"All I wanna do is have some fun... I got a feeling I'm not the only one" Sheryl Crow

Last week we went to watch my friend Josh play volleyball. His team is actually the team that my coach Loizos used to set for! It was a really fun environment with a completely packed gym and drums playing! I brought my Nikon D60 to take some pictures. It was my first attempt at taking action shots, but by the 3rd game I was doing much better with it. I am proud of some of the pictures I got. Here are a few of the pictures from the game (Josh is #18). I also have a link to more of my pictures in the picture column on the right of the blog.

It was an interesting ride to the game considering it started to rain and my roomies car is so old and beat up that the windshield wiper flew off of its track and got stuck on the side mirror of the car…

I wasn’t sure if we were going to make it but we did, barley! The game was a ton of fun and the boys fought hard, but unfortunately lost in 4 sets. After the game we went to dinner with my roomies and Josh’s cousin who is visiting from Australia. She was an awesome girl who told us a bit about her journeys backpacking through Europe. We also talked a lot about the difference in how we say certain things and about what it is like to live in different parts of the world. The do NOT say “shrimp on the Barbie” they don’t even say shrimp! They are prawns….BUT they do call the grill a Barbie! They also eat kangaroo! Eww, but I kind of want to try it!

We moved into our apartment the next day which is on the other side of Larnaca and pretty close to the gym.  I would say we are about a 3 minute drive to the gym  which will be nice for practice and games. I still don’t have my car so I have been walking around to get acquainted with my new neighborhood. There is a soccer stadium right in our back yard. It will be interesting to see this quiet and peaceful neighborhood come to life on game day! Our apartment is probably the largest I have been in anywhere I have stayed in Europe/ It has a super nice kitchen and not only a living room but also a dinning room! My room is really nice with a lot of closet space. On the other side of the room there are these two double door that I assumed was another closet and when I opened them I found…. A bathroom!! I got the master suite!

Yesterday was a ton of fun also! I went with the basketball boys to my coach’s house for homemade chili, cornbread, cobbler, and brown Sundays! Kendra (coach’s wife) has to be one of the best cooks ever! I am so glad that we have been invited back again. Loizos took us out for a drive after dinner and we went to some amazing spots along the coast. We saw where we are going to learnt o scuba dive as a well as cliff jump! There were also these amazing caves up in the hills as well as down by the sea in the side of the cliffs! My favorite stop was to see where Loizos purposed to Kendra. It has to be one of the most beautiful parts of the island and he told us he was very confident in his pick for a proposal location because, “she couldn’t say no” hehe. We also drove down to this amazing part down on the water where there is this huge gated off area with giant antennas. It is for a “French radio station”, however that has to be some crazy cover up considering there has never been a French song or even word spoken on any of the radio stations… dun dun duuuuuuuuuuun! Anyway, the sights were absolutely gorgeous but it was getting dark so I didn’t take pictures..but the boys and I have already planned a full weekend trip down that way so I will get a ton then. For sure some videos of the cliff jumping!

After our excursion we came back for desert and some more ESPN! We hung out, talked, shared stories and of course had a tiara dress up party for Loizos’s daughter. She is such a little sweetheart and I was so happy to see her running around and playing since she was in the hospital only a few days ago not feeling well. It was hilarious though because we were watching TV and she was on the couch with me and the boys. She was trying to put a tiara with this little comb on Terrance (he is bald, so as you can immage that wasn‘t too comfortable)…anyway all of a sudden a big AHHH CHUUU… and she sneezes all over him. It was hilarious, but he was a good sport about it.

We got another history lesson about Cyprus…last time it was the forbidden city, this time MAFIA!!! We learned all about the local Mafia and their cover businesses! It was crazy hearing some of the stories! It is amazing because the more I learn about Cyprus (good and bad) the more I want to know. It has such a rich culture and history because it has been over taken by so many countries! Like the story of why there is a giant infestation of CATS! These things are EVERYWHERE… and like HUNDREDS of them! I guess when the queen of England came here back when the Britts had control of the island she brought with her cats. The people liked having them because the would kill of the snakes! So now a days people leave the cats be since they know that the cats will make sure there are no snakes…I mean it makes sense to me! I would rather have cats galore than snakes! EWWW

We started watching the discovery channel which was probably the funniest part of our day considering all of the comments being made.

