Friday, January 23, 2009 

Heading Out

Tonight I'm leaving on a bus for the big city to attend a modular class for a seminary course I'm taking. I should be back this time next week. Wish me luck!

7:12 AM | |

 

Something Foreign

I was minding my own business one day when James, one of the team guys, called me and invited me to go watch camel wrestling. I was all about it.

One Sunday we all loaded up in a van and headed out of town to find the camels. When we came to the site, we saw a big field filled to the brim with people while smoke and music wafted up from the crowds. I've never been to a NASCAR race, but I'm guessing it feels a lot like a camel wrestling festival. People were lined up on both sides of the road selling sandwiches, fruit, beer, trinkets, and just about anything else. Everyone was milling about and having a good time. Random drummers and flutists were wandering through the crowd playing music.





All the action was taking place in a round dirt ring fenced off with spectators all around. 2 camels wrestled at a time, while their owners and other men (I'm not sure who they were or how they got there) ran around them in the ring. The camels tried to pin each other by placing their necks on top of the other camels' necks and pushing them to the ground. The camels would run into each other, push each other, and try to get their necks on the others' necks. All in all, it was pretty fun to watch. None of the camels got seriously hurt, though one did get a bloody nose.


We walked around and watched the camels for 4 hours or so, then hopped back in the van and headed home. I love my country.

6:48 AM | |

 

Something Familiar

I was minding my own business one day when George, the new guy on the team, called me. He told me he had heard that there was an American Football league in the country, and he wanted my help to get him on a team. I had heard there was a league here, but since I had never played a real game in my life I didn't follow up on it. I'm always ready to help a friend, though, so the next day we headed to the biggest university in the city.

We talked to some different people and finally found the coach. He took one look at George (who played a lot of American Football and looks it) and invited him to join in on a practice. I was about to leave, I had helped my friend, but George would have none of it. He told me he wasn't about to do it alone, and asked me to join in too. So, we both headed to the practice.



The first practice was pretty easy, we just did push-ups, sit-ups, and sprinted some. Even for George and me, who hadn't been conditioning with the rest of the team, it was pretty easy. There were no pads or balls, we just conditioned. I was feeling pretty good when I showed up for the second practice. The second practice was like the first one, except about twice as hard. It lasted twice as long and we kept doing drill after drill (with no pads) that always ended in sprinting. By the end of that practice, my right quadricep was really hurting.

Come Sunday we finally put on pads. That's when I realized American Football is not my game. We lined up and hit each other, and I quickly found that this game hurts. After that, we played a scrimmage for a few hours, and they stuck me at cornerback. I like to think I made a pretty good cornerback, the receiver I was covering only had 2 catches, and I forced him to fumble after one of his catches. I wasn't very good (at all) at stopping the run, or tackling anybody. Unfortunately, those are big parts of the game.

After the match I was half-dead. My right hand was swollen pretty bad and my right leg was killing me. I could barely walk. Fortunately for me, George decided to not continue with the team. It was taking a lot of time and not resulting in good conversations or relationships. He played really well, everyone was impressed, but he said he just couldn't give this much time to it. I wasn't about to go back out there, so we told the coach and hobbled back home. 2 weeks later, my hand is fine but my leg is still hurting some. I think I'll just stick with running from now on.

6:22 AM | |