Soccer Championships

This weekend was the finals for my youth soccer league. It was a long time in the works and well worth it. Of course there were a couple setbacks, my directors could not come, one of the NGOs pulled out, the mayor’s office could not lend me the audio system, but who is complaining? I learned long ago that nothing in Nicaragua goes as planned and you just have to roll with the punches. Yes, I would have loved to have had a big audio system to announce the play by play action of the game and have music, but what are you going to do? None of the kids seemed to mind and their main concern were the trophies that I had hidden in my backpack.

Like any finals the games were the best of the best. First the youngest age group played, ages 11-13. It was a close game between two of the local barrios and in the end La Colonia pulled ahead with a header in the last 10 minutes of the game. It was so cute to see how excited the kids got. The players all ran around the field doing an choreographed dance to celebrate.

Next my team took the field against one of my community schools, Jicaro. It was tough not to play favorites since I knew all the kids on both teams, but I have my bias for the team I worked with all year. I have never seen them play so well. I know I have already said this when they fought their way back from elimination, but they never cease to amaze me. The end score was 4-1 and my host-cousin Johel had 3 goals. Each goal was worthy of the highlight reel on ESPN, there was a beautifully crossed ball that was headed into the lower corner by Johel, another shot at the 18 that caught the keep off guard, a penalty, and a nice rebound shot. The players were in such high spirits and there was even a fair turnout by the parents.

After the game one of the local comedores invited all of us for a light snack to celebrate our victory. Like I mentioned in my last group email I paid a local parent to prepare a meal for my team as well and later they all came up to my house to celebrate. I live a good 15 minutes out of town and I tried to convince them to have the party in the local park, but they were having none of it. One of our players recently had foot surgery and was on crutches and I even played to pity card, but my players are resilient and they carried him taking turns up the hill on their backs. It was so amazing to see how motivated they all were and the reason they wanted it at my house was so they could present me with the trophy. As the technical director they said all their work was for me and that I deserved the trophy. I was so moved by it and when I said I wanted to put it somewhere where we could all share it, they said no, it was my memory of Nicaragua.

I am so proud of my team and all the work they put into making the first youth soccer league a success. They have grown so much in the last 9 months and I know that they all have a bright future. If I had to recall one event of my Peace Corps experience it would be this day and watching how proud all my boys were. I am confident that I have made a difference in their lives and they have definitely changed mine.

Turkey Day

I don’t know when it happened, but Thanksgiving has become my favorite holiday of the year. It is not that my family is full of tradition or that it is a feast with a table bursting with people, but I just love all that it represents. I am sure the purists will say that Thanksgiving is nothing more than an imperialistic holiday representing the conquest of America and blah blah blah… Sure, Thanksgiving is mostly founded upon lies, but what beautiful lies they are. Like all holidays they adapt with the times and become what we need most. For me Thanksgiving is a way for me to recall my home and be proud of my country. I use Thanksgiving to think of all I am fortunate for and lucky enough to have experienced in my life. My family may not have traditions passed on from generation to generation, but I will always think of Arlo Guthrie’s Alice’s Restaurant or “It’s Thanksgiving in Manchester”.

This year I have added a few new traditions for the holiday. This was my third Thanksgiving away from home and probably the most meaningful for me. I have been in Nicaragua for over a year and I now see San Dionisio as my second home. I don’t know when it happened, but I feel perfectly comfortable in Nicaragua. I have grown accustomed to the culture and I embrace it. I am no longer counting down the days until the end of my service or even coming back to the United States, why do I need to be in a rush to come home when I already feel home? Anyways, this year I celebrated Thanksgiving at another volunteer’s house with 6 other volunteers. I took on the head chef role and I will spill the beans now… the turkey was delicious. I made maple sugar brine that the turkey sat in overnight and then I later made a maple glaze to put on while it cooked. I borrowed a tradition from my friend Angus and we coated the turkey in about 2lbs of bacon. I put the turkey in around 8am and it wasn’t ready until 6pm, but it was well worth the wait. Each of us brought different dishes and it was fun crowding the kitchen and cooking together. What more could you ask for by sharing a day together with your closest friends?

 Maybe this is known as growing-up, but I feel myself changing. I feel like I am making friends that will be with me for the rest of my life and what’s better is that we share so much in common. I am no longer the outlier who likes to travel or give back to my community. I have found my niche where there are many more like me and I couldn’t be happier. One prime example is that we went for a run on Thanksgiving morning. It wasn’t your normal run, for some reason we all had to run shirtless and to top it off we chanted the entire time. As a warm-up we all woke up to James Brown’s famous grunts and “hit me”. Well that groove stayed with us and on our 10k run we kept up funky beats, military chants, the national anthem, and any other patriotic songs that came to mind. After we successfully freaked out the entire community of Esquipulas we came back to the house for a game of Risk. Yes, I have found people who like to play Risk and the best part is that I win. What could be more fitting than a game of world domination on Thanksgiving?

He is... the most interesting man in the world.

After this Thanksgiving I can better relate to everything I am grateful for. I have been fortunate enough to make many new friends that will stay with me for the rest of my life. They have been with me through some of the hardest times and now some of my finest. I loved taking on the responsibility of cooking and can’t wait to cook again for my homecoming Thanksgiving dinner next year.

 Angus

 Elvis 

 Geory

 Icia

 Joanna

John