Take it to the Streets!

So,Wednesday evening I had dinner plans with a bunch of girlfriends and had planned to meet them at a Crêperie at 9pm.  As I was getting ready, I heard the sounds of horns honking on the street which isn't always very unusual given that my two windows face onto a main street.  Only thing is, the honking continued and I thought it was a bit excessive but promptly forgot about it and continued to get dressed.  Once I left my apartment though, it quickly became clear that there were some rowdy people drving around honking their horns.  I briefly wondered what was going on but again, I didn't think much about it. I walked down to the metro and waited a surprising amount of time for the next metro bus. That's when I began to wonder in earnest about what in the world was going on.  When I got on the bus, I put on my headphones, as I usually do, to deter any unwanted conversations. As we rolled down the street I began to hear a noise that I knew wasn't coming from my headphones. "What is that?", I wondered. I took out my headphones and was instantly assaulted with the deafening noise of honking horns and shouting voices. Uh oh. What's going on?! I had a moment of panic and looked out the window since the bus was now at a complete standstill at the intersection of a busy street. I saw a two lines of cars going in both directions and they were all stopped. People were hanging out of their car windows and more people were dancing and cheering on the street.  Many of them were waving flags in the air as well as chanting and singing. I recognized the flag as the Algerian flag. Okay. Really. What the HELL is going on? I was reassured by the fact that no one on the bus seemed to be in the least bit worried. Some people were actually looking out of the window and smiling. Once my bus reached my stop, I got off and walked down the main street in the center of town. Same thing here: cars were slowly cruising down the street with people hanging out of the windows, cheering, and waving the Algerian flag in the air. Hmmmm. Soccer. It HAS to be about soccer. At this point I'm no longer worried. As a matter of fact, I'm thoroughly enjoying the spectacle. I even have goose bumps as I take in the joy and excitement of the crowds. The police officers were calmly directly traffic and telling the people hanging out of their car windows to get back inside.  I thought it was interesting that they weren't doing anything to stop the celebration. They were just ensuring no one got hurt in the process. All in all, a very interesting experience and a nice lesson in cultural habits. Oh and by the way, I later learned Algeria had qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 23 years. Damn good reason for a celebration!!

PS. Dinner was amazing! There were seven of us and it was nice to indulge in a bit of "girl talk". Plus, the crêpes were REALLY delicious.