my time in mexico - part two

so now i will spend some time exploring the idea that if you travel with a football, (and not one of those sissy american footballs), you will make friends with everyone.

one of the students on my team is on the soccer team at CBU. and he is a genius. he brought a football along on the trip. on the first day, within ten minutes of arriving at the airport, he had brought out his ball and begun kicking it around. sure everyone looked at us, but not in a 'what's wrong with them' kind of way. more in a 'man i wish i could play right now' kind of way.

even just walking around the streets of mexico city, the football was a way to start talking to people. they would see the ball and stop us and have a conversation. we met a number of people this way.

and the football made frequent appearances even after we had reached the worksite. if there was enough time to stand still, there was enough time to break out the ball and kick it around.

and when the guys we were helping to build saw that there was a football, they made sure that we had finished for the day with enough time to set up a makeshift goal in the middle of the street and play a quick game.

each day included at least some time with the football. but as the week progressed and the work on the houses lessened, more and more time was spent either just kicking back and forth or even putting together a game.

one day they even took us down to the local stadium and challenged us to a game. luckily we were split evenly with us and the locals on teams so they didn't beat us too badly. i think this was one of the hilights of the trip for most of us. sadly, by this time my cold had progressed so much that i couldn't join in. i was really bummed about this, but it did give me an opportunity to take a lot of photos.

near the end of the week when we were all exhausted, we had fun playing football with the children who lived at one of the houses we were working at. this was ilette almost making a goal. her little brother lalo was also playing, but didn't make it into this photo.

most of us who went on this trip do not speak much spanish. but as the week progressed i learned that football is the international language. when a football appears, strangers become friends and interactions happen without words. i think some of our most significant friendships happened and progressed because of that little sphere.