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Thursday, June 19, 2014

World Cup Madness!

Well my Lord! it has been quite a while since I have updated my blog! So what has been going on in my life you may ask? Well let me tell you. The last time I blogged I believe I told yall about my parents coming in July. That is still going to happen and I am really excited about that! But, in addition to that, my cousin is coming to stay with me for a week (she arrives tomorrow!) I am super excited to see her because it has been quite some time since I have got to see her face to face. She is here volunteering in Colombia for a few months and I am looking forward to hearing all her stories and sharing mine!

Not only is Mattie coming here (and letting me play tour guide) but also a girl I went to High School with (Jessica) she will be here in a week! I am really excited about her visit because it has been in the works for a long time...It will be her first time to Colombia so I am looking forward to sharing my adopted homeland with her.  So between Mattie,Jessica and my parents I will be a busy man! Also, I just found out that in September a good friend of mine I met in New Zealand, she will be coming down as well! It has only taken almost 2.5 years but everyone is coming all at once now haha! I have so much planned for everyone and I am just hoping I can fit all my plans in and also actually get some work done at the same time!

Well other than all that, I am still teaching my Internet classes (but now my "real" job at the university is on break until July 28th) once everyone gets here I am going to drop all my work (apart from the internet classes) until July 28th though. So I will have a little vacation and lots and lots of family/friend time! It is going to be great! The apartment is still loud with those bars so close but I am just used to the noise by now (and I sleep in earplugs) so really all that is pretty normal.

Here is what is not normal. COLOMBIA IS IN THE WORLD CUP! I will make an honest confession and let you know that for the vast majority of my life I have had zero interest in soccer (even when I played it as a kid haha) but, being here in this country that is SO insanely passionate about soccer or football or whatever you want to call it, it really is quite amazing! Imagine that your city of choice has just won the world/national championships in your sport of choice. Imagine the atmosphere the night of the big win. You know that feeling in America that last maybe 24 hours if you are lucky. Well it is that feeling EVERYDAY here. Now that Colombia has won both of their games so far (3 to 0 against Greece and 2 to 1 against Ivory Coast) the air is thick with more than just pollution! It truly is an amazing place to be during World Cup time. Especially because relatively speaking we are so close to Brazil (where the World Cup is being held) and Colombia was just ranked the most passionate soccer fans on the planet (The USA was last on that list haha)

As I said, I am still not a huge fan of soccer/football but just being here at this time in this atmosphere you just cant help but to get caught up in it and it truly is a great thing to see everyone so happy here, after so many years of the bad stuff from the past. But, Colombia still does have its problems with sport violence. I cannot wrap my head around this, but after the first game against Greece, 10 people around the city were murdered, over 150 people hospitalized and there was over 3000 reported fights along with 250+ traffic accidents and COLOMBIA WON! That is the crazy part! People are regularly killed here for supporting the "wrong" local team (but everyone is united as one for The Colombian National Team!)

Well they threatened to cancel the local championship games a while back (nothing to do with The World Cup) if people kept killing each other. Now with the most recent game against The Ivory Coast (An African country) Colombia won that game and everyone was happy of course! But, the city of Bogota decided to evoke "Ley Seca" (Dry Laws) so no one could drink any alcohol at any bars or clubs in the city. Well I will find out tomorrow if this actually decreased the amount of people killing each other over sport. I sure hope so! For those of you who might think Colombia is full of sport crazed maniacs and I am in constant danger, don't worry! I am not near passionate enough about soccer to get myself in any trouble where I could get hurt. I only support The Colombian National Team anyway. Everyone loves them!

Colombia has 45 million people so there is bound to murders just like anywhere but, Colombia is MUCH safer than before. I would be more afraid to be alone in parts of Dallas then I would be in parts of Bogota. The thing I just can't understand though is why people kill each other over sports. Sure it happens in The States but nowhere near as much as it does here. One death is one to many and there is usually more than one person killed here after a local or national soccer match. Anyway, don't worry I will be fine and it truly is an amazing time to be in this country during The World Cup! I wish Americans could get this passionate about anything! Well ladies and gents, that is the end of my rant.

Yall take care,Ty