Football

In Ghana, football is serious business. At 4 a.m., you can already find games on the dirt fields by my house. Don't bother asking people what their favorite sport is, because the answer will always be football. Everyone plays, and everyone watches. Last week when Ghana played Germany, I think all of Cape Coast was holding its breath to see if Ghana would advance. After every goal that Ghana scores, there is a group (maybe pack is a better word...) who run from where I live to the market that's over a mile away blowing vuvuzelas and yelling. It's intense. My host mother and sister always sit and watch the opening of the games but then leave the room while Ghana is playing since they get so nervous. Emmanuel  just coaches the team through the TV. He also quizzes me on player names and team strategies after every game (even the ones Ghana doesn't play). I don't watch much soccer in the states, but apparently I will be an expert by the time I get home. In the first rounds he also made me calculate the chances of each team advancing...we had to talk about all of the hypotheticals. So funny. He says that he will bye me a Coke for every game that Ghana wins. I was heckled all last week about the U.S./Ghana game. I have heard at least a hundred times that Ghana beat the U.S. in the last world cup. A taxi driver told me last week that I shouldn't support either team... "if Ghana loses, you can be a lot sad, but if U.S. loses, you can be a little sad. You have to be patriotic." My host family taught me to say I am a Ghanaian in Fante last week..I decided that since I'm Ghanaian for the summer, I have to support Ghana, and, I'll have to admit, I was really excited that they won last night. The other volunteers and I are at the beach for the weekend, so we got to watch it on a projector at the resort. Everyone was going crazy... it was a really exciting game! Emmanuel also told me that he was going to shave my head if U.S. beat Ghana, so I think things worked in my favor :).