Saturday, January 5, 2008

Soccer reinvented

Earlier this evening I ventured outside for a short walk to the market. It was my first outing since the race a few days ago which unfortunately took my head back a step in recovery. I got to the market by cutting through some farms and a few empty soccer fields. It was pitch black the whole way there. But on the way back, I was greeted with a very entertaining surprise - a soccer game under bright flood lights. The game was in full swing as I walked by.

Since my bag was weighed down with all ingredients for a homemade loaf of walnut raisin bread (including the super-sized bag of 9-grain flour), I didn't stop to watch but i did walk by slow enough to catch a bit of the game. As I listened to the typical yelling that goes on between the guys, a funny thought occurred to me. If an English speaker were to be a guest player on the field, there would be a lot of funny errors made due to the language miscommunication.

For instance, I heard one guy yell "Kijk" which means "look" but to an english speaker it surely sounds like "Kick". Next I heard another guy yell "Pas op" which means "look out". But again an english speaker would possibly mean the guy was trying to tell him to pass the ball up. Since apparently they were all flemish speakers, the game was not nearly as interesting as it could have been.

Bread is just cooling down so I now must go so I can prepare a huge slice with jam made with port soaked figs.

Tomorrow is Belgian National Championships. My guess is sanne Cant for the gals and obviously sven nys for the men. It would be fun for us spectators, though, if there is actually a fight for gold rather than just watching the winners ride away on the first lap.

Enjoy the weekend!

4 comments:

bikesgonewild said...

...hey, met dave verrecchia & pal mark @ rach lloyd's litle send off tonite...mz hatch was also in attendance...

...had no idea he was gonna be there & i had just left a post on his latest blog, earlier in the day (check it out)...very cool to make the connection...vanderkitten kicks butt...

...anyhow, we now return you to our regularly scheduled phlegm-ish fietsball match...ok, ok, i just made that up, i've no idea what they really call soccer in belgium...

PEANUT said...

It's called Voetbal (pronounced football)
Yes, Vanderkitten does indeed Kick Butt! I am so honored to be a part of them.

gwadzilla said...

in college I played Div III soccer

one team we played each year was Gallaudet University
a deaf University

it is amazing how much communication can occur without language

PEANUT said...

I suppose there wasn't much smack talk since it would be wasted on them. It must have been weird to play a team that quiet.