Honduras 2013

There are many who want to go away from home and explore for a time. I was given an opportunity as such. From the rat and insect infested medical center where we stayed to the smiling mountainous villagers with gruesome medical problems, my daily travels and experiences not only spurned me on for future work, but also blessed me more than I expected.

I made it to the Greenville airport and flew into Atlanta. While in Atlanta I waited for the rest of the team to show up, but had no idea who any of them looked like. The plane was leaving in 30 minutes, but I could not find my team. Finally, I went around asking everyone I saw if they were from Alabama, which is all the information I knew. Finally, I found my group and made it safely to San Pedro Sula, Honduras. I was told shortly after I landed that San Pedro Sula has the highest murder rate in the entire world. I recently researched that statistic because I could not believe it and unfortunately my friends were telling the truth.

Our 2 hour bus ride to the city of Siguatepeque was interrupted by a stop at a street vendor. These guys were selling the most amazing pineapple I have ever tasted. The way they sliced up the pineapple, coconuts, and mangos with machetes was more of an art form than anything else. After a long, much needed nap, we finally made it to the medical center, where we would be staying for a week.

The medical center.

The center was unfinished, but the group of college students who were staying there the whole summer said it was in much worse condition with many rats, boxes of various equipment, and dirt everywhere before I got there. I quickly found out that there was no ceiling and that the walls did not completely reach the roof, which let in every flying insect there was in Honduras to our humble abode. I was told that I could not drink any of the water, which was fine because we used 5 gallon water jugs all week. My first shower was pretty cold, but was glad we at least had running water. I asked if there was any warm water, and the response was, “It's random between cold and frigid.” I definitely could tell when my shower was frigid, but honestly, after the initial shock, your body acclimates enough to get through it. The one rule that caused the most problems was not flushing down toilet paper; every single day there was a toilet that was clogged.

Throughout the whole week (Saturday-Wednesday) the medical team drove about 30-60 minutes to a rural village to treat ailments, infections, poor vision, and cavities for over 100 people while also entertaining the children; Thursday we treated patients at the clinic we stayed at. We used the villages' local church building as our medical center and a school classroom or open field as our art class. We had 6 stations: triage, doctor, dentist, pharmacy, eye care, and art class. After we had seen all the patients, we were able to help serve a different volunteer group by helping them prepare several hundred hotdog plates and ice cream cones for the locals everyday. I had so much fun entertaining the kids before the food was served by launching water balloons 100 feet in the air, playing soccer, throwing the Frisbee, and singing songs.

Hotdog plates for everyone!

Singing songs!

Can you catch the water balloon? Nope.

I scream for ice cream...quite literally.

The first two days I worked in the pharmacy with three middle school kids from our medical team. The nurse would come out after every patient and tell me what medication and how much to fill. Honestly, it was rather boring, until I would get to talk to the patient. I got so much joy from just interacting with the locals.

The next two days I helped out in the art class. I would have to say during these two days I had some of my best memories and most fun. We would start off by using watercolor pencils to do a landscape of the Honduran city and country side. The church would have light coming from it because, “Jesus’s light is always on inside.” We would do another picture using numbers to draw a guitar; we told them to title it, “Dios Toca!” or “God Rocks!” There were other pictures we did with rainbows, which was always fun because they got to use so many different colors. After art class we would play pictionary—boys against girls. I have never seen so much intensity from a simple game of pictionary: kids jumping up and down, pointing, and yelling so fast in Spanish. Even though the game was chaotic, everyone had a blast!

I don’t think I will ever forget getting mauled by kids for bracelets. I had a bag of rubber bracelets and was trying to separate them while the kids were doing their art projects. These bracelets could be found at a dollar store, but in these kids’ eyes, they were like the most prized possessions you could ever get. My situation was akin to me swimming with a gashing cut in open water at dusk; I found out my predicament the hard way by being rushed by over 40 kids yelling in Spanish while pulling at my shirt trying to get the bag. I thought I could instill order by telling them that they have to sit down and be quiet in order to get a prize. These kids outwitted me by following me around the room and then sitting right in front of me. Every time I moved, they moved. I could not believe how intelligent they were.

The last day at the villages, I decided to try something outside my comfort zone and work in the dentist clinic. I helped hold the light, utensils, the syringe, and the spit bucket; I even was a human booster seat for the little ones. Although after only holding the spit bucket for 5 minutes, my stomach could not handle the gruesomeness and had to let someone else hold it. The most exciting thing I got to do was actually pull a tooth all by myself! Even though that was fun, I was torn inside by the amount of cavities these people had. I personally saw a kid have 10 teeth removed; I was told another had 14 done the day before. Not only was the unruly amount of cavities heart wrenching, but I saw a little boy with 5 worms in his head. Internally, I was disgusted that a 6 year old had to endure that.

