Futbol (Soccer) Practice

Yes! Today Nick joined the La Liga Quito (LDU) youth futbol club here in Cuenca under the direction of Pablo Marin a former LDU, and Ecuadoran National Team player. Practice was very much the same as his practices in the states with the exception of the lack of water breaks. The practice was two hours of non-stop activity, and Nick had no communication problems once he was on the field with his new teammates. The registration process was fairly easy since the team manager is Pablo's daughter, and she speaks a little English.

During the practice I had a conversation with one of the other fathers named Luis, and we talked the whole time with my limited Spanish and Luis's limited English. The best part was seeing Nick smiling, and having fun again with kids of a similar age. Futbol has been Nick's main source of interacting with people his age for the last several years outside of school, and it is a place he feels comfortable, and confident. Next for Nick is finding him a school. I contacted a private school (Santana) this morning, which is IB certified like his school back in Decatur (Renfroe Middle School), and now we are just waiting for an email with the instructions for registration.

One thing I relied on in the states was the ability to use Google to find a contact, or information for schools, physicians, futbol clubs, and anything else I ever needed. In Cuenca, It took me ten times as much work to find a contact for Nick's new futbol club, and someone at Santana who spoke enough English to help us. Susan, and I discovered something in our apartment called a "Phone Book".  The funny thing is, we declined and never used one in the states,but here it is actually more helpful than the internet for a lot of things.