Fútbol Sin Fronteras: November 2012

Today I will be celebrating Thanksgiving away from my family for the first time in my life. It's a confusing time since I normally associate Thanksgiving with cold weather (maybe some snow), a wonderful break from busy school work, comfy warm clothes, and a great excuse to turn a one-night holiday into a 3 day party if you're part of my family. This year, its 90 degrees with a slight breeze, the plan is to go to a gringo pot-luck type dinner in this creepy dance bar venue, and at a table full of strangers I highly doubt we will go around asking, "Are you thankful, __________?" to which they would respond, "Yes, I'm thankful Kelly." and then take my hand in theirs and turn to the next person and ask the same question. Thanks to my cousins Holly and Charlotte, this cheesy little game happens around our Thanksgiving table until we're all holding hands around the table and then we say in unison, "We're all thankful together." I'm a little embarrassed to be revealing this in such a public forum, but I guess it's part of a family's job to embarrass each other, right?

Last year, Holly missed her first family Thanksgiving ever because she was studying abroad in London during her junior fall semester of college. Her mom, my aunt Nanny, brought a lovely printed out picture of Holly that was glued to a stick so that it felt like she was there, even if her loudness wasn't. My other four cousins, my brother, and I turned "Flat Holly" into an excellent source of entertainment that night and took many many pictures of Holly doing some crazy, rowdy things. At that point in time, I didn't know that I would be missing this year's Thanksgiving, and had I known I may have toned down some of Flat Holly's escapades. This year, she and my brother and my cousins have an opportunity for payback and I am very, very nervous for what is in store for Flat Kelly.

Yes, this year will definitely be different. Yet admittedly, it may be the first year I have truly reflected on the meaning of this holiday and considered everything in my life that I am thankful for, including things that I've never realized I should be so thankful for. Years past, I have always been thankful for the mound of scrumptious food on my plate and being able to spend time with both sides of my incredible family. When I think of holiday get-togethers, I hear the belly cackles of ze French-side cousins, I hear Piano Man/American Pie being played by my uncle Marc on the piano while the rest of us belt out the lyrics, I hear Frank Sinatra, I hear "We Gather Together," I hear Holly ('nuff said) and I have always been thankful for all of those sounds but this year I'll experience what it's like when those sounds aren't there. I'll hear the growl of a motorcycle, the ringing bells of the ice cream vendors, and the steady rhythm of salsa and bachata music, and I will dearly miss the familiar soundtrack of home.

I am sad, but more thankful than ever. This year, I feel thankful to be an American woman in general let alone part of my family. I am thankful that my ability to receive an education has never been threatened by financial, cultural, or structural limitations. I am thankful that throughout my ~16 year soccer career, I had at least one of my parents supporting me (or chirping at the referee) at 95% of my games. I am thankful that they were also sitting in the crowd at every musical concert and attended every parent-teacher meeting. I directed our first Parents Meeting for FSF last Saturday, and out of the 70+ girls we have on the Estrellas and Mariposas, 6 parents showed up. Maybe not for lack of desire or interest, but maybe because taking 45min out of one's day to learn about the extracurricular activities of their daughters isn't feasible when he or she is working tirelessly to put food on the table and a roof over their heads. I've experienced what it is to be fully supported in every single thing I do, and I've learned that it is an incredibly lucky, rare, and special gift. My parents rock, and yes I'm thankful.

