World Cup Fever

This week has been full of World Cup excitement here at Miguel Pro, highlighted by the US game yesterday morning.  In addition, we were also excited to enjoy a visit from JP's friend John, who stopped by Tacna after traveling to Argentina and Chile.  He was here from Tuesday afternoon to this afternoon, and we just dropped him off at the airport.  Here are JP and John:

(Note: This picture makes JP look really short but John is standing on a step--they are about the same height.)

During the school day, we have been lucky to stop in to the Vice Principal's office, where she has a tiny TV with a decent picture to keep up with the games.  However, on Wednesday morning we were disappointed to learn that the Peruvian TV channel that airs the World Cup had chosen to show the England-Slovakia game live and the US-Algeria game on tape delay.  As an alternative, JP brought our computer over and was able to get an internet feed of the game so we could watch it and see what happened.  So when I arrived to the office after spending an hour in preschool, this is what I found:

You can see JP nervously following the team in the above picture.

We were able to watch both games simultaneously, and with the US contingent of us, John, 4 American JVs, and a short term volunteer staying in Habitat, we had quite a group to cheer on our team.  It got very tense (especially for JP) but at the end we were jumping up and down and screaming when Landon Donovan finally scored in the 92nd minute. 

The teachers are equally excited, coming in at free periods and breaks to check the scores and discuss scenarios about who will qualify for the next round, so it has been a fun few weeks with World Cup Fever.  We will be continuing to root for the US against Ghana on Saturday and looking forward to enjoying more good soccer in the next few weeks before we leave.