Slice of Life, Day 4--"A Few Moments Recorded: Newcomers Go to an NCAA Basketball Game"

On Friday we took our Newcomer children to a basketball game at the professional arena here in Indianapolis. It was one of the final games in the Women's NCAA Basketball Tournament. We received free tickets through the organization, and so I found myself sitting in the nosebleed seats with 60 students from our school, 19 of which were mine.

I could post pictures, but it wouldn't capture it. I could show you videos, but you still couldn't feel the excitement and joy. I could write 10,000 words of every detail, and yet still leave you out of the loop.

And so, I'll just share a quick list of some of the things I heard, saw, and witnessed as 60 kids, new to the U.S. in the last year, witnessed a classic sports event.

-The cheerleaders: "Miss, they go in air! So high!"

-The arena: "Wowwwww! So big!"

-The lime green t-shirts given out and promptly put on over uniforms. They didn't know they were getting them, and it was a fun moment.

-The 2 bags of cotton candy procured by our school coach and given out in small bites to dubious students--grimaces at first, followed by enormous smiles. Sugar speaks all languages.

- Every. Single. Basket. Made. We cheered. We chanted. We jumped up for every one of them and screamed in victory. Finally, one of the kids from another school in front of us turned around to me, and said, "They don't even know what team they're cheering for," with a teenage girl eye roll. I replied, "That's right. We cheer for everyone and we're having a blast. Want to come up and join the fun?" She didn't, but we kept it up.

- The free signs and team tatoos: We proudly made signs supporting one team or another on the way out and covered our hands in tatoos to show our love for the teams whose names we hardly knew. We walked to the bus with the signs over our heads, shouting our support.

- The parked police car I boldly approached and asked for help with directions. There was a palpable moment of silence from our long, winding line. These kids aren't used to police that help. It was a deliberate move on my part, partly because I was afraid we were headed in the wrong direction, but mostly to show them police don't have to be scary.

- The smile I'll never forget as I translated, "Do you need to go to the bathroom now or can you wait a few minutes?" into Swahili on my phone to a child who arrived last week. He gave me the thumbs up in response and we both relaxed, knowing we'd been understood by the other.

It was a day I'll never forget. There was no whining, no complaints, no disappointment, no teenage apathy. It was a day filled with joy, appreciation, and unbridled excitement.

I just had to share.