It's the Swede life for me

Today marks the beginning of my Swedish volleyball experience here in Ljungby – try to pronounce that as “Yoon-bee”. After sleeping in until 11, we went to Hotel Terraza, where we will eat 5 days a week, for lunch with Daniel (the head coach) and Malin – our teammate who’s apartment we are currently living at until our apartment gets furnished. After eating our meal of pizza salad (shredded cabbage – like in coleslaw – with oil, vinegar and pepper; apparently this salad always comes with pizza in Sweden, hence the name), sausage, and mashed potatoes, Jo and I decided to try to maneuver our way from the city center to Malin’s apartment. The walk was pretty basic: follow the parking lots to Maxi – our grocery store – go across the main road, turn left at the library, and stop at house #45. Luckily Ljungby is not such a metropolis thus making it very unlikely that we can get too lost. As a form of insurance, Malin gave us a town map with the 3 most important locations circled: Malin’s apartment/our current home, the volleyball hall/gym, and gym/training center/weight room. After doing some quick shopping at Maxi for tonight’s dinner and shampoo, we ventured back to the apartment for some R&R. Despite sleeping over 12 hours last night, this jet lag thing is really kicking our butts. Johanna, another teammate, would be picking us up to go to the gym aka TC 5:20, so we had plenty of time.


By 4:30, we were finally up and somewhat ready to begin getting dressed for practice. Jo’s bag that the airline lost has all of her spandex, t-shirts, kneepads and sports bras, so until that arrives she is stuck wearing my clothes; I really hope she likes the ripped seams that are present on every pair of my spandex. Johanna arrived and we headed over to TC (training center) for lifting. So apparently, this weight lifting program that both Jo and I were dreading has more of a DIY concept, where the girls are technically lifting together, but are able to pick and choose what exercises and body parts they want to do on any given day. This was somewhat of a relief, as we weren’t going to be participating in what we had assumed to be an extremely rigorous Swedish work out before our first practice. I think we might try to contact our former weight trainers from home to get some sort of program so we can actually benefit from working out, as opposed to just doing lunges, bench, sit ups, and squats each day. After an hour in the weight room, we headed over to the volleyball gym for our first practice. There, Jo and I had our first newspaper interview, and of course some pictures (good thing we were looking super attractive). I believe the girl who interviewed us will be emailing us the interview in PDF format, so as soon as I get it I can send it out to everyone. Not sure if it will be able to be translated, but good luck with that and welcome to my life :P

Our practice wasn’t too bad, we did some hitting lines off of live Libero passes, first setting outsides, then moving to middles and opposites. All of a sudden Daniel starts counting “10…9…8…7…” and Jo and I freeze, look around and see our teammates scrambling for loose balls. Apparently, if he ever starts counting, we have that much time to shag or else we have to take laps for every second we go over our 10-second time limit. From there, we did 5-on-5 out of system, where you have to set from the back row; a similar drill we did at Tampa. We did this for a while to make sure everyone understood before we competed. First team to 10 points would win; my team lost by 3. Fail. Daniel did some more counting, which we ended up having to run laps before we were allowed to get water. Finally we split up into two teams for a scrimmage. My team had Jo at M2, Johanna (who is called Jula, pronounce that Yoo-la) at Opposite, Asha (Polish teammate also named Joanna) at M1, Selma at Libero, Sophie at OH (she stayed from row the whole time), and of course, me setting. Everyone started off pretty slow, and had some minor communication errors, but things started getting a little better. The team cheers “två, tre, opa!” after each play. Of course, I can’t really pronounce those words, so I just end up doing a super awkward dance move to distract them from my disabilities, and wind up shouting OPA! So far I think it’s working out pretty well for me, and I usually get a couple chuckles out of my teammates, and sometimes even our opponents. We ended winning 25-19, with our middles having to play back row—pretty sure this was a first for Jo, but she did pretty well. More counting from Daniel before we were allowed to get some water and it was back to another scrimmage. This time instead of Sophie hitting outside, we had Lisa, but she would only play front row with Selma, the Libero, playing back row the whole time. Again, our team won, 25-20, and that would conclude our first Swedish practice.