Painful tooth?  We will pull it!

The last day providing medical assistance happened at the clinic we stayed at. There was a more relaxed feel because there were not as many people. I took this opportunity to wash some clothes the old fashioned way--by hand. I am not thankful enough for so many modern appliances and devices I have.  After all the patients were seen at the clinic, we went to a restaurant on Lake Yojoa and had fried Tilapia and plantain chips. They didn't just serve us the meat, but rather the whole fish. I will admit that the tail tastes like crispy chips and is pretty good. We then were able to go to this amazing waterfall. I would have been happy to have just seen it, but I actually was allowed to go to the bottom and even look behind it! We then went into a cave inside the waterfall, which was awe inspiring. To top it off, we all were able to jump in two different spots: a 15 and a 35 foot jump into the water below!

Lake Yojoa

I totally looked upwards behind that ginormous piece of God's creation.

My last day I was able to be a tourist and just see the sites of Siguatepeque. Supermarkets are the equivalent of a large grocery store. There you can have a steak dinner (I only paid $7!), buy groceries, and even watch a soccer game. Walmart really does not exist in Siguatepeque so a supermarket is the closest thing. Thankfully we were able to go to the small shops and bargain. I really do appreciate the opportunity to haggle since it's so uncommon in the US.

I had the mindset going into this trip of how excited I was to serve, but I was the one who was served. The locals were so welcoming and treated me like a brother or a son of their own. They also taught me a lot about how to slow down and just savor the experiences of life whether that is spending time with others, playing soccer, eating dinner, or just riding in a car. The local villagers have a miniscule amount of amenities, but ironically, they are not depressed, stressed, and lazy. Yes, there are major problems like a lack of healthcare, gang violence, and corrupt police. There were no free government programs, good public schools, libraries, and quality hospitals where we lived. Despite all that, these people worked so hard and had such a good outlook on life even with extreme poverty. I was so overwhelmed with how much I waste and how much I take for granted. My outlook on life was definitely changed for the better. This trip has fueled my passion for doing medical missions long term and I can not wait to be apart of another trip.

Thank you so much for supporting me through this experience. I was laughing almost everyday as I received support letters because I was overwhelmed at God's goodness. I now laugh while writing this letter because God received so much glory through this trip both from the Honduran people and the US volunteers. I saw spiritual growth from our medical team through our nightly discussions and from several Honduran people through conversations. One of my favorite lines from a hymn I used to sing in my college ministry sums up my trip well:

To God be the glory forever and ever.

To God be the glory forever, amen.

Pastor Israel's church.

Everyone wants to talk to Pastor Israel!

My partners in crime Brittany and Jessica.

Mis amigos.

Just a normal day driving through the clouds.

Honduras is a gem.

Random Things

When you can't sleep at night and don't want to go to sleep when classes aren't but a couple hours away, in which one of them involves a test, in order to not sleep through it, you make up random things.  That was probably one of the longest run on sentences that really didn't really flow or was readable, somewhat like this sentence you are reading right now, which is weird to think about how a sentence is telling you that you are reading it.

Anyways here is a random list of 25 things that pop in my head starting now:

1. pink bunnies
2. marshmallow shoes
3. green gummies
4. grasshopper
5. bagel bite
6. leopard forest
7. trail blazers
8. conditioner
9. article
10. popping
11. noiz tm
12. squeaky
13. binding energy
14. cool design of the letter "t"
15. cash money
16. franswa
17. bahahahahaha
18. burgers in paradise
19. joseph kony
20. original
21. good burger
22. meatloaf
23. donkeys
24. ploppy
25. hallelujah 

Camping and White-Water Rafting

So this past weekend I got to go on an amazing trip to Tenn. with some people from the outdoor club from school.  There were a few, actually a lot, of peeps that I didn't know that were kick butt awesome.  The bus rides were fun especially since we watched Zoolander.  Our bus driver, Mr. Ernie, was the man if there was ever one.  he didn't talk much but when he did, it was really funny and worth listening to.

