Excitement of the World Cup

It's pretty cool that we are living in Costa Rica right now with all the activity of the World Cup.  They love soccer (futbol) here, which isn't surprising.  Basically you could combine the passion that U.S. fans have for football, basketball, and baseball and it would be close to how they feel about soccer.

We don't watch or follow soccer very much at all, but it's so different when you live in a country that loves it so much.  You can't help but get interested.

When Costa Rica played Italy a couple weeks ago, their second game of the tournament, we watched it at school instead of having class.  The Academic Director gave the teachers and students permission to do so.  All but one of the teachers is female and they are so passionate about soccer, it was fun to watch them watch the game.

Costa Rica played Greece yesterday (June 29) and won in exciting fashion - on penalty kicks.  The country went crazy!  After the game we walked around outside and sat down near a very busy intersection and just watched and laughed at all the excitement.  There was so much noise - car horns, plastic horns, cymbals, yelling, singing, and cheering - it was fun to be a part of.

Some video evidence, which doesn't do it justice (I apologize but the video is not very good quality, especially if you make it full screen.  For some reason when I uploaded it to the blog it affected it):

We got a kick out of watching this girl jump and cheer:

 Later on Hannah got a picture with her...it made her day.

The next game for Costa Rica is this Saturday (July 5) against Holland/Netherlands...vamos Ticos!!!