World Cup Mania

It has been a long time since I last blogged. I think about it often, but it has been a busy month and every time I think about starting to write it is usually right about the time I should be going to bed and so I never start. Well, this month has been quite a month filled with mostly good adventures with a few challenges mixed into it. It is almost hard to know where to start, and most likely I will break this blog into a few blogs because I will get too overwhelmed writing it all. I will start with the World Cup mania I have experienced in Seoul.
It is a safe bet to say that of all the countries in the World Cup America is one of the least enthusiastic supporters of the sport. The fact that we are the only ones to call it soccer and not football says a lot in itself. Well the country of Korea goes crazy for the World Cup! Being that I am here in Seoul, I thought it best to join in the enthusiasm of the World Cup and cheer Korea on. The day of the games the whole country stops its normal daily routine and goes into World Cup pandemonium. The first South Korea game Toriann, Casey, Megan and I met up with one of my new friends and his co-workers at a bar in Itaewon and watched the game. The crowd was a fairly decent mix of foreigners and Koreans. It is amazing how easily I can get caught up in a sport and truly enjoy watching it. I think I get this trait from my Mom! This evening of watching the World Cup was the beginning of our obsession with the World Cup. South Koreans have a cheer they say, which in English means, “Go Korea.” My kids taught me the cheer and clap one day at school so I was better prepared to join in the next time I watched a game. The next World Cup game with Korea in it was on a Thursday evening so Toriann and I headed to a bar in our co-workers neighborhood after yoga and this place quickly became our new favorite place to watch the games. We returned there the following night to watch the U.S. and then again the next night to watch North Korea. We also went on Monday and Tuesday of the following the week, making that five times in a manner of one week. The girls who work there now know us and our beer preference. The last time we went to Orange Tree (or as I refer to as Orange town) was for the night of the South Korea game and then a few hours later to the U.S. game. It was quite a depressing evening since both teams lost. We are headed there again tonight (Saturday) for the Germany vs. Argentina game.
Through this time of the world cup I gained a new insight into how South and North Koreans feel about each other. I assumed that South Koreans would not be cheering for North Korea. However, I quickly learned this was not the case. South Koreans were very upset when North Korea lost. While we were at Orange town watching the game there were a few Koreans there cheering for North Korea. This was my first clue that I was mistaken in who South Koreans would cheer for. On Monday I went to work and talked with some of my Korean co-workers and they expressed their sadness for North Korea losing. Through my conversations and observations I learned that South Koreans still feels attach to North Koreans since it was really not that long ago that were one country. Many South Koreans have family in North Korea and thus want to support them. It is really just the government they do not support, and rightfully so. Being from the U.S. and only knowing what I hear in the U.S. news about South and North Korea I never would have understood this or ever thought this to be true. When I have these moments and learn something new about a culture and country it reminds me why I enjoy traveling so much and why it’s so important to me.