FIFA from Afar

With the start of the World Cup we've gained a new opportunity for entertainment. We've attempted to find a variety of the games on our television, but anytime one's on you can absolutely guarantee that our news and sports stations will be playing golf, badminton, or rugby. But that's not the only setback to our enjoyment; as you've probably realized, Asia is in a slightly different time zone than Brazil. So the World Cup games play at 11PM, 2AM, and 5AM. But that hardly stops us.

So far we've only made the effort to watch the Netherlands and the United States play. Thankfully the Netherlands games have been at 11PM. So, after work, dinner, and a bit of a nap, we reconvene to catch the game. The Netherlands games are particularly fun not only because our friend Leo is such a huge fan, but also because Indonesia used to be a Dutch colony. So there is still a bunch of Dutch influence in the region, including a lot of Dutch themselves!

Leo and his friend took Sarah and I to see the Netherlands-Australia game.

Hanging out with some Dutch friends at the internet cafe where we were all watching the game.

This morning we made it to our first United States game! Sarah and I woke up at 4:15AM to get dressed in our red, white, and blue and caught a taxi to our closest 24 hour McDonald's. It was empty when we arrived and through outlandish gestures and pointing they discovered we wanted them to turn on the sound on the television. I'm sure they regretted it when moments later Sarah and I had our hands over our hearts and were belting the national anthem right there in the lobby. And the trend continued, for every point the US made we would proceed to belt our American-themed song of choice. The first goal was Proud to Be an American and the second followed with Party in the USA.

Early morning soccer and coffee at McDonald's.

Leo seemed to enjoy our patriotism and the staff of McDonald's was certainly entertained. And once normal morning hours arrived a more steady crowd of people hung around in the lobby. Unfortunately most of them were Portugal fans. But we out-cheered them, so it was okay.

The three of us hanging out in the lobby. Clearly you can see the die-hard Portugal fans behind us.

At the end of the game we went back home to catch a quick nap before work. After all, we have to be at least a little rested. Netherlands plays at 11PM again tonight!