We returned to Mingechevir and found a ball. Success. We weren't sure when time was going to be on our sides, but it didn't matter. Fast forward to Friday and my plans for work fell through, so we headed to the stadium with no idea what to really expect. In our sports-type/comfy clothes, we made our way over to discover a group of kids playing soccer in the one court. After speaking with the kids' coach, we learned they were going to be there for an hour. It was a nice day, so we sat, watched, chatted and waited. The coach was incredibly nice (he made the jerk Azer boys leave when they were harassing us) and the kids were pretty darned cute (they're not yet at that age where the switch for overt rudeness has been turned on). I was surprised when one of the little kids yelled "Yapon" (Japan) at me and the coach shooed him off and yelled. That's definitely not something I'm used to. It was welcomed. Anyways, when the kids were done, the coach gave us the motion to take the court. So, we did.
Laura and I had a good 15 minutes being just us and a few of those straggler kids. We let them shoot when they were nice and talked a little with them. Soon, though, the court was home to a ton of new people including many boys, 4 girls (!!!) and 2 coaches (one a woman). They invited us to play with them. Azeri basketball is something fierce where all those rules of the homeland are completely thrown out the window. It was dirty. And fun. For one game, it was me and Laura on separate teams playing with just boys. The second game was us, the girls, and the boys. The last game was just girls. We continued to play like good Americans until the end when the girls got a bit scary and started drawing blood. It was such a random and fun experience that neither me nor Laura expected. We talked with the coach and arranged to meet again.
Sunday, we returned at our arranged time (they were late). We had Alexis and Sean in tow for this round. We only played one game (we won), but it still held all the crazy the first day did. And, it was another fun day. Elbows were thrown, grabbing and fouls happened all over the place, and it was loud. Though there was a bit more harassment this time around, I still had a blast.
I do think that by us just being out there, doing what we do, really does show Azeris how we are. We're making our presence known, talking to new people, and playing hard (with a supportive attitude that I think might be lacking on the other team's side). We clap when the other team scores, laugh (a bit uncontrollably) all throughout, and have fun. Sure, I love winning, but I love having fun more. It makes me excited to reach Softball season again.
2 comments:
Gosh I miss you an insane amount. I almost cried the other day when you said you were in your last year and were now counting down until coffee/crepes time. I'm so excited I can barely stand it.
btw... I'm impressed with your basketball skills. I think those kids would have been mopping the floor with me haha.
Aww love this post. So glad you had fun, that the coach was nice, that you're out and about showin everyone what's up, that you didn't draw or have blown drawn, and all that fun :)
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