................Taking Flight...............: Adoptee World Cup!

Again, another night with trouble sleeping. The other slightly unfortunate thing about my guesthouse was that my room was on a floor with the male bathroom so I had to go either up or down to use; and since I was staying alone I had to lock my door each time I went out. I had tried to start hydrating in preparation for the soccer tournament so...

I got ready and went to go get bread at a bakery and yogurt from a convenience store near the guesthouse and...both of them were still closed at the early hour of 7:15am. I figured I should find another convenience store and buy something to eat there. My Mom will also be happy to know there are yogurt drinks that I've been eating every time I've come since 2011 and I forgot that on the carton it says "probiotics". I walked to the soccer fields and arrived about 30 min early. Most of the Gathering participants arrived on buses, but my team still hadn't shown up. Finally I found a few of my team members (Italian) and then our captain, John showed up. We got our jersey's from him and I went to go change. They only had large and extra large. When I came back all the guys chuckled because it was so big. The schedule had changed a little overnight; John had told everyone to arrive at 8, but that our first game didn't start til 9:45. Well, our first game started at 9:15. We ended up having almost everyone there for the first game, but only about 6 for the group picture. The rules were to have 2 girls on the field at all times. Our team had 4 girls, but 2 were working and couldn't come right away. The other woman that was there, Patty, was Italian and didn't play any soccer. The first game was against the US (I was on the Korea team). We ended up tying them 0-0. Our second game was against the Europe team (Netherlands, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy etc). We won 1-0. Our 3rd female player arrived for the game against Sweden/Norway and we won 2-0. The final game in 'regular play' was against Denmark and we beat them 1-0. We had a break for lunch and found out we were seeded #1! Our 4th female player arrived in time for the playoffs. In playoffs we first went against #4, Europe team. (US was out). We beat them 2-0. Then for the final game! It was against Denmark. This team has been practicing together since February! When the time was up, it was 0-0. Originally the plan was to play 5 mins of overtime and then a shootout, but because we were behind schedule (and because it was incredibly hot) they just went to shootout. Our keeper was--AMAZING (I mean really, he had a shutout EVERY game!)!!! He's only 17 but so good. We ended up getting 2 out of the 5 shots and they didn't make any. When our last guy made his shot, we all ran over and the team jumped on him. Adoptee World Cup Champions!!!!

After the game we had pictures taken. I saw my friend Maite again and then I packed up to come check into my 5 star hotel. It was heaven--especially since I'd played 3 hours of soccer in the heat and sun (and spent about 8 hours at the event). I took a long cool shower and then...took a nap. Our team was meeting at 7 for dinner and when my alarm went off-I couldn't figure out what the sound was. It was tough pulling myself out of my big comfy bed to get ready to head out into the heat again. We met and went to a bbq place-but they also had a meat soup so I got that, per our Korean friend's suggestion (he helped coach us and normally plays soccer on Sundays with our group). Then the team headed to a 'pub' for drinks. I stayed a little but was so tired I had to duck out early.