Soccer Sundays

I've been up bright and early watching most of the World Cup qualifiers come to an end this morning. Italy, Germany, Denmark, Serbia, Chile, Brazil, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Australia, Japan, North and South Korea, Spain, England, Netherlands, and Paraguay have all qualified for 2010.

The game that I am waiting for is the US v. Honduras match. With a win we will seal our spot for the World Cup. The game will kickoff at 11 AM and hopefully I can find a feed. I've been looking forward to the qualifiers wrapping up all week.


Other then that things are pretty quiet in Korea. 2 of my good friends are flying in next week from the US, so it will be get to see them. Work is going well and the kids are getting very excited about Halloween. Also I'm working on booking a flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia for winter holiday. Flight prices are all over the place so I am working with a few travel agents to find the best deal.

Looking forward to the USMNT win over Honduras.



Listening to The Airborne Toxic EventMissy.

Laundry

Down here in the Rabbit Hole (Korea) dryers are not a standard appliance for people. For 2 months I have been washing my clothes and sheets and then hang drying them. Personally I feel clothes just don't feel the same without being dried. After the wash they don't retain their shape and they have a rough feel to them.

So to my delight I stumbled upon a cleaners right down the street from my apartment. A few days ago I dropped off some dry cleaning and noticed 3 super huge dryers in the back. The man explained to me in a combination of Korean and English that they will wash and dry items for a flat fee. It was a bit on the expensive side but it sounded amazing. So I dropped off a hobo bundle of clothes and sheets wrapped up in my comforter.

Today I went in to pick up my hobo bundle and it was no longer in a bundle. My comforter, sheets, and underwear were folded neatly. All of my shirts were hung on hangers. But most important everything had been dried.

There were about 12 hangers of stuff and a bag with my comforter and sheets in it. The owner of the store grabbed the hangers and shuffled me out of the store. She proceeded to lock her shop and help me carry everything right to my door step. This alone will being me back to Eco Cleaners often.

As we were walking down the street together I couldn't help but think of the scene in the movie Home Alone where Kevin is staying in a hotel and desk person brings up a pair of his dry cleaned underwear and he freaks out because someone might have seen them. Now I didn't freak out but it just reminded me of that scene.

The whole experience put a big smile on my face. Makes me think that humanity still really does exist.



Listening to Karen O and the Kids Heads Up.

Korea v. Australia

The past weekend was super entertaining. On Saturday all of the soccer world shut down for World Cup qualifying matches. South Korea and Australia have both already qualified so they scheduled a friendly match here in Seoul. We got to the stadium around 7pm for a 8pm match because we still needed tickets and didn't know what things would look like attendance wise. As we got off the subway there was a super fun party atmosphere already in effect. There was a ton of people at the World Cup Stadium but it was no where near capacity. We grabbed tickets in the general admission section (₩10,000/$8.10) and wandered through the crowed courtyard.

There were lots of festivities taking place before the match. This one had a high potential of being awesome but we opted for heading to the ticket booth rather then get in line for this...



Free Hite beer before the game.


We made our way to the seats and settled in for the match. The Korean supporters section was out in full force. There was a solid sea of red just to our left that didn't let down the entire game. The first picture is before the match followed by one during the game.




The pride and joy of Korean soccer is Park Ji-Sung, who plays for Manchester United in England. He is also the captain of the Korean team. During the introductions the crowd erupted when his name was called. He played a large role in the Koreans to 3-1 victory over the Socceroos.



Since I've been in Korea that has been a buzz everywhere about Swine Flu. Posted in the restroom at the stadium was a friendly reminder to was your hands to prevent Swine Flu. It made me laugh.



South Korea v. Australia

Listening to fun.  At Least I'm Not As Sad (As I Used To Be)