Tourist in Russia

So I was told this place is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I would mostly agree. We walked around St. Petersburg for 2 days now and have seen some amazing architecture and OLD buildings. It seems that all the buildings are sooooo big. We walked through the Hermitage, saw Old Savior cathedral???, some other churches, some palaces, bought some Matryoshka dolls, bought some jewelery.........and took tons of pics. This is our last event until Brazil and will be home for 3 weeks.

FUNDABLE

Heidi's fiance, Steve, has set up a donation account for Heidi and I. It has been a tremendous season so far. We have had many "once in a lifetime experiences." However, we have had to plan all of our own travel and budget off the personal sponsorships we have received up to now. We have definitely maxed out our budget and our into our own pockets now. We will continue this because we are determined to play every event until the Olympics. However, it is an added stress. So, if you feel in any way that you are capable of donating, please check out the site. The link is on the right side of the page "our funds". Love you all.

St. Petersburg, Russia

We are in Russia. It is about 14 deg outside and we play at 2pm. Long story short, we won our first game and lost our second yesterday in the qualifier. We did, however, get lucky and manage to find a spot in the Main Draw because of the lucky losers process. So we play Turner and Wacholder at 2pm. It has been an interesting trip to say the least. First, it took a good long flight and train to get here. Then, we had no hotel to stay in, and our luggage was lost for 2 days.......yes, we had to borrow suits from another team and buy cold weather gear. And, we slept in the same thing for 2 nights. Kinda gross.
Well, another thing to mention is that Steve, Heidi's fiance, posted a fundable. com link for us. Please feel no obligation to donate, but we have been traveling most of this season with a very small budget(from some generous friends). Our Philippines volleyball federation has helped in no way monetarily. We have 2 more events this season and about 8 more next season before Beijing. So, if you feel that you can help, wonderful. Otherwise your prayers would be more than sufficient:)

Thank to all of you that support our dream.

Leaving Again!

So...as you can tell, I have been home a week and have not updated this once while home.....because I have pretty much been lazy, yet content. We are leaving this evening for Russia and will return on September 2. Only a week. We will be in St. Petersburg. I am pretty excited for this trip (not the 12 hr flights). You can follow how Heidi and I are doing on FIVB, beach volleyball, then look for St. Petersburg on the right side of the page....go to results once you have opened the page. It was a great week home.....Ciao!

What a Day!!!!!!

It was sooooo great to see all the girls at camp last night. I truly tried to make it back in time to pop my head in and see hard girls at work. And, coaches hard at work. What a long day of travel, but a very happy ending. Station Sushi is a great way to end the day!!!!!

London to LAX

After messaging Guy, we hopped on the tube (London underground) and went straight to South Kensington. Guy met us there and took us straight to our hotel. Heidi and I tidied up and then we all went a walking in London. Never been there. It was spectacular. We saw some museums (dont remember the names), strolled by Harrod's and then stopped for a nibble at Harvey Nichols. Learned what snogging is. After a lite snack, Guy took us to the chicken place. What a delight. One of the greatest meals in a long time. After eats, straight to the hotel and asleep we went. We woke to one of the GREATEST breakfast buffets ever. Then walked to the tube, and "tubed" it to Heathrow only to be stopped in our tracks.
As we proceeded to check in, the ticket lady told us our tickets were exchanged, but not confirmed. WHAT??????did that mean. Well, we see you have a ticket change, but no confirmation on the changes.....WHAT??????So, what we thought was a few hours wait for a flight tunred into an eternity of waiting to find out if we were going to get on the London-LAX direct flight in AA 137. We waited and waited, peeps boarded the plane, others were making seat changes......then," ms. pascua, ms. Iustre, please proceed to the ticket counter...you got on, enjoy your flight" We were enroute to LAX!!!!!!!! GUY-You Rock. We are home safe. Thanks for everything!

Out of Aland

After a devastating loss to the Spaniards:( we decided it was time to start the journey home....(we actually has been planning this trip home for some time, but I never blogged it cuz i was trying to surprise a friend) so, we hopped on the 11:45pm ferry from Aland to Helsinki, getting us to Helsinki at 10 am the next day. Helsinki is the capitol city of Finland. We trammed, then bussed to the airport and proceeded immediately to the Finnair ticket counter. With puppy dog eyes, we asked "can we get on the next flight out of here?" With much finnagling, we were able to hop on the 2:05 pm flight to London, Heathrow...arrived at 3:10pm. Now what? Our connecting flight to LAX....yes, LAX....was 11:25 am the following day. So, we did what anyone would do, phoned the only person we knew in London, Guy Perry.

Poop

We lost our second match today against Spain. It was not pretty. We did not play terrible, but not well enough to beat them. They are a consistent team and served us tough. Now, we take a breather and come back tough in Russia...........Who knows...we may get lucky tonight in the Lucky Losers draw.

