World Cup Fever aka 대한민국!

Korea’s first World Cup game, against Greece, was Saturday the 12th. After a big dinner downtown, a big group of us set out looking for a bar where we could sit down and watch the game. However, every business that we passed that had any kind of TV screen – from bars and restaurants, to cafes, bakeries, ice cream shops and clothes retailers – was packed. People were sitting on folding chairs, shelves, countertops and floors. So we proceeded to the main stage in the heart of downtown, where there’s a huge outdoor screen. The area was absolutely wild – the main road was blocked off and people were sitting on the street; the ones near the front had probably been there for hours. Every time the Red Devil’s scored a goal, the crowd went crazy. Our huge group got split up, and Jeannine and I watched most of the first half there and then slipped off for some ice cream. We were lucky enough to find an ice cream shop with some seats and a TV, so we watched Korea kick Greece’s butt in air-conditioned and seated comfort.


After the game we re-grouped and enjoyed some celebratory drinking. The streets were full of people yelling and car horns blaring out the rhythm to the Korean chant 대한민국 or dae-han-min-guk, and everyone was dressed up in the Red Devil’s shirts, bandanas, blinking devil’s horns, and the Korean flag. I’ve never seen so many people riled up over the same thing; I can’t think of anything to compare it with in the States, except maybe New Year’s Eve in NYC. Certainly none of our sporting events even come close.

We attended the second game, Korea vs. Argentina, on the 17th at Duryu Park. If possible, it was even crazier than the downtown area had been. We arrived two hours early to find a spot on the grass in front of the big screen, and when the game started people were still coming in and the park was full of thousands of people. There were lots of vendors with chicken, beer, water, and all the necessary accessories – t-shirts, bandanas, flags, various horns and noise-makers, and temporary tattoos. There were so many people moving around that sometimes it was hard to see the big screen, so we watched parts of the game on our awesome Korean cell phones that come with free TV channels!

Unfortunately Korea lost this game. However, they tied the next one against Nigeria, which was at 3:30am yesterday (I didn’t stay awake for it, but a lot of my students did. Way to make me feel old, guys). That means Korea is advancing to the final 16, so the excitement will continue! If only I were as well-informed or excited about the American team....