Hi again, everybody! Today, we are headed over to the DMZ (demilitarized zone), the border between North and South Korea. In order to get into this area, you need to have a tour scheduled, and you go through lots of security to get in. The tour bus has to stop at military checkpoints, and a soldier gets on the bus to make sure everybody is sitting in the correct seats and that everybody has their passports. The first area of the DMZ that we visited was one of the tunnels that North Korea dug in the ground to invade South Korea. The tunnel down was very steep and long, and went really far into the ground. In order to go down, you need to put helmets on, and lots of people hit their heads on the way down. But once we reached the end, we could see into a window that on the other side was North Korea. It was a really weird feeling to be looking into a country that nobody ever really goes in or out of at all. After, we had to walk back up the horrible hill again, which was very tiring. Our next stop in the DMZ was the observatory, which is located in the JSA(Joint Security Area). From here, we could go to the top of the building and see into North Korea with binoculars. In this area, there is a lot of security, and you aren’t allowed to take pictures at the top. I saw somebody try to take photos at one point, but a soldier took his phone and made him delete them; it was very intense. From the telescopes, I was able to see some people working in fields along with some buildings in North Korea. Our final stop of the DMZ tour was a part of a town that had a souvenir shop. I think that most of the people who live inside the DMZ area are military members and their families, because it seemed like a normal town with schools, shops, and houses.

Once we left the DMZ, we went back to Seoul for a Korean Baseball game! Baseball is a really popular sport here, and there are about 10 teams in Korea. The game we watched was KT Wiz vs. Kiwoom Heroes. KT was ranked 1 in the league, and Kiwoom was ranked 10, so we were pretty sure of which team was going to win. Our seats were in KT’s section, and it was an away section so we couldn’t find any merch for them, but we were still able to show our support for the team through dancing. Korean baseball teams have cheerleaders who will dance and cheer the entire time that their team is up to bat. Everybody in the stands dances along, and it is really fun! It makes baseball a little less boring because the atmosphere is very lively and exciting. Of course, KT whiz ended up winning; it was a complete blowout. The score ended 8-0, which was not that surprising. The game ended pretty late, so once it was over, we went right back to the hotel and went to sleep. Overall, today was really fun, and we did lots of interesting activities. Bye for now!