World Cup, Korean Style

Unfortunately the World Cup is not every year, cus the month it's played is my absolute favourite. In all my 25 previous years of life, which include 6 World Cups, I never had the chance to experience it from up close. So last summer in Germany it was finally time to absorb the passion of the biggest sporting event in the world. Luckily I made some new friends at the end of the 2005 summer and one of them had tickets for two World Cup games of the Korean national team. Ok, she didn't have extra tickets for me, but she convinced me to tag along to see if I might be able to get one there and to keep her company of course. One of the better decisions in my life!
The first match was France vs Korea in Leipzig. Once we arrived there the atmospher was already amazing with fans from both countries singing and the streets waving their flags. No clashes between fans, verbally nor physically, which is great for a change. The Koreans were singing their songs in the tram towards the stadium and that gave me goosebums all over. Finally there, I had to find a way to get into the stadium. It was my lucky day, a group of Frenchies approached me with a ticket their friend wouldn't use. My first reaction was: I want it for sure, who cares about the money! So I quickly came up with the 100 euro's the wanted for it and collected my ticket. The prize wasn't too much, it was the exact same as it was printed on the ticket itself. My friend was of course rooting for Korea and sitting with the Red Army. Me myself on the other hand ended up in the middle of a blue see. Of course I was prepared and pulled out my France jersey to fit in perfectly.
The stadium in Leipzig is amazing! The walk up the stairs and before that over the grass towards it looked great. The view, even from way up was perfect and the sound of the singing fans was very good. Eventhough the game wasn't all that spectacular, I was really excited and hyped up afterwards. My first real life World Cup experience was absolutely top notch!

The second game I watched was Korea vs Switzerland. Again the atmosphere before the game was incredible. Hannover turned completely red as it is both countries colour. Every where were people dressed up with painted faces, flags, jersey's and making noise. I had no ticket for this game and absorbing the pre-game festivities I had to get into that stadium as well. My first pickup was a Korean jersey for 30 euro's, which is cheap. My second was the ticket and that was not as easy as the first time. Many people were selling at ridiculous prizes: between 100 and 300 euro's for 30 euro tickets. In the end I found some Koreans that had to get rid of a ticket and we convinced them to sell it at 150 euro. Actually that prize was way too much, but I was determined to get in. I probably wouldn't find one cheaper anyway. This game I was seperated from my friend as well and ended up in the Swiss corner with my Korean jersey. I didn't really care and neither did they. I was cheering for both teams and jumped and partied with the people around me when Senderos headed in the winner. It would have been better to see the Koreans win, cus in that case my friend would have been much happier. On my way home I was still in awe about the whole World Cup experience. The Germans did a great job hosting it, the atmosphere was amazing and all I could have wished for. The only thing I have to improve about this is watch a Holland game next time.
I'm glad I made some nice Korean friends that showed me the Korean way of things. Included was a passion for football. The land that adores Guus Hiddink and brought the likes of Park Ji-Sung and Seol Ki-Hyun to Europe is a defenite stop at a future trip. I'll give kimchi another try then!