My husband left the house before dawn and headed to the Press Room, a local bar, where he sat in the dark and drank a cup of coffee, before starting in on a Guinness. This sounds like the beginning of some dark tale, but it's much simpler than that. If you want to see the Netherlands play in the 2010 World Cup, this is their witching hour.
Funny thing is, he wasn't alone. Another 25 or so die hard fans filled the bar, including 3 Japanese soccer fans cheering for Japan, Holland's opponent in the Match.
In the meantime, I awoke at 6am and reached to find an empty bed. It didn't take me long to remember where my husband had gone. I felt awake, and took advantage of the moment to read Time magazine's extensive coverage of the World Cup in South Africa, its meaning to the country, the history of Fifa and soccer throughout the world, and even the importance of soccer on Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela and countless others were held in prison, and the beacon of hope and equality that a weekly soccer game instilled in this prison population.
I soon realized that my default favorite player is Samuel Eto'o of Cameroon, not for his amazing abilities, but for his story of rags to riches, and, with a salary in the multi-millions, his generosity to his fellow Cameroonians through pumping millions into social development programs that link sports, education and health.
That afternoon as husband and child took a long nap, I headed down to the Santa Barbara Public Library for a blow out book sale (this is indeed how they advertised it), and scored a bag of books, CDs, videos and a beautiful cloth bag all for $20.00. Titles ranged from the I-Ching and the Autobiography of Mother Theresa to Al Franken's Lies and the Lying Liars who Tell Them. It felt like Christmas in June!
When Arie Jan awoke and saw my bounty, he took his turn at the sale. We have no idea where we are going to put all of these new books.
Instead of surprising him with new socks and underwear for Father's Day, I took him to Edomasa for dinner, where dear friends--also a Dutch American couple with a toddler son--joined us. It was a great evening . . great day as a matter of fact. And what better way to celebrate the Dutch victory against Japan, then eating in a Japanese restaurant?
Good night!
No comments:
Post a Comment