Finally have internet at home again, and I got to borrow a friends computer all of yesterday, so I got to watch Modern Family episodes all day. I have never appreciated technology as much as I did at 10am yesterday morning, sitting in bed with fresh orange/passion fruit juice. The fresh juices here are AMAZING, probably mostly because the fruit is so delicious, and I never realized how easy it is to make. You just throw it in a blender, then strain it, all of which takes a couple of minutes. Like guavas, you don’t even have to peel, you just cut the ends off.

The FIFA World Cup U20 is happening in Colombia right now, so on Friday I went to a game in the newly renovated stadium here in Cali. We paid about US $20, and got to see a double header of New Zealand vs. Portugal and France vs. Mali. My friend Alex (a German girl I work with) and I were struggling with how we should decorate ourselves in this situation – how do you pick a country? Do you paint one country’s flag on one cheek and another on the other cheek? That’s a little confusing, maybe we should wear a neutral color like white and pretend it’s for the teams...The Colombians did not struggle with this though – about 90% of the stadium was full of people wearing the yellow Colombian jersey, their faces painted in the yellow, blue, red of the Colombian flag, seemingly unperturbed by the fact that Colombia was not playing in either of the matches.

They don’t sell any alcohol at football games, because apparently it is too dangerous. The fans are so passionate that deaths are not uncommon at matches, so it’s best not to encourage the passion with beverage. You also can’t bring any food in, and all they sell are hot dogs, chorizo, potato chips, this-roasted-pig stuffed-with-rice dish, and soda, and you can’t even leave to eat and come back in. Unfortunate. However, quite fortunate: ALL THE TEAMS stay in the nicest hotel in Cali, the Intercontinental, which is located 5 MINUTES FROM MY HOUSE!!!! Obviously I will be spending a lot of time hanging around there the next two weeks….