Duck, Duck, Ugly!

On one of my first days in town, I went to the school to observe the Kindergarten class. After they sang and mimed their morning prayer, the teacher turned to me and asked if I had any games or activities I wanted to do with them before she started her lesson. I’d been planning to sit unobtrusively in the corner and take notes, so I was caught a bit off guard, but I recovered quickly and got them into a circle so I could teach them “Duck, Duck, Goose!” The one snag in my plan was I didn’t know how to say goose in Spanish, so I improvised and we played “Duck, Duck, Ugly!” You would not believe how entertaining 5 and 6 year olds find this game, or how it has grown in popularity among the older kids too. We’ll spread out into a huge circle on the soccer field, and I think if we didn’t have to go home before it got dark the game would go on for hours. It is so funny to watch two kids running like mad around the circle of their cheering friends- sometimes they get so excited they forget that they’re supposed to be running to their empty spot in the circle and they just keep running around and around until they get exhausted. A couple of weeks ago, some missionaries from Michigan came to my town and taught us the word for goose so we could play correctly, but ugly seems to have stuck. I think it’s just more fun to shout “FEO!” than “GANZO!”

I’ve also taught the kids that hand game called Down by the Banks, Capture the Flag (which we’ve modified to Capture the Sandal out of convenience), and Red Rover. Red Rover can in turns be hilarious and terrifying- like sometimes a kid will get caught in the chain of arms but will just keep pushing and pushing until they bring about 5 people down into the mud with them. And other times one of the little kids is so short that instead of breaking through the chain at chest level, they’ll hit right at their neck and flip over backwards and my Mommy Instincts go haywire and I freak out until they pop back up laughing.

As you might imagine, however, soccer is still King. We play with whatever ball we can get a hold of – sometimes a kid will have one, other times we have to ask the town president or the young men’s team to give us one, and if all else fails there’s always the deflating basketball from the school. We play barefoot and slosh around in the mud and slip and slide everywhere and cheer when someone, usually me, falls flat on their back and gets up covered in mud. I’d avoided playing soccer with the kids for as long as I could because I’m really awful at it. But there’s only so long you can hold out against those cute little faces. And I have to admit I’m pretty glad I caved. They don’t care that I’m terrible- they always rush to be on my team, body slamming me with hugs or clinging to an arm or leg so that they won’t get put on the opposite team. Even though I suck it’s still a lot of fun just running around and shouting, and I think it has definitely helped my image in the town. People see me walk house to house to round up the kids, they hear us laughing and screaming our heads off on the field, and then as the sun sets they see me take them back home. Since I started playing, more people in the town know who I am and tell me all the time how quickly I’m fitting in. As much as I resisted it before, I would now tell anyone trying to integrate into a Costa Rican community that Soccer is the key.

The kids here make me laugh so hard and I think the time I spend with them is the highlight of my service so far. There’s this one little guy who, when he first met me, kept asking me every two minutes what my name was for about an hour. Now every time he sees me he’s very proud to shout, “Hola, Ach-lee!” I’m called Ashley, Ach-lee, Ass-lee, Allie, As-leen, and several other creative variations on my name. When they want to get a rise out of me, they just call me Gringa. Another boy, who is about 6, informed his parents he’s going to catch up to me in age and marry me- hahaha! He’s always giving me mangos or avocados, so I joke with his parents that he’s already maintaining me and I call them Suegro and Suegra- Father and Mother in law. I would definitely say that my happiest moments in my town are with the kids. It feels like every child in the town has adopted me as an older sister. I always feel so energized when we play and it’s a great feeling to get showered in hugs, drawings, and mangos. I am teaching English to the 4th through 6th graders twice a week at school, and even in a formal education setting where I have to set down the law and make sure they’re paying attention and behaving, I feel like we have a great connection.