so this post is a week late, but seriously i have been otherwise pre-occupied. unless you live under a rock (or are an american) it’s the soccer world cup. ayoba! feel it, it is here : )
i’ve totally devoted myself to the soccer world cup which means all my lessons are world cup related and i stay up at all hours of the night to watch the games. i don’t watch ALL the games because then i would be a zombie and those of you who know me, know i’m sport-crazy. but i do have two teams to support, and support them i do. south africa and south korea both hold special places in my heart. one is my home and the other is my home away from home.
last weekend seriously was all about the soccer, basically if i wasn’t watching soccer i was sleeping. on friday night watched the south africa – mexico game in a bar with some other south africans. i painted myself a t-shirt, put on some cheetah ears and headed over to santa claus (that really is the name of the bar, and the there’s eff-all to do with christmas) to watch the game. oh the ecstasy and the agony of those two goals. there were actually some mexicans in the bar too and we exchanged some nasty looks. but the vibe was overwhelmingly south african especially as we took control of the music – basically you go to the computer, pick a song on youtube and that’s what plays. i also found my first foosball table in korea, so am definitely going back there.
that night ended late so the next day slept late and then got up and ready for round two. this would be a soccer all-nighter. starting with korea against greece which we would be watching at the world cup stadium in daejeon. caught a bus and a subway, stopping along the way to buy some reds (korean team) pharaphenelia. watching the game in the stadium (albeit on big screens) was probably the closest i could come to being at the world cup. everybody was decked out in their gear , we were all given balloon battons that you clap together, there were mascots, fireworks, bands and huge korean flags. of course everybody there was supporting korea so when we scored a goal the whole stadium went crazy.riding back on the subway was great – a real feeling of camaraderie and euphoria (we won btw).
but that was just the first game of the night, we still had argentina vs nigeria, then america and england at 3.30 am. those we watched in bars with big screens. i’m ashamed to say i dozed off during the last game but it was a bit of a boring game. after all that soccer and very little sleep, i slept most of sunday. in the evening had a girly night and went to watch the new sex and the city movie, which was great. it’s important to have balance in life : ) of course after the movie we went and watched the ghana – serbia game.
in the week i only had soccer lessons with my students. we made surveys of best player, who will win the world cup, worst team, and what do you think about vuvuzelas. it’s funny how they all had basically the same answer. best player: park jisung (korean player), who will win the world cup: korea (although a very small minority believe brazil), worst team: north korea or japan. vuvuzelas: most of them didn’t like but some did. i also showed them different world cup advertisements and we would discuss them, particularly the pepsi one where they play in a makeshift field in the veld. a friend of mine made a really cool video of us at the stadium watching the game so i showed them that, they totally freaked out and some of them actually thought i had flown back to south africa for the weekend… if only.
but around thursday all this soccer excitement took a bit of dive. woke up at 3 am, collected the 2 other saffas in my building and watched the game in my room. my friends in daejeon pulled an all-nighter and stayed out, but i’m not brave or strong enough to do that so set my alarm and forced myself to get up. well we lost and the goalie got a red card etc. i was pretty depressed about it, and i know i wasn’t alone. at school it was hard to be cheerful, especially as i was sleep deprived but eventually got amped for the korea game that night. went through the cheers with my students and drank lots of hot six (korean red bull). that night headed off the the stadium again and really loved the vibe again. unfortunately korea lost as well. both my teams in one day! well that’s soccer for you – one minute you can be on top of the world, the next utterly crushed. thank god i only get obsessed during the world cup. i don’t think i’d be able to handle it otherwise…
i’ve always been a fan of the world cup, world cups (or any kind of cup) are generally the only time i get really excited about sport. i’m just not very sporty. i do enjoy watching some rugby and some soccer sometimes but i wouldn’t cancel or revolve my plans around a game. not so during a world cup. the last world cup i was overlanding in africa with my family in africa (namibia, zambia, botswana) and me and my sister carefully planned with my dad that we would be near a tv during certain matches. as a result we did have some interesting viewing experiences.
the reason this world cup is doubly or even triply special is because it is in south africa. this is a pretty huge deal for us south africans… our country needs some positive vibes and unity and to show the world that we are awesome. there were many naysayers who were forecasting a disaster, and there were definitely many obstacles to overcome. but it’s happening right now and so far so good. for every naysayer there was an optimistic believer and i’m happy to say i fell in the second category. i’m an eternal optimist anyway so it’s not really hard. i was so excited for the world cup to be in south africa because when i was envisioning the event i saw myself there. so how did i end up in another country while it was our country’s time to shine?
i had meant to do this teaching english thing a year or two earlier than now. actually even earlier if i had finished university when i was supposed to (oops). but things didn’t work out that way and after delaying so long i felt i really couldn’t delay any longer. there was always going to be something that was going to be a reason to stay whether it be family, friends, boyfriend, afrikaburns, rocking the daisies, or summer in cape town … so after missing two self-imposed deadlines i decided it would be third time lucky. and took the plunge.
i must say in the week or two leading up to the world cup i started to seriously doubt that decision. cnn had a countdown to 2010 and thus was constantly broadcasting anything and everything to do with south africa and the world cup. it was around this time that i actually seriously started to get homesick and may even have shed a tear or two. it was a bit of an emotional roller coaster ride of extreme excitement that it was finally here being the high and the low was dealing with the fact that i was missing out on this momentous occasion and having a constant reminder of that fact.
luckily i wasn’t alone. i have made some lovely south african friends here and most of us were sharing these feelings. so we compensated by getting really really really excited for the world cup. it was definitely helped by the awesome pre-world cup south african braai in seoul that was put together by a group/organization of facebook. from then on in it was all systems go. we bought zakumi t-shirts and key chains. we planned a place to watch the opening match. we shared links on the internet about how to do the diski, where to watch the world cup opening concert. basically behaving like south africans in south africa.
along the way we have even made honorary south africans out of our irish friends. they came along to the braai and have been supporting SA all the way. they’re even learning some afrikaans : )
i’m definitely going to be exhausted when this is over but it only comes once every four years and i say viva ayoba!!