For all the other people that have made me me: the 20 years I had with Grandpapa and the 21 with Grandmaman, I am thankful for their amazing genes, for their strength and grace and warmth, for their humor, for their ability to bring people together, and for that bit of stubbornness that ALL of us received. It has pushed me through the hardest of days. I'm thankful that I still have Goody and Grumpa, their smiles that light up the room and their hugs that shoo away any problems. For the way in which they have the most genuine confidence in every single one of us, that it's impossible to doubt ourselves in what we do because we've got the two biggest fans anyone could ask for on our side. I'm thankful for all my aunts and uncles that have taught me well that the party doesn't end after college, that if you've had three sips of wine it's about time for a refill, and have gifted me with some amazing life advice and wonderful conversations. I'm thankful for all my crazy cousins, for the laughs, the fights, the random games we've made up over the years. No one will ever understand the intricacies of my family the way they do, and I can only hope we're keeping all our kids awake by blasting music and dancing on tables in years to come. I'm thankful for my brother. I'm thankful that I have a lifelong best friend in him who gets along with everybody and anybody except for Yankees, Giants, and Heat fans (and probably some others too). I'm thankful that we share the same sense of humor and he knows how to make me laugh, even though he also knows very well how to push every single one of my buttons..but that's what brother's are for and I'm thankful that I don't have a sister. I'm thankful for my teachers, coaches, mentors, and friends--many of them being the sole reason I decided to take this job. Thank you specifically to Lucy and Devin who told me one day on the quad that I was absolutely crazy if I was going to pass up the opportunity to live in Nicaragua for a year. I sent in my application later that afternoon, and haven't regretted it once. Yes I'm so very thankful.

I am thankful that I've have an opportunity to be stretched and challenged in ways that no academic or work environment could ever achieve. I'm thankful for Larkin, Mady, Flaca, Techo, Helen, Hassell and César who all made my transition to Nica life pretty seamless. I'm thankful for the Estrellas- for Vilmania's wit, Hasly's sass, Zenia's goofiness, Xiomara's maturity, Ericka's bear hugs, Maribel's talent, Rosa's determination, Selvin's smile, the list goes on. They have taught me and humbled me so much, and their families have offered so much of themselves to make me feel like part of their community. I'm thankful for the sport of soccer and the way it brings people together and changes lives.

I'm thankful for technology so I can Skype with my family sitting around the table 4,000 miles away tonight and Saturday night. Yes, I really am thankful.

Are you thankful?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Amor, paz, fútbol, y gracias

KPope

That means crocodile. And that's what the Estrellas call my cleats because there is a large hole on the right side of my right cleat where the leather attaches to the sole, as if it has a mouth. All my shoes have taken a beating here. The strap of my flip flops snapped off one day when it was raining. The sole of my nicer sandals became completely unglued. My Toms are a much different color than when I bought them, and have a permanent mud line crusted around the bottom. My sneakers, the only completely reliable pair of footwear I have left, are definitely not white anymore either. My shoes have had to work a lot harder than normal, since I walk around more here than I have ever walked around anywhere in my life. They also have to brave a lot of elements daily; heat, water, mud, sweat, broken glass, excessive amounts of rubble, and many times unknown substances. I'm okay with having ugly, beat up shoes but I guess I never realized how culturally important shoes are here--a status symbol of sorts.

One of the more frustrating parts of my job is listening to these girls who have very little complain about some dirty or fraying cleats that we lend them to use, or claiming that certain cleats don't fit them solely based on their appearance before actually trying them on. It really fried me, and I always questioned why in the world they weren't simply grateful that they had shoes to wear. One day at practice Karla bluntly asked me, "¿Por qué llevas esos tacos?" (Why do you wear those cleats?") "¿No puedes comprar nuevos?" (Can't you buy new ones?) Not entirely sure how to respond, I just said, "Me gustan mis tacos, me traen suerte." (I like my cleats, they bring me luck.) I'm really not sure about that luck part, it was just something to say at the time. Thinking about it now, that big hole started a really long time ago and I probably should've bought new ones before moving to Nicaragua to coach and play soccer for a year. However, buying new cleats would have meant that I was starting a new chapter. Which I was. But I wasn't ready to completely let go of the last chapter, or let go of my cleats that I wore every fall for the past 4 years on dewy fields for 6:00am preseason practices, or 6inches of snowy fields for our very last quarterfinal game against Amherst. Maybe that reasoning also explains why I'm 22 years old and I still sleep with my ratty stuffed animal cat? I digress.

