¡El Mundial de Fútbol!

One month since I last posted!! Exams, public class preparation, and heat made this last month crazy. Yesterday my students answered their last exam, and it finally rained! So today everybody is feeling better (especially me!)

So, what's new? Well, the most important thing that is happening in the country right now is the FIFA World Cup being held in South Africa!

Fútbol is so very important in Mexico. An example: one commercial on T.V. shows some couples in which the guy tells the girl this classic line "It's not you, it's me." Then he goes on to say "Let's take a break, give us some time." And ends with "Just a few weeks, from June 11 to July 11." Which is the time the World cup lasts!

Yesterday was the innauguration at 7:00 a.m. local time, and Mexico got to play the innaugural game with host country, South Africa. Such an important game! And on a school and work day! Prediction: schools and workplaces would be empty, thousands of students and workers absent from their activities. So the president makes a decision, all schools and government agencies were to be allowed to stop acivities from 9:00a.m to 11:00a.m. to watch the game! He was critisized, but I personally believe it was a correct measure. Do you know how many of my students were absent yeaterday? Not one!!!

So here are the images of my students watching the game in our classroom.

One student loaned his T.V. It was put up
in the classroom and everybody got ready to watch the game.
Same thing was happening in the other 21 classrooms
in our school.

Most brought their Tri shirts.
Tri stands for tricolor, green, white,
and red, the flag's colors.

This is the traditional Tri shirt.

In this world cup, the team will also be using a
black shirt. Yesterday they played with this one.

This is also a typical shirt, but I think
it will not be used during this World Cup.

The line-up...
The kids were very excited.

The team minutes before the game....
The kids were going crazy!!
And when the starting whistle blew,
a loud roar emerged from every clasroom!!
And, I would guess, from every school,
office, and home in the Mexican Republic!

My students are very organized. The all brought
something to eat during the game (potato chips,
doritos, peanuts, and soda at 9:00 a.m.!)

Oh, and lots of hot sauces for the "botana".

So for the record, Mexico and South Africa tied 1-1. Not good, but not bad. South Africa scored first, but when Mexico scored, wow, the school went crazy! At 11:00 everything was over, the kids went to recess, and came back to answer their exam. Everybody was happy for the permission to see the game.

And this will go on for 1 month. By the way, a while ago England and U.S.A. tied 1-1.

Hopefully I'll post tomorrow...
Have a nice weekend, everybody!