I totally just got schooled in soccer by a bunch of 8 year olds

I'm not proud to admit that I got schooled, but I was pretty proud of myself that I actually had the nerves to play soccer with the kids this time. The first time I was going to play I started walking towards the field when I passed by and noticed them playing, but when I saw how good these kids were, I stealthfully changed direction and walked quickly pass the field hoping the kids wouldn't notice my retreat. This time, another EMI-er, Jeremy, was with me so it wasn't as frightening to play with the kids. At first they would always look for us to pass the ball to, even if we weren't open, but when they figured out that I have no motor skills, the novelty of passing the ball to the mzungu(white person) quickly wore off. I think the most entertaining part was that they have learned to fake injuries like professional soccer players. The first time it happened, I thought one of the kids broke a bone, but I soon picked up on what was going on and we would just play around a kid laying in the middle of the field.


I do actually do some work while I'm here. I'll try not to bore anyone with details, but I do have a story just so you can get the feel of how constructions works here. We went to a job site last week, and the Director of EMI left me and another volunteer, Christoph, without food or water to do construction management, while he went back to the office(Just kidding Chad, it wasn't that bad) We were helping explain how the coursing of the bricks needed to be laid out for a buildng, and so we started laying out the first row. (By the way, the bricks delivered weren't the size that was specified by the maufacturer, but that didn't matter anyway since the concrete slab wasn't poured to the right dimensions anyway). They had a string and a level to "make sure" the bricks would be level. Then Christoph and I checked the level of the last two corners of the building and noticed things didn't seem right. When we went back to check the first two corners, it turns out the local workers didn't even try to get the bricks close to level. We decided they would need to level out the slab with concrete, but when we went back a couple of days later they just poured a small part and started laying the bricks. Some bricks have about 5 inches of mortar underneath, while others don't have any mortar. It was definitely a learning experience of communication and just realizing how things are done here. At least now they have a local engineer on site, but I still wish I wouldn't have had seen what I did. I don't know if that makes me responsible.

Happy birthday Josh and Dad.