Thunder and Lightning

Yesterday, there was a huge thunderstorm here in Erbil.

Today, a huge dust storm.

I thought the rain would have settled the dust, but the dust blows in from other areas to the north and east of the city. So, even if we get a nice rain here, the dust may blow in anyway.

Yesterday, we played in the mud. Today we played in wretched air and dust. I was not able to play with my 'second team' because my eyes and lungs were hurting so badly.

Four or five colleagues were scheduled to arrive at 7 PM...their plane couldn't land, so they had to mark time in Sulemaniya. I think they are here now in my house, but it's really early so I don't want to bother them.

In other news, the boys brought four new friends to the field today...two of them are really fat and need to start training now.

Here's a pic of the Blue Angels, as configured last week. Now we have the following players:

From bottom row, left to right:

Four Eyes
Blueberry
Mickey Mouse
Curley
Egg-head
Bart Simpson
Ball-boy
Kaka
Green Bean--although he's a white bean today.


Back Row, left to right:

John Wayne
Pretty Boy
Fat Albert
Monkey #1
Charlie Brown
Shortie
Toothpick
Monkey #2

The two guys that help out are Woody-Woodpecker (the red-headed one) and Mr. 'Sit down' in the red shirt.

They are great with the kids and they are also very good players. They live on the compound here.

The 4 new guys, that are not in the picture have not all got names. One goalie is called Big Brother, as in "Big Brother and the Holding Company". The boy is huge.

I think I will call the other big one Mack Truck. The third new one is thin and tall, so I will call him String Bean. And we got a new David Beckham.

There....names for all 23 of them, if I have counted correctly.

They have split into two groups because my field is too small for a real game.

During the coming week, once the big bosses from our security company are gone, we're going to play against another team--Red Devils. Blue Angels vs. Red Devils, on the big field in the neighborhood. I have 23 kids and free subs. We will play 11-11.

Today is our day off...you might call it a weekend, but it's just one day.

I am going to sleep some more now, then eat something, and then crash again, so I can play ball later.

Love to all!