Unexplainable Emotions

No I am not in a depression, nor am I homesick. Quite on the contrary the fact that there are only some 2 months left does make me feel a little sad. I have decided on which day I will be able to eat brown bread with cheese and bought boxes to ship my belongings, which means the end is beginning to draw near. But this sentimental talking will undoubtly come back later, the emotions I want to talk about are related to the game which has 22 men running after a round object and desperately trying to kick it in the goal of the opposite party. Since elementary school I have a liking for soccer, not only for watching it, but also for playing it. It’s the only thing so far in which a part on the left side of my body, namely my left foot, does function properly. (Really I can’t catch or throw balls with left, even worse can’t handle either fork or knife with my left hand). Soccer has not the same position in Japan as baseball, but especially after the World Cup of 2002 in Japan and Korea it gained in popularity. Which can be seen in the fact that there a quite some people who follow the matches, at least followed those of Japan. As said in the previous post one of the themes that I am recently very interested in is patriotism and nationalism. Reading Benedict Anderson`s book Imagined communities which offers strong evidence that nations are imagined communities, the present World Cup shows an example how far those imagined communities have become a reality in the minds and feelings of people all around the world. During the World Cup the difference in nations are forgotten, racism is less present, and the majority of the people supports their national team. So for the first match of Japan against Australia my dorm was filled with Japanese and foreigners alike. From all around the rooms shouts to encourage Japan were shouted, girls and boys alike. Of course the crowd went wild when with an enormous amount of luck the ball ended behind the Australian goalkeeper in the goal. The crowd got on my nerves with their unrestrained happiness about a goal which in my opinion should not be counted because the goalkeeper was obstructed. So I decided to support Australia to get a draw and make the game equal as well. I had to wait till 10 minutes before the end but then hell broke lose for the Japanese because the Aussies managed to score 3 goals. This was for me also a little bit too much, but the Japanese were utterly devastated. Many devastated themselves to grasp the nearest bottles of alcohol to forget the pain. I couldn’t understand their fanaticism but I only had to wait a couple of days to find myself sitting in front of the television, stressing about 11 guys in orange uniforms who had the noble task to get the ball in the goal on the other side. I found it very strange that I made such a fuss about those particular 11 guys and less about the 11 of Germany while they are geographically equally as near (and the Belgians as well, if they had participated).
And while I was comfortably sure that the Netherlands were proceeding to the second round after winning two games (although I am sure that my hair again turned some shades more grey after the match against the Ivory Coast) my French friend was really uptight. Everything depended on the last match, and when French hadn’t scored during the first half of the game, he was close to tears. Luckily for him they managed to win their game and proceed to the next round. But the 1/16 finals (is that a word?) was the place where the Netherlands this time stranded. In a game where the referee was not afraid to show a red card, the tension of the players rose to the top and also over it. The fact that those games took place at 4 o clock in the morning took is toll and although I had dragged my self with a enormous deficit of sleep in front of the television my emotions weren’t roused by the accidents happening on the screen. And with my head bowed down in regret I fell asleep and hoped next morning that I dreamed it all. Ofcourse not! But if I thought we were unlucky the match Australia against Italy proved that things could be worse, far worse. That is a simulated fall resulting in a penalty that is scored in the last minute of the match.
And nothing left to do than bow your head and think why it is that those 90 minutes of guys running after a ball can ruin your day.