Riot Control

We've been really into the World Cup the last couple of weeks.  We've watched several of the games, but I'm never quite as excited as when we're watching a USA match.  There's just something about rooting for your homeland that builds such an excitement and a desire to WIN!  You're probably aware, yesterday the U.S. came through for us and beat Algeria in the last minute of the game, sending them through to the next round of the competition.  I wasn't aware of the win yet as I was out grocery shopping.  Our fridge had been pretty bare, so I loaded up my gigantic bag (half my size) with groceries and limped back to the tram to ride home.  As the tram neared my stop, I was surprised to see traffic at a complete standstill and backed up as far as I could see.  I noticed dozens of navy police vans as I exited the tram and weaved my way through the standstill to the gate I normally go through to get home, but it was chained and locked.  Confused, I turned to walk up the street to the main entrance and for the first time I noticed scores of men in crisp navy uniforms with bullet proof vests and mean looking guns held tight across their chests.  They were all over the place!  I had to haul my heavy load up three more chained gates before I was able to get onto the grounds and make my way home.

I was a little nervous for Burke who was in class until 8:00 PM and still had a 40 min trip home.  When he hadn't shown up at 9:15, I was starting to get scared when he finally walked in the door and said the metros had been insane.  He talked with one of the police outside our grounds and found out they were on riot control to protect the U.S. students living here at Citie Universitaire from the Algerian rioters who were raging about the world cup!  Needless to say, we stayed inside last night and hope nobody got hurt out there.  These people sure are intense about their football teams!