Today was my second day at the Chinese Social Service Center, and it was quite different than the first, but equally fun. Neither of the women from yesterday showed up, but three boys did, ages 10, 12 and 14, respectively, and so while the 14 year old more or less looked after himself, Emily and I worked with the 10 year old and 12 year old. In typical little boy fashion, they spent 1/4 of the time working on their English and 3/4 of the time chasing each other around the room.
Some time near the end of the day, the 10 year old, Tommy, was running up and down the stairs, completely ignoring our requests to stop, lest he disturb the acupuncturist who rents the top floor of the building. Eventually, Emily took him by the shoulders and told him that he was being a bad boy, and good boys don't run up and down the stairs. Then she asked him, "Are you going to be a good boy now?"
His response, comically timed to perfection, was to fart noisily.
*Sigh*
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Like a mini-Joy Luck Club
Today was my first day volunteering as an English tutor at the Chinese Social Service Center in Richfield, and it didn't disappoint. There were two other volunteers there, one, an older woman who has worked there for quite awhile and is from Chengdu, the other a Chinese-American woman who's a rising sophomore at the U of M and who was working for the first time like me. Our students were two women who have been in the States for awhile, but have been working and haven't had the time to study English until now. One, a middle-aged woman named Jessica, is from Fujian, and works in food service at Eastview High in Apple Valley. The other, Lan, is quite young and is from Guangxi. Because we all speak Mandarin, the session ebbed and flowed quite easily between English and Chinese, and we talked about everything, from Minnesota winters to the political system in China. I think, because there are so few Chinese here, it's a relief for all of these women, whose mother language is Chinese, to be able to sit down and not have to think about every word that comes out of their mouths.
The funny thing was, because I'm Asian and I was speaking Mandarin with them from the very beginning, none of them realized I wasn't Chinese until quite late in the session. We were talking about personal backgrounds, and Jessica asked me where I was from, and in the context of the conversation, the question was, "Where in China are you from?" So I had to respond, "Er, I'm not Chinese at all." Cue outbursts of surprise and cries of "很厲害!" They assured me that my Chinese was really authentic and very standard, and because I'd been conversing with them for over two hours in strictly Mandarin, I couldn't help but take their word for it. It was actually really invigorating and uplifting to be able to sit there and chat in Chinese, even without the added praise once I was "outed" as a non-native speaker. I'm so glad I have this opportunity to practice my Chinese, because Chinese is hardly what you would call a widely spoken language here, and I know how fast second language ability can deteriorate if you don't keep it up.
I'll be back at the center tomorrow. Only Jessica will be there for sure, since Lan said she has to work. I'm really glad my first day went so well; I know not every day will be as great, but it's always nice to get off on the right foot.
The funny thing was, because I'm Asian and I was speaking Mandarin with them from the very beginning, none of them realized I wasn't Chinese until quite late in the session. We were talking about personal backgrounds, and Jessica asked me where I was from, and in the context of the conversation, the question was, "Where in China are you from?" So I had to respond, "Er, I'm not Chinese at all." Cue outbursts of surprise and cries of "很厲害!" They assured me that my Chinese was really authentic and very standard, and because I'd been conversing with them for over two hours in strictly Mandarin, I couldn't help but take their word for it. It was actually really invigorating and uplifting to be able to sit there and chat in Chinese, even without the added praise once I was "outed" as a non-native speaker. I'm so glad I have this opportunity to practice my Chinese, because Chinese is hardly what you would call a widely spoken language here, and I know how fast second language ability can deteriorate if you don't keep it up.
I'll be back at the center tomorrow. Only Jessica will be there for sure, since Lan said she has to work. I'm really glad my first day went so well; I know not every day will be as great, but it's always nice to get off on the right foot.
3-match weekend
...and two goals, so I feel pretty good about the weekend, on the whole. Especially since my first goal was a half-volley that went like an arrow right into the lower left hand corner, and I had missed a shot like that earlier in the match.
