Well well....My time in Iceland rapidly made it to the final four days. I have lots to do, way to much to do actually, before I head home to the God all Might United States! O how I miss America! o dear. Time to come home, eat some Chipotle and Red Robbin! Yummy. Hoping to get Toni's little brother to get us Red Robbin as we get off the plane then stopping at Chipotle on the way home. haha! We shall see...But I have to update you on the rest of the Poland Trip.
I think I left off with our really cool game against the senior national team. That was an incredible day. Very fun. Tuesday I do believe. Then on Wed we traveled in the morning time to a city called Szczyrk where one of the four Olympic Training Centers in Poland is located. We took the bus there and it was about an hour and half drive or so I would guess. I hadn't been feeling to well the night before and I think I had a fever throughout the night. So on the bus I got really sick and pretty sure my fever picked up again. I haven't been sick in a long time, forgot how sucky it is. Anyway, we made it to this little "mountain" town with a small ski resort somewhere I think. (mountains about the size of mnt herman-not too big)We got our rooms put together, I got an awesome room with Molly and Kate. Both incredibly awesome girls. Love em to death. We had a practice in the afternoon right in the complex at the gym there. Really nice gym. Practice went well dispute me being sick. On Thursday we had two practices. At breakfast coach Marco and Dan Bush (trainer)suggested that I didn't practice and got healthy. So I had even intention on listening to them, however I rested up some after breakfast and felt that running around wouldn't do any harm. If anything it would just be good for me. So I went with everyone to practice and felt I actually did quite well. Then afternoon practice was a different story though. O well, guess you can't be on your game alll the time. I started to get really excited for Friday afternoon. The morning slowly came after a rough rough night. Not sleeping much because of a cough and a fever is not fun. Light 1 hr morning practice then game in the afternoon. We rode a bus just 15 min to a gym in town with the junior Norway team to compete against them. They are world champions... so basically the worst team in the world had to play the best team in the world... guess how that one turned out!? haha. Nei joke. It wasn't that bad... We held our own pretty nicely actually the first little bit. But they played a 4 2 defense and the girls that played most have never played against that. So that was a total disaster. Just about every goal they scored was off of a fast break. I played a few min in the first half and about 13 or 14 min in the second half. The last few min of the game we had two girls get a 2 min. That means we play down a man for 2 min. So I was one of the lucky 4 that got to play the ending of a game against the best team in the world 4vs6.... Lucky eh? But before they fouled out we did get 4 goals in. The final score was something like 11-48 or something. Pretty high score for handball. But we learned a lot and that is exactly why USA went. Saturday I started to feel a little better by morning. Rough night again, hate that. We had our last practice of the tournament, another short one in morning. Around 4 we played Czech Republic junior national team. That game actually turned out to be a little bit closer until second half. We played at the gym in town again. This actually was an upsetting day for me. I was looking forward so much to play Czech because my grandpa is Czech and so just playing our heritage was a cool idea to me. So I was really ready and excited, and turns out I am the only player that didn't get a chance to play. Anca thinks that Marco may have just forgot about me, guess we will never know that truth. I spoke with him later that night about it and he said that jugs sometimes games just don't go your way. He mentioned that Sunday's game would be a great game for the players who didn get to play much this week play a lot. So I was looking forward to that. Then on Sunday we just had an early game against Poland Junior National team. It was held just in the gym at the OTC that we had been staying at. The game started off with the starters and we were doing really well. Half time score was only 7-16 or something like that. It was a close game that we kept ourselves in. Our goals Toni and Sophie did bomb that game!!! So I was expecting to play second half because that is what Marco said he was going to do, that didn't happen. He kept the Europeans in for most of it. With 15 min left the bench finally got to go in. And just my luck, my shin splints would not go away. They were bothering me all week but the pain would escape my mind once I started playing. But this game was really bad for some reason. My vertical was maybe 2 inches, they were so painful. So I pulled myself off after about 7 min or so. I let them get so bad I couldn't straighten my feet. Not goood. I'm used to playing on nice soft grass, not hard courts. So the last two games did no go well for me. However, USA improved dramatically each game. It was really fun to be a part of and watch and see and cheer on. Each game got rougher and rougher.
I learned a lot in the 9 days I was in Poland. Learned even more about handball, as always, but beyond the sport, I learned a lot about myself. I went through some pretty intense emotions while I was there. First off, I was wearing a USA jersey. Now tell me that doesn't just rock your world in itself. Hearing the anthem play after your name was called before each game was just a feeling I will never be able to explain to you. Truly indescribable. Then coming together as a team before each game, wishing another country (not just team but country) good luck and then doing a USA cheer was awesome too. Really cool. So playing with those emotions was a task in itself. Then I feel like I showed a lot of character playing through the swine flu. I am pretty positive that is what I have been fight because its been in my house in Iceland for about 2 weeks now. I was bound to get it, I think that just traveling and lots of activity over did it and I finally caved in. Perfect timing eh? I learned a lot about mind games. If you let your thoughts win and take you over, there is no hope. But when you stay strong and focused, you're golden. I had to really focus down on that with my confidence this week. I do not feel like the coaches were able to see my full capability of handball because of various reasoning's. Didn't play in my position I have been training in for 3 months, was sick, and had shin splints. All lame factors, but alive and real to me. And because some of those things came into action when I didn't get to play in the only game that was personal to me, it crushed me. I had go dig deep and remember what I was doing in Poland. Had to remember that I wasn't there for my own glory and satisfaction. Had to remember that God brought me to Poland to glorify him and to serve him. I wore a USA on my jersey representing Him, not me, not even USA, but God. I was broken down to an altime sports low that would have been extremely hard to pull myself out of. Thinking it was merely impossible actually. Then Saturday night I got to the hotel; been holding back tears for about 2 hours now. Tears of anger, embarrassment, and frustration. Then I got an email. An email from mommy that God had perfect timing on. Mom's always know best and know when their baby's need the extra boost. She sent everything I needed to hear. And I couldn't hold my tears in any longer, but they weren't tears of those bad and hurtful feelings I was feeling.They were tears of pure joy and satisfaction. God is good. Tha is all I could say. God is good. He is so real, and is so powerful. He comes through to us when we need him most, we when think nothing else is important and we have a confidence radar at zero, God shows up in the weirdest yet most apparent ways. Its impossible for me to not believe in this Almighty God. He works in ways that I cannot descibe. He is incredible. He built up my confidence in a matter of minutes. Something that probably would have taken a long time, if ever at all. I was shown that no matter what happens, what is said, or how things turn out God is always the one in the end that matters. And he is the one that all the glory goes to, all the joy goes to, and all the satisfaction goes to. People, coaches, teammates, fans, referees may/will crush you and break you down, but that is when you have to let all those words and actions brush off you shoulders and at the end of the day lift them all up to God. We have to dig deep within ourselves to find the true meanings of htings. Whether its a love of a game, or a friendship, or a desire, want, wish. Whatever it may be, with God's help, the search and execution is only possible with God. He is good.
I have 4 more days here. 4 days that I have filled to the max with getting friends, shopping, dinners, practices, and last minute adventures in before I head home. It is going to be busy, hectic, and memorable. I cannot wait! I will write one last time just before I head home... Pray for safety, fun, and excitement for my last few days in Iceland! Thanks. love an dmiss you all! xoxo-hollinator!
Monday, November 23, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Poland Baby!!
This is a day late because the internet is off and on here... but this is from last night.
So, I have a few weeks to update you on. I think I will keep it short though.
Handball has been great. We flew to Akyerir. Not sure if I mentioned that a while ago or not. Think I did. It was fun. We went with no parents on a little 9 row propeller plane. 45 min flight through the “mountains” of Iceland. The flight was fun because we were level with the mountain tops the whole time. Flew next to a Glacier. Ya, that was cool. Then played against KA. We were tied 10 to 10 at half time. Came back really strong and then got ahead by 3 points with 5 min left. Ended up losing 20-22 because the last min and a half they got 3 brake aways and caught back up with us, and in the end defeated us. Coach Aegir was not a happy camper… Even though I couldn’t understand him, I knew he was not happy. Got back home around 6 o’clock and had dinner with Grandma and Grandpa. Then not really sure what else I have been up to in regards to handball. Just practices mostly. I only got one more game in before I left the other day for Poland. So that was sort of a bummer. But lots of practices and hanging out before and after with the team. I love the girls so much! A lot of fun. I also have been doing separate work outs in the mornings at the gym. Just cardio and light lifting on my own. There is a guy that is ALWAYS there who hangs with me for a little bit. I swear he lifts like 5 times a day everyday! It’s crazy… But mostly just training and watching and learning for handball. It’s all good.
I have been doing tons of stuff… Meeting a lot of really cool people through Glaetan and Toni and my club and the bus. It’s just really fun to meet new people then exchange “facebook” info and meet up. As much as I sometimes hate facebook, it really has become such a powerful resource. Meet and Indian man named George who owns a restaurant named Indian Mango. He invited Toni, Petra, and I for a dinner on the house one Monday night. That was incredible. I got like a 50$ dinner and he was soo happy to have us there and buy it for us. It was awesome. Really genuine and joyful dude. I also have been tagging along with Toni at a Christian café called Glaetan. The people that live in the loft above are Katie and Erik. Totally awesome and amazing people. In their 30’s and have such an incredible testimony. Ask and I’d love to share some if it sometime. But Erik and I’s sense of humor is identical so its great to hang with him. And Eyore we call him and Petra and Guca. Just lots of fun awesome people at the café. Jason is this guy from south Africa, “man”. (He is always saying “man” after everything) “Ya you know that’s really cool, man.) I love it! But he and I have the same bus stop so we are always getting on and off together. He is cool because he is always asking questions and I can just tell that he really enjoys learning about new things. That’s awesome. Then there also my “regular” friends. Stebbi, Steinar, Halli, Beta, Elsa, Viktoria, Gudron, Svanquete, just whoever. Love hanging with them. O!! I met a guy names Bjorn. He is really cool. He took me out one night and had climbing rope and harnesses and we went climbing on this tower thing. Then walked around in the biggest “forest” in Reykjavik (which took like maybe 40 min) not big at all. Then drove around a bunch and just toured the city of all the places I haven’t been and talked a ton. We left at 8 oclock and got home at about 1 am. We went to an aluminum factor where he works every summer. The 3 buildings are 1 kilometer long. They are huge! We parked for like 20 min and looked over the harbor and across Hofnarfjordur. Drove 10 min outside the city limits to see if the northern lights were out… they weren’t. Um…o! we drove to the presidents house. OK this is crazy. So there weren’t any gates or anything like that. So we drove literally right up to the house. And we could have parked in his garage. I mean I couldn’t believe it. I asked if we were allowed to do this, he said, “Ya! We can knock on the door for a cup of tea if we wanted to.” It blew me away. Anyway, that was a fun night. My handball team got me tickets to go to a rock festival with them one night. Really fun. Just lots of music and dancing with my team. Good times. IDK, I have been really busy. O ya, Toni met some people on the bus a few weeks ago and one Friday they called and invited her for dinner and a bible study. I was with her so we both went. They are really awesome people. Kolbi and Annie. They have two daughters Darcy and Haley. They are here in Iceland form the states for 2 years so far just serving the Lord. They hang out at the university and just invite students to come for dinner and the bible study and stuff. So we went and had a lovely lamb dinner then an awesome bible study after. There were 3 other college girls there. One from the states and 2 from China. It was really cool. Awesome bible study on 1 Peter too.
