EST ANDOVER — Greater Lawrence Tech soccer player Eddie Boateng didn't see his first snowfall until the age of 16.

That's not too surprising considering there aren't too many flakes falling out of the sky in his homeland of Ghana, Africa.

"I had never seen snow before, and I was sitting in class and my teacher told me it had just snowed outside. He took me outside and told me to touch the snow," said Boateng. "I was a little nervous about it at first, but it was amazing. It was my first day of seeing snow! It was pretty cool. My teacher told me to watch out for the yellow snow, though."

"He told his teacher, he said, 'Does it snow yellow, too?'" recalled head boys soccer coach Phil Youngclaus.

Boateng has had quite an interesting journey to America and his current lifestyle. After nine years of schooling in Ghana — he was an A/B student at All Saints Prep School — he decided he wanted to join his 28-year-old brother in the States in the hopes of attaining a better life.

The ordeal was extensive and taxing, however.

"You have to go to the U.S. Embassy and do medicals and stuff. It took a while to get clearance," Eddie said. "They ask you questions and they watch you and you have to do a whole lot of things before they will give you the visa to come here."

Eddie lives in Methuen with his brother, who works full-time as an automotive mechanic. Eddie also works part-time at Market Basket to help support himself. The city life with which Eddie is now familiar is a far cry from the living situation he was accustomed to back home outside of Kumasi, Ghana.

Eddie explained, "My home was a village, a village where it was mostly forest. This is very different. When I first arrived in Boston, oh, I thought I was in heaven. Back home, there was running water, but it was one well that everyone would use. We didn't have buildings like this.

"Back home, I was in a small school with only about a hundred people. You're just in one classroom all day long and the same teachers teach every subject."

The towering buildings and numerous water fountains weren't all Eddie had to get acclimated to. His English was admittedly poor, but with a little help, he soon developed a better familiarity with the language.

"It was very hard for me to speak English when I first got here, and it was hard for people to understand me," said Boateng. "But all my teachers have made it easy for me. They'll understand things and take their time with me when I need it."

Now familiar with the changing of the seasons and the frigid New England winters, Eddie has been a vital member of the Greater Lawrence varsity soccer team for the past two seasons. A Commonwealth Conference Large All-Star, Boateng and the Reggies will be playing Shawsheen Tech today in the Division 3 North tourney preliminaries.

Eddie's emergence was a pleasant surprise for Youngclaus, who is also a guidance counselor at the school.

Youngclaus said, "It was funny because I was here and met him over the summer (in 2007) and they told me, 'You know, this kid plays soccer, too.' So, I was interested right away, and I said 'Oh really? You know, coming out of Ghana, this kid could be pretty good.'"

While Eddie showed a good deal of skill from the get-go, it took him a while to adjust to the vastly different American style of play.

"When I first got him, he was dribble-crazy. He'd get the ball and just go," said Youngclaus. "In American soccer, you have to pass the ball and set up plays, and it took a while for him to learn that."

It's no surprise that Eddie's favorite sport has served as the equalizer between him and his classmates. According to Eddie, soccer is a sport as ingrained in the lives of young African youths as baseball and football are for their American counterparts.

"Back there, we don't have baseball or football, we only have soccer, except we call it 'futbol.' We don't play on grass, we used to play on dirt with just our bare feet. Playing on grass and wearing cleats is a big change. I like it better," Boateng said.

While it was difficult for Eddie to part with his parents, he realized that an American education would better his own situation while also allowing him to help the rest of his family still in Africa.

"When I get out of high school, I want to be an electrician. When you work hard here, it might not seem like you make a lot of money," Eddie said, "but you send it over there and change it and it is a lot of money. I want to work and be able to help my parents out back home."

Eddie appreciates the opportunities he's been afforded here. That's why you'll typically find him walking the halls of Greater Lawrence Tech or patrolling the backfield of the soccer pitch with an ear-to-ear grin.

"He shows a lot of respect on and off the field, but you'll be talking about a serious thing and he's just smiling and you look at him and say 'What are you smiling for? What are you so happy about?'" Youngclaus said with a laugh.

"He's just always smiling. Some of the kids will yell, 'What are you smiling about, you just made a mistake!' But that was kind of my fault that I didn't read through it. So now I say, 'Alright, OK, that's just him.'"

Boateng said, "I think this country, it has really helped me a lot, and my family, too."