futbol

latin.
community. life.

heat, caged windows, salsa music, futbol
lonely nights, long conversations, looking at the calendar
how many chapters will be in my roller coaster day?

once again, i find myself a stranger in a strange land. but at this point in the year, im pretty well known in my community. im best known for being the ¨gringo en la cancha.¨ that translates to the white dude who plays soccer. futbol. 7 days a week. every day. i play, futbol. but lets start from the beginning...

i first was introduced to futbol in my after school program. every else was doing it. and from anyone who knows me, i fold like oregami under peer pressure. so like a lot of other things in my life, i just took what Keirkegard would call a ¨leap of faith¨and i jumped in head first. and after playing futol a couple days a week, i became addicted.

5 days wasnt enough. I needed to find more games. so i started playing sundays too. on the streets. there is always something on the line. food, drinks, money, and pride. and today, i started a league on saturdays to get my fix in 7 days a week.

and so thats where i spend my free time. and thats how i became to feel like a part of my community. and futbol has opened new doors for me. to friendships. to casas. and to a new vocabulary of trash talking that is centered around ¨tu madre¨.

so futbol is a huge part of my life down here now. and it is how i have gotten to meet my community. and it is why i am periodically turning my head as i am writing this to some of my new names ( dan-yell, dan-i, dan-yell-ito, gringo, jefe, pana, amigo, ñaño) as my new friends pass by and see me through the steel bars of the internet cafe. some stop in. a couple of the younger kids have eagerly watched my type everyword.

i miss home. i miss home a lot. but today i am happy being a stranger in this strange world.