Farciennes vs. Gembloux: Match #7

We win the first set 25-15.

We lose the second set 23-25.

We win the third set 25-15.

We are down 19-22 in the fourth set, our whole season essentially on the line. We have to win in 4 in order to maintain our standing and points in conference.

By this time in the match, I have dove for more digs than in the past 3 years combined. I have the fresh battle wounds to prove it. Also legitimately knocked the wind out of my chest for the first time playing volleyball when I hit my rib cage so hard on the floor. Get up, find air somehow, and make a play. I came to win, like Nicki Minaj. Don't mess with me.

We edge back in, 20-22, 21-22, 22-22, then sideout. Another sideout puts us at 23-23, and it's my turn to serve, and...timeout, Gembloux.

I serve to #14 and, shank! Take that, ace time! 24-23.

Another serve to #14 and a "2" pass happens, a short rally follows until a miscommunication by them and a double contact call - YEA, WE WIN!!!

Hanging onto an undefeated status at 7-0 and loving every minute of it.

(Among the other activities of the day: apparently the mayor is gay, I spoke some English with a slightly drunk Belgian off-duty cop, the man sitting by me did not believe I weighed 140 pounds, and a shrimp avocado salad rocked my dinner. Great day.)

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The 4-Way California Roll

Makes me miss cheap Winco sushi.

But really, it's how we drive here. Instead of 4-way stops, there are just blank intersections. If you're not on the "main road" (designated by an odd-looking arrow on a small and obscure sign), you are supposed to slow down any time there is a road on the right-hand side. There are no extra signs, no warnings - it's just understood.

I hate slowing down for what may be nobody, but I guess it is better than having to stop and chug out of first gear again and again.

Finally received my special car yesterday. We have advertisements for a workout place called "Power Plate" all over it, including opaque ads on the backseat windows. Very safe. Me and Pow-Pow are going to have great adventures in Belgium together.

Found the following on a website today for women traveling solo:

"Wear a real of fake wedding ring and carry a picture of a real or fake husband. There's no need to tell men that you're traveling alone. Lie unhesitatingly. You're traveling with your husband. He's waiting for you at the hotel. He's a professional wrestler who retired from the sport for psychological reasons."

Congrats, Marc, you've earned a new identity.

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Repatriation to the Rhineland

(Highlight video HERE.)

With a Eurail pass comes a certain level of insanity. I have a Select Pass with only X amount of travel days. These "travel days" - I MUST make them count. This brings the departure times to unholy hours like 5:00AM, and serves to create the longest of days. But it's the commitment I've made to the Eurail pass, and I refuse to break my vows.

I have finally accepted the fact that real mochas do not exist in Europe. All they do is brew you coffee, then either hand you the chocolate bar or put it in themselves. Okay, fine.

It also was one of the colder days since I've been here, hovering around a lovely 30 degrees most of the day. The random German snow on the countryside added to the proof of cold, but I was able to enjoy the beauty of the snow from the comfort of my own warm train car.

I went to Köln first on the Thalys (say "Tallis" like "talon"), a bogus high-speed train you have to pay extra for and it's not cleaner or record-shattering faster than the podunk local trains. Köln was nice because the enormous Köln Dom is literally AT the train station, so I could wander around the city for a while and always find the landmark to return to home base. The Dom wins the award for biggest church with lamest stained glass ever.

The bridge across the Rhine River near the Dom had "love locks" all over the side of it and that made for an interesting walk. There were padlocks of all shapes, sizes, colors, and languages, all committed to making their love last...on a German bridge.

The boats that sail up and down the Rhine do not run again until March - so I will come back. Most of the train ride to Koblenz was along the Rhine, and the most gorgeous German villages were around every bend. Every village has a beautiful church, and every 10 minutes or so a castle was on a cliff. The perfect teaser trailer for a future boat ride.

