It’s that time of year back home. That magical time when people gather together, grill meat, drink beer, and paint their bodies crazy colors. College football season. We miss many things from back in the states, but whenever our Facebook newsfeeds are plastered with pictures of tailgating and friends going to the games, we get a twinge of jealousy and homesickness. There is absolutely nothing like game day. The tradition, spirit, and camaraderie of people coming together to cheer and yell their team to victory makes a crowd full of strangers into your closest family.

This week we had Wednesday off due to Hangeul Day. Hangeul is the Korean alphabet, and they celebrate King Sejong’s creation of the language, separating them forever from Hanja, their adaptation of Chinese. It was decided that it was too difficult to read and write Hanja, so much so that only nobles could. Therefore King Sejong created Hangeul so that even the commoners could learn to read and write.

While wondering how to spend our day off, we learned about the many soccer matches occurring. We immediately got excited for a chance to attend a sporting event here in Korea, especially during a time where we feel so nostalgic for such things. We decided on the FC Seoul vs Suwon Blue Wings game since they are a big rivalry. Ryan got particularly giddy, since soccer is one of his favorite sports. He quickly got to business researching the two teams and deciding who he would cheer for. He finally choose the FC Seoul who were previously based out of our home-town-abroad, Anyang. In the spirit of rivalry, I decided to cheer for the Suwon Blue Wings, but Ryan says I’m just being cantankerous. We ruled the loser of the game to face a consequence, which you can see in the video!

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Soccer, football, futbol, game-with-zero-goals-after-90-minutes, the beautiful game; whatever you choose to call this sport, it is truly the world’s game. Soccer is played everywhere. It unifies every group of people, making this world agree upon a simple fact: we are bound together in this life, one way or another. Some links are more obvious, such as race, creed, religion. But in the spirit of sports and entertainment, we get passionate about 22 people running for each fan, trying their best. Except for those wankers athletes who play for Chelsea and Real Madrid. Who knows why they play.

Missing American football, we were really excited to attend a sporting event and cheer for strangers. We had a truly wonderful time and, although Ryan was wearing red in the blue section, we were unequivocally welcomed. The Suwon-FC Seoul rivalry is a big one, and we look forward to making this sport and these games somewhat of a tradition in our house. Every sports fan needs an outlet for their applause and derision, and we think we’ve found ours.

Be sure to check out the video to see the outcome of the game and who had to suffer public humiliation!