So, life has been busy since the middle of May I have had little time to blog: projects, end of year school events, planning for next year, creating summer project lists, meetings with our administration team, and my BIRTHDAY! I will say I have been blown away by my wife for my birthday this year. This year Leah decided to have a 26 day celebration for my 26th birthday! SO, since the middle of May Leah has been giving me a piece of paper every day giving me hints of what I may receive, happen, or do for the day. I may be gushing, but I am very blessed to have such an amazing wife. Also, thanks to everyone that sent Birthday geetings to me!
Another year older and I pray that I am another year wiser. The day of my birthday was most excellent! I did have to work, but I do enjoy working on my birthday as you are able to enjoy your birthday with co-workers and friends. After work around 3:30 there was a planned soccer match between staff and students. I am not sure how it happened to be scheduled on my birthday, but it was a lot of fun! After soccer I was exhausted! I have played soccer here in Cameroon, but this was the first time playing soccer on a full size field for a full 90 minutes. After soccer, I came home for a quick shower and then Leah and I headed out with our friends Samantha and Jeongho to dinner. Leah had picked out a restaurant, but it was unknown to me until we arrived. Well, we took a taxi and we ended up at La Plaza (French/European food) which was a new restaurant to me. Dinner was excellent! I had filet minion of pork with mushrooms and a side of potatoes with garlic. I was stuffed and still had leftovers, but I had to have dessert and ordered THE BEST chocolate mousse! The waiter only knowing a little English came out singing the first line of Happy Birthday to me! It was great as everyone else chimed in and we all shared my birthday mousse. We ended the evening after I was more than stuffed and thoroughly exhausted after a long, but awesome birthday!
Then, on the Saturday after my birthday Leah bought me and two of my Cameroonian friend’s tickets to the Cameroon vs Senegal soccer match! It was the first opportunity I have had to watch a soccer match in person. This match was very exciting as it was a qualifying match for the African Nations Cup, which is a month long tournament next January 2012. We made our way into a packed stadium to cheer on the Indomitable Lions as they are called, and was greeted with lots of crowd chants and drumming. Once the match started everyone was on the edge of their seat, jumping up every time Cameroon had an opportunity to shoot! Cameroon quickly controlled possession in the match and had a few good shots on goal, but Senegal’s defense was good. At halftime it was 0-0 and my friends were disappointed as Cameroon had the strong advantage in the match. The second half started as the first did with Cameroon controlling possession and having all the opportunities on goal, but was unable to score. As the second half went on you could feel the tension as the urgency of Cameroon needing to score. Five minutes before the end of the match a Cameroonian player was tackled in the Senegal penalty area and a penalty shot was given! Everyone was so excited and full of suspense as Cameroonian’s famous striker Samuel Eto stepped up to take the penalty shot. As Eto took the penalty his shot hit the top of the crossbar and came back into the field (he missed) and was cleared! Everyone was in shock! The match ended 0-0 and we came back home disappointed, but thoroughly enjoyed watching Cameroon play!
Mark Janowiak
ps below are some pictures, but I forgot my camera for both my birthday dinner and when we went to the football match! :-(
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