On Friday after school, I went home with Somaya, a friend in my class. At around six o'clock we headed over to a sporting complex in Harnes where we helped set up for the international judo competition the next day.
We arrived at the same building on Saturday at around eight in the morning. I should probably mention that my role here was to act as an interpreter since this was an international event. I translated the president of the judo club's introduction speech as my first task. I later read it aloud in English after he read his in French.
Over the next eleven hours, I translated disputes made by coaches, announcements, and information about injured players to the medical team on the sidelines.
At one point in the evening, I supervised a weigh-in room where the judo players came in and checked their size for the following day's competition. One group came in and started looking around. I asked them in French if they needed to weigh themselves. They gave me puzzled looks, and one boy looked at me and slowly said, "um, Anglais?" I, without hesitation, quickly changed from French to English, and the looks on their faces were priceless! They obviously did not expect me to be American and freaked out when they realized I wasn't French.
Once the competition had finished for the day, Somaya, her dad, Yusef (her ten year old brother) and I went out to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. Overall, French Chinese food and American Chinese food do not differ greatly. I had an educational experience there, though. I learned that kumquats are nasty and taste like liquorice.
After dinner we went bowling. Yusef told me that he was an excellent bowler. I soon realized that bumpers were the keys to his success. I ended with a score of 117.
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