So I guess it’s been a bit since I wrote last, sorry about that. I
told people that I was hoping to play some soccer here and hopefully use soccer
as a way to make friends. I’ve been working on finding a group to play with
since I arrived. I live about 3 or 4 blocks from a couple soccer fields but was
told that you have to watch who you hang out with there. So I looked for guys
from church who would take me out to play so that I wouldn’t have to worry
about the crowd. I wasn’t having much luck until I got the invitation to play
street soccer that I mentioned in my last blog post.
I play with a group of guys who range from about 15-ish to a few
years older than me. We play on certain section of street that divides an
elementary school. The school has buildings on both sides and these buildings have
outside lights for security. There are a couple houses next to the school that
have outside lights as well, adding to the visibility and safety of the game.
The dirt road has many rocks to watch out for, plus an array of potholes
scattered throughout the field. When it
rains the potholes fill with water and become mud pits. The first couple of
times I played I had to get used to obstacle soccer. Cinderblock walls on
either side topped with razor wire have claimed their fair share of soccer balls.
We kick around whatever ball we have, sometimes it’s a normal soccer ball other
times it’s a plastic 50 cent ball. We score on little 2-foot homemade wooden
goals. The games are quick and usually 3 v 3. When you score, you yell “quadra”
and the team that lost is quickly replaced by a team waiting.
We play most evenings after it gets dark. I wasn’t sure people preferred to play by the
sparse light after the sun the sun goes down.I’ve figured it has to do with a
combination of it being cooler, people having more free time, and there are
fewer pedestrians later in the evening. It is a decently traveled street with
most of the traffic being pedestrian. Since every time someone mistakes our
soccer field for a normal street. We
have to pause our game to let them pass safely, and then the game starts again
just as quickly as it stopped. It’s always fun even though I end up with
scrapes of some kind about every other game. Nothing too bad, but enough to
sting when I apply disinfectant afterwards.
My world can be a little small here sometimes with a language
barrier and pretty much all my time spent with family, work, and church. I’ve
put a lot of energy into knowing people in these settings but it feels
constricting to have that be my entire life.
I’ve been working on getting to know more people in the community and neighborhood
street soccer is great for that. It’s a setting where I can interact with youth
while playing and also meet people walking by. And as a result I have had some
conversations with people who live really close, but might not have met if I
didn’t have a reason to go to their street. It’s fun to look down other dirt
roads flooded with inhabited buildings and barbed wire fences, and think of the
possible friends or conversations that might exist.
Last week our street took a collection and bought a truckload of
dirt to fix up the sloppy sections along our road, mentioned in the last post.
I got to help filling in the mud pits with most of the guys who live on our
street. My understanding is that the government is technically responsible for
maintenance but couldn’t possibly keep up if they really tried. So it defaults
to community responsibility. It was really cool to see the community working
together to pay for and fix their road. Another moment to stop and compare cultures.
The road is much better these days and it is possible to walk to work and not
have to watch and calculate your every step.
Other News:
School is winding down and my trimester will end the first week of
December. Then the next week I will go back to Copan for another week of
Spanish classes to hopefully help my grammar become more natural.
I had Thanksgiving here. The country reps Andres and Amy Zorrilla
invited MCCers who were able to come over for a Thanksgiving meal. We had
turkey and a whole delicious traditional Thanksgiving meal. Incase you who were
worried that I’d be missing out this year.
Thanks for reading.
Thanks for reading.