German travel was great because all the information was trilingual: German, English, and French (close to French border). The coolest part of the train rides were definitely the tunnels. Okay, maybe not the actual tunnels themselves, but the fact that, whoosh! Now we're in a tunnel! Then, wham! We are out of the tunnel - and there's SNOW! Very Narnia-like transformations into perfectly frosted trees and forests.

After a short stop in Koblenz, I headed to Luxembourg. I strolled about the center for about an hour. I had the most delicious sandwich for dinner and I would recommend it to everyone if I knew what it was. Apparently, Luxembourg has a fascination with lions? I do not believe they are indigenous to the area. Anybody up on their Luxembourgese history?

Train wild things on the day: 1) spilling my "mocha" everywhere when I stopped the automatic door; 2) the French teenage boy with the Dodgers hat listening to Backstreet Boys; and 3) thinking we were at my Namur stop (because the train had physically stopped) and opening the door to the vast nothingness of dark fields. All those train murder mysteries make so much more sense now.

I made this travel day count for at least 3 days. How? By hopping onto 7 trains. Take that, Travel Day #2.

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Inspiration Station: Poetry & Song

DREAM CHASER

We see our futures

Wrapped in happiness

Painted with perfection

Wanting nothing,

Our flawless arrival where?

So we keep running

We keep pressing forward

Searching desperately

Knowing that somewhere

Our futures can be realized.

We know and hold onto

These dreams we cherish

We have seen few become actual

But our minds keep them

Breathing hope into our hearts.

I throw my soul

Into the hope of the dream

My heart and mind follow

Through the joy of the journey

I will get there.

The horizon holds my dream

Captive, yet captivating

And I run, I chase

It swirls around my senses

Melt me into the magic.

I crossed the ramp to Europe! Thanks, Harvard Sailing Team.

(Okay, I really did write the poem. It was resonating in my mind the few months before actually leaving for Europe. And yes, I really did laugh at the song.
Let us all keep chasing our dreams and enjoying the irony of the world we live in.)

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Expect Sunshine, Enjoy the Rain

You know your volleyball world has increased tenfold when, all of a sudden, Facebook is telling you that your mutual friends include Nellie Spicer (UCLA), Cynthia Barboza (Stanford), Diane Copenhagen (USC), and Blair Brown (Penn State). When Facebook tells me to add Karch Kiraly and Logan Tom, I will know I have arrived.

My roommate, her boyfriend, and I went to Lille, France, yesterday to hang out with our (yes, she's MY friend now, too) other Czech friend, Hana, and go to her volleyball game.

Of course, I packed for sunshine, and it started raining about halfway through the drive.

But the highlight of the night was at the volleyball game, where I observed a player from the opposing team with crew socks, ankle braces, and small knee pads...very American, and very refreshing.

Turns out Sammi is definitely American and also with Bring It Promotions, so we had a lot of similar stories and friends. How AWESOME to "run into" another American volleyball player and have the chance to laugh together!

I also tried Wii Tennis for the first time, and it was eerily similar to my "real-life" tennis skills. I think I am even worse at tennis than bowling; impressive, considering my bowling average is in the 60s.

We won our match again today, which is an incredible feat when we reflect on how poorly I performed. Moving onward...

Only 3 of our 8 ceiling lights are working right now, and our ceiling is at least 20 feet high - anyone have a ladder? And to add to the entertainment of every day, our upstairs neighbor either enjoys dropping hundreds of marbles or plays weighted Pick-Up-Sticks at least two or three times a day. I keep thinking I knocked something over, but no, it's noise coming from the ceiling. Awesome.

I have now heard my last name pronounced in every way possible with the addition of "Schwogguttay" today. Thank you, Belgian referees, for your weekly renditions.

Martina and I have added to our team's already redundant cheer to be more inclusive of all the additional nationalities on our team (Russian, Czech, American, Slovak). The original cheer (which definitely took me 5 weeks to finally learn) basically sounds like this: "Sack twa, sagleese, salopet, peschmel boosh, croquet." We only decided to add to it once we found out that the words and meanings are completely random. When your cheer means "Go away, slip/slide, worker's overalls, local beer, tater tots," it's pretty much free game for anyone to embellish. So, we decided to add at the end, "spojka, vodka, bring it!" It ties the whole concept together very nicely.