There seems to be somewhat of language barrier, as the literal translation of “set” in Swedish to English is called a “pass”, so after I play the ball, if they think it was good, many of my Swedish teammates will tell me “good pass”. Also, the setting zones have completely different names from the offensive systems that we use in the States. Of course, that varies between coaches and teams across our own country, but even between Jo and my own pervious experiences, we had never heard some of these names for their respective sets. For example, a low, quick outside set that some call a “hut”, “shoot”, or “go” is called a “6” here; whereas a high outside ball here is called a “5”. A quick front-set to the middle is called an “A”, a quick backset is a “B” – both somewhat common in the States – but a slide is called a “sigma”. I’m not sure exactly how one would begin to make that hand signal… Our low, fast back set is called a “0”, or “null” and a high back set is called a “1”. Needless to say, when we got home, my head was definitely hurting from constantly trying to substitute my old offensive names for the new ones. I think this may take a bit of time.

It’s fair to say that tomorrow we will both be a little sore, and still seriously affected by jet lag, but that is the price we pay for, as Jo calls it, “the Swede life”. We wound up staying awake until almost 3am local time, talking about our friends and family, and learning more and more about our new built-in best friend. Anyways, that’s all for now, so until next time, I bid thee farewell.

Somewhere over the rainbow...

I think there is something truly magical about rainbows. I won't be taken to tears like the youtube sensation "double rainbow guy" (if you haven't seen it, look it up: "Yosemitebear magic giant rainbow"), but they have taken my breath away. I have no idea what it is exactly, maybe that after it rains something beautiful emerges, or maybe it's my child-like naivety appearing. Either way, I think they are ahh-mazing. That said, if you have something better to do than learn about this "optical and meteorological phenomenon", I would suggest you stop reading now.

July 4th weekend, I found myself driving down the road through a rainstorm, only to come through the other side and see a rainbow. I literally almost crashed as I stared, mouth agape, at the colored arch. My half asleep boyfriend next to me didn't even budge, nor did he acknowledge my attempt at whispered shouts of "OHMYGOSH...LOOK!!!" Finally, after the rainbow had completely disappeared, he woke up, and ruined all my rainbow fun by informing me about the scientific explanation behind them. Talk about a rainbow-scrooge.

There are many kinds of rainbows, seen based on different refraction of light off water droplets. Similarly, there are many different cultural and religious beliefs associated with rainbows. "A rainbow a day keeps the blues away" and many other mantras have been formed speaking about their magic or healthy qualities. Whatever you choose to believe is up to you. For me, a rainbow is just another way of nature reminding us to pause for a second. Like Ferris Bueller said "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Anyone who is still reading this clearly has NOTHING better to do with their lives than procrastinate via reading the-life-and-times of me. Thanks anyways :)

Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days Of Summer

I've been a little absent to the blogging scene since my return to the good ol' US of A. A lot has happened for me during my summer back, but instead of boring you with a bunch of individual stories about my American adventures, I will instead just list them for you month by month:

APRIL/MAY - Niki, my teammate from Hungary, and I flew to Orlando from Budapest over Easter weekend. Of course, we were delayed like 4+ hours in the Budapest airport--something we attributed to Chuck Norris' excellent strength and Marth Stewart's absence. Upon our arrival, we would be making 2 week Tour de Florida, which included a detour up to Clemson, SC to pick up my sister from her first semester at college. Niki and I went all over, hitting up the House of Mouse (Disney World) and Busche Gardens, visiting St Augustine and Tampa, and of course, spent as much time as possible at the beach. She got to visit my alma mater (its so weird to be able to say that) and meet many of my college friends. After she went home, I began coaching 4 nights a week at the JJVA center with the club teams who were heading to Nationals and AAUs. In the 3 weekends that followed, we had a friend graduate from law school (Matt), another friend get married (Lauren), and a family reunion for Memorial Day weekend. Before I knew it, it had already become June.

JUNE - This month brought forth more family time, as everyone gathered in Ponte Vedra to watch my sister walk across the stage for her high school graduation. Combine that with it being my mom's birthday weekend and BAM! craziness. I began nannying for a local family near my parent's house during the week, but managed to keep my weekends free so I could still visit with friends and boyfriend. After spending a week in Siesta Key doing some condo work for another family (yeah basically I had a free vacation while "assembling" their nearly-almost-complete-condo), I had to bid my mom and sister farewell as they ventured across the pond for the BIP summer tour to Italy and Montenegro. I got to go to Busche Gardens again, as well as take the kids I nanny for to Universal Studios + Islands of Adventure. Finally, another month had passed me by and it was time for me to head over to Tampa to begin UT volleyball camps.

