Don't be disappointed, Socceroos.

It wasn't surprise at all watching Australian socceroo's first match in this World Cup fianl in which it has got devastating 0-4 defeat from German tank corps. I'm not saying there's such a striking difference between two teams' abilities so that people may accept that result in no wonder. What I want to say is that there is one thing that German has but Australia doesn't and that made the game one-sided. The experience.

The socceroos being flustered on the ground led me to remind the game in which, 12 years ago in France World Cup, we (Korea) lost to Netherlands by 0-5. We were so disappointed and even cried by such a shattering score since we had got the best qualifying campaign result in our World Cup history and, therefore, no one could have thought the game would ended like that. People, after such a tormenting period had passed, started to think about why, and finally come up with an answer that we lacked experience. Especially how and what to do when we take on an opponent that has much better skill than us.

The red card that Tim Cahill was given during the match shows well the inexperience of socceroos. He should have been careful not to be if he was aware that, as the result of it, he cannot make the second game that is far more important than the first one as he is the key player of the team. That the socceroos had lost their temper after 2 goals shook their goal net also explains the lacking experience. It made the judge pull out several yellow cards and this will definitely affect the next game narrowing the limits of their play.

There is, anyway, still a little chance for socceroos to make the next round, which I strongly doubt because, in my view of 24 years experience in watching World Cup, 5 days are not enough time for a team composed of nearly thirty individuals to get over such a humiliation. However, they don't have to let them down so badly even though it will not turn out as they hoped since all of those procedures are what other low class teams have been through over the long period. It took more than fifty years for Korean soccer team since the first match in 1954 Swiss World Cup to play such a confident game with Greece 2 days ago. I hope it is not the case for socceroos.

I did it indeed.

I wasn't listening to the staff as I looked through the document that confirm the date and departing time of the plane whose destination is Korea, the country I was born and will probably live in for the rest of my life. Two and a half years has past. It may be not a long time compared with the years of my life so far but it is for sure something worthy I will never forget.

she asked again "Checked it?"

I put myself together and answered "Yes." after somehow managing to escape from the thought I'd been absorbed into.

What have I done for 30months' living in Australia? except the realisation that how much I love baseball and the 'Giants', the baseball team without which my life can be meaningless. English? definitely. the certificate of TESOL and 6.5 points in IELTS test? I am proud of it. The know-how of cooking western foods and business management that someday will help me to set up whatever business it would be? no doubt it. They are the clear evidences of my life in Australia. But those evidences will be nothing if I say there are twenty seven English books I have been through.

3 years ago, although I finally decided to come to Australia there was something that still bothered me. What if I fail to get what I am hoping for? Then I had to have an alternative goal I can achieve regardless of external circumstances. The goal, without a long deep thought, came down to the 'crime fictions' that I always wished I could read but couldn't because of the low popularity of those novels in Korea which eventually made publishing companies reluctant to do a favour for many mystery fans who are dying for good books.

I can yet bring the memory of the first visit to a book store where I thought I was in heaven. The books I had always dreamed of reading and much more books I had never even heard of before but couldn't wait to have in my hands. It demanded me huge amount of patience to overcome the language barrier that constantly kept slowing down the speed of page turning. After the long agonising self training, I managed somehow to read a book without spending so much time looking into a dictionary. And now I am flicking over the twenty eights book hoping the day will come that I find myself seating on a bench in a bus stop with a book in one hand and weaving through the fascinating world of murder.