NoKo v. SoKo - Sunday June 22, 2008

Jenna and Jeremy headed out earlier than I was willing to wake up, so I stayed and slept until 12:30PM-ish. My goal for today...veg. So, I went to take a shower, lied around in the baths for a while, messed around on the internet for a while, and talked to Lauren while hanging out on the third floor of the jimjilbang. Oh, I also ate an egg...not just any egg...a jimjilbang egg. They are left in the hottest sauna they have at the jimjilbang to slowly bake.

Around 3:30PM, Ray called me. I decided to meet up with him and Jen near Gangnam, where they were meeting one of our teachers from orientation. Bang Sansaengnim is definitely married and pregnant now. Through me for a loop. I was a little late meeting them because I stopped on my way through Seoul Station to listen to a Native American playing pipes. He was incredible, so of course, I had to buy one of his CDs.

The four of us walked around for a bit and then had to quickly say goodbye to both Jen and Bang Sansaengnim because Ray and I had to head the opposite direction. I was meeting some friends to go to a soccer game, and Ray decided to try to get tickets.

I got a phone call from Allon saying he was going to be a little late getting back. We had planned on meeting for dinner, but he was stuck in traffic coming back into Seoul from the water park in Everland. Traffic was nasty today...nastier than usual. I, instead, met Allon's friend Jake at the subway stop and we hung out (ie. Went to the grocery store nearby to get me some food since I hadn't eaten all day) until Allon and Anna could meet up with us. Allon, from South Africa, and Anna, from Korea, are the two I met at the Sharing House last weekend. Allon's friend Jake is the one who got us the tickets to the game between North Korean and South Korea, a world cup qualifying game. The four teams in the group are Jordan, Turkmenistan, North Korea, and South Korea. Really NoKo and SoKo are 1 and 2 of the group, so they will both advance to the next round no matter what the outcome of this game was.

This is the first soccer game I have ever been to...how fitting that it be between NoKo and SoKo. We speculated as to how in the world North Koreans were there to support their team. My thinking is that in NoKo, there are different classes/levels of people. There are those who are highly trusted, those who are basic civilians, and those who are closely watched by the government. My guess is that those who are highly trusted, most likely supporters of the government are the ones who were allowed to come cheer on their team. In addition there were quite a few non North Korean supporters supporting NoKo. Interesting.

Ray managed to get a ticket, but for some reason they wouldn't give him a ticket for the section we were in (they said it was full, but it was nowhere close to it), so he just got a random ticket. I took Allon's ticket out to Ray to get him into our section. Sneaky and it worked. I think it might have been easier because we are foreigners or the ticket checkers just didn't care. ^_~

The game, unfortunately, ended 0-0. Ray and Anna left a little early to miss the crowds. Allon and I left together shorty after them, but we went the wrong way...away from the subway. When we figured it out, we were right in the thick of the crowd. We got to the subway and right after Allon finished telling me that even though Koreans tend to be pushy, they are much more polite after games...we were like a school of salmon being pushed up and into a giant metal holding cell. My only reaction...to laugh. I had a huge smile on my face the entire time. I found it nothing but hilarious. At the stop Allon got off at, so did about half of the people on the subway. I did a little swimming/flapping maneuver to show Allon that I now had room to move. Haha!

Allon is hilarious. Sadly, he is leaving in only 3 months. I suppose that's the consequence of making foreign friends...they all leave at some point. There are a few lifers but very rare.

The game had started at 8 and finished around 10...no way to make it back to the bus station in time. Plus, I already bought my return ticket for 6AM tomorrow. So, I made my way back to my home away from home...good ol' jimjilbang behind Seoul Station. My goal is for them to start to recognize me when I go there and eventually ask for a discount. Ha! Not really, but a discount would be nice. It's a more expensive jimjilbang, because it is really nice AND you can actually sleep versus the alternative of not sleeping at most other jimjilbangs. Here, there are individual little bunk beds, and there are two separate rooms for men and women. Couples can sleep on any of the other floors together, but there isn't a room for couples. Sometimes it's funny to walk down and see the scandalous positions Korean couples get into. By scandalous I mean..normal cuddling stuff for us. I think it is more accepted in jimjilbangs though but usually is only seen with younger couples.

I tried to catch up in my blog a bit in the PC lab then went to bed around 12:30AM.

Oy vey...wake up call in T minus 4 hours.

Peace out.