Hello, im back in Kingston from a very relaxing and enjoyable holiday back home. Its nice to be back in the sun, but its a lot cooler here now than when I first arrived. Over the holidays Elizabeth (a returned volunteer) introduced me to a group that plays soccer on Saturday mornings and I went to check it out yesterday. He said they start playing at 6:30, which is really closer to 7, I was the first to arrive and initially though maybe I had the wrong place. Things started to pickup and there was a big group, they played 9 per side and in total there were 30 people, so lots of available subs. The players were good, I don’t think they were as good as the guys James and I used to play with in France but I was still the worst player there. I started as a sub and was put on about halfway into the first half. I quickly displayed an uncanny ability to kick the ball to players on the opposing team or simply miss the ball completely. After the first couple passes to me, things dried up quickly when my teammates realized I wasn’t a good import…Im not Beckham coming to play for Galaxy. I had one opportunity to rush down the wing, there my football skills graduate from awful to poor, but it didn’t really work out. It was a little like playing baseball and being in right field for the whole game where I spent most of my time day dreaming. When a ball was actually hit my way id be so surprised that things wouldn’t usually work out for the better. The nets they use here are about the size of a hockey net, so I was surprised that a couple goals were scored. It ended in a 2-2 tie, I wasnt actually on the field for any our goals, but wasnt on the field for the goals against either. I dont think ill be going back, I had to pay $200 JD for field rental and gatorade, and since I played all of 10min, ill just sort out squash stuff next week.
Since soccer wasnt very taxing, I went to the market for groceries after the game and found a meat market not far from work. Buying food at the market is a lot cheaper and fresher than grocery stores, so its worth the trip. I picked up a pound of goat (first time buying goat) and made curry this evening. It turned out quite well for my first time, but ill make it a bit spicier next time.
Work was busy this week, we put together a report of all our observations since arriving and our recommendations going forward. The CUSO-VSO program manager (Tarik) has a meeting with the director of DRF (Donna) on Tuesday and we will have a followup with other managers to review our report later in the week. I signed up for mediation training starting Jan 19th which should be interesting. Its a 6 day course and then we have to sit in on a certain number of mediations before we can conduct our own.
Thats about it for now, have a good week
