It's About Time!

I know! I know! It's been awhile since my last blog. Even with being able to use dictation, the whole one-armed life has put a real dent in my style! It's not like I haven't been living during my recovery but it's been hard to sit and type it out. Well, I have to get over it and just do it.

First of all, my recovery....

It's been just over 5 weeks and I still can't lift my right arm at all without a good amount of pain. I can take the sling off here and there but overall I keep it on as much to let people know that they need to be careful not to bump into me as to help my arm heal. It's a tough break near the shoulder so the doctor said this isn't only a really painful place to break the collarbone but a harder healing process. Gee, thanks! But the pain is down from the 10's it was at for over 4 weeks to a dull roar of 5-6. I'll take it.

Anyway, this put me out of commission for 3 weeks but then I started to go back out on some adventures. There is only so much sitting on the couch I can do before I lose my mind. So, last weekend, a group of us went to see a baseball game in Kaohsiung.

The Cheng-Ching Lake Baseball Field is where the EDA Rhinos (one of the four Chinese Professional Baseball League teams) plays and this is their home stadium. It is located about a 25 minute taxi ride east of Kaohsiung. This is the team Manny Ramirez played for that year he played in Taiwan.

As per usual there were thousands of people waiting in line and milling around but it is so easy to get tickets. They cost only about $13 each and we were sitting right behind home plate.

The capacity is 20,000 and I'd say it was about half full but you would never know it from the noise the crowd makes. Team fans are dressed in team colors and sit in separate sections to cheer their team. The cheering is led by trumpets, drummers and an MC that leads the crowd through chants, yelling and noise-making. It NEVER STOPS! This goes on every time there is a player at bat, which is pretty much 90% of the game.

A rhino mascot and the cheerleaders warming up the crowd. We're aren't clear on the other mascot...a horse? Donkey? Ass? Who knows?

 Here's what the crowd sounds like during the game. It NEVER STOPS! Just in case you don't get the idea, there's a bit more below.

 Purple on my right (Rhinos) and yellow on my left (opposing team).

Even with all of the noise it was a really great experience and I can't wait to go back. I love me some baseball and if I can only watch my Red Sox on-line, I can enjoy the game easily (and much more cheaply) right here in Kaohsiung. Play ball!