JULY - 3 weeks of volleyball camps made this month FLY by. Most of my time in Tampa was spent in the Bob Martinez Sports Center, however, I was able to get out and engage in my favorite social activities every now and then. It was during my first week here that I received my official contract from my new team in Ljungby, Sweden - Ljungby Volleybollklubb. I gladly accepted this new job and will be heading over August 30. I found out that there is another American girl who will play with me from University of Illinois; we've been facebooking back and forth and will be meeting on the flight over from DC-Copenhagen. The last week of July, my mom, cousin, mom's friend, and I headed up to visit my dad's parents in Maine. 22 hours after being stuck in the Newark airport made me decide that Jersey wasn't all its cracked up to be. Finally we arrived and got to spend a week on the beautiful island off the coast of Maine where they spend their summer months. Yes, I have grandparents who are snow birds in the winter. Whatever, they're cute. Finally we flew home, without much delay, and thus I would begin my final month in America.

AUGUST - to be continued.....

Ok, so I know I said I wouldn't bore you too much with my stories, but I have to explain random things here and there so my randomness makes some sort of sense. Besides, you know you liked it.

"I'm happy to report that my inner child is still ageless"

Last week, our match play finally ended with a victory as we secured 7th place in the top women's volleyball league in Hungary. After a somewhat challenging first professional playing experience, I was somewhat sad to see the season finish. Living in Bekescsaba for the past 4 months has provided me the opportunity to meet people and experience a culture that otherwise would have gone unnoticed on my world radar: witnessing a pig slaughter, chicken talons floating in my soup, the Hungarian language; among other things.

For those of you who don't stalk my life, cough-you know who you are-cough, my birthday was last Thursday. In the weeks leading up to this blessed event, I am always super giddy and overjoyed with excitement, but once the big day finally approaches I tend to simmer down. I have a super sneaky friend here who, during that week, had many random "jobs" to do around town. Insert here my first ever surprise party. Niki had planned this, probably right in front of my face since I understand very few Hungarian words. I was told that Thursday night, she, Zsoka and I had would hang out at Zsoka's house and talk about the season, maybe speak about plans for next year, but just have a good evening. Of course, I thought nothing of it. As we walked into her apartment, I was greeted by the whole team and a lit birthday cake, as they sang a Hungarian birthday song.

After the initial shock and awe, I was told "boldog születésnapot" by each member on the team before receiving the traditional cheek kisses. Kajla had made a dirt mound cake, similar to our worms and dirt cake that we Americans enjoy as children. We drank, ate, and enjoyed our end of season/surprise birthday party together. Zsoka made me a special sandwich consisting of pig fat spread like butter (of course from the pig slaughter I had witnessed) and onions. Despite how it sounds, it really wasn't all that bad. We went around the circle, asking everyone on the team what they planned to do for next season--information I am not at liberty to divulge--and what was happening in their lives. Unlike the team at UT, the team here doesn't spend every waking moment living together, so our lives are not so intertwined. It was a great evening and definitely a birthday I will never forget thanks to my many Hungarian friends!!

Don't hét us 'cuz you ain't us

Sunday, April 10, the BRSE took on opponent Albrect VSC-Misi Miskolc at home, defeating them 3:0 in under one hour. After jumping on Miskolc (pronounced Meesh-kolts) in the first set, 25-9, we let up a little in the 2nd, winning by a much closer margin of 25-15. Finally regaining our composure, we put an end to the match with a 25-12 victory. According to some of my teammate's, the best player for Miskolc was sitting on the bench. We found out later that she had been skipping practices for the past few weeks, and that the coach was punishing her for doing so. Brava!

Side note: Miskolc was the 1st place team from the second volleyball league at the end of regular season, allowing them to move up to the first league for playoffs. The 8th place team from our league dropped down to the second league. Not sure if anyone remembers the wildcard playoff match that we, as the 7th place team from the 1st league, played in January/February against the 2nd place team (Kaposvar) from the 2nd league...but whatever, that determines who else moves within the two divisions. Clearly, we won, so HAZZAH! we stayed in the top league. Now back to the regularly scheduled entertainment...

