Liga wins...I resign

Okay, okay, so the two aren't really related, but it's the best I could do today. It's hot here. By hot I mean that typing on my keyboard is causing me to sweat (and the oscillating fan in my office is already running at max speed). If there's one thing I've learned about living this close to the equator, it's that the concept of siesta should be mandated by law in these countries. Really, if the offices aren't going to have airconditioning or good ventilation, we should be allowed to take a break during the hottest time of the day (and lunch in the cafeteria doesn't count. It's the one place on campus that is consistently hotter than my office). Alrighty...enough bitching. On to my primary topics today: soccer and leaving CR.

Soccer:
The Costa Rican national championships were held last night, and the winners were....Alajuela! Alajuela is a town close by where I live. The adults and kids in The Ciudad generally size you up by the soccer team you root for. Here there are two choices "la liga" (alajuela's team...no idea why they're called "the league"...but whatever...) or "Saprissa" (san jose's team). My little hsot cousins asked me very seriously last week "esta ligista or saprisista?" They wouldn't take "no se" or I don't know for an answer, so I chose la Liga (an important political choice given that my host brothers are both ligistas). The cousins were disappointed, as they were wearing their purple best (Sparissa's colors).

Just a bit of cultural curiosity...only the players on some of the costa rican teams in the 1st division are full-time professional players (basically thoise who play for saprissa and la liga). The rest of the players have full-time jobs (one of the star players for the team opposing la liga in the championship is a farmer. He has to leave insanely early for the games because he has to take a public bus to the stadium where he'll be playing!). Can you imagine what would happen if, say, the Cleveland Indians or the Greenbay Packers had to have day jobs? The thought rocks my world.

One bit of annoyance, it's impossible to get Costa Rica league play results in English on the internet. Now I'm going to have to remember Spanish so I can read the results in La Nacion (the CR newspaper). For all of you soccer fans out there, the Costa Rican national team has an important game this Friday against the UNITED STATES!! Warning...this could get ugly in my household. Maybe I'll escape to the beach for the weekend...

Oh, and I offically submitted my resignation today. Whopee! It's off to Boston for me...three months from now...