One Time. . . At Soccer Camp. . .

I've been at soccer camp for the last few days, in the mornings from nine to noon. It's been pretty fun. . . but I guess you'd expect that at least, wouldn't you?

We've spent the hours together playing extremely random games and occasionally earning points for it. It's been enjoyable overall; at least better than what I would do at home.

And of course. . . whenever you get a group of self-centered, competitive, goofy people together, you tend to have a few things to laugh about. A lot of them are just goofy things that you probably had to be there for, so I apologize ahead of time if they aren't funny. Anyway, prepare to hear my soccer camp stories!

My soccer coach (His name is Marc,) likes to poke fun at the kids. Today, he told one of the kids to go over to coach Matt (He's the cute coach,) and ask him for a long stand. So, sweet little oblivious boy goes over there, and Matt tells him to wait. For about ten minutes he stands there, completely unaware that his group is laughing their heads off. He came back and said that the coach wouldn't give it to him, and he still can't figure out what's so funny.

Since they have very distinct British accents, you can expect that we might have a little trouble understanding them. Our coach told us to go use the "Lou" during break time. Well, everyone was very confused, and I explained to him that we don't call the toilet a "Lou."
"Well, what do you call it, then?" He asked. "A John?"
Another time, we were choosing team names. "Alright, pick a team name that starts with eh."
My team immediately called England. "No, it has to start with eh."
We all looked at each other. "E? England. Doesn't that work?"
"No! No. Eh as in Eh, Be, Ce, De. Eh!" He scribbled an 'A' furiously on his notepad.
"Oh. . ." We all said.

The thing about the Brits is that they say their alphabet "Eh, be, ce, de, eh, ef, ge. . ." and so on.
Whereas, an American would say their alphabet, "Ay, Bee, Cee, Dee, Eee, Ef, Gee. . ."

Soccer camp has been quite an experience. What have I learned, though?

• How to perfect passing
• More about heading, bumping and volleying
• More about defense
• How to carry out a conversation with someone who has a different accent

For one week, that's not bad! Not bad at all, is it, mate?

It's A Hot Summer. . . .

My summer has kicked off! I've started my summer at the MLS soccer camp, a travelling soccer camp with professional foreign coaches. And let me stress the word, "foreign."
The coaches are staying at my grandma and grandpa Fenstermaker's house for the week. You know, they're providing a place to sleep and shower, and dinner occasionally. That's the only reason that I'm doing this soccer camp, because with each coach you house, you get one free week of camp.
I was skeptical about it at first, because I've never played soccer seriously before. My mom finally convinced me with the "opportunity" trick. Sunday night, I was chilling at home, just getting ready to head on over to Gramma and Grampa's house for dinner. Suddenly, Mom gets a call from Gramma saying that the coaches are here.

"Where are they from?"

My mom listens for the answer, and then asks again.

"About how old are they?"

My mom nods. "So. . . Brittish guys in their med-twenties?"

I about freaked out. Seriously? Brittish guys in their twenties?

Sure enough, when I went over for dinner at grandma's house that night, there were four smoking hot Brittish guys with crazy-awesome Northern accents. It was hard to even talk to them! My huge family, plus the coaches, all had dinner and played a fun game of soccer. It was sooooo much fun!

No, seriously, some of those coaches are the cutest boys I've ever seen in real life. He's tan with dark brown hair, really toned, and of course there's that wonderful accent.

Soccer camp officially started this morning, I didn't get the cutest coach, but it was okay, because we had a lot of fun. We played a lot of fun games, and had a really good time. I'm excited to go back tomorrow.

Sooo. . . . I finally got a good amount of sleep. I was actually able to wake up at seven-thirty this morning, without being tired, or hitting my alarm clock. We'll see how well this goes for the rest of the summer. . .

We're going to have a hot dog roast tonight at my grandparent's house. . . with the coaches!

Summer :) At Last!

I woke up this morning and it occurred to me: It's the first day of summer! Finally! I've waited all year for this moment. I can forget all about school and people and grades and repetition; I can shut my brain off for three whole months and focus on the stupid little things, like what I'm going to have for lunch and how late I can stay up to still be able to function the next day.

The last day of school was great, if a bit boring. We spent the day playing a really addicting game called "Set." Set is the weirdest, most logical, stupidest, and yet best game in the world. It's a logic game where you have to make sets of three cards; the sets have to be either all the same or all different. It's confusing, but it's so addicting. We played it until we were all dizzy and our brains were practically melting!

Anther thing that happened on the last day of school: It rained. Surprise, surprise! It always rains! As soon as we were all outside waiting for our rides, it started pouring. Everyone ran under the pine tree like pigs running toward their trough. I huddled under there amongst the large crowd of soaked eighth graders, and then we saw the lightning strike.

"Get out from under the tree!" Everyone yelled, and then they dispersed as fast as they had come.

I rode home from school thinking about how my life has passed me by. It's going by, oh so quickly. I remember being a second grader, walking out of the doors of Mrs. Clark's second grade classroom at the end of the hall. I rode my scooter down the hall and out the door, then crossed the street and rode to my house. For the first time, I could tell everyone I was a third grader. It's hard to believe that I'm a ninth grader now, 5'7", 125 lbs, light brown hair and sea blue eyes.

I'm looking forward to this summer. Soccer camp is next week, Youth Conference is in two weeks, our family trip to Alaska is a month from now, and lots of fun camping trips will follow that. This summer will be one to remember, and I'm so excited. I've come to learn that we need things to remember, because if there is nothing memorable in our lives, what is there worth living for?

I close my eyes, only for a moment, then the moment's gone.

All my dreams, pass before my eyes, with curiosity

Dust in the wind

all they are is dust in the wind.

I hope this year will be one to remember!