What We're Up To

Sorry, we haven't been posting. We wanted to continue writing about some adventures here with our USA team, but we've been busy/lazy. But, check us out on our team's blog at wntabroad.blogspot.com. You can see what we've been up to this past week. We'll try to write more later and post fun pictures.

Farewell Holland

Hello Sport Fans! I'm sad to say this will be my last post from Holland. This week has been a whirlwind of activities from a day trip to Amsterdam to a little visit to an Dutch Air Force Base. And tonight, Fortissimo helped me celebrate my birthday a little early, but the celebration went on to midnight so we celebrated my birthday for real! :)

Amsterdam

On Tuesday, Elly and I took a day trip to Amsterdam. The tour began with a visit to the Anne Frank house. It was sobering experience going through the house where 8 people were hiding from the Nazis for so long but unfortunately, the Allied liberation didn't reach Amsterdam in time to save them. While going through the stories and history of the house was both inspiring and sad, I felt a stab of pain when we got to the part where Anne Frank's father received a letter telling him of his 2 daughters' deaths. All hope was lost. Since the house was a museum, I couldn't take any pictures while I was inside. If you get a chance to go Amsterdam, check out the Anne Frank house.

Anne Frank House from the outside

Lunch after Anne Frank's House (I had a liverwurst sandwich)

Next Elly and I took a boat tour that took us through many of the canals in the city. One particular point of interest for me was the number of houseboats in the city. Apparently Amsterdam has put a limit on the number of houseboats in the city, and the only way you could dock one in the city now is if someone else moves. It was fun walking through the city and seeing the sights.

The beginning of our boat tour

A good example of the architecture and houseboats along the canals

Ok ok...we visited the Heineken museum too (very important part of Dutch culture!)...and I tried to take this barrel home with me, but it was too heavy!

Every 5th of May, Netherlands celebrates its liberation from German rule. And apparently there is also a very big baby boomer generation after WWII. Hmm...where else have I heard this before?

A monument to Holland's liberation

Game Against Utrecht

On Wednesday, we had a game against the team from Utrecht. The game started out very well with Fortissimo winning 11-9 at the half time. I was able to play for the last 5 minutes of the first half and scored 1 point from the wing. Again there was a lot of commitment and rolling involved. In the second half, Fortissimo was able to maintain a lead all the way until the last 1o minutes of the game. Utrecht tied the game then started to pull ahead. I was able to play for about another 5 minutes during the second half of the game and scored 1 point. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough of a contribution to win the game. The final score was a disappointing 23-26. Fortissimo will be playing Utrecht again in the next couple of weeks, I'm sure they will win next time. Playing with this team has taught me more about flow and the advantage of having played with your teammates for quite a long time. Some of the girls on the team have been playing with each other for more than 5 years. Kind of hard to imagine for Team USA, but I have high hopes that we would be able to say that someday. I had a great time playing with Fortissimo and I'm going to miss all the players and Cothen, no matter how small it may be. :)

Me playing some tough defense on the wing...

Happy Birthday to Me!

It's Thursday night and my last night with Fortissimo. The practice turned out to be a team meeting going over the ups and downs of the team. Very similar to some of our team pow-wows. Afterwards we went downstairs to the social area and enjoyed an apple pie and cake. So tonight I heard happy birthday in English and Dutch, quite an experience. Apparently Danielle had bought me a card that sang "it's your birthday...we're going to party like it's your birthday..." But I broke the card when I sat on it on the way home from Walter's office. :( The card had been strapped down to the back of the bicycle and I hopped on for a ride instead of walking. Oh well...

Clogs! Thanks Danielle! :)

Rose enjoying one of my famous face massages :)

Bifi shows us her "Scary Movie" impressiong (I think Lindy was really fearing for her life)

Rose attacking me with one of the clogs

My gracious hosts Walter and Danielle (aren't they "SWEET"?)

Thank you for your hospitality!

Oh yeah, I also told Danielle the "abacaxi" story (the first one) . She thought it was hilarious ;) So maybe we've spread the "abacaxi" legacy on to Fortissimo...hahahahahaa

Farewell Fortissimo for now...I had a great time playing with you. Thank you for your patience and mentorship for the short time I was here. Please stay in touch!

Team USA! I can't wait to see you!

Farewell Uddevalla

Wednesday night, instead of practice, we had a team dinner at a local Italian restaurant. It was a nice get-together with good people and good food. "T" now gives me a hard time because I busted out a Tide stain stick in the middle of dinner to clean a spot off of my shirt. Whatever! I'm proud of my stain stick. At the end of the dinner, the team presented us some very nice gifts. One was a crystal star candle, to signify the club's emblem. The other was a pair of Resteröds underwear, which is a really popular Swedish brand. Here I am modeling them. In return, we gave each of the girls a USA pin. After receiving such nice gifts, "T" and I felt kind of embarassed with our small tokens, but the girls were gracious and it was just a nice night in general.

