Definitely the Craziest Day Yet

Well yesterday was a day that I will personally remember. It all started off well as I was able to call my good friend Aaron Skrivan and hear all the good things that are happening in his life and then from there, things got a little bit crazy.

So as I'm on my way to work I got off at my normal stage and walked to my second stage on the trip. As I was walking up I saw my good friend OJ and we caught up for a minute and then, this small that truck that was driving on the wrong side of the road turns into our little stage and everyone just starts running! Guys jump out from the back of the truck and start grabbing people and shoving them into the truck. I should clarify that these were government officials and not some Al Shabaab or anyone else to be worried about. We all knew who they were. But as all this craziness was going on, OJ and I were just standing there next to the truck and I look over at him and ask, "What should we do?" and he says, "Just wait, they can't do anything." Then all of a sudden, this guy grabs OJ and I and starts telling me that I'm just like the rest of them and that I'm no different. So he's telling me this repeatedly and OJ is yelling at him to tell us what we've done. They end up getting us into the truck, how, I don't know because OJ ended up sitting on top of three people and I ended up sitting on him. Once we finally got settled the guy next to me told me that we were going to City Hall, which  is basically the county jail where I would have to pay a nice fine, I was like this is great. Then the head officer came and said "Mzungu, come here, and where's your brother." I told him that I was sitting on him and he told us to get out and that that wasn't a stage and that we should go.

I was definitely blessed to have OJ with me, but as I shared the stories with others, they told me that OJ was blessed to have me there otherwise he would have gone to jail. Well after that, life was normal as I went to work, trained with Petra, and came home on the bus. Later in the night, Kinyash and I were talking and as we were talking I saw this huge wave of water coming from the bottom of our front door. We live on the third floor, so having our flat flooded was something that I never expected to happen. I honestly thought it was a joke or something, but then I went outside and there was Lake Victoria outside our door with rivers branching off into our flat and our neighbours. I don't know why, but Kinyash and I found this so funny and just laughed, pretty hard apparently because our neighbor who wasn't having any flooding came over and joined us in our laughter. I'm sure we were annoying our other neighbor who was having flooding because we were just playing in the water and laughing at what was happening.

I was able to get a hold of the land lord who sent her guys to come unblock all the drains that were stopped up and help us remove the water that had come in the house. So it was a fun day/night for sure. Thankful that I had OJ as well as Kinyash with me to help me in these situations. So ya, that was my day. Hope you enjoyed the stories and could laugh along with me. Until the next adventure comes around.  

FIFA and Friends

Well last week was another memorable week as Masha and I traveled to Mathare, MYSA Youth Academy for a coaching and administrator workshop. I had the privilege of being chosen to take part in FIFA's CSR East Africa initiative in their Street Football World Network, sponsored by Adidas, in their Strategic Planning workshop. I took Strategic Management at Covenant, so during that week I found myself being thankful for my education, because rather than getting stuck in the business jargon and the concepts I was able to absorb all the stories and experiences that my colleagues had to offer. The course had members from Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, and all over Kenya. The biggest thing that I will take away from the workshop is just how big of a platform Football has in the world to promote things such as peace, non-violence, HIV awareness and how that little ball speaks every language. Definitely blessed to be apart of it.

I was also able to meet up with some friends from my home church in West Virginia as they passed through Nairobi on their way to Southern Sudan. It was really encouraging to see them and just talk to familiar faces again. My aunt's good friend and one of the members of my Kenyan family, Toni Kuguru is also in town. We haven't connected yet, but we're planning to catch up at Habesha and also run the Nairobi Marathon 10K next week together.

I have also taken over the U7 Kicker team, which I can honestly say that this is the hardest coaching job I have ever taken on. It's definitely a challenge, but definitely worth all the headaches, sore throats from screaming, and just wondering what the heck are they doing?

Definitely a good week. Only have 4 weeks left. Got to make the most of them.