Wind Song Journal

Hi Joshua,

Thanks so much for your message on the website. I really appreciate hearing from you now that we don’t run into each other that much. I’m sure Eva will appreciate your sweet thoughts. Thanks also for offering to do a speed demo at the December 3rd Mount Everest Climb-a-thon. It will be inspiring for everyone.

Hi Felix,

It was great to talk to you the other day. I am looking forward to seeing you when you come out to visit. You should be here for?my Mountain of Youth birthday party on Sunday, October 8th, when we can all be kids again and climb rocks, play soccer and eat cake.

Life since the new job has been extremely busy. Gone are the days of sleeping in; six days per week I am up by 7 a.m. and on the go until 10 p.m. Gone are the days of a clean house; dishes pile up, the laundry is in a mound. Gone are the days of having a clean car…it is now stuffed full with four bags of soccer balls, four goals, 40 cones and disks, field paint, and colored vests. I spend my days driving from site to site, setting up, teaching, and breaking down at different fields. After work most of the time, I still go to the climbing or badminton gym, or go to my Chinese class. Sometimes I just go home and eat, because I am too tired to do anything else.

Most of my classes are Mommy, Daddy and me classes. The kids are 2-3 years old, and attend class with their parents or nannies. The parents, much to their dismay, are required to run around with the kids and demonstrate all the skills, so junior gets the idea. It is quite impressive how most of the kids are able to get the idea of kicking the soccer ball, dribbling it around, and not picking it up with their hands. We play fun games like running to the colored flags, pretending to be a chicken with the soccer ball egg, and chasing Mommy or Daddy, who has a colored vest stuck in the back of the pants (for a tail.) The large classes (20 kids, plus 20 parents) are especially amusing. It’s controlled chaos with 20 little people chasing soccer balls, and 20 big people chasing after them.

After a humbling job hunt, I have found work as a full-time coach teaching soccer. I taught my first class yesterday with Coach Roberto and Coach Avis.

We arrived at the German-American school at 1:45 to set up the field. The kids streamed out of their classrooms and started putting on their soccer equipment. This was a big deal, since several kids needed help tying their shoes. Then they all came over to the field and Coach Roberto gave some instructions. He was funny and kind. For roll call, he had the kids give the coaches high-fives. At first, I pretended that the kids were too strong and it hurt when they slapped my hand. Seeing this reaction, several of the boys started enthusiastically hitting my hand so hard that it really DID start to hurt, so I had to change my approach and say, “not too hard now…” instead.

The next game was “Chase the Coach.” Roberto asked the kids who the fastest coach was, and the conclusion was that Avis, the 18 year-old, was the fastest. So all the kids raced Avis to this flag, and that flag, and they cheated by starting way ahead, so they almost won. But Avis got to the flags first.

Then we played “Downtown Traffic” and everyone dribbled their soccer balls in a small space, trying not to hit each other. If the balls collided, the drivers had to go “get them fixed” by going to the line and tapping the balls five times.

The next game was called “Thanksgiving Turkey.” Roberto put colored flags in the back of his shorts, while all the kids chased him while dribbling their soccer balls and trying to pull the flags out of his pants. Next, it was Avis’s turn. Roberto advised him not to put the flags too far down inside his pants and to pull his pants up…

After the turkey game, we broke the kids up into four teams and had them play scrimmages. I was impressed at some of their skills. At Kidz Love Soccer, we try to emphasize S.E.L.F. (Sportsmanship, Effort, Learning, Fun.) Every time a kid scored, we reminded them that the score at KLS is always fun-to-fun.

If you are interested, here is the website: www.kidzlovesoccer.com

Two weeks ago, my friend Eva’s niece, Amanda, and nephew, Alec, were killed in a car accident. They were only 9 and 7 years old. Their mother was speeding and didn’t have seatbelts on the kids.

All of a sudden, every moment we had together was precious: the trips to Golden Gate Park, the swimming pool, the local parks. I spent a lot of time with them while I was sick these past couple years.

We made photo collages of their lives, as we remembered them: laughing, playing, loving life. I attended the wake, and their bodies were not them. I will remember them as they were alive–fun-loving, caring children with a seemingly full life ahead of them. Nothing can be taken for granted; not even youth. It was sad for everyone, but the person who wailed the loudest was the one who had cut off ties with the family completely before they were killed. I guess there is no going back once the chance to love is gone.

Mary, it was great to see you for dinner. Thanks for taking “time out” to have a nice evening together. When I wrote “How We Will Be Remembered,” I never imagined an incident that would cut straight to the chase. (See entry above.)

The past two weeks I have been spending a lot of time climbing with friends from my women’s climbing club(sheclimbs). It’s been fun to make new friends, spend time together, and help each other become stronger climbers. It’s social, and at the same time, physical. We patiently hold the ropes for each other as we scale 30-50′ walls. Each Monday night I set aside for the club at the gym, and on the last two weekends I’ve had the opportunity to go outdoor climbing with them, to local places like Berkeley and Summit Rock.

One of the climbers, Alyssa, is a very good writer and photographer! Check out this trip report, complete with route descriptions and photos! Click here http://vacationtime.blogspot.com/2006/08/summit-rock-with-sheclimbs.html