Champions!

It’s been awhile so there is a lot to report. I’ll start with my favorite…

My baseball team won the regional championship! The Falcons of San Francisco de Valle are the best in the west! We started earlier this year as the bad news bears, no one showing up for practice, kids fighting, taking balls of the face, etc. The most difficult things are always the rewarding, and this was definitely one of those cases. There were times when I didn’t think we’d even get to go to the tournament- not enough kids, no funds for the trip, etc. But then there were days when I’d see a glimmer of hope and remember why I was doing it- an older boy helping a young girl learn how to bat, my player with a notorious bad attitude telling a girl good try when she struck out, the team deciding to elect a president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer to help raise money and make decisions.

To raise money we held a movie night for our town. The kids visited the local high school and nervously spoke to each class and sold tickets. We were able to find a projector and rented out the city hall to show a horror movie (the best kind they said). Kids brought microwaves and we sold soda and popcorn and all the kids on the team had a job. The night was a wonderful success and we had about 100 people show up (in our town of 1,500). We made about $75 which was enough to cover our bus trip to the next town.

Luckily, about 15 parents showed up to go with us to the regional tournament. The kids were so excited they didn’t sit down the entire trip, just stood there looking out the windows. When we got there the other team was warming up and it was time to play (editor’s note: I was the more nervous than before a college football game). We put on our uniforms and warmed up, and then we did our dance (the 1990’s Atlanta Falcon’s Dirty Bird Dance) to get rid of all the butterflies. We came out on fire, dropping 15 runs on the Santa Rosa Panthers in the first inning. They answered back with 1, and after the time limit was up, we were the winners by score of 17-2. The kids celebrated and then we took a break while we watched Copan Ruins destroy Santa Rosa 15-1.

We had to win the next game to move on, and Copan Ruins was the area powerhouse (the only place that already had experience). It was a pitching battle from the start but we knocked in a few runs here and there and we were up 5-2 in the final inning and they had the tying run at the plate. Great time for an injury, so my catcher takes one off the thumb and it dislocates (this is very painful). My assistant coach and I run out and pop it back in, then I smack him on the helmet and tell him sometimes the tendons just jump around and he’ll be fine. I can tell he’s unsure what to think so I tell the ump let’s play ball so he doesn’t think too much and we start up again. My former host brother takes the batter to a full count and then strikes him out for the victory. Parents who have no idea about the rules of baseball are screaming happily as the kids jump for joy. If it were an acceptable thing in this culture, I would have cried at this point (but I didn’t). On the way home the kids screamed the chorus of a rap song they had written about the team out the bus window to whoever would listen, followed by a broken English version of “we are the champions”. Now we have the huge challenge of raising money to get to the capital city 10 hours away. If we can do it, it will be a great experience and the first time to travel far away (or at all) for almost all the kids. (if you would like to help out, we will take donations J, get in touch with my mom)

Of course, Vago (the dog) came with us and supported the team! How do I explain how much he has grown? A couple months ago, my favorite part of the day was when I had to go to bed, because I picked up the sleeping Vago and then laid him down in the bedroom. Yesterday he was dead asleep in the doorway and I can’t pick him up anymore so I just got down on my hands and knees and pushed him across the floor (he didn’t even wake up).

I’ve started my English classes for the teachers and though the numbers haven’t been as high as previously thought, the class is going well. The teachers I do have seem committed. There are a few that work in small aldeas (villages) four hours away by foot and have to walk back for the class and then get up really early the next morning to get back to their aldeas.

Soccer is going good and our team grabbed another second place after going to a shootout in the championship. I’ve been playing forward and I scored three goals in the tournament, though I couldn’t get one in the title game.

During the week of Easter, no one works and everyone goes to the beach. So I went to the beach. I ended up in a hotel right on a deserted stretch of beach with 12 friends, it was cheap because we all shared one room (gotta love bunk beds).

That's all folks.