Asians, Nail Polish, and Soccer

I just have to say, I love the World Cup. It has become the no fail conversation topic. Whether I'm chatting with my brother, my co-workers, or the Frenchie, I can bring up the World Cup and suddenly the conversation takes a new level. For example, yesterday my cousin Rachael and I decided to go get our nails done so we went to this nail salon called #1 Nails. It was your typical Asian-staffed nail salon- the walls were covered with posters with Asian characters and exotic places, plastic hands with airbrushed nails were everywhere, and staff had little knowledge of English. But this pedicure experience was going to be different. Why? Because on the television screen in the back of the salon was the US vs. Ghana soccer game. Of course, I sat down and immediately started watching the game, as did the girl who was doing my nails. Pretty much, every employee in the joint and I were steadfastly watching the game. It was during this time that Ghana scored its second goal which would eventually lead to the US's elimination out of the Cup. The whole salon erupted with rage. A flurry of some South Asian dialect flittered among the nail specialists. I threw in a couple English words of disappointment to add to the atmosphere. At that moment, I entered into the inside circle of soccer commentary. The girl who was doing my nails started to use her limited English to show her opinion of the game. For example, she would say "Hurry, hurry USA!!" And so we had a link together. Though we may not have had the same social status, language, and race, we had soccer. And that was enough. It reminds me of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. I was there, you know. The trend at the Games was trading pins. People who would have never even glanced at one another were now talking amiably about pins, especially the infamous green jello pin. Chinese and Canadians, Frenchies and South Africans, New Yorkers and Utahns, were all brought together in unity over trading pins. The World Cup, and the Team USA's participation in it, is the same way. It has brought friends and strangers together for a bliss moment of "sports talk". I only hope that even with USA's elimination from the World Cup, mankind can retain the bonds created by a little fierce kicking of a soccer ball.