“Look.. Look look.. That dude is riding a freakin rain dear!!”
“Uhh Ohh that doesn’t look like its going to be good… -Hey if Rodoulph gets it…we have to change the channel”
“ohh ohh yeah itchy booty”
“he can smell what?”
“eeewww what the heck is that thing”

…anyway you get the picture….

On our way home we entered the 1st round-about and GRRRGGGCLUNKCLUNK the car stops! Apparently the radiator hose blew and we were trapped! Not the best place to get stuck late at night in the middle of the roundabout! We figured out that the hose for the radiator blew, so there was not much we could do to fix it. We called Loizos who came to the rescue and helped the boys get the car down the out of the round about and into a safe place…oh and since it never rains here of course it had to start to down pour during all of this. The cops drove up and checked on us and then randomly got in their car and ditched out… thanks a lot guys! NOT… Thank goodness for Loizos and our club president who drove us home to Larnaca!

Today I am just hanging out with the roomies getting all settled in and making a list of stuff we want to get at IKEA to make our house a little less grandma-ish… Josh is convinced that an old woman died here…we named her Dotty, because all of this old stuff was left at the house including a bath robe, panties, and some nasty food in the freezer! However I am wondering what kinda Grannie it was since there is also a giant hooka and dirty magazines that we found in the house as well.. hmmmmm

"and I took a look, a look down the road to see a badger and a one eyed toad they didn't say a word, they just looked at me with that wise old look of the old" -Dispatch

Wanna know what the wise old look for the old is???? I always wondered this when I listened to this song as I wonder about many of the lyrics from Dispatch....

The wise old look of the old is this is saying that... no matter how confident you are in your amazing sense of direction, if you are in a different country and deciding to take an adventure down the “unbeaten path”…bring a flippin’ map!!

For those of you who would like to enjoy seeing just how far I decided to wander, please click on the map and follow these instructions….

http://mappery.com/fullsize-name/Larnaca-Tourist-Map

First you need to click to enlarge the map, then scroll down along the beach
Your starting point is #43
Head north on the yellow road (Ankara) until it dead ends at #2
Go Left and then turn right (North) on Plateia Vas toward #9
Stay along the yellow road heading north…till the round about…

Okay at this point it was a good 45 mins since I had left the beach, although I did stop at a pet store to play with the baby huskies! Soooo cute and I want one…

At this point I was deciding between staying on the main road and just walking back on the other side of the street or going for an adventure…I think we all know what I decided…

I turned left at the roundabout towards 124... To find myself on a sketch-tasic street which is a street that I would guess would be a strippers paradise financially…I was debating on turing back but continued on (at a very brisk pace, I would say a light jog?)

So I continued down the yellow road past the agioi anargyroi (church) and started to head back south on Patron not realizing how the street angled I continued south/west on antagonizes down past the church (loannis)

Continuing on towards 6... I wandered up and down these small streets by homes and little markets…I stayed south till the main road Leoforos Grigori (44)

I was starting to get nervous and doubt myself because I felt that by now I would have started to see things I knew, but I was so deep into the smaller streets that nothing was in English anymore and I could use the strange looks I was getting from people as a gauge to the fact that I was no longer anywhere near where I had wanted to be…

If you have 44 in the center of your map…move it to the right of your screen… You should see about even with it along the water is back near our starting point with #2

I continued south weaving up and down the small streets realizing I was a bit more lost than I thought when I saw a sign that said the Larnaca Airport was 3 kilometers away!! (the airport is a 15 min drive to my hotel!) I finally stopped at #7 on Leoforos Faneromenis because that is a touristy spot. At this point I was conviced that I had wandered so far away that I was in the part of the island under Turkish patrol…I pulled out my hotel key and called the number to ask for a cab…it took a good 10 minutes for the cab company to understand my English style butchering of their famous amphitheater (which I didn’t take pics of because I thought I was going for a 20 min stroll) the cab arrived and I jumped in sweating and blisters on my feet (maybe that’s why the don’t wear flip flops here?) Anyway, I gave him the key to my hotel and said here please… I was so worried about the price of the cab because I only had 10 Euro with me…

We drove from 7 towards the water to 21 and then  down to 43.. I was seriously a 3 min cab ride from my hotel… the 6 Euro was worth it considering it took me 2.5 hours from the time I left to when I got back…thank goodness I didn’t play in our match last night!!

