San Mateo, Perros, y Cafes!

San Mateo Street Entertainment

Plaza de la Catedral

Heading to see Trasto's parents

Trasto & his parents reuniting!

For the last few weeks I have just been getting back into the swing of things & readjusting to living in Spain. One of the things I missed most about Spain, and Europe in general is all of the street cafes. I love people watching and I really enjoy the coffee here, so I have spent a lot of time at different cafes, with teammates and alone. As a matter of fact I went to my favorite one last night to use the Wifi and watch both the Real Madrid and Barcelona soccer games. As of now, I don't have a lot to do during the day(we usually practice in the evenings), and neither does my good friend, Lara. I have been running around with her exploring Oviedo, Aviles, and Gijon. I am planning on tutoring kids in English throughout the week, and I have a few families that have "hired" me to start in October, so I am looking forward to that. I am also coaching my same kids team 3 days a week, and we only have two new girls so that has been fun coaching them again :) This whole week has been San Mateo, although I remember the weather being a little bit warmer last year! There are tons of street vendors, and concerts every night in the Plaza with the huge cathedral. I bought a new camera, before I left so I have been having fun playing with that, and learning how to use it. I have uploaded a few of my favorite pictures onto Facebook...Practice has been going well, and we have some new young talent this year that I am looking forward to playing with! We had our first scrimmage in Aviles on Saturday and we won by about 20. Tomorrow, we play a team from Liga 2, and on Saturday we have another scrimmage. Our regular season won't start until mid October. I just got back from Gijon, with a few of my teammates. We went to get ice cream from this place called Regma, that is on the beach and it is seriously the best ice cream ever! Only 3 Euros for a double scoop, and I got mocha :) I did feel kind of sick after because I ate it so fast it was melting all over me! We all stood hunched over stuffing our faces for a good 3 minutes, when I realized I was in front of an office window and a man was staring at me dying laughing....meanwhile I had ice cream all over my hands, face, and the ground below me. My teammate Patri, recently bought a golden retriever puppy and his name is Trasto, which means naughty in Spanish. He is so adorable! We brought him with us to Gijon, and then we stopped by the breeders house so he could see his parents. There aren't many actual houses where I live in Oviedo, but this was more in the country you could say, and it was a gorgeous house! I took a picture as Lara, Andrea, Patri, and Trasto were walking down the driveway. So neat how old somethings are here! It was so cute to watch them all run around in a little family, and made me want a dog even more! You could tell the people really loved dogs, and took good care of them, and didn't just do it for the money...One thing I have noticed in Spain is that there are hardly any mixed dogs. All are pure breds. I have also noticed that many people fail to pick up their dogs doo doo on the streets!!! I have been lucky, or attentive enough to not step in any yet...Patri, was not so lucky, as she stepped in a large one right before we left for Gijon. The last picture is in Gijon, after the ice cream! As you can tell, I am enjoying taking black and white photos recently :) Hope everyone has a great weekend coming up! Ciao

Back to Oviedo!

Well it is has been about 4 months since I last blogged. As I sit here in the Seattle Airport watching the sunrise, I figured this would be a good time to restart my blogging. Looking back I realized I never updated this to say how we did in the Final Four. We ended up losing a few close games therefore, not moving up a league. Leaving Oviedo back in May, I was unsure of if I was coming back to play again in Oviedo, or in Spain at all. I was set on resting my knee over the summer, and seeing how it felt after a few months before making any decisions. Come July, it was feeling good after doing a lot of stationary bike and elliptical, and I made the decision to come back to Oviedo, rather than go to a different team. I had a great time this summer and I will highlight the times with some pictures :)

I will start with my surprise going away party, thrown by my team. I really had no idea, and we had a great time in one of the local bars that we always go to!

Stopping in Boston to see college friends, where we went out in the city and went to the beach! Here in this picture, Kelly, Meredith, and I. 

Celebrating my sisters 25th Birthday in Denali National Park where we went to a wine tasting event, and went on a couple hikes!

Taking a vacation to California where I was able to spend time with my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins too! Here in this picture, Kyle and I in the sun at The Cheesecake Factory in Union Square, San Fransisco. Such good food! Hiked the Marin Headlands too!

Went on a few hikes this summer. My best friend Alyssa had a few friends come up from L.A. and we took them on this hike called Angel Rocks.

Rebuilding the deck at my parents house. My Dad did most of the work, but Robin and I helped a lot! Here, nailing down the last few nails! 

White Water Rafting in Denali National Park with some girls from LA. Us on the Nenana River in this picture, before our guide threw us all in! So cold!

The annual costume boat party! This year the theme was Hollywood Stars. I was Lara Croft.

 Definitely am looking forward to getting back into the swing of things with practice and my team.  I am coaching my same little girls this year, so I am excited to see all of them as well. I will try to keep this updated for those of you who read it! Hope everyone else had a great summer and is doing well!!! Hasta la proxima vez!