Soccer Game
Kayleigh and I played in a soccer game with our Spanish school, Ixchel, against another Spanish school today. It was an experience! The field was just dirt-really hard and very uneven. The goals existed, but lacked nets. Our team consisted of Kayleigh, Fernanda (the receptionist), one teacher from our school (Luis), 7 other guys that work at Ixchel ranging in age from 20 to 50, and me. A.k.a. it was just the two of us with all native speakers. It was exciting, especially in the beginning when I felt like I could contribute, but it got sad when I realized no one was ever going to pass me the ball (except for Diego who I really appreciated!). My first pass went out because the ball flies on this surface! But I didn´t feel too bad. Most of the guys were definitely better than me (typically due to the fact that they are simply stronger, but some had a lot of skill). However, there were worse players who got the ball ahead of Kayleigh and me and I´m sure it´s due to the fact that we are girls. I definitely think it has a lot to do with the ¨machismo¨culture, but then again, boys don´t pass to girls in the US either. Machismo exists everywhere.
Hopefully they will pass more next time. We´ll see.
It was so frustrating not being able to say anything. You can´t just translate word for word. It doesn´t work sadly. I tried to say ¨cross the ball¨ using the verb ¨cruzar¨ meaning ¨to cross,¨ but no one got it. Apparently you are supposed to just say give me it ¨dimela.¨ I also wish Kayleigh had played in the goal! I understand she didn´t want to get hurt by the men, but in the end we lost 4-3 because the goalie just let a goal in. Kayleigh would have definitely stopped it!
-Kara