Still updating

Friday

Now obviously after a night like we had, the next morning usually doesn’t feel too good. To my disbelief, I woke up around 9:00AM and if I had one wish it would have been some eggs and pancakes but you have to struggle to find those over here and I really didn’t feel like driving. I got some chocolate milk and I laid back down. Around noon I went out by the pool to try and make my pasty white self a little darker on the skin tone and that worked for awhile till I realized it was around 105 degrees so I jumped in the pool and then went back inside before I had the chance to be a tomato. We headed to the mall because we had to pay a bill or two and then had some food and headed back to Barasti for the opening kickoff. Needless to say the place was absolutely crazy and it was packed with South African and Mexico fans. I, really not caring who won decided to cheer for South Africa because they had some good looking girls there and hey it was worth a shot. After that game me and Joe meet up one of the guys we work with and went to a restaurant to get some food and watch the French take on Uruguay and man did that game bore the crap out of me. Anyway, it was all in all a good start to the world cup.

Saturday

Saturday was actually a pretty boring day for me. I was really just super excited for the US England match that night so I really didn’t pay attention to much of anything that happened that day. I know we went to lift after work and I ended up playing some more soccer in the gym with a group of guys for about an hour and then we headed back to the apartment. We watched the game and it was a game of ups and downs for those of you who watched it you know what I’m talking about. We showed some flashes of brilliance, but only managed a draw thanks to an awful mistake by the England keeper. After the game I was completely dead so I hit the hay.

Sunday

It was a rather boring day at work, keeping in mind it is the Arabic version of a Monday, so it is supposed to be busy. We only had one or two trucks going in and out today so it was just another day to work on some catch up stuff. I got to talk to the family today during my work hours so that was good. Caught up on the stuff that was happening back in OHIO, and that was like maybe two or three new things. Haha just kidding, but seriously. Over the past week there have been many changes that have taken place in the company so it was a very hectic week and I hope this week starts a slide toward normalcy again.

The highlight of Sunday was my soccer practice actually. It really was a special night. We are driving to the compound to have practice and when we are approaching I realized our compound was in the middle of a labor camp. Now in the Middle east labor camps are all to common and to me are all to disturbing but tonight was a special night. I walked onto the field and the lights were still warming up so they had yet to come on and while I was putting on my boots and socks the lights clicked on so I looked around at the field and thought alright lets play some football. However, within about 5-10 minutes there were literally around 500 Pakistanis, Indians, and phillipinos who crowded around the field. Here I am thinking it is just practice, which it was but to them it was a beautiful game. They have no T.V’s, no radios. Most of them live in a room with as many as ten other people but for tonight they were all fans of the most beautiful game, and they made sure to let us know exactly how they felt. They were cheering, clapping, laughing and watching us play soccer. The most amazing thing was right in the middle the prayers started coming out of the mosques and so it was like the true Middle Eastern experience of hearing the Muslim prayers broadcasted throughout the entire neighborhood and playing soccer at the same time. For what was only an hour, this practice seemed to last an entire night and man was it awesome.