World Cup Fever

The 2010 World Cup is indeed far from over, though one would think such a thought here in Korea after their heartbreaking 2-1 loss in their first game of the final stage against Uruguay. The people of South Korea have more pride than in any other country I've ever stepped foot in (hence their reputation for being a xenophobic society), and when Korea's World Cup team lost, the people here were crushed. So was their energetic high that they had maintained in the weeks prior.

Given the time difference between South Africa and South Korea, the world cup games fell at either 8:30pm, 11pm, or 3:30am here. This made for some very convenient evenings full of soccer, as well as some very sleepless nights.

Korea's very first game against Greece fell on a Saturday evening at 8:30pm, later followed by the USA vs. England game that same night--at 3:30am. As there are several Americans in Jinju as well as several Brits, we had it out in a bar that kindly stayed open for us foreigners just to watch the game. For Korea's game we got all decked out from head to toe in various red and pro-Korea attire (and it was a good night to be in Korea after their beautiful victory over Greece). A group of us watched the game outdoors along the river with at least a few thousand local residents of Jinju. Later on in the night we eagerly switched to attire representing our home nations (and, as Americans, were happy to have not gotten our butts kicked by the English).



This is along the river in Jinju where we watched Korea's first (and second) game along with all the locals. All the little red glowing lights are light-up devil horns, as apparently the Korean soccer team are the Red Devils. EVERYBODY was wearing them...


In addition to the devil horns, people were wearing Park Ji-Sung masks (the most famous Korean soccer player). This little boy was sitting in front of us and was quite the little character, dancing and running around with this mask on, waving his super cool light-saver...


My Aussie friend Lee and some random guy after Korea's win against Greece.


In a bar after the Korea game, waiting for 3:30am to roll around so the USA could battle it out with England.


Three Americans giving English Bill an idea of what was to come...


Stretching before the big game begun...

Korea made it into the final 16 and played Uruguay in their first game of the final round. Some girlfriends and I already had planned a trip to Seoul for the weekend, so an 11pm game Saturday night was perfect. Despite the rain, my friends and I joined the Koreans at City Hall in Seoul to watch the game, red devil horns and all. Such a heartbreaking loss that night (2-1 Uruguay; Korea definitely outplayed them, though). Later that night (well, at 3:30am), the US played their game against Ghana (also a disappointment). We ended up watching that game in an American type sports bar in a neighborhood (suberb?) called Itaewon. Itaewon is full of all things foreign, from the people who reside and visit the place, to all the shops and restaurants. It felt like we could have been in Anytown, USA, but it was nice for an evening of Thai food for dinner, a used bookstore full of books written in English and an amazing international foods store where I found (and, naturally, purchased) Tillamook cheese and Rosarita refried beans. HEAVEN. And so worth the $18 I spent on the two items.


City Hall madness in Seoul.


Group shot with our devil horns, ponchos and complimentary glow bracelets and blow-up noise-makers.




At the bar in Itaewon during the USA game later that night (see all the foreigners?!?!).


A tattoo I acquired earlier that evening...

I'm sad that the fun is over for Korea, but looking forward to the last few days of matches!

DAE-HAN-MIN-GUK! DAE-HAN-MIN-GUK! DAE-HAN-MIN-GUK!