Last weekend Halli took Toni and I out west. Not exactly sure all the places we went. But saw a glacier. We couldn’t go onto it because one the daylight is extremely limited by now, (11am – 330pm daylight) and two the road to the base was in no condition to drive to it. Saw the black sand beach. That was really really cool. I wish we could have stayed at some of the places longer, but we had a time crunch because of the daylight. We also went to these cliffs… wow those were incredible. I must say that after that experience, I have not been to a cliff before that. I mean it was an actual CLIFF. Not any steep hill or slight drop off to 20 feet. No! This thing was a cliff over the ocean. Into straight DEATH! Haha! I liked it… yes mom… I did dangle my feet over it. And I laid down and put my head over it to look down, but I am still alive so it was totally worth it. There is so much more to tell… I don’t want to tell it all over stupid text online. So I guess that when I get home (which is extremely soon) you will all just have to join me for a long storytime session or just ask questions all the time!
The Present…
So I am currently in Poland actually… With the USA Junior National Team. The journey started, for me, on Saturday night. Toni slept over because we had to leave for the airport at 5am. So we went outside to do something and the northern lights were out. So we took the car and drove just outside city limits (only 10 min drive or so) to them better. It was so incredible. We saw this line in the sky and just knew it was the northern lights “warming up”. Then after about 15 min these green, yellow, and purple-blue lights started appearing and forming and stuff. It was truly indescribable. I couldn’t capture them on camera, but will never forget how they look. It was awesome. That was at about midnight. So we finally slept at 130 or so. Then the airport and flying and everything went well. Flew into Frankford, Germany airport. Had to get our bags and check back in with Lot Polish Airlines. That was a job in itself to find the check-in booth. That airport is crazy big! We sort of got ourselves in a maze/moosh pit trying to find it. There was a huge Arabian plane or something going and got totally intermingled and mixed with a bunch of Arabians that didn’t know English. Uh, that was a mess. But finally got to the gate and sat at this tv bar thing. Talked with the worker who was a 20 yr old German boy. Very nice to us. Knew we were Americans right away (Toni and I, could tell something different about Morgan) We were asking about the internet connection because he wanted to add us on facebook. So I tried with my laptop and couldn’t get it. So he said just come back here and use ours. I was like uh wont you get in trouble, he assured me that someone does it all the time and it’s fine. So of course right as I log in another employee that I guess treats everyone like he is the boss yelled at him. I felt so bad. But hey, I was just following what they told me! Woops. O well. And I guess it didn’t get Marcel in trouble, just miss communication or something. No big deal but it was funny. Then Steph, Anca, Marco, and Dan Bush come to the gate at about 13 o’clock or so. That was sooo nice to see some familiar faces. It’s been 3 months! So I like that. We played some foursquare and all that fun stuff. Some Portuguese people made a bet on me that I could juggle 15 times with the handball. So the dude asked if I could for him so he could win the bet… I got pretty nervous (nei joke) but I did it! Buuya! Then I talked with them and they were coming to Poland also for 2 weeks work. So they said they might stop by and watch us play or something. That could be cool I guess! Then last night we made it to the bus with the team and to the hotel just fine. I’m rooming with Toni…. haha! Got some USA warm-ups last night. That is still crazy for me. But get this. So practice this morning at 10 and we got to the gym and there was this huge sign and millions of posters. They were advertising our game against the Poland SENIOR National team tomorrow… Wow. This is the top, highest, best of the best in Poland. They are number one in all of Poland. The senior national team, meaning Olympic team. That’s crazy I am even in the same room as them let alone on the same court. Ugh it is blowing my mind. And never EVER have I had that much advertisement for anything that I have been a part of. I found out that the stadium is already sold out and it is getting broadcasted on live Polish television. Wow… I didn’t think I signed up for this. And it’s for the game tomorrow… which isn’t even part of the tournament that we are here for. It’s supposed to just be a friendly to help us out. But it’s a big deal here. The team is staying in our hotel… man they are some big girls. I mean big girls. We have a freakin 14 year old on our team. This is not ok!! Haha. But o well, hey it’s totally worth the experience and how else are we supposed to get better? It will be great. The facility is awesome! Really cool. It is like some of the gym’s in Iceland. Just different seating, but same deal. At our practice there were two younger teams that came just to watch us practice… I am still, even after Iceland, shocked at how much of an influence the states are. It’s a cool feeling to be a part of it. The afternoon practice went really well. Then had dinner and I just got out of a meeting with the team. The oldest on the team Jen is really awesome and felt that we needed to do a quick chalk talk. So we went through just basic defense and offense for those who haven’t been playing in clubs and in Europe. There is a huge gap in the players, but we are adapting. I think right now I am backup center back. Which I am more than happy with. I went in expecting nothing and going to be greatful and humble if I receive anything. So, can’t wait for tomorrow. We have a morning training then the game is at 4 o’clock! O dear…. Wish us good luck. It’s the first time in many many years (over 15 or 20) that USA and Poland played each other. And first time USA has played on Poland’s home court. So, making some history here! It’s the first event since the USA and Poland Handball Federations have made peace and agreement, so we have to show lots of respect and just learn from them! I can’t wait to hear the national anthem while standing on the court in a USA jersey… wow. This is really happening. God is good.
Miss and love you guys sooo much. I leave Poland the 23rd for Iceland. Then leave Iceland the 27th for home!! Can’t wait! Miss you guys soo much. Thanks for the support. And maybe check out the Polish television broadcast on line or something tomorrow. May get some of the game or something not sure! Xoxoxo.
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all of ^ That info was from yesterday. So today... we had a practice at 10 o'clock. That went really well. There is so much to learn and so little time. Then back to the hotel for lunch and then nap or school or what ever the girls needed to do. I worked on some school. Got a lot done actually. Then....we got ready for our game at about 330. Went for a light walk and stuff. The Polish team is in the same hotel as us so we ran into them in the lobby, ended up taking a picture with them. That was awkward but really cool. Then we rode to the gym with them on the same bus and got together in the locker room with USA. That is were it really hit me... hit me that I was just about to step on the court to play for my country. For USA team handball. So incredible. I was just blow away. I man who am I to be playing at htis level? I am only 17 for crying out loud. But the gym was about half full when we started warm up. By game time, it was packed! The game was sold out! It was filmed on live Polish television. Cameras everywhere. Radio. Fans. Noise. Loud. Crazy. Before teh game stared we did the whole introduction thing... We walked out in a line and did individual introductions. That was really a feeling that I will never be able to express. Just hearing my name and number (19!) was realy cool. Then stepping out and waving to both sides. Man it was really really cool. Then we shuck hands with the Polish, exchanges gifts (stickers and pins) then we were off. We did pretty well the first little bit. Held our own for the first 10 min or so with only like 10-4 maybe. Then... as time went on we got dominated. Never ever gave up though. On the bus ride home we talked with them and they were so impressed on how hard we played all the way through. That is going to be our strongest part. And the fact that they are all pretty much over 21 or something and we are almost all under 21 is pretty cool. We didnt do too bad. I played about 15 min first half. But as right wing, that was a surprise. Got 3 shots off, didnt score! haha. but im learning. Then second half i played maybe 10 min, but as centerback. did alright, its hard to play wiht less experienced players. I am hoping I will get some time with some of the european girls in the tournament this weekend. I talked to Marco about htat, think the tournament will be better. Its hard for me to play with some of the girls now because I amsu used to playing at a high level in Iceland, that going down to a lower level is proving to be really hard. But, then again, I gotta work with what I have and make no excuses. Eh, it will be fine. Marco said that this game was just a learning thing for not only us, but for him as well. He played everyone. Wanted to see how we all played in different posistions and stuff. I think that the tournament will be a great place to prove what I really have learned. He said I will have plenty of chances to prove that.
Tomorrow we are traveling to the Polish Olympic Training Center to stay there for the remainder of the time. Not sure how long the bus ride is, but I think it will be fun! I will do my best to keep everyone updated. Check the blog when you can.
xoxoxo Holliday. #19 USA Team Handball.... <-- crazy huh?
So, I have a few weeks to update you on. I think I will keep it short though.
Handball has been great. We flew to Akyerir. Not sure if I mentioned that a while ago or not. Think I did. It was fun. We went with no parents on a little 9 row propeller plane. 45 min flight through the “mountains” of Iceland. The flight was fun because we were level with the mountain tops the whole time. Flew next to a Glacier. Ya, that was cool. Then played against KA. We were tied 10 to 10 at half time. Came back really strong and then got ahead by 3 points with 5 min left. Ended up losing 20-22 because the last min and a half they got 3 brake aways and caught back up with us, and in the end defeated us. Coach Aegir was not a happy camper… Even though I couldn’t understand him, I knew he was not happy. Got back home around 6 o’clock and had dinner with Grandma and Grandpa. Then not really sure what else I have been up to in regards to handball. Just practices mostly. I only got one more game in before I left the other day for Poland. So that was sort of a bummer. But lots of practices and hanging out before and after with the team. I love the girls so much! A lot of fun. I also have been doing separate work outs in the mornings at the gym. Just cardio and light lifting on my own. There is a guy that is ALWAYS there who hangs with me for a little bit. I swear he lifts like 5 times a day everyday! It’s crazy… But mostly just training and watching and learning for handball. It’s all good.
I have been doing tons of stuff… Meeting a lot of really cool people through Glaetan and Toni and my club and the bus. It’s just really fun to meet new people then exchange “facebook” info and meet up. As much as I sometimes hate facebook, it really has become such a powerful resource. Meet and Indian man named George who owns a restaurant named Indian Mango. He invited Toni, Petra, and I for a dinner on the house one Monday night. That was incredible. I got like a 50$ dinner and he was soo happy to have us there and buy it for us. It was awesome. Really genuine and joyful dude. I also have been tagging along with Toni at a Christian café called Glaetan. The people that live in the loft above are Katie and Erik. Totally awesome and amazing people. In their 30’s and have such an incredible testimony. Ask and I’d love to share some if it sometime. But Erik and I’s sense of humor is identical so its great to hang with him. And Eyore we call him and Petra and Guca. Just lots of fun awesome people at the café. Jason is this guy from south Africa, “man”. (He is always saying “man” after everything) “Ya you know that’s really cool, man.) I love it! But he and I have the same bus stop so we are always getting on and off together. He is cool because he is always asking questions and I can just tell that he really enjoys learning about new things. That’s awesome. Then there also my “regular” friends. Stebbi, Steinar, Halli, Beta, Elsa, Viktoria, Gudron, Svanquete, just whoever. Love hanging with them. O!! I met a guy names Bjorn. He is really cool. He took me out one night and had climbing rope and harnesses and we went climbing on this tower thing. Then walked around in the biggest “forest” in Reykjavik (which took like maybe 40 min) not big at all. Then drove around a bunch and just toured the city of all the places I haven’t been and talked a ton. We left at 8 oclock and got home at about 1 am. We went to an aluminum factor where he works every summer. The 3 buildings are 1 kilometer long. They are huge! We parked for like 20 min and looked over the harbor and across Hofnarfjordur. Drove 10 min outside the city limits to see if the northern lights were out… they weren’t. Um…o! we drove to the presidents house. OK this is crazy. So there weren’t any gates or anything like that. So we drove literally right up to the house. And we could have parked in his garage. I mean I couldn’t believe it. I asked if we were allowed to do this, he said, “Ya! We can knock on the door for a cup of tea if we wanted to.” It blew me away. Anyway, that was a fun night. My handball team got me tickets to go to a rock festival with them one night. Really fun. Just lots of music and dancing with my team. Good times. IDK, I have been really busy. O ya, Toni met some people on the bus a few weeks ago and one Friday they called and invited her for dinner and a bible study. I was with her so we both went. They are really awesome people. Kolbi and Annie. They have two daughters Darcy and Haley. They are here in Iceland form the states for 2 years so far just serving the Lord. They hang out at the university and just invite students to come for dinner and the bible study and stuff. So we went and had a lovely lamb dinner then an awesome bible study after. There were 3 other college girls there. One from the states and 2 from China. It was really cool. Awesome bible study on 1 Peter too.
