Falkenberg and the Grand Prix

Well, today was the day - the true test of our strength as a team against the Swedish POWERHOUSE that is Folkenberg Volleyboll Klubb. It all started, of course, at 7:30 this morning, on the road for a 5 hour drive. After not finding much sleep last night, it wasn't TOO bad, being able to pass out in the back seat, although I'd wake up to the occasional screaming from Erik or a shooting pain in my lower back. It was a GREAT roadtrip.

ON TO THE VOLLEYBALL!!

The Falkenberg gym is awesome. It's small, sort of dome-shaped, with great lights, good wood, and a pretty awesome crowd. It felt like highschool. Falkenberg has an American, Patrick Aparicio, who used to play for VVK. The boys here don't speak to highly of him, a real jerk apparently, and the little I talked with him after match confirmed the claims on his persona.

Let me tell you, as we prepared in the locker room prior to the match, we were FIRED UP!! This is what we play for: to see how we can match up against the top team in the leagu - to stun everyone - to have that moment where we can say "damn, we did it RIGHT that game." Fired UP!!!

Well, there's a reason they're the best team in the league. The pass almost perfectly, the laser serves, and they block like all hell. We came out thundering, though. In what was perhaps the longest first set of my life, I witnessed and partook in some of the greatest volleyball I've ever seen - especially in Sweden. I had a blast!!

I looked up and it was 5 - 5 and I couldn't believe it. I could barely catch my breath. We were in a BATTLE and I was loving every minute of it. I mashed my first set down the line only to be lipped beautifully by their setter - the ball would have been shanked by ANY other team or player. We dug one right back and Tarik put the ball away. That's how it went for us in the first set. We dug balls, we blocked balls, we covered our hitters, we passed really well. We played exciting, focused volleyball. Still, I looked up and it was only 8 - 8. I almost shit myself! Emotions were flying high. In my first match-up with the "other American," I went up to block, dropped HUGE into the low, cross-court and **BA-BOOM** the ball bounced on their side. On literally the next set, I went up to block him again, only this time made a move to his line and ***BA-BOOM** - - - THUNDERCLAMP!!! It was awesome! Had it been a home match, the crowd would have gone wild. Instead, our meager chearing section of 5, and our bench of 4 went NUTS! Still, I looked up and it was 15 - 15. Then 18 - 18. It was an AWESOME display volleyball. In the end, we rode our momentum and STOLE the first set 25-22. It was so much fun.

Set two went on very similarly to the first. We played great, FOCUSED volleyball that kept the strings of sideouts coming, back to back to back. And my passing finally showed up!! Like I said, these guys could bring the heat and place the ball wherever they wanted on their serve, and with the exception of a few tough balls for Linus, we passed great. It felt so good to DIME (think perfect 10) one ball after the other. I passed nails and it was good to be back! Falkenberg is well coached, and they did their scouting, so they spread two blockers to me all night, which was EXTREMELY frustrating - then I'd find a way to get it through the block and I'd get dug! I was bringing the hammer, but I was hitting a knot in the wood. Early on this was okay though, as Dave jacked balls back to Tarik and he'd bury them time and time again. This kept us in the game time and time again. The second set dragged in like the first, and came down to the bitter end, working into overtime. We sided-out a few times when they had game point, before I passed a perfect ball and Dave tried to dump only to be rejected - BIG! We lost the second set 28-26.

After the second set there is always a 10 minute break which I think I've noted before that I HATE!! In any case, despite our best efforts to stay up, the ball did not go our way. Before long a few of the guys, well, one really (but an important one) began to get timid. They'd have 2 guys waiting at the pin for me so Dave would throw it back and our guy would TIP with no block up, afraid to hit it out, or worse, get dug. Time and time again he tipped or got dug with NO BLOCK UP!! The simply chose to not block, and it worked. A serious lack of confidence lost us set 3, 25 - 17. The one highlight for me was, down something like 22 - 13, I went back to the service line and RIPPED an ace, followed up by ANOTHER. Yeah, it was cool! :)

We found our legs again in the fourth and battled to stay in the match the whole time. We stayed ahead a point for most of the match early on, but we began to struggle a bit on the block, and ball after ball that they had good swing on, went to the floor. We were able to sideout well with good passing, but it all came down to the final points. You could tell as we tried to pull out all the stops that there was just no mojo left in the tank -- LOW-lighted by an ugly service error on my part (terrible toss about 8 feet too far into the court, just trying to almost TIP it over). Down to the last play we fought, a decent pass, a set to Tarik, well covered by the other 5 of us on the court, but the block was just too big. We lost the fourth 25-23.

It was a hell of match, and frankly, I couldn't have asked for more from our team. We were in no way expected to win, but we came out and played solid volleyball. We showed a lot of heart. If we can learn to sustain that energy, we'll be in great shape!