Friendly Skype Tip #1:
Station one's self close to a neutral and opaque background, such as a wall. If you are in the middle of a room, you never know what may end up in your video feed...
 

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Living on the Edge

The latest challenge has been how, where, and when to get internet. I am hopping all over Belgium now, trying to connect to any and every network.

The sun has been shining off and on, but the weather is much more bearable than I had imagined it would be. It's even better when I hear that it's snowing in Redding in February.

Currently just playing volleyball and planning more trips! I decided to limit myself to surrounding areas instead of trying to die going everywhere in 2 months.

I have been assumed to be European several times now, so this is progress. An Australian woman in Paris even thought I was French. And I can speak one sentence at a time in French now, but don't count on me understanding the reply or coming back with another sensible thought. I've also realized that the faster I speak French, the better it sounds.

We're heading into the toughest part of our volleyball schedule, so it's do or die time! We need to win these next 6 matches in order to move up a division, and it's definitely possible, so LET'S DO THIS!

(in between my jaunts to Paris, German castles, Salzburg, etc.)

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From Paris, With Love

Apparently, I am all wished-out.
Happy Valentine's Day from the Louvre.

Four Hours in Paris Highlight Video HERE
 

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My 38th Day in Europe

The excitement of this entry is in the title. Europe was by far my biggest risk ever, and definitely continues to be an insanely awesome reward.

Last night we won our match, so that puts us at 5-0 on the spring season, with 6 matches to go.

Tomorrow I get to take a trip to the one city I have always wanted to go to - serious dream come true status, as every day tends to be even more exciting than the previous.

Thank you to everyone for supporting me, and continuing to keep in touch.

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Stairs, Horses, and Hills - Oh My!

I'll let the video do the talking this time around.

Please enjoy the very non-HD quality, unsteady camera holding, and incredible editing skills involved in the making of this film.

ITALIA 2011

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Slip n' Slide Ice Ride

Yesterday was the "big" trip to Brussels to visit my mom's college roommate and her husband. Yes, I already knew real people who were already real family friends before I got here. If my placement in Belgium isn't God taking care of me, I don't know what is.

I was so excited to use my 8-voyage pass, and when I got on the bus, I went to slide it into the puncher, and the driver said, "No!" After a few exchanges of my confused facial expressions and his "No's," he finally said "Gratis - it's free!" Can't argue with that, so I thanked him and found my seat.

Some of the "Urban Art" on my bus route.

I got to the train station in time for an earlier train, and arrived in Brussels an hour before my friends were to arrive. This gave me the necessary time to browse the train station, which is really more like a mall. There were shops for everything, and it was not hard to find things to do until they picked me up! In Brussels it is much different from Charleroi because the tourist draw has more people speaking English. 

My friends came right on time, and they had a special Belgian day planned for me! We had an authentic Belgian waffle (has pearl sugar, fancy, ay?), then took the tram to the main city square. The buildings were so ornate and beautiful! There are chocolate shops and lace stores on every corner. We went to a non-tourist restaurant for lunch and I had my first Hawaiian panini - yes, there was pineapple in my sandwich! We saw so many things, I don't remember many of their names, but after we got to the outskirts of the city, we went to two very cool places. First, we took a picture at the Atomium. It looks like a huge atom made of mirrors, and was built for the World's Fair back in the day. Then we went to an Asian attraction! Yes, Leopold II decided he "needed" the Far Orient in his backyard, so he had a Japanese Tower and Chinese Pavilion built in the Royal Park. Both were fascinating to walk around in, and the art inside was even more incredible. The Chinese Pavilion had a different color and theme for each room, but my favorite was the Dutch room. There were blue and white porcelain vases from the size of my thumb to 3-4 gallons! They were all mounted beautifully on the walls and in glass cases. 

