Round of 16

With the storm letting up just a bit I headed over to the sports bar yesterday and got to watch the USA-Ghana match with the ESPN feed. The USA was clearly outplayed and Ghana got a deserved goal in added extra time to win 2-1. I got to walk home in the rain and bemoan the lost opportunity. There were a ton of US fans in the bar and the atmosphere was great even in defeat. This week is week two of the summer term and on Thursday I head to Miami for the summer seminar then right after I get back Katie heads to Duncanville. In between on the sixth of July we have an appointment at which we may or may not find out the gender.

Rain and Tropical Sorm Alex

With the glass for our car window at least 5 days shipping away, now was about as in- convenient a time as possible for the first tropical storm of the season to make an appearance. While it is well to the south of us we are getting lashed by band after band of rain being sent out by TS Alex. We have a trash bag taped over the window and the tarp over the vehicle to keep out the water. At left is a photo of the driving rain and the tarp being blown around. The water runs off our roof through the drain visible on the right thus the seeming waterfall there. Unfortunately, with no driver side window, the car is undrivable as there is a huge blind spot for the driver because you cant see through the trash bag. We cant remove the bag because of the constant rain. That means we are trapped at home pending use of the college van which is having its radiator flushed or rides from co-workers.

This afternoon is the big USA-Ghana match, if the rain lets up we are going to the sportsbar to watch the US transmission and if we cant we will have to watch the Caribbean feed from FIFA at home. Either way it will be a tense afternoon of futbol as we watch the round of 16 match.

Car Window

Yesterday we learned just what happens when a weed whacker and a rock interact with a drivers side window. A lot of broken glass. We are driving around with a trash bag for a window and with rainy season in full force are holding our breath every time the rain starts. It may take a while to find the right size glass for our car and that is a concern. Fortunately the lawn service has agreed to pay for the damages so at least that is good.

USA 1 Algeria 0

The local TV stations here are apparently still back in the '50's in terms of satellite feeds. As a result they are only able to show one game at a time during the third phase of group play when two matches are played simultaneously. They have advertised for a month that we would see all 64 games live but apparently forget to notice that there are 8 games played simultaneously and if their third world set up cant get more than one satellite feed then they would have to show on tape delay one of the games even with two stations available to carry games. With so many Englanders on island there was no question which game they would carry live this morning at 9:00 a.m. local time and it wasn't the USA.

As a result, I got up early and headed over to the sportsbar that I normally find myself at on Saturdays in the fall to watch the Horns play. The bar was already open when I arrived around 8:45 and quickly filled with both American and English fans. They split the bar so on one side they had the US match playing with audio for it and on the other England with its audio. They also had the other game showing on one or two TVs on each side so you could follow your match but keep an eye on the other.

When England scored early on in their match it became clear that the US would have to win to advance. The Americans had a goal disallowed and missed a ton of chances. You could tell the mood in the bar was getting more and more depressed on the American side as the clock ticked down and chance after chance went awry. At the 90 minute mark it was still a scoreless draw and it looked like the US would crash out of the cup and we would all go home disappointed. The English fans were pretty clearly hoping for a US draw which would mean that they would top the group. So, while not exactly cheering for Algeria they were certainly not rooting on the Yanks. Then, in the 91st minute (into injury time) the Americans got a breakaway and Landon Donovan got a rebound goal and I swear you could hear the roar from the US fans in the bar throughout the island. It was incredible! The US 1-0 victory combined with England's 1 nil win over Slovenia meant both teams advance so no one left the bar sad but with the US now topping the group the American fans definitely left with a greater sense of elation not just at the last minute goal that saved them from elimination but at winning the group and hopefully avoiding Germany in the round of 16. With this win the US advance to play Saturday in the round of 16 and I will be right back at the same bar to watch the match hoping for a similar result.

World Cup 24x7

Down here it is World Cup time all the time with the international feed on both local channels and the signs everywhere with expats flying their national colors. The games are live early in the day then replayed later along with a one hour highlight show to wrap up the day. We were in Jamaica for the USA-England match but were home this morning as USA took on Slovenia. The ESPN feed is blacked out so we can only watch the Caribbean feed for the games on the local channels. After trailing 2-0 in the first half today, the Americans scored two goals in the second half and had a third potential game winning goal disallowed on an absolutely atrocious call by some America-hating-two-bit-third-world referee in over his head officiating a World Cup match (but we aren't bitter about it at all). The 2-2 draw today combined with the 1-1 draw with England mean the US is still alive to advance to the elimination rounds. The USA plays Algeria next week and must win by 2 goals to guarantee advancement to the round of 16.

Update: After Algeria and England play to an ugly nil-nil draw, all the US must do is beat Algeria by any scoreline to guarantee advancement. Good thing we don't work mornings as next Wednesday is the big match. National pride is a big deal down here for these few weeks so the US doing well is letting the Americans on the Island hold their heads high in conversation with our European co-workers.

Home from Jamaica

We are back on Cayman after a quick getaway weekend to Negril on the western coast of Jamaica. We stayed at a resort on the beach and did some snorkeling both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday evening we made a trip over to the famous Rick's Cafe to watch the cliff divers and take in a sunset. Pictured at left is us at the cafe. Pictured below is one of the cliff divers. Rick's was voted one of the top ten bars in the world and we got to see some incredibly high cliff diving. Unfortunately this is the rainy season and on the evening we went to Rick's there was a rainstorm which prevented us from seeing the spectacular sunset that the bar is famous for as well. The snorkel trips were a lot of fun as on both trips we saw new fish and reef creatures that we hadnt yet identified in our books and got to make new entries for a couple of star fish, a sea cucumber and a trumpetfish.

It is World Cup time and everywhere in Jamaica you could see evidence of the competition going on. On Saturday for the USA-England match it seemed like the whole country came to a halt to watch the match. In addition to the snorkeling we got in some quality beach time reading and swimming and generally had a very restful weekend. We had formal meals each of the three nights we were there and got to enjoy tapanaki the last night made right in front of us. Little Baby C does not like flying and Katie didn't enjoy the traveling portions of our trip on Friday and Monday. This week there are no classes at ICCI but we have evening work every day from the faculty meeting to new student orientation and then the seminar meeting. In just two weeks Scott heads to Miami for the summer seminar and meeting with two colleges about possible articulation agreements and then right after he gets back Katie is going back to Texas to do some maternity shopping and spend some family time with her parents and sisters.

Finishing out the Spring Term

This is the last week of our spring term at ICCI and we are both ready for our getaway to Jamaica. A few people have inquired whether we still planned to go over there and we keep reassuring everyone the violence you have been reading about is in Kingston which is a couple of hundred miles from Negril where we will be. It would be like not going to San Francisco because there are riots in LA. It has gotten terribly hot down here and with the El Nino effect not being as present as last year the hurricane forecast has been increased dramatically. We are getting everything in order so we are ready just in case but it really shouldn't get interesting until July and early August. We are both teaching this term so this week is being spent finishing those classes and getting ready for next term which begins on June 21. Hard to believe we have been here now for over three years. Will post pictures of our Negril trip next week when we get back.