Last weekend Halli took Toni and I out west. Not exactly sure all the places we went. But saw a glacier. We couldn’t go onto it because one the daylight is extremely limited by now, (11am – 330pm daylight) and two the road to the base was in no condition to drive to it. Saw the black sand beach. That was really really cool. I wish we could have stayed at some of the places longer, but we had a time crunch because of the daylight. We also went to these cliffs… wow those were incredible. I must say that after that experience, I have not been to a cliff before that. I mean it was an actual CLIFF. Not any steep hill or slight drop off to 20 feet. No! This thing was a cliff over the ocean. Into straight DEATH! Haha! I liked it… yes mom… I did dangle my feet over it. And I laid down and put my head over it to look down, but I am still alive so it was totally worth it. There is so much more to tell… I don’t want to tell it all over stupid text online. So I guess that when I get home (which is extremely soon) you will all just have to join me for a long storytime session or just ask questions all the time!
The Present…
So I am currently in Poland actually… With the USA Junior National Team. The journey started, for me, on Saturday night. Toni slept over because we had to leave for the airport at 5am. So we went outside to do something and the northern lights were out. So we took the car and drove just outside city limits (only 10 min drive or so) to them better. It was so incredible. We saw this line in the sky and just knew it was the northern lights “warming up”. Then after about 15 min these green, yellow, and purple-blue lights started appearing and forming and stuff. It was truly indescribable. I couldn’t capture them on camera, but will never forget how they look. It was awesome. That was at about midnight. So we finally slept at 130 or so. Then the airport and flying and everything went well. Flew into Frankford, Germany airport. Had to get our bags and check back in with Lot Polish Airlines. That was a job in itself to find the check-in booth. That airport is crazy big! We sort of got ourselves in a maze/moosh pit trying to find it. There was a huge Arabian plane or something going and got totally intermingled and mixed with a bunch of Arabians that didn’t know English. Uh, that was a mess. But finally got to the gate and sat at this tv bar thing. Talked with the worker who was a 20 yr old German boy. Very nice to us. Knew we were Americans right away (Toni and I, could tell something different about Morgan) We were asking about the internet connection because he wanted to add us on facebook. So I tried with my laptop and couldn’t get it. So he said just come back here and use ours. I was like uh wont you get in trouble, he assured me that someone does it all the time and it’s fine. So of course right as I log in another employee that I guess treats everyone like he is the boss yelled at him. I felt so bad. But hey, I was just following what they told me! Woops. O well. And I guess it didn’t get Marcel in trouble, just miss communication or something. No big deal but it was funny. Then Steph, Anca, Marco, and Dan Bush come to the gate at about 13 o’clock or so. That was sooo nice to see some familiar faces. It’s been 3 months! So I like that. We played some foursquare and all that fun stuff. Some Portuguese people made a bet on me that I could juggle 15 times with the handball. So the dude asked if I could for him so he could win the bet… I got pretty nervous (nei joke) but I did it! Buuya! Then I talked with them and they were coming to Poland also for 2 weeks work. So they said they might stop by and watch us play or something. That could be cool I guess! Then last night we made it to the bus with the team and to the hotel just fine. I’m rooming with Toni…. haha! Got some USA warm-ups last night. That is still crazy for me. But get this. So practice this morning at 10 and we got to the gym and there was this huge sign and millions of posters. They were advertising our game against the Poland SENIOR National team tomorrow… Wow. This is the top, highest, best of the best in Poland. They are number one in all of Poland. The senior national team, meaning Olympic team. That’s crazy I am even in the same room as them let alone on the same court. Ugh it is blowing my mind. And never EVER have I had that much advertisement for anything that I have been a part of. I found out that the stadium is already sold out and it is getting broadcasted on live Polish television. Wow… I didn’t think I signed up for this. And it’s for the game tomorrow… which isn’t even part of the tournament that we are here for. It’s supposed to just be a friendly to help us out. But it’s a big deal here. The team is staying in our hotel… man they are some big girls. I mean big girls. We have a freakin 14 year old on our team. This is not ok!! Haha. But o well, hey it’s totally worth the experience and how else are we supposed to get better? It will be great. The facility is awesome! Really cool. It is like some of the gym’s in Iceland. Just different seating, but same deal. At our practice there were two younger teams that came just to watch us practice… I am still, even after Iceland, shocked at how much of an influence the states are. It’s a cool feeling to be a part of it. The afternoon practice went really well. Then had dinner and I just got out of a meeting with the team. The oldest on the team Jen is really awesome and felt that we needed to do a quick chalk talk. So we went through just basic defense and offense for those who haven’t been playing in clubs and in Europe. There is a huge gap in the players, but we are adapting. I think right now I am backup center back. Which I am more than happy with. I went in expecting nothing and going to be greatful and humble if I receive anything. So, can’t wait for tomorrow. We have a morning training then the game is at 4 o’clock! O dear…. Wish us good luck. It’s the first time in many many years (over 15 or 20) that USA and Poland played each other. And first time USA has played on Poland’s home court. So, making some history here! It’s the first event since the USA and Poland Handball Federations have made peace and agreement, so we have to show lots of respect and just learn from them! I can’t wait to hear the national anthem while standing on the court in a USA jersey… wow. This is really happening. God is good.
Miss and love you guys sooo much. I leave Poland the 23rd for Iceland. Then leave Iceland the 27th for home!! Can’t wait! Miss you guys soo much. Thanks for the support. And maybe check out the Polish television broadcast on line or something tomorrow. May get some of the game or something not sure! Xoxoxo.
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all of ^ That info was from yesterday. So today... we had a practice at 10 o'clock. That went really well. There is so much to learn and so little time. Then back to the hotel for lunch and then nap or school or what ever the girls needed to do. I worked on some school. Got a lot done actually. Then....we got ready for our game at about 330. Went for a light walk and stuff. The Polish team is in the same hotel as us so we ran into them in the lobby, ended up taking a picture with them. That was awkward but really cool. Then we rode to the gym with them on the same bus and got together in the locker room with USA. That is were it really hit me... hit me that I was just about to step on the court to play for my country. For USA team handball. So incredible. I was just blow away. I man who am I to be playing at htis level? I am only 17 for crying out loud. But the gym was about half full when we started warm up. By game time, it was packed! The game was sold out! It was filmed on live Polish television. Cameras everywhere. Radio. Fans. Noise. Loud. Crazy. Before teh game stared we did the whole introduction thing... We walked out in a line and did individual introductions. That was really a feeling that I will never be able to express. Just hearing my name and number (19!) was realy cool. Then stepping out and waving to both sides. Man it was really really cool. Then we shuck hands with the Polish, exchanges gifts (stickers and pins) then we were off. We did pretty well the first little bit. Held our own for the first 10 min or so with only like 10-4 maybe. Then... as time went on we got dominated. Never ever gave up though. On the bus ride home we talked with them and they were so impressed on how hard we played all the way through. That is going to be our strongest part. And the fact that they are all pretty much over 21 or something and we are almost all under 21 is pretty cool. We didnt do too bad. I played about 15 min first half. But as right wing, that was a surprise. Got 3 shots off, didnt score! haha. but im learning. Then second half i played maybe 10 min, but as centerback. did alright, its hard to play wiht less experienced players. I am hoping I will get some time with some of the european girls in the tournament this weekend. I talked to Marco about htat, think the tournament will be better. Its hard for me to play with some of the girls now because I amsu used to playing at a high level in Iceland, that going down to a lower level is proving to be really hard. But, then again, I gotta work with what I have and make no excuses. Eh, it will be fine. Marco said that this game was just a learning thing for not only us, but for him as well. He played everyone. Wanted to see how we all played in different posistions and stuff. I think that the tournament will be a great place to prove what I really have learned. He said I will have plenty of chances to prove that.
Tomorrow we are traveling to the Polish Olympic Training Center to stay there for the remainder of the time. Not sure how long the bus ride is, but I think it will be fun! I will do my best to keep everyone updated. Check the blog when you can.
xoxoxo Holliday. #19 USA Team Handball.... <-- crazy huh?
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Time is Getting Short
Hey gang!! Well, have lots of stories, info, memories, and all of that jazz. But I have a lot of schooling to do today, so I may need to keep it short and sweet.
Handball-
It has been way awesome. Last week I just had normal practices that have been beneficial like always. Getting great technique and movement and drills and skills in. The whole shabang! We have been focusing mainly on a few plays that we are trying to get down to the science. Lots of crosses and fakes involved. Its really fun. My favorite thing in handball is when we pull a sweet play with lots of crossing and confuse the D like crazy and then find a wide open gap and get a totally free beautiful goal! That's what its all about. My coach is proving yet again to just be soo awesome! He talks with me after practices about things I'm doing well and things I can work on. A very awesome guy and full of encouragement. Rad dude - as we say it in Mo-town, CO!! We talked about doing a few extra sessions, but he and his wife just had a little baby girl about 2 and a half weeks ago, so he has is hands tied up at home. Understandable. ;) But that's ok, I still feel like I am gaining so much. Friday night was really fun with my team. Four of us went to Victoria's house and hung out for a bit. Just hanging with girls was fun, haven't done that in some time. Then her dad, who is awesome btw, made us a very nice dinner. Mexican food... so good! Her little brother is the cutest thing ever to. He can understand English, just not speak it. So he walked into the room with this crazy stare at me and asked me some question in Icelandic, I couldn't understand. Then he whispered to his sister, "Does the brown girl only speak English?" HAHAHA brown girl!!! It was really funny and one of the cutest things a four yr old has ever said I think. But then got in the hot tub (pottur) and chillaxed. After Saturday's practice a 4 girls met up at Haukup (the "walmart" of Iceland even though its not even close) in search of pumpkin carving. I somehow convinced a few girls to attempt to celebrate Halloween with me. But after our disastrous failure to find pumpkins anywhere, we went to my house and watched scary movies. Fun Fun day with the girls. Then on Sunday, we flew to Aeykiry (I think its called) to play a game. It is the second largest city in Iceland located about 6 hr drive north. The flight was only 45 min. It was really weird because we flew from Reyk airport, and there was absolutely NO security. I mean nothing. No metal detectors, anything. I am surprised they even checked our boarding passes, there was nothing! It blew me away. And the team traveled alone. No parents or anyone verifying everything was ok, coach was already up north and we just had to meet him. It was fun, just different ways then I am used to. I liked it. But when we got there we play against a team. Tied 10-10 at half. Second half we came out much stronger and were in the lead until the last 4 min. Tied once again at 20-20, they scored 2 points with just a min and half left. Big disappointment because I guess we needed to win that game. Coach was not happy... But, played really well, got lots of good goals in. The game was a good one, just needed a few touch ups here and there. We are working on it! I got the official email of going to Poland. That is going to be a blast! Nov 15-23! Be praying for me, I am really hoping I show well and get to play a lot!
Soccer- I am loving when I do get the chance to play because it has narrowed itself down just a little bit lately. Practice times have been all over the place this past week for handball, and handball is my priority here. But Monday, I did got to the fitness training and Tuesday did double back to back practices. We play indoor on a turf field. Just 7v7 5v5 and ball work stuff one those nights. It is really fun. I missed it Thursday night- bummer. Then Friday night got to go to another fitness practice. I am doing my best to get touches on the ball, but it has been pretty slim lately. Because Poland is coming up, my practice focus is on that. But, I will not lie to you, I love soccer so much. I am definitely having withdraws from it.
