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. 

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

Good Morning from Oviedo!

Napolitano de Chocolate

I just had some coffee and a napolitano de chocolate, which is my favorite pastry here. It is probably one of the most unhealthy though too =/ Basically it is a croissant filled with chocolate, and when they are fresh and warm they are delicious! Meredith, my roommate from college who lived in Salamanca, Spain for three months on exchange, also loved these. By the time she told me to try one, I had already been hooked! Unfortunately I have not been able to find a coffee shop that serves like lattes with flavors or anything. They only have regular coffee, coffee with milk, or I think there are cappuccinos too. Clearly, there was no Thanksgiving here, but a few of my teammates had heard of it and wished me a Happy Thanksgiving. I didn't even eat pavo(turkey) on this past Thursday, but I was able to Skype with my family before they feasted! If I had a kitchen in my place, I would have cooked, but I don't :(On another note I had two games with my kids since I last blogged. One on Friday night and one yesterday morning. On Friday night we lost by 43 points. Not good! We were able to bounce back and win on Saturday morning so our overall record is 2-2 and we are ranked  third in our league of twelve teams.

The Friday night game was played outside and I am pretty sure it was about 32 degrees because I could see my breathe! I felt so bad for my kids, but then again they were probably warmer than me because they were running around! It was a pretty dramatic game on Friday, with the parents screaming at the ref, and even coming down onto the court. I was pretty angry with the ref as well ,but then I just started to feel bad. It was his fist basketball game he had ever reffed, and that was clear. Actually, I think that was the first basketball game he had ever seen. On top of the that the person running the score book was a 10 year old boy so he was making fouls for the wrong person, and giving points the wrong team. All the mom's were standing behind our bench and comforting the girls who were freezing and angry about the game, while all the dad's were angry and yelling. The mom's just kept telling me I was doing a great job and to just worry about coaching, meanwhile a few would come tap me on the shoulder and show me what the real score was, because they were keeping track on their own pad of paper haha! So far, no problem parents yet, in fact, they are all very nice. Yesterday we had a big team meal at Tina's apartment. Saturday's and Tuesdays we never have practice, even if we have a game the next day. One type of typical food here is tortillas. Before

Tortilla de patata

Spain, I had always thought of tortilla's like the flour ones that you use to eat tacos, or buritos. Here tortillas are eggs and potates all cooked together to make a big queesh like pie. I am sure that you can put other ingredients in the tortilla like ham or veggies, but just eggs and potatoes I believe is the most common. Today we will leave at 1:30 to head to Vallolidad where we have a game at 6pm. I am still not practice or playing yet, continuing to let my knee heal. If we win today we will be 8-0! Tomorrow is a HUGE game in Spain where Real Madrid will take on FC Barcelona in one of the biggest soccer games of the year! I will be going for Real Madrid :) It had started to get very cold here, and I can now see snow on the mountains that are behind the city. Looks like it's time for me to be on a beach, in 22 days! :)

Some Pics of the City

I realized yesterday that I have not taken too many pictures of the city so I walked to class and snapped some photos along the way. This is on my way to class, and is an area is where a lot of the shopping is, and as you can see there is a big statue of a culo in the middle :) If you click on any of these pictures it will allow you to see them bigger.

This is a statue called "La Gorda" which means the fat lady basically. A lot of times this is used a meeting place with people. For example we will meet at La Gorda at 10 tonight! It is close to the Cathedral and the center of town.

This picture is taken also on my walk to class, as you can see there are a lot of little mopeds or motorcycles or whatever you want to call them. Also the city plants trees and plants like these along every single road! They maintain them well so it always looks pretty. I have seen the city workers hand painting the gold on the flower pots like the one on the right side of the picture, and there are hundreds of those around the city!

 Walking to class takes me about 20 minutes, along the way I pass this Theater. I am not sure what goes on here, but I would like to find out!

This right at the beginning of Uria, which is the street with all the shopping. The weather has been pretty overcast here, and I guess it is suppose to snow in the next couple of days!

Still Undefeated :) 7-0!

