1/27/11 COPA DE LA REINA!

Well my  24th bday came and went and it was a pretty relaxed day compared to other bdays I have had.....

We had a double day and were preparing to leave for the Copa de la Reina on Wednesday.  The Copa de la Reina is basically the Spanish Queens Cup. The top 8 teams in the middle of the regular season battle it out.  Unlike playoffs the playing order is randomly picked.  We went into it being the number 1 seed and played the 3rd seed. Tomorrow we play the 5th seed.  Also unlike playoffs, this is just 1 match and winner moves on. We played Tenerifi and won in 3. The games were really intense and we had some long rallys.  Here is my teams facebook page if you want to follow it because they will constantly post on it about upcoming matches, scores, and the links to watch the games online.  Had google translate open if you need help! Thats what I do :)

http://www.facebook.com/voleiciutadella

And here is a highlight of our game against Tenerifi!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG1CJsQd9gM

Today is Friday and we had a light practice and get to relax the rest of the day.  Tomorrow we play Haro which we lost against a few weeks ago. I was not able to play in this match ( I had arrived in Spain the day before) and we lost 24-26,24-26, 22-25. It was a tough match but we are more prepared and are ready to kick some booty!

When we win Friday (see what I did there? Positive vibes!) we play again on Sunday.  We play at 530pm Saturay, which is 830am California time,  and 12pm Sunday, which is 3am California time....so for all you late nighters if you wanna watch me play that would be awesome! I do not know the link for those matches yet but I promise I will keep you posted!

Just wanted to keep you updated on the schedule and I will talk to you again soon.

Ky

Hola Peeps! 1/24/11

Mmmk....well lets see....

On Monday after I posted that whole blog about my apartment I got SUPER sick. Pretty sure it was just the 24 hour flu but I couldnt eat or sleep for a few days and I was miserableeeeeee. Also I felt bad because I still had not practiced with the team yet, but literally could not get out of bed.  We had a game on Wednesday but I was not allowed to play because it was a match from earlier in the year that they had to reschedule. It worked out better for me to recover though.

I was finally feeling better on Thursday and was able to practice and it went really well! The girls are all so competitive and it was fun practicing with them.  It was nice to finally start playing again and get used to the gym and team.  We left on Friday for a match and I dont know why but traveling from this island is the most difficult thing. We had to take 3 flights and had a 2 hour drive to get to this darn place! Each flight was only like 50 minutes long, so it could be worse BUT still not ideal.  We won in 3 and I played and did fine. It was difficult adjusting to the setting because again we had only had a few practices together but it wasnt bad and we got the W so yay us!

We got home on Sunday night, after the same travel schedule as before....blah. And it felt so good to relax! I went over to one of the girls house and hung out with them for the night and it was really fun! I am getting pretty good at being able to understand and communicate with them.  My spanish is improving...  slowly! But I am dedicated to learning!  We had lifting earlier this morning and film and practice later. We only have TWO days to prepare for the Queen's Cup. We travel Wednesday and play Thursday, Friday, Saturday I believe. We play Tennerife first and they are a good team so we need to have a couple good practices.  Also I think they are going to be available to watch online so I will keep you updated.

Thats all for now!

If you want to know more leave a comment and I'll make sure I write about it next time!

Ciao!

Ky

Menorca! 1/17/11

Okay, soooo I was supposed to leave for Menorca on Tuesday, Jan 11th, but the weather on the east coast was so bad all my flights were delayed and were going to be for a few days. I decided to just leave a few days later when I knew that the storms and snow were done and wont risk getting stuck anywhere.  I left thursday morning and flew to NY/Newark and from there to Madrid. I landed in Madrid on Friday morning and met the team there because they were coming from Menorca to play Haro, which is about 3 hours away from Madrid. We ate lunch at the airport and headed out. The coaches and team were all really nice when I first met them. I slept most of the way to Haro because I had not slept much the night before on the plane and was exhausted. We played Haro the next day and lost in 3 but the scores were 24-26, 24-26, 21-25. It was a close match and I played for a few points but was really nervous and didn't know the teams system as well as I would have liked but there was nothing I could do.  Our coach wasnt mad really because we didnt play bad and we also had a girl that has been injured for 4 months come back for this game too. We left the next morning for Menorca, and got home around 9. We had a little adventure with the Menorcan Police because they had to go through my luggage by hand. Awkward! But they let me go and we took the bus back. I got home around 10 and unpacked my stuff and got settled. Here are some pics :)

This is my loooovely twin bed. It is actually pretty comfortable. (well at least the first night) Notice the bed underneath it. It pulls out! Who wants to come visit?!?!?! :) 

This is the other part of my room. Everything was basically already in there....

