I have mentioned the fact that Uruguay has been trying to make the World Cup. They placed fifth in the South American group so they had to go to a play off against Costa Rica, the fourth place finisher in the North and Central American group. Uruguay won the first game in Costa Rica last Saturday. That meant they needed to at least tie on Wednesday night to make the World Cup.
The game was at 9. Around 6 we started getting ready decking ourselves out in Celeste (skyblue) many of us in Uruayan jerseys and started the face painting.
At 7:30, all but four of us met 7 of the youth from church and headed toward the stadium. We got there an hour early, but it was already almost full. Rain had been predicted for the night, but with exception of the fog rolling in the weather was pretty good. Although later I read on ESPN.com that rain was lashing down in Montevideo. We still don't understand that.
We were very excited for the game. We were up near the top of the stadium. Well after an hour of taking pictures of ourselves. It was time for the game to begin. One strange thing that happened was that during the Uruguayan National Anthem, the Costa Ricans took the field. Admittedly, it was going on and on, but still. There is also a big controversy because apparently the version that was sung was really pepped-up.
The game was pretty tense with lots hanging on it. Dara (in the picture above) and I were cheering partners, we were both way too into the game. Dara plays on the ACU soccer team. Anyway... Uruguay came close to scoring sooo many times. On one near goal Dara and I screamed like little girls. Then we giggled for a good 5 minutes over that girly moment. (We've decided since then that that was our favorite moment of the game.) Uruguay finally did score early in the second half (at I believe the 69th minute.) The crowd went into a frenzy. But a few minutes later Costa Rica scored... which was totally lame. That left us all on the edge of our seats for the rest of the game. However, the game ended in a tie and so Uruguay is going to the World Cup. 
So the celebration began. The players came around and celebrated around the field. If you look closely you can pick out some of the more famous players on the team. Lugano, the team captain, is the one without a shirt, the guy in the jersey to the right of Lugano is Forlan, better known as Rubia, who is maybe the most popular player, and number 9 is Suarez. He's to the left of Lugano.
Jaimie and Amanda celebrating with two of our Uruguayos friends, Natalia and Ema.The walk back was fun with people celebrating in the streets. Walking down Colonia, everyone would honk at our big group of people clearly decked out for the game. We would all yell and cheer back at them.
Oh to explain the title... at the game of the songs that we could sing has the deep lyrics: "Soy Celeste. Soy Celeste. Celeste Soy Yo!" Or "I am sky blue! I am sky blue. Sky blue am I!"
In other news from this week... this weekend is free travel weekend. Six of the students went out of town. The rest of us stayed here. Friday I went to the Old City and visited Mercado del Puerto for the first time this semester. I was going to go to a ferria today... but it rained, so that kind of ruins outdoor plans. I did get work *gasp* done today. I cleaned my apartment and started working on things for next semester. I know craziness. But since I'm not getting home until a week before school starts next semester, I have to get some stuff done while I here. Its a rough life.
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