Of course, a five-hour van ride home would not be very much fun after a loss, but there was one bright-side to the evening. After our loss we all huddled around cellphones where we had the scores of another match between Tierp and Team Valla being sent to us. In order for us to make the Grand Prix we needed Tierp to win, didn't matter how, just win! The match went to 5! And it was a doozy! (doozey? doosey?) We watched as the text came through: 1-1, 2-1 on up to 8-8 and 10-10. With each point we all cheered or booed. It was HILARIOUS watching all these guys pulling out their hair and YELLING with each point. Tierp took the final set 15-13! It was unbelievable. SO, we left Falkenberg a little lighter than we would have had we NOT made the Grand Prix. And while we probably don't deserve to be there, it's great for the club, great for our confidence, and great for me and Dave because we both get a bonus!!

and yeah, we play Falkenberg first round of the Grand Prix... the sage to be continued!!!

Reaching new lows...

RELAX!! No, I'm not speaking morally! It's getting COLD!!! There is frost covering everything. I had to wear my super big jacket today, whereas normally I can get by with something a bit lighter to go to and from the gym. Right now it's -8 degrees Celsius, about 18 degrees Fahrenheit. BRRRR!!! We've still got a ways to go to reach the winter lows, but everyone here is complaining it's cold. I love it!! Hopefully we'll get some SNOW soon! It's been about 2 weeks since a good snowfall. We've had a couple light dustings here and there, but nothing serious. Would be nice to have a white Christmas, WHICH, by the way, I watched the other night on TV. I caught a lot more of the subtleties this time 'round.

We have a match in Folkenburg (sp?) this Saturday. We're hanging on to a Grand Prix birth - a win Saturday would obviously seal it, but there are still circumstances in which we wouldn't make it. It would be nice to get a couple extra bucks! :) Along with the glory of playing in it of course! Unfortunately, the match Saturday is AWAY, and I mean WAY AWAY. It's about a 5 hour drive (SWEET!). Good quality time with the guys in the van! YEAH!

Anyway, I'm here, keeping busy with various little projects, but somehow, even here, time seems to tick by. Never enough hours in a day!

As Promised...

As promised, here are the results of last night's match vs. Tierp. It was basically a must-win match for us in order to go to the Grand Prix (a tournament right after New Years for the top four teams). Apparently the Grand Prix is a VERY big deal, the biggest thing in volleyball in Sweden - more important than the actual championship. With our backs to the wall, we came out ready to play good, focused volleyball - and Vingaker prevailed!

We took the match in 3 straight sets 25-23, 25-17, 25-19 in just 61 minutes. We played great, well-rounded volleyball, with contributions from everyone. I lead the team with 12 points on 10 kills and 2 blocks. Tobi and Dave followed up with 7 points each. Tierp has a 7 foot middle from Australia of the Nick Scheftic mold- young and awkward, but he was pretty good, so that was fun. They also have a Brazilian who bangs and even an American! A nice southern boy from Virginia who spent some time playing at Pepperdine before heading back east to get some more playing time.

We went out in Orebro last night to celebrate. We had a blast! The Orebro women's team won their match yesterday as well, so a group of them all came over to Dave's for a little party before we all went down the the bar. Dave, Bullen, Tobi, Thomas, Tarik and I were there from our team, along with a few other friends, and about 6 or 7 of the girls, including a new American from California. She's been here about a week, so we chatted a bit. I tried to make her a bit more comfortable around the Swedes.

All in all, things are great. We play our last match of the first half on Saturday. Crazy how the time is flying.

Orkelljunga Orkelljunga Orkelljunga

Try saying that 5 times fast! I can't properly pronounce it once!

This past weekend, while family members paid there respects to Gramma and I was inducted into the Hall of Uncles with the arrival of Kacie Lynn (!) we had a roadtrip down to, you guess it, Orkelljunga. It's about a 5 hour journey, crammed in the back of a 9 passenger van - great bonding time if you can stay awake!

We were up early, about 7 to grab a small bite to eat and jump in the vans. The sun doesn't rise til at least 8:30 so it felt even earlier than it was - not to mention I haven't been up much before 11 since I've been here.

As you can imagine, we all had on our morning faces. Here are Tarik, Dave, Vildan (Tarik's brother and our biggest fan) and Linus. Linus picked us up from the hotel and we all drove over to the school where we met the vans and the rest of the team. Oh, and Tarik is incapable of taking a picture with eyes open!


We found Erik first, walking up to the school, pillow in hand, ready for some more sleep. He's so beautiful when he smiles! "Paul, I'm so beautiful, even in the morning! What girl wouldn't want to wake up next to me?" The rest of the guys trickled in, but we were all there on time so as not to upset Tobey. He's a bit of a control maniac and the last thing you want from him is the death stare:


I'm just kidding, he's actually quite the friendly guy. But seriously, don't get on his bad-side. :)





We made it the gym no problem. There's a myth that no team can serve well in the Orkelljunga gym because of its low ceilings and bad lighting, but honestly, it's almost exactly like our gym.


Dave said to me, "Take this picture so you can show everyone at home the gym you played in," (like you can see anything), but his point was "They can see how bad it is to play in dim lights with red brick walls. It's hard to pass a ball coming from a server standing in front of a brick wall. The ball blends in and makes it almost impossible. I had the same problem in Stanford, those lousy trees.


