Today’s activities were the DMZ and a baseball game. Both of these were so much different than I was expecting. We went to the DMZ and I learned a lot about life there. I never knew there were tunnels that the North Koreans built to try to invade South Korea. They were very chill about the idea of other tunnels possibly existing. I’m sure they are looking for them, but I wonder how they do that. We were able to go into the third tunnel that was found. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take our phones, but it was 400m down and then we walked 250m more to get to the end of the tourist part of the tunnel. It was a very steep decline and it felt like forever. Once we got to the actual tunnel, it was a little wet in some places and the “ceiling” was low in most of the places so we had to walk crouched over. I hit my head a few times but we were given helmets for that reason. The last part was having to walk all the way up the incline. This was rough and it got us sweating but it was a really cool experience overall. The next stop at the DMZ was the observatory, but sadly, it was extremely foggy so we couldn’t see anything except for the line of trees in front of us. The last stop was the village where people live in the DMZ. They need special permission to leave and they risk their lives by living on their ancestors’ land. It’s a very interesting life that they have there. I worry for them if any fighting breaks out.
As a change of pace, we went to a baseball game after the DMZ. It was the Lions vs. Heroes, and we were rooting for the latter. The energy there is completely different from the States. They have cheerleaders and there is constant chanting or singing from the fans. It was so cool how everyone participated and cheered. I think I might’ve enjoyed it more than American baseball games. The game went really long because they were tied for so long. It ended in the 11th inning, however our team lost 3-6. It was a great experience and if there was time, I would’ve gone to another. Because the game went into extra innings and we had a long day, I went to bed as soon as we got back.