Wednesday, April 13, we traveled almost 4 hours to the northeast part of Hungary, allowing me my first glimpse of the Hungarian mountains. The gym is crazy small, the roof is maybe 30' high, and the floor was super slick. Oh, and did I mention that the gym was FREEZING? Needless to say, these were perfect playing conditions! As most of you may know by now, our team tends to have frequent mental lapses--constantly varying between highs and lows throughout matches. Its fair to say that we never know which BRSE team will really show up. That said, we lost the first set 20-25. Miskolc's best hitter, who was benched on Sunday, was playing and definitely helped their team; however, we were able to pull it all together, winning the next three sets: 25-10, 27-25, 25-20. It should be said that the 1st and 3rd sets we played on the colder side of the gym, so its possible that the dramatic temperature drop slightly affected our play. Regardless, we came out victorious, securing the 7th place in Hungarian Women's Volleyball Extra Liga for the 2010-2011 season!!

For those of you who don't know, the number 7 in Hungarian is "hét" - pronounced "hate". Just in case you were wondering.

Let's see how many times can I say "lawn mower" in one post?

So it's apparently the "Unofficial Lawn Mowing Day" here in Bekescsaba.

On our walk back from lunch, Niki and I came across a 20-something year old man mowing his front yard area. Most of the yards here are pretty small, so it takes roughly 7 minutes to cut the grass. This guy obviously decided that today was as good a day as any to mow his lawn. As we approached, Niki gawked at the guy, trying to figure out if/where she may have seen him before while I stared, mouth agape, at the lawn mower. Sure, the guy was tall, so maybe mildly attractive--clearly that's not where my attention was--regardless, I was much more concerned with the lawn mower. I know that I sound like such a boy, staring bewildered at his lawn equipment, but you weren't there.

First, there was hardly any sound, despite the lawn mower clearly running. It made just a slight hum, and an occasional crunch as it passed over a twig. Then, I noticed an orange extension cord. Apparently their lawn mowers are plugged in, like a vacuum. Hence my confusion. Do we have electric lawn mowers in America??

We continued walking, turning down the next street, Niki laughing at me for only noticing the lawn mower machine and not the lawn mower person. Despite my efforts, she refused to accept my reasoning, claiming that I was a "weirdo" for checking out the lawn mower and not the guy. The next street over, we saw two more of these electric-style lawn mowers. Naturally, I whipped out my iPod to video this anomaly. Enjoy.

Oh, and the final "lawn mower" word count is 11. In case you were curious.

Its already April...how did that happen?

It's been a couple weeks since my last post. It seems surreal that my first overseas playing experience is coming to an end. Anyhoo, I decided it was time to update everyone with the latest news from Hungary...here goes:

1. It's officially springtime! Yes, my dear friends, the birds are chirping, the sun is shining, and the flowers are blossoming. The trees here are absolutely gorgeous, covered in white, yellow, and pink flowers. Living in Florida for the majority of my life, I have only experienced the hot-really hot-hot as hell-back to hot cycle that we claim to be our 4 seasons. Having finally endured my first real winter, I can truly appreciate the spring weather that much more. Niki and I have been spending more and more time outside, just sitting in the sunshine, wearing our fancy sunglasses--to which I have a slight addiction, but its fine--and eating ice cream. Its crazy how many more people seem to live here now that the weather is warmer.

2. Our trainings have begun to wind down. We have our last home match (hopefully) on Sunday against Albrecht MVSC MISI; Wednesday we will travel to Miskoltc (pronounced Meesh-kolts) to play again. Remember: you must win 2 matches in order to win the series. If the matches are 1-1, we return to Bekescsaba to play the final match April 20. We are fighting for 7th place in the Hungarian extraliga, or the top league in Hungary. Many girls, including myself, have been fighting off colds and some viruses, but hopefully all will be well for the matches this week.

Ok, so when I sat down to write this blog, I was sure I would have more than two points to share with my now not-so-captive audience. Whatever, I guess its better than nothing. Really this blog is more to prove to my friends and family I'm alive and somewhat well, having a grand ol' time living abroad. Or to help you procrastinate doing whatever it is you're supposed to be doing with your day.