Weekend!

¡Hola!

Last weekend Katie was out of town, so I was more or less on my own to communicate. It actually went quite well. Friday night, after work, almost everyone went over to this little shop on the corner for beers. I definitely didn't understand everything that was said, but I generally caught the gist of conversations. I also found out that beer here is super-cheap, about $1.50 for a decent bottle. Don't worry, I didn't do anything crazy or stupid, and one of the guys I work with actually lives 2-3 blocks from my apartment, so he walked me home. It was just a good night to talk with everyone outside work. I did end up salsa-ing with an older, rather large gentleman, so everyone teases me about that, but it was a fun night.

Saturday I went to Gilete for a little while, then the whole gang headed to an indoor soccer field, where the Gilete men had a game. They ended up losing, but afterward we had a beer and just talked about whatever for awhile. It's funny, because most of them know a little English, so they were asking me how to say random phrases and then trying to get the pronunciation right. I'm sure I sound the same to them all the time, but it was nice to be on the other side of things for once. I took a ton of pictures, playing with different action settings, so here are a few highlights (Gilete is the team in white, in case the first photo doesn't spell that out):

Team huddle

Our amazing goalie - he had some really great saves!

Here's the windup, and the pitch! Oh wait, wrong sport...

The field was actually a little smaller than the indoor fields that I've played on in the U.S., and they had an out-of-bounds line, so that changes the pace and tactics of the game a little bit.

Haha, it sort of looks like the ball is just floating there, and everyone's mesmerized by it.

Take a gander (that's right, I said gander, what?) at the one guy making a wall (does one guy constitute a wall? idk) - he's making darn sure to protect the, um, more sensitive areas...

So our player on the right just kicked the ball and is still in midair. I tried getting the kick itself, but this shoot is rather interesting anyways.

It was really fun watching the team, and it reminded me just how much I miss playing soccer. After the game and beer, we walked next to this really beautiful park and had lunch. A lot of restaurants aren't American-style, where there's a menu and you just order whatever, but they have basically their dish of the day, and that's what you get. They eat a lot of meat in Colombia, so it's mildly annoying having to order a vegetarian plate, but everyone's pretty good about it. They even make sure I have sufficient protein in my dish instead of just loading it up with more rice.

After lunch, I went to AnaCe's place (she lives with Katie and Guadalupe, but neither of them were with us on Saturday). She tried teaching me some different styles of South American salsa dancing. I definitely improved, but I've got a ways to go before I really will feel comfortable going out dancing. She also busted out this huge beer for us to split, and we popped in a movie and I spent the night.I told you it was no ordinary beer bottle!

Corona + Lime = Delicious!

Ok folks, that's all I have for tonight! Stay tuned for more adventures from Colombia!