Playing Soccer with the Devil

Word of the Day:

Satanas- Satan

la delantera- forward

la portera- goalie

la defensa- defense- What I've been playing mostly.

I joined a soccer team! Or more accurately, my friend Kleydi signed Christina and I up for a soccer team and then informed us about it later. I was overjoyed about it, however, because I'm desperately in need of exercise, ways to meet more people and things to do on Sundays. I really miss the Chilean slang term "Fomingo"= Fome (boring) + Domingo (Sunday) because it would be a highly accurate description of the way Sundays can drag on interminably here. 

We don't have practices as far as I can tell, but the two women's teams scrimmage against each other on Sunday mornings. I'm not sure if my team has a name, but we have pretty cool bright orange Barcelona jerseys. We're an interesting mix of people. There are two huge women on my team, not fat, just BIG, who intimidate me a little bit. One of them is nicknamed Satan. I still don't know her real name or how I should address her. A very typical problem here. The rest of the girls are very young, wispy and fast. They are mainly my students, which has created some awkwardness at school because they are not always the best at paying attention in class. Despite the differences in size and ability, we are halfway decent on the field, given that we don't actually practice together. 

The soccer field is basically a glorified mud pit strewn with pebbles, although it boasts a stunning view of the volcanoes on clear days. I fell the first day and cut my knee pretty badly although it didn't hurt. I didn't clean it for a while because I didn't notice how much it was bleeding. Hopefully this has established a tough reputation for me because my playing leaves much to desired. Maybe now I can become known as "La gringa que chorrea (The gringa that spurts blood)" instead of "La gringa que corre (The gringa that runs)". Little Spanish pun there for y'all. 

It's great that we can field two women's teams here. Considering women wouldn't have played soccer a few decades ago (probably not in the US either, come to think of it), it's a nice sign that progress can come in rapid spurts. Like bleeding knees, except positive.