Social Life- Um... hm. What can I tell you about that? Not sure really, its been fun. Have actual friends not that I can just call and count on and hang out. Handball girls, school friends through Halli, coffee shop people. On Thursday I went with Toni to the place that she has been volunteering because she has no school. It is a Christian cafe that is really cool. I love the people there. We met this Indian man named George. He is one of the most humble men I have ever met. He has been in Iceland for 16 yrs and now owns his own restaurant called Indian Mango. He invited Toni, Petra, and I to dine there last Monday night (last night- and it was awesome! never tasted anything like it) on him. It was a very expensive dinner and he was so grateful that we came to eat it. Uh, really cool dude. Then Friday hanging with the handball girls was really fun, also again on Saturday afternoon was way fun. I miss just handing out with a group. I am all about the groups and lots of noise and chaos and people. Not getting too much of that here, which is a great thing and a bad thing. :) But then sat night I went to this Halloween dance at Broadway. It was really fun. Toni and I got dressed up as Mrs. Smith maybe, I am not really sure what we were actually. But we were definitely the most moderately dressed there, the girls were absolutely ridiculous! I couldn't believe it. We met up with this kid named Olli. He is really cool and we tagged along with him for the night. It was a good Halloween. Way different then trick-or-treating that's for sure. They don't even do that here. The most they do is go to shops dressed up and they have to sing to get candy, and not many do that and the ones that do are all under 10 yrs old. Its weird. But ya, that's a short short run down. I have turned out to be making quite a few friends. Steinar I probably see the most. He is sort of, well he is in love with Toni! haha. So I see lots of him. Andri and Frikki also tag along a bunch. Not much Frikkin anymore. Beta is awesome. She is so much fun, spunky crazy girl. Love chillen with here. Then there is like all of Halli's classmates; Orri, Glacier, Mushroom, Peter,... ugh can't remember the names. The names here are ridiculously hard to remember. The last three I just said are the translations because they are easier to remember! haha. O and Steppi. He is awesome. Takes me out for ice cream and cruzin and music and movies. He is really cool. He helped me with my computer last night. It has been so slow and virus filled, so he totally helped me out a bunch. It took like 2 and a half hrs, so we watched The Rock and fixed my computer. He is a nice kid. Elsa is also really cool. She is great and English and really wants to come to the states soon. Talks a lot! Gotta love it. There are all the people I have meet through Filadelphia (my Church) and through Glaetan (the christian cafe) as well. Tomas is the youth pastor, really cool dude. Petra, lovely 19 yr old girl. Eyore we call him. Petra's bf. funny kid. Katie and Eric who are married and basically live at Glaetan -live in the loft above it actually. They are really really cool down to earth people with a fire heart for God. It is fun to be around them. They joke and make fun of stuff just like back at home. Original form the states. Olli is sort of new, he is a handballer at FH and I met him just this weekend. We are going to hang out wed though. He is really nice, christian boy, lives in Hofnarfordur. Cool guy. Toni, Steinar, and I are gunna do a double date. haha! um... That's about it.
Family- My parents are still gone. Getting home on Thursday from a 3 week holiday in FL. Lucky Lucky ducks. But the house as been doing just fine without them. Rags has had a few people over on the weekends, Halli chills here all the time on the computer, and Erla has been sick since last week. I have been continuing to do dishes- not too happy about that one actually. I am NOT their mother! haha. No, it hasn't been too bad. O and Toni has been living here since Thursday night. Her family went on holiday until tomorrow so she has been crashing here. It has been fun, we have been working out in the mornings together at Hauker and doing devotions and stuff. She is really cool. We have been connecting tons. Which is good. :)
Well, that is once a gain a very general overview of my life here as you know it. It is still awesome! Getting busy more and more. I live for being busy, I go crazy without it. It fuels me, therefore, busy is good. School is hard of course, but still plugging along. All is well and appreciating all of your thoughts, prayers, and emails. Thanks everyone!
Handball-
It has been way awesome. Last week I just had normal practices that have been beneficial like always. Getting great technique and movement and drills and skills in. The whole shabang! We have been focusing mainly on a few plays that we are trying to get down to the science. Lots of crosses and fakes involved. Its really fun. My favorite thing in handball is when we pull a sweet play with lots of crossing and confuse the D like crazy and then find a wide open gap and get a totally free beautiful goal! That's what its all about. My coach is proving yet again to just be soo awesome! He talks with me after practices about things I'm doing well and things I can work on. A very awesome guy and full of encouragement. Rad dude - as we say it in Mo-town, CO!! We talked about doing a few extra sessions, but he and his wife just had a little baby girl about 2 and a half weeks ago, so he has is hands tied up at home. Understandable. ;) But that's ok, I still feel like I am gaining so much. Friday night was really fun with my team. Four of us went to Victoria's house and hung out for a bit. Just hanging with girls was fun, haven't done that in some time. Then her dad, who is awesome btw, made us a very nice dinner. Mexican food... so good! Her little brother is the cutest thing ever to. He can understand English, just not speak it. So he walked into the room with this crazy stare at me and asked me some question in Icelandic, I couldn't understand. Then he whispered to his sister, "Does the brown girl only speak English?" HAHAHA brown girl!!! It was really funny and one of the cutest things a four yr old has ever said I think. But then got in the hot tub (pottur) and chillaxed. After Saturday's practice a 4 girls met up at Haukup (the "walmart" of Iceland even though its not even close) in search of pumpkin carving. I somehow convinced a few girls to attempt to celebrate Halloween with me. But after our disastrous failure to find pumpkins anywhere, we went to my house and watched scary movies. Fun Fun day with the girls. Then on Sunday, we flew to Aeykiry (I think its called) to play a game. It is the second largest city in Iceland located about 6 hr drive north. The flight was only 45 min. It was really weird because we flew from Reyk airport, and there was absolutely NO security. I mean nothing. No metal detectors, anything. I am surprised they even checked our boarding passes, there was nothing! It blew me away. And the team traveled alone. No parents or anyone verifying everything was ok, coach was already up north and we just had to meet him. It was fun, just different ways then I am used to. I liked it. But when we got there we play against a team. Tied 10-10 at half. Second half we came out much stronger and were in the lead until the last 4 min. Tied once again at 20-20, they scored 2 points with just a min and half left. Big disappointment because I guess we needed to win that game. Coach was not happy... But, played really well, got lots of good goals in. The game was a good one, just needed a few touch ups here and there. We are working on it! I got the official email of going to Poland. That is going to be a blast! Nov 15-23! Be praying for me, I am really hoping I show well and get to play a lot!
Soccer- I am loving when I do get the chance to play because it has narrowed itself down just a little bit lately. Practice times have been all over the place this past week for handball, and handball is my priority here. But Monday, I did got to the fitness training and Tuesday did double back to back practices. We play indoor on a turf field. Just 7v7 5v5 and ball work stuff one those nights. It is really fun. I missed it Thursday night- bummer. Then Friday night got to go to another fitness practice. I am doing my best to get touches on the ball, but it has been pretty slim lately. Because Poland is coming up, my practice focus is on that. But, I will not lie to you, I love soccer so much. I am definitely having withdraws from it.
Social Life- Um... hm. What can I tell you about that? Not sure really, its been fun. Have actual friends not that I can just call and count on and hang out. Handball girls, school friends through Halli, coffee shop people. On Thursday I went with Toni to the place that she has been volunteering because she has no school. It is a Christian cafe that is really cool. I love the people there. We met this Indian man named George. He is one of the most humble men I have ever met. He has been in Iceland for 16 yrs and now owns his own restaurant called Indian Mango. He invited Toni, Petra, and I to dine there last Monday night (last night- and it was awesome! never tasted anything like it) on him. It was a very expensive dinner and he was so grateful that we came to eat it. Uh, really cool dude. Then Friday hanging with the handball girls was really fun, also again on Saturday afternoon was way fun. I miss just handing out with a group. I am all about the groups and lots of noise and chaos and people. Not getting too much of that here, which is a great thing and a bad thing. :) But then sat night I went to this Halloween dance at Broadway. It was really fun. Toni and I got dressed up as Mrs. Smith maybe, I am not really sure what we were actually. But we were definitely the most moderately dressed there, the girls were absolutely ridiculous! I couldn't believe it. We met up with this kid named Olli. He is really cool and we tagged along with him for the night. It was a good Halloween. Way different then trick-or-treating that's for sure. They don't even do that here. The most they do is go to shops dressed up and they have to sing to get candy, and not many do that and the ones that do are all under 10 yrs old. Its weird. But ya, that's a short short run down. I have turned out to be making quite a few friends. Steinar I probably see the most. He is sort of, well he is in love with Toni! haha. So I see lots of him. Andri and Frikki also tag along a bunch. Not much Frikkin anymore. Beta is awesome. She is so much fun, spunky crazy girl. Love chillen with here. Then there is like all of Halli's classmates; Orri, Glacier, Mushroom, Peter,... ugh can't remember the names. The names here are ridiculously hard to remember. The last three I just said are the translations because they are easier to remember! haha. O and Steppi. He is awesome. Takes me out for ice cream and cruzin and music and movies. He is really cool. He helped me with my computer last night. It has been so slow and virus filled, so he totally helped me out a bunch. It took like 2 and a half hrs, so we watched The Rock and fixed my computer. He is a nice kid. Elsa is also really cool. She is great and English and really wants to come to the states soon. Talks a lot! Gotta love it. There are all the people I have meet through Filadelphia (my Church) and through Glaetan (the christian cafe) as well. Tomas is the youth pastor, really cool dude. Petra, lovely 19 yr old girl. Eyore we call him. Petra's bf. funny kid. Katie and Eric who are married and basically live at Glaetan -live in the loft above it actually. They are really really cool down to earth people with a fire heart for God. It is fun to be around them. They joke and make fun of stuff just like back at home. Original form the states. Olli is sort of new, he is a handballer at FH and I met him just this weekend. We are going to hang out wed though. He is really nice, christian boy, lives in Hofnarfordur. Cool guy. Toni, Steinar, and I are gunna do a double date. haha! um... That's about it.
Family- My parents are still gone. Getting home on Thursday from a 3 week holiday in FL. Lucky Lucky ducks. But the house as been doing just fine without them. Rags has had a few people over on the weekends, Halli chills here all the time on the computer, and Erla has been sick since last week. I have been continuing to do dishes- not too happy about that one actually. I am NOT their mother! haha. No, it hasn't been too bad. O and Toni has been living here since Thursday night. Her family went on holiday until tomorrow so she has been crashing here. It has been fun, we have been working out in the mornings together at Hauker and doing devotions and stuff. She is really cool. We have been connecting tons. Which is good. :)
Well, that is once a gain a very general overview of my life here as you know it. It is still awesome! Getting busy more and more. I live for being busy, I go crazy without it. It fuels me, therefore, busy is good. School is hard of course, but still plugging along. All is well and appreciating all of your thoughts, prayers, and emails. Thanks everyone!
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Sorry I haven't blogged in a while, I am not the best at this whole thing. But anyway. Last weekend's handball was great....
