Civil War Soccer?

I couldn't say no. I wanted to. I needed to. But I couldn't. I was tired beyond belief. I was just getting over an evil Shanghai cold. I had a ton of work to do, but instead I went to go see North Korea play South Korea in a World Cup qualifying game. I think my expectations were a bit too high. Oh well . . . at least I got one of my favorite noodle dishes out of it : )

Although a huge group of us went, Denis and I committed a little too late . . . so we were on our own getting there. Part of the problem was that we had literally no money left. Well, that is a lie. We had 100 kuai between the two of us . . . that is about $14.70. Considering in the States, I often had no money on me, that should have been pretty good, but China is a cash economy. I use my credit card at Ikea, Carrefore, and Best Buy. That is it! So we ventured onto the bus (2 kuai a person--you can't beat that deal!) with our $14.

This was actually our most successful trip to date . . . and we did it all by ourselves : ) We took the bus to Shanghai Station South, got our 4 kuai subway tickets (again, how good is that) and then too the elevated line 3 almost to the end--we live in southwest Shanghai, and we had to go clear across to Northeast Shanghai. It was a long trip, like 45 minutes, but it is a neat way to get to see some of the city. All I can say, though, is thank God we were the first stop--that subway was jam packed within 3 stops. Having a seat was key.

Again, everything just went so smoothly. A friend spotted us the 400 kuai (no such a good deal) for the tickets. And just as we were walking out of the station, we ran into a group of Shanghai High School people and made our way over to the bar everyone was waiting at. Not so bad. This trip had potential for disaster written all over it, but disaster was avoided.


Walking into the stadium was probably the best part of the night . . . that sounds pretty lame, and kind of was, but it was still an unforgettable experience. The stadium is this huge, open-air monstrosity. So as we entered from platform that ran around the outside of the building, everything seemed to unfold before us. Never mind how surreal it was to have about 5 Chinese military officers for every one spectator, the place itself was empty. We all bought our tickets at the gate, and our seats were still a couple of rows back from the field.

It was fun to be with everyone is such a charged environment with all my whities (and whities at heart : ) But part of the reason we went was for the tension . . . and when you get down to it, it really wasn't what it should have been. After many botched attempts at communication, we found out that the South Koreans were boycotting the game because of the price of the tickets. I guess I understand, they were stupidly expensive (by China standards), but come on, suck it up and support your team. We did.

The South Korean fans that did make their way over were great. The kids were so funny. Every time they caught our eyes they would start posing for pictures and screaming "number one" and "Korea." The North Korean section would sit completely still until, all at once, they erupted in cheer. Then they were silent again . . . very militaristic team support :)



Some of the people we were with were getting rather obnoxious. It was kind of embarrassing. A few of us were worried about getting a solid ass kicking, so they decided to make friends with the South Koreans and prove that we did indeed support South Korea. They kept calling Christine "beautiful girl" : ) It made everyone happy.





I do wish they would have played some more soccer . . . for most of the game it was just sort of dump and run. I think there were four corner kicks in all. Maybe one penalty . . . it was boring. I wanted to see the aggression between the two nations played out on the field. Hardcore country hate. All I got was passive aggressive country dislike : (




The two goals were fun though . . . I would had felt really gypped if it was a 0-0 game. And the ride home was another adventure. Staying up until 1:10 to finish my vocab quiz and writing activity for the next day made it all worth it (sense the sarcasm : )