money from the government to help with the upkeep. One would think that this facility and the people who run it would want to show pride in the athletes who brought their country fame. I think that it is sad that these athletes’ pictures are in such bad shape and some even vandalized. I guess maybe I was just thinking that these athletes should be portrayed in more of a way that shows respect and lets younger generations know who they are and what they did. As for the inside of the stadium, now that was a little bit different, the grass was well kept and even the seating looked new. I mean I even ran a lap around the track and admired what it felt like to be running on the same track as an Olympian.

After hanging around on the track and taking some photos, the group and I went over to “The Hope Factory” which is the 1988 interactive exhibition about the Olympic values. Here we were able to go through about forty different exercises that taught us about the Olympics. This was a great experience, and I really did learn more about the prejudices and simple stereotypes that are associated with the Olympics. Some of the questions that we were asked I never really thought about before, like when they asked if “by being in a wheel chair made one of the Olympians disabled?” To me I see that person not as being a disable athlete but a contestant in the Olympics. In this factory there are many different hands on activities that linked all back to one common thing, the Olympics. Our group got the privilege to ride in a 4D simulator while watching Kim Yu-Na, who is an Olympic medalist. From there we went down the museum that held all of the different artifacts and statues made of the different all time athletes in 1988. This room was filled with a piece of something from each event in Olympics it felt like. Though the main focus was on the 1988 Olympics, this building was only a small part of the Olympic history.

From The Hope Factory, we went to an amusement park called Lotte world. I feel like I have to tell you about our adventure here because I was able to go on one of the tallest free falling drops ever, well I mean it was only seventy meters high but it felt like the tallest and longest drop ever. This ride was awesome, you get on and as you are rising to the top you are doing a complete 360 degree rotation, getting what feels like a full view of Seoul. You are up there for about five seconds and then drop going about one hundred kilometers an hour. The best part about this ride was I got to gopro the entire thing. It was awesome.
All in all I got to experience being in an Olympic facility first hand and I only have one other goal, and that would be to go to a facility when there is actually a real life Olympics going on. But I am really happy that I got this opportunity and I cannot wait to share my next activity with you guys.

By Nick Frisk, sport management student (with intro from Chris Lebens, assistant clinical professor)

Well, we have arrived. Cougs are in Korea. I can attest that the pilot was amazing for 10 hours in the air. During the 30 min decent
into Seoul, well… lets just say he landed safely so no complaints from the Cougs. For those that don’t know, I am Chris Lebens, J.D.
Clinical Assistant Professor in the college of education. Dr. Yong-Chae Rhee and myself are abroad with the WSU COE first study
abroad. We are currently in Seoul and will travel every 2 weeks across the country to other universities. I cannot speak for all of our
students as to their experience, so I have assigned them to tell us all about it. Today’s post comes from Nicholas (Nick) Frisk, a senior
in Sport Management at WSU. Please, enjoy his story.

Annyeonghaseyo

For those of you who don’t know that is hello in South Korean. It’s very surreal to be half way around the world experiencing a new culture, a new set of ideas and seeing a new place. Though the first week has been much of experiencing the culture of Korea the group has done a little bit of exploring for sport related land marks. Seoul Tech University is a rather small university in comparison to Washington State University but it still has a decent sized sport program. In one of our first classes we took a short field trip to their soccer stadium and sport complex. Luckily for us the stadium and the entire complex was under renovation just like the Washington State football and soccer complexes. We walked around the area watched the workers and looked at the differences of the new stadium. This is what we could take away from this experience.

The most prevalent thing that caught the group’s attention was how unsecured the entire construction area was. This speaks to the difference in cultural beliefs of how citizens are expected to act. The only thing holding people back from entering the construction zone was a small red and white caution tape (see below). As everyone who has explored the Martin Stadium renovations, or even a normal construction site in the United States, knows that at the very least a large fence is put in the way to keep people out. Korean people are raised to show respect to everything from the people they interact with to the places they go and what they do there. If United States construction companies tried to use this small strip of tape to hold out community members we would have so many more construction related injuries and lawsuits. Korean people know not to go into restricted areas therefore construction companies do not have to be so careful with how protected areas are.

Also while exploring the construction area we walked past a gentleman welding part of the stadium. Normally this would not be an oddity but we noticed that he did not have any eye protection on as he was watching the welding from a few inches away. From this one can deduce that there is not a strong emphasis on personal safety in Korean construction just yet.

As far as sport related oddities and/or similarities go, we noticed a few very obvious features. The complex is set up very similarly to a high school football field. The soccer pitch was in the middle of an Olympic sized track with a lifted  cement structure to become the stadium seating on one side. This is very similar to many multiuse facilities in the United States.

However two things struck us as odd at this particular track and soccer pitch. One of these was the lack of a throwing area for the track team. We speculated about where it might be or if it took place out on the soccer pitch but it is possible that we missed one option. Throwing may not be a big thing here in Korea like it is in the states. If there is one thing that is easy to notice about Korean people it is their body size. Not many Korean people are built large enough to compete against the Americas and European people in throwing events. It might not be an emphasized set of events at the national level therefore it may just be nonexistent at a relatively small university. The second thing we noticed was the soccer field was specifically painted for soccer. For being located in such a big multi-purpose area we kind of expected other lines to be painted on the field but that was not the case

We made a couple of other stops in the multipurpose area. Next to the track and soccer pitch there is a wide expanse of sand and dirt that had many different things to do. There were places to hit baseballs, take part in an unofficial soccer game, play some basketball and it even had a few tennis courts. Basketball is an interesting sport here because if there is an area of flat ground there is most likely a basketball hoop nearby. The group visited a mall the other day and just outside the mall there was a random court yard with a hoop that anyone could play a pick-up game on. Even the soccer pitch had fully functional courts at either end that anyone and everyone could access.

