Why I will never write about sports for a living

         So the main reasons I will never write about sports is I don't have a strong desire too.  I mean, I enjoy it in my blog, but as a career it does not attract me at all.  However, my latest analysis of the Argentina side was terrible.

         I said that Diego Milito should start ahead of Gonzálo Higuain, and so of course Higuain goes out and scores a hat trick against South Korea.  I'm hoping Brazil plays better or that North Korea proves to be better than everyone thought, so at least that prediction turns out better.

         Well,  I will not make any comments about the game between the US and Slovenia other than to say I am extremely excited for the game.  Also, Celtics- Lakers is tonight. Less said about game six the better, but given how the series is going tonight should hopefully be better for the Celtics.

Happenings

             (I'm now posting this at school, though I wrote it earlier. Apparently Switzerland is beating Spain now?)

            Sitting here watching the Spain- Switzerland game, I don't have much to talk about. I did a good job updating my blog every day last week, but nothing has happened particularly blog worthy the last few days.

            I'm been basically teaching and watching the World Cup. This is fun but not something I feel make multiple blog posts worth of material. This week at the school I need to give a homework assignment because in 2 weeks I have to give the exams for 5th and 6th grade for the second period.

I'm teaching energy in various forms and levels of detail to the different grades, from a basic understanding of what is wind with the second graders to the 6th graders who are learning about how wind is a renewable clean energy.
            Costa Rica is an interesting place to teach about energy since there are examples of places where Costa Rica is developing both wind and geothermal energy (from a couple of volcanoes), so it is easy to put the material in the real world.

More World Cup

          So the next month of my life is going to be dominated by the World Cup.  Most of the time I am not teaching or preparing to teach I will be watching World Cup soccer.  The World Cup is probably my favorite sporting event and I think the US has a chance at making it beyond group play, which would be great.
           Yesterday's games were pretty boring, aside from the goal South Africa scored. I'm glad we probably won't have to see Uruguay and France play each other again, since that was an excruciating game. I hope the Mexico- Uruguay game is at least a little exciting, since I can see that being another deadly dull affair with 90 minutes of midfield passing.
           Today was much better. South Korea was impressive against Greece.  Argentina dominated their match, even though the final score was only 1-0 against Nigeria.  I prefer Diego Milito as a partner to Carlos Tevez rather than Gonzalo Higuaín. It'll be interesting to see who plays up top next to Tevez next game. Maradona's not afraid of change, considering how many players he used in qualifying. I fully admit to not knowing much about Higuaín, but Milito impressed me for Inter Milan.  Higuaín missed some chances right in front of the goal, which he needs to finish for Argentina to go far.
            It will be interesting to see if I am able to wake up tomorrow to watch Slovenia-Algeria.  I would love to, as this is the other game in the US's group, but 5:30 is awfully early for a Sunday.
            I watched the US-England game today at a restaurant which had a fair amount of both US and England fans, which was fun.  The general reaction to the US goal was amusing, even the US fans just shook their head.  I'll gladly take the point though.
            To change sports, Go Celtics!  Its odd to say, but Andrew Bynum's knee might be the most important part of this series.  The Celtics struggle so much scoring inside with both Bynum and Pau Gasol's length inside.  Glen Davis is so much more effective against Odom, who doesn't tower over him the way Gasol and Bynum do.

Hola, thank you!

             I just found out today that one of the preschoolers thinks my name is "thank you". The preschoolers eat at the same time as I do, so they sort of know who I am. One of them came in to the lunch room saw me, and say in Spanish, "I know his name! I know his name. It's "thank you"!" He said thank you in English.

            I was not really paying attention to him so I was unsure if I had heard correctly what he had said. The preschoolers all got their food and then they sat down at the same table I was at. Once again, the preschooler started talking about how he knew what my name was. This time, there was no doubt that he thought my name was "thank you". I tried to explain to him that thank you meant gracias in Spanish, but I'm not sure he understood.

            I was trying to think how he could have thought that was my name. My best guess is that one lunch he heard me talking to someone and they said thank you to me and he thought they were saying my name. I can't think of anything else that makes even a little sense. Still, I've been called much worse names than thank you, so I'll take it. Frankly, remembering back to my days in 5th and 6th grade, I'd love to know what my 5th and 6th graders call me.

Alajuelense

"Ya viene La Liga!!!"

        So the students kept yelling today, as they waited for La Liga de Alajuela. Liga is one of the best soccer teams in the first division in Costa Rica. The team visited for maybe a half hour today and the entire school was extremely excited, before, during, and after. I had a number of my students drawing black and red flags on their arms during class in preparation.

