Euro Beer Pong, Chinese New Year, Park Café

So we won another match last night in 4. It wasn't our best performance by any means, but a win is a win. Plus that makes us 3-0 in 2009. Things are going much better for us now. We are still ranked 6th in the league, but some of the top teams have been dropping some uncharacteristic matches... so we hope to be moving on up soon.

As you know our team is from 8 different countries with all sorts of different customs and cultures. Last night was Chinese New Years so we decided to have a party at our house after the match. All of the girls brought CD's of their favorite music, and we ordered pizzas for dinner. The pizza guy is in LOVE with Erica so he brought us two free pizzas and a bottle of this tasty peach liquor. We taught the girls on our team some American drinking games that are pretty traditional in college.

After a fun night at the house a few of us went out to Park Cafe. It is this cool Disco (dance club) that we go to sometimes. It was fun to hang out with the whole team and just enjoy being around each other. I really think this will be good for us, because it brought everyone together.

Today is a free day and we spent the morning cleaning the disaster we call our kitchen and then tonight I think we are going to go out for dinner. Hope all is well back home! Keep posting comments it is so good to hear from all of you! Miss everyone! :)

The Looooong Day Is Over...

"Feeling tired
By the fire
The long day is over

The wind is gone
Asleep at dawn
The embers burn on

With no reprise
The sun will rise
The long day is over"

We have been practicing twice a day and it has really started to take a toll on my body. The tendinitis and disk pain has all started up again. Today we had a 1.5 hour serve and pass practice, followed by Kraft Training (lifting) and a 20 minute jog. The gym is on the other side of Wiesbaden and we have to eat lunch as a team after so we had only a few hours before having to get ready for our 2.5 hour evening practice. We are tired and drained. Although we are playing one of the bottom teams in the league I am a bit nervous considering how beat up the team is.

On a better note however Taylor Reineke who I played with at Wisconsin just got signed in Switzerland! She is living only 4 hours away and I was able to see her last weekend! We had Sunday off and Taylor had Monday off so Erica and I drove down to watch Tay play on Sunday night. Well it took a while to get there what with our McDonalds and other fine snacks stops that we were 30 mins late getting into the city. On top of that Tay had only been there for a week and didn't have an adress for the gym, just the street and a name of the gym (the wrong name). So it was dark and icey and we were lost.

Our GPS (Gigi) is a little jerk and tends to go a little crazy at times, while needless to say we followed this narrow icy path that we JUST IN TIME figured out was not a path but a boating DOCK! We were literally on the river dock! Erica realized this not because we saw the water but we saw a boat rocking right next to us. We slowly and as calmly as possible backed up and onto the street again. About 5 minutes later we were on the bike path in the back of the university! The car was fish tailing around and there may have been a few moments where I thought we were going to crash, but Erica is awesome and we made it back to the main street.

By the time we made it to the gym the match was over :( but we went for crepes with Tay to celebrate her first Pro match! After that we drove home to Wiesbaden and Taylor and I went out to YOURS Sports Bar, which is an American style sports bar with an english menu and live feeds from the military base of the NFL! We watched the steelers/ravens game and pretended like we were back home in Madison! It was awesome.

The next morning Tay and I went to Frankfurt to tour around and have lunch. It was so awesome to see her again and just to hang out with someone from home. I am sure we will be traveling around together soon. The pics from when Tay was here are in the Friends and Family link to the left.

Well we have practice in the morning so I should get some sleep, or at least try...

Ciao for now! haha :)

Wow, Time Flies

I know it has been a long while since I wrote to you last, and I apologize for that. I have had visitors for a month here between my friends Jenna and Mollie from Winona and my mom and grammie, who have been here since Christmas. So lets back things up a bit to when the girls where here.

I was so excited to have Mollie and Jenna here because at that time I was in need of some pieces of home. The girls brought me a little care package of all my favorite things from home like cheeots, chips ahoy cookies, pancake mix, and this AMAZING cheese that Mollie's mom would bring to the Winona volleyball matches. Her mom also sent a giant thing of homemade caramel corn, which I am guessing was good since the girls ate pretty much all of it! lolWhile they were here it was the last week of the Christmas markets so we went to about 4 different ones and did all of our Christmas shopping there. We also went to Hieldburg to see the castle there and got some crepes! I also taught the girls how to drive stick shift which was surprisingly not as scary as I thought it was going to be. They were naturals and we had a blast road tripping around Germany.

