"Holiday" with Tanja

At the beginning of July, Tanja Baumann, an 18 yr old girl from Germany, came to Senegal for 3 wks of holiday with her family. Instead of spending the entire time with her family at the beach, Tanja chose to spend 2 wks in Thies hanging out with Philippe... and me too. :-) You see, Tanja, loves soccer or I should say, futbol, and plays on a women's team in Germany. She has been playing futbol since she was 3 and is definitely passionate about the game. Philippe also has a love for the game & was able to provide Tanja with many chances to play & train with the boys at the local futbol school that Philippe actually attended when he was playing himself.

Tanja was so great and I, personally, had a wonderful time hanging out with & getting to know her! We had a lot of fun together & a cool thing was that she was here during the World Cup, so the 3 of us ended up watching the final games together & watched Germany clinch 3rd place. This picture here is actually of us having dinner at Massa Massa after we just watched the final game between Spain & Netherlands.

Below are several pics of Tanja at the CNEPS school doing a training session for the young boys with Philippe. Tanja doesn't speak any French, but apparently the language of futbol is universal. :-)

one of my favorite pics from the day... 'water break'...

She also had several opportunities to train & play with the older guys. She definitely held her own, impressed some of the guys (I think!) & made us proud! Check out these pics...

During her last visit to the field, Tanja & Philippe, were able to donate lots of new soccer balls, sports gear, & first aid kits courtesy of Sports Life & Blooming.

On a side note: I don't know if I can explain to you just how excited I was to see green grass when I came to the field for the first time! Grass has never truly been so beautiful to me before. It reminded me so much of home, that I actually told Philippe that he is going to have to bring me to this field every so often so I can get my fill of green grass & a small taste of my home in PA. With the grass, I was also so excited to see the first real lawn mower I've seen in Senegal, that I just had to take a picture... :-)