But my favorite part of the Asian exhibits was in the war room. Normally I don't care for war artifacts, but the first room we went in had small packets for...something. Anyway, I started laughing because it looked like a glass-encased room full of Asian-printed cell phone covers. The second entertainment factor was in the main hall where they had the full armor outfits. All I know is they were exactly how I remembered them...from the 3rd Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. Good times.

At my friends' apartment, the lady let me look at her college scrapbook, which includes a lot of things with my mom, her roommate. It was HILARIOUS!!! Apparently my mom had an "Out of My Life" board where she pinned people's names if they were driving her crazy. Their college experience was so much like mine and my friends, it was a great laugh and fun to travel back to the 70s. It was also great to eat MEXICAN food for the first time in 2011, with real refried beans from the foreign food section and everything! It was an amazing day in Brussels, especially with my personal tour guide friends.

The next 12 hours proved to be...interesting. I made the train back to Charleroi just fine, and was waiting for my bus with some people, and it didn't come. Another bus driver came by and explained everything in French, and thank God the guy he talked to spoke enough English to tell me, "No bus." Um, cool. There was another bus/line leaving for generally the same area, so I hopped on, hoping I'd be able to figure out how to get home. In the rain. In the dark. Without a map.

I kept straining my eyes to read the ever-so-random street signs on sides of buildings, finally saw the road I was looking for, and hit the "Stop" button. We pulled over literally in 10 more seconds, so I almost missed it. I got off the bus and hoped I was heading in the right direction (story of my life?). But there ended up being a twist...since the rain had been falling for a good two hours, darkness had fallen, dropping the temperature and FREEZING THE WATER THAT WAS ON THE SIDEWALKS AND ROADS. It was like broom hockey all over again, except it was dark, there were uphills, downhills, sidehills, you name it, and I had to hold onto an umbrella the whole time. So I shuffled to the intersection and behold! There was the billboard for our grocery store! It should have been a 10-minute walk, but when you add ice, double the time. This is advice I could have used again, but had already forgotten by the time I got home. I didn't fall once! I was so impressed.

This morning I woke up, gathered the necessary tools, and headed out to the car to pick-up Martina at the airport. The car was frozen. And not like, oh, there's some frost, it'll slide right off. More like a 1/4 inch layer of actual ice on every window. So much for being on time (ice, double time, see?). It took 15 minutes to warm-up the car and make it drive-able. Then the adventure began.

The worst weather I'd driven in to this point was really bad rainstorms and the dust storm south of Bakersfield last month. I did not process that if I was slipping and sliding on the roads while walking, that there was a good chance the car would slip and slide on the roads while driving. So I boot up the car, get it going (thinking I've made all the progress in the world), and start going down the hill to the main road. The road curves to the left, so I turn the wheel left and brake...AND OMG WHY IS THE CAR TURNING RIGHT AND NOT STOPPING!!!!! The small curb stopped me from crashing, and I was going to slow to cause damage, thankfully. First thoughts? The car is broken, I cannot pick-up Martina. Second thoughts? I probably just did something wrong, let's try again. I reverse back again and start down the hill the right direction...and start skidding INTO THE INTERSECTION. Oh, good morning, LIFE, apparently I don't care to see you anymore. My left leg is pushing the clutch so hard it's shaking, and when the e-brake doesn't work, you know something is more wrong than just your car. Finally it dawns on me - ICE - I'm going to die.

But alas, we were greater than the ice, and even survived a stop-and-go left turn on a hill to miraculously arrive at the airport. The ice did not have me beat until we parked back at home (Martina got to enjoy that portion of driving). I stepped out of the car, and SWOOP! I was sitting on the icy sidewalk. Okay, Ice, we'll call it even. But don't bet on me challenging you to a rematch anytime soon. I'll stick with volleyball and card games.

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