L decided to play soccer again this summer. Apparently he's already forgotten the whining we had to endure twice a week for two months last summer when it was time to go to his soccer games. Luckily for us, the season here is almost 4 months long............ Just like every community, they asked for parent volunteers to coach the teams. As I do not speak the language of most of the other coaches and children, I ignored the request for volunteers. The language barrier, however, did not stop me from throwing my son into an all-french soccer league.
We heard nothing from the soccer league for at least a month after registering him, so I thought I had missed something in the translation. But then the requests for volunteers came. And came, etc...until I finally had to respond to the request, but only as an assistant. I have not played soccer since 8th grade, except for a game or two in grad school, until I tore my (first) ACL and had to miss an entire field season playing with sea lamprey in the U.P.
In my response (translated into french by Google translate) I was clear that I spoke very little french, but that I would be willing to help out. The email from the league organizer stated that my french was "très bonne" (kudos to Google).
The training for coaches was held this past Sunday. Yes, on Mother's Day. Not only was the entire training in french, but from an Albanian man. Apparently he had an accent, but I didn't notice. I did understand a little of what he said. Here's what I got out of the training:
"Regarder la balle.......something about technique...... c'est bien" That sums up the first hour of the training.
As we (by "we" I mean everybody else-I was happy to stay in the background) began to try some of the drills they were showing us I heard more words that I actually understood: "Stop! Damn! Uh Oh!"
I missed the wine and cheese (didn't miss that translation) coaches meeting this week because N had to go back to Wisconsin for an audit on the Research Vessel we met on over 14 years ago. It's always strange to go back...He did say that they have a cute young woman in the science tech position, which used to be my job. Now that he's finally earned the trust of our Canadian bank enough to get a credit card, maybe he can impress her with his $500 credit limit :) 
I bet the new girl isn't as cute as you!! As far as the soccer goes, just shouting "no or non" and sighing might be enough? I've never played soccer, but I assume there's a lot of yelling involved.
ReplyDeleteWe miss you guys and think of you all the time. Emma wanted to plant some seeds so we prepared a garden today and will plant (without rain) tomorrow. We'll see if anything grows! I also got a bike trailer so Emma and I have been on a few short trips. We're looking for helmet for Charlotte-she's got such a tiny head!
Hope you are having fun there. Your pictures are great and so are the stories. It feels a bit like we just keep missing you each Sunday at church =)