Day 164..first Korean football game (soccer)

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FCSeoul

I went to the gym today. I walked at various speeds on the treadmill for 45 minutes. I burned 45 calories. It was probably useless going to the gym anyway when I ate at Mcdonalds afterwards. At least I'm being active.

Today I went to my first Korean football game at World Cup Stadium in Seoul. I loved it! The team's name is FC (football club) Seoul. In South Korea, Soccer is called football. I got the 8,000 won ticket(@$6 usd) and was sitting at the North end. I'm glad I got the cheap ticket. All the action was happening in the North end. There were tons of empty seats in other sections of the stadium. I think the North side was the fullest. It would be awesome to see the stadium full(it holds 66,000).

Right before the game all the fans were cheering and singing a song. The song sounded a lot like "if youre happy and you know it". Same tune except it was in Korean so I don't know what they were really saying. When they are introducing the players the fans yell that persons name and cheer. At the beginning of the first quarter and the second quarter there were fireworks. very cool. It was too quick for me to take a picture. Just one small firework and then they would throw confetti. They would also throw confetti and the fireworks would go off when they scored a goal.

I loved the game because the fans are so into it. They are constantly cheering. They have signs, flags, jerseys, scarves, noisemakers(to distract the other team). They use the noise makers when the other team is close to their goal. A lot of people were cheering on the north end. A lot of them stood up for the whole game. I stood up for most of the game. There were a few guys down front who were leading the cheers. They had megaphones and they would tell the crowd when to start and stop a cheer. They weren't cheerleaders-no uniforms. They just led the cheers. It was cool to see everyone so excited and into the game.

During half time there was a guy who proposed on the screen. There was a prerecorded message from him in Korean then the camera panned over to him and his girl and he proposed. During half time they were also stopping the camera on random couples and they would kiss for the camera. I could understand what they were saying. They would say "couple" when the camera would stop on a couple. Then they would say "kiss".

FC Seoul won the game 2 to 1.

Their next game is June 20th. I'm definitely going back. I think I will get there earlier so I can get a good seat right in the middle of all the cheering. I got there at 7:45 and got a decent seat but I want to be closer to the field for better pictures and I want to be right in the middle where all the action is.

I think I saw my neighbor at the game (the football coach). I don't know if it was him but he sure did resemble him. I think my neighbor has longer hair although is possible he got a haircut in the past month. He didn't notice me although he walked past me twice. Maybe it wasn't him. I wasn't going to try to see. I can't just walk up to some random Korean that I think looks like my neighbor esp when I can't speak Korean.

How to go: Subway Line 6-World Cup Stadium--Exit 2

Prices: 8,000, 12,000 and 20,000

Website: http://www.fcseoul.com/eng/index_eng.jsp