Let's go 福大！

I had a very fun day on Sunday =] I went to a university baseball game! I've never watched or played baseball before, but I thought it would be a good experience anyway. It was very ceap - only 500yen all together, so I couldn't pass it up.

We went at 11am and were given t-shirts to start with - maroon coloured with fukuoka university written on the back. We were assigned a bus number. There were a few short speeches that I struggled to understand, I think some were about the schedule. Then we were taken to our buses and drove for a little over an hour.

When we arrived we were given pack lunch boxes (obento) and a bottle of cold green tea. Then we were lead through a beautiful park to a place where we had to line up in our bus-groups and eat together. The food was beautifully presented and very delicious, but I couldn't eat a lot of it because it was meat. I ate rice and pickles and some vegetables and fish, and fed the meat to Ash =] I had brought some edamame beans with me because I knew I would struggle with the food, and that was enough for me!

I stole this picture from facebook! Sorry x

After that the cheerleaders did a little practice and tried to teach us the responses to their different routines but it was so hard to understand! Even though they had what to say written on boards they held up, it was all in kanji that we couldn't read =p

It was very funny to be herded around this way, I felt like I was on a school trip from when I was really young. We had to follow the man with our bus number on, and line up in 2s, queue for our lunch. You couldn't just wander and be with your friends if they were in a different bus group! Very strange, but I think a typical thing. 

Then we went up to the stadium and sat down. We were given a bag with two long blow up sticks in that are used to bang together like clapping. They make a cool boinnnnng sound if you hit them together right =]

The cheerleaders danced and chanted for almost the whole of the match - every time the fukuoka team were batting, every time anything good happened, sometimes just randomly. To let the team know their fans were behind them. There was a brass band playing with them too and everyone banging their inflatable sticks together and chanting along too. We all stood up every time our team was batting. It was very lively and nice, even though it was just a small event with most of the spectators foreign students on both sides. But it wasn't a very important match probably.

I had a very fun time =D I would like to go back again one day. I took lots of videos, but the net is too slow up upload it >.< I will try again in the early morning.