I'm starting my first of two volunteer positions today. Mondays and Tuesdays I'll be working with Chinese immigrant kids, tutoring English through the Chinese Social Service Center in Richfield. Wednesdays and Thursdays I'll be working as a food shelf translator at the Catholic Charities Branch I food shelf in south Minneapolis. The best part of both of these positions is that I get to use both my Chinese and my Spanish.
A quick word on the Liverpool front: there's a press conference scheduled for later today, and it has my stomach in knots because I'm pretty sure the conference is going to address the ongoing speculation about Xabi Alonso's future. He traveled to Thailand with the squad, so I'm hopeful that means Rafa is still playing hardball with Real Madrid, but anything can happen. I just really don't want to see one of Liverpool's top midfielders go to Real Madrid. He's like the antithesis of their big-money, showman's mentality, and I think he's much more respected and loved at Liverpool than he would be there. I hope he stays, I really do. *Fingers crossed*
I'm starting my first of two volunteer positions today. Mondays and Tuesdays I'll be working with Chinese immigrant kids, tutoring English through the Chinese Social Service Center in Richfield. Wednesdays and Thursdays I'll be working as a food shelf translator at the Catholic Charities Branch I food shelf in south Minneapolis. The best part of both of these positions is that I get to use both my Chinese and my Spanish.
A quick word on the Liverpool front: there's a press conference scheduled for later today, and it has my stomach in knots because I'm pretty sure the conference is going to address the ongoing speculation about Xabi Alonso's future. He traveled to Thailand with the squad, so I'm hopeful that means Rafa is still playing hardball with Real Madrid, but anything can happen. I just really don't want to see one of Liverpool's top midfielders go to Real Madrid. He's like the antithesis of their big-money, showman's mentality, and I think he's much more respected and loved at Liverpool than he would be there. I hope he stays, I really do. *Fingers crossed*
Monday, July 13, 2009
Match report v. Independiente: 2-2
Futbol this weekend was like a study in contrasts. Saturday we played a team that's just starting out and they were short players, so we won by a lot. Then Sunday, we played Independiente. Our relations with them are strained at best, in large part because a number of their players used to play for us. Matches against them often end up in lots of cards and/or out and out fights. We were all braced for a tough--and ugly--match.
We actually started the match short two players, and from the first minute we were under pressure. Our sole goal was to keep the ball out of our net and hope against hope that we could hang on for a 0-0 tie. At Cecy's direction, I was running all over the place trying to cover the midfield and keep them from getting long shots on net, and by halftime we were all dead tired, but we had a 0-0 tie in hand and were feeling pretty good about it.
Second half, more of our players showed up, and we eventually got some chances on net, one of which Casa converted. Then Independiente evened it up on a defensive mistake. Late in the half, Sabina took a shot that ricocheted off one of their defenders and eluded the keeper into the back of the net. We held them off until the final minute. Then they got a corner kick, and as soon as it floated into the penalty box I instinctively knew they were going to score. End result: 2-2.
In all honesty, we played better in the first half when we were short players, I think in part because we figured there was nothing to lose, we were already at a disadvantage, might as well go down swinging. Unfortunately, by the time we reached full strength in the second half, most of us were already beat from the first half, and I think mentally we let up too. But we're hardly professionals. For me, it just felt good to play a hard-fought match and come out of it feeling pretty good about both my own personal play and the play of the team as a whole.
We actually started the match short two players, and from the first minute we were under pressure. Our sole goal was to keep the ball out of our net and hope against hope that we could hang on for a 0-0 tie. At Cecy's direction, I was running all over the place trying to cover the midfield and keep them from getting long shots on net, and by halftime we were all dead tired, but we had a 0-0 tie in hand and were feeling pretty good about it.
Second half, more of our players showed up, and we eventually got some chances on net, one of which Casa converted. Then Independiente evened it up on a defensive mistake. Late in the half, Sabina took a shot that ricocheted off one of their defenders and eluded the keeper into the back of the net. We held them off until the final minute. Then they got a corner kick, and as soon as it floated into the penalty box I instinctively knew they were going to score. End result: 2-2.