Speaking of WE WON!!! I was super excited for the team! I was sent on a scouting mission because the two teams we play next were playing 15 mins from where my team was. It was a really close match, but I am confident that we will be able to beat both teams!

Oh and I got my jerseys last night… and due to special request, here are some pictures of the gear I have gotten so far…

Yes we are sponsored by a Chinese Restaurant! Wish it was Yummy Buffet though!

 

Reppin the T-Reineke # ... I will make ya proud Tay Tay

The LONGEST spandex know to man kind

Practice Gear

I am still waiting on my warm ups, shoes, and game travel bag. It is funny to listen to everyone speak English though.. Last night they were trying to decided between our yellow and our Grrrrrr(rolling the tongue like Spanish)een jerseys!

“Am I right side up or upside down…. Is this real, oh lord, or am I dreaming” -DMB

FYI... Pics from thanksgiving will be added soon...

The night before my first practice I went to dinner with my coach to talk a bit about the team and the goals for our season. We went to this amazing restaurant called Stone Grill where you get to cook your own food at the table! I ordered BBQ chicken kabobs and they bring out the raw meat and you cook it on a hot stone that is like a ridiculous temperature. I mean it cooks in 5 mins! NUTS!

I learned a lot about my coach and the girls during our dinner. He is from Cyprus, but he went to college in North Carolina and then coached at Wake Forest. He has to be one of the nicest people I have ever met! His coaching philosophy is VERY similar to mine too which as you would guess makes practice a LOT of fun for me. After my experience last year over seas I didn’t know what to expect working with a coach from abroad, but he is awesome! We even run a similar offensive system! I am hoping to learn a lot from him that I can take back for my season at Oregon HS next fall.

At practice I met the girls who are sooo sooo soooo much fun! They remind me a lot of my OHS team, maybe because they are not much older! The girls are 19-22 so I am the mama bear. Everyone is from Cyprus except 4 of us. Triin (OH) and Krista (Setter) are from Estonia and Alina (MB) is from Belarus. Practices are only 2 hour  day which my old beat up body just loves, but honestly it feels like practice is 5 mins long! We have so much fun and laugh a lot. People break out into song all the time, like Andrea our right side hitter got a big kill the other day during our scrimmage and started singing “I’ll take you to the candy shop” ahahha WOW did that bring me back a few years!

The team does an amazing job of translating to me, but honestly I really really want to learn Greek. I plan on staying here for… well EVER… so it is a must! It is such a fun language to listen to, and they tend to raise their voices a lot which I guess most people think they are yelling at each other or angry but everyone here is so nice and fun loving. There is a spirit about Cyprus that I am in love with. I have been to a lot of places and met a lot of people, and I know this is a extremely bold statement, but I honestly think that it is the greatest place in the world! I am in love with it and the people! It seriously feels like one big family. Everyone has been sooo giving and loving…it makes me want to work that much harder in the gym. I want to give back to them, because in only 3 days they have given me so much!

I have not spent a dime on food because I keep getting invited to other peoples homes for meals. I went with our club manger to the volleyball youth director’s house for an amazing meal yesterday. It was so much fun and right when I got there she gave me a big hug and brought me into the kitchen and started to teach me Greek phrases! At lunch they would start speaking and even though I had no clue what was being said I was happy as could be. I told them that I would really like to have a scooter and they are working on that for me!! It will be like Madison again, but to show how much people treat you like family…they were all very nervous at first saying NO NO NO it is sooo dangerous! But my coach assured them that my Madison mopeding experience of 5 years would be fine.
After lunch we went to the soccer game which was super fun! The team lost which was tough and let me tell you… our fans do NOT like to lose!!! After the game we were walking past all the mopeds and our club manger goes…which one do you like?? It is just the spirit here…it reminds me of that song “you can have whatever you like… you can have whatever you like… yeah”

Last night I went over to my teammates house and met their boyfriends. Triin’s boyfriend is also a volleyball player and he is from Australia! It will be fun to go watch his team play. We had planned on going out that night but were enjoying our time together talking and playing a game that is similar to catch phrase so we decided to just stay in. We wound up talking out on the balcony until 7am!!! Oh and by the way… We were in tshirts on the balcony…Randomly I was like, we should go swim in the sea!! So we did!

