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!