Callie somehow got Toni and I an in with the U-20 national team's coaches and we got to do a weekend training thing with them. It was 5 practices and then watch a national game. So friday night we had a practices. Basically just played the whole time. They put me at left wing, I actually didn't do half bad down there considering I have never played there before. I scored some really great goals. Had and awesome fast break too, I was excited ;). Then on saturday we had a practice at noon and at 4. Again, we just played and did a few ball handling drills. To my surprise, I was keeping up with these girls fairly well. Then sunday we had an early morning, crack of dawn practice at 9am. You see, 9am on the weekends in Iceland is like 5am back home. It just doesn't fly so well with these people. And because I am basically a local and native (haha ya right) here now, I was a little sluggish to get out of bed too. But, the practice was well worth it. I was put on the second team of four and got a lot of play time in the scrimmages. In the afternoon there was a health speaker at Valur, but they told Toni and I to not come because it was all in Icelandic. But thats ok, it would have been boring cause we would of had no idea what was going on. But at 4 o'clock, all the US kids meet up at Valur for the Women's National game. They played Austria and destroyed them! It was really fun to watch them because we had front row seatings. Callie got us "season" tickets for free because we are representing the US. So we all sat together in the front row with our gray t-shirts on. The cameras were on us all the time. In between all stoppages and stuff. They were going to interview us at half time, but ran out of time so they just talked to Callie about us and she said a little about everyone and what not. It was pretty cool the have the cameras all around us for a little bit, and that wierd feeling that they are on you whenever hte play is stopped... kinda creepy. But cool I guess too. So ya, that was last weekend.... It went really well, opened my eyes to see sort of what I am going to be playing with in Poland hopefully. Looking more and more forward to that as the days count down. Then this past week, I just had soccer fitnes and handball practice monday, soccer kick around and handball practice tuesday, wed we played FH and beat them 28-22... great game. Then thurs until about 2 hours ago Toni and I have been at a summer house with a bunch of kids from Halli's (my host brother) class. They are on winter break and went out into the country for the weekend, we had a lot of fun just hanging out relaxing in the pools and hot tubs. Tomorrow I am playing IR at home. We should win I'm thinking.
Lets see.... what else have I done? Last weekend was really fun outside of handball. I hung out at my house with Ragnar's (host brother) friends friday night and got to go to Airwaves. Airwaves is a huge musical festival that happens once a year for about 8 days or something like that I think. But the tickets were sold out soo fast so I was disappointed I couldn't see any of it, but Raggi is a rapper and played in it one night so he has the ins there, so I got in with him. Really cool, just a bunch of people hanging around listening to really good artists from all around. There were different locations all around town with different people playing at different times all night long. Cool event. Then saturday I had a full day of handball and a relaxing night at home with Halli. He is a pretty cool kid. Then sunday after practice I went to church at Filadelphia. It was such an awesome service. There as this baptist speaker from Britian there. He had a lot of really aweosme powerful stuff to say. Talked a lot about purpose and stuff. He changed his serman for the international service for some reason. But he spoke on how we are all from different nations together in Iceland praising the same God. How cool is that?! We were all brought here for a reason. Somehow we ended up here, and that is not just by coincidence or any unconvience or antyhhig like that, God brought each and every one of us to Iceland for a purpose. IDK guess you sort of had to be in my head to understand what he was saying. But it hit home, it was really cool. Then we prayed for the pastor and his wife and the whole church (which started with 12 or so the first time I went and last week had around 40) had their hands stretched out praying over them. Then the guest pastor spoke about he has been to a lot of countries and preached, but this church had a burning fire and power to it. It was crazy cause that whole thing he was saying about how we are all in Iceland for a reason stuff... well in the back there was this man and his wife. And in hte middle of when he was talking he say them and said, "O there is a God" becuase this man and his wife were two pastors he spoke with in a country in Africa about 2 years ago. He hasn't seen him since, and then there is was the same weekend he was in Iceland... God is good. God is really good. Ok, enough about that service, but just know it was really cool. Then after that I meet up with everyone at Valur and we sat and watched the game I already told you about. That was fun.
Tuesday, Ton Ton and I got to take my families BMW into the country for a little site seeing. I definitely got lost getting out of the city. We went in the wrong direction for sure. But pulled over, asked for help, got laughed at, and then were on our way. We drove about 2 hrs in search for this waterfall called.... idk, somethign cool. The only way we knew where we were going was by google road maps b4 we left, and those were not accurate. ahha. So we just hoped we were doing it right. We were in the middle of the moon and finally came to this 20 person twon and asked if they knew were the waterfall was. To my surprise, we were headed in the right direction and only needed to drive about 15 more min. We did good! The waterfall was crazy beautiful!!! Really cool. I have never really seen anything like the waterfalls here. They are really really cool. Then we drove another 30 past that one to anothe waterfall, even bigger. Man, it blew me away. I can't even discribe these things, and the pictures do no justice to the real beauty or them. Wow. Thats all I can say. But the trip with Toni was really fun. Just ate food, listened to music, and talked. We are becoming bfffffffs. haha!
Then today I just got back from two nights at a cabin with a bunch of kids. That was fun. We left Thursday night and meet up with about 20 kids. Just hung out, played ping pong on a table, watched stars, hot tub, guitar, dance offs, cards, adventures into barns, pools, food, and nientendo. Just hung out. It was really fun. Made good friends with a few of them there. Good times good times.
But, overall I am doing well. Missing home of course, but doing well. My host parents have been in FL for 8 days now. I am still holding strong here at the house. I have been cooking and do the laundry. Walking the dog and getting the children to bed ontime as well! Ha, no it has been fun. I have been cooking and doing the dog a lot, but its been fun. Mom is definitely going to be using me to cook more back home I bet now. Thats ok, she needs a break from it. Its a lot of work to cook each night you know!? Well done to all mommies out there, you gals are champions.
Ok, I need ot take a nap ;). Love you all, and I wanna here how you guys are back home so write to me or email. Love love lvoe.
Callie somehow got Toni and I an in with the U-20 national team's coaches and we got to do a weekend training thing with them. It was 5 practices and then watch a national game. So friday night we had a practices. Basically just played the whole time. They put me at left wing, I actually didn't do half bad down there considering I have never played there before. I scored some really great goals. Had and awesome fast break too, I was excited ;). Then on saturday we had a practice at noon and at 4. Again, we just played and did a few ball handling drills. To my surprise, I was keeping up with these girls fairly well. Then sunday we had an early morning, crack of dawn practice at 9am. You see, 9am on the weekends in Iceland is like 5am back home. It just doesn't fly so well with these people. And because I am basically a local and native (haha ya right) here now, I was a little sluggish to get out of bed too. But, the practice was well worth it. I was put on the second team of four and got a lot of play time in the scrimmages. In the afternoon there was a health speaker at Valur, but they told Toni and I to not come because it was all in Icelandic. But thats ok, it would have been boring cause we would of had no idea what was going on. But at 4 o'clock, all the US kids meet up at Valur for the Women's National game. They played Austria and destroyed them! It was really fun to watch them because we had front row seatings. Callie got us "season" tickets for free because we are representing the US. So we all sat together in the front row with our gray t-shirts on. The cameras were on us all the time. In between all stoppages and stuff. They were going to interview us at half time, but ran out of time so they just talked to Callie about us and she said a little about everyone and what not. It was pretty cool the have the cameras all around us for a little bit, and that wierd feeling that they are on you whenever hte play is stopped... kinda creepy. But cool I guess too. So ya, that was last weekend.... It went really well, opened my eyes to see sort of what I am going to be playing with in Poland hopefully. Looking more and more forward to that as the days count down. Then this past week, I just had soccer fitnes and handball practice monday, soccer kick around and handball practice tuesday, wed we played FH and beat them 28-22... great game. Then thurs until about 2 hours ago Toni and I have been at a summer house with a bunch of kids from Halli's (my host brother) class. They are on winter break and went out into the country for the weekend, we had a lot of fun just hanging out relaxing in the pools and hot tubs. Tomorrow I am playing IR at home. We should win I'm thinking.
Lets see.... what else have I done? Last weekend was really fun outside of handball. I hung out at my house with Ragnar's (host brother) friends friday night and got to go to Airwaves. Airwaves is a huge musical festival that happens once a year for about 8 days or something like that I think. But the tickets were sold out soo fast so I was disappointed I couldn't see any of it, but Raggi is a rapper and played in it one night so he has the ins there, so I got in with him. Really cool, just a bunch of people hanging around listening to really good artists from all around. There were different locations all around town with different people playing at different times all night long. Cool event. Then saturday I had a full day of handball and a relaxing night at home with Halli. He is a pretty cool kid. Then sunday after practice I went to church at Filadelphia. It was such an awesome service. There as this baptist speaker from Britian there. He had a lot of really aweosme powerful stuff to say. Talked a lot about purpose and stuff. He changed his serman for the international service for some reason. But he spoke on how we are all from different nations together in Iceland praising the same God. How cool is that?! We were all brought here for a reason. Somehow we ended up here, and that is not just by coincidence or any unconvience or antyhhig like that, God brought each and every one of us to Iceland for a purpose. IDK guess you sort of had to be in my head to understand what he was saying. But it hit home, it was really cool. Then we prayed for the pastor and his wife and the whole church (which started with 12 or so the first time I went and last week had around 40) had their hands stretched out praying over them. Then the guest pastor spoke about he has been to a lot of countries and preached, but this church had a burning fire and power to it. It was crazy cause that whole thing he was saying about how we are all in Iceland for a reason stuff... well in the back there was this man and his wife. And in hte middle of when he was talking he say them and said, "O there is a God" becuase this man and his wife were two pastors he spoke with in a country in Africa about 2 years ago. He hasn't seen him since, and then there is was the same weekend he was in Iceland... God is good. God is really good. Ok, enough about that service, but just know it was really cool. Then after that I meet up with everyone at Valur and we sat and watched the game I already told you about. That was fun.
Tuesday, Ton Ton and I got to take my families BMW into the country for a little site seeing. I definitely got lost getting out of the city. We went in the wrong direction for sure. But pulled over, asked for help, got laughed at, and then were on our way. We drove about 2 hrs in search for this waterfall called.... idk, somethign cool. The only way we knew where we were going was by google road maps b4 we left, and those were not accurate. ahha. So we just hoped we were doing it right. We were in the middle of the moon and finally came to this 20 person twon and asked if they knew were the waterfall was. To my surprise, we were headed in the right direction and only needed to drive about 15 more min. We did good! The waterfall was crazy beautiful!!! Really cool. I have never really seen anything like the waterfalls here. They are really really cool. Then we drove another 30 past that one to anothe waterfall, even bigger. Man, it blew me away. I can't even discribe these things, and the pictures do no justice to the real beauty or them. Wow. Thats all I can say. But the trip with Toni was really fun. Just ate food, listened to music, and talked. We are becoming bfffffffs. haha!
Then today I just got back from two nights at a cabin with a bunch of kids. That was fun. We left Thursday night and meet up with about 20 kids. Just hung out, played ping pong on a table, watched stars, hot tub, guitar, dance offs, cards, adventures into barns, pools, food, and nientendo. Just hung out. It was really fun. Made good friends with a few of them there. Good times good times.
But, overall I am doing well. Missing home of course, but doing well. My host parents have been in FL for 8 days now. I am still holding strong here at the house. I have been cooking and do the laundry. Walking the dog and getting the children to bed ontime as well! Ha, no it has been fun. I have been cooking and doing the dog a lot, but its been fun. Mom is definitely going to be using me to cook more back home I bet now. Thats ok, she needs a break from it. Its a lot of work to cook each night you know!? Well done to all mommies out there, you gals are champions.
Ok, I need ot take a nap ;). Love you all, and I wanna here how you guys are back home so write to me or email. Love love lvoe.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Alright so I have gotten some feedback that I am not being detailed enough... here goes nothing.
So - I have been biking around this lake that is right on the other side of the road that is behind my house. The trail is on the way to my club where I practice, so really close. I have only gone around that three or four times, but its beautiful. I ride my bike around it usually, but I like to get off, leave it on the trial, and hike up the "mountian" next to it. Its fun cause I'm hiking on moss and rough rocks. Feels like the moon with carpet. Love it! I went climbing with Halli and Gunnar the other day. Just went to an indoor facility. My arms are really tired, haven't been climbing like that in a long time...all the walls but one were overhang type things, so it was really hard for me. Need lots and lots of upper body strength to get over the edge, forarms are KILLING me! But it was really fun and cool place.
