Archive for June, 2006

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Korea vs Togo


2006
06.13

Posted in Current Events, Korea | No Comments »

Last night I was thrilled to watch Australia come back from 0-1 in it’s first soccer match against Japan, to win 3-1. However tonight I was thrilled to watch Korea win against Togo in Korea, in the middle of the city amidst hundreds of thousands of Korean fans. It was an awesome spectacle and one which photos can’t do justice.

I was running late for the match actually. I had finished work late and 5 minutes to go before the match, I was nowhere near City Hall. But I had my bike. Keith being away, Juhee (his girlfriend) gave me a call to ask where I was watching the match. Minutes later, she was on the back of my bike and we were racing to the center of town.

The match having already started, Seoul was like a ghost town. There were no cars on the streets, no people walking around. Everyone was in front of a TV, in a bar or in their home, watching a sport that has a 93% following here. I have never seen this city of 20 million people so quiet.

We finally made it to City Hall, twenty minutes into the match. Still no goal scored. We picked up supplies: red devil ears, beer, um… yeah just the essentials. We picked our way through the massive crowds in an effort to see something on one of the big screens. Trouble was, there were so many people watching, it was near impossible to get close to one. Everyone in Seoul was here, watching. Then, just as we had started to move through the crowd, Togo scored. A lot of somber looks were cast.

Finally we got closer, only for it to strike on half time. People got up and started moving, which was good because it meant better seats, but it turned out that as soon as something interesting happened, people in the front stood up and it was again impossible to see anything. However, the fireworks and mad cheering were enough to give it away that Korea had leveled the score. The place went berserk. People were hugging and screaming and cheering and blowing whistles. It was amazing.

The great thing about a goal scored is that people stand up and jump around, leaving their seats for a brief period of elation. We moved closer to one of the screens and were almost in a great area when people started to sit again. We were stuck on the edge, and could only catch glimpses. Even another goal couldn’t get us closer.

I don’t know how it happened, but I ran into a friend there. A year or more ago I went to a winter English camp and I became friends with one of the staff members there. Out of the hundreds of thousands of people there, it was pretty amazing to actually meet her again.

After the match finished, we headed back with the crowds chanting and singing all the way. It was a good night for Korea and a fun experience to have. Ever since seeing the massive crowds which turned out for the 2002 matches, it was great to finally be here and witness the World Cup craze.

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Late Night


2006
06.05

Posted in Korea, Opinion | No Comments »

Somehow I find myself awake at 5am. I just never got to bed. Something about the peace of the night is soothing and I hate to sleep it away. Besides, tomorrow is a holiday and I don’t have to work, so I can just sleep away the day, though there is a certain guilt about doing that. I’ll most likely rise at 11, get my usual toasted sandwich and then assess what is to be made of the day.

I just started reading ‘The Aquariums of Pyeongyang’, a memoir written by a North Korean escapee, who spent many years in a concentration camp. It is a sad tale, but an interesting one which is hard to stop reading. It’s easy to think that those up North don’t appreciate how good it is outside, but reading that book I think that maybe they do, but the propaganda spins it to resemble a great evil instead. I hope to see it first-hand one day soon.

A university offered me an interview for a campus down in the south of Korea, a small seaside town named Yeosu. I looked at the map and it was completely out of touch with everything I know here, and while I won’t take the job, it sparked in me an interest in exploring the countryside. I have made a decision to travel every month at the very least to a place in Korea I haven’t yet been. I have sat here in Seoul, procrastinating away weekends which don’t really mean much. It will be nice to have a change, considering travel is so cheap here.

It’s amazing how much Koreans hate the Japanese. It’s a simmering discontent which dwells just below the surface and is ready to explode given the slightest provocation. Recently there was the whole Dokdo Island fiasco when the Japanese sent surveyors to a group of islands typically owned by Korea. But it’s not just history. Dokdo was the first point of invasion by the Japanese army all those decades ago when they invaded the Korean peninsula and set about destroying Korean culture. All this history, yet Japanese children today never learn about it in their history classes. You can see why Koreans have such a hard time letting bygones be bygones.

I think Korea has been invaded pretty much constantly throughout it’s history. Puts a people on the side of paranoia. In the case of Korea however, it’s not without good cause.

Locally, everyone is geared up for the World Cup. They are now idolizing a new hero coach, while we Aussies have the old one training our team. Dick Advocaat can be seen molded in wax statues and people will pose for pictures constantly at COEX and other shopping centers around the city. Everywhere you go, you hear the Korea theme song and cries of “Korea, fighting!” I really hope they aren’t terribly disappointed. They did lose to Ghana yesterday 3-1. As for the Soceroos, well they have a tough draw. In their group are Brazil, Croatia and Japan, three seasoned World Cup teams, while ours is one which hasn’t seen a Cup play in 32 years. With TVs in the streets and 93% of Koreans actively following the tournament, it is going to be an interesting time when the matches start.

That’s it, I’m too tired.

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