Go Canada Go!

5 am! 5 am! 5 am!

This was what the crowd was chanting at Rocky Mountain Tavern in Itaewon as the clock finally counted down during the semi final match between Canada and Slovakia at the 2010 olympics.

The cheers would get even louder after Sidney Crosby scored the game winning goal in over time during the gold medal game.

It was the most exciting hockey game I ever watched.

I had moved that day. Before I had been in a job where the boss tried to blackmail me.
She said if I didn't work for her for free she was going to phone my new employer and tell them a bunch of things to get me fired.

To get out of my contract I agreed to pay for my flight. On that final day they extorted another three hundred thousand won because they said I owed them for some of the apartment costs. When I asked to see a bill he showed me something hand written.

After that day I never saw him or the boss lady again.

I met my new coteacher at my apartment in Pyeongchon. Two days later I had my first day as a public high school teacher.

For the first time I took a bus from Beomgye station to Bundang. It was a Sunday night and I used to see a lot of my friends at trivia night at the Dublin.

After my team won, four of us took a cab to Itaewon to wach the game. I was with my friends Alex Felman, Sean McConnehy and Karl Walsh. (sorry guys if I spelled your name wrong).

My friend Karl was from Ireland and had never seen a hockey game before. He called it 'ice' hockey. By the end of the evening I think he was very impressed. It wasn't just the game but the experience.

The Canadian Ball Hockey in Korea recreation league had held the draft for its spring season earlier in the day. Many of them were still in the bar at game time.

We got there around 3:30 in the morning. They stopped letting people in around 4. I've never seen the place so full.

I remember seeing the owner up on the bar with his camera phone taking a video of the crowd.

There were some Americans in the building that night

Every now and then they'd start chanting "USA, USA, USA", but then the Canadians would drown them out.

The only time we were all silenced was when Parise scored the tying goal with less than a minute left. Many of us held our heads to the ground. We couldn't believe it. The smell of doom was in the air.

But like every great story a hero emerged to save the day for the good guys. That hero was Sidney Crosby, and when he scored I nearly fell over.

The Canadians began to scream, and the Americans began to sink down.

Two of my friends, both from the U.S.A., quietly payed me the ten thousand won we had bet.

And then, as we walked to McDonalds for some breakfast, it was already early morning the next day.

I fell asleep on the subway on the way home and missed my stop. I felt lucky to not have gotten lost trying to find my new apartment for the first time.

You've got to love days off.

Go Canada Go!

(thanks Dan for the public school job)

rymr