More handball answers... I'm learning soo much. Each practice just gets better and better. I'm doing much better in defense. Attack is.... eh its getting better. I have been playing center back. Actually that is all I play. I can run a total of 5 plays left and right side. So that is good. Still need to learn more, but coach did give me a few of them on paper so thats good. On a scale from 1-10 i think that I have moved from a 2 to a 6 or so. That is pretty good I'd say. Still need lots of improvement, but definitely getting some things down. Foot work is much much better. League officially starts on sunday. Hoping for maybe 10 min in each half, if I'm lucky. That will probably only be in the easier games though. But watching it up close and personal is just as good to me.
I think it'd be easier if I could CONFIDENTLY say everyone's name correctly. I don't really know the exactly way to pronouce the names, only what I have picked up from hearing them, and let me tell you what... its a HARD LANGO!!! I went for about an hr long walk with Erla (lil sis) and she was teaching me a few things... I bet nearly 20 mins was spent on just one saying...its really hard to pronounce things. They use a totally different type of sound stuff... difficult for me. But I can say lots now.... thanks, sorry, excuse me, good day, good night, hello, my name is holly, light, dark, handball, line, here, there, food....some cool stuff. Few more things. I'm getting personal lessons from Erla. We go on walks together so its been really fun. I also have been knitting with Anna and Erla. I actually picked it up pretty quickly. I was surprised. I have about 6 rows finished on a 40 line. That probably makes no sense but o well.
I have been hanging out with a bunch of peole. Elizabeth has probably been the bestesteset for me. She is really fun and nice, lets me tag along with her a lot. Also, I have been chilling with Fridrik, Steinar, Andri, and Elsa a lot. They are really funny kids... doing stupid stuff all the time. Its a good time.
Ok, well thats enough. :)
So - I have been biking around this lake that is right on the other side of the road that is behind my house. The trail is on the way to my club where I practice, so really close. I have only gone around that three or four times, but its beautiful. I ride my bike around it usually, but I like to get off, leave it on the trial, and hike up the "mountian" next to it. Its fun cause I'm hiking on moss and rough rocks. Feels like the moon with carpet. Love it! I went climbing with Halli and Gunnar the other day. Just went to an indoor facility. My arms are really tired, haven't been climbing like that in a long time...all the walls but one were overhang type things, so it was really hard for me. Need lots and lots of upper body strength to get over the edge, forarms are KILLING me! But it was really fun and cool place.
More handball answers... I'm learning soo much. Each practice just gets better and better. I'm doing much better in defense. Attack is.... eh its getting better. I have been playing center back. Actually that is all I play. I can run a total of 5 plays left and right side. So that is good. Still need to learn more, but coach did give me a few of them on paper so thats good. On a scale from 1-10 i think that I have moved from a 2 to a 6 or so. That is pretty good I'd say. Still need lots of improvement, but definitely getting some things down. Foot work is much much better. League officially starts on sunday. Hoping for maybe 10 min in each half, if I'm lucky. That will probably only be in the easier games though. But watching it up close and personal is just as good to me.
I think it'd be easier if I could CONFIDENTLY say everyone's name correctly. I don't really know the exactly way to pronouce the names, only what I have picked up from hearing them, and let me tell you what... its a HARD LANGO!!! I went for about an hr long walk with Erla (lil sis) and she was teaching me a few things... I bet nearly 20 mins was spent on just one saying...its really hard to pronounce things. They use a totally different type of sound stuff... difficult for me. But I can say lots now.... thanks, sorry, excuse me, good day, good night, hello, my name is holly, light, dark, handball, line, here, there, food....some cool stuff. Few more things. I'm getting personal lessons from Erla. We go on walks together so its been really fun. I also have been knitting with Anna and Erla. I actually picked it up pretty quickly. I was surprised. I have about 6 rows finished on a 40 line. That probably makes no sense but o well.
I have been hanging out with a bunch of peole. Elizabeth has probably been the bestesteset for me. She is really fun and nice, lets me tag along with her a lot. Also, I have been chilling with Fridrik, Steinar, Andri, and Elsa a lot. They are really funny kids... doing stupid stuff all the time. Its a good time.
Ok, well thats enough. :)
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
More Awesomeness
Sorry for not getting to you this weekend, I had a busy one!
But lets see.... last week's handball was awesome! Monday we lifted and did a few passing drills. Tuesday we practiced with the younger boy's team and scrimaged them the second half of practice. The first half was really fun! We had only 8 girls, so we did this really fun defensive drill. Girls had a group and boys had a group. and there were four girls about 10yrds apart, and one in the center of the circle (like the basketball cirle in middle of court), with the other other defending her. the object was to get the ball to either the hands of the circle runner, or get in placed on on the ground inside he circle. The defenders had to communicate "out" "circle" etc and when the ball was out in front of you, you had to go out and defend. It was god REALLY physical. Great practice. Then on Wed we had a friendly across twon... I got to play half of both halfs. We were losing when I came in first half, and ended the first half 17-13. Had a great goal! I intercepted a pass, took a fast break with 2v2, passed the ball off, and kept running, received it, and scored from he left side a right upper v! awesome goal! My skills are improving dramatically. After the game coach was yelling at the girls ( we tied 22-22) and he kept saying my name. I asked Gurdron what he was saying, she told me that he wasn't impressed with anyone but me. That I was the only one hustling back on D, and had my head in the game. So I think that is great news! We had Thurs off. Friday we sipp (jumprope) and did lunges and things like that, then did a shooting practice. Saturday was a fundraiser day, so he said I didn't need to go t that because I can't exactly pursuade people to buy carrots. So my older brother Halli took Toni and I to the Blue Lagoon on Sat! Really, really cool place!! Sunday we went running outside together, in the snow. Monday was set up for counting the money earned from sat, only a few girls helped so they just did it at lunch at school. So I didnt have practice yesterday. But my home has a tredmill and workout equiptment, so I do that when I dont have practice. Today I have weights and practice... Tomorrow is the first league game. It's against the other club in Hofnarfujordur. The girls told me its going to getu ugly... I'm excited. Not expecting to play, but I will let you know the outcome. I'm guessing it will be a great game! That is pretty much it in nut shell...
Ok, blue lagoon... only about a 35 min drive from Hofnarfujordur. Halli took Toni and I. It was a beautiful day, blue skys from morning to night... So the name is blue lagoon right? I jut thought it was bcause it was catching and what not. O no! It is the most blue I hve ever seen. I mean th water is BLUE! Like blue blue. Its crazy. But its basically this huge hott hott hott tube in the middle of rocks and stuff. Kinda neat. The hot water from the ground and stuff comes up and they mix colder water so it doesn't boil us to death. really enjoyable. Basically a spa outside. Had a cool little waterfall, sanas, mud to rub on your skin. I got out and put that mud over my entire body and let it dry. I was like this white snowball monster! its really only for your face, and all the other tourists only had it on thier faces. So I got pointed and laughed at.... what else is new?
There are just too many stories and things to update you on. But that is kinda a quick short overview of last week I suppose.
But lets see.... last week's handball was awesome! Monday we lifted and did a few passing drills. Tuesday we practiced with the younger boy's team and scrimaged them the second half of practice. The first half was really fun! We had only 8 girls, so we did this really fun defensive drill. Girls had a group and boys had a group. and there were four girls about 10yrds apart, and one in the center of the circle (like the basketball cirle in middle of court), with the other other defending her. the object was to get the ball to either the hands of the circle runner, or get in placed on on the ground inside he circle. The defenders had to communicate "out" "circle" etc and when the ball was out in front of you, you had to go out and defend. It was god REALLY physical. Great practice. Then on Wed we had a friendly across twon... I got to play half of both halfs. We were losing when I came in first half, and ended the first half 17-13. Had a great goal! I intercepted a pass, took a fast break with 2v2, passed the ball off, and kept running, received it, and scored from he left side a right upper v! awesome goal! My skills are improving dramatically. After the game coach was yelling at the girls ( we tied 22-22) and he kept saying my name. I asked Gurdron what he was saying, she told me that he wasn't impressed with anyone but me. That I was the only one hustling back on D, and had my head in the game. So I think that is great news! We had Thurs off. Friday we sipp (jumprope) and did lunges and things like that, then did a shooting practice. Saturday was a fundraiser day, so he said I didn't need to go t that because I can't exactly pursuade people to buy carrots. So my older brother Halli took Toni and I to the Blue Lagoon on Sat! Really, really cool place!! Sunday we went running outside together, in the snow. Monday was set up for counting the money earned from sat, only a few girls helped so they just did it at lunch at school. So I didnt have practice yesterday. But my home has a tredmill and workout equiptment, so I do that when I dont have practice. Today I have weights and practice... Tomorrow is the first league game. It's against the other club in Hofnarfujordur. The girls told me its going to getu ugly... I'm excited. Not expecting to play, but I will let you know the outcome. I'm guessing it will be a great game! That is pretty much it in nut shell...
Ok, blue lagoon... only about a 35 min drive from Hofnarfujordur. Halli took Toni and I. It was a beautiful day, blue skys from morning to night... So the name is blue lagoon right? I jut thought it was bcause it was catching and what not. O no! It is the most blue I hve ever seen. I mean th water is BLUE! Like blue blue. Its crazy. But its basically this huge hott hott hott tube in the middle of rocks and stuff. Kinda neat. The hot water from the ground and stuff comes up and they mix colder water so it doesn't boil us to death. really enjoyable. Basically a spa outside. Had a cool little waterfall, sanas, mud to rub on your skin. I got out and put that mud over my entire body and let it dry. I was like this white snowball monster! its really only for your face, and all the other tourists only had it on thier faces. So I got pointed and laughed at.... what else is new?
There are just too many stories and things to update you on. But that is kinda a quick short overview of last week I suppose.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Continued Life in Hafnarfjordur
Ok, what have you missed out on? Lots I'm going to assume. Well, last was really fun. I'll start with handball, move into friends, then finish with, uh idk something cool.
Soo my average week is wieghts on Mon, plays on tues, drills on wed, off on thurs, and friendlys on fri, and then random stuff on sat and sundays. i love going ot practice. each time i learn more and more.... my coach has a deal with asics so he hooked me up with some shoes... cost aobut 115$ which is way better than the prices i have been looking at on my own so that was such a blessing. They are bright blue though, i mean BRIGHT BLUE! ha. very nice though. I got pretty lucky. But yes, my coach is probably the best thing about handball. He is soo aweosme. Always asking if I understand, have questions, yatta yatta. Its just what I need. He has done a few one on one session with me to help me with my shot, me defense, and some foot work. So its been great. And the team...o the team. They are so aweosm. They have invited me out for dinner this weekend so they can get to know me better. ha they are so funny. Talking in english whenever im aroudn so that i can be involved. Its really funny to hear all their stories and stuff. I love it. We are gonig to a restuarnt called American Style... kinda funny i thought. but i have learned countless drills, Coach Kathy and Greg are going to be proud!... you too Anca! umm.... I have a huge smile everytime it rans cause i walk into practice dripping wet because i try to hit every puddle possible. its way awesome! and o, im like basically pro at riding my bike with no hands. If there was an Olympic sport for that, i'd win gold medal for sure! haha. anyway, yes handball is really really fun. I have a really wierd pain in my left calf/shin area. Not sure what it is, but its off and on. When its on, it hurts like the dickens though. Hopefully it'll get better. I think its from running on the gym floor, im not too used to hardwood. Im more of an outdoor soccerfield girl. :)
Last week was really fun with friends... i got contacts of a lot of people and tried to meet up with a few. but on thursday, i get invited to go to the school ball with Halli. So he bought me a ticket and i got to tag along. Really cool story. well kinda. not too cool. but whatever. So i had no idea what to wear so i was supposed to go with this girl named Elsa, but she had to study for a test. So i went into panic mood and called my handball girls and they totally hooked me up with some leggins, a dress t-shirth thing and some accessories. They got me all fancied up. and i went at like 8 to the pre-dance party with halli and hung out and met a bunch of kids and got some numbers. then we went ot the actual dance at about 11 at thsi place called broadway. WOW. ok so we got in (totally got frisked) and there was the circular balcony around the main dance floor. and we went donw to the main dance floor... so cool. and there was a band and stage and stuff. then we walked down,around, and up some stairs and there were two other dance rooms with a dj and a floor and everything playing seperate music. it was so sick. it was a lot of fun. over 1500 kids there. really fun. um, then friday night i hung out with a gril name Elsa, the one that was supposed to help me but couldnt. she was really nice. we got icecream, hung out, and watched a movie. it was really fun. I got home pretty late that night then some other friends called me up and we went to this graveyard, that was a lot of fun. just walked around and got creeped out. Ha it was fun, don't judge. Then sat i went to this pool that was by the presidents house. it was really fun. really hot hot tub and an awesome! water slide and wave pool. there are pools everywhere and no membership or anthyig is needed, you just go to pools. its really fun. And Halli took Toni and i to that. it was fun. then sat night toni slept at my house and we hung out with some friends all night and had a good time. Sunday wen to the international church and then got invited to go to one of our friends houses for more cake and coffee after church. it was really fun. they are a newly wed british couple... so funny. uh man bobby and zack would love the husband. his name was alex, uh! so funny. .... quality. then sunday night just kinda hung with the family and stuff. Monday i found some bouldering spots in reykjavik. toni and i kinda went exploring in the "forest" type area... we found some crazy like viking type places. definitely found a bunker of some sort. kinda creepy. but it was cool. ya idk.
