Ben, Heather, Zach, and I were out trying to learn the Thai game of Teg Craw (or something like that) which is played on a small court over a net with a woven grass ball the size of a grapefruit, I'll get some pictures of that later, when a contingent of young Thai men showed up for a pick up game of soccer, played on a cement court with a smaller ball and very small goals. We asked ourselves in and they graciously welcomed us. I was worried about my knees but they held up fine. Their control skills were phenomenal, as was their generosity in passing to us. Zach held his own with them, and Ben, who was a d3 goalie did well too. I only fell down once and they were most surprised by Heather who, in that wonderfully confident young American style, gave it everything she had and scored once. I think it almost made the day cooler to just run about and sweat buckets.
I love the pictures! I'm definitely stealing some and going to want the group pic of me in it :)
ReplyDeleteHere you are running around in shorts and we had 1/2 inch of frost this morning.How do you communicate at this point?
ReplyDeleteMostly with gestures and support from the few people who speak more. It will be an uphill climb to fluency for sure...
ReplyDeletewhy were they so impressed with the girl? because she is a girl?
ReplyDeleteYes. This is a very patriarchal country in many respects.Girls play volleyball and basketball only, and a woman is definitely expected to serve her husband. Husbands on the other hand, at times take a second wife and it is common for them to have a "gic" as well. It is important to realize I am in a very rural area of Thailand. There is no tourism in the area and it is free from much modern Western influence.
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