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Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Taco Tuesday!

Yes 3 days in a row!!! STAR!!

Today I discovered why panini's in France taste so good. I had a doctor's appointment and we arrived a little early so we went across the street to the little panini/croissant/pastry shop to grab a sandwich for lunch. I got the jambon fromage (yes ham and cheese). It was really delicious and at first I thought it was just because the baguette it was served on tasted really good. Then it hit me! They put butter on the baguette and then they load on the ingredients. Butter is the answer. Now, I am the type of person who never adds butter to anything... I give my butter from my pancakes at Cracker Barrel to my dad, I eat bread plain, and I just don't really see the need for it. Well since living in France, I have a new found appreciation for butter. Because France loves butter!

Also tonight for dinner we decided we needed to satisfy our Mexican craving, so we decided it would be Taco Tuesday! Nicole and I have family dinner almost every night and tonight we decided that we would invite our teammate/dorm mate Alex over for dinner because she had never had a taco before! It was really fun! I showed her how to make the meat and then we showed her the best strategy for rolling your taco so you wouldn't lose all of the ingredients. She commented that taco night seems that it would be really enjoyable in America... I don't think she even can begin to imagine my families love for taco night because we do enjoy it. PS Aunt Marcia I miss you and wish you could have been here tonight! Sorry we enjoyed our taco's without you! But Alex really enjoyed her first taco experience and I think we have her hooked!

Tomorrow we have water recuperation (I'm not really sure what that means) and practice. Thursday we have a 2-a-day. Friday we have practice, pictures, we pick up Sonja from the airport, and are going to the FC Nantes soccer game. And Saturday morning Nicole and I are jumping on the train to head to Paris for the weekend!!!! Life is good here! We think we will visit the Eiffel Tower, Louvre and Notre Dame on this trip!! And we are trying to figure out where to stay... any thoughts??

Monday, September 20, 2010

Thanks Dad!!

Yes I am updating my blog two days in a row! Yah me!

So most of you know that my dad got into a motorcycle accident over the summer. In the beginning of July, I was his personal chauffeur to all doctor's appointments, work, etc because he couldn't drive because of the meds he was on. One day I took him to the hospital where they put the cast on his thumb. As I carted my (sling on the left arm and cast on the right arm) father home we heard a weird noise coming from the car. I pulled over and sure enough, I had run over a nail and I had a flat tire. GREAT! But it was a perfect time for my 22 year old self to learn how to change a tire because my father could be of no physical help. He walked me through it step by step and only helped me to kick the old tire a few times to get it to come loose. It was the perfect teaching strategy... dad tells you exactly what to do but he can only stand on the side of the car and take pictures to text to family members. I felt pretty accomplished after changing my first tire back in July!

Well as of today, I have now changed two tires in my life. A couple of weeks ago, the club gave me and Nicole a car... and yes it is a manual. Sylvain our assistant coach took us to a parking lot to practice for about 30 minutes and said ok you are ready and handed us over this bright gold huge car. The first week, we were scared to drive it because we couldn't get it into first gear without stalling it. And soon after we struggled with parking and reversing the car. I am finally starting to get the hang of it and I finally feel comfortable driving it! It is even fun! I rarely stall it anymore (maybe once a day) and it isn't even jerky when I drive.

So today Nicole and I were returning home from the grocery store and I was driving the car. We were almost back to our apartment when all of a sudden a huge truck veers into my lane. I have 2 choices... hit the truck head on or veer to the left and miss him. I chose option 2 only when I swerved to the left I heard a huge pop and Nicole says, "Uhh I think you popped the tire." I was still shaken up from the near on collision with the truck and then the pop.
So I pulled over (right outside our favorite pizza place) and assessed the damage. Sure enough, I had popped the tire. But I would still choose tire over collision any day. So I said, "Nicole I got this. I know how to change the tire." So we open the trunk and can't find the spare tire anywhere. We see the tool to loosen the nuts on the tire but no tire. Hmmm... We have no cell phone or anyone's telephone number to call to help us. As we try to figure out what to do, Nicole spots the tire underneath the car under the back bumper! YES! Ok now how do we get it out? We try and try and try and can't figure it out. Finally we decide to go ask our pizza guy friend who we know really well because we eat pizza there at least once a week, and he speaks excellent English. So I went in and told him our dilemma and asked if he could help us figure out how to get the tire loose so we could change it. Luckily he was able to figure it out and we got it out. Then he informed us that he must return to work and change his clothes since he was laying on the ground under the car. Whoops! Thanks pizza guy!

