Baseball

More than a month at my site and a lot has happened. I have already integrated well into my community and met some amazing people. One of my biggest problems is remembering people’s names! There are over 25 kids on the baseball team I started but I can only name a handful. However, I came up with a strategy to fix this. All I need to do is take a picture of all the kids one day and go over the names with my host family or friends. I thought this was fairly genius.

Everything ends up being a new and interesting experience here, including starting a baseball team. The plan before I got here was that it would be my first project. It's working out well because I’m getting to know a lot of the kids and it isn’t necessary to know a whole lot of Spanish. The vocab for baseball is almost the same in Spanish as it is in English. What’s been most difficult is learning how to discipline the kids. When I try to reprimand one of the kids and they don’t understand what I’m saying to them, the whole effect is lost.

I was supposed to have the help of community members, a teacher actually, but two practices in he told me that he couldn’t come anymore, leaving me high and dry. The first day was the most difficult though. It was during the physical education class and my teacher buddy thought I was ready to explain baseball in its entirety, in Spanish of course. I hadn’t prepared a thing, assuming (which I’ve learned not to do anymore for countless reasons) that he would at least help in explaining what baseball is. He didn’t, but even though I stumbled over my words, the kids understood me and we were playing a game soon after.

Peace Corps puts on an annual tournament in May. Obviously my plan is to win the whole thing, but there are many other teams with more experience and better equipment than us. Also, with the coffee season starting right now, at least half the kids won't be able to play until February. So for now, all we can do is play pick-up games with whoever is able to show up. Although, the way I figure it, all I have to do is teach them the Joe Mauer batting style and we're as good as gold.