Korea’s got World Cup fever… bad. Back in 2002, Korea had the honor of hosting the Cup AND placing 4th. Since then, the nation has been a particularly soccer crazy one—and I am completely loving every minute of it! I was in China for the last World Cup, in Jordan for the 2008 Euro Cup, and am now experiencing this year’s World Cup in Korea—- and though I’ve haven’t exactly been planning it out that way, I am starting to think I should turn this into a tradition, because it really is GREAT being in a country that actually *cares* about soccer for this event!
Soccer and the excitement of the World Cup, perhaps more than any other single sport, truly brings the world together. But, being from the one country who doesn’t share the rest of the planet’s intense love and passion for the game, I have always felt a bit excluded from that experience. Because while Korea has pop stars and Olympian figure skaters getting together to make special songs just for the event...
....we in American have Stephen Colbert making this:
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Sport Report - Soccer Debate - Marc Fisher & Mark Starr | ||||
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I personally have always gotten really into the games—and the emotional intensity surrounding me here only fuels my longstanding love for the sport. The US’s lucky draw with England completely wore down my nerves (and kind of made me want to punch things at times), while Korea’s upset over Greece was really exciting, and had me, along with the rest of Korea, feeling pretty elated. Random shouts of “DAE HAN MIN GUK!!” and “KOREA FIGHTING!” could be heard from *literally* every street corner that night, and not at all infrequently even in the days that followed. Ji-Sung Park, the super energetic 5’9” Manchester United midfielder who all of the Korean girls go ga-ga for, and all of the Korean boys aspire to be, is arguably the most loved and revered person in this country right now.
The most personally significant thing about this whole experience for me, though, has been my coming to the realization in watching the first round that I have developed the same sense of ownership and feelings of pride towards Korea’s national team that I feel towards the US. It has made me recognize just how attached and connected I have become to my mother’s homeland in my time here—which is great, because that’s exactly what I had hoped would begin to happen when I made the decision to come.
...And in other related news, I told my students that if any of them could learn this dance and perform it for me before the World Cup is over I would give them a big prize.
No one has taken me up on it yet, but I *have* spotted a few groups of kids practicing :P
Korea fighting!!! v(^_^)v
I love the Colbert clip!!!!!!! Shaun is really into the world cup too. He watches the games at work while he does stuff on his computer.
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