Bishoi Kap

I know my last post was about the World Cup, but really this is the event that's defining my life these days, so I thought I'd write about it again. Most of my conversation with my host brothers revolves around football nowadays. Bishaw was disappointed with Germany's loss to Serbia and I was less than impressed with England's lack-luster effort against Algeria (0-0 draw). So far the Brazil and Argentina fans have nothing to complain about, which is, as I mentioned earlier, almost the whole country.

When I last posted the games hadn't begun. I could only speculate on what a World Cup in Bangladesh is like. I had questions like "Why does everyone like Brazil and Argentina?" My own hypothesis was proven wrong when I asked Mokhles. He told me that Bangladeshis love watching flashy, big name players and Brazil and Argentina have had their fair share. Players like Pele, Ronaldo, Kaka, Maradona and Messi are household names.

Near my house is a biggish road with a bunch of shops and stalls. Someone has set up a big white sheet over a billboard and projects the night games here. I was really surprised to see this, but it's great. The power usually goes off at around 8:00 pm (the start time for the second game) but to my even greater surprise, I found that the projector is hooked up to a car battery so we can watch the games when the power is off! These times when the power goes out I would normally spend sitting on a bench outside my house trying to catch a cool breeze. Now I can watch the game.

It's fun watching games with 500+ Bangladeshis. We pretty much clog the road meaning vehicles trying to get through have to constantly lean on their horns (not really abnormal though). I went to the first Brazil game at 12:30 am and there were hundreds of people out even at that hour. They play again tonight at the same time, and I plan on going. I read in the paper that a bunch of people were watching the first Argentina game in Dhaka when the power went out. This sparked a small riot and involved a few torched cars. The government has asked the power companies to try their best to limit load shedding during the matches.

It really is impossible to not be caught up in the excitement surrounding the World Cup. I can't imagine what it's like in South Africa. I've begun making tentative plans for going to Brazil 2014. Who's in?