This past weekend was the final training for the Football for Hope Festival. It's hard to believe it is almost time to go to South Africa after six plus months of preparation!
One ongoing concern is the weather in South Africa. The World Cup is in June and July and World Cup attendees typically can root for their favorite team in shorts and team jerseys. Not so in South Africa as it is winter in the southern hemisphere. Yesterday, the high in Johannesburg, elevation 5,751 feet, was 66 and the low was 44. If you've seen any World Cup matches, you'll have seen the fans bundled up in scarves, hats and jackets. It is hard to imagine that cold weather exists while living in sweltering Cambodia and it's even harder to find cold weather appropriate garb.
We've been trying to explain to the team and coaches how cold it will be and tried to find analogies to give them some idea of what to expect. "It's as cold as the inside of your refrigerator" - Oh, wait, the team lives in villages without electricity and don't have fridges. It's colder than you can imagine - okay, the coldest they've ever experienced is about 70 degrees once or twice at night. We've given up on descriptions and are just focusing on finding gear to keep them warm.
Imagine shopping when it is 90 plus degrees outside and five to ten degrees warmer inside the market. Navigating the maze known as the "Russian Market" in search of winter clothes can be considered hazardous to your health. Sweat dripping, sideswiping the ever present book and postcard vendors and maneuvering through the stalls of bootleg cd's, silk scarves and Cambodian trinkets, we haggled over the prices of hoodies, scarves and turtlenecks, uncertain how the team would feel about our fashion choices.
Upon leaving the market, arms laden with bags and looking like your typical hot, sweaty tourist, we looked like paydirt for the tuk tuk and moto taxi drivers. They chuckled after hearing our "mian lan howie" (have car already) and left us to load up the land cruiser and head to the Japanese Thrift Store.
The Japanese Thrift Store has been an exciting addition to the shopping scene in Phnom Penh and is THE destination for costume parties. Think Goodwill in a sauna. Certainly not our ideal destination to shop for wool sweaters and winter coats, but it is the only spot that could have what we need in Cambodia for the right price. Although indoors and out of the burning sun, it seemed hotter than outside in the direct sunlight. We searched rack after rack of jackets and sweaters feeling and looking as if we were at mile ten in a marathon. Where was the water station and orange slices when you need it? We hit the jackpot with five winter coats, very cute thanks to the Japanese fashion mavens, six scarves and eight wool sweaters all for the crippling price of $11!!
While the gear pile was mounting, we were still concerned the tiny, thin Cambodians would not be ready to face both the elevation and the cold weather. We needed long underwear to round out the ensemble, but it is not a hot ticket item in Cambodia. As we were traveling to Bangkok for medical check-ups (sidenote: the state of medical facilities in Cambodia is not good, so most foreigners go to Bangkok for check-ups and other medical needs), we decided to dedicate part of the trip to searching for long underwear. After some research on the subject, we hit several markets in search of the elusive southeast Asian long underwear. We spotted and bagged the long underwear at the Pratunam Center, one of Bangkok's old school markets, somewhat grungy and very different from Bangkok's new uber-modern shopping malls. While out shopping, we saw some of the effects of the two month-long protests, including the burned down Central World Mall. It was a pretty shocking sight to see and a big F.U. to capitalism and the elite.
During the final weekend training session, it was Christmas in Cambodia. The team members were given their new tracksuits and turf shoes, donated by friends at adidas America. This is the first time the team members have ever had legitmate soccer shoes and soccer clothing; the rest of the time it is bootleg product from the local market. The team also tried on the various and sundry warm weather items to much hilarity and sweating. The girls especially liked the trendy Japanese winter coats, despite almost having heat stroke while trying them on. The Cambodian delegation may be the best dressed team in South Africa thanks to the Russian Market, the Japanese Thrift Store and our friends at adidas America.
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