Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Landmine?

This morning a landmine went off on the mountain across from my apartment. It did not wake me up but it woke up my roommate, I'm sure it was loud enough to wake up most people, I have just been sleeping really good here - thanks to my new fan. He said he looked outside and could see the smoke from the explosion. We are not sure if anyone was hurt but it was a good reminder for all of us going on the hike this Saturday to be careful. Two of the guys here went to the trail today and walked it to make sure it was safe, the kids are really excited for it. We are going to do it in the evening so that it will not be as hot and also because camp fires are cooler in the evening.
The past few days have been pretty busy, Saturday was our first baseball game with the team, we actually played three, the event was from about 9 in the morning to 5 at night. In this type of heat we thought the kids were going to get sick of baseball but it was the opposite, they were asking to stay longer. That was very encouraging because it would have been easy for them to want to quit. We were the oldest team there, having kids 15 and older, but since they are all new to the sport (one of our guys had only practiced once before this) we lost all 3 games. The one team was made up of 11 and 12 year olds, but they sure knew how to hit the ball haha. Most of our guys are still not familiar with the rules yet either, which made it tough, one team stole a base on us, and you should have seen the look on our team's face, none of them had any clue what the person just did. The ironic thing though is that everyone there was intimidated to play us, some of the other coaches said their kids were scared because of how big we were. The ride there was about 2 and a half hours which was fine on the way, but after a long day of sweating in the sun, it felt a just a little longer on the way home. Before leaving we played one more game, but the coaches played with their teams, it was a lot of fun and we beat the other team, so although it may have not been an official game, our kids left on a high note. We had practice today and they were all there but one, and it went really well. They improve in their hitting each week.
Monday I went with a group of people here to Sarajevo, we hung out there for most of the day before picking up a friend of my roommate who is here for the next two weeks. It was the first time I got to walk around the city, it was fun, we also went to the grocery store there because they carry a lot more stuff than the grocery store here, including the smallest box of frosted flakes. We got stopped by the police twice on the ride home, once for speeding and the other time because they are trying to catch people involved with human trafficking. We didn't get a ticket for speeding though because our driver pretended that he didn't speak Bosnian. The cops do not drive up behind you and put on their lights to make you stop, they stand on the side of the rode with a little sign, and if they hold out the red side of it, then it means stop. I wonder how many people just keep driving when they see that?
With the recent trips, I have noticed that a lot of people here get car sick. And I still don't know if it is because they are used to walking everywhere or because the roads are very curvy. Either way I am glad I do not get car sick. And on another high note, I am starting to like the milk here. It is different from the milk I used to drink in America because when you buy it, it is not refrigerated, and has a shelf life of over 3 months. When I first got here I had trouble with it but now I think it tastes good. Hopefully going to get my haircut for the first time since being here tomorrow, and mail some post-cards if I can find the post-office. Hope everyone who reads this is doing good.

1 comment:

  1. I'm glad your new fan helps you sleep through landmines.

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