Spain Wins!

Source: BBC News

Spain has won the World Cup! The game was absolutely CRAZY! I don't even know how many yellow cards were given to the Netherlands but I know they broke a World Cup record for sure. It was major nail-biter of a game and it was very stressful to watch because it just didn't feel smooth. There were interruptions every few seconds and both teams played well. But in the end Spain won!

Source: BBC News

The winning goal was scored by Andres Iniesta and it didn't come until the 116th minute of the game! Whew. Very cool!

Today's the day!

Today is the final day of the 2010 FIFA World Cup and it'll be very exciting because Spain and the Netherlands are both really great teams. I'm sure the game will be awesome. I'm actually getting ready to head out and watch the game at my parents' house shortly. I'm rooting for Spain but overall I am just hoping for a good, exciting match!

After yesterday's game, I attended "Art in the Park," which is basically an art show in downtown Northbrook. I saw some really cool art -- sculptures, paintings, photography, jewelry, you name it! One artist that I really liked was this guy who made these glass sculpture things. He calls them "glass relief images" but to me they are just glass sculptures.

Cool, huh? The artist's name is James J. Connolly. I like that he made a lot of different faces with different emotions and expressions. Very cool stuff!

The other artist I really liked was an Israeli woman named Smadar Livne. I saw her at the same art fest a year ago and I could not stop staring at her work because it was so interesting! She does all kinds of stuff but mostly she paints on canvas and what I like about her art is that she includes other elements, like buttons or lace or anything else that will enhance the image. You can't tell in this photo but her paintings might include photographs and lace and paper cut-outs and stuff. It's all very cool to me. I've never been artistic myself but in the last few years I've started to appreciate art a lot more.

Then yesterday evening I went to see a film about Bogota, the capital of Columbia. I don't think we actually have any students from Columbia but I have to tell you all -- the movie was really cool. It was all about how Bogota became more artistic and caring and reduced crime and violence when regular people like you and me started to care and felt more responsible for making the city a great place. They also made major improvements to the public transportation system and added bike lanes and the whole city became a much better place to live. The movie was very inspiring because, basically, regular people just decided that the city mattered and they began to act differently. Bogota is now on my list of cities that I plan to visit.

Well, I hope everyone is enjoying the summer and the World Cup, even though it's coming to an end!

Oops... I was wrong!

My sister informed me that I posted the wrong information about Paul the Octopus. Apparently he did NOT pick the Netherlands to win -- he picked Spain. Sorry for all the confusion!

Click here to watch the Youtube video.

I still think it's crazy that people care what this octopus "thinks." But then again there are people in the Netherlands who believe that there is a psychic parakeet that can also predict the winner so I really don't know anymore...

In other news, I am freaking out a little bit because everyone told me that July=winter in South Africa so I had assumed the weather would be kind of on the chilly side. But then this week several people told me it's quite hot there and I should bring summer clothes and sandals and stuff so I have no idea what to pack! I am only planning on taking one bag so I don't have to carry a lot of stuff with me but I don't want to bring all summer clothes and freeze and I don't want to bring all fall clothes and be too hot. Oy. I need to do more research on what the weather will be like.

Is everyone ready to watch tomorrow and Sunday's games? I am!

This is crazy...

My mom informed me that there is a famous octopus named Paul who has been predicting the winners and losers of the World Cup.He was right about Germany losing to Spain. :( This is crazy!

I guess that just leaves the final match. Spain vs. the Netherlands. I am rooting for Spain but Paul the Octopus says the Netherlands will win. Haha.

What do you think?

Lots of excitement today!

This afternoon I attended the African Summer Institute at Northeastern Illinois University. You all know I go there because of the NEIU water bottle that I carry around with me all the time. :) I was a part of this Institute last year and it was the experience of it that inspired me to take this upcoming trip to South Africa so it was really nice to see everyone again!

I missed the Netherlands vs. Uruguay game, which was too bad because it seems like it was an action-packed game! A final score of 3-2 tells me it was probably pretty interesting.

I am *really* excited about tomorrow's game! Germany vs. Spain. Oh, who to root for? Well, I think I am rooting for the Germans only because there are three (I know I said two earlier but there are actually three!) Polish players on the team.

I was looking for a station that would be showing the game tomorrow (I hate that American TV is barely showing any of the games!) and, of course, trusty Univision to the rescue! I wish I could speak Spanish because it would be really cool to be able to watch the game and understand the announcers. But, hey, at least with Univision I can watch the game!

Interestingly, as I checked the program summary, it said "Segunda Semifinal" (I know what that means!) and then "Alemania vs. Espana." Well, I know that Espana is Spain but it was really interesting to me that Germany=Alemania. Why is this interesting? Well, in Spanish Germany=Alemandia but in German Germany=Deutschland. In Polish Germany=Niemcy. So none of it sounds alike. So all of that piqued my curiosity and I decided to figure out why none of the names for Germany sound the same.

Just to show you what I mean, here are the names for Poland:
Polish=Polska
English=Poland
German=Polen
French=Pologne
Italian=Polonia
Portugese=Polonia
Swahili (African language)=Poland
Afrikaans (African lanuage)=poland (lowercase)
Dutch=Polen

So hopefully you noticed a pattern... but in case you didn't, they all sound kind of the same! It's always POL and then an ending.

