As I write this, I get confused on what day is what because now we are a day ahead of America.  So, with that being said, our contract got bought from the Blue Jays and next thing I know S is flying home from Buffalo and then we were off to Seoul, South Korea.  I’m so thankful for the other baseball wives who are in the KBO league (KBO is the name for baseball in Korea as MLB is for American baseball) who helped me prepare in the 3 days I had to get the necessities.  From what I have heard, clothes in Korea are more expensive than America because of it being imported, so I had to make sure I had summer clothes, (we have played in the northeast the past 3 years so we just had winter clothes basically) toiletries, shoes and other items.  I think I went to Target 5 times in 3 days.  Some fun facts about Korea….

1. We have no dryer.  We were told they don’t feel like there is a need for it so we have a drying rack.  Thank goodness we bought a steamer
2. When you are born you are considered to be 1 years old.
3. After high school, every man has to go to the army for 2 years before going to college or working.
4. You take off your shoes before entering into someones home.
5. You do not tip!
6. In restaurants, they have a button you push at the table if you need a waitress/waiter.

I’m sure I will learn other things, but this is what I have learned thus far.  The people here are so respectful and friendly!  We have an interpreter to help us whenever we need something.  It can get aggravating when you cannot read anything especially on the food ingredients as my close friends and family know I try to eat as healthy as possible.  Luckily, we have found that food menus have English on them and many signs will give you the English version.  Today, S and I learned the word thank you in Korean at one of our favorite spots in the city.  Below is a picture of me this morning eating breakfast at 7 in the morning because our schedule is still so messed up!  We woke up at 5am here which is about 3pm at home.  I went to drink my green tea and saw a Bible verse and just know it is little signs of God watching over us no matter where we are.

In our apartment, they will not give us the remote to our air conditioning for another week or so.  Yes, I said remote…. I’m assuming there is no central A/C.  A guy that works in the building had to bring us a fan because we were dying.  I looked at our interpreter and said “Ok, so I can’t read that either.”  I’m so thankful our apartment comes with English words on everything so I don’t mess up our clothes.  By the way, we have the smallest washer ever.  So, I will probably be washing a set of clothes everyday since I have to lay them on the drying rack to dry as well.

Below is some snapshots of our plane seats and some awesome Ramen noodles we got just before getting off the plane!  The flight was 13 hours long.  I’m so glad we left at midnight from LAX so we both slept almost the whole time on the plane!  S played video games, and I watched a movie.  We had breakfast and the Ramen noodles on the plane which was nice!

Seoul is equivalent to NYC in America.  I will have to hop on a train to get to S’s games.  There are only 3 foreigners allowed on each team.  S is the only American on the team and the other 2 are Dominican.

Today, I did some exploring with the other American wife on the team.  This city is so full of life and culture.  S and I are so excited that we get the opportunity to live on a different continent and experience things we wouldn’t have if not for baseball.  We are so grateful for this opportunity after many ups and downs this past offseason.  God is good!

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.”  Provers 3:5-6

We have only been here 2 days so I’m sure there will be more to share as the season progresses!

Thanks for reading,

XOXO,

HC