Today we went to my coach’s house for American Thanksgiving. Triin, Krista, and Josh all came to see what this Holiday is all about! My coach met his wife while in North Carolina (which keep in mind is where my whole family is from). They have been married 3 times! TO EACHOTHER! After 3 days of knowing each other they KNEW they were meant to be together. She said she called her mom and said, I am going to marry him! Later they were married just at the state building then a month later had a traditional American wedding and had their 3rd wedding here in Cyprus, which was a traditional big Greek wedding! The have the most beautiful 3 year old daughter who speaks better English than I do…she will probably be a model! No Joke! A bunch of my coaches friends and neighbors came over and we had turkey, stuffing, sweat potato pie, sweat tea, the whole bit! To show just how nice people are, my coach’s friend is an amazing guitarist and plays all the time at the clubs. When he found out I play guitar he told me I can borrow his acoustic that was his first ever guitar! Just sooo giving, total family atmosphere!! So much to be thankful for on our special thanksgiving day..not to mention… the food was amazing!!! My teammates and Josh had never had a lot of the food we had and Krista was in love with the stuffing! I prepared their baked potatoes because they had never had a loaded baked potato before!

The American guys from the basketball team in our club came with us too! They have been here since August and were soooo happy for American dishes! One of the guys Terrance is from Milwaukee! Small world right??? The other guy, Trent played at Wake Forest which is actually where my coach, taught and coached at while in NC. We even got to watch college football today! So much fun. After lunch we went over to the sea and walked around. We got to learn about what the bball boys now call “The Forbidden City”. It is right on the sea and from a distance looks like it could be Miami or something. Apparently when the Turks invaded years ago, 1970’s I think…it was a refugee camp and now is completely abandoned. It is a legit ghost town that is kind of frozen in time.

Well I need to get to bed, because I am going to go for my physical tomorrow morning. It looks like my paperwork will not have gone through by Tuesday so I wont be able to dress for the game, but it will be a good chance to take in the game atmosphere before having to play next week. Anyway, LG *life’s good!! Which is kind of the way of life here…I was on my way back up to my room and the old man at the desk wished me a pleasant rest so I stopped for a second to speak with him. He offered me a slice of his apple and told me… this life is very special, he said, make sure you live now, live today, you cant worry about the things from before because they are done, and you cant tell what will happen tomorrow or in 5 mins, so smile, live live live… what a perfect way to end a perfect thanksgiving day! I told him about how me and my friend Matt say LG!! for Life is Good, and the man at the desk said YES MY DEAR IT IS!! GOODNIGHT…

"I've got my toes in the water, ass in the sand, not a worry in the world, a cold beer in my hand, life is good today, life is good today" -Zac Brown

Well originally I was going to wait until Sunday to write my 1st blog in Cyprus after touring the island with my coach, his wife (who is from the US) and the American men’s basketball players. My coach is having Thanksgiving dinner for the Americans which I think is so sweet! Anyway, there is just too much to tell so I figured it would be more fun to read a few smaller blogs rather than one giant one…I mean lets face it we all know I can get carried away and ramble on… okay what was I saying again…

My flight from Chicago went super smooth, and for the 1st time EVER I slept almost the entire 8 hour flight. I think this had to do with the fact that I lucked out and had a row of 3 seats to myself, on a practically full flight! When I got to Poland I had an 8 hour layover, so I decided to go see Warsaw while I was there. I was hoping to meet up with Karo, one of my teammates from Germany, but she had two practices near Krakow that day so it just didn’t work out. I hoped into a taxi and went down to Old Town. Unfortunately I can’t share the pictures with you because when I pulled my camera out it was DEAD!! AHHH but luckily I had my cell phone so I got to take some pictures. I pulled out my netbook to see if I could take a video with my computer while at this cool fort and had internet! Ohm emmm geee so I skyped Grammie to show her where I was!!

The flight from Warsaw to Laranca was pretty entertaining. There were a group of guys from Hungary who were about my age that got hammered on the plane! (Its free, gotta love Polish Airline!) One of the guys got sooo smashed that the flight attendants had to take his drinks away. I kept my head phones in so they wouldn’t keep trying to talk to me, it was….entertaining….for lack of a better word.

