At the beginning of the homestay, we had agreed to 3 events where the kids would be together, but I pushed our local rep to arrange a 4th because the kids pushed me to do so. We did it.
The result was a soccer game between the Americans and the Italian host siblings. We rented a field for an hour and got all the families to bring their kids. The result was wonderful. When the idea was being thrown around, some of the Americans told me that they wouldn’t play (I told them it was fine to watch), but when the actual game happened they caved in and joined their friends.
My kids during the game
Before we began, I told the Italian hosts to go easy on the kids. They did and were incredibly good sports about the whole thing. Still, the Americans did pretty well and even mounted some attacks. The second half yielded some really good opportunities and I remember vividly Rob’s score from inside the box. You would have thought we won the World Cup with the shot! And that was the last goal, so I guess we won! America! A really memorable moment happened at half time. The kids wanted to come together and do a chant before the second half. The result is this.
We got together after the game (again with almost all the families and Americans) and walked around downtown during the night. We happened on a concert in the downtown area. As we’re walking up to it, a slightly scary/funny moment happened. I notice that a midget is passing and let him by us, but Lowell does not notice. He yells, “Oh sh**” as the guy passes. Our short friend was pissed (even if Lowell was just startled) and chased the group for a while. Anyways, it was great and yielded some really cool group pictures. Some of those are below.
Italians and Americans
Lowell and Caitlen
Not Intent on Arriving 
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