When we got there there was frisbee, soccer, volleyball, and amazing views to keep us busy.   There is also this cool thing called slacklining.  Check it out if you don't know about it.  Well so I am new to this and keep falling.  So I start doing war chants when I try and I got the furthest I had gotten.  So I do it again and fall to the side and my feet get tangled with the line and I fall about 3 feet on my hip.  It was a loud thud and it hurt pretty bad.  My hip is still sore and bruised.  I got drugged up and put ice on it because the next day I had to go white-water rafting.  Eventually, we got our tent set up and was thankful that it didn't rain and the weather was really nice except for when the sun went down then dropped 20 degrees.

We had some awesome spaghetti and corn.  It was an interesting combination.  At dinner I made some of the best pick up lines that I have ever heard come out of my mouth.  I couldn't stop either.  I would have to say that I was flowing like Lil Wayne.  It worked and now we are engaged and there is going to be a raffle to come to my wedding.  I mean our marriage was being planned in a span of a couple hours.

So not thinking I didn't pack any warm clothes.  I was freezing while playing some intense ERS game, in which I was unfairly cheated out, but it's ok cause now I know the girl as jerk or meany-face.  I actually really don't know her name...well I do, it's jerk or meany-face depending on my mood.

There was a sweet kickin' campfire with smores in all and random talking and a random dude brought a guitar and we sang and chilled and relaxed.  Yes, I relaxed at Furman.  It is a rare thing.  Also a lot of us got hungry so we ate cold spaghetti and gummy snacks...another glorious combo right there.

The next day was white-water rafting.  This thing had class 2 rapids to class 5.  We had a baller raft guide named Mo.  We were the best group he has ever had (according to me) and he has been there about as many years as I am alive.  Some girl got her cartilage ripped and I fell out and almost lost my shorts but everyone was ok.  It was intense and fun with huge drops and synchronized paddling.

One fun weekend fo sho.

God You Reign

Friday was absolutely amazing.  I am so pleased and thankful that even though I don't go to a Christian school, I can still gather with fellow believers and praise the One who created me.  It was just lead by a few students and one person playing the guitar and all of us giving God the glory that He deserves.  Worshiping God freely under the stars with no boundaries was so amazing and I can't wait to see how much better it's like in Heaven.  God humbled me and showed me what it's like to be focused on Him and not the world.  Prayer is power and God spoke through me and to me.  Looking up into God's creation reminded me so much of camp and made me realize that I can do the same things at camp as I can here at Furman.  


Psalm 121
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills--where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot slip--he who watches over you will not slumber; 4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The LORD watches over you--the LORD is your shade at your right hand; 6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The LORD will keep you from all harm--he will watch over your life; 8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. 

Cliff Jumping...way more intense than HSM

When I was at Camp Cedar Cliff this summer, I was able to go on a trip up to some trails in the mountains and also jump from a waterfall, known as Courthouse Falls.  About a 45 foot jump.  When we were riding up there, it started to lightening and rain.  Well a few day earlier I was almost struck by lightening while doing a devotion inside of a van.  It was literally 5 feet away.  It ran through a metal chain, burnt the post that the chain was wrapped around, and made a huge hole in the ground.  I had 10 screaming, crying boys instantly.  So let's just say I am more aware of lightening now and what it can do.

Anyways it stopped lightening and we hiked up to the water fall.  I got in the water and it was frigid.  I am not talking about somewhat cold, I am talking about loosing your breath cold.  So after all of us stared at the waterfall, a good majority went up to the top.  It was really hard just to get up there and even scarier looking down.  I was basically thrown into jumping after a couple other people in front of me didn't want to go then.  I stood there on the edge holding on a tree for dear life and became really scared.  I prayed there right on the tree.  After about 3 minutes, I got everyone to give me a countdown.  5,4,3,2,1...I jumped!

When I was in the air it felt like an eternity.  Basically you don't think...your mind goes blank in the air.  I had Chacos on so I felt pressure when my feet hit, but I wasn't in any pain.  More and more people went until one girl landed in the upright seat position...let's just say she had bruises all over her legs.  I don't think anyone went after that.

So now I am on my first day on the job in the science library and itching to go jumping again.  It is one adrenaline pumping thrill.

P.S.  A freshman approached me and talked to me about a girl and how they broke up and mentioned that he was an atheist.  Please pray for him.

Come Back Kids

So I went to the Braves game on Monday.  As I was driving with a few friends, I saw some dark ominous (uh oh big word) clouds, which hinted that maybe it would rain in ATL.  But then there were nice happy clouds as well so it was kind of a mixed bag of weatherlyness.  So the whole ride there was rain, no rain, rain, no rain, repeat multiple times.  We stop in the best place known to man and wild, Taco Bell, and my friend and I split a grande meal.  Oh yeah, it was like a slightly bigger slice of Heaven.  Finding parking is well, easy...finding free parking is well, impossible.  When we get there it wasn't raining so of course I forget my rain jacket.  During batting practice we get close to catching a ball, but that is beside the point.

