My Namesake

There are a group of about 5 guys (age 20-25) who are local volunteers from the community that help us translate within our placements. They are all really friendly and super helpful. And, best of all, they love me. And it is all because of my name, which also happens to be that of a football club in England that is much adored by them all. They have all assumed that I have a complete working knowledge of all the EPL games and teams and players. And, of course, I let them believe it.

The most shocking repercussion of this, however, was that as a part of our orientation we went to play soccer at the high school with all of the volunteers and staff and I of all people got chosen FIRST for the soccer teams. It was unbelievable. As we were lined up so that the captains, two local guys, could choose I was having nausea from all the terrible middle school flashbacks and could not believe it when I was chosen first, and all because of my name. And then to make it all that much better, they asked me to explain the rules to everyone. As a result, I ran my butt off like never before in the shadow of Mt. Kilimanjaro in the blazing heat, made about 6 successful passes and a couple big boots, but now have about 5 good local friends. Nice pick on the name, mom and dad!