Rustenburg, South Africa Week 2

So week two in Rustenburg was great. On Monday the other people on my team went back to martha's house to do the feeding program but I went with the base leader to go to a soccer camp. The whole day I took about half, 20 or so, of these kids that showed up for this free soccer camp. Most of the kids went to the school next to the soccer field. The ages ranged from 8 to 14 and we tried to usual split the older kids up with the younger kids. Most of the kids lived in the small shacks that surround the soccer field. The reason they where having a soccer camp was that a bank in Germany decided to donate a lot of money to build a small field turf field for the kids to enjoy and it was our job to put together a soccer camp before they arrived and to also talk to them after the camp about life lessons like tell the authorities or parents when bad things happen, etc. Anyways, the first day of the soccer camp I took half of the kids and just winged it. I have never coached any soccer camps so I just went of my previous knowledge and what I had to do as a kid when I played. It was so fun! It was hard at times to think of things to do but eventually I got used to it and really got the hang of it. After the soccer camp I went back to marthas where the rest of the team was and played with the kids there for a bit then we usually just relaxed after that which made the week fairly easy. On Tuesday I went back to the soccer camp and this time the rest of the team came to help me out with the camp. The guys helped do the soccer camp and the girls helped with netball...which is basically a mix between ultimate frisbie and basketball. On wednesday we went back to martha's house and did the usual program that we did the week before. I also played a lot of soccer with the kids there as well so this whole week included a lot of soccer...which was awesome! On thusday we went back to the soccer camp and after doing a normal set of drills...which I mainly had them do passing drills (africans seem to like to dribble a lot and shoot a lot..so i just had them pass)... they finally got to play on the new field turf field that the germans paid for. Before they had been playing on the dirt field next to it but for at least a little bit that day they got to play a scrimmage and I was a referee for a bit. I couldn't handle it anymore and after one of the kids left I went in a played awww I missed playing! That night we went to the Japan vs. Denmark World Cup match. Martha's house had been given a lot of tickets from sony to go to the game and Martha gave some of them to us so we got to go to the game for free!!! I rooted for Japan which won 3-1 and it was an overall great game...so much fun. It had been a dream of mine to go to a game and finally I had my chance! We soon realized at the game that the U.S. was going ot play in the same stadium on saturday..the same day we planned on leaving.. I got so excited and pleaded that we could stay one more day! On friday we did more of a soccer camp and at one point they weren't listening to me so I almost made them do sprints but after they listened up I let them play a fun game. Soon after I said goodbye to all the kids and also at Martha's house. After that, and much pleading, we headed to the fifa ticket office (there was so much security!) to get our tickets for the U.S. game. They only had category 2 tickets which where about 130 dollars. At first the ones that where interested said no, except me of course! Soon after Josh one of my teammates said sure I will go with you and we quickly ran back to get the tickets. Soon after I was suppose to go on a blind date but it was canceled so my south african blind date experience never happened haha. That night we where invited to the base leader of Rustenburg's house. We ended up just relaxing and watching Gladiator. The next day was game day...I was so excited..I was going to a U.S. game!!!! After cleaning up the house and doing facepaint (which we only could find fingerpaint but we went with it) we also painted our white undershirts. When we got to the game we had about 30 different random people want our picture. We also had the New York Post amoung other journalists take our picture. As we waited around for the game to start josh and myself got interviewed by about 4 or 5 tv channels..many of which where spanish countries...random! I also saw ESPN and ran over to be in the background so if anyone saw me let me know haha. I never felt so famous with all this attention! As we sat down we quickly realized that everyone except us and a few U.S. fans where all going for Ghana. This also included the English fans that where behind us that bought tickets thinking their team was going to play but they didn't. So all the English fans where trying to piss us off my yelling in our ear, "Go Ghana." The game itself didn't go the way I would have liked, obviously, but it was great to go to a world cup game and see the U.S. play...it has been a dream of mine to do!!!! After the game as I was walking to the bus another channel interviewed me and knowing I was repersenting all U.S. fans I tried to be as cordial as possible and I wished Ghana the best and the continent of Africa eventhough I didn't really want to. I soon found out that the channel was SABC which is the largest South African TV channel. So I was broadcasted all over the country haha. On Sunday we just got ready and headed out. We soon found out on the way home that the car was leaking antifreeze and we had to keep filling the radiator with water. It was hard to get home but eventually we made it to Lesotho. It is quite weird to be back but am looking forward to getting home now! In only a week I will be back in Seattle!