As promised in my previous newsletter, and to my greatest delight, I stayed home for the whole month of June as I did not travel. I really needed this quiet time before getting back to living out of suitcases in a few weeks.
Although I stayed put, I travelled through books, content and most of all, sporting events. I mean... when it rains, it pours.
Wimbledon is on (my heart is divided between Coco Gauff and Naomi Osaka!), Formula 1 has been delivering great races (Silverstone never disappoints!) and the Football World Cup has been disrupting my evening routine for the past few weeks. I feel completely out of sync with my routine but I have to confess I am loving all of it. I am already anxious for August, when there won't be any major sporting events on and my nights and weekends will go back to me not yelling at a screen anymore.
I love the World Cup.
My first memory of vibing with it was during the final match at the 1994 World Cup. I was watching it with my parents in Angola. Because of the time difference and as the game was very long, it was the first time they didn't tell me to go to bed early. Imagine, I was just 7 years old and those kinds of memories stick! I remember Roberto Baggio missing the decisive penalty for Italy and Brazil winning the World Cup. My whole 15-storey building trembled when Brazil won and so did all of Angola. Our love for the Brazilian people knows no equivalent, to this day.
Four years later, the 1998 World Cup was the bittersweet heartbreak. I was also in Angola yet I was in French school and closely connected to the French community. Angolans were heartbroken when Brazil lost yet the French football anthem "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor was the mandatory soundtrack of all our booms (French school parties) through 1998 until 2001, when I left to live in France.
In 2002, I was already living in France and watched the World Cup in Paris. And it was the most humiliating experience for the title holders as France was eliminated in the group stage, after losses to Senegal and Denmark and a draw with Uruguay. Yet my Angolan heart was cheering for the Brazilian team who went to the Final again and won against Germany thanks to two amazing goals by the legend that was Ronaldo. I watched that game at Hotel de Ville in Paris, wearing skimpy yellow and green clothes, with a Brazilian flag draped around me. I have to confess I painted a statue's nipples in yellow and green that day, and for years those colours stood there and I smiled whenever I went by Hotel de Ville. Savage, I was! I remember walking the whole city dancing and screaming and this memory has stayed with me to this day.
Fast forward to 2006, when I first attended a World Cup in Germany. I was invited by the Angolan Embassy in France as it was the first time (and last, to this day) my country was participating. We made the journeys from Paris to several cities in Germany and the Germans were the most amazing, welcoming and kind hosts ever. When we would attend games, as the German and Angolan colours were the same, they would tell us "we are rooting for you!". It was an amazing experience. We lost the game against Portugal but the draws against Iran and Mexico, two amazing football nations, felt like victory for us. We did not move past the group stage yet we were so happy and united just for having participated!
Aside from the permanent Vuvuzela buzz broadcasters had to mute during games, I don't remember much about the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. I remember wanting to go but I just did not have the means to make the trip from France, so I only watched on TV.
In 2014, I was living in Angola and went to Rio de Janeiro for a week for a corporate hospitality trip with clients and partners during the 2014 World Cup. We attended the Spain x Chile game in the group stage, which saw Chile defeating the title holders, who did not make it through the group stage. It was quite a powerful moment for the Chileans in the iconic Maracanã stadium, let me tell you.
In 2018, I was living in Portugal during the World Cup in Russia and was surprised that the company I worked for installed screens through all the floors so that employees could watch the Portugal matches during their work hours. I remember saying out loud that it made it clear for me why it wasn't a very efficient country and it cemented my lack of popularity in my very Portuguese open space. I stand by it. I don't think stopping a whole company to watch a game is normal.
The 2022 World Cup in Qatar was like a daze for me. I had just gotten married in June, my husband had surgery in the middle of November, we moved from our house (and life) in Lisbon and then left for a sabbatical in Scotland. I don't remember much about that World Cup, just watching games while packing, healing and moving around places. I also remember some people boycotting that World Cup as Qatar was accused of having used slaves to build their stadiums. I wonder if they are boycotting the World Cup in the US too nowadays?
And now we are here, with me living in Angola and the 2026 World Cup that is taking place in the US, Canada and Mexico. My company also had plans to go, but the US made Angolans pay over 15,000 USD in bonds just to make sure we don't overstay. I mean, talk about overt racism... anyway, I have no intention to travel to the US under the current Trump Administration so my company aborted those plans. But as lovers of the sport, we are doing hospitality in one of the biggest fanzones in the country and I have attended several games with colleagues, friends and family.
My heart absolutely raced for the amazing games we have seen, the Cinderella stories like Cabo Verde's first World Cup appearance, the way the Mexican people welcomed the Iran team under the most dire circumstances (as they could not sleep on US soil before or after their games for some much-needed rest and their technical teams could not fully go with them either! I mean...) and seeing the young talent around the world playing with great players who will retire before a next World Cup. I know the political controversies abound - I still don't fully understand what happened at the end of the Portugal x Croatia game... but football is a sport like no other. It unites - before it divides - the whole world with the greatest passion.
Aside from most African teams I followed with gusto, I am supporting Germany (oops) and France in this World Cup. About the French team: their elegance before the match turned sour made me proud during the knockout game against Paraguay. I mean, what was that?
About Brazil, I cannot lie and say I was supporting the team like I did when I was younger while I don't even know the name of a single Brazilian player who can still run for over 90 minutes #IYKYK
Writing this whole timeline made me realise how my personal life is woven with the World Cup, from symbolising the first time I was allowed to stay up late as a child to how I changed houses around the world, how I travelled back and forth to attend games, how my personal life and career evolved... So do not be surprised if you see me attend a game or two during the 2030 World Cup...!
