World Cup, Stanley Cup- Everywhere a Cup, Cup

Kristine, Min, Leslie & Reg (beer in hand)

For the next week, most Canadians will not be far from their TVs, as we watch in excited (and obsessive) anticipation to see if the Stanley Cup will find a home in Canada for the first time since 1993. But the rest of the world isn’t particularly concerned about the Stanley Cup, in fact they have no idea what’s happening in the world of hockey. Shocking, I know. The TVs of the world are set intently to live coverage of the World Cup.

Commercials have been running on Korean TV for months, gradually causing people to grow more and more excited about the upcoming games. In the 2002 World Cup in Korea/Japan, Korea’s team placed twelfth- better than they had ever done before. For four years they have waited for the chance to outdo themselves. Most of my friends are too young to have clear memories of the insanity that I’m sure took place last time Montreal won the Stanley Cup. But nothing I’ve seen in Canada could come anywhere close to what I experienced on Tuesday night.

After work, Min, Kristine, Leslie, Reg and I donned our red Devils shirts and made our way to Omokgyo for dinner. We ate dagalbi- a spicy chicken dish with daboki noodles, and stuffed ourselves full of kimchee. We made our way to City Hall, and got off the subway only to be greeted by a sea of red. We waited patiently to push our way through the turnstiles and up the stairs onto the street. People rushed about in anticipation of the game. Street vendors sold T-shirts, devil horns, banners and flags. We fought off the face painters who were intent on covering us in Devils tattoos. As far as the eye could see, the streets were lit up by the little horns that perched on everyone’s heads.



City Hall Subway











We fought our way through the crowd and finally arrived at City Hall. The streets all around had been closed down, and people sat excitedly waiting for the game to begin. We took a seat in the middle of a crosswalk, and waited. I’m sure it sounds perfectly comfortable, but I can assure you- it was not. Reports vary as to the amount of people that actually crowded the streets that night- but estimates at City Hall rest around 2.5 million… the entire population of the city of Montreal. Crowds had also gathered at the Olympic Stadium, and the Mok-Dong Stadium- it is estimated that 10 million people made their way to these venues to watch the game. So picture if you will, two and a half million people sitting in the vicinity of a few large TVs. There was not much room. I sat with my legs curled up to my chest, and at one point sat on my feet because there was not enough room for my big butt.





Min, Sun (in white), Leslie, Me and Kristine- when we had room.








Korean bands stormed the stage, provoking the crowd to move forward to get a better view. And they tried. In true Korean fashion, common sense was lost to emotion for just a minute. Two and a half million people stood up, and rushed towards the stage, hoping to catch a glance of their beloved singers. We stubbornly kept our seats, until the crowd began to push back. They had run out of room towards the front and the crowd was losing control. We sat and watched the panic cross the faces of those standing around us. The women were almost in tears- mothers tried desperately to protect their children. In the sea of red, a young Korean man stood out in his blue Ontario Maple Leafs shirt. We got his attention and took a picture, leaving him to question what made him stand out amongst two and half million Koreans. Finally we had no choice but to stand, and in a moment we were all struggling to sit down in an orderly fashion. And we did. Those who had gotten separated from their friends in the mayhem made their way through the crowd barefoot, making efforts not to step on anyone. Fireworks filled the sky and the crowd chanted “Taehamingu” (Korea). Three enormous TVs surrounded us and the crowd cheered as we watched the players take to the field. Anytime a Korea gained possession of the ball, the crowd screeched excitedly and gasped when a player fell to the ground. They booed the odd Togo player who looked as though he may have been responsible for any particular Korean falling to their knees. When Togo scored the first goal, not a sound was heard in the streets.





Streets outside City Hall- packed with vendors and devil horns.








The whistle went for half time, and I watched, baffled, as the entire crowd stood up to walk around. I couldn’t do it again. I wasn’t up for this orderly mosh-pit madness. We looked to see if we might find a place less crowded to watch the last half of the game, but navigating the streets proved impossible. Thankfully Min’s husband, Sun had worn a white shirt, so he stood out amongst all the red and we were able to stay together. We gave up and made our way to the subway- realizing that it would be next to impossible to make it home after the game. Frantic text messages followed from Kristine- Korea had scored! Cheering broke out in the subway, and groups gathered around anyone with TV access on their cell phone. We were on the subway when we heard Korea had scored again. And walking through the relatively peaceful streets of Kkachisan, we saw every TV was tuned to the game. The shop people that we have come to know over the past months, greeted us excitedly as we passed by- nearly crying they were so happy. Make-shift theatres had been set up in the streets, with TVs hauled onto the sidewalk and groups of people watching the coverage.

Pre-game shot









The differences between Canada and Korea had never been more clear to me. As I looked down at my red shirt, the phrase Reds go together was written clearly across the front. And they do. Korea has a sense of patriotism and community that simply does not exist in Canada. In Canada, tempers rise in a crowd and no matter what the event, large crowds will always give way to fighting or drunken stupidities. But here in Korea, I was able to sit in the street and watch the game with an enormous crowd without worries of violence. The only concern, like I said, was that people would try to move around- as though unaware that it should be any more difficult than usual to navigate the streets in front of City Hall. My Korean co-workers grew frustrated with people trying to find their friends after the impromptu rush of the stage and encouraged people to sit down. But there was never an argument, only an exchange. But even the circumstances of the gathering would never happen in Canada. I can’t think of any event that could possibly draw so many people to one place. Even the wins in the Olympics aren’t greeted with the same sort of patriotism. Perhaps because so many Canadians feel they have two homes- Canada and their country of birth. Maybe because we are so few, stretched out over such a great distance. Within our own groups and clusters we find our own ways to celebrate- usually gathering at a friend’s place or a packed bar. But here the sense of community was overwhelming. And it saddened me a bit that we would probably never experience this in Canada. Perhaps the only event that I can recall in recent Canadian history would be the masses of Canadians who flew to Montreal for the referendum of 1995, hoping to persuade Quebeckers to vote No. Gathering out of desperation, I suppose. Maybe sports aren't as important to Canadians as national unity? Maybe we are so accustomed to watching our NHL and CFL teams battle it out that we've forgotten that these teams represent cities, and not all of Canada. Maybe we leave blatant shows of patriotism to our American neighbours, and hold on to our quiet, defensive Canadian pride.

As I picked up my copy of The Korea Herald the next morning, hoping to clip some memorable pictures of the crowd, a photo on the top left cover of the paper drew my attention. It was my own face staring back at me. As I flipped quickly thru the paper, I found the article about the show. Three more photos surrounded the article, and they even spelled my name right! Obviously I've been in the paper before for different shows- but there is something quite satisfying about making it into the issue that features articles about Korea's first World Cup win. Our little photo on the cover was one of two - the other picture being of the winning goal. We opened on Thursday night to a small audience. We screwed up a few times- I say we, but in reality I had nothing to do with it. Perfect, as always. Last night we played to an all - Korean audience that missed most of the jokes and remained politely quiet. And so our show this afternoon will count as our first real performance. I'm off to the theatre- a la prochaine!