I only had a day to get everything in order from when the girls let and my family got here. I pick my mom and grammie up from the airport on Christmas eve and we went for dinner at my friend's house. Katie Kimmich is from California and I know her from playing volleyball together, her and her husband are living in Germany for 3 years since he is in the air force and they just so happen to live less than an hour from here!!

For new years we went to Munich with Sheila and then onto Salzburg for the Original Sound of Music tour. Munich was crazy for new years. There were people setting giant fireworks off everywhere you turned. It almost seemed like a war zone because you would be walking in the square and one would shoot off right past your leg. The trip to Salzburg the next day was Grammie's birthday present since she has wanted to go there ever since she first saw the movie years ago.
Things have been a little crazy with the team. There was a while where I wasn't really sure what was going to happen. Over half the team was talking about quiting, a few walked out of practice, and tensions where high, but we worked things out for the most part and practices have been a LOT better. We are practicing twice a day now, which makes me miss Wisconsin a little, having an athletic trainer and all, but we hang in there and suck it up.

Well that is about it for now, I leave for our match in a few hours... wish us luck....

Good Times... Great Oldies!

Sorry it has been a while since my last post. I have been super busy lately exploring the Xmas markets all over Germany and driving around in my new car!! As you all know the volleyball has just kind of been okay. I am starting to at least get an idea of what is being said at practice, and since we do a lot of the same things I can guess what is happening even if I don't really know.

My car came this week! YAY! It is a VW FOX!!
Last weekend we had a 9 hour road trip to play against Rachael VanMeter from Illinois! We lost in 4 sets, but it was a good match. We went to a team dinner after and then had a really fun party with both teams. Sheila was named player of the game from our team and Rachael won for her team, so the Big Ten represented well! We stayed at the sports hotel where the other team lived so we went up to their floor and danced in the halls and then we had a little Jam session on the guitar and sang Brown Eyed Girls and such!
This weekend we didn't have a match so Sheila, Erica, and I went to some Xmas markets in a couple of towns down the road. (I drove us there in my car!!) It was really fun and we ate a TON of food. Today we hosted a little kids Xmas volleyball tournament and we all were assigned a team. It was tough at first because I don't speak very much German and the kids didn't know any English, so we made up our own little language and cheers for the games. It was fun to play.

Ohhh how could I forget!! Last night we went to a disco-tech which is what they call the dance clubs here. It was a super nice place and the music was awesome. The DJ had all sorts of mixes including one mix of Micheal Jackson's "Billy Jean" and Justin Timberlake's "Bringing Sexy Back". Of course my favorite was the mix with Earth Wind and Fire's "September"!!
Let's see, what else has been going on... Oh I had to do a guitar performance at our team sponsor's Xmas dinner. I was a bit nervous because I don't play in front of people but at least I had Sheila and Erica up there with me, and I had a few glasses of courage first! hehe Well, I really need to get some sleep! I have early Kraft Training (weights) and then I have to get everything ready for my friend Mollie and Jenna to get into town! We pick them up in Frankfurt on Tuesday morning and I can't freaking wait!

Hope all is well, and as usual I will load a link to the recent pictures on the blog!

Gone Baby Gone

So I know that this has nothing to do with me being in Germany, minus the fact that I just finished watching the Movie Gone Baby Gone while in Germany.... but

I don't want to ruin the movie for those who haven't seen it, but minus the harsh language at parts it is a fantastic film. To be able to express the full range of human existence in 1.5 hours is fantastic work by the cast of this film. It is amazing to me how the dualistic nature of human thought and emotion can play out in our lives. That some of the most generous warm hearted people can be capable of cruel and unjust actions only because in their own moral standard the ends somehow justify the means. I love how romanticized personal ethics and religious morale standards combat with the more jaded "real life" circumstances. There were so many moments throughout this film that I really challenged myself to wonder... If I were in this situation would I really do the "right" thing? Whats more....what truely is the "right" thing as this film cleverly pulls the viewer into different mindsets based on each character's perspective....

Well, I could ramble on about this forever. I guess this is why I majored in sociology! Anyway... Germany is going well. The Christmas markets are now open and the shopping season has begun!!! I spent some time down there the other day with Sheila but I am waiting to go back once my friends from the state get into town! (2 weeks!!)

Sheila and I both got the stomach flu before our last match and haven't been feeling too well since, which is why I have been watching so many movies lately. Other than that life has been the same ol same ol... practice, kraft training (weights), German lessons, grocery shopping (since we are always out of milk.. and chocolate), and chilling down at the city center.

I took some pictures of us around town, in the locker room, and at a team dinner so check those out.

Love Ya'll