World Cup Fever

I know the World Cup is not really a big deal in US, but Koreans are fanatics about it! Ever since 2002, when they hosted the event, they get into a high-pitch fever about it. Randomly in class, kids will chant for Korea. The chant is "Day Han Mean Gook! clap clap! clap clap! clap!" Everyone knows it, and it didn't take me long to learn it. All the kids are wearing red shirts, supporting their team. Even businesses make their employees all wear the same shirt on certain days.

So Tuesday I went to see their first game against Togo. Korea eventually won 2-1. At the bar, at least half the people had red shirts on, including our group. They must've done the daehan mingoook cheer over 100 times during the game. At the end, the people went crazy! Our group went outside to see the streets filled with people, all in red shirts, some with red light-up horns on their heads. No cars could get past, they had to turn around. People were climbing up on telephone booths and subway entrance tunnels. Police arrived eventually, but they didn't need to do much, because Koreans are so well behaved. They just gently direct the crowds and the people know well enough. No fires, no tipping cars, no vandalism; just loud people filling the streets. Very interesting to watch; I doubt such a scene could happen back home. Any large gatherings I was witness to back in college ended in huge fires in the middle of the road, burning cars and furniture, and tear gas and riot police... Go Broncos!!!

Hapkido

Well, for whatever reason, I decided to start taking Hapkido, which is a Korean martial art. Maybe because I wanted some kind of exercise for everyday, or maybe because one of my best friends does it and she loves talking about it; either way, I had a coworker help me find a place to train. Found one about a 10 minute walk from my apartment. I'll get some pics of the place and my uniform sooner or later.

I am the only foreigner at this place (no surprise there) and I think I am getting preferential treatment. The main instructor, who is a 4th degree black belt (4th dan, or sa dan in Korean) can speak a bit of English, enough to help me. But we also rely on a lot of nonverbal - him showing the moves and what makes it effective. I think he is a really good teacher, and perhaps I am also a good learner at this point. In the class there are a few 3rd degree black belts, maybe 1 or 2 1st degree, a yellow and 2 other white belts besides me. Interesting point: the newest white belt is actually one of my students from school. He is 13 I think, so he likes to just run around and play a lot.

The school accepts everyone in with open arms. As part of breaking the ice and building a strong unit, we all went out for dinner after class one evening. We had sam gyoup sal (fried pork) and soju (Korean version of Saki, very very cheap, probably poisonous). After 1 1/2 hours of eating and drinking we went to a noraebang (karaoke in Japanese, literally means singing room). At first I was not very willing to sing songs, but after watching one of my other foreign friends go all out, I realized that its the most fun when you really get into it. I can't remember all the songs I sang, but we had a great time. I had to cheers with everyone several times, so I was pretty drunk. Thankfully, this all took place within walking distance of my apartment.

I can go to the class every night, after teaching finishes. I am usually able to go 3-4 nights a week, and even have the option of going in on Saturdays, which is nice. Its good to have a hobby, otherwise life becomes pretty boring here. And I don't want to be like some foreigners here who just drink all the time. I also started going to the beach recently and playing volleyball with another group of foreigners, so I'm finding things for fun and social activity. Maybe I'll post some pics of them next time!