The game was a pitchers duel because it was 1 to 1 for the longest time.  We had decent seats, but when I went to get my jacket, a man gave me his tickets because there is no re-entry (stupid) and he was leaving.  It turned out that these were basically behind home plate.  So Ryan and I both sat there for the next three innings.  The Dodgers score two runs in the 8th off of two Brooks Conrad errors.  I was so mad because no one can take the place of Chipper Jones (injured after tearing his acl) and Brooks was definitely showing it.  So it's the bottom of the 9th, down 3-1, and the rally video gets all of us pumped from random movie clips and old games.  The Tomahawk Chop is indeed pretty amazing to see.  So the braves get a few walks and a single and a passed ball to make the game 2-3.  Melky comes up to the plate and gets a single with the bases loaded and brings in two runs to win the game in the bottom of the 9th, 4-3.  I was screaming, jumping, and then hugging my bro without even thinking about it.  On the way back, I was one of thousands walking through the walkways yelling the Braves chant, doing the Tomahawk Chop, and giving random dudes high fives.  It was a beautiful sight.  Wish it was on video.

The drive back wasn't as long.  I didn't get really that tired even though it was 1 am.  I guess I still had too much energy from that game.  It is one thing watching your favorite team on TV come back and win, but it is another thing to see it in person.

P.S. THANKS BOBBY!

Camp Lyfe

So camp life is probably the best thing that I ever did.  Best decision los manos down.  Each week is a whole new adventure even though you do more or less the same thing each week.  Some campers are great some are little tougher to deal with but I love it.  I mean skits, BBs, archery, climbing wall, swimming every day, slip n' slide, four square, and the list goes on.  The weekends a bunch of counselors go cliff jumping, turtle back falling, and eating meals, which total to the cost of a quarter of our pay.  It is so fun getting to know a lot of people here even though I am going to only be here for one month.  Oh yeah it is probably one of the most tiring things ever.  I have never wanted to go to bed before 11 in my life since elementary school, but camp drains every ounce of energy possible.  No air conditioning in the cabins was miserable but we put lots of fans up, which helped a little bit.  Oh yeah, I basically cant be in touch with the outside world which is nice once in a while.

Truckers Truck You

So yesterday I was driving down many roads with a handy GPS system that took me all over the place.  I had to do many things on my 3 hour break.  I was merging on to I385 and pulled up next to an 18 wheeler.  I sped up because I needed to get in front of him cause there were a lot of cars behind him.  The next thing I know is the guy sped up too.  I sped up more and I was running out of lane quickly.  The next thing I know is that I was on the shoulder with cars whizzing by me while I had to come to a complete stop.  Plus I was on a overpass which didn't help out either.  I thought I was gonna die.

Later I get on I85 and there is one lane closed so it said 45mph and do not pass.  I slowed down but was still over the speed limit and there was an truck riding my tail probably within a few feet of me.  Then another truck got in the left lane and passed me.  Again, I thought I was gonna die.  I never thought I wouldn't come close to death twice in one day, but thankfully God was protecting me.

Psalm 20:1
May the LORD answer you when you are in distress;
may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.  

Tomorrow I leave for Camp Cedar Cliff for the summer.  I am excited and will miss everyone!

Liger

When I was in Myrtle Beach, there was a man who was doing free balloons for people so I asked for a Liger.    He said he could make one for me so he did...It turned out to look more like a mouse with an abnormally long tail so I went into a store to make it more like a Liger.  The store was ironically called the Christmas Mouse, which I laughed at internally.  There was a sign that said, "NO FOOD OR DRINK", so I asked if Ligers were allowed.  The lady said yes as she laughed and puzzled at the same time.  Then I asked some other ladies if I could borrow a sharpie.  They also laughed and were confused but got one for me.  We had a good conversation as I turned my mouse into the Liger that it should be.  

Later that night I got bored and got a ferocious picture with my Liger and then the light went off like in that show PB&J Otter.  If you got that high five yourself, the person next to you, or the computer.  Well, I made a story of my Liger.  Sorry for the stupid red print (I couldn't find a free program that would work and not put stupid print across the picture).  

P.S. Click on the picture to make it bigger.

I Forgot About This...

