World Cup Mania!

I admit that at times I've been less than enthusiastic about living in Korea. This is decidedly not one of those times. Being in Seoul for the World Cup was an unexpected hightlight of my time here thus far. It cost me a great deal of sleep, some personal comfort, and perhaps a bit of my job performance. But memories and experience gained were well worth the price.

Over about a 3 week period my sleep patterns yeilded to game schedules, as I struggled to watch the American, Spanish, English and, of course, Korean matches. It was not unusual to go to the bars at 1am on a Tuesday. Rising at 3am to catch match before work was a reasonable thing to do. Even having some nap-time at my desk, in order to be ready or recover was acceptable. The prevailing mantra stood: "It's World Cup. Anything goes." So it went...and so did I.

Korea's first match against Togo was spent with my old SEV buddies at World Peace Gate where a stage and 30' screen had been set up to welcome the crowds. All around people spread out blankets and packed together sharing Kimbab and Soju, Dried Squid and beer. Pyrotechnics accompanied the Korean goals, nearly drowned out by the screaming crowds. I've never witnessed such pure joy and pride at a national sports event. No rowdy hooligans, no drunken aggressive fans screaming obsenities. Just lots of families and friends, giddy with excitement for their team.
But the main event was watching the match against France at City Hall. The game began at 5am and for a week or more a large stage and screen had been set up on grand lawn of the capital. I met with a couple other friends and we headed to claim our patch of grass around midnight. We were too late. By then the ENTIRE green had been filled with a sea of red t-shirts and light-up devil horns. We were pushed back to a side street where we could catch a wonky-angled view of the main stage. We slept a bit in shifts on the thin blanket we had hoped to spread on the soft grass (incidently, the only grass to be found in Seoul). At one point it turned quite ugly as we had to duck and cover from incoming water bottles being bombed onto the crowd in a very Misguided attempt to hydrate the masses. I took one to the temple that momentarily blinded me...but recovered in time for the match to begin. The game was exciting enough for having shared it with some 100,000 other people in close proximity. In the end, though, we had to get to work.

As early morning light started to compromise the resolution on the screen we decided to head back in a cab and snuck out of the crowd. I remember thinking "If ever there was a good time for Kim Jeong-il to make a move...right about now..." As we emerged we got to see the true size and state of the crowd. I've never seen anything like it. All of Downtown was choked with people sitting in the streets, in trees, on top of electical boxes, filling the sidewalks, flooding every alley and parking lot. All heads tilted up, all gazes fixed on one of the several Megatrons perched atop buildings and billboards. All projecting the same image. Mass hypnosis. Everything was quiet. It was eerie. And wicked cool.

I was happy to have joined the throngs. I often feel Korea is a bit cold to foreigners, rarely letting them "in" on they're culture. But on this particular occassion I got to sit in the middle of it. I guess I felt I could slip by while everyone's head was turned. Eyes on Park Ji-Sun.