Four matches and a World Cup
So I left you all just after the first weekend of the World Cup. Then an unbelievable transformation occurred- I TURNED INTO A FOOTIE?SOCCER FAN!!!
Yes, this is true and not a single hint of sarcasm in that. So June 2nd I went to Gwangju and watched the Slovenia vs. Spain match and bugger me if I didn't find myself on board a bus the following weekend on my way to Daegu to go and see South Africa vs. Slovenia. Again the stadium was shiny new but it was very different to be there for an afternoon match. I had gone up with a group of people and none of us had tickets- we managed to get these off a Slovenian tour guide outside of the stadium. Because we went straight from the bus station to the stadium we all had our overnight bags with us. These were searched of course and then a lady came and ran the magic beam over me personally. And the alarm went off near my pocket. She asked me to empty the pocket (using hand signals as she hadn't a drop of English) I was reluctant but put the contents into her hand. She picked up the small item I had given her and examined it. I was a bit embarrassed and was desperately trying to think of the Korean word for what she had in her hand. The final straw was when she held it up to show her colleague several feet away- I covered her hands with my hands and muttered 'tampon' at her at which point she understood and hastily gave it back and waved me through. And we were in another stadium.
Choosing to completely ignore the seating arrangements we headed straight for the Slovenian fans and a few reunions with some that we had met the week before. Slovenia lost but we had a lot of fun standing on the seats and yelling Slovenian chants ('If you are not jumping you are not Slovenian' and 'I am Slovenian'). The fans around us were so sweet and kept asking us why we were supporting their little country. They were so flattered and told us that they were really happy and touched by our support. It didn't help however and South Africa left as the victors. We had seen the team on the way to the stadium when we were on the shuttle bus. Not realizing who they were we waved our Slovenian flags at them and only sussed their identities when they stopped waving back and started scowling- oops!
That night we partied large and hard with the Slovenians before all disappearing in opposite directions with various people that we had met. We, eventually, found each other the next day and went back to Mokpo and the usual working week. But not that usual as something really odd was happening- Korea were doing well. It seemed to be taking the World by surprise and the Koreans more than most I think. It worked in the teachers' favour as we didn't have to work during any of the Korea games. And lessons became an exchange of soccer chants and World Cup word searches. The foreign teachers all bought 'Be the Reds' t-shirts to wear on match days and the kids seem to be getting into too. But more was to come.
Ireland had also made it out of the first round and would be playing in Suwon the weekend after Daegu. We had gathered in our Irish friends' house to watch the match and the moment that the final whistle blew they were at the PC bang buying tickets. Being English and a new fan to the game I didn't want to pay the price so didn't buy a ticket myself. But on Saturday morning I found myself once more upon a bus on the way to one of the host cities. We spent Saturday in Seoul and I was reunited with the guy that I had met in Daegu the weekend before. Saturday was all about drinking and shopping and watching the excellent England match (by the way, don't ever believe someone who tells you that 40 minutes into a game is a good time to go to the toilet! I missed our third goal). Sunday we went to Suwon and found a quiet bar to watch the 3.30 match in. By now all of us girls were big into the footie and able to intelligently join in conversations about the tournament. I had even written all the games up on my calendar(!) So we watched the match and painted our faces and headed to the stadium for the game. Those of us without tickets were lucky enough to buy some outside at a reduced price (I love Korean ticket touts and their refusal to sell tickets at anything other than the face value!).
Those of you that watched the game will know what happened and I am not trying to bring back bad memories for you but I must tell the others. Me and Jon (guy from Daegu) were sitting with the Korean fans but not too far from some Irish fans. The game was nail-bitingly tense and I couldn't believe it when it went to extra time. Then to rub salt into the wound it went to penalties- something that I find unbearable at the best of times- which are just excruciating to watch live. Ireland lost. The toilets were full of girls weeping so much that the green and gold was streaming down their faces. And one of our teams were out of the Cup.
But not all of them- as an English girl living in Korea I still two more chances at victory for my teams. And an English victory was beginning to look believable. But it was Korea's turn to play next and I got up on Tuesday morning and went to Daejon with Jon to watch Korea vs. Italy. The stadium was a sea of red and it was the first time that I had been glad to be amongst the Koreans in the stadium. Mind you it would have been difficult to be with any other kind of fan- I saw a lone Italian flag here and there fluttering forlornly in the breeze generated by 38,000 Korean fans yelling 'Daehan Minguk' (The Republic of Korea') and 'Pilsung Korea' ('Victory Korea') and other assorted flag waving and drum beating activities.
And Korea romped home with the victory again. Again the game went to extra time and I just shut my eyes and whispered 'Please no penalties' over and over. I can't even begin to tell you about the atmosphere that night. We left the stadium after the game and watched it again at the train station. Arriving back at my flat at 5.30am we watched the game again. And again when I got up the next day to go to work. I was the coolest teacher in the whole hagwon once the kids found out and I showed them my ticket and photos. Cue another day of talking about soccer with the kids. Korea were now through to the quarter finals along with England.
