We heard you had to get there two hours early, so we rushed down there and were some of the first people in the stadium. The stadium was the local volleyball stadium, indoors with a really nice videoboard, and it was so fun. As they crammed about 3,000 people (about 98% male) into the stadium, I struck up a conversation with the man sitting next to me who's a software engineer for Partners in Health, one of the most renowned NGOs in the world, started by Paul Farmer. He was really nice and we exchanged information, and there's a couple of us who want to see PIH's work while we're here.
Once the game finally started, the stadium was packed and going crazy. Definitely more vocal Man U. fans but Barcelona scored within the first 10 minutes to quiet them and send us into a frenzy. Ronaldo and Rooney suck so I was pulling for Barcelona, and we joined in the cheers and celebration. Man U outplayed Barca the first 20 minutes but couldn't score, and Barca took over from there. At halftime we talked about how this is probably the biggest annual sporting event in the world, as people we knew studying abroad all over the world were all tuned in to this championship. It started raining during the second half, which killed our satellite feed. It was obviously a common occurrence because no one was really fazed, and during the interruption Barca scored! That may have been even more memorable because we could tell something was going on, and word finally made it to us from someone with a radio and we again went crazy.
This morning we woke up early for our day of volunteering. The primary school we were supposed to go to cancelled on us at the last minute, so we were lumped into the group going to the orphanage. We got there and the headmaster would not allow visitors on Thursdays, and the whole setup had been a miscommunication. Luckily, our taxi drivers stayed to see how we were doing because they overheard and directed us to a new place to volunteer. Our cab struggled up the wet, steep dirt road, stalled out multiple times, and spun the tires so much our driver asked us to get out and walk up the hill.
We got back in the cab and went to the orphanage they suggested, which was great. We toured the orphanage and eventually made it to the primary school, where the English teacher was excited to meet us and have us teach her class of about forty 5 year olds. The students were tentative at first, but eventually got really comfortable with us. We helped them learn numbers, letters, colors, and taught them the parts of the body through the "head, shoulders, knees and toes" song I hadn't practiced in awhile. When I heard it was an English class, I tried to ask basic questions like "how are you" and "how old are you" and I was surprised when they didn't understand. Eventually we found out they were just learning basic things to memorize, but it was really fun.
Then we had recess and that was predictably crazy. I brought a Frisbee, which they couldn't get the hang of and turned it into tug of war whenever it hit the ground. Eventually I was left with the bullies, but we also did things like lifting them up in the air, jumping jacks, and tag, and now I'm exhausted. Overall I'm not sure how much of an impact we made, but I know they had a good time and I hope to do some other service work before we leave.
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