Wild Nights and Sad Losses

These pictures should have been up much earlier, but my camera has been under repair. Last Saturday was Korea's World Cup game against Switzerland. If they win, they go on, if they lose, they're out. The game started at 4am, so everyone was primed for one of those legendary Korean nights out. We went to a large, outdoor Soju tent to begin the night. These places are usually packed and you drink a lot of Soju, the mysterious liquor, and end up getting wild very fast. A group of about 20 foreigners went to the World Cup Stadium (so named because 4 years ago Korea hosted the World Cup and games were played in this stadium). We got there about an hour before the game and the only seats left were in the highest, nose bleed section. Thankfully, we are foreigners and as such, no rules apply to us. We were ushered into the front row where we decided, because of the hospitality, it was our responsibility to act a fool and give all the Koreans behind us a good show. Really, they were happy to sit us in front because this is a free opportunity to stare. The stadium packed in about 30-40,000 and they were all going nuts when we entered. We went down 1-0 in the first half and ended up losing 2-0. There really wasn't much for anybody to cheer for. The Koreans in attendance were yawning and visibly dejected whereas the foreigners kept on drinking and nearly forgot what was at stake. The interesting part was that, by the end of the game, it was completely light out yet I don't remember when this change started to take place. I just remember dark, then light. After the game, we walked amongst the somber Koreans and, because so many were going home at the same time, there was no transportation. We walked 2 hours and got home at 8am, losing one friend along the way. I later received a call from his phone when, as I found out later, he had fallen somewhere, bloodied up his knee and was taken to the police station. All this excitement and we lost the game. I can only imagine the craziness had we won.