Barcelona Day 2

Good morning from my end. It is 7:58 am, Heidi and I just ate a spanish breaky and getting ready to play Pohl/Rau of Germany. Yesterday we faced Germany #1, and won! Then we faced Brazil (Salgado/Salgado) and lost. IT was an ugly match. So, today we looked to pull another a huge upset. It is definitely in our capacity. We are feeling good and ready to play! This pic is the view from the main court in Barcelona.

Barcelona

After a few long flights we arrived in Barcelona, Spain. We have already stayed in 2 hostels, very tiny rooms and now have managed to perch ourselves at the Main Draw 4 Star hotel. Which means we qualified yesterday by beating Australia and Canada to get in. It was not an easy day by any means. But, we managed to play together and keep our composure. Our first match today is at 11am vs. Germany!

Other Pics from Osaka

Osaka Results

So Osaka was good to us. Wr qualified and won 2 matches in the Main Draw to finish at 13th. We faced Japan and Spain in the Qualifier and China 1, Finland, and Austria in the Main Draw. We lost to China, but ended up beating Finland in 2 sets and Austria in 3 sets. WE are playing well. The best part about the week was that we had played Finland and Austria in the past. Finland we beat in Gstaad last summer and Austria we lost to in Norway, so we had something to prove.

Monday in Osaka

We have been in Osaka for 2 days...Day 1 was a whirlwind...mostly a travel day! That is Picture 1.
Picture 2 is the size of the doors here. Chad and I are giants!
Day 2 was great. Weather was nice, we practiced at the tournament site-took the subway a total of 1 minute-Pic 3, explored the city baseball team-the Hinshan Tigers (baseball is HUGE here!), walked through the mall, and ate some great food. Today, we woke, ate McD for breaky and practiced-Pic 4 is the 3 of us at the tourney site.........other than that it's the Office or reading a book. I bought 2 more episodes of 24 so we can at least finish season 1. It is really difficult to stop watching once you start. I have never been into a show this much, I guess it is just a good way to pass the time! Well, going to bed soon, qualification draw is tomorrow....I will let you know all know who we play.

Made it to Osaka

We have actually made it to Osaka. Took a very long time...bus, plane, train, walk. We are staying at the Hotel Keihan Tenmabashi. Everything in Osaka is very small...the cars, the doorways, the roadways, the people. It is definitely a different culture here. We tried to find some good Japanese food for lunch, but ended up at a bakery getting pizza and pastries. Well, tomorrow, we plan to try and catch a baseball game at the Koshien Stadium. Well, off to take a walk and get out of the tiniest hotel room in the world. These are a few more pics from Korea.......

Seoul Seeing

Yesterday we played Brazil, then Germany. We played very well, but lost both. Tough to play some of these top seeded teams, but promising to know we are giving them trouble. Today is recovery day for our bodies......So once we woke, we ate, grabbed a Starbucks and headed to the courts to watch some matches. There was so much going on in Seoul. Many field trips and kids days. After all, we are staying at the Olympic Parktel which housed many athletes for the Seoul, Olympics in '88. Here are some pics from the day!