What it's Like to Watch the Superbowl in South Korea

Monday night Steve and I watched the Superbowl in our hotel room. It was the first big event/holiday in the states that we missed. It was the first time I really felt the sting of how far away we are from family, friends, and everything that we know.


We waited almost a whole day to watch this event. We avoided facebook and hurried home after work Monday to watch the game. We stopped to get a cheese pizza and Korean style fried chicken carryout (the most American things we could find at the time). In our hotel room with Steelers shirts on and terrible towel nearby, we ate our chicken and pizza and began to watch the game. As Christina Aguilera belted out the national anthem and we saw the fly over, I began to cry. I wasn't sure why even and it surprised me as I had been very excited to watch the game. I have never cried during the national anthem or any sporting event before and I have never really been that patriotic (this is not to say that I don't like America). I am sure my reason for crying goes much deeper than patriotism. I can't explain the feeling that I felt witnessing this great American event miles away from my home and all the people and things that I know and love. I felt sadness, but pride at the same time as I watched the opening act of this game. I knew that people at home had partied with friends and family the night before and consumed delicious homemade tailgate food. I felt sadness that we had missed that. I know that there will be many more things that we will miss over the next year. Birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, weddings. But, I hope that the amazing and wonderful things that we experience and see and do here will relieve most of the homesickness that we may feel. And when our time here is over, I hope that we have many beautiful photos and amazing stories to share with the ones that we love during our next holidays and celebrations together.