October 17 b

October 17, 2009
Wow, what an experience this week has been. Last Saturday Emily and I headed out to a bar with some co-workers to watch Honduras play the United States. We both had already bought are jerseys and were ready to support Honduras all the way so I didn’t think about being in any danger. In the end the United States beat Honduras and suddenly I felt less safe. People weren’t flat out rude to us but it was clear that we weren’t welcomed the same. Everybody sure gets in bad moods around here if they lose a soccer game. We ended up making the best of it, having fun with some friends, and then thankfully, Wednesday the 14 made up for it!
So Emily and I knew that the Honduran team was playing El Salvador on Wednesday night and we knew we wanted to watch it. We both thought it unlikely that they would win and from our Saturday experience we were eager to just stay home and watch the game together. A couple friends of ours and our housemate Yara also joined us for the game. We decided to order a pizza and had a blast together. The outlook was not good for Honduras because the United States also had to beat Costa Rica in order to actually make it to the World Cup. We were switching back and forth from one channel to the next to watch as much of each game as we could. Honduras was winning but the United States was behind most of the game. It was Costa Rica 2, United States 1, and in literally the last moments of the game an American headed a ball into the goal. At the time we didn’t quite understand what this meant… but as time passed we realize Honduras and the United States, after all the scoring was figured out, were headed to the World Cup! It was so exciting.
It is awesome to be here in such an important time in Honduras history. Of course, the political situation comes to mind first, but these people love their soccer and they haven’t been to the world cup since 1982! Honduras deserves this pick me up.
Needless to say we had to change out of our lounge around clothes and celebrate that fact that VAMOS AL MUNDIAL! We met up with some more friends down town and watched people fill the streets. Every car had someone hanging out the window, pick up trucks were full of people in the back, some cars even had whole families with little children sitting on top! Honduran flags everywhere, everyone sporting their Honduran Selection jerseys, horns blowing, and smiles! Lots and lots of smiles! It was awesome! I felt a little nervous once because we got caught up in a big crowd of people hooting and hollering but we got out of there quickly. It’s beautiful to see a whole country coming together and being so happy. I will never forget this experience!
Soccer becomes much more exciting when you get to watch it with people who are so pumped!