Now it was time for the real work to begin. I first jacked the car up. Then I loosened the bolts little by little and made sure to loosen them in opposites and not in a circle. Then I took the tire off and put the new tire on. I put the bolts back on and tightened them little by little in opposites again. And then I made sure to get them really really tight so I stepped on the tool thingy to tighten them all. And then we were on our way! SUCCESS!! The tire is a little flat, so tomorrow we will attempt to find air somewhere to put in it!
So thanks Dad for life lessons only a father can teach!

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Weekend in Quimper

So I know that I am really terrible at updating my blog but I will try harder and do better. On Thursday morning we left at 8 am and drove to Quimper, France for a tournament. (Quimper is pronounced Kam-Pair.) It is about 2 1/2 hours away. We took 3 cars there so it was a tight squeeze. On the schedule we were given it said we had reception at 11:30 when we arrived. I took that to mean serve and pass so I was already when we left, spandex on and everything. Well it turns out, we had an actual reception with the mayor of Quimper to kick off the tournament. That just gives you some idea of how as an American, I never know what is going on here. So we had the reception with the mayor and then we went to check into our hotel. Well turns out we aren't staying at a hotel, but rather we are camping. By camping they mean, you stay in a mobile home in a campground by ocean! This was my house that I shared with Nicole and Alex.
We ate all of our meals at the campground. It was a really really cool place. You could see the ocean from our house and there was a pool with waterslides, a basketball court, ping pong tables, a playground and much more fun stuff! I wish it was summer and warm cause this place would have been awesome! I mean it was pretty cool, but I wish the weather would have been a little warmer! Here is Valeria (she is an OH from Hungary but played at Kansas State) and Ati (she is a MB from Spain) in front of the playground!

The pool had this sign... only in Europe would you see a sign that said no swim trunks allowed, only speedos. Hmmm...
I had to take this picture for Doza... a pirate and his rhum. It just makes me laugh!
Once we arrived we ate lunch and took a nap before heading to the gym to play our first match against a team from Spain, Majorque (pronounced May-York-uh). Michel explained that our other tournaments we played in were for them to see everyone play in different positions and with different lineups, but this tournament was more to prepare for when the Championship starts in 2 weeks. So going into our match I was wondering if Nicole or I would start. I was hoping that I would but you never know. The coaches informed Nicole and me and they wanted to run a system with 2 setters. So they hired 2 setters of equal ability and at any time could switch us in and out to change the style of the game, or also switch us with the right side to potentially do a front row back row switch to change the flow of the game. They told us to trust them. I do. It is just hard being so competitive and wanting to play all the time. It is a new role for me but one that I am embracing. I work the hardest I can at practice everyday and that is all that I can do. The coaches will decide who they want to play. Anyway, Nicole started in the match against Majorque and I was a little bummed, but ok with it. We we winning in the first set and then lost it at the very end. In the second set, he ended up putting me in for Nicole halfway through, but we weren't able to pull it off. I started the 3rd set and we won. I started the 4th set and here is a funny story. Toward the end of the 4th set, which we were ahead in most of the set, Majorque was going on a run and it was getting a little close in the very end, so he put Nicole in for whoever was in right back. I was in left front. I thought that she was going to pass and play defense, but NO she was setting and I was in left front... YES HITTING! So of course we pass the ball and the only person she can set is me and I swing and hit a floater with my wrist (great haha) but I kept it in play and then in transition Nicole could only set me again and so hit the one shot I have in my repertoire, face cross and roll shot down the line to the corner. AND YES I GOT A KILL!! I was pretty pumped. We ended up winning the 4th set! In the 5th set we controlled the whole set and were up 13-10. Then of course we had a mental breakdown and couldn't pass the ball. We were in rotation 5 so of course I keep setting every ball outside or backrow but ughh they ended up winning the set 15-13. Very very frustrating. But I played well and we just didn't get it done.
On Friday, we played a match at 2:30 against a French team in the 3rd division. Nicole set the first 2 sets and we won. I set the 3rd set and we won! Yippee we actually beat a team 3-0 or 3 nil as they like to say here. It was really fun because a ton of elementary aged kids came to the match as a field trip or something and they were sooo excited. They were cheering for our team and they were being sooooo loud! Personally if they weren't there, I'm not sure we would have won the 1st set because we were trailing and staged a serious comeback! After the match, all the kids came down and we played with them for about 20 minutes. It was really fun! I really enjoy stuff like that! So after the match we were all starving because we ate lunch at 11 and then played a match which ended around 4:30 and our coached wanted us to stay and watch the match that started at 6:30. So we went into the center of town to a bar (that is what you do in the middle of the day in Europe) and all got something to drink... not alcohol but coffee, hot chocolate or juice. But no food. ugghh. Luckily when we returned to the gym, they were selling sandwiches outside that we bought. We watched 2 sets of the next match and then headed back to the campgrounds for dinner. Dinner is eaten sooo late in Europe and it is really hard to adjust to.

