Manya Mayhem!

Yesterday my only post was the video of my first Peñarol (Carbonero, Manya) game against Independiente Medellín (Colombia) in February.  I couldn't write anything because it literally took me 2 hours and the life of my battery to upload the video.  If you're wondering why I haven't posted more pictures or any other videos, there's your answer.   I request that you please watch that video at least once daily until I come home to make it worth the time spent making it available to you.  In the video, the fans are singing "sos gallina!" (you're a chicken/coward!), which is the typical insult they use for their biggest rival, the National team of Uruguay (Nacional).  The enormous blow-up animal bouncing around is la gallina.  

The first time I went to the stadium (estadio), I sat in the regular people section.  But this past weekend I took a break from the sterilization of my new apartment to go sit in the crazy people section.  This made me slightly nervous because the last time I went to the stadium several fights broke out, and I later learned there was a stabbing.  As a result, the crazy people section has its own gate with loads of cops (policia) making sure people don't bring in big guns and big knives.  Apparently, fireworks and flares are permissible.  Once you enter this section you cannot go anywhere else, nor can the normal people come in because it's blocked off by high walls and barbed wire.  I thought this was a little over the top until I saw how many people climb over the walls and the barbed wire to yell obscenities at the refs and throw toilet paper on the field.  I can only imagine the chaos if the crazies were allowed free reign.  

Peñarol played terribly against Defensor (another Uruguayan team), losing 0-1 this weekend, so we left a few minutes early to avoid any drama.  This turned out to be an excellent idea as several fights broke out as the crazies began to vacate the stadium.  6 cops were injured as well as 4 cop cars, and 10 "Carboneros" (Peñarol fans, also called Manyas...pronounced Manshas with the Uruguayan accent) were arrested.  An 11 year old boy wearing Defensor purple was injured when a group including women and children was attacked.  For a more detailed account of the chaos, go here.  Uruguayans take their soccer very seriously.

After the game, I went back to cleaning my filthy apartment.  I have seen 4 dead cockroaches (cucarachas) and 3 live ones, which means I have seen 7 dead cockroaches.  One of the live ones was the grandaddy of all cockroaches.  I don't do cockroaches.  Raid is my new bff.  Some may say that having 7 cockroaches in a week is not a problem, but I have read that having more than 7 alcoholic drinks per week is considered to be a problem.  So I'm applying that logic here.  Regardless, having any cockroaches per week is a problem for me.  Also, I thought my fear of spiders had diminished until I was sitting on my balcony this morning eating breakfast.  I thought I saw a spider come down from the ceiling and jumped so high that I threw my coffee 6 feet in all directions!  Luckily, I had the door open and managed to douse my white leather couch and the white wall.  I have great aim.  Turns out, the little ball of dust floating in the air was not a spider, and I was safe.   (Side note:  If it had been a spider, I would not have killed it.  I do not kill God's creatures, especially the ones that eat other bugs.  Cockroaches, however, are a different story.  Silverfish are also a different story.  I do not believe God, a supreme and pristine being, created such yucky bugs. If you disagree, too bad.  This is my blog.)

At this point, I think it would be appropriate to make it clear that nothing posted on this website represents the official opinion of the Maryville Rotary Club or Rotary International. Everything written here is strictly my personal opinion. 

Anyway, despite having a few cockroaches, no gas (yet...I have to wait for a carpenter to come cut my front door...) and a leaky kitchen sink, my apartment is still awesome.  Classes started on Monday, and I'm about a 30 second walk from my building, maybe less.  When we have a break, I get to go to my apartment to use the bathroom with toilet paper, wash my hands with soap and dry them with a towel!  It's incredible.  By the way, I'm in McDonald's using the free WiFi again, and I will never knock Micky D's again because it's the only place in Uruguay where you are guaranteed to have toilet paper and soap in the bathroom.  If you come visit me, bring hand gel or a rockin' immune system.  It doesn't seem to bother anyone here that they go to the bathroom without washing their hands and then touch their money and then the hand rail on the bus (omnibus) and then they eat pizza and lick their fingers...and then they want to share a mate with you.  And you have to drink out of the same straw because there's only one, and it's totally rude to refuse.  My friends here kind of make fun of me for being "re Americana" (really American) and washing my hands all the time.  Being a germaphobe in Latin America is just silly. 

My computer battery is now dying, so I must go.  McDonald's may have free WiFi, toilet paper, soap, good napkins and great service, but it does not have anywhere to plug in my computer.  I couldn't figure out why there are no outlets anywhere until I realized they don't use machines to clean their floors.  I was thinking, where do they plug in the vacuum cleaner, but they do it the old fashioned way, with brooms and dust pans and mops and stuff.  Crazy.  It's little things like that which remind me every day that I am not in the United States of America.  And praise Jesus for that because I love Uruguay!