losts has gone on. i totally feel like home here. doing my laudry. I cooked dinner lastnight for my family. made cookies for them today. going shopping and hiar cut tomorrow. have a sister bonding day planned for saturday. idk, its been fun. loving it here. loving handball, the friends.... my friends actually just left. theycame over to trysome cookies (its like almost midnight and they have a physics test at 8am tomrrow... haha gotta love em), loving the family a ton, loving iceland, loving God, loving life really. its just been really fun. I dont really know what to add in these blogss anymore because there is just so much. So maybe ill just pick a few things to talk abou tnext time.
alright, i love and miss all you guys soo much. i truly do, im not just saying that. You guys mean the world to me, and i probably talk about you at least twice a week... ha im always mentioning somethinga bout back home.... ok. love you all... o, and if yo uget a chance, check out Romans 12:12
xoxo ~holly~
Soo my average week is wieghts on Mon, plays on tues, drills on wed, off on thurs, and friendlys on fri, and then random stuff on sat and sundays. i love going ot practice. each time i learn more and more.... my coach has a deal with asics so he hooked me up with some shoes... cost aobut 115$ which is way better than the prices i have been looking at on my own so that was such a blessing. They are bright blue though, i mean BRIGHT BLUE! ha. very nice though. I got pretty lucky. But yes, my coach is probably the best thing about handball. He is soo aweosme. Always asking if I understand, have questions, yatta yatta. Its just what I need. He has done a few one on one session with me to help me with my shot, me defense, and some foot work. So its been great. And the team...o the team. They are so aweosm. They have invited me out for dinner this weekend so they can get to know me better. ha they are so funny. Talking in english whenever im aroudn so that i can be involved. Its really funny to hear all their stories and stuff. I love it. We are gonig to a restuarnt called American Style... kinda funny i thought. but i have learned countless drills, Coach Kathy and Greg are going to be proud!... you too Anca! umm.... I have a huge smile everytime it rans cause i walk into practice dripping wet because i try to hit every puddle possible. its way awesome! and o, im like basically pro at riding my bike with no hands. If there was an Olympic sport for that, i'd win gold medal for sure! haha. anyway, yes handball is really really fun. I have a really wierd pain in my left calf/shin area. Not sure what it is, but its off and on. When its on, it hurts like the dickens though. Hopefully it'll get better. I think its from running on the gym floor, im not too used to hardwood. Im more of an outdoor soccerfield girl. :)
Last week was really fun with friends... i got contacts of a lot of people and tried to meet up with a few. but on thursday, i get invited to go to the school ball with Halli. So he bought me a ticket and i got to tag along. Really cool story. well kinda. not too cool. but whatever. So i had no idea what to wear so i was supposed to go with this girl named Elsa, but she had to study for a test. So i went into panic mood and called my handball girls and they totally hooked me up with some leggins, a dress t-shirth thing and some accessories. They got me all fancied up. and i went at like 8 to the pre-dance party with halli and hung out and met a bunch of kids and got some numbers. then we went ot the actual dance at about 11 at thsi place called broadway. WOW. ok so we got in (totally got frisked) and there was the circular balcony around the main dance floor. and we went donw to the main dance floor... so cool. and there was a band and stage and stuff. then we walked down,around, and up some stairs and there were two other dance rooms with a dj and a floor and everything playing seperate music. it was so sick. it was a lot of fun. over 1500 kids there. really fun. um, then friday night i hung out with a gril name Elsa, the one that was supposed to help me but couldnt. she was really nice. we got icecream, hung out, and watched a movie. it was really fun. I got home pretty late that night then some other friends called me up and we went to this graveyard, that was a lot of fun. just walked around and got creeped out. Ha it was fun, don't judge. Then sat i went to this pool that was by the presidents house. it was really fun. really hot hot tub and an awesome! water slide and wave pool. there are pools everywhere and no membership or anthyig is needed, you just go to pools. its really fun. And Halli took Toni and i to that. it was fun. then sat night toni slept at my house and we hung out with some friends all night and had a good time. Sunday wen to the international church and then got invited to go to one of our friends houses for more cake and coffee after church. it was really fun. they are a newly wed british couple... so funny. uh man bobby and zack would love the husband. his name was alex, uh! so funny. .... quality. then sunday night just kinda hung with the family and stuff. Monday i found some bouldering spots in reykjavik. toni and i kinda went exploring in the "forest" type area... we found some crazy like viking type places. definitely found a bunker of some sort. kinda creepy. but it was cool. ya idk.
losts has gone on. i totally feel like home here. doing my laudry. I cooked dinner lastnight for my family. made cookies for them today. going shopping and hiar cut tomorrow. have a sister bonding day planned for saturday. idk, its been fun. loving it here. loving handball, the friends.... my friends actually just left. theycame over to trysome cookies (its like almost midnight and they have a physics test at 8am tomrrow... haha gotta love em), loving the family a ton, loving iceland, loving God, loving life really. its just been really fun. I dont really know what to add in these blogss anymore because there is just so much. So maybe ill just pick a few things to talk abou tnext time.
alright, i love and miss all you guys soo much. i truly do, im not just saying that. You guys mean the world to me, and i probably talk about you at least twice a week... ha im always mentioning somethinga bout back home.... ok. love you all... o, and if yo uget a chance, check out Romans 12:12
xoxo ~holly~
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Handball Update
So I started off at a club called Valur. Locals told us that it is the best club in town. The coaches are best, ex-Olympians, and due to the house I was supposed to be at that was the closest club. Therefore, I would be playing with Valur. So the club facilities are really nice. Fun atmosphere and all that good stuff. Really cool place. Great teams. My team was the Division 3 ('93-'91) and the girls did not impress me all that much. Started off with not a warm welcoming at all. But that's ok, some aren't good at first impressions. The first practice was so lame. Basically walked around the whole time, scrimmaged (slow as malicious pace) and then slight conditioning at the end. And I OWNED that cause those girls were so outta shape. I couldn't believe it. But I decided to stick it out. So I went there rest of the week to Valur. The coach did not talk to me that much. All my directions and awarness to anything had to go through the girls. Most of them, I could tell, didn't really enjoy explaining stuff in English to me so I kinda felt bad asking. So I just kinda hid in the shadows until I knew what I was doing. Although, there was one girl there - Este maybe - who was super nice to me. She was easily the best on the team and you could see her genuine heart and friendly personality. So she was definitely my go-to girl!
Anyway, I started attending some of the Division 4 ('94-'95) practices to get a full load and as much possible in. That coach was really awesome. Spoke more English than the D3 coach and the girls were really young, but funny. The practices went a lot better too. They were working on tactics so even though I couldn't understand a thing, the coach was moving around and using great tone and actions so I could follow a lot easier. I learned a lot about defensive positioning. Which is good! I had no idea about any of that! ha.
Ok, moving on with the week, Callie got a phone call from one for the boy's houses and they decided they really wanted to take a girl. So with my original family still outta town I went to meet them one night, and moved in the next day. I was kinda upset about it at first because I was going to be an hr bus ride from Valur. Not fun with 930 practices... So, after I moved in I went to Valur twice and said I have got to find a closer club. And in Hofnarfjordur there are two, and one happens to be about a 5 min walk and 2 min bike ride from my house. It is called Hauker. So i called that coach and explained everything and why I was here, he loved it. I met him the next day at his younger boys team, watched that practice, then practiced with the girls D3 team on Sunday. The girls were SO excited to have me! All introduced themselves (still have no idea how to say over half their names) and I can tell they are eager to help me learn.
The first practices Coach Kathy actually got to come watch and we did some drills then worked on 1v1 moves. So unlucky for Karin, she got stuck with me. But lucky for me, she was SOOO helpful. We were working on the swim move. She taught me o so much- footwork, steps, arm position, a ton. And the coach was very positive and talkative. He explains stuff in Icelandic, then asks if I understand, usually I say no, then he tells me in simpler terms, aka English.
My average week will look like this (I am in the middle of my first week with Hauker so it could be different) but sundays is a slower practice were we work on 1v1 stuff. Mondays are weights. Tuesdays we work on tactics and different plays. Wed we do shooting. Thurs is the only off day. Fridays we play in friendlies. Sat I'm not sure what we will do. Then we shall start it all over again.
Monday was really fun because we were all in the weight room, no coach, just lifting weights and talking. I finally asked if they could have an English speaking contest so that I could know what the heck they were talking about! lol. So they laughed and it definitely broke the ice. They started involving me in more conversations and asking questions about me and stuff. A great way to start off everything. Learned a lot about them and stuff. That was cool.
So far my favorite drill has been a game we played to warm up. I would classify it as a dodgeball type game, but maybe not. So everyone gets inside the 6m and there is one ball. If you have the ball you don't have any steps and you have to hit someone. If you get hit, remember who it you and sit down. If the person who hit you gets hit and sits down, you get to stand up. The objective is to get everyone down. p.s. I won! haha.
Tonight was one of my favorite practices. Started off with an awesome bike ride in the rain through puddles to the gym! It was the shooting type practice tonight and I learned so much. I learned the proper way to fake a shot and drop it behind me. I have been playing center back and learning SO much. It is the play maker position so I have to keep up. But it took a little bit of watching and a few attempts to get it, but I am doing better. Then we did some shooting stuff, and I asked if coach could help me improve my shot. So while the team was doing the drill, he took me against a wall and helped me. He is way awesome. Totally wants me to improve...get quality of a good coach. Then I jumped back in line and did a lot better. After practice he stayed just 5 min extra with me and improved it even more ( I need to jump UP and not in, its a difficult task. Soccer skills do not mix with handball, I'll tell you that much).
Anyway, I love Hauker. It is just all around a better place for me to be. We play a friendly match on Fri night at 6. Not sure if I'll play, but I will definitely keep you updated. The girls all added me on facebook! and they want to do a team dinner or something to get to know me... I love those girls. Stay updated. I may do like a once a week handball blog. Maybe. This will most definitely be the longest, sorry about that! :)
Anyway, I started attending some of the Division 4 ('94-'95) practices to get a full load and as much possible in. That coach was really awesome. Spoke more English than the D3 coach and the girls were really young, but funny. The practices went a lot better too. They were working on tactics so even though I couldn't understand a thing, the coach was moving around and using great tone and actions so I could follow a lot easier. I learned a lot about defensive positioning. Which is good! I had no idea about any of that! ha.