In all honesty, we played better in the first half when we were short players, I think in part because we figured there was nothing to lose, we were already at a disadvantage, might as well go down swinging. Unfortunately, by the time we reached full strength in the second half, most of us were already beat from the first half, and I think mentally we let up too. But we're hardly professionals. For me, it just felt good to play a hard-fought match and come out of it feeling pretty good about both my own personal play and the play of the team as a whole.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
More futbol and interviews
Futbol this weekend was a little scrappy. On Saturday we won handily, but the coach of the other team started saying stuff to Cecy as we left the field and Cecy reacted in kind. On Sunday, we played this team who were just all around bitchy and yelled at the ref for everything. Plus they couldn't handle going shoulder to shoulder in the tackle, so when I went in for a tackle, the girl I stripped the ball off of kicked me in the back of the ankles. I appealed to the ref (successfully), and the girl was like, "Well don't push then." Later, I went into another tackle the same way and the girl tried to shoulder me back but ended up falling over. She and her teammates started yelling at the ref that I was pushing (which I wasn't, if you play football you know shoulder to shoulder is legal), and after that, every time I got the ball the other team was aiming for my ankles. The upside is that we won the game 2-0.
Today I had an interview with Catholic Charities in Minneapolis. I'm hoping to volunteer as a Food Shelf Translator at their south Minneapolis branch, where about half of the families who come in are Spanish-speaking and often have limited English ability. Assuming the coordinator I talked to today can get ahold of my references this week, I should be able to start fairly soon. I don't think it's a huge commitment, around 2-3 days, 4 hours a day, but it's good work, a chance to work on my Spanish, and it's something to do.
Other than that no real news. A quick update on Adriana, my injured teammate. She's home and recovering. A couple of my teammates went over to see her this weekend and said she's in a good mood, though worried of course about paying the medical bills. Like many Americans, she doesn't have medical insurance, so this will be a huge stress, but the most important thing is that she recovers well.
Today I had an interview with Catholic Charities in Minneapolis. I'm hoping to volunteer as a Food Shelf Translator at their south Minneapolis branch, where about half of the families who come in are Spanish-speaking and often have limited English ability. Assuming the coordinator I talked to today can get ahold of my references this week, I should be able to start fairly soon. I don't think it's a huge commitment, around 2-3 days, 4 hours a day, but it's good work, a chance to work on my Spanish, and it's something to do.
Other than that no real news. A quick update on Adriana, my injured teammate. She's home and recovering. A couple of my teammates went over to see her this weekend and said she's in a good mood, though worried of course about paying the medical bills. Like many Americans, she doesn't have medical insurance, so this will be a huge stress, but the most important thing is that she recovers well.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
A Hard Weekend
On Sunday afternoon, we were to play Tormenta in the Ecuadorian league. It rained off and on all day, and when we got to the field, it was very slick. Our coach warned us to be careful, as the field itself isn't in great condition anyways, and the rain just added to the danger of turning an ankle or knee.
Not fifteen minutes into the match, Adriana, one of our defenders, went for a tackle on a running opponent, lost her footing and slipped. It would have been a non-issue, except she caught her cleat in the mud. I had just stripped the ball off our opponent when the ref blew the whistle to stop play, and it took me a few seconds of seeing my teammates' behavior to realize that something very bad had happened.
When I reached Adriana, I saw that her left foot was turned at an awkward angle and there was a bump under her sock and shinguard that wasn't supposed to be there. She was yelling at Vanessa, our coach, to fix it, to do something, but there was nothing any of us could do, since none of us are trained medics. Sabina yelled for someone to call 911, and Vanessa did. Later, she told me that rationally, she had known she had to call 911, but it was like her brain had stopped functioning for a moment.
It wasn't until the medics got there and cut off her shinguard and sock that we really saw how bad it was. It was like her foot had disconnected completely from her leg and the only thing holding them together was some skin. Later we found out that it was only her shinguard that kept the bone from actually breaking through the skin. Everyone was really shaken up and emotions were running really high. It didn't help matters that the other team, Tormenta, were standing around laughing and joking like nothing was wrong. Some of my other teammates claim they heard them making snide remarks and deriding the whole situation. I heard nothing. But I did see them laughing and smiling, and both Romina and Sabi commented on it as we were standing there watching the medics wrap Adriana's ankle in ice. Romina wanted to know "Why the fuck are those bitches smiling?" and Sabi added, "There's nothing funny about this." Tormenta aren't known for respecting their opponents, and while I know there's no love loss between our teams, I don't put it past them to make snide remarks, even in such a serious situation.
