expiration date 

the day started early, like around 00:03 in the morning, as i left the apartment to BLUE in koreatown. so many people wearing red. i feel out of the league as i wear baby blue shirt. cia, stan, michael and daphne was already on the front of the looooong line trying to get into the bar. two big funny bouncers kept trying to explain it to us, that we should not standing in front of the door… and the bar is already too full for us. cia and the crew has been standing there for 45 minutes… all that to watch the Korea vs. Spain game.

people were trying very hard to cut the line and telling the bouncers that they “know the owner”, as we just stood there watching. one of the bouncer felt bad as they saw cia and the crew has been standing there for a long time, he kept saying that he’ll make sure that we would get it. it’s just a bit hard to sneak 6 instead of, let’s say 2, people in.

around 2am, people started to get antsy, as it’s only 30 minutes until the game started. we were too, thinking many options of renting a hotel room and buy cheap liquor, or crash into some other bars around…. and it happened. all the sudden, he said told us 4 out of 6 of us can get in. so, cia, stan, michael and daphne went in. as they walked, the other bouncer asked us who ari and i with. we just pointed to the 4 guys who just went it, and they let us walked…. yay!

there were 2 big screen TVs, tons of people wearing red, chanting, and fuzzy air due to too much smoke. no seat at all. it was so damn crowded that within half of a minute, we decided to get out of the bar that we’ve been waiting in line for over an hour. the bouncer were like, WHAAA?

we left. for some reason, all bars around the area are closed real early. out of desperation, michael suggested us to go uptown — upper east side around 80th and 2nd. surprisingly, we found 1 bar with 3 big screen tv, airing the game! so, there we were… munching carrot sticks and jalapeno poppers, drinking beer, screaming and cheering the Korean team.

and they won. even with the help of Spain’s bad luck, i have to admit that Korea played very well, especially their goalkeeper.

walking home at 5:30 in the morning in the upper east side made me love New York even more. 6 asian kids waving and cheering to Korean street deli dude. yay, we won! a guy carrying his trash out of his house greet us with “yo, who won the game?”. the cab driver who took us all the way to Queens got us involved involved in this intense soccer conversation. he even asked us the play-by-play penalty.

who thought that there are people in the US who cares about what’s going on in the soccer scene, even after the US team is out of the Cup. ari and i think it would only happen in New York, due to the diversity of the people. i love this city.

linkydink: wow, fel is going in another different direction!