World Cup Craziness

Dae-ha-ming-gu! Dae-ha-ming-gu!!

Last night was amazing. We had SUCH a good time cheering for the South Korean team in the World Cup. It was so great that they won against Greece - the entire city went nuts, pouring out into the streets. We were quite pleased that we got to be a part of it.

We left late in the morning, to fully acquire our Red Devil gear. My parents had kindly bought Nick and me shirts but we wanted more. We all went and got temporary tattoos, scarves, and red horns to put on during the game. We roamed over to Itaewon in the rain and chowed down at our favorite Indian restaurant. Nick and I spoke some with the owner, who is from Kashmir, about our upcoming trip to India...we are getting very excited for that and he shared our excitement for a brief while. It was very nice of him.


After stuffing ourselves with the delicious spicy curries and butter chicken, we went around Itaewon looking for some more souvenirs for Daren and Phil to take home. Then it was time to head over to Sinchon to go to Beer O'Clock, a pub and bar that was supposed to be a good place to watch the game. We wanted to also watch the Argentina-Nigeria game and possibly stay until the wee hours of the morning to see the USA-England game. Daren and Phil ended up staying (Daren is a big soccer fan), but Nick and I made it back home before the 3:30 am game commenced.


We were excited to watch some good soccer matches, and Beer O'Clock ended up being the perfect place to do that. We secured a large table right underneath the television. Friends showed up and we enjoyed the company. We scarfed down delicious pizzas and blew up our thunder sticks so we could lead the bar with Korean chants and cheers. When Korean scored against Greece the first time, literal sirens went off in the bar. We had such a good time.


When the final whistle blew and Korea had beaten Greece 2-0, the whole city reduced to hysterically happy mayhem. We went out onto the streets - the rain had ceased and traffic was stopped as people poured out of every building to parade down the avenues. We followed along, chanting and high-fiving everyone who surrounded us. It was an amazing experience.


After finding more friends randomly on the streets we all returned back to Beer O'Clock to watch the Argentina-Nigeria match. We made it through the match but by then most of the adrenaline had left us and it was time for Nick and I to go home and sleep. We left the boys behind and had a much needed rest. The boys stayed up to watch the USA game and came home happy but exhausted.

Today, we've taken it easy. We had bulgolgi next door for lunch and now the boys are getting ready to get on the 3200 bus back to the airport. Their vacation has ended and it is time for them to return to the States. Which means it is time for Nick and I to finally catch our breath and relax for a few short hours before our Sunday is over and school starts again tomorrow.