The last thing that really caught my attention was how easy it was to access this particular area. In a later visit to the area I was able to watch how many different people were using the facility after they removed the construction tape. They definitely were not all college students since. Young middle school and high school aged kids were playing basketball by the soccer pitch. Toddlers were playing with their parents near parallel bars. Even I was able to run on the track less than week after our original visit. The fact that a place like this was accessible to the entire community was an incredible concept to me. Very few places in the United States are accessible to the entire public so soon after construction for upgrades occur. We do not know how many official events take place there but with continuous use it would force a sport manager’s hand to keep the facility up to date more often. In the US we would rather spend money up front to keep people out of the facilities than to update them more often.

Our small little class field trip was our first experience with international sport facilities. In many ways it was not that much different from those of the United States yet the ideas surrounding its use can be very different. Soon we will be seeing large scale sporting venues that could potentially trump anything we have ever experienced, even back home. It only gets better from here, stay tuned.

FOOD
In the months leading up to this trip I had to constantly explain to friends, family and even a Subway sandwiches worker we were going to Korea and why. The most common responses were why?, oh fun!, and North or South? Well thank goodness we ended up in SOUTH Korea because it has been an amazing experience thus far.

In the first week here we have seen so many different things that there is way too much to write about. When I get overwhelmed I like to think about food because food is good. Coincidentally South Korea has some of the best food I have ever had the pleasure of eating. There are three different types of food that must be discussed to really understand what a Korean travelers diet is all about. These are Korean barbeque, street food and dorm food. All are equally intriguing, mysterious and flat out delicious. So let us explore Korean food for a while.

Since it has been and will be our most frequently dining place it is only fair that we dive into the university’s dining hall food first. South Korea is not a place where picky eaters can visit and survive. I was one of those picky eaters coming into this trip and had to learn really quickly to just go for it. One of our students summed it well by saying the dining hall is the best place to eat because it forces you try different foods instead of being able to pick and choose what you want. So far the menu has dishes such as squid, kale, a curry type dish, anchovies, bean sprouts, tofu, rice, a lot of rice and even more soup. There have been maybe one or two different dishes that I have not thoroughly enjoyed while eating at the dining hall. Being forced to open your mind to taste different things is awesome because you have to lose all inhibitions and just dive in. I have discovered a liking for kale, radishes, small squid, beans sprouts and way too much more to list out. All in all, dorm food is awesome here.

While being forced to try new things is probably the best thing to happen to a picky eater, I do have to say it is nice to choose what you really want to eat. Seoul has a large number of outdoor markets unlike anything I have ever experienced in the United States. With these outdoor markets comes the novelty of street food. As a group we make an effort to find random little markets solely for the purpose of finding that next street food gem. My first experience was this massive ice cream tube. It cannot be called a cone because literally they have a cone tube that they filled from the inside out with some of the best ice cream I have had. It was in the shape of a candy cane yet, surprisingly, tasted so much better. Then while walking around the other night three of us stopped at a little chicken shish kabob stand. It started as a snack for one, and turned into all three of us buying the chicken and not being able to stop talking about it for the next ten minutes as we found a cab back home. Our single best meal so far though happened when we split up in this massive street market and just ate whatever we found. It started with corndogs laced with french fries on the outside and smothered in sauces. Then we felt bad so we picked up some fresh fruit and some other small snack I cannot remember. Before I can tell the next part though you must understand how much walking we did that day. We easily walked fifteen to twenty miles that day with very little time relaxing. So to congratulate ourselves we finished the night with a waffle cream ice sandwich. Before you ask not it is not ‘ice cream sandwich,’ it is cream ice. They start by making the waffles in front of you then spreading this thick creamy substance (mine was cherry flavored) across one half of the waffle and putting a scoop of vanilla and chocolate ice cream on the other side. They topped it off with some chocolate chips and then folded it over into a warm, creamy, delicious sandwich. It is and probably will be the best dessert I will ever eat in my entire life. The only regret I have is eating it in about 2 minutes and not going back for a second one. I’m sure many of our readers will have been to an exotic street market or something similar to what I am talking about here but you will never understand the excitement I feel eating this food. This is my first visit to a foreign country other than Canada, so experimenting with this food is amazing to me.

The last type of food I want to discuss is Korean barbeque. This is such an interesting concept for me because there is a large stone grill placed in the middle of the table. You order meat, Kim chi, a vegetable usually, some garlic and some sauces. Now some places have these large grills or woks on the table but they cook it for you. At the barbeque place we visited the people at the table had to cook it to individuals liking which is great because not everyone can do rare meat or even well done meat. In order to eat everything we were instructed to take a large piece of lettuce put everything inside and make a wrap out of it. The great thing about this type of food is that it is all freshly made on fresh vegetables. This stuff is so good and even somewhat healthy for you. This was close to being my favorite meal, but it is a close second to street food.