Our First Haitian Soccer Game

09.30.12

Tonight we got the opportunity to go to one of Papito and Wilson's final soccer games.  Wilson is one of our lead yard guys and also the boyfriend of Sheila, one of our nurses.  Papito works with our prenatal program and is the right hand man to Renel, our lead Haitian staff member.  

The game was set to start at 4pm, but being told about the timing things and just knowing what time means in Haiti, we didn't even leave COTP until 4:30 ish.  The game wasn't far...it was just down the road in a nearby village.  

When we got there we realized that we needed to pay to get into the game.  Thankfully Rob had brought some money with but didn't have a very small Haitian bill...the man taking the money told us to just go in and reassured us he would bring us our change before the game was done.  Ok...

So we proceeded to walk into the game.  This required giving a small ticket to the guy standing outside of the entrance.  The soccer game took place in a wide open field that was hidden from the road by bushes and branches.  To get into the game area, you had to walk across a ditch by means of a palm tree that had been cut down and place from one end of the ditch to another.  For all of you that have seen the movie Troop Beverly Hills, it reminds me of the scene where Shelly Long walked out on a log to rescue one of her troop members who had gotten her foot stuck.  Of course we were not crossing a deep ravine, but it felt like it required delicate balance...and hey, that is the movie that came to my mind at the time...just humor me :)

Rob and Carla with the girls, Toby and Jose once we were inside the game area.  It really was a BEAUTIFUL night for a soccer game...I am a little bummed that I forgot to bring the bugspray though.

Papito was trying to take a team picture on his camera, but it wasn't really turning out...so I grabbed a picture of the whole team for him on mine.  It was hilarious to see how caught up in taking pictures before the game these guys all were.  They were so proud to have made it to one of the games in the "finals".

Toby loves Jose!  It was fun to see them get to play and interact away from COTP and Jose helped us keep an eye on Toby to help keep him out of trouble and keep him from running on the field.

Daddy and Toby during the game

Daddy is always stealing kisses...he is greedy with his kisses :)  Toby is in a stage where a kiss is a treat and he would rather give hugs-he is a good squeezer!

We were definitely the side show at the game.  We attracted a crowd of children who just came and stared at us, especially the kids.  Whenever the girls or Toby would walk by the kids they would try to touch them and talk to them and then just laugh.

The girls and I on the sidelines...

Although it doesn't do it justice, I couldn't help but attempt to capture the sunset on film...it was breathtaking!

Gotta love the Valley Christian soccer uniforms!  We are not sure if they are from the Valley that we know of in California, but they were even maroon and white so we couldn't help but wonder.  Brooke and Sheila are both Valley grads so they got a kick out of seeing them.

Toby didn't quite know what to think of all the kids just staring at him..."What is the big deal, guys?"

Addy quickly made a friend and was chasing him around with a stick and just laughing!

She would just hold it out to him and he would grab it and then she would try to pull it away...she was entertained by this (I think they both were) for quite a while.

Wilson coming over for a water break and a quick "Hello" at half time.

A picture of the palm tree that we had to walk across to enter and to exit the game area

Our crew on the way home.  We had to leave the game a little early to make sure we were back before dark.  We had a full truck on the way home-even picked up another passenger on the way back :)  Apparently that is very normal :)

All in all, we had a great night!  The home team won the game 1-0 and we got to see the only goal that was scored...to make things even better, Papito dribbled the ball down the field and passed it to Wilson, who went on to score the goal!  So fun to see our guys play!  And so fun to get off COTP and have some evening entertainment :)