This is leaving my room. My roomie Helia's room is to the right and this is the bathroom.....

This is the living room. Nice big TV with cable that has some english!! yay!

Kitchen

These stairs go upstairs to laundry room and balcony

again...

Washer on the left, dryer on the right...

Balcony

View  of the downstairs from upstairs. Yes that is a bed in the living room because Helia has a 3 ft braces on her leg and it was easier for her to just be in there than have to move around so much.

Left to right: stairs, tv, hall that leads to bed room, hall that leads to another bed room, kitchen, front door

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 1/17/2011

Okayokay, I am a little late on the new year wishes.... but oh well!  A lot has changed since my last blog over a month ago (sorry).   First off I finished playing with Benidorm on Dec 18th, after we played Menorca, which is the number 1 team in the league. We lost in 4  but played well. I left the next day straight from Menorca to go home. Looooong freakin trip. I think I spent 15 hours total on planes and another 8 stuck in airports, which consisted of RUNNING my booty from my different gates and through customs or sitting bored for 3 hours.  Either way I got home that Sunday night and it felt so good to be in my own bed and using my phone again!

I got home Sunday and Nate came to visit me Tuesday. Felt great to finally see him and have him meet the paretnal units. He said he was nervous to meet them and of course was on his best behavior but my parents liked him and saw how happy he makes me.  He went home right before xmas to spend it with his family but I got to see him a few days later when I flew to SF to see him and his family and spend NYE with him in Tahoe, which was AH-mazing. It was good weather and I met a lot of nice people. I didnt snowboard (not allowed too) but I got to spend a day relaxing and reading so it was a great trip over all.

I got a Kindle for xmas and I am pretty obsessed with it.  I don't think I could have received a better gift. It uploads any books I buy on amazon (I also got a 50$ gift certificate to amazon from Nate along with a scarf I really like!) straight to my kindle so its a 5 minute process for unlimited amounts of reading! This makes me very happy.

Anyways, to make a long process shorter,  I wanted to play again for another team and after a few weeks of waiting I got an offer from Menorca! (The team I had last played against with Benidorm) To get a little more on info on Menorca, you can go here to learn about the culture and location of the island.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minorca

or for the volleyball aspect here is the teams website. On the top right are two flags. Click on the first one (which is the Spanish Flag) and then you can translate it if you go to google translate. The other flag is the Menorcan language so when you translate it, it wont make sense....it is similar to Spanish but not the same.

 http://www.voleiciutadella.com/

My next blog will be about getting to Spain, the game we had on Saturday, and my new house!  Gotta head to practice now!

Ky

12/1/10

Well first off Happy bday to my bestie Anna! (she probably doesn't even read this but thats okay...) Second, holy cow its December?? When did that happen?

I have been completely slacking on writing on my blog...sorrrrry.

Not to much has been happening here though. We had a game last weekend in Monforte de Lemos. It is right by the top of Portugal and FREEZING. Like really cold....it was 4pm and we were starting our match and it was about 30 degrees.  Now if I was inside, next to the fire, drinking hot coco we wouldn't have an issue but I was PLAYING in it. They must not believe in heaters because up until the ref blew the whistle I had on about 5 layers. We had to play in our jerseys and spandex though. Every time we had a time out I put on my jacket and I don't think my hands ever got fully warm.  But regardless of all that we played fantastic and totally kicked some major butt.  Did I mention that this game was a 10 hour van ride away? Yep, on Friday we drove allll day. 9am-9pm. (stopped for lunch and gas and things) to play a match we wont in three and was over in about an hour and 20 min then left right after for home. Talk about a long weekend.  We got home about 630am on Sunday.

There have been a few things going on here in Spain with payments and such. It looks like either I will be home for good on December 19th OR I will be coming home within the next week! Both are fine by me and I will be finding a new place to play with the new year approaching.  I am looking forward to a new experience on another team or another place in the world.  I had such a great overall experience in Spain and am SO glad I met the girls and of course Rachael who I have become really close with.

I will keep yo posted on what happens but I may be home sooner than later! Yay!

Kylie