On Saturday we woke up, had breakfast and headed to the gym for musculation (lifting). The coaches thought it was more important to prepare for the actual season and they didn't really care if we were tired for our match that night. After musculation we headed back to the campground for lunch and then took naps. We played our match against Quimper at 6:30. I was really excited for the match and was having one of those warm-ups where you just are "feeling that you're gonna play well." So I hoped that I would get to start cause I didn't want to lose it. I got to start! We were controlling the first set, and Quimper had a late comeback but we were able to shut them down to win the first. I started the second and we killed them 25-15. Nicole started the third and we couldn't pull it together and lost 25-22. Nicole started the 4th and our passing was really terrible and we lost 25-15. And then in the 5th, I was hoping that I would get to play Nicole played and we lost 15-12. It was really frustrating especially since I won the 2 sets I played in, but I did my job and did what I was supposed to do. The coaches get to decide who gets to play. But like I said earlier, I don't think they really cared if we won the match or not. O well. After the match we went back to the campground to eat dinner and then got on the road. We didn't even leave until 11:10 and arrived back in Nantes at 1:45. It was a late night.

Me and Val at the campgrounds with the ocean in the background!

So I thought I should fill you in on my teammates:

#1 Alice Persinova
  • She is an OH from Czech
  • 30 years old
  • We call her Ala
  • She speaks English fluently and washes mine and Nicole's laundry at her house so we don't have to pay the 8 euros per load
#6 Laeticia Lagarde
  • She is the libero and is from France
  • She is 24
  • We call her Lay-tee
  • Her English is very good and she also speaks Spanish
  • She eventually wants to be a translator since she is tri-lingual
#7 Me

#8 Jennifer Chalumeau
  • She is an OH from France
  • She is 21
  • We call her Jen
  • She is a smaller outside but somehow manages to tool the block almost everytime and her defense is really good
  • Her English isn't the best but she want's to learn
#9 Alexandra Dascalu
  • OH from France
  • She is 19 and the youngest on the team
  • We call her Alex
  • She speaks English and Spanish really well
  • She will be studying in school this semester and playing vball
  • She is a very very good hitter but just young
#10 Nicole Vargas
  • Setter from USA!!
  • She played at Long Beach State University
  • She just turned 24
  • She lives across the hall from me and I don't know what I would do without her here... you need another American for sure!
#11 Noelle Chevigny
  • Middle from France
  • She is 24
  • He English is really really good!
  • She is really fun to be around
#12 Valeria Hejjas
  • OH from Hungary
  • She played at K State
  • She is 30
  • She is our captain and she always takes care of me and Nicole!!! Thank Goodness!
#13 Ati Garcia
  • She is a MB from Spain
  • She is 31
  • She doesn't speak French, but a little English. She thinks that we understand her Spanish and speaks to us really really quickly and I just look at her and tell her I don't know
  • She is CRAZY! The things she says make me laugh sooo much!
  • I recently learned that she has 7 siblings and they all have 2 names except from the youngest two who got left out I guess. The names crack me up:
  1. Juan Carlos
  2. Jose Luis
  3. Victor Manuel
  4. Antonio Jesus
  5. Maria Elena
  6. Maria Estel
  7. IncarnATIon (Ati)
  8. Nicholas
#14 Laura Bonnerova
  • She is a MB from Czech
  • She is 20
  • Her English is really really good and she is a lot of fun!
  • We get along really well
#16 Sonja Newcombe
  • She is from USA and an OH
  • She played at Oregon
  • She is 22
  • She just got married yesterday and will arrive in France on Friday!
  • We are soo excited for her to get here!
My team: (Front row from left to right) Laeti, Jen, Nicole, Me, Alex (Back row from left to right) Michel, Valeria, Ati, Noelle, Ala, Laura, Sylvain

