4-0 Undefeated Preseason!

Yesterday was our fourth and last preseason game in Valladolid. Valladolid is about a 3 hour drive southeast of Oviedo. The map to the left gives you an idea where I am living. The drive to Valladolid was very pretty. For the first hour we drove through a lot of mountains, and the last couple hours the landscape resembeled that of Nebraska! Very flat, with a lot of farmland. The team we played last night beat my team last year in the League championship game by 3 points. Since they won the league last year, they moved up to a higher league, Feminia Liga 2. We ended up winning by 25 points, so I think that is a good indicator that we will pretty good this year! On Thursday we played a team in a lower league than us in Aviles which is 30 minutes north of Oviedo. We did not keep track of the score in this game, but if we did, we would have won by a lot. We will now start our league play (1st Division Nacional) on October 3rd. From here on out we will only play one game per week, on either Saturdays or Sundays. This will be different for me because for the last four years in college I am used to playing 2 or 3 games per week. Here in Spain there will be a lot more practices, and a longer season.

A few days ago I was able to see the a parade in the city for the Dia de Americano en Asturias. I am not quite sure what this day signified, but there were thousands of people along Uria. Uria is one of the famous roads in Oviedo known for shopping. It is a long stretch of straight road lined with clothing stores and cute boutiques that leads to the Train Station. The night before the city workers set up thousands and thousands of little wood chairs and set up a bleacher section as well as you can see in the picture.

Earlier this week I was able to sign up for my Spanish course. I will start on October 5th, having class a total of about four hours per week. This should help me improve my grammar a lot. I also was able to watch a soccer game right across from where I live. Our club, the Universidad de Oviedo has men's/women's basketball, men's soccer, and a track and field team. There could be more teams but if there is I don't know about them. Our men's soccer team lost on a penalty kick with 30 seconds left so that was disappointing! When I look out of my window I can see both the track and the soccer field across the road. This is a picture of the game I watched on a sunny day!

I had heard from many people that when I came here I would either start to smoke cigarettes or drink coffee! Well, I have started to drink coffee. Unfortunately, most of my team smokes cigarettes, although a few are trying to quit as of recently. It is legal to smoke in all restaurants and bars, so after going out, my clothes always smell like smoke which I really dislike! There are even designating smoking areas inside the airport terminals. The coffee here is really good and I usually have a cup in morning. It is normal here for the whole team, coach included, to go out for a drink after practice. We do that pretty often at two little cafeterias/bars right down the street. A famous local drink here is Calimocho, which is red wine and coke mixed together. They serve it in huge cups and then everyone shares it. In the picture you can see a big glass of this in the center of the table. This is most of my team after practice at Heiman, a little bar right down the road.