In our neighborhood, every afternoon, all the neighbor kids come out to play. It's a bit like Sandlot....only without the baseball.
This bulldog lives at the corner of our neighborhood. He is a huge, old, dog with a bad temper and vicious sounding bark. In this game one person walks toward the bull dog's house and tries to get the little kid Alfred, who lives in the bull dog's house, to come out and play with us. The weapons we choose are: 1 stick, 3 rocks, and your body, and good running legs. If you get chased, you lose. If Alfred comes out to play without being chased, you win. If you get bit, you get rabies. So far, there have been 3 winners. And the rest are sorry losers. Losing is really exciting though. As long as you don't get bit. Edward, my friend, when he was getting chased felt the bull dog's mouth on his leg, but it didn't bit him. Very Exciting! The day my friends AJ and Max arrived at our bungalow, AJ wanted to give Alfred a piece of candy when the bull dog was out.....he got chased bad! No rabies, though.
The bulldog is the equivalent to the beast in the Sandlot, and Alfred is the Babe Ruth signed ball.
Next Game: Skateboarding
Are there skateboards in Ghana? No, roads are too bumpy. So, my friend Nhyira (who always loses in the bulldog game) wanted to make cardboard skateboards. They do not roll. But we can do wicked tricks off our back porch.
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| Gonzo! |
Game: Police & Tiefs (thiefs - but in Ghana they pronounce the 'th' with a 't')
This is not your basic cops and robbers game. This game's boundaries are the whole neighborhood. We split into two groups. One group is the Police and the other is Tiefs. Then the tiefs run from the police and police try to grab them, then we fake punch and tackle, and throw them in fake prison (which is a truck). Once all the tiefs are captured, then teams switch.
Game: Field Hockey
Equipment needed:
1. a good stick with a little curve at the end
2. a good ball (we make our ball out of paper and tape)
3. tough shins
4. your body
5. two goals distinguished by the exterior of Hannah's bedroom windows and two rocks on the other side of the yard.
Play basically is throwing the ball up and getting the ball with your sticks, (this is why you need tough shins). Then you try to score goals against the other team, without bloody shins. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
Game: Football
Just your basic soccer game. The neighbor kids are way good.
Game: American Football
Just your basic American football game. They're not as good at this game.
Game: Shark
Everyone, except one person, climbs a tree (all in the same tree). The one person not in the tree is the shark. The tree is the boat. The shark tries to jump up and grab the people from the boat and eat them. When everyone's been eaten, the game starts over with a new shark.
Game: Chicken
One of the neighbor dogs, Damian, and Hannah's dog, "Hoppy", when they see a chicken on Damian's property they chase the chicken. Sometime they catch it then eat it, and sometimes they fail and the chicken jumps up a small tree with fear in it's eyes.
