Korea Red Devils

One thing I have come to really love about Korea is how they are so supportive of all things Korea. Whether it be the validity of Kimchi being eaten at every meal to national sporting events, Koreans show their complete and total support. Last night Jack decided to see just how serious they were.

At 3:00 am our time Korea faced off with Nigeria. Although, it wasn't an outright win, Korea was able to win the advancing nod from world cup officials. They advance to the next level of play. Throughout the country people came out in droves to watch the game. No crowd was greater in Gwangju, than that of Guus Hiddink field. Gwangju's world cup stadium was filled with 20,000 people last night all just to watch the game on the huge monitor. Vendors lined the streets surrounding the field. Fans donned their red flashing horns and body paint and the game began. It started at a sleepy 3:30, but by dawn everyone was wide awake again with the news of advancement. I threw Jack's pictures and video clips together into a quick youtube video for you to see. Also I took a few pictures from Seoul to add some flare at the end. :) Enjoy.

Go ahead and add B&E to my rap sheet

Since my parents have been here we have tried to take them to the more beautiful areas of the city of Gwangju. These have ranged from the super traditional Yangdong Market to a Kia Tigers Pro Baseball game. Today we decided to have a little fun as well. We heard from a friend there is a Danish hot dog restaurant in the World Cup Lotte Mart. We decided to check it as well as the stadium out. For those of you who do not know, South Korea put in a bid for the 2022 FIFA world cup games. As a result, there have been beautiful stadiums built throughout the country. One of the most beautiful is the Guus Hiddink Stadium. It was originally built for the 2002 games. The stadium was renamed to honor the Korean national team coach after their victory in the stadium over Spain advancing them to the semi-finals. It is considered one of the most beautiful FIFA stadiums in the world.

Much to our chagrin, the stadium was under total and complete lock-down. So Jack and I decided to go stealth. We went through the press office building to their private entrance to the stadium. The doors were unlocked there, so technically it isn't breaking an entering. Trespassing at best. haha! We didn't see any posted signs warning against trespassing, but then again if we had, we wouldn't have been able to read them. As a result, we got our own private tour of the entire stadium ranging from ground level to up in the decks. :) Enjoy the pictures!