Gaelic Football

Today I got a little taste of Irish heritage mixed in with a Korean scene.  Katie is part of a Gaelic football club in Busan.  This weekend they participated in a tournament with about 5 other teams.  This sport originated from Ireland and has slowly made it's way throughout Asia.  This is played on a soccer field, but consists of about 4 different sports. You can pick it up & run, but only take 4 steps. You then must do something with it, or pass it on to another player. You may bounce it once, or chip it with your foot.  In order to score, you may kick it over a goal post like football for 1 point, or into the soccer goal for 3 points.  It's very interesting to watch.

Katie's team huddled up before the game.

Each game is only about 25 minutes, but it is a very intense 25 minutes.  Watch it on YouTube if you get a chance.  This tournament lasted all day, so it was pretty easy going and very little walking. Thank goodness!  Katie even came home with some hardware.

Showing off her hardware!

We then headed back to the hostel and got ready for the banquet. It was in Gangnam, but I never got a celebrity sighting of Psy. Bummer!  We got a nice buffet dinner that was a huge mix of American and Korean food.  The meat was roasted right off the big in the banquet hall.  After the banquet we went to a place called the Wolfhound where we continued the evening with all her Irish friends.  Pretty low key day, but it was a great time seeing Katie's lifestyle here in Korea.  It was nice to have this day after packing all my days with touring. More fun to come Momday when I visit Katie's school!