Day 61 - Firsts and Lasts

Pre match talk

For the first time in 61 days Alex was not the first one awake. With only a few days remaining on the trip Jonno wanted to experience what it was like to be the first one out of bed. This morning pretty much the whole crew had breakfast together. Not for the first time did Lisa take something of mine. My fork, knife, juice and anything else she can get her hands on she takes from me and claims as her own. Today was no different. Lisa decided my toast was a better option than having to make her own so she took it from my hands and ate it. I warned her that if she did it again she would be thrown in the pool. She ignored my warning and as I was about to sink my teeth into my second attempt at a fresh slice of toast she whipped it out of my hands and ate it as quickly as she could. This was the first time Lisa was thrown into the pool fully clothed at breakfast. I have a strong feeling that it will not be the last time she ignores my warnings or takes something of mine.

TK the referee 

After our very entertaining breakfast we headed to the video guy for hopefully the last time. He had left off some episodes and series we had asked for from our last visit so we reluctantly returned to finalise our TV series purchases. Everything went smoothly and we surprisingly got everything we asked for, which we didn’t really expect.

Today was also a first because I somehow scored the opportunity in playing in my first African soccer match. But this was not just any soccer game. This was against an archrival Mawabeni with a trophy on the line, which the Bulawayo crew (the team I played for) had taken off them in their last game. I was a little anxious about the match because everyone that I had told about the match laughed and told me it would be very rough and expect to hurt or break anything. That’s exactly why Alex and Jonno didn’t play. As Alex continually said when asked why he wasn’t playing he simply replied, “I value my life.” So, for the first time I had to go and purchase boots and shin pads 20 minutes before we left for the match. One shop we went to didn’t have my size and told us to come back in February because he was receiving stock then. When we told him we needed the boots for a game that was within an hour he was fairly surprised. We ended up going to the markets at bendover and picked up some boots for $30 along with a jersey.

The goal posts

The drive out there was hard work in itself. Passing 3 police roadblocks with little trouble with Alex behind the wheel is nothing short of a miracle! But unfortunately for hopefully the last time our luck ran out when Alex overtook a very slow truck on a bridge with double-lines about 200 metres before our final roadblock. Not for the first time was Alex forced into talking his way out of yet another fine, which he successfully did with a generous $20 donation to go toward ceasing crime in Zimbabwe…There’s also a pretty good chance that it may have gone gone straight into that particular policeman’s pocket.

The post axing photo captured by AT

We made it to the field (I will never complain about the quality of fields at home ever again) and we were ready to roll. For the first time in my many years of playing soccer I was the only white person on the field.  For the first time in my life I was playing on a field with rocks, ant mounds, no markings and three well-built sticks at each end for goals. I was told to have blue shorts but I only had black so I was a little worried. I shouldn’t have been. Some guys weren’t even wearing anything on their feet when they played (very different to home).However, these things didn’t stop us from having a great match…I think they actually added to the experience! We went into half time 0-0 but the game picked up in intensity in the second half. It got a bit more physical and I literally ate dirt at one point after being axed from behind. Despite the intensity we had a great silent cheer squad consisting of Alex, Jonno, Lisa and Elyse who were silently barracking from the sidelines. We scored an early goal in the second, which was later followed by 2 more and at the final whistle we had won 3-0 in a well fought match.

Shakes in some midair action

I had an absolute ball playing in the match today and I’m really thankful to Shakes from church who gave us the opportunity to play in the match. For the first time I gave away a brand new pair of boots to a young guy on our team who was from an orphanage called SOS that we have been to a couple of times. I’m pretty sure they were a bit big for him but there was no way he was knocking back some free boots. We made it home with no police trouble…although it wasn’t, it did feel like it was for the first time! Pete and Des joined us for dinner, which was a Jamie Oliver lamb roast Deb was attempting for the first time. It was seriously good!

For the second last time from me…Thanks so much for being a part of our journey in Zim through the blog.

Andy