England played on Friday afternoon and I had to teach during the game but Tim was very good and kept me up to date with text messages throughout what would turn out to be our last game in the 2002 World Cup. I had a running score on the corner of my board. After England had failed to score beyond the first Owen goal that had sent my hopes soaring (we had beaten Argentina after all, it was not impossible that we could beat Brazil) I went back to the teachers' room. Three of my kids came with me, one stroked my hair, another patted my shoulder and the third held my hand as they tried to make me feel better. The little sweeties had been following England's progress to share with their teacher and they were almost as upset as I was at their defeat. Even renaming my hermit crabs Beckham and Owen during half time hadn't managed to bring on an England victory.
The end was getting close now. That weekend took us to Gwangju where the first of the quarter finals were held. We went to the stadium and some of us had tickets and went in. The rest of us watched them go in and then went to try and find somewhere to watch the game. Sam had heard that there was a big screen beside a church so we headed that way- our back up plan was to join the people up on the roof of a nearby apartment block and see as much as we could of the stadium from there. Turns out that it wasn't beside the church but INSIDE it. So we watched the game with a very large crowd inside the church. I am sure that more prayers were said during that game than in the rest of that church's history. During half time we were given water and football shaped candy. And KOREA WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We walked back to the city to celebrate. It took about forty minutes and just as we were getting close a pickup truck pulled up with merrymakers on board and we climbed on and were driven all over Gwangju yelling 'Daehan Minguk' and 'Korea FIGHTING!!' to everyone. It was a lot of fun but slightly disappointing when we were finally dropped off nearly an hour later BACK AT THE STADIUM!! A taxi ride later we were back in town and on the batter. We were filmed by a local TV crew and just ran around the streets yelling 'FIGHTING' everywhere to everyone. It was a fantastic night and Gwangju was still hard at it when we left at 6am to go back to Mokpo.
We watched Korea's match in a local bar. We were all wearing our 'Be the Reds' t-shirts and various Korean flag paraphernalia- in my case I had a bandana with the flag on it and a large flag tied around my waist to complement my t-shirt but some of the girls had temporary tattoos and everything. But it wasn't enough and Korea were knocked out by Germany. They played again at the weekend for third place but conceded to Turkey. Brazil won on Sunday and finally the World Cup was over.
Now we don’t know what to do with our time!
I will get back to you soon with less soccer related news but to be honest for the last month it has been only soccer!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes, this is true and not a single hint of sarcasm in that. So June 2nd I went to Gwangju and watched the Slovenia vs. Spain match and bugger me if I didn't find myself on board a bus the following weekend on my way to Daegu to go and see South Africa vs. Slovenia. Again the stadium was shiny new but it was very different to be there for an afternoon match. I had gone up with a group of people and none of us had tickets- we managed to get these off a Slovenian tour guide outside of the stadium. Because we went straight from the bus station to the stadium we all had our overnight bags with us. These were searched of course and then a lady came and ran the magic beam over me personally. And the alarm went off near my pocket. She asked me to empty the pocket (using hand signals as she hadn't a drop of English) I was reluctant but put the contents into her hand. She picked up the small item I had given her and examined it. I was a bit embarrassed and was desperately trying to think of the Korean word for what she had in her hand. The final straw was when she held it up to show her colleague several feet away- I covered her hands with my hands and muttered 'tampon' at her at which point she understood and hastily gave it back and waved me through. And we were in another stadium.
Choosing to completely ignore the seating arrangements we headed straight for the Slovenian fans and a few reunions with some that we had met the week before. Slovenia lost but we had a lot of fun standing on the seats and yelling Slovenian chants ('If you are not jumping you are not Slovenian' and 'I am Slovenian'). The fans around us were so sweet and kept asking us why we were supporting their little country. They were so flattered and told us that they were really happy and touched by our support. It didn't help however and South Africa left as the victors. We had seen the team on the way to the stadium when we were on the shuttle bus. Not realizing who they were we waved our Slovenian flags at them and only sussed their identities when they stopped waving back and started scowling- oops!
That night we partied large and hard with the Slovenians before all disappearing in opposite directions with various people that we had met. We, eventually, found each other the next day and went back to Mokpo and the usual working week. But not that usual as something really odd was happening- Korea were doing well. It seemed to be taking the World by surprise and the Koreans more than most I think. It worked in the teachers' favour as we didn't have to work during any of the Korea games. And lessons became an exchange of soccer chants and World Cup word searches. The foreign teachers all bought 'Be the Reds' t-shirts to wear on match days and the kids seem to be getting into too. But more was to come.
