The best day yet....

At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities.
Jean Houston

So this past Saturday was definately the funnest day we've had yet. We started off the morning with a few hours at the orphanage. Fridays can be so long and draining there, so leaving at noon on Saturday was so nice. We headed back to the hotel and danced around the living room to some rap until it was time to go.

We met Elly and Brian from my work outside the hotel, and the six of us headed to the Kenya National Soccer team's 2010 World Cup qualifiying game against Mozambique! It took about an hour to drive there, traffic was SO bad! It was pretty squishy in the back seat with the 4 roommates crammed in like sardines, but the second we were on the highway with the windows rolled down, we were fantastic. The drive was such a blast, the most fun was when we bought sports memorabilia out of the car window as we were driving down the highway. We got a few white team bandana things, and a Kenyan flag! The roads here are so funny. Not only are you harassed by people selling things on street corners while you are stopped at red light, but you also have people leaning out the windows of their cars while driving full speed down the road.

The arena was so neat. I'd never been to a big open staduim, it was HUGE! It holds over 36 000 people, but there was only about 8 000 people at the game on Saturday. We sat near the front of the balcony where it was safest. We were totally prepared for a full Kenya experience. We hadn't brought out cameras/cell phones/purses/ANYTHING of value. The game was AWESOME! I'm definately not a soccer fan, but you can't beat the excitement of being in a staduim full of screaming fans; its impossible not to get caught up in the excitement! Kenya scored mere minutes into the game, the crowd went aboslutely crazy! We jumped up and down and waved our flags around like crazy people, we fit right in!

The funniest part of the game was the stretcher! Every single time a player fell down, he would lay pathetically on the field, and his team mates would call over the paramedics, the guy would get ran off to the sidelines on the strecher, and would basically prance fine as day back onto the field within 20 seconds. The first time a guy got carried of on the strecher, I was in quite a panic. I mean, in hockey games, if the guy gets carted off on a stretcher, he's in BAD shape. However, the opposite seems true in Kenya, where SEVEN times in the span of one game, player got carried off the field, each of them returning to the field withing seconds of reaching the sidelines! It was so funny!

There was the cutest little guy sitting in front of us. He kept smiling at us, and cute Mama Natalie bought him a little pack of peanuts, he was SO happy! Whenever we scored, he'd jump up and down and run and hug us! He was precious!

The game seemed to go by so quickly! Mozambique tied up the game, and then Kenya scored again! The crowd was going crazy, and we were all carrying on like the first time, when the crowd went from happy cheers to angry screams. Next thing I knew I saw something out of the corner of my eye and then heard a huge crash. Turns out, the ref had dis-allowed the goal, and someone behind us threw a glass bottle, it landed and shattered less than 15 feet from where we were standing! That was the only scary part of the whole game, luckily. I was so glad the staduim wasn't full! Soccer fans are notoriously rowdy, and I certainly didn't want to be in the middle of 36 000 angry Kenyans if their team lost!! Happily, Kenya won the game!!!

We ended up buying some disposable cameras to the game so that it wouldn't matter if they were stolen. We took two cameras, and used the whole rolls of film on both of them. However, I haven't been able to find anywhere to get them developed, so who knows when we'll be able to see the pictures from the game.

We got home about 7, had some dinner, and all headed back out for a bit of a night on the town. We went to a lounge just a few blocks from the hotel that is known as one of the "ex-pat" places in town. We were joined by Hallie, our new friend we met at the hotel. She is a grad student at Harvard who is doing an internship until the middle of July. Her friend Christina, who is fabulous as well, was here for the first few weeks too, but she has gone on to Asia, so Hallie is basically the 5th, unoffical room mate. So yes, the 7 of us went to Casa Blanca, a Morocaan themed lounge with western music, hooka pipes everywhere, extremely low doorways, and a strange mix of NGO workers, creepy old ex-pats, and local call girls. As it turns out, the guys said that probably 80% of girls in the clubs are hookers, and the other 20% are mistresses (LOL!). They couldn't believe that in Canada, the bars aren't filled with hookers like here. We all had a great time drinking Tusker (the local beer) and dancing up a storm.

I am happy to report we were all on our best behavior, no major mishaps to report other than when I managed to spill a beer all over Elly's ex girl friend, who just happened to be at the table right behind us. Naturally since we were all with him, and she's his ex, she thought it was intentional, and was pretty much so scary and mad, but it was kind of hilarious. That is totally my luck. What makes it even better was that I was totally sober, and just clutzy. We were home by 130, and had some fun roommate moments (eating cookies/all jumping on graham and knocking him clear onto the floor) for about 10 minutes before we all passed out! It was such a fun day just hanging out and having fun!!

-Delaney xo