Well, so with Germany, it's kind of interesting because when I did some google searches, here's what I found:

Because of Germany's geographic position in the center of Europe and its long history as a disunited region of distinct tribes and states, there are many widely varying names of Germany in different languages, perhaps more than for any other European nation: for example, in German the country is known as Deutschland, in French as Allemagne, and in Polish as Niemcy.

So, there are basically six main types of names for Germany and they are:
1) From Old high German diutisc (Example: Deutschland in German)
2) From the Latin Germania (this is where the English name for Germany comes from)
3) From the name of the Alamanni tribe (Examples: the Spanish Alemania and French Allemagne)
4) From the name of the Saxon tribe (Example: Saksa in Finnish)
5) From the Old Slavic word for "mute" and/or the name of the Nemetest tribe (this is where the Polish word for Germany, Niemcy, comes from)
6) Possibly from the Germanic word Volk "folk" (Example: Vācija in Latvian)

I realize I am probably the only person on earth who thinks this is really cool and interesting but it just seems so different. I mean, everyone everywhere knows that Mexico is called Meksyk (Polish), Mexiko (German), Mexique (French), Messico (Italian) or something that basically starts with the MEX sound. It's so weird (but cool!) to me that one country (Germany) can have so many different names in different languages.

Anyway, it's getting late. I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the summer! Let me know who you think will win the World Cup! Also, let me know what you've been up to. I miss you guys!

Germany beats Argentina!

So, a lot's been happening! Today Germany beat Argentina and they have advanced to the semifinals of the World Cup. I didn't watch this game (I was working on my research paper!) but my sister did and she said it was intense and awesome. Germany won 4-0.\There are two Polish players on the German team so I feel somewhat connected to the German team and, now that Ghana is out, I think that's who I am rooting for.



The two Polish players are:
Lucas Podolski and Piotr Trochowski

Later today Spain plays Paraguay to determine which team will go on to the semifinals. My sister loves Iker Casillas so we will be watching that game on Univision. :)

Now that it's July the countdown to South Africa is here! 19 days until I leave and 20 days until I'm actually in South Africa. Way cool. I can't wait!

How's everyone's summer going?

The U.S. is out!

Today the U.S. team lost to Ghana and they are out of the World Cup! Below is a picture of the Asamoah Gyan of Ghana celebrating his winning goal. Did any of you watch the game?

Source: http://g.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/world-cup/photos/

Click on that link if you want to see more photos from the game.

Tomorrow Germany will play England and then Mexico plays Brazil. That'll be pretty interesting and I am sure a *ton* of Mexico fans will be watching all over Chicago. I'm rooting for Mexico. :)

One week later...

Wow, so I really can't believe a whole week has gone by since school let out! I miss all of my students and hope all of you are enjoying your summer!

I have been very busy so far... As many of you know, I am in school too and my professors have given us so much work to do that I feel like I have been drowning in my school work. I bet you guys think that's funny. :) Plus, I spent two days back at Northwest doing stuff so it hasn't really felt like school has ended. Also, I read a really good book that I wish I could share with all of you but I can't because it's top secret and not yet published. My author friend gave me a copy of it and I really do hope it gets published because it's really, really neat and I think a lot of you readers (especially the girls) would LOVE it.

Tomorrow I am attending a reading workshop for teachers and last week when I went to the first part of it they gave us a homework assignment -- can you believe that?!?! I was surprised but the homework assignment was really cool. I had to somehow show what kind of a reader I am. So, I did this semi-artistic poster that tells you what's going on in my mind while I am reading. Take a look at it and let me know if your brain does this or if you experience reading differently.
Today I went to the beach so today was really the first day that actually felt like summer. Then I went to the library and picked up four books to read so I will definitely be busy reading for fun this weekend. Here's what I got:

1. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver (this is another one of those books where the main character dies and she's reflecting on the last day of her life)
2. Learning to Swim in Swaziland (a picture book about a country in Africa called Swaziland)
3. Nelson Mandela's Favorite African Folk Tales (remember him -- he was the president of South Africa)
4. Sister Slam (a novel-in-verse)

I'll let you know what I think of these!

The last thing I wanted to share with you all is that there is supposed to be a really exciting soccer game tomorrow. The U.S. will be playing Ghana, another African country, and it's going to be really neat because it will be sort of a rematch from the last World Cup when Ghana beat out the United States. So a lot of Americans are really into this game. Me? Well, I'm rooting for Ghana. :)

Hope everyone's doing well! Leave us a comment so we know what you're up to!

World Cup Concert

Here are some pictures from the World Cup Concert, held in South Africa last night. It looks like a lot of fun!

Sad News about Mandela

Nelson Mandela will miss the opening of the World Cup because his granddaughter just died in a car crash. Read about it here.

Official World Cup 2010 Song

Such an awesome song and the video totally gets me excited about the World Cup!


Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgyJY9yndv4

FIFA World Cup Information

Hey everyone, I found a link to FIFA. Check it out.