One in a million…

The rains have arrived and it has been pretty consistent that every afternoon we get quite a storm that comes through. Last weekend was no different, but still I wouldn’t let some rain ruin my day. Emma had convinced me that we should do the bungi jump off of Victoria Falls Bridge. This used to be the highest bungi in the world, but had recently been surpassed by two other bridges. Still, over one hundred meters to the rushing Zambezi below I’m sure would be quite a rush. We headed down to the bridge in the morning, with the storm clouds threatening as they closed in. We made it down to the bridge with no rain and all was go for the jump. I let Emma jump first. The guys that run the jump are pretty good. They talk to you the whole time and are really quick to get you set for the jump because the longer they take the longer you have to opt out of jumping. Emma was set to go and I stood there on the bridge watching as they counted down five, four, three, two, one, bungi. There was a short scream and then she fell silent as she dove down towards the river below. A few trips back up and then down again and it was over.
Now it was my turn. For some reason I wasn’t too scared. A lot of my friends that are here have done it. Their only advice was to jump as far out as you can and enjoy the ride. I nervously watched as the staff wrapped towels around my ankles and then slip knotted some industrial straps on top of the towels. Before I knew it, I was ready to jump. You have to hop towards the edge of the platform. A quick smile, or in my case look of fear, for the camera and then… five, four, three, two, one, bungi. I jumped out as far as I could. I soon found myself out of breath and unable to scream. I was just plummeting towards the river. The bungi soon caught and I slowed down only to be catapulted back up towards the bridge. Down, back up, down, back up, it was an amazing feeling, unlike anything else that I have ever done in my life. It was thrilling and exhillerating.

I was excited that I jumped, but the best was yet to come. Monday arrived and I was back teaching at school. It was much of the same, I was teaching long division to the boys all morning and then we would head to the football grounds to play in the afternoon. I picked up the boys for the game in the afternoon and headed to the grounds. It was Alex and I coaching them this day, but we decided to skip the drills and head straight for a match before the rains started again. Alex was refereeing so that I could play in the game. I decided that I would play offence and try and score a goal. About half way through the first half I had my opportunity. I got a pass from one of the boys which I took to the near side post and angled in past the goalie. It was a brilliant goal and I was excited to have scored. My excitement was short lived as Alex blew the whistle and called me off sides. There was no way I was off sides, so I chased after Alex and pleaded my case. Too bad, no goal. I was pissed off and decided I would go back on defence to calm down. A few minutes passed and my team was threatening again at the goal. The team lost control of the ball though and the other team cleared the ball high in the air. The ball was heading straight for me at about half field. I decided that I was going to just wail on the ball and see what happened. I expected the usual miss kick or complete lack of contact with the ball at all. Instead though, I made full contact with the ball and it went speeding towards the goal. It bended in, contacted the top side of the post, ricocheted off the post, the goalies hands and went in. The boys went crazy as I did the traditional taking off of the shirt and running around like crazy. They caught up with me and tackled me to the ground, all piling on top of me. It was a one in a million shot and I probably could never do it again, but luck was on my side and it was a brilliant shot and the highlight of my trip to Zambia. Yes, my scoring a goal against my teenage students was the best thing so far that I did on my trip because the boys finally accepted me and were proud to see my football skills had improved to their level. They had taught me as well.