Blogger: Marisa Field
Hometown: Kelowna, BC
Position: Middle
Current Location: Sinsheim, Germany
Hallo from Germany!
So it’s rather late here…. around 5 am to be more exact… I guess that would actually be rather early. But since I can’t sleep I figured now would be a good time to write the blog that I promised to have in ooohh a few weeks ago…. Whoops. Anyways, here’s an overview on how playing pro in Sinsheim, Germany has been for the last month.
So, Tonya and I arrived here shortly after we returned home from World Championships in Japan and were welcomed with open arms and cheering from our assistant coach and (basically our personal) manager, who were holding a large WELCOME sign complete with our Team Canada mug shots and names written below. The sign is now the centerpiece of our kitchen J. So after following the boys around the airport for quite some time while they tried to remember where they parked and how to get back there, we finally arrived at the not-so-large car that was somehow supposed to fit the four of us and our luggage that some might say would be enough for four people. A couple sweats broken and a hilarious video and some odd photos later, the guys finally jammed all our stuff into the car and we were off…. with Tonya’s 80 lb. duffle bag stretched across our laps in the back seat… super comfy. After a long but fun day of sightseeing, lunch, a quick Facebook check, and some other random team obligations, we eventually arrived at a house in a small town called Zuzenhausen, just outside of Sinsheim. While slightly skeptical at the idea they were giving us a whole house to live in all year, we went to the upstairs portion and found ourselves in a one (real) bedroom, one kitchen/living/dining/potential bed room loft more fit for a grandma than the TWO of us. Luckily this was only our temporary bachelorette pad while they found us an apartment… not to say that we didn’t enjoy those two weeks of sharing a bed……….
As for the volleyball highlights… we played our first league match at home against Dresden – Lupo’s old club team - in front a very enthusiastic full-house crowd who cheered us on throughout the whole game, even when we losing, and at some points pretty badly. The fans here are great – our town is quite small but the people are very dedicated to supporting their home team, so that provides a nice atmosphere to play in. For our second match we traveled to Schwerin, which was a 9 hour bus ride there, and a 23 hour bus ride home after the game…… that’s right, 23 hours straight on the bus, 13 of which were spent in a complete traffic stand-still on the highway, or “stau” as the Germans call it. Thank goodness for my large shopping bag full of sandwiches and snacks J Always be prepared!.. with food…. and toilet paper for when the bus toilet freezes solid and you are forced into doing some extra squat reps in the snow…. Boys have it so easy.
That pretty much covers what my sleepy brain can recall of month one in Deutschland. We have also been “adopted” by a very nice family who are sponsors of the team and whose son is our manager that I mentioned above. They got stuck on our laundry duty since we didn’t (and still don’t) have a working washing machine, and of course took a liking to “the Canadian girls,” as we are known here, or just “Canada” for short. So we are well taken care of, between evenings spent chatting with the parents after laundry drop offs/pick ups, lunches at the grandma’s house (who makes a delicious tomato soup), and the occasional dinner with the entire family out at their favourite Italian restaurant. All of which somehow end in us bringing home a ton of leftovers or other delicious treats. Not a bad set up J.
Well it’s nearly 6 am now, which seems like a good time to get some sleep before weights in 4 hours… already can’t wait for my afternoon nap!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone back in Canada!!
“Tschuss!”
- Marisa
No comments:
Post a Comment