Starting the very day I got here, we were on the longest run
yet for not having any new Ebola cases or deaths in Sierra Leone. I
liked to think that my mere presence in country was enough to get rid of
Ebola for good. We were going strong for 10 DAYS! Then on Wednesday
some thug had the nerve not only to start showing symptoms (poor guy)
but to decide that he should now escape from quarantine, run across the
city, infect his girlfriend, and expose 50 new contacts. Ugh. Looks like
it's not over yet.
There are two Sierra Leonean
med students, Chernoh and Ibrahim, who have been contracted to help our
team with site assessments, trainings, etc. When we were out driving
around yesterday I got to talking with them about football. Luckily, Dad
had told me that the Champions League is going on, so I've been
watching the games and have stuff to say ("Oh man, that Bayern Munich -
Barcelona game was sooo good!"). Chernoh passionately loves Real Madrid,
while Ibrahim proclaims Barcelona the best team in the world... so I
found myself in a tight spot when they asked me who I support. "Well, I
mostly just have individual players that I like to watch." "Then who is
your favorite player?" I felt like their respect and friendship was
riding on my answer. "Probably...Messi" I said. Ibrahim looked at me
approvingly and said fervently, "May God bless you for that." and then
all three of us got into a conversation about the many merits of the
talented but humble soccer god that is Lionel Messi.
From Sarah: "may God bless you....." haha I think you may be dads favorite now
ReplyDeleteFrom Mom: An inspired answer!
ReplyDeleteFrom V: That Bayern Munich/Barcelona game was good. I think I may like watching pro games better than the world cup.
ReplyDeleteWhat about Suarez!?!
From Dad: all right rachel!! i can die a happy man!
ReplyDeleteyup, that first barcelona/bayern game will go down in history. better than a lot of world cup, for sure. the commentators were talking about how messi used his eyes to fool the goalie on his first goal.
ps.
suarez and chellini meet again in the finals. anyone that bites an italian soccer player is ok with me. i completely understand.
What? What happened? Did he bite someone? Or just score a lot? Or what? Man. Remember during the world cup someone worked out that you are more likely to be bitten by Luis Suarez than a shark? The math was fuzzy, but it was funny.
ReplyDeleteFrom Beth: Ha ha ha Carrie. When you said "what did he bite someone?" I thought you meant the guy that infected everyone with Ebola!
ReplyDeleteFrom Claire: I think Rachel should be a US ambassador.
ReplyDeleteFrom Mom: She speaks the international language of soccer.
ReplyDelete