I didn't really realize how shaken up I was until I got home and was able to kind of process everything that had happened. I guess I kind of got on auto-pilot and just started doing whatever needed to be done--gathering things up, making sure my teammates were okay, etc. It took awhile for it to sink in just how bad the whole situation was, how bad the injury was.
Vanessa called me last night to let me know that Adriana had had surgery to put some screws into her ankle. The dislocation had been fixed the night before, but there were still some broken bones that needed to be repaired. The big concerns now are how she heals, and how she and her family are going to pay for this. Vanessa mentioned that the league will probably take up a collection from all the teams to help with the costs.
Whether there will be some sort of action taken against Tormenta remains to be seen. No one in the league likes them, precisely because of their lack of respect for other teams/opponents, and the way they acted on Sunday was inexcusable. Luckily (I guess) Adriana's injury was an accident. If it had been caused by a bad tackle, I think there would have been hell to pay.
For now, we're just focused on making sure Adriana is okay and her family has the help they need. So if you have any good thoughts to spare, please send them our way. Thanks. :)
Not fifteen minutes into the match, Adriana, one of our defenders, went for a tackle on a running opponent, lost her footing and slipped. It would have been a non-issue, except she caught her cleat in the mud. I had just stripped the ball off our opponent when the ref blew the whistle to stop play, and it took me a few seconds of seeing my teammates' behavior to realize that something very bad had happened.
When I reached Adriana, I saw that her left foot was turned at an awkward angle and there was a bump under her sock and shinguard that wasn't supposed to be there. She was yelling at Vanessa, our coach, to fix it, to do something, but there was nothing any of us could do, since none of us are trained medics. Sabina yelled for someone to call 911, and Vanessa did. Later, she told me that rationally, she had known she had to call 911, but it was like her brain had stopped functioning for a moment.
It wasn't until the medics got there and cut off her shinguard and sock that we really saw how bad it was. It was like her foot had disconnected completely from her leg and the only thing holding them together was some skin. Later we found out that it was only her shinguard that kept the bone from actually breaking through the skin. Everyone was really shaken up and emotions were running really high. It didn't help matters that the other team, Tormenta, were standing around laughing and joking like nothing was wrong. Some of my other teammates claim they heard them making snide remarks and deriding the whole situation. I heard nothing. But I did see them laughing and smiling, and both Romina and Sabi commented on it as we were standing there watching the medics wrap Adriana's ankle in ice. Romina wanted to know "Why the fuck are those bitches smiling?" and Sabi added, "There's nothing funny about this." Tormenta aren't known for respecting their opponents, and while I know there's no love loss between our teams, I don't put it past them to make snide remarks, even in such a serious situation.
I didn't really realize how shaken up I was until I got home and was able to kind of process everything that had happened. I guess I kind of got on auto-pilot and just started doing whatever needed to be done--gathering things up, making sure my teammates were okay, etc. It took awhile for it to sink in just how bad the whole situation was, how bad the injury was.
Vanessa called me last night to let me know that Adriana had had surgery to put some screws into her ankle. The dislocation had been fixed the night before, but there were still some broken bones that needed to be repaired. The big concerns now are how she heals, and how she and her family are going to pay for this. Vanessa mentioned that the league will probably take up a collection from all the teams to help with the costs.
Whether there will be some sort of action taken against Tormenta remains to be seen. No one in the league likes them, precisely because of their lack of respect for other teams/opponents, and the way they acted on Sunday was inexcusable. Luckily (I guess) Adriana's injury was an accident. If it had been caused by a bad tackle, I think there would have been hell to pay.
For now, we're just focused on making sure Adriana is okay and her family has the help they need. So if you have any good thoughts to spare, please send them our way. Thanks. :)
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