Mexico :)

Have been here in Mexico for about a week now. Took me about 31 hours to get here, but it was definately worth it. Had a few days to just enjoy some time with my parents, and my sister arrived here yesterday. Today, my aunt, uncle and two cousins arrived from San Fransisco. When I first landed in New York from my flight from Madrid it was so odd hearing English! I kept starting to speak in Spanish to people, and then would have to check myself. Upon arrival to Mexico, I have found that the Spanish here is different than in Spain. I think they speak a little clearer and slower here. There are some different phrases as well. On my cab drive from Hualtuco to Puerto Escondido I talked with my driver about the differences between languages. We also came across a road block, where there was a peaceful protest going on. I guess here in Mexico it is pretty common to have road blocks where there are problems between government and employees. We had to walk about 15 minutes across a bridge, where I caught another taxi. Luckily I had only brought carry ons, although I did have long pants on so I was pretty hot! Since I have been here we have been to some great restaurants on the beach overlooking the water, gone kyaking, snorkeling, and of course layed at the pool :) On Christmas Eve my parents and I were busy getting things ready for a parade in Chila. Chila is a small town about 15 minutes outside Puerto Escondido. For the last few years my father has worked with one of his friends(from Chila) to organize a Santa Clause parade. Many people, including myself, imagine a parade with many cars, or floats, and people watching as it drives by. Here it is Santa in the back of a pick up truck and as we drive around the town every starts to follow. Every once and a while the driver will stop so Santa can throw out candy and at the end of the drive, everyone gets a chance to sit on his lap for pictures that my dad takes. When my dad has time, he will develop all of the pictures to hang up in the town pharmacy, where people can take their own picture. Also, a few women worked all day to make 720 Tomales for the town to eat after the parade. I got to see some of the process, which made me not want to eat one, but I still did. They cut of the chickens feet, and then cut off the nails, and then the feet actually go in the Tamale. It seemed to me that the town and especially the kids really enjoyed it. It was a great experience.

Adios Spain!

Just wanted to write a quick entry before I head leave Spain! Right now I am in the Madrid airport waiting for my flight to New York which doesn't leave for another 4 hours. I saw a VIP room with comforatble couches upstairs so I decided to try to go in. No one said anything to me at the door, so I proceeded to make myself comforatbale :) I have a 5 hour lay over in New York and I am gonig to be able to grab dinner with my teammate from college which I am excited about! I am sure that it is going to be extremely odd for me to hear English surrounding me, and even be able to read the menus! We won our last game before the break by about 18 points in Santander. We are 10-0 going into the holidays! We play the 2nd and 3rd place teams in our league our first two games back from Christmas. I had a game on Saturday with my kids and we lost in overtime! We were up by 3 with three seconds left, and one of the little girls hit a half court shot to send it into a 5 mintue overtime period where we ended up losing. Saturday after our game, our whole team got together for a big meal and then we went out in the city for a while. I tried some new dish at the restaurant which was the equivilant of pigs blood cooked with different spices. Pretty disgusting, but I tried it!

Happy Holidays :)

I have not written in a while! I have been busy dealing with my knee, coaching my kids team, and finishing up my 1st Spanish class. So far I am still not playing. Still going to physical therapy every day though, which has been helping a lot. We won our game last weekend by about 60 points, and I also won my game with my kids. This past Sunday I went to Gijon with some of my teammates to have a late lunch and walk around for a bit. It was so nice out that we ate outside! The city is looking beautiful for Christmas time. I haven't had my camera on me at night time lately, but recently they put up Christmas lights throughout the whole city. All the trees are lit with blue lights, and on the big streets there are angels, stars, and music notes hanging over the road. It is beautiful! I still can't get over how much work is put into keeping the city looking attractive and clean, they must spend a fortune! They also set up a Christmas market on Uria, which has a lot of nice handmade things. I went to the post office today to mail some Christmas cards, and man was it hectic! You had to take a number and wait, I had to wait for 30 numbers, but it actually went pretty fast. I can't believe that we are already more than half way through December! Time is flying. I am looking forward to the New Year, and being completely healthy! I have a game this afternoon with my kids team, and then we have a game tomorrow against the University of Cantabria which is in Santander. Tomorrow is our last game before the break, and tonight is our last practice! I leave Monday morning for Mexico :)

Spanish Air Strike!

This past weekend was a big holiday weekend for all of Spain. Thousands and thousands of people had made travel plans, including myself! Upon arrival to Madrid on Saturday morning, I soon learned that all flights were going to be canceled for the day through-out all of Spain. This was caused due to air traffic controllers walking out of their job sometime on Friday afternoon. Shortly thereafter the government announced that Spain was in a state of alarm meaning that if the air traffic controllers did not go back to work, they would face criminal charges and jail time. Luckily, one of of my teammates parents live right close to the airport so they took me in for the night and brought me back to the airport the next day! There was one group of 30 people all going to Las Vegas for a wedding and they all missed it! A bunch of people that were shown on the news were people going to see their sick family members, so there were a lot of angry people for various reasons. Here is an article that was in USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2010-12-03-spain-airport-closures_N.htm. After spending some time in Germany, I returned to practice for Wednesday. A new gym recently opened up about 15 minutes from Oviedo in a town called Mieres. We have been practicing here and this is going to be our new home gym once it gets gas/hot water. It is brand new! There is no heating system, which is supposedly typical in Spain. A few of the gyms we have practiced/played in are freezing! There is a workout area as well with ellipticals and bikes which I am happy about because that's about all I can do right now! Only about 12 more days until I head to Mexico where I will be doing pool workouts in the sun!

8-0, and Madrid gets KILLED!

Well, our team pulled off the win in Vallolidad where we won 61-34 against CD Valladolid Zaratan. In my opinion this was the nicest gym we have played in yet, but unfortunately I didn't get any pictures. It had a wood floor, which here is rare. Almost all the courts we have played on have been on a rubber surface because the gyms are used for both handball and basketball. Handball is a big sport here in Spain, I had never really seen it played until I got here. They use a sticky sap like gel on their hands, which is why they play on a rubber court instead of wood. We had yesterday off and today off as well. Yesterday was a huge day for Spain because it was the first meeting of Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. My whole team got together to watch it and bet 1 Euro on what we thought the score was going to be. I guessed 3-1 Madrid. Well, Madrid lost 5-0!!!!! Going into the game they were ranked ahead of Barcelona so it was really just a disgrace! They game was played in Barcelona, and every single bar and restaurant that had a TV was packed to see this game! My German teammate made the comment that all of Europe was watching this game. Only four of my teammates were going for Madrid, and the rest for Barcelona. Two of the arguable best soccer players play on each of these teams. Cristiano Ronaldo, and Leo Messi. Ronaldo is from Portugal and Messi is from Argentina. I talked with my little girls from my team before the game, and they are all in love with Ronaldo. One was giggling how she had a picture of Ronaldo with his shirt off! Hahaha! Just like my sister, who thinks he is gorgeous. Here are a couple pictures of them and if you don't know which is which, then guess lol.