Friends, Futbol and Traditional Dance

After the winery yesterday, we joined our host, Justinian, from UDOM in his home - which was not too far from the hotel. He invited 10 people to his home and we met his wife, Happiness, and his two young sons, Ericky and Edgar (apologies for the spelling). It was so nice to be invited into his home and to meet his family. His wife was welcoming and warm, and the boys were adorable and happy. It was pleasant - they served drinks and dinner, and then drove us back to the hotel.

After we arrived back at the hotel, a smaller group of us got together to play Euchre. Those that did not know it, were able to pick it up quickly, and we had a nice competition until far too late in the evening.

Sunday morning several people went off to church - some to the Lutheran and some to the Catholic. The rest of us stayed back for a leisurely breakfast, and some much needed down time spent getting organized and relaxing. After lunch a group of 7 of us went to a soccer game at the Jamhuri Stadium in Dodoma. The Dar Es Salaam Simba's were playing the Dodoma Polisi. This was a must win battle for the Simba's to ensure qualification to play in the confederation cup. There were many fans from Dar in the stadium, and though Dodoma apparently had a weaker team - it was a great game. It seemed scoreless until the last 20 minutes - after which time, Dar scored 2 goals for the win. We don't know this for sure, as there was no scoreboard and no announcer - we missed the first 15 minutes due to a conflict in times from various people on the actual start time, and it is entirely possible there was some scoring before we got there.

The place was mobbed. Crowds were pushing up to one open ticket window, and then they finally opened a second window. Two of the guys agreed to get in the mix and push forward to purchase tickets to the match. Ultimately Sandip made it up to the front - easily spotted with his thick wavy Indian hair. His arm was held high in the air, amongst many other arms waving money around in hopes of the ticket seller grabbing their money first. He slipped out of the mob to hand Dan his wallet - as he felt others reaching for it..and then returned to the front to fight for his space and wave our 14000 shillings until she took his money. She thrust 7 tickets in his hand, and he returned to the team in great victory as our hero - the only one brave enough to push through the crowds! Tickets were around $1.50 per person. We then pushed our way into the stadium and found some space in what was later found to be a set of Dar fans. Again, we were conspicuously 'not from these parts', and attracted much interest. Kids were hamming it up, and a group of guys were saying alot of things toward us and having a big laugh.

When we got back to the hotel, we were prepping to go to dinner in the courtyard, and a drumming group started practicing. Later traditional dancers were added and it was great entertainment. The pics were hard to take as it was getting darker, and the light was poor - but the music and dance was terrific.

We had a great dinner at the hotel chinese restaurant..and then went back to our rooms. I came back to write this blog entry. Now I must get ready for work tomorrow.