King of Dodgeball and A New Vocab Word (Sort of)

Today our church had a picnic. You've probably got this nice park, with green grass, lots of shade, plenty of fried chicken, and all the fixins.



Get that junk out of your head.

Think instead of hot, dry, and dusty ground that is littered with broken glass. The beat of a drum and the high pitched whine of a Shehnai type instrument (think Indian snake charming flute) is always about you. There is no fried chicken, but instead, a pastry type thing with lamb sausage in the middle. Add in songs such in a language that I don't understand and the pinky dance that accompanies these songs and you have a little bit better understanding of a "picnic."



With all that said, let me say... I love picnics. This is only the second one we've had since I have been here, but both have been a blast. We threw a frisbee that wouldn't fly straight if Jesus himself threw it. We kicked around the soccer ball, which is quite humorous for a man as white as myself. There was a never ending game of "volleyball" going on, though we had no net and there was never a mention of actually trying to play by any rules. There was some songs sung and some prayers prayed. We danced, as only Turks (and of a charismatic nature at that) would dance. Pinky locked pinky and we danced in a circle, kicking our heels out on the third and fourth beats, for the better part of ten minutes. Then we ate, and oh what a meal! The ladies really know how to do it up right. After the meal, we had a nice sit about on the carpet to let our food settle. It was here that I "learned" my new word. I hesitate to say I learned it, because I have no idea what it means. Judging by the acting job I got, it means either "grand mal seizure" or something to effect of "I'm exhausted." Sadly, it's not in my dictionary. Next time I see someone having an epileptic episode, I'll start screaming it and see if anyone understands what I am saying.



But after our sit about, we had a killer game of dodge ball. The rules: There will be two teams. Each team is made of about 6 people. One team forms two lines on opposite sides of the street. The other team is in the middle. If the team in the middle is hit by a ball, and the ball falls to the ground, the person hit is out. If the ball is caught in the air, you win an extra soul (direct translation here). Once you are down to just one person in the middle, you only have ten throws to hit them or the entire team comes back out. Past that, it is wide open. My team was on the outside first and we got everyone out in a fairly quick manner and hit the last person on the second throw. My team was in the middle next. I won a dozen souls for my team. We don't die, we multiply baby! It was almost half an hour before our FIRST person went down. Finally, they made the rule that your extra souls can only be used by the person who won the extra soul. Therefore, I was stuck with 6 souls, the Shark had 3, and everybody else was out. Sadly, I had three souls just slip through my fingers and I went down before the Shark. He made it for seven throws, but was hit on number eight, so we went back to the outside. It was here that I really came into my own. The Shark decided to just one hop the ball to me, to catch everyone off guard and to give me an awesome chance to nail one of them. Boy did it work. Six of their eight players were gone by my seventh throw. I was 6 for my first 7. I missed one guy a couple times in a row and he said to me as the Shark was going to get an errant throw, "I won't be as easy to get." Ok, old man. The very next throw he was out. One of his teammates won a soul from our weak link to bring him back on, but the very next time I got the ball, he took a seat again. We had their entire team out in a little less than 15 minutes and the last person only made it three throws. It was a dominant performance and I was named MVP. No one ever gave me a final answer as to whether it was awarded due to my soul saving abilities or my soul taking abilities. Either way, I'm your Dodgeball MVP today!