Release Dinner

I am so sorry about the huge delay in updating my blog. I thought that the last week would have a lot of down time, but there hasn't seemed to be much time to do anything at all...strange. I will break down my last few days into a couple of blogs to prevent those of you who actually read this, rather than just looking at the pictures, from having to read a novel. On Monday Nov 10, we had a farewell sunset cruise on a boat. Nothing more romantic than a dinner cruise with 50 women, and 8 men, dancing was rather interesting! A couple of nights before, we were informed that each confederation would have to put on a short presentation that represented their countries. We had only 5 people from CONCACAF and I have to say...I thought we were pretty good. We did a combination of each of our countries. For El Salvador we did a dance (Coumbia..?), for Canada, we sang "O Canada" (hilarious), and for Mexico we sang "Cielito Lindo" (again, hilarious). I have say, all the presentations were very good, and it was so cool to see each region perform dances and songs that were native to their area. It was also nice to get out of the hotel and enjoy an evening with each other.

The next day the referees who had been released all left for the airport. It was a tough day, with lots of mixed emotions. On one hand, you were happy that you were staying, and on the other hand, you were sad that you had to say goodbye. Goodbyes are always difficult for me, and in this situation, I had met a lot of good friends and was sad to see them go.

At dinner, we were provided with the much anticipated appointments for the semi-finals on Thursday. Again, Edgar walked in with an envelope and read off the appointments for the 2 matches. First match, Korea vs England....Michelle, Yvonne, Mayte, and Kirsi. Second match, USA vs Germany....Cha, Min, Lee, and Natalia. I had a semi-final....whooooo.... so excited! Cross those fingers again....1 more game to go!