Brian Plays Soccer with the School

Hello from Mozambique! I apoligize that I haven't got any pictures up yet but I'm still working on it. The trip so far has been awesome and I'm loving every minute of it. The highlight of the trip so far might have been yesterday when at kid asked if I was going to play soccer with them at 4:00 pm and I said I would. Little did I know that he was inviting me to play with the school's soccer team. I got there at about 4 and I noticed the kid was wearing the school's jersey and he waved at me to come over. He handed me a jersey and told me to go change.

I was extremely nervous warming up with the team because they take these games super seriously and most of the students come out to watch if they don't play. I started out playing in the stopper position (defender in the middle) and then moved me out to left halfback when the regular center defender arrived. I had the first best opportunity to score as I dribbled around one guy and then did a give and guy with our forward. I kicked it wide as I was running up to the ball. D'oh! I had another good opportunity but slipped in the box, the ground being hard dirt with a perfect amount of loose soil to make it super slippery. It gave the crowd a good chance to laugh at the white guy.

My school usually loses or ties when it plays this other school but yesterday was different because we won 2-1! I have never seen so much excitement! As I handed the uniform back to the guy he told me to come back on Friday at the same time because they have another game. I asked, "so I passed the test then?" That got a good chuckle out of everyone and all of them waved their heads up and down. I'm a little hesistant to play because they love to do flying kicks when the ball is in the air, not importing where the ball goes. I went up for a header and all of a sudden Jackie Chan comes flying in with a karate kick. Yikes!

Happy Birthday Grandma! Good luck with the surgery Grandpa. I love all of you guys!