So on Saturday, May 15 (before I had a blog), I came home from playing paintball with some radians--people that go to radius.  I was dirty, sweaty, painty, basically looking forward to a nice cool shower.  My mom called me while she was at home while I was on my way to play earlier that day to let me know that she would put the spare key outside so I could get in.  Well I come home and the door is locked.  I look for the key in the place and it isnt there.  So I just sit around for 30 min outside in the afternoon heat just frustrated.  I think to go to the place behind our house that the key used to be in and it wasn't there but I find two kittens.  They were abandoned and had flies, mosquitoes, and a bunch of goop around their eyes which basically made their eyes mostly closed.  One couldn't even walk straight and fell down a lot.  I just wanted to keep walking by, but I couldn't...I felt a moral obligation to help but I couldnt really couldn't do anything.  It ended up being 3 hours with these kittens that followed me around meowing at me to help.  I got cat food and soap from neighbors washed them off after I gained my composure and my parents showed up a little bit later.  We got some of the goop out and they never ate cat food but it was worth a try.  We got them kitten milk (I didn't know that existed in stores) and fed them with a bottle.  They hated the bottle because they didn't know what it was.  Plus the fact that they were almost dead didn't help.  We had to feed them like a little baby--every 2-3 hours.  Eventually a friend of my sister decided to take them after 3 days of taking care of them, which seemed like forever because they rarely stopped meowing and waking me up in the middle of the night.

Lesson leaned:  I am not ready for a baby because that is what you have to put up with only you have to change diapers as well.  Well yeah that is about it. From what I have heard they are doing a lot better and now are normal.

Then:

Now:

CaroWINds

Sunburned, laughing till you couldn't breathe any more, heckling the employees on the rapids ride (one of the employees told us to after the ride broke down), asking the venders for ridiculous things like "How much for the lemons in the lemonade but not the lemonade?" or "Do you sell fake abs?" or "Do you have hard frozen lemonade instead of soft frozen lemonade?" or "Guess how many freckles I have?" (to the lady who guesses your age or birthday to win a prize), double heel clicking, doing a photo shoot for the guys who take your picture as you walk in, get minor burns on your feet as you walk barefoot on the concrete in the water park, flicking powerade tops to each other, talking to random people, eating 15 slices of pizza at cici's, almost overdrafting with $.83 left in your bank account, jammin' to tunes in a non-air conditioned car on a 95° day, playing car games like counting all the yellow cars and punch bugs (it gets intense) and the best of all, playing marco polo with a couple hundred people in the wave pool.

So I guess I will explain more of the marco polo thing. Me and the rest of the gang head on into the wave pool. The PFDs (personal flotation device) caught my eyes as I was running into the water. I grabbed one and put it on...I found out it was made for toddlers but it still barely fit while partially choking me. After the waves stop it turns into your ordinary ridiculously big pool. I was already getting stares from everyone with my PFD, but I got a lot more when I shouted to the top of my lungs, "MARCO!!!" A couple people said Polo the first time, then more the second, then after a few times the whole wave pool of about a couple hundred people yell, "POLO!!!" I had my eyes closed and I said something like, "I feel like I am at a concert or something." I peeked just to see how many people were there and it was unbelievable. There was a lot of empty space around me and everyone seemed to be playing. I mean it was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. Some people asked if we could stop and the lifeguards refused from what my friend told me.

So the moral of the story is: when your bored waiting for the waves to come back on in a wave pool, play marco polo (and bring a video camera cause I didn't.)

I didn't take this but this is an underestimate of somewhat how many people were there...It was a hot day!

Honoring 'Merica and its Servicemen

So as I am writing this sentence it is technically still July 4th, but I cant type 300 words a minute so it will be July 5th. I also get distracted a lot even when it isn't homework...butterfly!

So today is a great time to honor servicemen. No, I am not talking about the military or special forces or even the Coast Guard; I am talking about your very own FUPO--the Furman University Police Officers.

So I don't own a car a probably won't own one while I am at Furman. I have heard stories about how it is impossible to not get written up once in your four years there. I didn't have a car so I thought well that won't happen to me. I worked at Furman and heard stories of their encounters with them and their negative feelings towards the officers--well just some of them. I was kinda shocked. I always hear bad stuff about the officers coming from the students but the faculty too?! Yep, it was true. My encounters with FUPO haven't been that great either.

