Well until last night, World Cup season was in full swing. The Koreans go absolutely crazy for their soccer team here. For the opening game we went to a bar in Jongno. There were many other outdoor places like COEX and City Hall that were showing the game, but it was raining so we decided to go inside. The bar was extremely hot and crowded, but we got seats. It was really exciting to watch, and the Koreans at the bar would cheer for just about anything that happened. Luckily the game was at 8:30 PM so we were up for the whole game (and then some). It was a huge party when they won, people int he bar were dancing, we all got free shots, there were hundreds of people dancing and cheering on the street. We stayed afterward and watched the Nigeria - Argentina game, Daniel was sad that they lost. We were going to try to stay up for the America game which was at 3am, but when it got closer to 2am Alex and I decided that we were too drunk and tired to stay up so we went home.

The next game was on a Tuesday at 8:30 PM, and I was a loser that day and just stayed in and watched it. There is a big soccer field by my house and they put up a big screen and a lot of Koreans and their families went and watched it there. The next game was at 3:30am! I got up to watch it but fell asleep during the second half. A LOT of people got up to watch the game. And although I fell asleep, I woke up when all the people outside were cheering. Even some of my kids the next day said they stayed up and watched the game. We tied that game with Nigeria so Korea went on to Stage 2.

Last night Korea played Uruguay at 11 PM. We decided to go to City Hall with the big crowds. It was raining the whole time, and even though we had ponchos we got really went. The ground was covered in trash and wet cardboard, it was gross. But we had a lot of fun. There are not open container laws in Korea so we just got some beer at 7-Eleven and drank while watching the game. There were a lot of people there despite it raining. The crowd was really loud too, and a lot of Koreans would get excited to see us cheering on the team. I even know one or two of the songs they cheer in Korean. Unfortunately Korea lost 2-1 and everyone was really disappointed. We kept holding on to our hope until the very last second :( Luckily they kept the subway open until 2am (it usually stops at midnight) so we were able to take the subway part of the way back.

It was a great experience to be in Korea for the games. They have a lot of national pride, and they get very excited about soccer. There was a big sense of camaraderie during game time, even amongst the foreigners. I can't imagine Americans getting this excited about our games back at home.