Game to Game

Yesterday at lunchtime, Mexico was playing France, so one my Mexican coworkers and I went to go watch the game at a sandwich shop called Tortas El Guero ("Blondie's Sandwiches"). Saori and another one of my coworkers, Kiyomi, met us there and we at great sandwiches and watched the game along with a small but vocal crowd rooting for the Mexico side. It was a great game, Mexico delivered, leaving France, the runners up of the last world cup, on the brink of not even making it to the round of 16.

That evening, Saori and I picked up Mai from her apartment and took her to Kiyomi's house for Korean-style BBQ. Kiyomi's backyard is fantastic, tropical, lush, overgrown like a jungle with interesting things everywhere. Their entire house is kind of like that. In the middle of the backyard, there is large wooden covered pavilion that is mostly screened in, with a big table in the center with old wooden folding chairs, cobwebs everywhere, and hanging pendant lights. After a round of beer, our hosts set up a large cooking station in the middle of the table, which is essentially a large frying pan on top of a propane stove. We then proceeded to fry up shittake mushrooms, sliced green peppers, onions, Japanese squash, thin-sliced beef and jumbo prawns. Everything served with a kind of rice that has more wheat or barley in it, so its a bit like a cross between grits and regular short-grain rice. Delicious. After we'd eaten our way through most of the pan, Kiyomi brought out soba (wheat noodles) and fried them up, and then I regretted having eaten so much before. The yakisoba (fried noodles) soaked up the flavors of the cooked meats and veggies. Good stuff. For dessert, Kiyomi brought out a Japanese dish, shaved ice with condensed milk and sweet red bean paste.

We ended up talking past 11, and then we took Mai back to her apartment where we said goodbye. She'll be on a jet to Japan next Tuesday, while we'll be on the cruise. It was a sad moment, but we said "mattane" (see you later), not "sionara" (goodbye).

This morning I got up at my usual time to go into work, but the US was playing Slovakia, and when I tuned in, we were DOWN by a goal, so I had to stay and watch and lend my psychic support to the US team. Even my little brother Taylor, who is rarely up before noon, texted me to see if I was watching. It was a tense game, the Slovakians fought hard and tackled player after player after player. It was almost like the US team had never played a European team before they just looked unsophisticated in that regard. A very sleepy Saori made her way to the living room and watched with me. After a thrilling comeback with two goals to tie the score, the US scored again, but had that victory snatched from them from a terrible call from the ref, ending the game in a draw.

Play by Play

It's been another busy week, where I have been having difficulty to find the half an hour it takes to sit and write a blog posting. However, the World Cup has been fun to watch- I race home for lunch and Saori has the Univision channel up and we catch the end of the first half and the beginning of the second half of whatever the third game of the day is.

Sunday was a hard day of work for Saori. One of her long term patients was a 30 year old quadriplegic, E, who had been crippled after an accident in his early 20s. Apparently a very outgoing guy who still enjoyed the Scottsdale nightlife and socializing with friends and family. After hearing so much about me from Saori, he wanted to meet up for drinks at Trader Vic's. We were going to get together last thursday, but the other caretaker had something come up and called it off. However, he neglected to tell E, who had taken the several hours it takes to get ready to go out on the town, and so he called up his parents instead and they went out together. It would be the last time they saw him. The next day, he collapsed, and by the following morning he had left this world.
It's another quiet reminder that life is a ephemeral gift, and every loved one, and every moment is dear.

Monday, reminded of the value of friends and family,  after work we joined mom, Tay and Grandma at "Cheuvront", a "wine bar," to celebrate Tay's friend's birthday, where we had somewhat-off "blackberry mojitos" and really good "flights" of wine and cheese "pairings" until we were so "sophisticated" that we were having difficulty "operating" doors.

Tuesday was relatively free of engagements so Saori and I took the time to hit up the grocery store to stock up on stuff for the cruise and to get a roll of quarters for laundry. The cruise ship will only allow you to bring on a bottle of wine per person, plus a small amount of soft drinks, so we picked up some tonic water and cokes. If I can find a fresh lemon or lime, a tonic water does not cry out so strongly for some gin. We did a few loads of clothes at the apartment complex when we got back home, and filled out our cruise "FunPass" which included fun questions like "who do we notify if you get hacked to bits by machete welding drug gangs?" and "what is your credit card number so we can charge you $34.18 for each can of soda you drink on board?"

Wednesday, yesterday, we went to my friends' apartment for a small going away party. One of them, Mai, is a Japanese girl who is going back to Japan after not being able to find work in her field of industrial design out here in Arizona or California. What strikes me as more sad is the fact that she really did love being in Arizona. With my recent blog posting on souvenir in mind, I asked her what she was taking with her, and she pulled out a small bronze Arcosanti bell.

Viva la FIFA

I'm actually kind of excited for the World Cup. I don't know who is on the US team (although I'm rooting for them), I didn't really pay much attention to Olympic soccer, and I don't really follow sports. Sometimes, I think that I really should for networking and businesses purposes, like some people take up golf. It's a safe topic of conversation for breaking the ice, meeting people face to face and talking about something other than business. It strikes me almost as a standard of normalcy, especially for men, and especially in the midwest. If this guy can talk about the latest baseball or basketball or football game, then I can understand him, I can work with him. I feel really awkward when people in the office make small talk with me, opening with, "man, that was really tragic with the suns, huh?" and I'm gulping and nodding, "I know, right?"

So why am I excited about the World Cup? Part of it is being part of something the entire rest of the world gets swept up in. Sure, North Korea issues press releases that sound like someone's been smoking banana peels over there, but they still sent a team. Argentina, France, Brazil, Italy, most European countries go completely crazy during those two months. Yes, the Olympics are nice, but there's much more emphasis on country's performance as a whole rather than on the individual events. It feels more egalitarian, more formal, more ceremonial, like the parade of nations. The Olympics are like the UN.

The World Cup is all about soccer. It comes down to the games. Two teams, facing off against each other as they work their way to the top. There's only one event, one master tournament to determine who is the best in the world, and our country is there. It's got action, nationalism, passion. You never see fans rioting and setting cars on fire after their country wins the Ice Skating Couple Dance.

Sure, there's also a bit of eclecticism, the fact which landed soccer on the list of "Stuff White People Like." Let's face it, soccer is not a popular sport in the US, definitely not as popular a spectator sport as the baseball, basketball, or football, and trails even behind hockey. It's a yuppie/hipster thing to "appreciate" foreign sports that don't have mass appeal.

There's been some really good commercials associated with the World Cup. My favorite was from the last one, although there's a fantastic commercial from Nike which you'll find below that one.