Streak of Good Things Continues

Yesterday, I had an email from a team that I had called earlier. The guy told me to come by their offices in this town outside of Valencia and we could talk. Well, I typed the address into google and apparently that street runs through more than one town so, after the subway, bus, and taxi, I was in the wrong city. Finally a taxi driver knew what I was looking for so I found the stadium. After a couple hours of waiting the guy I had emailed shows up and he says that the coach is running the team by the river- which is a lot closer to where I'm staying. He calls the coach up and the coach says that I should come out and run with them. He also said that they were starting at 8:00 pm, in 30 min. I have no idea where I am at this point or where I need to be. There are no taxis in this town. The president of the club called a taxi for me and this dumb lady is driving so slowly while im changing in the back seat. I failed to mention earlier that i keep a pair of cleats and soccer clothes with me wherever I go. Anyways, finally get there and i cant find them. I'm frantically sprinting all over this place and then after like 20 min I find them. its 8:10 and the coach tells me to start streching with them. He then tells me that I need shoes because we're running on concrete. I didnt have any with me so he told me just to come back tomorrow. Well, it has been a pretty long day at this point so im not giving up now. As im walking away I find some people and ask them if theres a place nearby where i can buy shoes. theres a mall really close. I sprint to the mall, find the first store with shoes and just buys the first pair of 11s I see. Sprint back, cant find the team because theyve left running so im sprinting all over the river once again and finally I find the coach. He's liking me quite a bit at this point cuz I dont think the other kids trying out showed up dripping in sweat and out breath before a 2 hr run. I get going with them and find out that Spanish players are incredibly lazy during the summer and im in better shape than any of them. So, I looked pretty good for the coach, talked with him a bunch, and am going back to run more tonight.

Today: Woke up, went to work out, then went to the socccer fields for technical stuff. Theres this African kid there who's freestylin and is pretty sick so I start juggling with him. He couldnt speak that much spanish because he only knew French so it was pretty hard talking with him but he was with these other Africans that I've seen working out there everyday and these guys are in pretty good shape. Well I talked with them and they said that they workout at the fields from 9-11 every day and invited me to come on Monday. Mondays my tryout in Puzol but I told them I'd see them Tuesday. The kid I was kicking with stayed a little longer cuz he lived in a different direction and turns out he moved here a year ago from Liberia because of war. He told me, in broken spanish, that his father and mother were killed by the rebels and he was lucky because he escaped. I dont know if thats luck. He made it to Spain and now he stays in a shelter. The shelter opens its doors at night for everyone to sleep and then is closed the entire day. He said he cant do much cuz he has no money and nobody will hire him because he is African so he just walks around everyday. Anyways, I'm gonna see him Tuesday if I dont have soccer and I got his number.
He kept sayin that America was so good. I realize this doesnt really make sense and it didnt to me at first either because im giving you as much context as I had. But I see what he means. Everybody in Europe and most likely around the world loves to hate the US. Everyone I talk to says that Americans are just greedy and idiotic in general as they ridicule our politics. After they rag on the US for a few minutes they always say, but Americans are the nicest people in the world.
I'm learning what this means. All the critics say that our borders are so tough now we would be lying to say that we take the tired, poor, and huddled masses but aside from immigration controversy, there is no nation that is as accepting of foreigners as the US. I think Spain mirrors the rest of Europe in that people generally refuse to interact with people of different ethnicities, cultures, countries, and just immigrants. Spanish employers will not hire Africans or Muslims which just perpetuates the tensions between races here. Today is a good day to be an American : ) haha I love saying that. Its good to hear from a bunch of you.

Ryan accomplished something not many people do so congrats to you man. A lot of people have given up putting in the work by this age. It takes a lot of determination to make it to the next level. I'm really excited for you and I know that everybody else is too. Good luck and I'm looking forward to following your blog so start that up ASAP! Haha love you all!