Wednesday, July 2, 2008

A slightly longer post

I think I should say thank you to everyone for all the comments, nice words, and prayers. I feel so loved!
I am doing well. I really don't have much to complain about. My host family treats me like a king. They cook for me, do my laundry if I don't have time, get my water (I tried to get it myself and they wouldn't let me), took me out to the fields to let me see their work, and I sit around and try to have conversations in broken french and try to understand their moorefrancais. It's good. I am definitely adapting. It's cool to go to bed when the sun goes down (8pm) and wake up with the roosters at 4:30 to 5am. The sunrise is beautiful in the morning. Mmmm....african skies.
I've played soccer two days in a row now, and have completely embarrassed myself two days in a row now. The first night was in my village, and i guess it could be considered the hardcore version of african football. An older brother/uncle (my family is crazy) took me to play. I played like I had never seen a soccer ball in my life. If I am the only american soccer player they ever see, i should apologize to all americans. In my defense, the soccer ball was flat, the ground was dirt (not grass) and full of mounds (prarie dogs would thrive in this field), and I didn't know who was on my team for the first half of the game. And I couldn't understand the Moore instructions being yelled at me. It was definitely a humbling experience. I think there was an extra large crowd to watch the goofy white guy embarrass himself on the soccer field. I fell on the ground more than once. I turned over the ball most of the time I got it. Needless to say, my team lost. I need to practice. I would like to see Jay and Julian compete with these guys. It would be very interesting. African football is not the same game as American soccer. Times a billion.
I have limited internet time, so I better stop here. I will update more later (there is so much more to talk about).
I love and miss you all,
Steven