Solana Beach Campers

Hello to everyone checking this out. I am so sad I am missing camp right now, but I know you are having fun. Keep working hard and feel free to drop me an email at pascua77@gmail.com. Would be great to hear from you. Miss San Diego tremendously and cannot wait to get back there.

Aland, Finland

So, it is 11:30 am here, we just won our first qualification match (vs. Finlad) and have one more against Spain at 3pm. If we win that, we are in the Main Draw. We are the 9th seed and they are the 8seed, so it should be a battle. Love those. Let you know how we do.

Turku-Day 2

Played 4 matches now. It is 2pm on Saturday. We are 2-2. Don't ask who we lost 2. so we have 1 more and then maybe we are in the finals. To give you an idea of the situation, there is no prize money. We played 2 matches yesterday after a 620 am flight and may have 4 today. Tomorrow, exhibition match....just for fun. so, we pretty much are not too into this, just good exercise, touching the ball and soaking up the sun. Here are a few pics of the situation. Later.........

Turku, Finland

We are in Turku, Finland right now playing in an exhibition event. It was a very last minute decision. However an easy one when they told us they would pay airfare, food, hotel and transportation to and from the airport. We are on a countdown now.......
We just finished our first match and lost to Georgia 21-16, 21-19. Don't forget we woke this am at 4:30, hopped on a 6:20 am flight and arrived in Turku at 12:30pm. First match was at 4pm and we play again at 6 pm.....tomorrow we have 3 matches and then the finals...woohoo....lots of volleyball!

Just another Day

So, we woke early today, checked out of Hotel Norge cuz they are overbooked. Watched a few matches and walked around looking for a hotel for tonight. Luckily, Chad and Kimo are here to split room costs and hang with. But, there is no fun in walking around a town you don't know (and very expensive) looking for a bed to sleep in. Though, we found something. We are off to Finland manana, probably through Stockholm, then take a ferry to Aland Islands. I bet no one has been there before. Will take lots of pics.

Norway-Main Draw

1-2 BBQ...that's all I got to say. We actually had a decent draw and we matched up well, but when some things are not flowing it is tough to beat these top teams. We played Adriana/Shelda first, then Schwaiger/Schwaiger. Lost both matches in 2 games. So, we are trying to figure out how to get to Aland, Finland......Here are some pics from the day. Oh...yeah, the men's Filipino team played today and almost beat France.....

Qualified

We played at 6pm tonight against Asao/Take a Japan team. won in 2 sets.....tomorrow we have the number 7 seed, Adriana Shelda and Behar (Brazil) at 2pm......Would be great to go ahead and win both matches tomorrow.

Kristiansand, Norway

So, we had dinner last night.......500 NOK. That comes out to be $80 USD..For 2 dinner plates and chips and salsa......and, my coke was $5.50. Pretty expensive...so we hope to get out of town as soon as possible, after we qualify! Let you know how we do today.

Klagenfurt, Austria-On the Train

Supposedly this is the BEST FIVB event……Well, it was a pretty good set-up, but our results were not. We beat the Czech’s, but lost to Kuhn/Schwer, the Swiss team. So, we spent the next few days being tourists, practicing a bit, and enjoying the lake. Lake Woethersee was quite the source of entertainment…waterslide, diving boards, floating dock, Red Bull boat (which happened to take 16 of us out to the middle of the lake and do a few 360’s-then we got a ticket)……but, all in all the day was a much needed break from volleyball. We sat on the floating dock ALL day, then proceeded to the side event at Fabrik, in the evening…..Heidi and I held our own dance party-also, much needed!

Klagenfurt is a great little town, weather was great, and the side events were great. The last night there, we went on the Swatch Boat cruise. There were many players on board and we had a blast, free food, free Swatch squirt guns, and lots of dancing……..now to Norway and Finland………then, well…………

Massage Table

So, it is 645 am, July 30. On a train from Villach to Klagenfurt, Austria. We began the journey in Bern, Switzerland thru Zurich……with many stops along the way. When we purchased our tickets, we were told there were no sleepers, so we would be sitting for the entire 10 hr train ride. This is pretty much how the European train system works. Well, to help you understand the situation better, we were asked by USA Volleyball to transport the team massage table from Gstaad to Klagenfurt. It was otherwise going to cost a lot of money to ship, so we agreed. However, a massage table is a large piece of luggage, and would not store easily in our train cabin. So, we decided to store it behind the seats on the car next to ours……..bad move. During our stop in Feldricht (?-around 10:30pm) we made a few forward, backward movements……it confused us. What was happening…….without further thought; we stayed in our seats, and waited for the train to continue to Villach. Well, we realized at 6am in the morning, as we went to retrieve the massage table, the train had split, and half went to Graz, while our train proceeded to Villach. Yes, the massage table we were asked to bring for the players went to another city. So, today, we begin to track it down and act like nothing happened. Stay tuned!