Week 2: The Koreans height or why Yossi Benayun is better than sign language

So I went to a Starcraft Contest. For those who don’t know, it’s a computer game dated from 1997 which has become the national attraction of geeks and hot chicks alike into one sizzling pot of game-mania. The Starcraft League is divided into some 12 teams sponsored by top leading companies, such as Samsung, MBC and so on, and they provide the conditions which allow the Starcraft players to play all day every day without being disturbed by trivial manners, such as making food. The league games are held inside a specially built stadium, the E-sports, located on the 9th floor inside the huge electronic mall of "yongsan station". The E-sports broadcasts live daily shows of Starcraft and other games matches on the Gamers channel on national TV.


...And so I went to a Starcraft Contest. By chance (or not), it was the semi-finals of some championship, and the players that were competing each-other were the no.1 and no.2 players of the world. So I guess it was interesting for a loser like me. I also cheer for one of them, but that doesn’t matter.
So there I was, half an hour before the match starts, and it was already fully packed. I pushed my way in, although it wasn’t that hard… apparently when you are a foreign, you get the `free distance range from everybody else` card… or maybe I really stink, but I wouldn’t know.
In anyways, while I was heading towards the front of the stage in order to actually see something, I was bewildered to discover that I actually needed to do that… aren’t the Koreans supposed to be short?!
Clearly not. Although it’s apparent that there is a huge difference in height between generations, I never would have thought that I would see so many teenagers towering somewhere around my height. Even the women are potentially higher than what I would have guessed. It seems as though the diet has changed for the best over the years of development since the end of the Japanese occupation. Have the Japanese grown in height as well? I guess I’ll find out soon enough.

I was trying my best to film some of the cheers and screams of the entire crowd, but I’ve found it quite pointless since the whole of the stadium was engulfed in dark red haze of fog machines and dazzling light effects, and my camera in these situations is rendered useless. While I was making some of the shots, naturally I would attract curious bystanders, usually teenagers who are thrilled to see a foreigner holding a camera. No sooner than I could say spicy kimchi, I was surrounded by a throng of young school boys who desperately wished to know where I am from. Only later I had realized that this question was amongst the only vocabulary in English the Korean people had and will ever know – `How are you?` `What’s your name?` `Where you are from?` And the last (and my favourite) – `you are handsome`.
Now I was raised properly, sort of, and so I answered politely that I am from Israel…
…
……
...They just stared at me.
……
…
After a disturbing 3 seconds of silence, one of them took the initiative and said: `OK!!!`, and relieved everyone else from the brainstorming they have just gone through. But I was not impressed. I would not expect from anyone in the world to know where Israel is, but I wanted to press the matter some more:

- you know Israel?
+ OK!
- so you don’t know Israel…
+ OK?
- I see… do you know Egypt?
+ Jypt?
- Yes!, Egypt…with the Pyramids?.. PY-Ra-Mids (with hand gesturing of a pyramid).
+ Yes! Jypt! PyMids!
- Yes! Good!... Israel!, Near!, Egypt!,(with some more hand gesturing of proximity).
+ YES! OK! JYPT!
- oh brother…

I almost gave up when divine assistance came from an unexpected source. One of the older boys was yelling something at me through the shouts and screams of crazed sobbing girls, and I only heard it after some repetition:

+ Binaun?
- huh?
+ B-Na-UN?
- Benayun?
+ Yes!
- .... oh Yes! Benayun! Soccer! Yossi Benayun! Israel!
+ AHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhh, BINAYUN, OK!!!!!!!

It appears I have found a new language (and a new name for Israel) with the Koreans in front of me. All of those who were conversing with me, some seven boys, began with the ohhhs and ahhhs of Benayuns fame, and it was not long before that Avram Grants name appeared and added some more ahhhhs to the noise. At the same time, the first match between these two Starcraft warriors had begun and it was not long before everyone were forgetting Benayun, Israel, Pyramids, and probably sex. All were concentrating on the duel appearing before them.

(btw – the guy I was cheering for got annihilated 0-3).