Western Sydney Wanderers v Sanfrecce Hiroshima

I'm slow to get on the bandwagon regarding the Wanderers. Late last year I attended 2 of their matches and I wasn't aware of them until recently. I do remember though, back in 2012, a friend of mine told me that he had taken some photos of the Wanderer's new overseas signing Shinji Ono. I had no idea that Western Sydney Wanderers had even started up that year. I'm not great with sports.

Anyway, after watching the A-League Grand Final, where the Wanderers lost (and where I had my hands over my face and mouth screaming, so stessful), I recommitted to the team. Only then to realise that Shinji Ono was going to the leave the team after the current season. Then I found out that the Wanderers were still in the AFC Champions League and were flying off to Japan to play Sanfrecce Hiroshima and were then going to play them again in Parramatta the following week. And so, alone, I went. And I loved it. And I'm so happy I got to see not only Shinji Ono but Hersi and Polenz play for the Wanderers one last time. And they won. My favourite part was in extra time Hersi and Polenz had a corner and they were deliberating trying to get the ball kicked out to waste time. The best. Someone needs to gif that.

At first, I was a little self-conscious sitting along but then I realised, no one actually cared. Then I got so into the game. Especially in the 2nd half when the Wanderers were trying to get that 2nd goal and then after they did, making sure that Hiroshima didn't score. Stressful!

I only had my point and shoot camera with me, which for reference is the Samsung WB800F. The zoom is pretty good. The camera was on auto and did well most of the time.

I was sitting in Row B, on the East side of the stadium. The players were so close!






After the game. Aww, the hugs.




I wonder if it'll be weird for the Wanderers to face former players who moved to a different club. Rumour has it Hersi is transferring to Perth Glory. Apparently, over money. I don't know the financial position of the club. It's only 2 years old and I think it's still owned by FFA (that's a big I THINK) (EDIT 31/05/2014: They've been sold!) so maybe they can't afford to keep players on? Which is a shame because I like to think that they loved being part of WSW but you know, monies.

Also, after the game captain Michael Beauchamp and his kid on the pitch. It was so cute and adorable. The kid made it all the way to the goal and people left in the stadium clapped, which was super nice of them.




So, Wanderers until next season. In the meantime, WORLD CUP! Yay for being a causal soccer/football watcher!

Korea - Day 4

When I last left you, I was eating chicken in Daegu. That night I took the bus to my friend's house in Seongju which is a little country town near Daegu. I stayed overnight there and then left to go Busan for 1 night, 2 days. With a couple of stops along the way.

If you've watched the Korean drama Boys Over Flowers then you may know that they filmed some of the high school scenes at Keimyung University, which is in Daegu. I went to the university but I hadn't seen Boys Over Flowers in such a long time that I didn't know which buildings were in the drama or not. But in any case, the campus is so pretty. Why can't we have such nice campuses like that.







And then I was back at Daegu KTX station to catch the KTX to Busan.



I had a coffee at one of the many cafes there and I believe this blackboard sign says you can borrow the charger to charge your phone while you sit and sip your coffee.



One of my favourite things about Korea is the availability of beer in convenience stores.



And the Starbucks in a pre-packaged cup is also a fave.



Walnut cakes for the train ride. So good. Made fresh in store.




Made it to Busan! Well, the station at least!




Took the train from Busan station to Seomyeon station and then struggled to find the hostel. Google Maps was my saviour because for the life of me I didn't know how to follow the directions from the website. The hostel I stayed at was Busan Blue Backpackers Hostel. The room was clean, had a TV, fridge and a rather large sized bathroom.





Once I checked in the first order of business was to buy some shoes because I only brought boots and flats with me. Flats were too thin for the weather and the boots were too painful to walk in for long periods of time. It took me forever to find an ABC Mart.



But at least I got to walk around and see Seomyeon.





Shoes bought I headed to Haeundae. I only know of because of that Korean movie of the same name, which was about a tidal wave that hit the town. It was kinda cold but a clear day. Was tempting to dip toes in the water but so much effort with the shoes and the socks and the rolling up of the pants.











I had done little to no research as to what I would do in Busan so when I got to Haeundae, besides the beach, I had no idea where to go. So I just walked around a little lost and a little frustrated. Still, it was really quite pretty.












I was Kakao-talking with some of my friends in Korea, asking them for suggestions and one of them said to go to Shinsegae, which is a huge department store. I had a little coffee break, bought some socks and did some window shopping because lots of things were so over my price range.






Then I headed back to Seomyeon and was lost trying to find food and then trying to find the hostel again. I was too chicken to go eat in a restaurant by myself. If I went again I would totally eat by myself. I don't know why I was super self-conscious about it. So I wandered, bought pants from Uniqlo, and a sandwich and beer from the nearest convenience store.


If I ever go back to Busan I think it should be in the summertime. My friends were telling me about the mud festival and fireworks which would be perfect for summer time at the beach. Probably would try to be a bit braver to try things on my own. I've never travelled on my own before so doing things alone, at the time, seemed pretty daunting.

To Be Continued!