- I'm indifferent.
"Why are you in South America if you don't like fútbol?"
- ... I didn't say that I don't like it. I said that I'm indifferent. It's fine.
"If you are in South America, you need to learn to like fútbol.
The World Cup. The big kahuna of soccer. A four week long extravaganza. Hot. Dog. I am living in a South American country. I think that the kids here are born with soccer cleats on. Great.
June 11 the World Cup started (an event that occurs every 2 years, but the men and women switch off, so the Men's World Cup is every 4 years - thank you Wikipedia), and that was the last day of exams for the kids. I thought that some of the students and teachers might go into cardiac arrest because they had to miss a couple of the soccer games because of the HORRID school that would not CANCEL classes for such an IMPORTANT sporting event (that I embarrassingly know NOTHING about).
The school set up a projector in the auditorium so that no one has to miss anything. Teachers go down and watch while they have free periods. Students watch during their breaks. On Monday, the students were supposed to come to school to be able to review their exams. I found out on Monday morning that surprise! I have to teach!! What? So, after a 20 minute exam review, I let the kids go outside and play soccer, or if a game was on, we went down to the auditorium to watch. Monday marked three days in a row of me watching soccer games. You might as well call me a fanatic.
Two songs that I now have memorized are (1) the South African National Anthem and (2) Shakira's "Waka Waka". Both are on TV or the radio ALL THE TIME down here. If you haven't seen the music video to "Waka Waka" click here to view it. You'll appreciate the following conversation a LOT more if you watch the video... This conversation took place with one of my students yesterday:
Anita: Teacher, don't you love "Waka Waka"?
Teacher: Yeah, it's pretty good.
Anita: Teacher, do you know the dance???!!!
Teacher: Teacher doesn't know how to dance.
Anita: I'll show you!
Teacher: Don't bother.
They laugh at me enough. I will NOT put myself in the position of dancing (or trying to dance) in front of them. They're born with soccer cleats on their feet AND hips that don't lie.
On Saturday, my friend Diego invited me to watch the USA vs. England game with him, his wife, and his niece. I thought that MAYBE since I was in South America, I should probably TRY (or at least pretend) to get a little bit into this sport. So we shoveled lunch into our mouths (Literally. Everyone kept looking at their phones and weas like "GET THE DESSERT! IT'S 1:25!!!"), and at 1:30 we were sitting on the couch tuned in. I've got an alright grasp of this game - I know what a yellow card means, I know what a red card means, and I know when to gasp, scream, or throw my hands into the air. When the game ended with a tie, I had to wait until Monday to consult a teacher who knows I know nothing to find out what a tie means.
Me, Maria Cristina, and Maria Inez - Diego was taking the picture. Don't I look SO excited to be watching the World Cup?! ...
Later on Saturday night, I went with Diego, his wife, and niece to the movies. We saw the Prince of Persia (subtitled - thank God). At the movie theater, I saw three of my students. They didn't know what to do with themselves.
Students: Teacher!!! What are YOU doing here??
Sara: ... I'm going to a movie. What are you doing?
I'm convinced that they think I have no life outside of school, which is kind of true, but hey, I can pretend :)
Sunday I spent the day with my host family. Always a good time with them. When I talked to them to plan when I would go over to their house, we arranged for 8:30 on Sunday morning. I repeated it about 5 times just to be sure, because I'm still not great on the phone. So, I wake up, drag myself out of my bed and get ready, and flag down a taxi. I arrived at 8:30 on the dot. I called. The phone rang. And rang. And RANG.
When Pame (my host sister) FINALLY picked up, she said, "Sara, we're still in bed!" Ummmmmm, what? I was immediately thinking that I messed up. Ocho y media (8:30) COULD sound like once y media (11:30) right? Shoot. Lupe (my host mom) finally let me in, wearing her robe and slippers, and said, "Sara, what time is it?!" I told her that it was now 8:40. She gasps. "WE SLEPT TOO LATE! WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE!!!!!" And she hustled back into the apartment building.
Getting back into the house, Lupe immediately got on the phone with Aunt Maria Elena, followed by Aunt Rosita, followed by Grandma telling them all that her and Pame had overslept, that I came and woke them up, and that they were going to hurry up and get ready to go. I sat on the couch this entire time wondering one thing: WHERE were we in such a rush to go?
We left the house at 9:50 and got into the car. So much for rushing. Right when I opened the car door, I almost choked because it smelled so badly of the gas that is used in the house. They had a tank of this gas in the backseat of their car. They took it out, but every time we were in the car (which was a lot) I thought that we MIGHT blow up at any second. It was a very stressful car ride. Thank GOD no one smokes.
After driving around for about 10 minutes with Lupe getting ever more frustrated saying, "UGH THIS street is closed too!" I figured out where we were in such a rush to go: cousin Alberto and cousin Santiago Jose were running in a race, and we had to see them to cheer them on. We ended up parking the car back in the garage, and walked 1 block to where the race was. Why we didn't do this right away, I have NO idea, but we made it there before Santiago Jose and Alberto did, so at least we got to cheer for them!
We then went to the Olympic Stadium to see the cousins after the race. This was just a dumb idea. We parked, walked for 6 blocks, waited, waited, waited, spotted ONE of the cousins, congratulated him, and left. DUMB. We then went to church and spent the rest of the day at Aunt Maria Elena's house so that we could watch the Germany vs. Australia match (Germany won EASILY - even I could see this - and I felt bad for those poor Australians).
After the match, we sat at the kitchen table and TALKED about the match for an hour and sixteen minutes - almost as long as the game itself!! Grandma FINALLY stood up (VERY slowly, I might add) and was ready to go to the grocery store. It's not like she gets up and goes in - she sits in the car the whole time. I was wondering what she thinks about when she's in the car by herself ALL THE TIME. Maybe she just sleeps? I'm not sure.
Until next time,
Sara the Soccer Fanatic.
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