World Cup '06: Surreality

Today as many days this week, I've been sitting in a favorite resto of ours, updating the convoy blog, and catching up on itnernet-related work and communications.  The connectivity here is the best I've found in Jogja, and it's free. 

At about 7 PM, waiting for Yuli to get back from the hills, the Dixie Diner suddenly was overrun by Indo-style football hooligans, settling in for the England-Paraguay match, now almost over.  Go England!

But here's the surreality bit:  I'm an American, in a quiet ancient Javanese city, being attacked as I type by quakes from the south and a volcano from the north, surrounded by young Javenese men and women, rabidly involved in a match involving European and South American teams... As a matter of fact I'm finding myself pretty British, as I did over two World Cups in Europe (1990 London and 1994 Poznan).  This time, however, four continents and two natural disasters are involved in this scene... and nearly everything stops for this tournament.