When I arrived Xenios, our club owner, picked me up from the airport and like my coach speak PERFECT English! We threw my bag into the car and I proceeded to get into the right side of the car, and Xenios goes…Jaclyn (Zjauqleen) you must go to the left side…I responded “Uhm I’m driving?” and he goes, uhm noooo….apparently they drive on the other side of the road here!!!

For a few days I am staying at this amazing hotel right on the beach!!! It is a perfect day out, clear skies for miles…I mean kilometers…. and I am actually sitting in a sun dress on my balcony as I type this! I spoke with my coach today and I guess they are going to find a single apartment for me near to where he lives since his wife is from the states we can hang out. Plus then I can carpool with him (which mean no gas money!) I am going to work on convincing them to give me a moped though! Scooter gang just like Madison Vball!!! HOLLA….Anyway, I walked around town and took some pictures that you can see here… Don’t worry there are plenty more to come!

MY HOTEL

VIEW FROM MY BALCONY

A BLOCK AWAY

WENT FOR A WALK...

EVERYTHING IS IN ENGLISH!!

MY STREET!

OUR TOWN'S CITY CENTER

Well I am going to go for a swim and lay out for a bit before practice tonight….This is going to be the best 5 months! I can already tell. I only wish you guys could be here to experience it too. I will try to play really well so I can resign a contract and then you can save up to visit! So start saving now!!!!

"Slow down everyone yer moving too fast, Frames can't catch you when yer moving like that" -Jack Johnson

So my birthday was last Wednesday and let me tell you the days leading up to it were NOT the best of my life... I really needed to slow down and enjoy life...Things really started to turn around right at 12:00 though... I had a ton of hilarious text messages and awesome early birthday presents!!! My mood was instantly changed. Then I went to lunch with my coach from college, Pete. It was super fun to catch up about vball and life. I spent the rest of the day packing up for Chicago and playing my guitar!

(Wait lets back track a bit... I was in Madison since I got home from Wiesbaden, Germany last May. I spent the summer running volleyball camps with my friend Sheila, for our new business that we named Sports Up, after the workout place we went to every day (well were supposed to go to everyday) in Germany. Besides all of the camps I spent the rest of the summer playing in beach volleyball tournaments and enjoying being back in the States! For the fall I spent my time coaching at Oregon High School, just outside of Madison. I had the most amazing season, even though our record wouldn't show it. I absolutely adore these kids, and was super lucky to really have an awesome group of coaches to work with. So I just finished coaching the season (which I think I was slightly depressed for a bit after, because I missed my kids so much...)

Soooo back to last Wednesday... I was getting ready for my Bday dinner at the gritty and had just gotten off of Skype with my roomie from Germany, Erica Lott! The coolest EVER... right so just got of the Skype and I get another call... this time it was from my agent. He told me there was a team in CYPRUS that was interested in me but it was a lower level and less pay than last year...however, IT WAS ON THE BEACH! I said "oooohhhh emmmm geeee" YES-A!!! So now begins the waiting game...

I had an AWESOME bday dinner and then went home for round two of bday events with the family. This consisted of TBELL, Movie Night, and of course CAKE! (Orange for Oregon where I coach). It was an awesome time and since then I have been unpacking and repacking until I found out more about Cyprus.

I heard today that I need to have the bags packed because the flight is being bought for probably sometime this week! I started doing some research on the team and the town...

LARNACA, CYPRUS...

http://www.wordtravels.com/Cities/Cyprus/Larnaca/Overview

So as you will read... Larnca is a BEACH town with winters in the high 50's to Low 70's and is NOT a Greek island... even though it is an island in the Mediterranean and they speak Greek (My Bad)

Our club has a Men's Soccer team and Basketball team as well as a sports academy that I might be able to coach some youth volleyball at!!! So many fun and exciting things!


Also a few differences about our club! We have team colors!! As you can tell by my blog our colors are Green, Yellow, and Black! Sweet! We even have a mascott this year which I think is some kind of warrior or something haha not sure because I can't read Greek! We also have a much lighter schedule than Germany... We practice 4 times a week and 1 game a week! YES THAT MEANS 2 DAY OFF!! I KNOW! I am so excited also because we play on Tuesday and then Sat morning practice, Sunday OFF, and Monday is not till 7:30 at night so we practically have the weekends free. I can't wait!

I will be sure to take pictures when I get to town so you all can see everything!