Today, we went to the school for the last time and talked to the students. They were really sweet because they were sad to see us go and wanted us to come back. We learned about the Lucia holiday, where children dress up as different roles, such as maidens, Santas, gingercookie boys, boy attendants, and one (Saint) Lucia. They sing traditional songs for the elders and it's a nice little celebration. Yesterday's class sang one of the songs for us with their music teacher (as seen in the picture). It was very cute. We also received gifts from Maria, the English teacher that we helped out. She gave us a bottle of Glögg, which is a traditional non-alcoholic fruit and spiced flavor drink. You're supposed to serve it warm with finely chopped almonds and raisins. We're told it's usually drunk around Christmastime so we'll have to try it out when we get back to the States.

Our last practice was tonight. The girls have a game on Saturday but we won't be able to attend. It was hard saying goodbye because we've had such a great time here and have been treated so well. It's been a wonderful experience for both of us and we hope to see the girls again in the future.

Countdown until USA team comes to Sweden: 36 hours!

P.S. I (Jennie) used my stain stick again while writing this post because I dropped some food on my shirt. "T" is going nuts. You know what I think? I think she should stop hating and embrace the Tide stain stick.

The End Is Getting Near

On Sunday, we played a team called Kållandsö HF. They were an older team, but still good (currently, 2nd in the league). We didn't have a regular goalie so we had to use one of our court players--she was a trooper. In the first half, the score stayed close; we pretty much exchanged goal for goal. However, in the second half, they started to build up a lead with some smart shots. In the end, the final score was 27-38. This was definitely not a reflection of our team's effort, but more of a reflection of the other team's experience. The girls worked hard and we had a lot of fun playing with them. Sadly, that was our last game as part of Kroppskultur. And it was cute because I think the girls really warmed up to us and liked playing with us. They were sad to find out that it was our last game with them and we were leaving at the end of the week.

Monday night, we were told we were going to have an easy practice, consisting of a game of soccer (fútbol for our European readers). Little did we know that all the coaches, assistants, and managers (even the club's president!) would be joining us. They came dressed like it was the real deal too. So, it was guys against girls. Our team vs. the older men. We found out that this was a huge rivalry--the winner had major trash-talking rights--so the girls really wanted to win. We stayed close in the first half and most of the second half. However, in the last 10 minutes or so, the guys scored 2 goals and beat us 3-5. Booooooo.

Today, we went up to the school again to talk to the students. This time, they were asked to tell us about Swedish holidays. It was really interesting to learn about some different traditions that they have for holidays like Easter and Christmas (which is celebrated on December 24th in Sweden). Another special holiday for them is Midsummer, which is supposed to be on the longest day of the year--sometime around the end of June. There's a lot of food, dancing, and celebration. The traditional singing and dancing is done around a maypole. The girls in the class even did a demonstration for us (as seen in the picture).

Countdown: 4 days

P.S. I (Jennie) forgot to mention this before, but I have a new handball hero: Henriette Mikkelsen from Denmark's National Team. She's a wing player and she is amazing.

P.P.S. "T" wanted to mention that Jennie dropped a glass cup in the cafeteria today and it shattered everywhere. Kya said, "Ooooh, Jennie's in trouble." She wanted to say that it's not all roses here for Jennie...

Traditional Dutch

Can't even tell I'm not a native ;)

On Sunday the three chicas went to Volendam to enjoy a little ocean air and learn a little about traditional dutch culture. Volendam is the model that famous authors and artists used to immortalize the image of Holland that most people in the world see when anything Dutch is discussed. The quaint little houses, windy streets, and of course, the colorful traditional Dutch costume!

Already lost...

I was the "tour guide"

Hanging out with Ootje (Grandmother)

Relaxing with some coffee after a chilly walk

Fresh herring with a side of chopped raw onions (Dutch delicacy)...Yuummmm

St. Vincentius Church

After walking through Volendam, we went into the Volendam Museum. The museum showcased the history of the traditional clothing and the everyday lives of the the local population with a seaside culture. However the coolest room by far was the cigar-bands house. in 1946, Mr. Nico Molenaar started collecting cigar-bands of all kinds and brands. He used the bands to create mosiacs depicting a variety of historical events and buildings. Here's an example below:

The Statue of Liberty constructed entirely of cigar bands like the ones below