The World Cup - a Learning Experience

We've been watching a lot of soccer lately. The nice thing about being in Switzerland is that we're really close to lots of other European countries, which seems to make this World Cup experience much more personal.

We watched the US vs. England game with our English friends, and learned lots of new words. I thought I knew what posh was... turns out, it's not so complimentary. And ginger - I had no idea what that meant. Ginger is what you would call your average fair, red headed, Englishman (or woman). After our trip to London, we came back and got cable (which includes the BBC channels). We LOVE the British commentators. They're harsh (when their team is playing badly), really funny (when we can understand what they're saying), and use the word "crikey."

On my little Zurich trip, I got to watch the Swiss play, surrounded by Swiss Germans, in a barn with a big screen. They were serving beer and bratwurst. I really can't explain this one.

On Friday, we watched the Swiss vs. Honduras game at a friend's house. It was quite a mix... Germans, Swiss, Italians, Swedes, and of course, the two random Americans. The Germans were talking about the 2006 games, and how that was the first time in their lives they felt proud to wear their flag. Everyone in the room seemed to understand and Ryan and I were totally confused. Our friend Jonas explained that, in Germany, there is a very fine line between patriotism and nationalism. Germans are afraid to flaunt their flag, fearing it may seem insensitive, knowing to some that flag represents their nazi past. It was crazy to us... Americans love their flag, and don't think twice about sporting it. I never imagined it would be different for anybody else. And besides, I meet a lot of German people here, and I never mentally link them to anything nazi (I link them to being hard working, somewhat mechanical, and very blunt). But they assume people do, and are very careful not to seem too proud of their country. Except for during the World Cup games. Then they paint their faces like the rest of the world.

At the moment, we're watching Argentina vs. Mexico. We don't have any Argentinean or Mexican friends to share this experience with, but we did eat fajitas and drink sangria, which we think helps us get into the mood of the game. Last night, while watching the US play, we decided to try a meal without meat, that may be on the menu when our vegetarian family comes for a visit in July. We had prawn cakes (I got the recipe from our English friends) with asian noodles in fish sauce with lime, chilies, and green onions. This has NOTHING to do with the US or Ghana, but it did make for a really great meal!