I’m not especially patriotic. I love my country but never feel the need to be really patriotic during sporting events. I feel much more emotion seeing Korea win rather than seeing Australia win something. Maybe Korean patriotism is catching because I’ve heard of other non-Koreans feeling more passion for Korean victories rather than their home country. South Korea’s modern history is so inspiring that you can’t help but cheer for them.

Because I was watching the Australian coverage of the Olympic opening ceremony they spent a lot of time showing the Australian athletes. Much more than what was necessary. Showing more of Australian athletes on Australian TV is to be expected but it was really too much time on them. They didn’t even show the B countries coming out because they kept the cameras on the Australians. Then they were constantly cutting back to the Australian athletes, who weren’t doing anything that interesting, just being rowdy and taking photos and tweeting probably. I became worried that they wouldn’t show the South Korean athletes walking out. Luckily they showed both North Korea and South Korea. North Korea came out earlier with the D countries because they call themselves ‘The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’. You know a country is communist when they have to put ‘democratic’ in their title! Later The South Koreans walked out and I cheered for them.

It feels good to be passionate about a country that you can actually choose yourself. Would I like Australia if I wasn’t born here? Being patriotic about Australia just feels like an obligation, it’s not a choice. I know people who are very passionate and patriotic about Australia because they made the choice to move here. Australia gave them a chance at a new life and they are thankful. Their patriotism rings more true than an Australian who thinks Australia is the best simply because they haven’t been anywhere else. South Korea has opened up my eyes and made my life so much better and I’m grateful for that. So I’ll be cheering for South Korea these Olympics.