Football, sleep and lobster sum up my fantastic weekend.
It started with the European Cup Football game on Friday Evening. The Netherlands versus France. A 4 - 1 win. Meaning Holland beat both World Cup 2006 finalists in their first two Euro games. Go orange! What will happen next? Another brilliant victory against Romania, or will Romania win- kicking both France and Italy out of the tournament??!?! We're in a good position.
Saturday morning started off nice and slow. Sleeping in! Lovely.
In the afternoon we went to the National Stadium here in Freetown. Time to watch a World Cup Qualifier match. The Sierra Leone Stars versus the South Africa Bafana Bafana. The game did start of a little sloppy. And it was a little strange when the game was halted a few minutes in and for a good 4 minutes or so the players on field hung about while the referee sorted something out in the 'dugout'. (too many players on the bench?) Then the action began again. With a penalty shot 20 minutes into the game, the Star's team captain scored 1 for his team. The second half was full or more excitement as the World Cup hosting nation (SA) strived for a goal. To no avail. The Salone Stars won! An exciting match. Lots of noise; whistles, cheering, radios (many men had handheld radios, I guess to hear what the commentator was saying!) I can imagine the cheering is similar at the Euro Cup games! And of course there were lots of vendors carrying their loads on their heads, trying to sell meat pies, egg sandwiches, little plastic bags of water, meat on sticks, smoked fish, fish balls, 'raw' hot dogs. Talk about an equisite assortment of snack food! At the end of the game supporters were allowed onto the field; for a little while. Then the police 'kindly' escorted them off of the field- the police, some of which had rifles and most had shields. These football matches have been known to get out of hand in the past (with police using tear gas and all) so I guess the over-abundance of police, military police etc. was needed as a precaution. Anyway, it was an excellent way to spend a Saturday afternoon.
Today a group of us went to a place called Franco's or Florence. A restaurant with great (sea)food with view of the beach. After a lovely pasta and lobster dish, and a grilled crab, we headed out to sea. Playing in the ocean and lying on the sand soaking in the sun. Great fun!
Saturday morning started off nice and slow. Sleeping in! Lovely.
In the afternoon we went to the National Stadium here in Freetown. Time to watch a World Cup Qualifier match. The Sierra Leone Stars versus the South Africa Bafana Bafana. The game did start of a little sloppy. And it was a little strange when the game was halted a few minutes in and for a good 4 minutes or so the players on field hung about while the referee sorted something out in the 'dugout'. (too many players on the bench?) Then the action began again. With a penalty shot 20 minutes into the game, the Star's team captain scored 1 for his team. The second half was full or more excitement as the World Cup hosting nation (SA) strived for a goal. To no avail. The Salone Stars won! An exciting match. Lots of noise; whistles, cheering, radios (many men had handheld radios, I guess to hear what the commentator was saying!) I can imagine the cheering is similar at the Euro Cup games! And of course there were lots of vendors carrying their loads on their heads, trying to sell meat pies, egg sandwiches, little plastic bags of water, meat on sticks, smoked fish, fish balls, 'raw' hot dogs. Talk about an equisite assortment of snack food! At the end of the game supporters were allowed onto the field; for a little while. Then the police 'kindly' escorted them off of the field- the police, some of which had rifles and most had shields. These football matches have been known to get out of hand in the past (with police using tear gas and all) so I guess the over-abundance of police, military police etc. was needed as a precaution. Anyway, it was an excellent way to spend a Saturday afternoon.
Today a group of us went to a place called Franco's or Florence. A restaurant with great (sea)food with view of the beach. After a lovely pasta and lobster dish, and a grilled crab, we headed out to sea. Playing in the ocean and lying on the sand soaking in the sun. Great fun!
1 comment:
woo hoo!!! sounds like SO MUCH fun!!! :)
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