So that's my team and my weekend! I made it to mass this morning at 9:45 in case anyone was worried! Nothing interesting to report! Haha! I will try to update this more often! I miss everyone at home so much!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

My Sunday

So, last Sunday I decided to find a church to attend, so I was searching the Internet for any church service in English. But, I forgot that I was in France and the odds of finding an English service were slim to none. So I decided to attend St. Gregory's which is about a 12 minute walk from my apartment. I searched online and saw that mass started at 9:45, but I also saw that it said 10:30 too. I was confused because I couldn't read the French so I decided to be there at 9:45 and if it was at 10:30 then I could just read until it started. Well sure enough it started at 10:30 so I just read and prayed before church started. Then about 15 minutes before mass, I went inside and the priest greeted me because he could obviously tell that I was new. He was speaking French of course and I said "Anglais?" and he said uhhh "Welcome!" That was nice. About 5 minutes later this older gentleman maybe about 65 came up to me and said, "I hear you speak English. Where are you from?" We started talking and he introduced me to his wife who doesn't speak English and then they sat by me at mass. He told me that after mass they were going to have a small going away gathering for one of the nuns and that I was invited. I said, "oh, ok" not knowing what else to say. Mass started, all of which was in French. But the thing I love about the Catholic church is that I knew what was going on. I looked up the readings online before I left so i followed along in my Bible and during the homily, I just read some parables in Luke. Once mass was over, the man said to me in his broken English, "You come with me, right?" Since he did ask me a leading question (yes I know all about these because I do have a lawyer for a father) I couldn't say no. So I said that I would go to the gathering. After mass this man knew everyone and he had to greet and say hello to everyone (reminds me of my family after church.) So I just stood patiently waiting for him so we could go to the gathering. Once he was finished chatting, we went into the room for the gathering. I walked in and everyone was clapping to welcome ME. I had no idea what was going on but the man told me to say a few words... WHAT?? I told them I was happy to be in France and that I could attend their lovely church. I didn't really know what was going on, because I was entirely caught off guard. The man translated what I said and I did catch the part where he called me shy. HAH! Well, the church was very happy to have this girl from America who spoke zero French worship with them. I talked to one other family who spoke English and they all wanted to know my life story. The priest kept walking over because I could tell he really wanted to talk to me but he didn't speak English. :( Once the gathering was finished, about 20 minutes later, the man finally asked me my name, which in France is pronounced Sare-Hah. He told me his name was Yves (pronounced Eve) and his wife's name is Annic (pronounced Ahh-Neek). The only reason I remember this is because I repeated it over and over in my head until I left the church and then I immediately made a note in my phone with pronunciations and all. Right before I left, Yves asked me, "We will see you next week, right??" I said yes of course. How could I deny the welcome I had just received?

So today is Sunday and I woke up and left my apartment at 10:10 so that I could be at church for mass at 10:30. I was excited to see Yves and Annic and be able to go to church and sing and worship. I get there and mass already started and is in the middle of the consecration (for those that aren't Catholic that is 3/4 of the way finished with mass). WHATTT?? Last week it was at 10:30 so why did it start at 9:45 this week?? UGGHH I was really sad because I feel like I lied to Yves and Annic and I wanted to go to church. So I left because I did not feel comfortable walking in 45 minutes late. I was weighing my options and as I was walking back I decided I would jump on the tram and go downtown and see what time the mass at the Cathedral was. If I missed it too, then I could go to a coffee shop and have some quiet time with the Lord. The tram is right by St. Gregory's and it is the end of the line so I could see it waiting for me. I was about 20 seconds from getting on it and it pulled away. NOOOO!! It's Sunday and the tram only runs every half hour so I would definitely miss mass. So I decided to walk to this little park that I had wanted to visit that was about a block away. I would walk and pray and have quiet time there.

