On the sporting side of things. I had my first match with the Compiègne Marlins baseball team on Saturday. This was with their B team and I was pretty impressed at how they so quickly they made accomidations for me. After arriving and talking briefly with the players they moved their regular shortstop around so that I could play. A little embarrased at first, I soon found out why. I would say that the skill level of the team we played against was comparable to a pretty bad JV high school team. We are a bit better. But as you can probably imagine, it didn't take too much to really shine. The look on peoples faces when I would make a play, mostly routine in my opinion, was of awe. I don't want to give myself too much credit, but it was fun. We even won a trophy for our efforts. I still haven't quite made the throwing adjustment from slowpitch softball back to baseball after being away for two years. They probably weren't too impressed with my arm accuracy - I know I wasn't. But from what I hear it sounds like the jump up to the next level (team A) is a huge one. I'm not sure I can quite play at that level. Let's just say that the infield is primarily made up of Cubans refugees. I used to dream of being as smooth as a Latino middle infielder. I think there's something in the water down there in Venezuela, Dominican Republic, and Cuba. Maybe that's why we were forbidden to drink it when I played in the DR! I smell conspiracy...
I also went to watch my newfound Rugby friends play today. What a fun time! The fans get way into the games similar to how they support football (soccer just sounds funny now) with the cheering and taunting. I'm begining to understand it a bit more which makes the games much more interesting too. It made me smile today too, every time the scrum made its way to the near side of the field toward the bleachers. Suddenly, the smell of sportscream and bengay would waft over the stands. Those guys are crazy! It sometimes looks like a serious match of Smear the Queer (what we used to call it but now probably politically incorrect) with huge guys in short shorts.
I also found out that there are a number English speaking people in the area. They primarily congretgate at such events. So I hunted down the English cheers from the stands and made some more friends - mainly Welsh this time. The Anglophones are almost always so excited to find each other that you have instant friends when you do. In doing so I found out that there is supposably a large American contingent in a town nearby. I'll have to check it out.
Salut mes amis!
No comments:
Post a Comment