Frisbee, Packages, and Home

What do you get when you mix an unpracticed team, a Frisbee tournament near Mexico City, and a catchy cheer?  The Best Team Spirit Award, of course!  This past weekend I traveled to Zumpango (just north of Mexico City) to compete against eight other teams in Ultimate Frisbee.  Unfortunately, our team never actually practiced all together and it showed on the field.  Out of the five games we played, we lost every single one.  Although expected, it was a bit sad.  I played Ultimate on an intermural team in college, but the level at this competition was way higher.  I felt like I had no idea what I was doing.  A few of the other girls did a good job of trying to explain to me what I should be doing while guarding and playing different positions.  Sometimes it was difficult to understand what they were telling me since it was mostly in Spanish, but I certainly learned a lot.  Things I learned: I’m WAY out of shape; I miss playing on a team; I really need to work on my flick; “venga” and “vamos” are great words to shout in a game; and my body doesn’t like the extreme temperature changes here in central Mexico—30* at night and mid 70s during the day makes my body freak out and colds worse!  Yet another reason Mexico isn’t quite the right fit for me…  BUT even though we didn’t win any games, my team won the Best Team Spirit award (which looks identical to the first place medals…just sayin’)!  One of the girls, Zus (“z” is pronounced the same as “s” in Spanish) came up with a fun and catchy cheer that we sang as often as possible; it was so catchy that some of the teams we played sang it to us whenever they saw us, or cheered us on in other games!

Tuesday night was the JFK staff party.  Everyone from the school is invited to attend from teachers to office staff to maintenance staff.  They served us a four course meal, had an open bar (not too exciting for me, but others took advantage of the opportunity), raffled off prizes, and had a DJ pumping out dance tunes.  One of the Spanish teachers dragged me out on the dance floor for a while and it was fun to be silly with the other staff members.  I line danced to “Achy Breaky Heart” in Spanish, and belted it out during “Man, I Feel Like A Woman”.  It was an experience for sure!

After the party, I was able to finally dive into the two “Kar-packages” I received that day: one from my sister Jeni loaded with chocolates and other goodies I can’t find here in Mexico, and the other one was from the teachers I worked with at MRMS.  As I explored the many treasures and notes, I bawled my eyes out.  I was, and still am, overwhelmed by how much people care for me and love me even though I’m thousands of miles away!  I can’t tell you what it means to me to know I’m not forgotten.  Everything is so new and different in my life right now that I feel lost most of the time and unknown.  Many of you reminded me that is not the case.  I am so blessed by family and friends, but I had lost sight of this until now.  It’s easy to become solely focused on all the problems in life and become blind to the good, and there is so much good!

Saturday morning I board a flight to Seattle to spend Christmas Break with my family, and I can’t wait!  Top things I’m looking forward to:  long and hot showers, baking/cooking in a fully stocked kitchen, decorating the house before my parents get home, being surrounded by a language I know, church and worship, playing my guitar and singing, seeing all of my family, sleeping, playing Wii, and just all of the “knowns” of home (not necessarily in that order).