World Cup

It’s Saturday – we made it through another week! The weather is so beautiful outside today, sunny and clear. It’s rare to see so much blue sky here in Shenzhen. A combination of pollution and tropical, humid weather means there are many days when the sky is hazy or completely white, and it feels like we live in a cloud.

Right now the talk about town is the World Cup. Any restaurant I’ve walked into the past week is showing it on TV, and many are offering food or drink specials and World Cup viewing parties.

I know I’ve heard of the World Cup in the past, but I can’t recall ever watching a game. Matt knows much more about it than me – I’m still learning. He explained to me that it’s like a soccer tournament that only happens every 4 years, and the teams are made up of players from the country they are from. (I learned this last bit when I asked if I would get to see hottie David Beckam playing for the U.S. Important to note – he would normally play for England, but he’s injured right now and can’t play at all).

For anyone out there like me, ignorant to the world of soccer, here’s a few more tidbits: the World Cup location changes, kind of like the Olympics. Since soccer is not as big in the U.S. as it is in other places around the world, often games are only shown on TV live, which could mean they are on TV in the middle of the night. There are 32 teams (countries) playing and the entire event lasts a month.

I’ve seen a lot of advertising for the World Cup in Shenzhen, such as Lego-like doodads and soft drink cans covered with pictures of players. China’s team didn’t make the cut, but the people here are still so passionate about this sport. 

Matt read in a local paper that the Chinese government received a large number of tickets from North Korea, which they then distributed to Chinese celebrities or well-to-do businessmen. I did a google search on the topic and came up with this article, which is pretty interesting…

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23845657-north-koreas-world-cup-fans-who-are-really-volunteers-from-china.do

Rest assured we will be cheering on team USA, and we hope they go all the way!