The True Meaning of World "Cup"
A Real Red Devil
Thursday, June 22, 2006
PHOTO: Public Health Campaign or Advertising Capmpaign? You Decide...
A Merchandising Empire Begins Below the Belt
The True Meaning of World "Cup"
A Real Red Devil
The True Meaning of World "Cup"
A Real Red Devil
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
JOURNAL: "Daehanminguk!" Aarghhhh!
I apologize in advance to my anxious readers. I am not dead, ill, or in a psychiatric ward somewhere...I have just been ridiculously busy. I am job-hunting in Korea; not an easy thing to do unless you want to work at a hogwon again. My time at POLY has been good, and I am not complaining much. I would probably have re-signed if a) I got more than ten days vacation and whenever I wanted it and b) it was in my best career interest. Instead, I am lookng for a solid "uni"(versity) job that pays the bills. This has been an enormous challenge, as well as nerve-wracking, paper-work intensive (no thanks to immigration), and downright annoying.
What is the problem? You may ask. After all, I have an MA in English, a BA in Theatre Arts, five years of teaching experience, and excellent references. I also meet the requisite blonde, blue-eyed, and youthful female. All I can figure out is that it is a highly competitive market out there. If "Dave's ESL Cafe" is anything to judge by, many people are tired of hogwons ripping them off. Some BAs DO get uni positions, which is why I can't figure out why I have gotten only two interviews lined up. I had to turn down the first job because it paid by the hour; I need a guaranteed salary. The second interview is by proxy as it is in Ulsan, the rough equivalent of Lansing, MI. This job I am extremely ambivalent about. If anyone out there knows of a university out there that wants to hire someone who is actually QUALIFIED to teach college-level English (and Theatre), please let me know!
But enough about work woes.
"Daehanminguk!" (clapclapclapclap CLAP CLAP) The battle cry rings out well into the night, and World Cup fever has swept the land. For those of us who cannot afford to fly to Germany, the city government of Seoul has helpfully set up giant screens at all the major stadiums, parks, and City Hall. In America, this would be courting disaster. In Seoul, this is courting large crowds. Are they drunk? Undoubtedly. Are they loud? Naturally. Are they rowdy? Well, not really.
Last Tuesday after work, I called my friend, who had gone down to check out the set-up at City Hall. Laura, who is Korean, said it was too crowded. Now, when a Seoulite says it is too crowded, IT IS TOO CROWDED. She was on her way back, so I called some of my coworkers who were at Olympic Park. They also said it was too crowded. Even so, after consulting Laura, we decided to brave the crowd at Olympic Park. We came in the back way, which turned out to be a brilliant move. The back way led us right to the front (logically), and we could see the screen perfectly from the sidelines.
A sea of red t-shirts, glowing devil horns (Red Devils), and interesting fashion statements was before us. To my surprise, most of the fans stayed seated. There was a current of anticipation running through the crowd, but it was decorously subdued most of the time. Don't get me wrong, when something exciting happened, people leapt to their feet and cheered, but the rest of the time they stayed seated. Being up front did have its downfall however; whenever Korea scored, the pyrotechnics went off right over our heads, and the ashes raineth down from the heavens.
I wore the requisite "Corea" T-shirt with a bandana scrawled with the excellent Konglish phrase "We are the twelfth!" Like many Waygooks, I though they were bragging about being twelfth in the divison; I late found out that it meant they were the twelfth member of the soccer team. I could not puzzle out the odd spelling of "Corea" I saw everywhere. All the Americans agree that it looks rather wimpy with a "C." I later found out why the spelling was changed from a random 3rd grader.
As many people know, Korea and Japan do not have a cozy history. Domination, forced prostution, murder, mayhem...Japan in general did not endear itself to many nations in the early 20th century. Japan has yet to formally apologize to Korea for what it did to them; this is not the issue. Apparently, during some sports talk, a Japanese sports figure sneered at the Korea team, saying that "J" will always come before "K." In response, a patriotic group of Koreans decided, "Fine. We will spell our name with a 'C'." Thus a new merchandising empire was born. I am reminded of the much older, but still violence-prone, Scottish-English team rivalries. They like to throw broken beer bottles at each other when there is a big game between the two; this apparently somehow stemmed out of England's massacre and take-over of Scotland in 1745. Old wounds leave scars.
Korea-style, the World Cup merchandising empire has, as usual, gone too far. Bandannas, devil horns, socks, t-shirts, even temporary tattoos sport "Support Corea" logos. I was not, however, prepared for the condoms. They all say "Open for Safety" at the bottom, and have the happy soccer balls of this year's World Cup logo stamped all over the package. One of the soccer balls has Korean War paint on his cheeks, and says, "Let's protect ourselves!" The list of strange Konglish phrases goes on and on.