Rainy Sunday here for our day off! Yesterday we won 81-24 vs. a team from Lugo. Tina Cabrera, Marta Fernandez, and I all did not play due to injuries. This was our first "home" game that we did not play at home due to it being under construction. Instead we played in San Claudio which is a small town right outside of Oviedo. Pato, the oldest on our team, had 5 three pointers in the game, I think all in the second half! We always give each other a hard time about who is the shooter on the team, so after this, I said she forever has the title as the shooter! The crowd and the whole team was loving it! After each game here, for all teams, the norm is to applaud the fans, something that I don't think is done in the United States. The video above is just a quick one showing that, after our game last night. On another note, I got my first win as a head coach on Saturday morning! My kids team won by 13! The game was actually played outside, on pavement! It has been getting pretty cold out here so I was surprised when I realized we were play going to outside. The past week, the gym that we were practicing in was freezing! The receptionist at the desk gave the injured ones a little heater that we were huddled up next to for our practice! As you can see, that is what I am holding. Based on one of the doctors I have been seeing, and my physical therapist, I was not allowed to do anything this week. No elliptical, no jog, no shoot, no practice! So I have not done anything since the game last Saturday in Leon. My knee is still a little swollen, but I have been icing daily and going to physical therapy for about 2 hours a day. It will get better soon! Next Wednesday I should start doing the elliptical again I believe. Today I am relaxing and resting all day, and the later tonight, going with some of my team to see Feve Oviedo play which is the men's team here. Our assistant coach is actually the assistant coach of this team as well. Usually we both play on Saturdays so he doesn't come to a lot of our games, but this weekend it worked out so he could come to our game, and we can go to theirs!

My 1st highlight tape for those who never saw this!

Got a W in Leon!!

Yesterday was a big day for me! It was my kids first game at 9:30am, and my first game as a head coach. We ended up losing 41-38! My team played so good though. The other team had this little girl who was tiny, and she scored 18 points and stole the ball from my girls like 15 times! She was a problem, that is a lot for an 11 year old! Here, there are six, 8 minute quarters, and you are not allowed to sub during the quarters. I suppose it is a good system, but I have 14 girls on my team and another rule is that only 12 can play! I have to choose 2 girls who won't play each game :(. Anyways about 4 of my girls were crying after the game, they were really angry at the one referee we had. They all had scratches up and down their arms, and were angry that there weren't more "faltas" called. In my Spanglish I explained that we can't blame loses on the refs, and it was only our first game so we needed to stay positive! We will play again next Saturday. The picture to the left is some of my kids at practice in the gym that we practice and play our home games in. It is really one big court where Feve Oviedo plays(the men's team in the Silver Division) but they can divide it into 3 horizontal courts. After my kids game I had a few hours to relax and have lunch, then my team left for Leon at 2pm. Before we left the boss guy of our team was waiting at the bus with some medicine for me. It was some type of a dissoluble tablet for pain. Not quite sure what it was, but he told me to go down the street to the bar to take it. When I got there, there was a bottle of water and a glass waiting for me haha. Anyways, it was about an hour and a half drive, and we played our game at 5pm. This was the first game that we received a scouting report for. I guess we only get those for the good games. This was definitely the best team we have played yet, but we ended up winning 63-49. We are now 6-0 :) Unfortunately one of our starting guards, Tina, injured her calf in the 1st 20 seconds of the game. We are all hoping that she didn't tear anything, and that she will recover quickly!On another note, our home gym that we practice and play in was shut down last week for renovations. The picture to the right is a picture taken from the stands of the old gym. Almost every gym in Spain that I have seen is like this. The stands or bleachers are raised up over the court, and are only on one side. There is a separate entrance to the stands from the gym. We are now practicing in a gym in San Claudia which is a small town like 15 minutes away. We will be playing the rest of our home games there until Christmas, which is only two home games. I recently bought my plane ticket to Mexico so I will be spending Christmas with my family and my aunts family in Puerto Escondido! I can't wait :) Today is our day off so I will just be relaxing all day and resting my knee which is a little sore from the game yesterday!