Becky's first report from Granada

The 5v5 Tournament En circulo at Saturday's practice

Hello all! This is my very first blog entry ever so I am little nervous/awkward about getting started. I am just going to jump right in and fill you in on some of the festivities from this weekend.

Friday night we politely declined yet another offer from Suyen to go out dancing (eventually we're going to have to say yes...yikes) and instead decided to work on painting the office. This was a somewhat secret mission, because although we had appreciated all the people that offered to help paint, we actually wanted to get things done this time. Ali, Myra, Chepe and I managed to finish painting the entire office white! We also bought a gallon of "tropical azul" which we still need to put on one of the walls along with a big soccer without borders logo, but that should take no time at all. It is exciting to plan for the office, make mock blue-prints and wish lists for furniture and accessories. Hopefully it will start coming together in these next few weeks.

Saturday morning was somewhat chaotic, but chaos is starting to feel like the norm for us. Suyen and I left a little early to walk through some of the barrios where we had all passed out flyers earlier in the week – we wanted to make sure that if any girls had heard about practice and wanted to go that we would be there to walk with them. We only got a few girls in our walk through, and met up with Myra and Ali at the field. This week we had about 30 girls with lots of energy! Practice was, what's the word... chaotic... but I think all the girls enjoyed themselves and started to get a little better at some of the skills we were working on.

Saturday afternoon we had a game of our own with Chepe's team, and pulled off a 2-0 win. It was by far our most exciting game yet. Not to throw a pity party, but I was pretty mad that I had to get subbed out while Myra and Ali stayed in for the whole game. Apparently we have too many forwards but just the right amount of midfielders.... Puuhh. The afternoon consisted of a little rest, relaxation, and reading. For dinner, we cooked with Dona Berta and Alejandra (our host mom and sister) who love to laugh at us and our attempts at doing anything Nicaraguan (cooking, dancing, speaking, etc.).

And finally, Sunday! This morning we woke up bright and early for a 5 v 5 soccer tournament. The tournament took place right outside the church at the end of our street. We were supposed to play with Letecia, Yelba, and Veronica (Flaca), but unfortunately none of them showed up (still not sure why – we think they might have been in Managua?). Luckily, we managed to convince a couple girls that were there to join our team. The scene at the tournament was amazing. Music blasted and there were tons of people that lined both sides of the street (which was the field by the way) to cheer on every team. Only one team could play at a time, but the long waits and unorganized process didn't seem to bother any of the soccer fanatics. Everyone was just happy to be there and be around soccer for the day. There were 8 men's teams and just three women's teams. After crushing in our first game and winning 6-0, our second game (and the championship) was much closer. We pulled of a 2-1 lead and Hubs took out some little 75 pound girl (all in the name of victory). At the end we got a trophy (decorations for the office!), took some pictures, and FREE juice in a bag and bread. It was a great victory!
Well, I managed to write waaaaay more than necessary for my first blog entry, so hopefully I'll figure out how to be more concise as time goes on.
-Becky