Varanasi--Feb.15

Tuesday I had been invited to coach a class in soccer which was too tempting to pass upo. As an added bonus it meant no long car ride to the carpet producing regions. The best laid plans however...
to start the morning off the man who was to line the field woke up two hours late blaming the driver for not bringing the chalk and things just snowballed from there leading to a huge delay for everything. Eventually the lines and temporary sound system are setup and we go to the field so that the kids have the opportunity to practice where they will be performing. One observation; heat is great to subdue rowdy children; when they are watching the other grades perform the kids sit in the one shady area. I am just a spectator and glad as a forced march in the midday heat is not my idea of a good afternoon. After practice we return to the school in a bus far too crowded as one of the support staff has to hang off the side off the bus--it looked like fun actually and I rather wanted to do it too. Once back I ended up gi8ven some of the 6th graders a brief History, English and Korean lesson in exchange for help with my Hindi. More then anything I think they were curious about me and bored as they had a half period free before our soccer game.
I have to stop assuming things, the soccer was fun however not what I had been expecting. I had thought I would have a full class and be running them through drills, or really anything skill or fundamentals based. It amounted to little more then a 3v4 scrimmage with my occasional interjection of rules and attempts to end the bumble bee inspired style of play. Still, always fun to get out playing with kids who are excited to participate in sports.
The game with the kids went long and after six days in a row of carpet hunting I welcomed the break from patterns, colours and carpet dealers. Tonight is going to be a long one anyways as me and Hamid are taking the overnight train to Delhi. I am excited as I have heard stories and seen pictures of the trains in India although I suspect we will be traveling a little differently then I would be were I going alone. Time to head for the train; I already look tired.