Well I knew this
was going to happen eventually.
But there was no way to prepare
myself psychologically to get beat at soccer by a 7-year-old.
Maybe
at the end of two years, I'll have improved enough to keep up with
the 7-year-olds in Huallanca. I think that's a reasonable and
acheivable goal to set for myself. Then again the images burned into
my memory of Mauricio (my host brother) schooling me over and over again might just
convince me to go into an early retirement from the sport. (Yes, this is me retrieving the ball after being scored on by Mauricio)
Although
we were using a random little plastic ball here, we do have an actual
soccer to use (and since then I have used it in games with Mauricio
and my other host brother, Antony, 13 years old). If I decide to continue
beating my head against the wall, trying to learn to play soccer, and
other extremely painful hobbies I do have a nice cultural exchange
plan set up. I gave Antony an (American) football for his birthday
last week. So now I can teach him American football and he can teach
me soccer. We've already played some backyard football with him and
some other teenagers who helped my tia (aunt) move. Therefore
I already consider myself a successful Peace Corps Volunteer; Goal 2
of the Peace Corps: Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
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