San Sebastian

1 and half hour plane ride to Madrid from Amsterdam, landing at 12:20pm, hurrying to the bus station to catch a 1pm bus to San Sebastian....missed it. Next bus was at 4 pm, ate some lunch, used the computer, killed some time, got on the 4pm. 6 hours later, made it to San Sebastian. Got dropped off at the bus station, then trucked it (with all our luggage),to our hostel.....about 2km walk. Finally found the hostel, cozy little room with 3 other people, 6 in total. Checked out the next day, took a taxi to our main draw hotel, went to practice, came back and now here we are. Waiting for dinner to be served and our preliminary meeting. Next, get some rest, and kick some serious okole tomorrow.

Heineken Experience

click this- Heineken- if you want to laugh......enjoy!

Good times

We started our day with practice in the indoor beach courts today, and then did a little session of weights. After we got our filll of good exercise, we went home and headed to the Heineken Brewery . Pretty good times at that place, made our own karaoke video, drank some free beers, and got camera happy. After we got our fill of beer, we went to eat Morrocan food! Really good eats! Our friend Nikki met us at the brewery, and met us by bike. After dinner, we had fun riding the bike around town. Tomorrow we are headed to San Sebastian, and hopefully we'll get some sun and get our tans back!

Anne Frank

Raining again today....boo. So we went to the Anne Frank museum, which was really interesting, and sad. The museum was the actual house that the Frank Family hid out for 2 years, and where Anne started her diary entries. Weird to think that we were in the actual house where these families hid and where Anne Frank was. The picture of the building is the actual house from the outside. After we did the museum, we just walked around a bit more, and then met with the Dutch girls back at the apartment and had pasta night. The other picture is the 2 Dutch girls we are staying with- Marlein and Marluese.

Article

Check out this article that came out in the BALITA news! click here

Downtown Amsterdam

Today was my fiance's birthday, who by the way met us in Paris, he turned the big 29! This morning we made him a great cup of instant coffee, with some peanut butter toast with Hagelschlag sprinkled on the top. Those of you who do not know what Hagelschlag is.....it's basically chocolate sprinkles, that the dutch like to put on their toast. It's pretty much the best thing you can put on your toast! After our practice session we went to downtown Amsterdam, and checked out the scene. Pretty interesting i have to tell you, but pretty cool. There are cool canals, and people all over riding there bikes, and fun little shops! For his birthday dinner we went to eat at an Italian restaurant, had some good food, beer, and of course ice-cream. Aside from getting all wet from the rain, i'd say it was a pretty fun day! Happy Birthday Steve!

Pics of Paris

Paris....now Amsterdam

We got to Paris on Monday in hopes to get into the qualifying tournament, we were 4th on the reserve list, and it was a no go. So we got a couple of good training sessions in, watched some good matches, and of course did the great sight seeing!.... Eiffel Tower, Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo etc. Absolutely a beautiful city, with lots of coffee and baguettes. Now it's Thursday and we are in Amsterdam, via train. We are staying with 2 Dutch girls that we met in a Korea tourney last year. They are awesome for letting us crash at their place.( saves us a whole lot of money!) we will be training with them till next week and then off to Spain! For now.....training, and exploring Amsterdam!

Keeping Busy

Diane and I are still here in Espinho. We've been here since last Friday, played Tuesday, and ever since then the weather has been pretty crappy. Lots of rain and wind :( Today was a full day of just ugly weather, stayed in our rooms and watched movies, chatted on skype, made dinner, and of course Diane was making beanies! She's been pretty busy at it, and just getting better also. The picture shows a couple of the beanies that she has made, and that's not all of them. Personally, i think that this should be our fundraiser. "Beanies for Beijing".

Darn Japanese!

Diane and I played yesterday in the qualifier. First round we played a portugal team, and second round we played Japan. The same team that we lost to in the first round in Korea. We lost in 3.....arrghhh!. Played a much better game though from when we played them in Korea. Anyway, cooled off in the ocean after the game where we came across 2 dead fish....that was the end of that swim. Now Diane and I are playing travel agent...get out of this country, get to Paris, get to Montreal, back to Paris, find hotels, find train schedules, compare prices, blah, blah, blah...save our money, ration our money (since we haven't made money). Aside from all this hussle and bussle, Diane and I are having a great time. Would be nice to be playing today in the main draw though. BOO! Here is a pic of the Japanese team from the Asian games. They are the 2 girls on the left of Diane.

Espinho

So here are some pictures of the cute little town called Espinho, where our event is held. It's such a cute little town, feels like Diane and I are in Universal Studios and going through the movie lots. The highlight of the day for me today was that Diane and I got bikes ( provided by the hotel) to ride down to the event site, it's about a 15-20 minute walk otherwise. And it was fun just to cruise around the town. Here are some pics.......

Portugal

Ola! so Diane and I made it to Portugal! Left Thursday morning, got here Friday morning. Slept once we actually got in our hotel....ahh sleep! love it! Did a little grocery shopping today and we are good to go. Just practicing and working out in the meantime, oh and getting acclimated to the time of course! Qualifier on Tuesday.......

home sweet home

So the vote was to go home and here we are. Here for about a week and head to Portugal on Thursday. Feels great to be at home, sleeping in your own bed, showering in your own shower, eating the food in your fridge,...and of course for me, being with my fiance ;). During this trip home, we decided to play in a CBVA tournament that was held in Oceanside today. Not bad of a tourney, Diane and I ended up winning the tourney, being able to win a little bit of "mula"....that's always a good thing.