Eclipse

There was a partial eclipse of the sun yesterday. I shot the picture using the inside of a floppy disc as a filter and almost burned my eyes out taking this picture.

Sarah, Dad, and Linda arrived last week

Yoga by the lake...tranquile

Sarah arrived!

Dad and Linda at dinner

Game 2 at home

Game 2 ACMalcantone vs Losern
Six of our starting players could not play this game. A few were hurt and 3 had to sit out a game for red and yellow cards from the previous game. I still am waiting on my papers and was unable to play. The other team was very good and was up 2-1 late in the game, but we scored in the last 10 min to tie it up, and this is how it ended.

Linda and Sarah at halftime

Game One: Eschen, Leichtenstein

Our first game of the season was Saturday against a team from Eschen, in Leichtenstein (my team is in red and blue). We lost 3-1. I was not allowed to play because I do not have my official Swiss player pass yet and do not have my visa to be in Switzerland yet. They say I should get the papers within the next week.

This is the very small town in Leichtenstein called Warenberg, where we stopped for lunch on the way to the game.

ooo baby I like it raw

A huge plate of Steak Tar Tar...I love this place.

After we got back to Lugano, a bunch of the guys went out to dinner.

Mateo.

"Cullo"

We all know that soccer is a universal game, but I found it amusing that another game that I played groing up, which we fondly called "ass," is played here too. It is like "horse" in basketball. Everyone stands around and juggles. If you mess up you get a letter...

As you can imagine, there is a lot of arguing...and most of these people are Italian...enough said. Well, after you mess up 4 times and spell "cull"("ass" in Italian)...

...you must show your ass, and every other player has a chance to hit it.
(the guy on the right really does have a foot even though it looks like he doesn't. He took off his shoe and is wearing black socks. The ass on the left is mine, and is about to get hit.)

Land of the Free

The first time I took my soccer cleats out of my bag, they still had some dirt on the bottom, so I put it in this jar.

AC Malcantone article

This article is about y team, AC Malcantone. It is an interview with our coach. He is talking about the new players, the players that left after last season, and what he wants from this season.

School

The view from my window in the morning.

My bedroom.

I have real shutters on my windows! I don't know why, but it is so nice to wake up in the morning and open the shutters.

This is one of my students and the room I tutor in.

This is Zaira(za-eer-a). She is the secretary at the school and is one of the most helpful people I have ever come in contact with.

Professor Bassatto(left) is the director of the school and teaches me Italian. Also a very very very nice man.

Zaira's mom cooks for everyone at the school. Home cooking every day!

She also looks after Lara, the English professor's daughter.





The lunch room.

The day after I started tutoring, I was upgraded to sit at the professor's table, which includes sparkling mineral water and very good coffee.

Return of the Jedi part III

The guy who used to take me to practice is now playing for another team, so I have been taking the train...until now. The other day Edo let me take his scooter.

CaRnIvALe TeSsEreTe 3-04-06

Carnivale Tesserete March 4,2006….

My god….I just got back form the carnivale and I am speechless, but I will try. I could not take my camera b/c it was raining, so here goes a thousand words…

This small mountain town in the alps of Switzerland closes down for a week now, it is one way streets just wide enough for a small car, the city puts up fences to protect the houses and front yards of the townspeople, people from 12-70 are ALL walking around in costume, I was the only person I saw not in costume, I think they thought I was in costume because I was the only one not in a princess outfit, a grown man wearing a cow costume(with utters), soccer players, genies, there was a flock of crows, men dressed as women, women dressed as police officers, a herd of cattle, more wigs than I have ever seen, doctors, nurses, Mario, Luigi, space people, school girls, elves, furry bears, I don’t even know what else…

The town is a loop, and there are tents all along the way selling beer, mixed drinks, and sausages. There is a tent every 20 feet(big tents like at the fair and small tents like the ones that sell funnel cakes), each with a dance floor, a bar, and a different kind of music. The town is blocked off for about 6 blocks by 6 blocks, and you have to pay 10 bucks to get into the town, and then you can go to any of the party tents you want. The streets are lined with an inch of confetti from the parades during the day. It is like the NC Fair, but smaller, for adults, in the Alps, and every stand only sells beer, mixed drinks, or sausages.

The music ranged from James Brown, to Shanaia Twain techno remixes, to “Country Road, Take me home” remixes, to hip hop, to 80’s rock.

I was at the carnivale in El Salvador 6 months ago, and it was crazy. There were ten times more people in El Salvador than there are here, but this Carnivale was much more impressive, because EVERY PERSON dressed up awesome. There were no bullshit costumes… I wish I could have brought my camera, I wish I could have brought my camera, I wish I could have brought my camera…

It gets better….The carnivale was 10 kilometers from where I am, and I was able to catch a ride there with one of my friends, but he was not going to the carnivale and dropped me off, so from the start I had no ride home, I did not know where I was, it was raining and I do not speak Italian so well. My friend wrote me a help card saying “I lost my friends, can you take me back to Lugano please?”(I did not need it, but it is funny to have.) When I got tired, I started walking back to the highway holding my thumb out. It was COLD! Below freezing. But after about 30 min a very nice young couple stopped and picked me up, and took me back to downtown Lugano…I hitch hiked!!! Awesome!!...but when I got back to the school the front door was locked and I do not have a key…so I scaled the side of the building and snuck in through an open window…

(Exscuse me, I have lost my friends, can you take me to Lugano? Near the Hospital Italia?)