On Monday morning, after a rough night, I finally fell asleep at about 3:00 a.m. At around 5:30 a.m., I was rudely awakened by screaming girl-elephants herding across my ceiling, as well as a general uproar on the city streets outside my window.
Korea had scored.
"Daehanminguk" go bragh.
What is the problem? You may ask. After all, I have an MA in English, a BA in Theatre Arts, five years of teaching experience, and excellent references. I also meet the requisite blonde, blue-eyed, and youthful female. All I can figure out is that it is a highly competitive market out there. If "Dave's ESL Cafe" is anything to judge by, many people are tired of hogwons ripping them off. Some BAs DO get uni positions, which is why I can't figure out why I have gotten only two interviews lined up. I had to turn down the first job because it paid by the hour; I need a guaranteed salary. The second interview is by proxy as it is in Ulsan, the rough equivalent of Lansing, MI. This job I am extremely ambivalent about. If anyone out there knows of a university out there that wants to hire someone who is actually QUALIFIED to teach college-level English (and Theatre), please let me know!
But enough about work woes.
"Daehanminguk!" (clapclapclapclap CLAP CLAP) The battle cry rings out well into the night, and World Cup fever has swept the land. For those of us who cannot afford to fly to Germany, the city government of Seoul has helpfully set up giant screens at all the major stadiums, parks, and City Hall. In America, this would be courting disaster. In Seoul, this is courting large crowds. Are they drunk? Undoubtedly. Are they loud? Naturally. Are they rowdy? Well, not really.
Last Tuesday after work, I called my friend, who had gone down to check out the set-up at City Hall. Laura, who is Korean, said it was too crowded. Now, when a Seoulite says it is too crowded, IT IS TOO CROWDED. She was on her way back, so I called some of my coworkers who were at Olympic Park. They also said it was too crowded. Even so, after consulting Laura, we decided to brave the crowd at Olympic Park. We came in the back way, which turned out to be a brilliant move. The back way led us right to the front (logically), and we could see the screen perfectly from the sidelines.
A sea of red t-shirts, glowing devil horns (Red Devils), and interesting fashion statements was before us. To my surprise, most of the fans stayed seated. There was a current of anticipation running through the crowd, but it was decorously subdued most of the time. Don't get me wrong, when something exciting happened, people leapt to their feet and cheered, but the rest of the time they stayed seated. Being up front did have its downfall however; whenever Korea scored, the pyrotechnics went off right over our heads, and the ashes raineth down from the heavens.
I wore the requisite "Corea" T-shirt with a bandana scrawled with the excellent Konglish phrase "We are the twelfth!" Like many Waygooks, I though they were bragging about being twelfth in the divison; I late found out that it meant they were the twelfth member of the soccer team. I could not puzzle out the odd spelling of "Corea" I saw everywhere. All the Americans agree that it looks rather wimpy with a "C." I later found out why the spelling was changed from a random 3rd grader.
As many people know, Korea and Japan do not have a cozy history. Domination, forced prostution, murder, mayhem...Japan in general did not endear itself to many nations in the early 20th century. Japan has yet to formally apologize to Korea for what it did to them; this is not the issue. Apparently, during some sports talk, a Japanese sports figure sneered at the Korea team, saying that "J" will always come before "K." In response, a patriotic group of Koreans decided, "Fine. We will spell our name with a 'C'." Thus a new merchandising empire was born. I am reminded of the much older, but still violence-prone, Scottish-English team rivalries. They like to throw broken beer bottles at each other when there is a big game between the two; this apparently somehow stemmed out of England's massacre and take-over of Scotland in 1745. Old wounds leave scars.
Korea-style, the World Cup merchandising empire has, as usual, gone too far. Bandannas, devil horns, socks, t-shirts, even temporary tattoos sport "Support Corea" logos. I was not, however, prepared for the condoms. They all say "Open for Safety" at the bottom, and have the happy soccer balls of this year's World Cup logo stamped all over the package. One of the soccer balls has Korean War paint on his cheeks, and says, "Let's protect ourselves!" The list of strange Konglish phrases goes on and on.
On Monday morning, after a rough night, I finally fell asleep at about 3:00 a.m. At around 5:30 a.m., I was rudely awakened by screaming girl-elephants herding across my ceiling, as well as a general uproar on the city streets outside my window.
Korea had scored.
"Daehanminguk" go bragh.
Friday, June 02, 2006
NOTE: More Traffic
I have now gone "public" with my blog. Below is posted a link to "The Korea Blog List" if you are interested in other people's adventures in Korea. My traffic will hopefully increase, and it gives me incentive to go back and edit all my typos out...
http://www.korea.banoffeepie.com
http://www.korea.banoffeepie.com
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