I have a friend out here who has told me about these matches on several occasions and I finally got myself out to the stadium today to play. It is one of the few sports that is played co-ed here. (All expats though) It is touch rugby so as to avoid too much injury for those involved. Most of the people there really know what they are doing, but I got a few quick pointers throughout and seemed to hold my own. Like it much of my earlier sporting history, my defense is significantly stronger than my offense (not sure what that means, but anyways...). So, I generally stayed away from trying to run with or catch the ball, but made some nice touches throughout the day.
Towards the last half of the day, I had my first rugby knock out. One guy got the ball and thought he had an open run, apparently he did not see me standing in front of him (I admit I am a short woman, but he was no giant, so not sure what was happening). Anyways, he went full force ahead straight into me and knocked me down to the ground. Not completely sure what happened except that my head hurt quite a bit and things were blurry. I stayed down for a few minutes and when I sat up everything seemed a bit blotchy with yellow spots. I was told I had a big smile on my face, so people weren't too worried.
I got back up and started to play again but was advised it might be best to sit out for a few minutes. The yellow spots thing was kinda cool I must admit, albeit a bit weird. I sat out for about 5 minutes and then until the downpour past and then rejoined the match.
Despite the bruises, a good first rugby experience.
But, as I was doing sports in Aceh... I get home and yes... you guessed it, no electricity (meaning no running water. I don't even want to get into water issues -- we have now been losing water too). Luckily we have the trusty generator so Iwas able to take a nice 'warm' shower to clean the mud out of my hair.
All-in-all, not a bad day. Although my body will likely not be so happy with me for the next few days.
*Sorry no pictures of today's excitement.
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