Dae Han Min Guk!

I'm still recovering from my second truly brilliant weekend in a row. I visited the Leeum Gallery near Itaewon on Friday for a couple of hours. I enjoyed a lot of the work of Kim Hong Do but got a bit lost when the focus shifted to modern art, which doesn't convince me to be honest. I'm sure it's just my lack of appreciation but Rothko, Warhol et al just don't hold my attention for long. There were some pieces by Damien Hirst that I found relevant and engaging and a very thought-provoking work called 'I Have to Learn English' by a contemporary Korean artist. I'm sorry I can't remember his/her name but you can follow it up if you're really that interested!

I followed that up with a lovely meal with my girlfriend at Macaroni Market in Itaewon. The name doesn't really match the restaurant itself. It's a classy joint and the duck comfit was amazing. Don't order dessert unless you are REALLY still hungry. Our tapioca was massive.

Our night continued at Roofers where a friend was appearing in 'The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee'. I thought the script was a bit weak in places but it was an impressive display for an amateur group and I really enjoyed some of the performances, especially the male voices. Roofers is somewhere I'd like to go back to even though the barmaid wasn't unbelievably friendly until I broke her down with my 'charm' over the course of the night.

We met friends at Rocky Mountain Tavern where the Seoul RMT FC women's football team were having their fundraiser, our former guitarist was celebrating his birthday and the 2010 World Cup kicked off in earnest. South Africa were plucky throughout and Tshabalala scored a screamer to ensure that I'll remember him for more than his humorous name! Mexico always looked as though they'd come back into it and, sure enough... It was an encouraging start though and will guarantee that the public will get behind the tournament, which should be good for everyone.

We headed to Eunseong City on Saturday morning for the Pumba festival. There was light drizzle but it didn't hold us back from dressing up as traditional Korean beggars and engaging in a variety of activities such as rice pounding, Korean drumming and candy breaking.. all a bit random (photos on facebook). It was fun aside from the fact that there was also a competition going on to capture shots of foreigners with a 2 million won prize, which led to us being harangued by our very own paparazzi for the majority of our time there. We continued to immerse ourselves in Korean culture during our free time, with a nice feed of makkeoli...yum yum...and unbelievably cheap.

The highlight of the day was the 2-0 victory over Greece. It was the score I called among the small group we gathered together. The lure of a party on the beach was too much for the majority of the bunch! It was a great display and I was really getting into it. There was a fantastic atmosphere in the bar even though the place emptied out bizarrely about five minutes after the match ended. We stayed on for Argentina V Nigeria and I was very happy to see another country I once called home coming through with a well-deserved victory. Not that they looked overly convincing...

Sunday morning came around pretty quickly but if you're looking for a good hangover cure then sea rafting could be the answer! I won't claim that it was unbelievably comfortable for me at all times (I can't swim...) but the instructors took me under their wing, making me feel very manly indeed. After rafting we got ourselves packed up to go paint balling. It was my first time but I can guarantee that it won't be my last. I absolutely loved it. It's funny how serious some people got. My approach was pretty gung-ho... It wasn't my first trip with Adventure Korea and I was impressed by their laid back approach and value for money once again.

I managed to watch Algeria V Slovenia but, let's be honest, it was pretty bog-standard. I'm happy for Robert Koren because he has always been a nice player and it seems strange that he has been released by West Brom. I can't see either team present any real threat to England or the USA unless they improve drastically. Mind you, Slovenia beat Russia in the play-off so I think it'd be naive to write them off just yet... I tried to watch Serbia v Ghana but the weekend took it's toll on me and I fell asleep midway through a fairly decent first half.

Mondays aren't so bad when you're off work. I slept in as much as I could to get my sleeping pattern in sync for the World Cup this week! I got my first haircut since last November/December and it turned out fine. It's always a bit unnerving getting a haircut here but there isn't much you can mess up with a shaved head, even though she managed to slightly anyway. My girlfriend was surprised but she likes it, thankfully. She kind of convinced me that my long hair phase had run it's course and I guess she's right but... I miss my lovely curly hair!? Only kidding... slightly... She just moved into her own place recently which is quite a big deal for an unmarried Korean female. I'm staying over tonight to keep her company (she's sleeping as I write this and wait for Italy V Paraguay). Watching the games on the new TV that I kind of bought for her. I say 'kind of' because she chose it and ordered it. I just gave her the money. It's not quite the same as going out and buying it for her. I wanted to get her something for her new place but I wanted to make sure it was something she actually wanted. At least her mother thinks it was a nice gesture and winning brownie points from the ever so slightly hostile mother can never be a bad thing.

Tonight I've been watching Holland V Denmark and Japan V Cameroon. I thought Holland looked very dangerous at times but Denmark defended very well and were quite unlucky in the goals they conceded. Mind you, they didn't create anywhere near enough to warrant a victory so it was the right result regardless. Japan V Cameroon struggled to hold my attention. Cameroon were all huff and puff while Japan were OK without being great. I think a draw would have been a fair result overall but Japan were happy to nick it for their first World Cup finals victory on foreign soil. Holland look certainties to progress from that group and I'd fancy Denmark to go through as runners-up. We shall see.

Italy have been off the radar for many people and it's easy to forget that they are the reigning World Champions. I'll be very interested to see how they fare against a Paraguay team that I expect to be quite well-organised and tough to break down. Italy will be looking to make a statement much in the same way as Germany did with their 4-0 annihilation of Australia.

It has been a good World Cup opening without being great. Only Germany have looked really impressive but I expect England and Holland to improve with each game, especially if Capello comes to some sort of final idea of what his best starting 11 now is. I expect him to stick with Green (even though I would have chosen James) and the return of Barry will be more than welcome. We still have to see the likes of Brazil, Portugal, and Spain so it's far too early to start altering overall predictions for the tournament.

Almost two hours until the next game. Nice of FIFA to allow us time to catch up on all the reports and stats for upcoming games. Like it or not, everyone is an expert during the World Cup.