CHI CHI CHI LE LE LE VIVA CHILE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is a famous national chant in Chile that was heard over and over again today.

For anyone who has been living under a rock, today Chile won its first match in the World Cup against Honduras.  It's a particularly special event since Chile got back into the World Cup after a 12 year hiatus.

I knew it was going to be a big event, and so I went shopping for some World Cup things to get in the mood to watch the big game.  I was considering some hats and shirts, but I didn't want to spend a lot of money.  After visiting a bunch of stores with different things, I settled on a few horns and flags and a face paint set with red, white, and blue.  Since Erin and I wanted to go out and find things together but didn't manage to follow through with it, I got a set of things for her too.

I usually get to school around 7:50 or so (classes start at 8), but seeing the match was starting at 7:30 I had to drag myself out of bed earlier than usual.  As I walked to school a few cars were honking their horns, and some people were hanging huge Chilean flags out their windows.  I got to school around 7:15 and promptly dropped off my things in  the teacher's lounge and made my way to the cafteria (they call it the casino here in Chile).

I would say that about 100 kids were there, and also the faculty and staff.  There was artwork out front, and the windows were all covered over so that when the lights were off we could see the game on the large projection screen.  Some of the kids were in uniform, but most of them had some combination of red shirts/scarves/face paint etc.  There were also a lot of flags and horns.  They set up bleachers in the back of the casino and chairs. 

Enough of the text, here are some pictures:

When Chile scored, the place erupted.  Then it erupted again once Chile won the game.  After talking with students and teachers, I headed back to the teacher's lounge.  There Claudia and 2 other teachers were calmly sipping some tea and grading papers.  When they saw me with the flag and face paint, they told me I'm more Chilean than they are. 

Unfortunately I couldn't be at Plaza Italia where the big celebrating was happening, but they did have the news at my school, and I might be on the Channel 13 news. 

On Monday Chile plays Switzerland, and at school they are having some competitions and games leading up to us watching the game together.  It should be pretty exciting.