World Cup

Why is walking under trees the best AND worst option when it's raining? The branches protect you maybe half the time and the other half they release bombs of water on you that have been growing after a few minutes of drops. On the way home from school just now it randomly started pouring and I got drenched. I noticed a significant amount of people were absent from school before I left campus, but today it's not because of rain--it's because the World Cup has started. Brazil takes the World Cup so seriously; it's like a Carnaval that only happens once every four years.

The last World Cup was going on when I was in the Dominican Republic but there we didn't have electricity 100 percent of the time and they had much fewer TVs than here and I don't remember watching any games. Plus they really love baseball; I don't recall talking about soccer at all while I was there. Come to think of it, I can think of very few instances in my life when the World Cup was a topic of conversation. That of course has changed drastically since being here in Rio. The news of the Olympics and World Cup happening here in Brazil in the upcoming years is something I talk about almost daily and while the World Cup is currently happening in South Africa, it's really happening in the hearts and minds of Brazilians everywhere. In the last few weeks the Brazil decorations around town here have increased exponentially. At a traffic signal on my walk to school there's now a constant flow of people selling flags, noise-makers, jerseys etc. to parked cars--some of which already proudly decorated with Brazilian flags. Copacabana beach even has an ENORMOUS outdoor theatre set up for game watching.

Missing class, rescheduling tests, closing banks and not showing up to work are all completely acceptable for the next month her in Brazil. Their main news website 'Globo' constantly updates World Cup happenings as well as has created this page simply titled: "Confira o que abre e fecha no Rio e em SP nos dias de jogos do Brasil" in English: confirm what opens and closes in Rio and São Paulo during Brazil games. When my PUC colleagues do show up to school, it's very common to find them watching Copa footage on their cellphones or crowded around plastic tables trading 'figurinhas da copa' which are basically Pokemon cards of soccer players. The other day in International Studies someone was giving a presentation and the girl next to me was shamelessly not paying attention and instead organizing her album of cards.

So...soccer is arguably one of the things I pay least attention to in the world. However, here I am watching the South Africa vs. Mexico game getting pumped for Brazil jogos. I mean, I don't have to go to school and I get to get drunk and scream Portuguese obscenities without judgment in the middle of the day. What's not to like? Vamolá Brasil!