        The big question about soccer at this school is if someone is a Liguista or Saprissista. Liga and Saprissa are the two major soccer teams in this area. I consistently answer with Liguista, since that is the team my host family supports. Though really, my favorite Liga team is Liga de Quito, which I saw play live twice when I was Quito and still follow a little.

       Still, it was pretty cool having Liga come visit the school. As one of the teachers pointed out to me, it was like if the Celtics visited a school in the Boston area. Especially funny and fitting was when one of the janitors was flipping out over meeting the coach, who was one of the best players on the 1990 Costa Rican World Cup team.

       I did not get any autographs from either the players or the coaches. There were already hundreds of students and teachers running around trying to get autographs, so I just sort of hung out. I spent the time trying to figure out who the players were, which was interesting, since I have seen Liga play a couple of times.

La Copa Mundial

           Only two days until the World Cup. I am becoming more and more excited.. I have class until 8:20, but then not again until 10:10, so I will be able to watch most of the first game, which starts at 8. I don't think I'll be able to watch the second game, but that's ok, since the game I'm really waiting for is England vs. USA on Saturday.

           One of the other Costa Rican English teachers here is a huge soccer fan. I've been having some really interesting discussions with him. Two days ago he was telling me about how much he dislikes Jonathan Bornstein, which is something I should have realized but never thought about.

           For those who don't know, the final qualifying game for the World Cup in the CONCACEF division, which is the group the US, Costa Rica, and Honduras all play in, was played between the US and Costa Rica. The US had already qualified for the World Cup. Costa Rica needed to win outright to qualify, whereas if the US won or if the game ended in a tie, Honduras would qualify for the World Cup. Bryan Ruiz, the best player for Costa Rica who starred this past season for FC Twente, the champions of Dutch Eridivisie, scored two first half goals. The US then scored one goal in the second half.

         Costa Rica looked to have the game in hand, but in extra time with only 2 minutes left in the game, Jonathan Bornstein scored the game tying goal. Here's the call of the game from the Honduras announcers, which is amazing. With that one goal, Bornstein became a hero in Honduras and a villain in Costa Rica. I find that really amusing, since the game had relatively little impact on the US men's national team.

         My friend also really dislikes the Mexican team, way more than he does the US. I wish I knew more Costa Rican fans, since I always figured the US was the most hated team in the CONCACEF.  I wonder whether thats true or simply me assuming the US is the center of everything, especially in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean, which constitute the CONCACEF

         We're both going to be rooting for South Africa on Friday, though I will be rooting for Mexico against most of its other opponents. I tend to root against the established powers, particularly the European teams and Brazil.

        My pick to win it all is Brazil. I think Spain's injuries will catch up to it.  I like Dunga's counterattacking style. Brazil can win ugly, in ways which is more difficult with juego bonito. I'm also skeptical that we will not see any jogo bonito, since although the players Brazil has picked may not be as skilled as Ronaldinho, they still bring plenty of skill to the table.

Peace

            Today's excitement is a peace march. Every week the school focuses on a different value which the school is trying to instill in their students. This week the theme is peace, hence the peace march. There are signs around the school declaring this week the week of peace.

            Costa Rica is an unique country in the Americas in that it does not have a military. The military was abolished in 1948. Costa Rica takes great pride in this and it features prominently in many of there teachings at the school. They do have their military history which they celebrate, notably the defeat of William Walker in 1856, but overall they talk about having more teachers than police officers.

           That last bit may be changing, since a main issue in the recent presidential election was security. The perception of many Costa Ricans is that Costa Rica is becoming more less safe. The two main culprits are increases in drug trafficking or greater inequality, depending on you ask. However, Costa Rica still prides itself on being a country at peace.

           This is particularly noticeable at the school I am teaching at because of the amount of students who are Nicaraguan. For many of them their parents and grandparents lived through the civil wars in Nicaragua. The wars still resonates today even in Costa Rica, where Oscar Arias just finished his second term as president. During his first term, he won the Nobel Peace Prize for working to end the violence in Nicaragua and El Salvador.

           Back to the march at the school. The students all had white balloons with slogans such as "I love peace" in Spanish on them. The entire school then walked around the neighborhood up behind the school where many of the students come from. The students had large banners with slogans about the importance of peace on them. Parents took pictures from the fronts of their houses and everyone enjoyed the sunshine.

         Not the most exciting peace march, but it was still interesting to walk along with the students.  I have trouble imagining something similar happening in the US.