chile really likes its fútbol

Chile beat Honduras 1-0 today in their first match of the 2010 World Cup--and you would have known this even if you hadn't watched it.  After the stoppage time ran out and Chile claimed victory, possibly every Chilean in the country piled into their or their friends' cars, rolled down all the windows, blew plastic trumpets, and beeped their horns incessantly while dressed in colors of "La Roja," faces painted in the Chile red, white, and blue, and waving giant flags out the windows.  Those without cars paraded through the streets banging on anything that would make noise and yelling in unison, "Chi-chi-chi!  Le-le-le!  Vi-va Chi-le!"  Lost your eyesight for four seconds when your face paint smeared into your eye and missed Chile's goal?  No problem!  Every channel on TV replayed it and you could literally watch it over and over every five minutes.  All this went on ALL DAY.  The celebrations died down by the evening in Quilpué, but the stragglers certainly made themselves heard.  Talk about passion.  Here in Chile, the people celebrate anything that has to do with fútbol.  It doesn't even need to be a World Cup win for them to glue themselves to the television for 90+ minutes, although the glitz, glam, national pride, and pure love of the game factors do magnify these matches to a level that has everything in the country coming to a complete halt during this time frame.  Did I mention the game today started at 7:30AM and everyone from children to adults were excused from school and work until it was over at 10 o'clock?  At a school in Santiago, the students actually watched the game AT school and then afterwards, piled out and stormed the streets in celebration with no intention of returning the rest of the day.
In Chile, fútbol transcends responsibility, education, and the bare necessities of life.
In Chile, fútbol is life.

Some of my students after the Chile win.

A little Waka Waka of course!

Me joining in the Waka Waka