こんにちは、日本から！Konichiwa from Japan!
I write to you from my 10th floor apartment, in Ageo, Japan. It is a clear, sunny day & I can see Mount Fuji from my balcony. What a sight to see! I feel pretty lucky, that's for sure.
I joined my team on Nov.5, after departing from Osaka, where I played World Championships with Team Canada. It was sad to leave the team & think about another summer finished..but I was excited to start my new Pro experience in Ageo. I only got three days "off", where I was to workout, travel to IKEA & Costco to buy necessary things for my apartment, & go to the Immigration bureau to fill out paperwork for my working VISA.
The name of our team is the Ageo Medics. My teammates are super friendly, and I felt very welcomed right from the start. We have 20 players with ages ranging from 19 to 29. But with the hierarchy in Japan, the majority of the younger players only shag balls, referee or keep score during team play. The girls work hard, but also enjoy the game & the challenges in practices so I really like that. The facilities that we play & practice in here are very nice, however, they are SO COLD! They don't understand how I find it strange to warm up in a t-shirt, two long sleeves, arm sleeves, a t-shirt windbreaker, capris or sweats, knee warmers AND mitts with all my gear. They think since I'm from Canada, I live & practice in an igloo so I should be used to these temperatures. Not so much!
Currently we are 4-0 in league play, and have beat our opponents 3-0 every game. Our team placed 2nd last year, but have a lot of potential to win the league this year. We have an awesome fan club, who come to every game and even have choreographed dances. The best part is that they wear giant Mickey Mouse gloves to go with their Medics jerseys...it's so great!
Besides being in my apartment for FOUR mini earthquakes already, I have had some other not-so-traumitizing experiences in Japan so far. A few of my teammates took me to a Japanese style BBQ the other day. They insisted that I try tongue & intestines because it was "so good, so good Tiffa!!" I beg to differ. The tongue had a funky taste & the intestines were more like chewing gum that I had the privilege of tossing around for a solid 4 minutes. That's a long time when you're not enjoying it! Maybe that experience was a little traumatizing, too. I have been able to experience the Japanese trains on a couple days off here. Pretty interesting! Have had to buy new tickets after putting them through the wrong turnstiles, but it's all a learning experience right? Visited a really neat area called Shibuya, as well as the Asakusa Shrine & Sensoji Temple. Pretty amazing.
Unfortunatley we have games on Dec.25 & 26, as well as a training camp from Dec.28-Jan.2, so Christmas & New Years won't be celebrated quite like back home. Good thing for skype! My parents plan to come over here near the end of January, & my fiance, Gavin, is here right now for the remainder of the season so I'm definitely grateful for that!
So basically.......loving Japan. Loving sushi. Loving my job. Loving life.
Until next time,
Tiffany Dodds
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