The girls were shocked that I wasn't embarrassed about my cocodrilo cleats, and then it hit me, that shoes more so than any other material item are a big deal in this culture. It's important for them to be cute, clean, and in good condition. Otherwise, it is obvious that your family is very poor and can't afford shoes. This new understanding that shoes are a sense of pride here has helped me relax when girls call perfectly good cleats "fea" (ugly). I also found a parallel in the sense that some of my shoes carry a sense of my pride too, despite being for very different reasons. Though I do need new cleats, it pains me a little. I'm proud to wear my cleats because I'm proud to have played Bowdoin Women's Soccer--ESPECIALLY because this year's team clinched a home seed in the NESCAC playoffs, dismissed Hamilton, beat Amherst in dramatic come-from-behind penalty shootout fashion, and nearly took the title but fell to Williams in penalty kicks in the final. Oh and then they received and at-large bid to the NCAA playoffs and advanced past the first round in another dramatic penalty kick win before falling to the 6th nationally ranked team in the nation, Ithaca, by a mere 2-1 score. This is the sole reason for my lack of blogging. I apologize, and I digress once again.

Shoes are important because they accompany you on every journey you take in life--and you can't judge someone else until you've walked a mile in theirs. So on Thursday night when Anyeli was nearly in tears that none of the cleats in the bodega fit her feet and she couldn't wear the ones she already had for Saturday because they were beginning to slightly detach from the soles, I kept my calm. Saturday was a big day. We hosted the 3rd annual Global Peace Games here in Granada, and I don't blame the girls for wanting to look and feel their best. “The United Nations’ Global Peace Games for Children and Youth are an opportunity for young people all over the world to demonstrate their commitment to make the world a better and healthier place and their central role and solidarity in the mission of global friendship, peaceful solutions and nonviolence.” (taken from the website) This was the first year that we had an entire tournament comprised of only girls teams, and it was awesome. The Mariposas were able to split into four teams and the Estrellas split into three. We invited other teams from schools and other neighborhoods to compete as well. Flaca and Helen co-coached one of our groups, Techo coached another, and I was assigned to a third group. It was my first test of coaching solo, of which requires an entirely unique set of vocabulary that I never really learned anywhere despite all my years of studying Spanish and is something I've almost entirely picked up since being here. I was nervous, but luckily I had some of the most patient and cooperative girls on my team. We played 7v7 games all morning, 3 points for a win, 1 for a tie, and 0 for a loss. After all the teams had played each other once, the top two teams in terms of points played a final match to determine the champions. We tied our first two matches, 0-0. In our third match against Helen and Flaca's team, our offense broke out for 3 goals from three separate girls for a 3-0 win. That gave us 5 points which was good enough to tie for 1st with a girls team from Diocesano (a private school in Granada). We carried a lot of our momentum from our third game going into the final match up, and all the Mariposas who came running over to our field to watch the game (after having won their own championship in their division) didn't hurt either. Cheers of ES-TRE-LLAS! ES-TRE-LLAS! were deafening, and made it hard for me to communicate with my players but perhaps my shouts of "SUBAN!" (Push up!) or "ESTAN PEGADAS!" (You're all clumped together!) or "APRESIONAAALA! DALE!" (Put pressure on her, let's go!) really weren't the important things they needed to hear in order to win. They had an overwhelming amount of support from their fellow Estrellas and the little Mariposas who truly look up to them as role models. Maribel ripped a shot from the right side past the goalkeeper's outstretched arms and into the left corner of the net, and the crowd (and I) wen't wild. That goal proved to be all we needed, and the game ended in a 1-0 victory for the Estrellas.

The awards ceremonies were short and sweet as everybody was hungry and hot and itching to get back to the office, but so joyous and dignifying for all the girls as well. We hopped back on the bus, the victorious teams with medals around their necks and Vilmania clutching our giant new trophy. The entire town knew our names by the end of the morning as we rode through the streets screaming "GA-NA-MOS!" (WE WON!) and "FÚTBOL SIN FRON-TE-RAS!" the entire way back. It reminded me a bit like riding a fire truck around Danvers with the Destiny after winning States, except that was a bit more like this:

And riding home with the girls was way more like this:

I've already fielded a lot of questions from other people that I know in the community wondering what the heck we were doing on that crazy bus I feel like it spoke for itself. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face for the rest of the day. It was a beautiful, exciting, and gratifying morning and a great reminder of how much I love being here. Even if my shoes don't ;)

Parading to the field

Ma teeeeam

Ericka, Karla and Vilmania

One of my faves

Signing the Global Peace Games pledge

I promise to respect all life, reject violence, share with others, listen to understand, protect the planet, and contribute to the development of the community.