Hola, Chad aquí, de Greenwich, Connecticut, a muy blanco área of los Estados Unidos. A few weeks ago, I decidir to watch Estados Unidos vs. Paraguay in fútbol. Normalmente, I watch “football” and not “fútbol—¡Soy muy americano!—but I was curioso about the Copa Mundial; also, Pilar, mi guapa neighbor from España, asked if me gusta fútbol, and I said, “sí.” ¡Qué mentira!
¿El problema? The Copa Mundial was on Fox televisión, but mi antena is muy mala. When Estados Unidos switched to televisión digital a few años ago, they said we’d get every channel. ¡But la verdad is nobody recibir channels anymore! Or not buenos channels, like “ABC” or “CBS”—only Cozi TV and some muy religiosos ones. I could have streamed on FS1 or Fox One, but I already pay for diez suscripciones, and I didn’t querer spend más dinero. ¡No más! “¿And qué es Fox One anyway?” I asked. “¿Does Sean Hannity hablar about the game and then tell ICE to deportar the team de Colombia?”
So, I watched on Telemundo. Telemundo had todos los games. I have Telemundo on Peacock because mi madre le gusta Law y Order and the whole familia shares la password. At first, I didn’t comprender what the announcers were saying. Except “¡Gooooooooooooooool!” which is like the americano word for “goal,” but más grande. But after a few días, I started to understand más y más. Los announcers on Telemundo were muy, muy excited about fútbol! ¡It was contagioso!
At first, I watched Estados Unidos games. ¡Qué triste for Paraguay! Estados Unidos won cuatro a uno. But since I trabajar remotely, I decidir to watch más games. My jefe thought I trabajar, but, en realidad, I watched Cabo Verde vs. Arabia Saudita on Telemundo. And diecisiete other games.
¡The Copa Mundial was muy exciting! Once a game ended, a nuevo game began! Countries I barely knew, Cabo Verde, played other countries I barely knew, Uruguay, but I cared mucho, for some razón. Even after Estados Unidos lost to Bélgica, I found myself invested emocionalmente in countries I couldn’t find on a mapa. For example: ¿Dónde está Croacia? El viernes, I spent veinte hours watching Telemundo, when I should have been trabajando on PowerPoint. ¡Shhhhh, don’t tell mi jefe!
When I saw Pilar, my guapa neighbor de España, at the supermercado, she winked and asked if I saw España beat Francia; I gave a veinte-minuto análisis, because I was now an experto. “¡Pero qué bien hablas español!” she gasped. “¿Qué?” I responder, “¡I don’t hablar español!” And this is when I realizar I had a problema—I did seem to hablar español now, but I didn’t seem to hablar inglés, at least not so bien as before. ¡O no!
This was malo because I have una importante meeting el martes with other blancos de Greenwich, Connecticut. ¡Qué disastre! Mi jefe will be angry and also triste. “I’m sorry I forgot inglés,” I’ll say, “but I’ve watched veinte hours of fútbol every día for cinco weeks. And also El Señor de los Cielos, a telenovela that advertises constantemente during the Copa Mundial on Telemundo.”
But it is also bueno, because now I can finally comunicar with Pilar in her native lengua. She smiles and says, “Hola” whenever we meet, and even made me a tortilla de patatas when mi gato died last month. My jefe wouldn’t even give me the día off. Me gusta mi neighbor Pilar más than mi estúpido jefe or mi estúpido trabajo, that’s for sure.
When España beat Argentina in the Copa Mundial final, I worked up the coraje to invitar Pilar to Cold Stone Creamery, which is how we celebrar importantes eventos in Connecticut. I was nervioso because mi vocabulario is limitado to fútbol and El Señor de los Cielos, a telenovela about el narcotráfico. “¿Qué pasa if she wants to hablar about el New Yorker?” I wondered. “¿Or Christopher Nolan’s La Odisea? ¿Or the novelas of Mark Twain?” I decided I’d cruzar that bridge when I got to it. So far, it has been fútbol, fútbol, fútbol. España won, and el futuro is looking brillante.
