Spring is here!

I am getting really bad at updating this thing! Lets see here since the last time I blogged, we have won two games, one home and one in Lugo. We are now 20-0. I am still not running yet, but doing elliptical, bike, and pool workouts. I still coach my kids team, and have been trying to get them to tell me one thing in English each day, usually they just say "hello" or "t-shirt" haha. Yesterday I was asked to speak to some students for an annual "Mujeres y Deportes" (women and sports) round table discussion. There were about 8 females who played various sports such as soccer, karate, mountain climbing, etc. I always forget that I was lucky to have Title IX growing up playing sports. I personally believe that there is not an equal amount of sports team between women and men here in Spain. After each of us athletes spoke to the kids, it was time for questions. Some asked me about the light in Alaska, and one girl asked me if I miss my family back in Alaska. My response was, well actually they are all over the world right now too! Well, my sister Robin is in Fairbanks, but my dad is in Mexico, and my mom is in Australia. The weather has been getting very Springy here. Sunny enough, that I got burnt the other day! For the last month or so the team has been doing a little extra workout before practice with our trainer David. Since the season is so long we kind of have two preseasons. Now they are getting some extra running in to be in to shape for the final tournament at the end of May, and for the finals for the Universitarios at the end of April. Above is a picture of some us doing partner biceps! Last weekend I also went and saw my first Liga 2 game which is the League above us. The competion was definatley way better than our league, but I think our team could compete with them. They had some very good American post players too that were strong and huge! Here in Oviedo there is also a Carnival weekend which is basically like Halloween. Everyone dresses up and goes out. A couple of my teammtes were avatar, some pipi longstocking, some rugby players. I didn´t dress up or go out, becuase I am not supposed to walk around too much on my knee. The other picture is after a game on the evening of Carnival. The little boy was my teammate Tina´s friends son. He dressed up like a clown with his parents and it was SO cute. Here is a picture that I took of my teammates before they went into the city. This weekend we have a home game, and I have two games with my kids! I can´t wait until it is warm enough to go to the beachhh.

Universitarios 3-0!

Hello all! Just got back from Madrid last night where we won the preleminary round of the University tournament. We played one regular 40 minute game on Tuesday which we won by about 30, and then we had to play two 20 mintues games against two different teams on Wednesday. The games were an hour apart and we won both of those games. We traveled to Madrid with the men´s basketball team, men´s soccer team, and men´s handball team. The men´s handball team lost their first game so they went back on Tuesday evening. The men´s soccer team won the preleminaries like us, while the men´s basketball team lost in the finals. The men´s soccer team and us will now travel to Leon to play against the 12 best Universties in Spain on April 25th I believe. This is apart from the league we play in, and I guess it is Spain´s version of the NCAA´s. Only difference is that many of the players are paid, and some are only signed just for this tournament. As long as you are "enrolled" in the school with the proper paperwork, you can play. The team that wins it all in Leon will play in the European Championships sometime in June. One of my teammates, Carolina, is from Madrid so her family and friends all got a chance to see her play near home which was nice for her. They had made signs for her and cheered really loud for us so that was nice!The picture to the right is of all of us after the game with Carolina´s friends. The picture above is clearly a few of us cheering on the ones playing. The other girl who is not dressed out with me is Peque, who has a hurt ankle. She should be back soon though, as hopefully will I :) My kids team had a good practice today, and we have a game tomorrow which should be fun. This Saturday we have a home game against Leon!

Pictures! See text below in previous entry!

Big Flower Dog!

Overlooking Gijon

Relaxing before the wine tour

Beautiful day at the top of Naranco

Fun shot

After our game :)

Coaching the Kids!

Second winery

Wine tasting :)

Big Barrels!

Meredith, Robin, and I in front of the Cathedral in Oviedo

The first winery in La Rioja

Visitors!

Early morning Physical Therapy

Wow, well a lot has happened since I last blogged! For one, my computer died on me so I have not had a computer to use that often. As far as basketball goes we are now 18-0. Last nights game was a Derby against Gijon which is about 30 minutes away. Our coach got ejected out of the team about three minutes into the second half because he was yelling at the scorers table for messing up the 24 second shot clock. He thought that they were cheating. We don´t really have an assistant coach so we were left to coach ourselves for the last half of the game. We ended up winning by 20! Tomorrow we will head to Madrid for the University tournament. If we win on Tuesday we will play again on Wednesday. It should be a good expereince, so I am excited. I have been progressivley putting more pressure on my leg while still walking with crutches, and I should be walking normally starting tomorrow. I have been able to do pool workouts and bike workouts for the last week or so, and that has been nice to do some sort of physical activity! It has definately been a long process, but I don´t want to rush it!

Meredith & I in Gijon

Meredith, Robin, and I in the Igelsia de Santa Maria Naranco

I had five visitors over a period of 9 days, including my roommate from college and my sister and her three friends. We rented a car and had a great time exploring northern Spain. Before my sister Robin and her three friends got here, Meredith and I went to Gijon so she could see the city on the water. Once, all six of us were together, we started out by touring Oviedo, and then we drove to La Rioja which is one of the famous wine vineyard areas of Spain. Marla had set up two wine tours, which were amazing! I had never been on a wine tour before so it was really interesting to see the wine making process, and taste all the different types of wine. One thing that I did not realize is that in Spain, most of the wine makers are female! We got to have lunch with the wine maker of one of the wineries so that was great. From there we stopped in Vitoria, Spain to see one of our friends basketball games, and then moved on to San Sebastian which is right on the border of Spain and France. It was a gorgeous city right on the water. On the way back, we stopped at the Guggeheim museum in Bilbao, and then returned to Oviedo. It was a lot of traveling for a few days, but definately worth it! Once we got back to Oviedo, I tooke them to see Cabo de Penas, which is the Northern most tip of Asturias which huge cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Then we made our way to Cudierllo which was a precious little town tucked away in a hill side. There is only one road, and then to get to the houses there are staircases that weave through the town. We also had one of the best meals there, and they got to try the Asturian Fabada which is a famous bean soup that is delicious! It was great having a car because we could just go anywhere we wanted! After all theh visitors left, I got back into my normal routine of going to Physical Therpay midday, instead of 9am, so we could have the whole day to explore :) My knee is definately making progess each day, I am just doing my best to stay patient!