Today I had a pretty normal day at school. In English we had a quiz and I made a 100%, which I pretty proud of 😉 It was an easy quiz though….
After school I met with my friend Jacob and his sister Gretchen, who is in my debate class. We hung out at school a little and then went to their house to watch a movie. We watched Gardians of the Galaxy, which they said would be the ultimate American experience. We couldn‘t watch the whole movie because a little after seven o‘clock, their mom made us some bacon sandwiches, which was really tasty btw. They have a beautiful house, but I instantly recognized that they are overly religious. The crosses everywhere spread in the living room was a hint, then the prayer before eating and that one of their first questions was what religion I was. But anyway, they are really nice people and real Texans!
Afterwards we went to the High School stadium to „meet the pirates night“, where I met my host family again. It is an evening where everybody gathers at the stadium and they introduce the sport teams (pirates being the members of the football team, or all WHS students in general). The football team was definitely the center of attention. Most sports teams were just mentioned, but the football team was introduced twice, and all the players individually with name, grade and position. The team isn‘t really a good football team but football is huuuuge here, so they‘ll get supported anyway…..
First the band was playing on the field and marching (once also spelling the word „pirate“ with the band members). Since the school mascot is a pirate, they even played the pirates of the caribbean theme. Afterwards the pacesetters went on the field and performed a dance in sparkeling outfits to raise the crowed‘s attention. They covered the role that I expected the cheerleaders to have. But what I have found out so far, is that cheerleaders are not really important in Texan high schools. They are not even on the field performing, they are on the side of the field and only dancing for about one minute. And also, the cheerleading team isn‘t really the popular girls. Nobody even knows who they are. The real stars in school are the football players. And also, band seems like — with almost 300 kids involved — the most important part of a football game. They are quite impressive and I‘m not only saying that because my siblings and a lot of my friends are in it!
After introducing all of the players the evening was practically over and we went home. The goal of this event is to introduce the players and reach a bigger audience every time. So it wasn‘t a game at all…. The real game will be next Thursday!