Volunteering and traveling in Argentina to proclaim God's great love, and hopefully not getting sick along the way.

Pages

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

A "Where were you when.." moment

three N. Americans, two Argentines and a Cuban
When my friend Kathryn was in Italy in 2006, I could hardly imagine her delight when the country took home the World Cup. She had told me about wearing the flag as a giant cape and going through the city streets enjoying the celebration.

Then in 2010, at the prospect of going to Argentina, having never paid much attention to soccer in the first place, I began to do some "research". I think that was when I first fell in love with Messi.

shameless
Now, there is something in the air, and it's one of those things worth remembering.

First game, I had to take the pre-teens to their respective homes before I could join some friends (first pic) for the game. What a difference in the quantity of cars in the streets before and after the starting whistle! I'm pretty sure the only people outside of their abodes were female. I had even passed one home where they placed their tv outside and all of their neighbors were gathered around.

I missed the first goal, but I almost feel like it didn't count any way since it was assisted by the other team.

Then you have to remember the half-time choripans. Only in Argentina... :P

My mom's surprise visit left us to watch the next game in the hotel. I caught the goal (go Messi!!) while hanging out with mom and a German friend.
just two hinchas in love with some Argentines. hehe

The next game, accompanied by one more North American, one Argentine and two English folk, was the crazy back-to-back scoring where we gals were actually in the kitchen most of the time missing the action.

Then I watched the US game with Andrea and we just talked about other stuff the whole time. I'm telling you, my attention rate to fútbol increases exponentially by the presence of Lionel. Así es...

The Argentina-Switzerland game I got to watch with a good friend in her home. We about had hard attacks when Angel Di Maria (assisted by Messi!) finally got the goal. The announcer went nuts, talking about the spaghetti, the thumb and the pope. Perhaps I should clarify:

Pulgar - Thumb - nickname for Messi
Fideo - Spaghetti - nickname for Di Maria
The pope is the pope.
For other future reference, Pipa is the nickname for Higuaín...

On with the show because today, July 9th, marks Argentina's independence. Today, Argentina played a grueling match against Holland that ended with a fantastic team effort. While everyone in the back of their mind had a nervous feeling about the game with the ugly 7-1 German win over Brazil in home territory yesterday, they were excited to see the team coming together. And yes, the goal by the Pipa should have counted!

No one likes penalties, but Romero (which also happens to be a fantastic last name) was a boss. Cristian showed a new side tonight as well, driving us around the small town, yelling the Argentina cheer. Everyone was honking and waving flags as they made a circle of cars around the town plaza. I couldn't stop smiling and hoping for the best this Sunday.

A rematch against the Germans who stopped Argentina 4-1 back in 2010. It will be a tough game, that's for sure!

Vamo vamo, Argentina
Vamo vamo, a ganar!!!
Que esta barra quilombera
No te deja no te deja alentar!!!!!

No comments:

Post a Comment