soccer and phones

       

Date	Place of run	Push-ups	1-minute sprints	Duration (min)	Start time
5 May	Ring Road  to M. Teresa	25,25	1 (62 sec)	32	6:59

Date	Place of run	Push-ups	Pull-ups	4 flights	1-minute sprints	Duration (min)	Start time
8 May	Ring road to M. Teresa	25,25	2,2	19.91	1	36	9:03

           

May 5:

My body is healing. Today, after 5 days of absolutely NO running and walking quite gingerly, I ran my new favorite route that has less traffic. Why was I walking gingerly for 5 days? Last Wednesday, during ultimate frisbee, my foot movement rubbed a mammoth blister on the instep of my right foot.  An area of loose skin the size of a quarter was left hanging. Usually, blisters have liquid inside. This monster may have had liquid, but by the time I looked at the foot, it had broken open, and the weeping had soaked into the insert.

The cause of  this rubbing is my new orthopedic inserts in my shoes. I have a terrible case of flat feet--I think it would have kept me out of any country's army. I've worn inserts for about 15 years. These new ones, produced here in Albania, have arch supports that are somewhat higher than the old ones. Therefore, the inside of my foot is rubbed more intensely than it was using the old, lower inserts. All a recipe for a blister. Pleasantly, now that the blister has dried up and the redness has turned to a more normal color, things are great.

May 8

           

            I started later today because I was told I could go over to the ticket office at the stadium and pickup tickets for the game tomorrow.  I ran the new route with less traffic, had a good time.  Muscles are still a bit tight, but nothing unreasonable.  The ‘downward dog’ is helping loosen me up.  As you can see above, I did 2 sets of 2 pull-ups.  The Frisbee Elbow is still giving me trouble.  One great thing about today is that I achieved my goal of 20 seconds for the 4 flights up to my apartment.  I shaved .09 seconds from that lofty target.

About the football tickets, I’d been to the ticket office on Wednesday, no one there.  People around the office said, “Come tomorrow at 9:00” A few minutes later, they said, “Better come at 10:00.”  So no one really knows when to come.  At any rate, I asked our secretary how her son gets tickets—her son is my student--goes to all the games.  She made a few calls, including to the mother of another one of my students who works at the soccer federation of Albania. Hoorah! Now I’m waiting for a call about when I should go to pick up the tickets.

UPDATE:  The game was interesting, but ended in a 0-0 tie. Ugh! Maxim and I wore dissecting every bit of the game trying to find something interesting to notice. One remarkable event was when a player from the other team, #7, fell to the ground in seeming agony, and rolled around in the fetal position.  When no one noticed, and the action moved away, he got up, and rejoined everyone else. A couple minutes later, #7 was again on the ground. The game stopped, the trainers came out, and after a couple minutes, he again joined the game.  The third time he was down, the two guys with the stretcher came running out. Number Seven, now that he was receiving the attention he wanted, stood up and limped off the field.  A replacement came to the rescue.  Other interesting sites: flares from both sections of fans—the smoke sometimes obscured the field, but nothing much happened.  A bunch of balloons were set free to pollute the countryside.  The final bit of interest came at the end of the game.  The Korce fans were allowed to leave immediately.  The Tirana fans were held up.  We all crowded around the exit and started climbing on top of each other.  Visions of the several soccer tragedies from the 80’s came to mind—when fans pushed so strongly at a soccer match in England that over 90 people were crushed to death.  http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/15/newsid_2491000/2491195.stm The results were not near this dramatic, but not until I was walking out did I realize what was happening.  The officials wanted to give the Korce fans time to leave the area before the Tirana fans came out.  This was to avoid any kind of trouble.  Going into the game, the two teams were 1 (Korce) and 2 (Tirana) atop the Albania football standings. A tie meant that Korce maintained their spot, and probably won for the year.  Letting the sore Tirana fans out might mean a fight.

Maxim and I got the tickets we when rode out bikes to meet the woman at a coffee shop.  My 13-year-old student, Blerta, her daughter, was also there.  I must say something about this meeting. It is an example of a troublesome trend that is obvious in modern society. Blerta, greeted us with a smile, and kept a friendly countenance all the while we were at the table, but she also did not stop looking at her phone. Maxim, as usual, had a generally surly look on his face…but he answered questions—a couple times with even more than one-word answers. Even though I would like Maxim to be happy, bubbly, and energetic about meeting people, I know that such behavior is not often exhibited in the teenage animal. I’ll cut him some slack. He was not rude or contrary during the meeting; just not talkative.

Blerta is one of my best students. She was quite worried when she came into my class that she would not be able to keep up with us. In reality, she is quite capable and intelligent. She does more than the assigned homework, and during class gladly works with top students or a struggling student, she performs admirably and does her best to help out in any way I ask. Yesterday during our brief meeting with her mother, however, her nose was perpetually pointed toward the phone. Her mother said that she is always that way, whether they are at the dinner table, or going to the beach. She also suggested that it would be better not to have a phone. I raised my eyebrows and nodded my head in total agreement. Berta did not notice, of course.

After the meeting, I complimented Maxim on his behavior during the meeting, although I had to prompt him to say goodbye. I asked him what he thought of the young girl’s actions. He said he was totally used to it because he sees it all the time in his classmates.

So it seems that we may be doing the right thing in not giving Maxim a phone. I’m not to the point where I don’t think about the decision, however. I’m concerned that it might become like a forbidden drug that once he DOES get a phone, he will obsess over it and it will control his life. The point is that nowadays, with many kids, they are already obsessing over the phone. I don’t know how anyone could be any MORE focused on the phone than I often see around me now. I have another student who doesn’t do homework, doesn’t show much interest in learning and whenever I see him in the office, he is sitting on the couch with a hunched-over posture that cannot be healthy, poking buttons on the accursed phone.   

If anyone reading this has any ideas about teenagers and phone use, please write to me.  oskmax@gmail.com.  Thanks