World Cup Field Set

The field of 32 is finally set.

AFC

* Australia
* Japan
* Korea DPR
* Korea Republic

CAF

* Algeria
* Cameroon
* Côte d'Ivoire
* Ghana
* Nigeria
* South Africa

CONCACAF

* Honduras
* Mexico
* United States

CONMEBOL

* Argentina
* Brazil
* Chile
* Paraguay
* Uruguay

OFC

* New Zealand

UEFA

* Denmark
* England
* France
* Germany
* Greece
* Italy
* Netherlands
* Portugal
* Serbia
* Slovakia
* Slovenia
* Spain
* Switzerland

It looks like June is going to be awesome! Looking forward to the draw on December 4th.

Also scored tickets to see Muse on Jan. 7th!

Things are looking pretty good right now.





Listening to Radars to the Sky I Might.

Busy Weekend

Time is ripping past like a wild animal and this weekend did just the same. The last few Saturdays I've been playing soccer at a local park. It's been great being able to run around for a few hours.



My friend David took this shot. Check out some of his other stuff. It's pretty awesome.

Saturday evening Crystal and I went to Yeouido Island to check out the 63 Building. The building itself is 63 stories tall and you can see all of Seoul from the top. We didn't make it to the top but we did get as far as the 60th floor. There was an art exhibit at the Sky Cafe and 360 degree views of the city.



The exhibit was pretty cool also. There was a variety of work there and even a few Warhol pieces. I'll probably end up back at the 63 Building because there was a ton of other things to do there, including a wax museum and aquarium.

Sunday we took an hour bus ride from Bundang to Yongin to check out Everland. It was really cold outside, like in the 40's so there was hardly anyone at the theme park. The country is also really worried about swine flu so that could have played into the lack of people also. The rides were geared towards a slightly younger crowd but there was still plenty for grownup children to do also.

They were still transitioning to their winter motif so some of the things were not fully set up. It appears there will be sledding and stuff like that to do in the near feature. One of the rides that really caught my interest was the Safari Bus Ride. Basically a group of people load on to a mini bus and travel to a back section of the park. Freely wandering are a variety of super cool animals. There were bears, white tigers, lions, and LIGERS!!!!





Overall it was a pretty solid adventure. Everland is definitely worth the voyage to get to. The safari ride on its own is enough.


Listening to Ryan Adams Karina.

63 Building
Everland

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.

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)

FC Seoul

Saturday evening 7 of us made the journey to the World Cup Stadium in Seoul to watch FC Seoul host Ulsan. We got a late start but made it to the stadium at the end of the first half. The stadium itself was beautiful. It was built when Korea and Japan co-hosted the 2002 World Cup.




The stadium was about half full and we sat in the general admission section near the FC Seoul supporters. The supporters section was a sea of black and red and had an awesome amount of energy. They stuck around for the entirety of the game and showed their passion even when Ulsan took a 2-0 lead.

The game ended in a 2-0 loss for Seoul. Something that I found really cool was the team made a point of going to each section of the stadium and acknowledged the fans who were there.

Overall it was an entertaining adventure. We decided that next time we needed to find a bus that would take us out to the stadium because in the end we spent more time traveling then we actually did at the match.




                                               Thanks Andy!

After the game there was an intense kawi bawi bo (rock, paper, scissors) match that took place. Loser had to lay down at the subway door before it opened. It was pretty silly.




"Come on out. Oh, the weather outside is weather." Make's me laugh every time.