World Cup Craziness

Just a quick observation. At home I would've noticed the World Cup in passing and probably wondered why it was taking up so much broadcast time. I wouldn't have noticed any of them games and stuck to my "soccer is boring" mind set.

Being on ship with colleagues from every country represented in the cup has changed my perspective. Though I am forced to watch every game, as a part of my job monitoring the channels, I probably would anyway. I watched my very first full soccer game yesterday.

I still don't find it to be the most fascinating sport of all, but I'm getting an aspect of it I would have never I thought I would have experienced.

I watched the kick off as I toasted champagne with two South Africans and two Brits. I spent the second half of the game watching in the crew bar with a giant group of rowdy South Africans speaking in Afrikaans, sat next to a group of Mexicans drinking Corona and speaking Spanish. It was such an energetic feel it made me get in on the action. Now I pick a team at the start of each game. I overheard my friend Jenn say she didn't really care about one of the games as she didn't have any friends from wither country. How strange, that's how I'm picking my teams. I root for the country that I have more friends in. Just another moment to stop and say, yes, while that feels normal on a ship, it's not normal. It's fantastic.

Tonight's the England v US game. I've asked my friends to try and find an America jersey for me - hey I'll need one for the 4th anyway, right? I am a little scared, though. It will probably be one of the most aggressive nights this crew bar will ever see. We have a rather large American population within entertainment, and as we're out of Southampton, Celebrity wants to send all of their British employees to the Eclipse. We also have about half and half guests onboard as well. As Jenn says, "the though of this game will get me through embarkation day." :)