Weekly update 15Nov07

Good Day All,

 

I hear it was pretty warm there last week. It has been pretty much the same here. Rainy season is coming to an end and trying to squeeze in every last shower it can. 3 more weeks to the dry season.

 

The boy's bball team lost in the first round of the playoffs on Saturday. They had a good 1^st half with moving the ball around and getting good shots but they just weren't going in. ASOY has 3 really good players that we just couldn't match up with. So the season is over. The girl's soccer plays on Wed and if they win they play on Sat for the trophy. They are 8-0 this season and have outscored opponents 38-3. They play La Gaiete on Wed and the chances of them showing up are slim. La Gaiete has a reputation of bringing any player they can find to win student or not. We'll see.

 

A week ago Saturday after the boys game I took a bunch of them over to the University to see the Men's National Championship game. Condor vs. BEAC. There were 2 brass bands and a percussion group there. They would play for about 30 minutes straight and then take a break. Sometimes they would all play at the same time and it didn't matter if the game was on or not. It was a small outdoor stadium court deal with seats for about 1000. A bunch of teachers drove over with us and as we got to the ticket booth the usher came running over and hustled us through the gate, past the guys with machine guns and said we did not have to buy tickets. 3 of my players are not white and I quickly pushed them in front of me to make sure they got in. All the guys in the ticket line started shouting when we all walked past them but really shouted when 3 African kids got in free. The game was to start at 3pm and we got there about 15 minutes prior. You'd think that something as important as the JR, Women's and Men's National Championship games would start on time but I forgot the it was 3pm Africa Time. I was not surprised to see that the women's game was just starting. The men did not start until about 5:15. 85 degrees with the sun beating down and nobody selling water. But…. this is Africa.

 

The starting point guard for BEAC is my assistant coach Jean-Paul Enzodo (JP). I knew he was good but I had never seen him really play. Some of his passes could not be explained by modern physics. He handled the ball the whole game and only had one turnover and that was to a guy posting up who cut to the basket after he passed the ball and it bounced into the crowd. He kept them going steady and the highlight of the game for me was a pass from JP to their big scorer #7. He cut to the basket from the left wing and got a no-look pass from the point and took off from the free-throw line and finished with a thundering tomahawk dunk. I have never seen any person jump that high in my life. His head was over the rim. After that, they pulled away and BEAC ended up winning by 15 or so. It was a lot of fun despite the band and the diesel powered generator fumes behind us. The lightning show put on from the gigantic storm brewing up from the East was entertaining but a little unnerving since we were in the top row of the hilltop stadium. Last Tuesday, we decided to have an exhibition game rematch of the boy's team vs. the "old guys". In years past, the old guys were old guys. This year, the team was Jay and Smitty, 2 college students doing their student teaching here from the US, Marc Mbida (6'5") who graduated from here in 06, me, PK Kang our 23 year old Korean Studies teacher and Maurice Ndjouma, 25, the math teacher and soccer coach and of course the National Champion point guard JP Enzodo. Us old guy(s) played tough enough to keep a lead and the boy's team came back and got within 1. The boys had a chance to win it with 2 free throws with 5 seconds left. The team's best FT shooter was up and clanked them both. I felt bad for him but he handled it in stride. I saw him on the court every study hall for 3 days shooting free-throws. The team was young and inexperienced but they should be really good next year with only losing 2 seniors. Girl's bball starts on the 13^th and I am really looking forward to that.

 

Betsy has been feeling much better this week and looks to be back 100% soon. Today is a pretty easy one for me. I just have Geo 10 and 2 PE classes. We are starting ping pong today and the 2 new Korean boys are really good. It should be fun. We have the annual Ping Pong Tournament on the 16^th so I figured if we have to go out and borrow a bunch of tables from people I might as well do a unit in PE. It's not exactly the most active sport but it will be a nice break from the last 4 weeks of soccer in the mud.

 

Our Internet has been down for 4 or 5 days and it looks like it will be back no time soon. Apparently a fishing vessel caught an underwater cable off the coast and severed it. That took out Internet for the whole country. How a fishing boat can sever a cable that big I don't know but what gets me is that the whole country's internet is that easy to shut down. But…. this is Africa.

 

Take care and God Bless

 

Brian and Betsy