With the day off, sleeping in would be nice, but i had no problem waking up at 7 to catch a van into town with josh today. And im about fully sure that it is because today, in Durban, was a World Cup finals Match. Netherlands versus Japan, and that’s where we were headed. So quick checklist and makesure we had everything we need for our first ever world cup game. Vuvuzela: check. Game preview magazine: check. too much money for stadium food: Check. White headband with a red dot like a kamikaze: Check. Match Tickets: ...nope. this is where our day gets fun. We rocked up to the stadium about 2 hours before game time and having already experienced trying, and failing getting tickets to a game. this time, we had a plan. We made a simple yet effective sign. “we need tickets” and also made sure that we were already shirtless with our kamikaze bands in hopes our gaining the favour of any Japanese supporter selling his tickets. Not even 15 minutes of looking we found a guy with two extra tickets. Great! Except, He was asking a fortune, close to 200 dollars... each! So with a knot in our stomachs at the potential of missing out we turned down the offer and walked away. 5 minutes later, a second go. A couple from America were given their friends tickets who couldn’t make it. These guys weren’t out here looking to make a profit, just needed to get rid so they could enjoy the game. We lucked out big time, paying them less then the ticket value and that was that.
We were through the gate faster than they could change their mind and what’s cooler than walking towards the roaring Moses Mabhida stadium? Being stopped by a Japanese reporter from Kyodo news in Tokyo writing a article on Japan getting international support in this 2010 World Cup. He was curious basically why, two white boys were supporting Japan. And other than the fact that they were the underdogs, and we just wanted to wear the cool headbands we had to stretch to give him one. None the less, being recognized on international news is something that personally I am always
down with. Inside the stadium we were practically Japanese magnets to every group of Japanese fans who insisted on taking pictures with us, and as we watched the game, two Japanese fans in an entire section of Holland Orange, we cheered as loud and obnoxiously loud every time the advantage was in the Japanese favour. In the end, Netherlands won, and josh and I got to watch one of the strongest teams in the whole finals live. We found a taxi home, and met up with our friends. Told them all about the game and day, at a Chinese resturant, and then watched two Jackie chan movies to finish off our very asian day.
jagbyeol insa (Korean)
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