El Ahly vs. Angola

Boston Time: 12:18 PM 17 May
Cairo Time: 7:18 PM 17 May

Sitting in the van, Carlene observed how strange and unbelievable our situation often is here in Egypt. At that moment we were American students going to a soccer match in Africa. I was unsure about this experience having only played one season of soccer in 5th grade. Soon after, I quit the sport once shown the larger fields that the 6th graders used, and being frustrated not knowing the rules or positions—a major theme in the sports history of my life. That being said, going into the football pitch (vocab!) I had no idea if it would be a fun experience since I would have no earthly idea what was going on for the ninety-minute match. This felt like a very long time. One can feed off of their environment’s energy for only so long before they actually require intellectual stimulus.

So much fun! Of course I didn’t know what was going on other than which direction each color team was supposed to kick the ball. The super fans on the other end of the stadium were quit intense, and while I wish we could have been seated with them and worked off of their amazing amount of energy, it would never have happened. Entering the stadium we literally got the celebrity treatment in terms of security. We couldn’t leave our vans until our tickets had been checked, confirmed and rechecked. Then, we were driven all the way up the exclusive entrance and escorted into to our fabulous bleacher seats. The stadium seats were lined all the way around with military/police in riot gear and our section, as well as the section reserved for fans of the opposing team (Angola), had extra security up both sides. Then we were on tv! Abduh called Carlene and said he saw us so whenever the camera crew pointed our way we stood and cheered extra loud, just like when our home El Ahly scored. They won 3:0. Most everyone celebrated, and attempted to blend into the crowd, with face paint and other fan gear such as flags, scarves and hats.

Definitely an invaluable part of our cultural immersion here in the Middle East. Tomorrow evening we will be playing in our own games against local men and women (separate games for the girls and boys, of course.) Us women will be playing Egypt International Women’s team. Yes, a professional team…