Since I've started this blog I've realized that keeping up with posting is much harder than I had anticipated. Benjamin has been keeping his blog for years and I used to give him a hard time about not posting. Now I realize how hard it is. Sorry, Benj.
Anyway, Natalie caught a bad cold at school and passed it on to me, and eventually David got it a little bit too. Natalie and I spent some days home from school this week, but we seem to be on the upswing.
Since I've been sick, I've missed two of my basketball games (Wed. and Sat.). The last I posted about basketball I had only played one game. It's been swings of highs and lows dealing with different things and the fact that I can only communicate with some of the other players because they speak little English and I speak little Spanish. Margaret, who told me about the league and got me on her team, warned me that there was a lot of drama within the league and I've experienced some of it so far.
A couple of weeks ago we went to a game and one girl in particular, Mildred, kept yelling at me and Margaret for things that we didn't think were our fault. We've realized that here it is normal for people to yell at and blame their teammates for things. The other girls just let it roll off, but we aren't used to it. I was also getting frusterated because I wasn't getting much playing time and I don't think the other women are much better than me.
The next week I went to a game for the first time without Margaret. I contemplated leaving at half time after not having played yet. When I finally went in at the end of the 3rd quarter we were losing to a team we shouldn't have been. I got a rebound (I'm a post, by the way, which I've never played in my life) and got trapped by 3 opposing players. I couldn't get a pass through, so I dribbled out of it and tried to pass it up to a teammate. A defender knocked it out of bounds. Our team called time out and Mildred told me I needed to pass it to the pointgaurd (who by the way shouldn't be playing pointguard because she's not good at it). I lost it and started yelling at her that that was bullshit because the pointguard didn't move to get open and I couldn't get a pass off anyway. It was kinda crazy and everyone was telling me to calm down. I thought I was going to quit.
After talking to Margaret about how I've never quit anything but that it wasn't worth my time if I wasn't enjoying it, I decided to give it another chance. Since the yelling incident, none of the other women have yelled at me. They told Margaret they don't want to because I get "nervous." I have had a lot more fun and enjoyed our three games since then.
The last game I went to we were playing a tough team and I hadn't played at the end of the 3rd quarter. Our team was down by about 5. Some of the girls told the captain I hadn't played yet and told her to put me in. It's hard to explain if you weren't there, but I played good defense on two giant posts after our team switch to man-to-man defense. I also made two baskets and our team ended up coming from behind (at the end of the 1st quarter we were down by 15+) and winning by about 4. It was awesome.
Enough about basketball... we are home this weekend with Monday off for a holiday. A lot of people have gone out of town, but we needed the time to rest. We've had a quiet Saturday and are contemplating inviting people over tomorrow to watch movies or something.
We hope everyone at home is doing well and have been thinking of all of you. We miss you. Oh, and I'm also missing the stormy fall weather at home. Rainy season has started here but it's still warm all the time, it just rains most of the day and night. I want to wear jeans and a sweatshirt and curl up in a blanket, but I would roast to death here.
Until next time... hopefully soon.
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