World Cup in Korea! (Dae Han Min Guk!)

Now that it's over, posting on the World Cup is probably pretty dated (Go Spain!). Deal with it.

When Korea played, no matter what time of day here, random TVs and viewing audiences would pop up all over the place. Like here, at this "Buy the Way" convenient store near a bus stop on my way home:
On June 25, Korea played Uruguay at 11 pm Korea time. We went to a hotel near CoEx Mall for a happy hour wine buffet for Liz's birthday, then proceeded to stall and try to decide where we were going to watch the game. When we walked outside the hotel, we realized we were right where we should be!

There were huge screens all over the place and thousands of Koreans sitting, squatting and standing to watch the game. The road was blocked off, and it seemed the whole city shut down.

There was a commercial that played in Korea during the games that we called the "Korea Shouting" commercial. It had players from another team lined up to block a goal kick. You know how they usually cover their package with their hands? In this commercial, Korean fans were so loud (all the way from Korea), that the opposing team removed their hands from their normal location to cover their ears. There were also flashes of fierce African animals that were rendered helpless at the sound of all of the shouting.

I'd like to say that it was an exaggeration, but it's really not. When S. Korea scored a goal in any game, the entire country - every last man, woman and child - screamed with excitement. It's amazing how fierce and competitive this country is. Having been here for both the Olympics and the World Cup, it became very clear that S. Korea has a lot of pride in it's underdog of a country and it's participation on the world stage.

I was in Italy during the last World Cup, and it was intense for sure, but for some reason the World Cup in Korea was on a whole different level. It might have something to do with the population density, or it might be the super competitive attitude that this country has. I don't know. Either way, it has been an experience to watch.

We watched the game outside in the rain, so we had to buy ugly ponchos!

Then, it cleared up just in time for Uruguay to score their second goal. I told you how loud it was when Korea scored... the silence when Uruguay scored that second goal was more deafening than "Korea Shouting!"

It was kind of awkward. So we waited the moment of piercing silence out, then took a photo.

Here we are after the rain cleared, with pretty rain hair.

I wish I liked soccer more.