How does the World Cup make you feel? What's your favourite World Cup related story? Share your favourite memories and who you are rooting for in the comments, I'd love to hear from you.
Dreaming of meeting these famous women
Speaking of life timelines, such as the World Cup provides, one of the greatest joys of blogging for over two decades is having little time capsules of the person I used to be over the years. Ten years ago, I wrote a first article called "7 Women I'd (gladly) share a meal with", selecting a handful of women I admired at the time and detailing the restaurant we would go to and what I would ask them if I had the opportunity.
A few years later, I wrote a second episode and now that it's been a decade, I thought it was time to write an updated version, as some of my picks have evolved. You can check the 14 women I picked in the past and the 7 women I'd pick today in the full article.
Jess
There are many other women I'd like to add to the list and I hope I don't take another 8 years before writing a fourth follow-up article. In the meantime, I have started an Influenced by... series with women I felt compelled to write a bit more about, for their work, their impact on the world and the level of admiration I have for them.
Trying a watchalong for the first time
I have been loving watching the games in a Fanzone with my friends and family, but when I am home alone, I join a watchalong. And what is a watchalong? It's watching a streamer who is providing live commentary on a sporting event, to turn what could be a lonely match into a communal viewing experience through the comments. And my favourite comedian is doing it in style: Trevor Noah is opening his house as he invites his friends and guests to experience the game with us. I tried it with the Spain x Portugal game and I just could not stop laughing at some comments. Furthermore, Trevor Noah is very quick with his thoughts and mixes his fast-paced humour, sprinkled with his impressive knowledge of the world and languages.
Reading a book from every World Cup group
Elle from Elle Reads Library Books wrote the most amazing stack: finding and reading books from at least one country per World Cup group. This article combines three things...
- my promise to share interesting newsletters
- my love for the World Cup
- my obsession with books
If you are a book lover, you know how easy it is to read books set in the US or England, with the occasional thriller in a Nordic country. Elle reminds us of the joy of discovering other countries through books from Iran, Senegal, Bosnia, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Brazil, and many other countries playing during this 2026 World Cup. That is why I also love my bookclub, as we read books from around the world (mostly from African authors). Elle's article got me curious about Homegoing from author Yaa Gyasy, set in Ghana. What about you?
Jess
Cooking food from around the world
Reading books is one of the greatest ways to travel and cooking comes pretty close. There is nothing like watching a sporting event with some good food and drinks. It is literally the icing on the cake of the whole experience. It's undeniable that food is also how one can connect with other countries without leaving one's home. Either through takeaway (which I never order) or by cooking at home, here are a few recipes from around the world you might want to try...
- A red lentil soup with Turkish-inspired flavours
- A Portuguese baked duck rice
- Stuffed tomatoes, if you want to feel like you're in France in the summer
- A South African chakalaka you can eat by itself or as a vegan side dish
Laughing too hard
When you watch a World Cup match, they often show famous people attending the games. I have seen Penélope Cruz (and her family) on camera several times during the games.
Speaking of Penélope, I love watching Hot Ones from First We Feast, a YouTube series where host Sean Evans interviews celebrities while they eat hot wings. Each wing is progressively hotter than the last. Every celebrity starts off really confident that they will not tear up, cough or have their tongue on fire as previous guests did and then... as the Scoville heat levels go up, you see them surrender all sense of dignity and beg for milk.
That is exactly what happened with the Spanish actress, as she was dared by her kids to participate in the interview and promote her latest projects, such as The Invite (directed by Olivia Wilde and co-written by the gorgeous Rashida Jones) and Paris Paramount (the highly anticipated Nancy Meyers movie). She starts off confident, and the experience humbles her, in style.
By the way, you can hear her husband Javier Bardem's unmistakable laughter around 14:14, with an impeccable reaction from Penélope.
Watching another great (yet intense) miniseries
Speaking of Javier Bardem: if his laughter made me laugh while watching his wife suffer through spicy wings, it makes my skin crawl in the miniseries Cape Fear.
Cape Fear is Apple TV's newest dark psychological thriller, based on the novel The Executioners that was already adapted for the screen twice. Martin Scorsese directed the 1991 movie and is now an executive producer on this installment, with Steven Spielberg.
Cape Fear follows the release of Max Cady (played by Javier Bardem), a man who was allegedly wrongly convicted for the murder of his 8-month pregnant wife. After spending 17 years in prison, he gets in touch with his lawyer Anna Bowden (played by Amy Adams), who married the prosecutor on the case, Tom Bowden (played by Patrick Wilson), whilst Max was incarcerated.
Anna Bowden is now the main figure of the Savannah Justice League Project (SJLP), with her pushy teammate Noa Toussaint (played by CCH Pounder), helping shed light on and bring justice to wrongly convicted inmates. Max Cady approaches them in the guise of promoting their work yet we cannot help but feel he has very dark ulterior motives.
We're only a couple episodes in, and my heart races at every scene. Anna and Tom have the most gorgeous house I have seen on screen yet I would never live there. It's eerie and spooky and we have cinematography, direction and score to thank for it. Even if they are using the latest technology - alarms, smartphones, laptops - the setting feels like a thriller from the 1950s.
Travelling soon?
The World Cup and other sporting events can feel like travelling in themselves but as many take their annual leave between July and October, it's the moment travel guides and hidden gems tips flood search engines.
I have recently created a world map with the countries I have been to and have started creating guides for each. Bear with me, as many are still under construction yet I am quite happy to already share it.
My biggest highlight is, without a doubt, all the content I have written about African travel destinations as there is so little travel content about the continent when compared to other major destinations such as Paris.
Every destination I write about carries a set of life stories and is, indeed, a little time capsule. Some are part of my life history and some are still waiting to be written. Tag along for the ride.