Well, first of all this park was NOT small. It was huge. And it was beautiful. It's called Parc floral de la Beaujorie and there are a ton of rose gardens everywhere. Mom, I can't wait to take you there because you will LOVE it!! It's gorgeous!! I had a great time exploring. I saw people running, elderly couples walking and holding hands, a dad and his teenage daughter running together, children riding bikes, parents pushing strollers, and then I came upon the playground!!! I decided to sit on a bench and just watch. (Yes I took this picture by myself since I was alone).

I was drawn to Matthew 18:3-4.

"And he said, "I tell you the truth, unless you become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."

So I sat, watched and learned. Children are really fascinating. They get so excited about anything new or any new accomplishment.

So here are some of the things that I saw today. First, the little girl and her older sister. (Picture below). They were playing in this little house. The whole playground is made of sand and the dad, who you can see sitting and watching, brought a little shovel and bucket. The older sister was trying to get all of the sand out of the house and the little sister was trying to bring handfuls of sand into the house. Now every time the little sister would grab a handful, she had to step up the step to the house and droped about half of it in the process and then she would finally empty it into the house. She would get sooo excited that she would flap both of her hands up and down really quickly. :) Now the second she would get the sand in, the older sister would sweep it right back out, but she never did get upset with her sister. She just PATIENTLY let her sister have fun, and then she got rid of it. It was fun to watch.

The next picture is the same 2 little girls. The older sister is on the slide, and the little sister is on the second step climbing up. Now I watched the little sister for a long time. She would climb up on a step and had to completely flatten her little body in order to get up. Then she would stand up and flap her hands up and down because she was soooo excited that she had conquered the step. Then she would have to do it all over again. She gave the same excited arm flaps each time, for all three steps. Then she would stand at the top of the slide and flap her hands from excitement as her dad proudly was taking pictures with a huge grin from ear to ear. He was so proud and excited for his daughter's excitement and accomplishments. Hmm... sounds just like our Father!!


The next image is of the shy girl. She was the cutest thing I had ever seen. She had pigtails and hot pink glasses. At first she would not leave her Father's side because she was shy and didn't know any of the other children on the playground (well none of the children knew each other but they acted like they had known each other all their lives). But her father played with her and another girl came over and wanted to join in on the fun. So after a little while, the father left his daughter's side and the two girls played on the sea saw together. Then the other girl lost interest and ran away and played in the sand by herself. The shy girl, walked back to her Father's comfort and I could see him tell her that it was ok and to go ask her to play. As I watched all of this happen, I hurt for the little girl because I just wanted to her have a friend to play with. She just stood and watched the other girl playing in the sand and she kept making glances every 20 seconds back at her father. Finally, the other girl stood up and saw her friend standing by the play house and they started playing in the sand together and sharing the toys. :) Finally, friends again.


Next there are the little boys climbing on the huge jungle gym. The boy on the far left is at the top and was yelling, "Mama!" He wanted his mother to see him all the way at the top! His mother was taking pictures! Then on the jungle gym is the boy with the red cape, sword on his belt, and feather on his head. He was an explorer and exploring he was!! He sprinted to the top of the jungle gym and just stood at the top and looked at all that he had conquered, stopping to wave at his mom.
I had a great day at the park today. I realized that we need to be patient. We also don't be afraid because our Father is always watching us. He is excited for us when we accomplish something new. We need to look out for the outcasts and make sure that we include them. We are free to explore because we can conquer anything with God and He will be there to wave at us. But in all of these children, they trusted in the love of their parents. They knew their parents were always watching over them, protecting them, keeping them safe, and they felt their love.

We need to trust the love of our Father. I hear over and over again, unconditional love unconditional love. But as a mere human it is so hard to grasp. Everything in our lives is conditional. Everything. You play badly in a game, you come out. You don't study for a test, you get a C. You break the rules, you get grounded. So how are we supposed to trust the love and grace that is being showered upon us daily? I learn more and more what that love feels like daily. I just have to continue to spend time with Him to hear him call me His Beloved.


p.s. we won our first scrimmage yesterday in 5 sets! yahh!!