Last semester I rode the shuttle a few times and I was laughed at but whatever my bike was stolen and I don't own a car so I was screwed sometimes. As I was riding FUPO stopped him and started to heckle him. It was all for fun and games, but seriously, is there anything else they do at night? The driver voiced his strong feelings about them. He said basically they are want-to-be cops. He told me a story about how FUPO called up the shuttle and asked to go to MacDonald's in order to get their weed. He said he was confused but went to pick them up and there was no one there. He said this happened two or three times at night.

During maymester, I drove my parent's car there because well you know why. I didn't know where to park so I parked in the student center lot, which was about a 4-5 min. walk. I heard from students that FUPO doesn't care about parking in the summer so I parked in 10 min. parking for the last couple of days. On the very last day I see a ticket on the car and I about lost it; it was a $60 ticket. I panicked at first but I went to public safety and was gonna "stick it to the man" (and officer 21. Personally I think that there should be a movie called 21, which isn't about black jack but about officer 21's life and what happend to him during his life that he would want a job that just deals with writing people up and making people pay way extremely expensive tickets.) I got out of the $40 no permit fine and supposedly there is a pass specifically for people without a permit for maymester. I didn't get out of the $20 ticket for parking in 10 min. but I did pay it the next day which I got half off. One of the officers said something along the lines of, "That's a good deal. That's like getting a $60 car for $20. I said, "Yeah, you show me where they sell $60 cars". After my conversation, I learned that there is no such thing as public parking at Furman--even in the chapel lot, student center lot, and any other lot that most people think is "public" parking. Supposedly you must get a one day parking pass, but no one knows that and it is not advertised anywhere until you get a ticket.

So all of us Furman people salute you FUPO for working hard and making sure that the basically empty campus during the summer has cars not longer than 10 min. in 10 min. parking, checking passes, lightening up the mood with some prank calls, and making sure we don't break the 18 mph speed limit on various roads.

Cooking Rats, Talking Toys, and Owl City.

So I saw Toy Story 3 on opening night and it was one of the best animated movies I have seen. It brought respect to the series after the second ruined its reputation. It was so cool that Andy's age paralleled with my generation. He gets older in ever movie and he is going to college like most of us or are already in college. After I saw that movie, I just wanted to find my old toys and play with them and actually felt bad for not playing with them. I don't think I went so far as thinking that my toys really talked to each other, but movies can do weird things like that to you.

So I am going to work at this amazing camp and I can't watch anything over a G-rated movie so my movie selection has significantly dwindled, but on the bright side I really don't really even watch movies that much anyways. I hadn't seen Ratatouille and it was fortunately G so I decided to watch it tonight. Wow, so that is another really good movie. It is inspiring and shows that anyone can do anything or I guess anything can do anything (in the case of a rat). During the movie I felt bad for rats and how when we see them we try to kill them, but I mean they can carry disease along with other not so nice things from their "swimming pool" or "river" that they live in.

Well Owl City was a stretch, but I am a late night person, no an insomniac. I am usually the only one up at night, which gets lonely. I didn't even get that much sleep last night and I am still up late. Well Owl City is supposedly an insomniac in "Fireflies", which is why I made that connection. Maybe I should make a FB group and then we could unite...at night.

There are too many names for the "Beautiful Game"

Well this is my first blog. I mean it is a weird feeling to do this, but hey I guess it is more productive than Facebook so I guess I am moving on up in the rankings.

A week ago, my friend and I came to play soccer at the Pavilion. It was fun but we were the only ones there. After a couple hours, we started to see other young people there to play soccer. I thought, "Now we can play pick up soccer!" It turned out to be a bunch of white adults in a league in which we were kicked off the field. We decided to go to Pittman Park. After we got there, I asked a group who happened to be all white if my friend and I could play soccer with them. They said something like nah we already have teams and I was greatly surprised. This is pick up soccer people. My friend and I already got kicked off some other park and now we can't even join pick up soccer! I was pretty embarrassed of my own ethnicity.

So today I decided to go play some soccer because I really miss playing it. I drive to the Pittman Park again and all I see is Hispanics. I speak in my broken spanish, "¿Juego el fútbol, por favor?" The Hispanics accepted me and let me play. I was the only white guy there, but I didn't feel any barrier or resentment. Soccer, or as the rest of the world would say football or fútbol, unites people together. I had a lot of fun but came to a rude awakening that I was out of shape. As I was leaving there was a overweight White man across the parking lot at a different field yelling at these kids who were also all White about an American football drill. I felt like there was an invisible boundary that separated the Whites and the Hispanics and football from fútbol. It was sad but true.

P.S. Today the Gamecocks of South Carolina are the 2010 College World Series!!! Champions!!!