Rafael

Van der Vaart. Quite the last name, quite the face.

My first real encounter with soccer was around this time last year. Michael Jackson had just died, and in memory of Michael, one of the 'pubs' was showing MJ music videos. Rewind a bit. I was in Malawi, so being able to go to a public place and watch MJ videos was an integral part of the mourning process. What came after the videos was the South Africa vs. USA soccer match. I wasn't all that interested in seeing the game especially since it was freezing cold! But as Kristina and I watched and saw the teams as they sang their national anthems, we thought "woah woah...what have we been missing?!" Honestly, soccer is littered with good-looking people! So we sat through the game (still freezing) listening to the Malawians yell OBAMA! OBAMA! OBAMA! everytime the US team scored. Hilarious.

One year later, back in Canada, I've joined an intramural soccer league on campus. It is a lot of fun, however at times frustrating. I need lots of practice! But really... running around after a ball cheering people on...that's fun enough!

Also, a year later. The world cup. My class is super into it, so I also got on the band-wagon and thought about which team I would cheer for. Not really having any ties to a particular country, I went through a very careful and intelligent process of choosing 'my team'.

Step 1: www.google.com
Step 2: typed in countries competing
Step 3: scanned the team pictures
Step 4: short-listed countries
Step 5: I saw a picture of Rafael Van der Vaart and I was sold. No more searching required!

Go Dutch go! I look forward to watching the rest of the World Cup. Thankful for laptops, we've managed to watch matches during classes, labs, while doing homework, and walking from class to class. I think Karen and I have made a good choice of heading to the Netherlands after our 8-month 'tour de Asia' in 2011! Stay tuned!