Summertime

Ok, so I'm getting waaay behind in my posts. Summer is in full swing here, so just like back home, it seems like every minute is filled with activities. Some of the highlights: I went on a Han River boat cruise. The Han River is a giant river that cuts through the city and pretty much divides it in two. It's very beautiful (however dirty it may be) and there are lots of parks and trails lining it. There are also several places to hop on a boat cruise. We went on one at night when Geoff's sister was in town. It was nice. Nothing like the booze cruise in Milwaukee, but it was still nice. :)
This past weekend was another World Cup game for Korea against Switzerland. It was a crucial game, determining if Korea makes it to the second round. Since the games are being played in Germany this year, the times are all inconvenient. This game was at 4 a.m. on Friday night/Saturday morning. Since it was a weekend, about 10 of us decided to get a hotel room downtown in the midst of the action. We all live in the city, but the last game we watched from downtown we had to walk an hour and a half to my friends house afterwards because the public transportation was impossible. Couldn't get a taxi either for the life of us. Guess that's what happens when 640,000 people are watching it from the same location in the streets.
So anyway, we wanted to watch it outside in one of the squares again so we got a really nice hotel only a five minute walk from City Hall Square. Since it was a Friday night, we decided to just stay up all night to catch the 4 a.m. game. We went swimming in the hotel pool (which was the nicest pool/swim area I've ever been allowed to use) and then partied in our room as well as busted out the body paint---we were going alllll out for this game. We got out there around 3:30 am to be greeted again by masses of people in red. However, I don't know if it was the time or the way Korea was playing, but this game just wasn't as fun as the first one I went to. The crowd wasn't into it. It also didn't help that Korea lost. So that was a real letdown. The sun was coming up by the time the match was coming to a close. We even left a few minutes early as it was obvious Korea had lost. I crashed as soon as I got back to the room, but all of the guys we were staying with decided to go for a 6 a.m. dip in the hotel pool. I'm a tiny bit glad that Korea didn't win, just because I don't know if I could have mustered up enough energy to watch more games!
This weekend for my birthday we're going to check out one of the beaches on the West coast. I hope the weather cooperates!
Pics are from Han River and obviously the soccer game. And YES, I DO feel like I need to deface the Korean flag everytime I go out. (insert evil laugh here).