World Cup: Happening in Russia, Watching in China, Routing for Senegal and Panama

World Cup!!! Maybe you are from a country that does not avidly follow soccer…..futbol , sorry.  But MOST  of the rest of the world thinks this is one of the premier events in the, well,  world…thus “World Cup”.  We have lived in these countries and have come to enjoy the hype and nationalism involved. Particularly this year because both Panama and Senegal are participating, for the first and second times ever!!! I probably feel more affinity for the futbol in these countries than if the US team had been involved, just a matter of fanatical following. 

I had very little interest in sports on any level as a child. Marrying Rick, I was committed to break him of this wasteful activity. Within a year I was watching American football with him. However, not until our children were wholeheartedly involved in athletic events did I truly succumb. One year during our time in Maryland I counted up 125 games that I went to in order to support our children. Probably the sport I understand the most is soccer. Purity was enthralled with the US Women’s World Cup and we watched and re-watched many matches on old VHS tapes. I learned the rules watching the videos and watching her play. She was a wicked wing and then an outstanding goalie. (Within the past few years she has deserted soccer for rugby. Probably get to see her play for the first time on June 30!)

Now, flashforward to sitting in China during the World Cup in Russia with Panama and Senegal playing. Can you wrap your mind around how fulfillingly cross-cultural this is….and confusing? I kept thinking Russia would be more on China time, after all we share a border. However, the World Cup is happening in Western Russia, which is closer to Europe than China. Therefore, the games are not at the correct time for me. They start at 8 p.m. and go until 4 in the morning.

There is also this small matter of language…..as always. Now, I am probably better off without understandable language in relation to sports events than say, a drama or news articles. And I need even less language for soccer, which is pretty straight forward to visually follow and I have watched intensely with my daughter. It still means that since it is Chinese I cannot read the characters on the tv screen which delineate the countries.  Looking at a schedule narrows the choices to two teams. Rick and I have to sit and look at the names on the backs of the jerseys in order to tell which team is in light and dark. Hopefully, we know enough about the countries to recognize last names. (If we knew the flags it would be helpful, but we are kind of ignorant on that score.) Of course we can’t tell what the calls are from the refs, but yellow and red cards are bad, and penalty kicks often result in goals. Usually I can spot off sides and when a corner kick is due. And I can understand enough spoken Chinese to recognize “but”, “of course”, “good”, “so”. The important filler words that are unhelpful right now.

The result of this is that we have turned on the tv in our bedroom for the first time. We go to bed watching the games, turn the audio off, go to sleep, and wake in the night to check on scores and watch a few plays and then go back to sleep. Good thing that vacation has started. Funny way to live, but fulfilling and really quite fun. I am happy that I get to participate.