Ok, moving on with the week, Callie got a phone call from one for the boy's houses and they decided they really wanted to take a girl. So with my original family still outta town I went to meet them one night, and moved in the next day. I was kinda upset about it at first because I was going to be an hr bus ride from Valur. Not fun with 930 practices... So, after I moved in I went to Valur twice and said I have got to find a closer club. And in Hofnarfjordur there are two, and one happens to be about a 5 min walk and 2 min bike ride from my house. It is called Hauker. So i called that coach and explained everything and why I was here, he loved it. I met him the next day at his younger boys team, watched that practice, then practiced with the girls D3 team on Sunday. The girls were SO excited to have me! All introduced themselves (still have no idea how to say over half their names) and I can tell they are eager to help me learn.
The first practices Coach Kathy actually got to come watch and we did some drills then worked on 1v1 moves. So unlucky for Karin, she got stuck with me. But lucky for me, she was SOOO helpful. We were working on the swim move. She taught me o so much- footwork, steps, arm position, a ton. And the coach was very positive and talkative. He explains stuff in Icelandic, then asks if I understand, usually I say no, then he tells me in simpler terms, aka English.
My average week will look like this (I am in the middle of my first week with Hauker so it could be different) but sundays is a slower practice were we work on 1v1 stuff. Mondays are weights. Tuesdays we work on tactics and different plays. Wed we do shooting. Thurs is the only off day. Fridays we play in friendlies. Sat I'm not sure what we will do. Then we shall start it all over again.
Monday was really fun because we were all in the weight room, no coach, just lifting weights and talking. I finally asked if they could have an English speaking contest so that I could know what the heck they were talking about! lol. So they laughed and it definitely broke the ice. They started involving me in more conversations and asking questions about me and stuff. A great way to start off everything. Learned a lot about them and stuff. That was cool.
So far my favorite drill has been a game we played to warm up. I would classify it as a dodgeball type game, but maybe not. So everyone gets inside the 6m and there is one ball. If you have the ball you don't have any steps and you have to hit someone. If you get hit, remember who it you and sit down. If the person who hit you gets hit and sits down, you get to stand up. The objective is to get everyone down. p.s. I won! haha.
Tonight was one of my favorite practices. Started off with an awesome bike ride in the rain through puddles to the gym! It was the shooting type practice tonight and I learned so much. I learned the proper way to fake a shot and drop it behind me. I have been playing center back and learning SO much. It is the play maker position so I have to keep up. But it took a little bit of watching and a few attempts to get it, but I am doing better. Then we did some shooting stuff, and I asked if coach could help me improve my shot. So while the team was doing the drill, he took me against a wall and helped me. He is way awesome. Totally wants me to improve...get quality of a good coach. Then I jumped back in line and did a lot better. After practice he stayed just 5 min extra with me and improved it even more ( I need to jump UP and not in, its a difficult task. Soccer skills do not mix with handball, I'll tell you that much).
Anyway, I love Hauker. It is just all around a better place for me to be. We play a friendly match on Fri night at 6. Not sure if I'll play, but I will definitely keep you updated. The girls all added me on facebook! and they want to do a team dinner or something to get to know me... I love those girls. Stay updated. I may do like a once a week handball blog. Maybe. This will most definitely be the longest, sorry about that! :)
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Beginning life in Iceland
Everything has been going great. Absolutely great! I arrived 8 days ago now. The first few days I was very disoriented. But when they throw you into city and say find your way home via bus it has to click pretty quickly. I am pretty sure I know downtown Reykjavik by heart now. But unfortunately I do not live there anymore. I was supposed to be staying with the congressman's family, but he and his wife Pala are on vacation for another two weeks. So I stayed at Callie's (our Icelandic/American helper coordinator lady) mother's guest house for a few days. That was located right in the middle of down town so I really enjoyed walking not even 10 min to a nice little pond and coffee houses everywhere each day. Then one of the boy's host families called and because the boys wouldn't get here until a week after us, they asked if they could get a girl instead. So I was very disappointed at first, but God has a plan for everything. And I got shuffled into their home fairly quickly actually. They called on Tues, I met them Tues night, and moved in Wed afternoon of this week. So Its been all new and fun and exciting. God really knows what he is doing. This family is way awesome. The parents are great! Halli and Ana. Helping me out with so much and feeding me plenty (food is awesome - dad....i like fish) and just being great. The kids are real cool too. Youngest is named Erla - 13. She showed me around town and stuff. Really nice. Funny too. Then middle is Halli - 19. Cool kid. Always has friends here so thats been nice cause I really need to start getting more plugged into people and stuff. But he is a super track star from what I've gathered. So thats cool. Oldests is Ragnar - 23. Cool cat. Does schooling in the afternoons, so we chill in the mornings sometimes. He is active I guess is what Ana was saying. So hopefully that means outdoor active type :). But he said he'd take me around and show me cool stuff. The family lived in FL from 96-02. So everyone knows english really well. The only one who needs to talk slower is Ana, but she does just fine. But most the time everyone is speaking Icelandic. So I'm lost almost always. But thats ok. I'll deal with it. I've learned to really read tone and actions. Its kinda cool. I can follow some of what they are saying, kinda. But Ragnar did a year of schooling in NY and has a Masters in English. So he is just dandy! Anyway, I think this weekend I get to go to their summer house with Ana and Erla. I'm really excited for that. And when I get back either at night on Sat or Sunday the boys are going to take me out. Not exactly sure what that entails, but hopefully something fun!
Handball... way awesome. I have been to 5 practices now. They started off not so good for me. Its hard to understand and know what I need to be doing when everything is in a different language. Some girls know english, but I guess the only learn to write it, not speak it. So that whole language barrier has been difficult, but definitely getting better. The actual handball part of it has been way cool though. Have learned a lot about positioning of the body on defense already.That is something I really need work on. You see, I learnd the basic idea of handball, but none of the tactics or fundamentals. It is very obvious here that I am missing those. So hopefully I can pick those up quickly. Fussy has been such an awesome coach. He is the younger teams coach that I practice with on my off days. My coach is names Joey(pronounced w/o the "j") and he doesn't speak much english to me. So Fussy has been my main source to getting better. Which is awesome. He was an Olympian not too many years ago. Knows his sutff thats for sure. Anyway, handball is all good. My club's name is Valur, well as of right now. Its about an hr bus ride to and from because of my new location. The clubs you get placed in are mainly based off of where you live. And now I live in Hofnarfjordur and Valur is in Hllemma or something like that. So I am going to try to switch clubs to the one that is a 2 min walk from home named Haukur. Hopefully that will work. But overall, learning a lot and having fun with it!
God is doing soem pretty amazing things here. He has really showed to me what patients really looks like. I mean really looks like. I have yet to worry about anyhting. I realized that no matter what you do, how hard you try or anyhting else, things will happen how they happen and how God wants them to. So there is no point to try to make things go your way. They wont, and if they do then God will totally make it a living hell for you! ha. Well maybe not that far, but it definitely does not go as wanted when you get "your way". He has showed up with me every step of my days here so far. Just the beauty of this place itself is such an eye opener to the creator of it all. He is pretty cool dude. But two words adventure and spontaneous have kinda been my theme for the trip so far. I haven't really planned much. Well nothing really actually. I just have taken each day at a time and figured out what I might or might not do. Its pretty fun. Mixture of school work, exploring, handball, food, coffee shops, playing with Toni. Its all a good time. Mornings are slow filled with school and email junk. Then usually in the afternoons I'll meet Toni in town somewhere and we will find somehting ufn to do. Like today, we walked down the main shopping street in Reykjavik, stumbled onto a Red Cross store. Stopped. Asked if there was a place we could volunteer at. Got directed to another location. Then to the main building. Stopped on our way at this crazy Ti Restaurant for lunch. Went into the headquarters. Got placed with the Youth Director right away no questions. And now I will be volunteering Thurs nights at a teen thing. Really cool because over the summer, after I decided I wasn't going to New Orleans God spoke to me through this crazy man in Manitue springs and said you have to be patient and your time will come... hints the whole Iceland thing. And he also said, "He wants you to use your gift with teens to glorify Him" so to just "stumble" upon all this today is no mistake. Its really cool because it wasn't a big deal, or any trouble, or out of the way or anything. Set no expectations what so ever, and look at where I find myself. Right where God wants me. Pretty cool stuff.
But its like 1 am here. I better get some sleep. Think I may have caught a cold. Have a stuffy nose and had a headache for 2 days now... o dear. Miss all and I can't express enough my thanks to all he support, thoughts, and prayers that have been coming my way."Takk" Thanks from the heart. Bless Bless.
Handball... way awesome. I have been to 5 practices now. They started off not so good for me. Its hard to understand and know what I need to be doing when everything is in a different language. Some girls know english, but I guess the only learn to write it, not speak it. So that whole language barrier has been difficult, but definitely getting better. The actual handball part of it has been way cool though. Have learned a lot about positioning of the body on defense already.That is something I really need work on. You see, I learnd the basic idea of handball, but none of the tactics or fundamentals. It is very obvious here that I am missing those. So hopefully I can pick those up quickly. Fussy has been such an awesome coach. He is the younger teams coach that I practice with on my off days. My coach is names Joey(pronounced w/o the "j") and he doesn't speak much english to me. So Fussy has been my main source to getting better. Which is awesome. He was an Olympian not too many years ago. Knows his sutff thats for sure. Anyway, handball is all good. My club's name is Valur, well as of right now. Its about an hr bus ride to and from because of my new location. The clubs you get placed in are mainly based off of where you live. And now I live in Hofnarfjordur and Valur is in Hllemma or something like that. So I am going to try to switch clubs to the one that is a 2 min walk from home named Haukur. Hopefully that will work. But overall, learning a lot and having fun with it!
God is doing soem pretty amazing things here. He has really showed to me what patients really looks like. I mean really looks like. I have yet to worry about anyhting. I realized that no matter what you do, how hard you try or anyhting else, things will happen how they happen and how God wants them to. So there is no point to try to make things go your way. They wont, and if they do then God will totally make it a living hell for you! ha. Well maybe not that far, but it definitely does not go as wanted when you get "your way". He has showed up with me every step of my days here so far. Just the beauty of this place itself is such an eye opener to the creator of it all. He is pretty cool dude. But two words adventure and spontaneous have kinda been my theme for the trip so far. I haven't really planned much. Well nothing really actually. I just have taken each day at a time and figured out what I might or might not do. Its pretty fun. Mixture of school work, exploring, handball, food, coffee shops, playing with Toni. Its all a good time. Mornings are slow filled with school and email junk. Then usually in the afternoons I'll meet Toni in town somewhere and we will find somehting ufn to do. Like today, we walked down the main shopping street in Reykjavik, stumbled onto a Red Cross store. Stopped. Asked if there was a place we could volunteer at. Got directed to another location. Then to the main building. Stopped on our way at this crazy Ti Restaurant for lunch. Went into the headquarters. Got placed with the Youth Director right away no questions. And now I will be volunteering Thurs nights at a teen thing. Really cool because over the summer, after I decided I wasn't going to New Orleans God spoke to me through this crazy man in Manitue springs and said you have to be patient and your time will come... hints the whole Iceland thing. And he also said, "He wants you to use your gift with teens to glorify Him" so to just "stumble" upon all this today is no mistake. Its really cool because it wasn't a big deal, or any trouble, or out of the way or anything. Set no expectations what so ever, and look at where I find myself. Right where God wants me. Pretty cool stuff.
But its like 1 am here. I better get some sleep. Think I may have caught a cold. Have a stuffy nose and had a headache for 2 days now... o dear. Miss all and I can't express enough my thanks to all he support, thoughts, and prayers that have been coming my way."Takk" Thanks from the heart. Bless Bless.
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