USA vs. Italy

Last night we had about 20 people over to watch the US-Italy match in the World Cup, a pretty good turnout considering the game didn't start until 2:00 am. About half the crowd was Italian, including a couple Italian friends working at the U.N. and some friends of theirs. The rest were mostly American, of course. A pretty raucous group and lots of cheering at what turned out to be quite a physical match; the refs gave out three red cards. The U.S. held on for a tie one-one, despite being a man down for almost the entire second half.

World Cup

The World Cup started tonight in Germany and the Germans kicked it off with the first game against Costa Rica, winning it 4-2. With the time zone difference games start here at about 11:00 pm. We trooped over to the Dubliner, an Irish bar down the street and watched the first half with a big crowd, then came home to watch the second half. (Dung's asleep on the couch by this point.) The U.S. team doesn't have it's first game until June 12 against the Czechs. We'll still be in Malaysia at that point, hope we can find a place to watch the game.

A sea of yellow

Celebrations began today for the 60th anniversary of the King's accession to the throne and just about everybody in the whole country wore yellow, the royal color. Luckily I've got a yellow polo shirt so I fit in nicely today. About a million people went to the Sanam Luang (Royal Field) to see the King speak, all wearing yellow of course. The celebrations last for four days, including a procession of royal barges down the Chao Phrya River, with about 2500 Navy personnel rowing all the boats. We're going to miss most of it, we're heading down to Penang, Malaysia for the long weekend, probably a good idea. Traffic's going to be a nightmare.