The Fever is Spreading!

No, unfortunately I'm not talking about the Ron Paul Revolution, but the one for other guy with two first names. The other "Paul" is becoming a local celebrity and it's realy quite entertaining. In this morning's paper there was a simple, but eliquently written artice. The headline: VVK to play Lugi at home this Sunday; the article in whole: "Who needs John and Ringo when we've got Paul George." ~ Insert your favorite Beatles song here ~ "I get BY WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS."

I thought the article was pretty funny and I know Alex's family will greatly appreciate it. Tarik asked me if I've heard any Beatles jokes about my name... I said "are you F*CKING serious??" Somehow though, the jokes have only managed to find their way into my life the last few years. Had I been teased about my odd name and its relationship to the band while growing up, I don't know, maybe I'd have had better musical taste! I had enough Paula Abdul and Alanis Morisette as a young boy; where was the CULTURE?? Where were the classics? My poor ears.

In any case, it seems MAYBE SOMEONE in this town might like me. Tarik, however, never ceases to remind me, after having lost the last two matches, that "everyone hates us" and "you see how no one wants to talk to us?" "Um, Tarik, NO ONE TALKS TO ME ANYWAY!" He makes me laugh - EXTREMELY overdramatic, but so are most Swedes. They firmly believe that if they exert themselves when they're feeling the slightest bit sick they may develop something fatal. Watch out for that cough! And by all means don't practice if you have a headache! Sheesh.

I had one other experience today I thought I would share. All the Swedes were "busy" so I was stuck going alone to the two local elemetary schools to pass out tickets to Sunday's match. I was proud of the way I walked right in, spoke my English and was able to make out what they said in response. I went to about ten different classrooms, said hello to everyone (most of whom I have actually met before) and passed out out the tickets. It's incredible the way these kids respond when I walk into their classroom. Except for the well-behaved classes, who you can tell have more disciplined teachers, all the kids jump up and run toward me "Hej Pool Yourge." They get so excited to receive these little slips of paper copied and pasted in Word a dozen times. They don't even have to BRING the ticket with them when they come to the match (all kids get in free) but the idea of a free ticket in their hands is golden!

One particular class, about 5th grade, of which I've had the GREAT pleasure of coaching on a couple of occasions has a young girl who came running up to me. She told me that she came to our last match and saw me play. "You make all the goals!" she said with a big smile. Her friend quickly tried to correct he "points," but to no avail; it did not matter. She was impressed!

So yes, I'm having too much fun! And hopefully I'll have some good news to report after our match on Sunday. Go VVK!