World Cup 2010

Ahh, World Cup soccer. At our house the World Cup is a big deal, but only because Adam and I "get it". We get it because we have both lived abroad and have witnessed first hand the mayhem surrounding the World Cup. The world stops during the World Cup, and that is the truth.

In 1998 I was serving a mission in Brazil and had only been there a few months when I noticed an increase of activity in the streets. All of a sudden people were decorating things with Brazilian flags and putting streamers up in the streets and painting cement walls. It was everywhere so I finally asked my Brazilian companion what was going on. "World Cup" she said. Oh. I vaguely remembered hearing the phrase before. "Is it this week?" I asked. "No, it starts in about 2 months." What?! The World Cup is such a big deal in Brazil the entire nation starts decorating every square inch of the country months before it actually begins. Days passed and I asked her again, "So this world cup thing, is it every year?" She stopped and looked at me with the most dumbfounded expression on her face, like she couldn't believe I had just asked that question, "It's every four years. (pause) It was in the United States in 1994!!" When I replied with "It was?" She was absolutely speechless. Growing up in Brazil where the entire nation eats, breaths, and lives for soccer and each world cup is the biggest thing EVER she couldn't believe that A) I didn't know what the World Cup was, and B) It was hosted by my nation and I wasn't even aware it was there. This was absolutely unthinkable to a Brazilian. In that moment I realized that Americans don't get it. The rest of the world gets it when it comes to soccer, but we don't.

This is the only picture I have of some of the wall murals and I only took it because I thought it was funny that they had misspelled the word welcome.

We were missionaries so we didn't watch any of the World Cup games, but the fever surrounding the games and especially the games Brazil played in was something I will never forget. Brazil made it to the finals that year and the last few games we were instructed to go inside our houses and study during the actual games because it was absolutely impossible to work. Every time Brazil scored a goal the nation erupted and when Brazil lost the final game to France I have never seen so many people depressed at the same time. The streets were silent and no one would talk to us. When it was all over I understood the dumbfounded look I received when I asked about the World Cup months earlier.

Adam and I were married during the next World Cup and he had had a similar experience in Colombia so he was really into it. We watched the games and realized that they were really exciting. The Spanish speaking announcers are always more fun to listen to because they yell "Gooooooollllll for 3 minutes straight when someone scores, just like they do in Brazil. In 2002 we would watch the games in English until someone scored and then we would hurry and switch it to the Spanish channel just to hear the announcer yell "Goal!" until they were forced to take a breath. (It really does make it more exciting.) Brazil won the whole thing in 2002 and Adam's parents and siblings were living in Manaus so they really got to experience it all.

I didn't mean to make this a novel entry, but I guess all of this is why we won't be getting a lot done during the World Cup. Adam is already trying to figure out how he can work and still watch all of the games at the same time. Thank goodness for laptops.

Ahh, the World Cup.