Ireland had also made it out of the first round and would be playing in Suwon the weekend after Daegu. We had gathered in our Irish friends' house to watch the match and the moment that the final whistle blew they were at the PC bang buying tickets. Being English and a new fan to the game I didn't want to pay the price so didn't buy a ticket myself. But on Saturday morning I found myself once more upon a bus on the way to one of the host cities. We spent Saturday in Seoul and I was reunited with the guy that I had met in Daegu the weekend before. Saturday was all about drinking and shopping and watching the excellent England match (by the way, don't ever believe someone who tells you that 40 minutes into a game is a good time to go to the toilet! I missed our third goal). Sunday we went to Suwon and found a quiet bar to watch the 3.30 match in. By now all of us girls were big into the footie and able to intelligently join in conversations about the tournament. I had even written all the games up on my calendar(!) So we watched the match and painted our faces and headed to the stadium for the game. Those of us without tickets were lucky enough to buy some outside at a reduced price (I love Korean ticket touts and their refusal to sell tickets at anything other than the face value!).
Those of you that watched the game will know what happened and I am not trying to bring back bad memories for you but I must tell the others. Me and Jon (guy from Daegu) were sitting with the Korean fans but not too far from some Irish fans. The game was nail-bitingly tense and I couldn't believe it when it went to extra time. Then to rub salt into the wound it went to penalties- something that I find unbearable at the best of times- which are just excruciating to watch live. Ireland lost. The toilets were full of girls weeping so much that the green and gold was streaming down their faces. And one of our teams were out of the Cup.
But not all of them- as an English girl living in Korea I still two more chances at victory for my teams. And an English victory was beginning to look believable. But it was Korea's turn to play next and I got up on Tuesday morning and went to Daejon with Jon to watch Korea vs. Italy. The stadium was a sea of red and it was the first time that I had been glad to be amongst the Koreans in the stadium. Mind you it would have been difficult to be with any other kind of fan- I saw a lone Italian flag here and there fluttering forlornly in the breeze generated by 38,000 Korean fans yelling 'Daehan Minguk' (The Republic of Korea') and 'Pilsung Korea' ('Victory Korea') and other assorted flag waving and drum beating activities.
And Korea romped home with the victory again. Again the game went to extra time and I just shut my eyes and whispered 'Please no penalties' over and over. I can't even begin to tell you about the atmosphere that night. We left the stadium after the game and watched it again at the train station. Arriving back at my flat at 5.30am we watched the game again. And again when I got up the next day to go to work. I was the coolest teacher in the whole hagwon once the kids found out and I showed them my ticket and photos. Cue another day of talking about soccer with the kids. Korea were now through to the quarter finals along with England.
England played on Friday afternoon and I had to teach during the game but Tim was very good and kept me up to date with text messages throughout what would turn out to be our last game in the 2002 World Cup. I had a running score on the corner of my board. After England had failed to score beyond the first Owen goal that had sent my hopes soaring (we had beaten Argentina after all, it was not impossible that we could beat Brazil) I went back to the teachers' room. Three of my kids came with me, one stroked my hair, another patted my shoulder and the third held my hand as they tried to make me feel better. The little sweeties had been following England's progress to share with their teacher and they were almost as upset as I was at their defeat. Even renaming my hermit crabs Beckham and Owen during half time hadn't managed to bring on an England victory.
The end was getting close now. That weekend took us to Gwangju where the first of the quarter finals were held. We went to the stadium and some of us had tickets and went in. The rest of us watched them go in and then went to try and find somewhere to watch the game. Sam had heard that there was a big screen beside a church so we headed that way- our back up plan was to join the people up on the roof of a nearby apartment block and see as much as we could of the stadium from there. Turns out that it wasn't beside the church but INSIDE it. So we watched the game with a very large crowd inside the church. I am sure that more prayers were said during that game than in the rest of that church's history. During half time we were given water and football shaped candy. And KOREA WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We walked back to the city to celebrate. It took about forty minutes and just as we were getting close a pickup truck pulled up with merrymakers on board and we climbed on and were driven all over Gwangju yelling 'Daehan Minguk' and 'Korea FIGHTING!!' to everyone. It was a lot of fun but slightly disappointing when we were finally dropped off nearly an hour later BACK AT THE STADIUM!! A taxi ride later we were back in town and on the batter. We were filmed by a local TV crew and just ran around the streets yelling 'FIGHTING' everywhere to everyone. It was a fantastic night and Gwangju was still hard at it when we left at 6am to go back to Mokpo.
We watched Korea's match in a local bar. We were all wearing our 'Be the Reds' t-shirts and various Korean flag paraphernalia- in my case I had a bandana with the flag on it and a large flag tied around my waist to complement my t-shirt but some of the girls had temporary tattoos and everything. But it wasn't enough and Korea were knocked out by Germany. They played again at the weekend for third place but conceded to Turkey. Brazil won on Sunday and finally the World Cup was over.
Now we don’t know what to do with our time!
I will get back to you soon with less soccer related news but to be honest for the last month it has been only soccer!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
posted by Helen @ 5:09 PM
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