Back to Borneo

Red dirt roads, jungle, heat {unrelenting}!

Spiders, monsoon rains, risk-your-life-and-limb driving {insane}!

Teenagers everywhere …

Music, soccer, fun {so.much.fun}!

A few pictures from Sheldon’s trip to the middle of somewhere …

~ Place & People ~

A beautiful game …

The field next door {literally}

10 – 0

Over the last few years Koover had the opportunity to play on a fabulous soccer team, with awesome coaches {thanks A-J and Rob}, supportive parents, and talented kids.  Every week they trained hard, they were pushed {sometimes with a little good-coach, bad-coach routine}, and they were rewarded for their hard work.  They rarely lost, and often they “whooped” {Koover’s word} the other team.  There was lots of celebrating, high-fiving, and general 11 year old boy goofiness at the end of each game {sometimes even a little gangnam style dancing}. Koover loved soccer.

This year is different.  We live in a different country, Koover plays mostly futsal {on a hard-court surface with a slightly different ball}, the game is rougher and faster, the coaches {and players} speak a different language, and there have not been many games.  This past week students {grades 6-8} at the international school Koover attends were given the opportunity to sign up to play in a seven week futsal “league” against other local schools.  Koover was “all in”, super “stoked”, and ready for the challenge of a game.  We showed up at the school 15 minutes early {and waited 1/2 and hour}, till finally the kids piled in to cars and we were off.

When we arrived at the school {5 minutes to game time} there were boys warming up everywhere.   Each team in the league would play one game a week at the same location, and most of the teams were already there, uniforms on, passing the ball, joking with each other, and preparing for the games ahead. 1 hour games would run consecutively for 4 hours.  Koover’s opposition was  warming up on the pitch {a cement pad surrounded by chain link fence walls}.  They were big, they were fast, and they had obviously practiced together… a lot.

Soon Koover’s motley crew of middle school boys made their way on to the pitch for warm up.  They had obviously never practiced together… ever.  The referee lined them all up to check their equipment and the game began.  The opposition was made up of quick, skilled players who worked well together and they scored the first goal within minutes.  Soon came the second, third, fourth… By half time the opposition was up 6 ~ 0.  The second half was no better, the opposition dominated the game and the final score was  10 – 0.  Hunched over, Koover walked off the court defeated.

It’s a sad story right?  Painful to play, painful to watch, even a little bit painful to share.  But the story doesn’t end there…  Later that day Koover said “Now  I know how the teams I played last year felt at the end of the game. It sucks”.  Humbled.  Empathetic. Understanding. He picked up his ball and went outside to practice dribbling.

Maybe he realizes it’s not all about winning, maybe he learned something about being a gracious loser and winner.  Despite being coached in a different language {by fabulous coaches}, playing with kids he can’t communicate with, and getting “whooped” when playing with a rag-tag group of boys from his school, Koover still loves soccer.  

“Hellooo white people”

Two days ago we arrived in Indonesia after more than 40 hours of travel (including a fabulous visit with wonderful friends in LA).  We have temporarily settled at a friends, and we are hoping for a quick transition to our own home ~ it’s been 6 weeks since leaving Victoria, and living out of a suitcase is getting a little old. Since our arrival our teammates have been wonderful, helping us settle & showing us around town.  They are simply fab-u-lous!

This morning we headed out for a walk and were greeted by a neighbour calling down the street “hellooo white people” ~ I guess we stick out a little!

A few pics from our day…

Red clay roof ~ For the last 20 years I carried with me the memory of flying in to Jakarta for the first time.  I remember where I was sitting on the plane, the feeling of anticipation, and looking out the window below to the sea of red clay roof-tops.

Memories.

We walked to the Futsal arena in a nearby neighbourhood ~ Koover snagged all the info. on renting the turf for an hour ~ anyone interested in joining him?

We travelled in to town with one of our teammates and enjoyed a fabulous lunch of nasi (rice) and satay (accompanied by some seriously hot sambal – chilli sauce).

I wish this was a scratch & sniff sticker ~ it smelled (and tasted) absolutely delicious!! Koover was delighted to find an entire store devoted to krupuk!

More to come.. I’m too tired to even think!  See you on the other side of jet-lag!!