I talked with Brian Beckwith before the match. He was the setter at Hawaii when I played at UCLA. He's growing a dirty mustache to match my frothy beard. He said he really likes Sweden, the team is pretty good and the guys are nice, but his number one complaint was that the town didn't have a bar. I feel for him. Word on the street though is that after our match his team fired two of its Polish professionals to make way for some new American player. Guess who? Kris Kraushaar! He's coming up from his latest stint in Barcelona to give the team a try. They'll be eager to sign him, we'll just have to see if SoCal Kris can handle the cold weather. Ha! He actually got into town there today, a bummer, just 2 days after our match!

Well, the match went as we had hoped! We played perfect, flawless volleyball in the first set and won BIG! No one shined, it wasn't flashy, just controlled, disciplined volleyball. It was awesome. We made a few more errors in the second set, but held on to win a close set of about 25-23. After every second set in a match we have a 10 minute break and this has thus far proved to be out downfall. We came back flat and lost the 3rd set like 26-24. Going an unnecessary 4th set is a real pain in my butt, shoulder, and legs. We managed to hang in there and win the 4th in another close set that went to extra points as well. Tarik was named player of the match, GREAT for his confidence which has been seriously lacking lately.

Afterward, we showered. gathered our things, and headed back out to the vans. It was dark again. Yay! the boys thought I was really cute with all the pictures I was taking, so I'll share a few of them here at the end. Can you imagine the ride home if we had lost? It's more fun to win than to lose!
I understand that I have a few more readers than I may have known! Just so everyone knows, I DON'T PROOFREAD! Ha! So if there is poor grammar or any misspellings or typos I apologize! But please feel free to post comments or questions so that I can share anything that may be missing. It would be nice to hear from people, and to know who's reading. You can also email me at vbsetr21@juno.com. Hope everyone is doing well!

The Cruise

I'm finally getting around to updating my blog with all the latest news from Sweden! We have to time-travel back a week to pick up where we last left off, so hold on to your butts, the flux-capaciter is fluxing and we're approaching 88mph. Anyone?

After working our way through Stockholm, fighting the rain and cold just to catch a couple of sights, we hopped back in the car and headed over the cruise ship for our one-night adventure out to Aland and back. Maddis, who is on the board of directors for our club for no other reason than she just loves volleyball, is sort of our "team mom" as well and takes care of all international players. Apparently past foreign players have "complained" that they never got to go on a boat while they were in Sweden, so she took it to heart and arranged a cruise for Dave and me. She, her commonlaw Joran, Dave and I set sail Sunday evening about 6.

As I mentioned, it was only a one-night cruise leaving Stockholm and floating out to Aland, the half-way island between Sweden and Finland. It's officially a part of Finland so yes, I have made it to a surrounding country for a visit! I was shocked, however, at the size of the ship, it being such a short trip. A full-size cruise liner, I couldn't get it all in one picture. This is the bow, and I probably only capture about 1/10 of the total size. Pretty crazy.

We had a room on one of the top levels, not down in the slums with the work crew. Ha! Naturaly though, the rooms were tiny for two large volleyball players. Somehow we both managed to fit on our beds, but were so close together I might as well have been the little spoon. There was a duty-free store onboard so we grabbed a couple of beers and snacks before dinner.

Dinner was interesting. The live entertainer, singing American classics from Sinatra to Clarkson, was giving me the eye all night. We all had a good laugh! Ya, hilarious! But the food was even more interesting. I started with a 3 Salmon appetizer. The first was sushimi, the second lightly seared, the third pickled - all raw. MMMM. I enjoyed each down to the last sliver. I followed it up with some reindeer. I'm not sure, but I could have sworn it wasn't cooked. It was really, really tender, and very, very lean. I enjoyed it, but it lacked seasoning, so I was happy when the last bite came around. The mashed 'taters it came with were delicious!

Just when I thought I was getting my sea-legs we went for a drink in the club at the back of the ship. I had my first Irish coffee that was WAY too strong. They say the back of the boat is usually the calmer place when experience some ocean turbulence, but we were bouncing all over the place. I was worried I was going to be sick, especially as we watched the little Christmas dance show they put on. I'm not quite sure how to explain the lack of talent that comes out of Sweden. The show couldn't even match that of "The Batman Stunt Show" at Magic Mountain, or "Phantom of the Opera" at Superior St. School. Amongst the 20 dancers maybe one had rhythm and I won't even comment on the singers. Sheesh.

After a drink Maddis and Joran retired for the night, leaving Dave and I to conquer the small crowd of senior citizens. Apparently these cruises are great for young people on the weekends, but given that it was a Monday night, we had some trouble finding people our own age. Luckily, Dave randomly knew one of the waitresses who had once been a tour guide in Portugal where Dave played a few years back. She introduced us to some of the rest of the the staff including some of the awful singers and dancers. Funny how it always comes full-circle. We stayed out at the "disco" with the other 20 people, most of which were staff, until about 3am, beforing calling it quits for the night. It was a most classic evening, full of sloppy drunks and late-night sandwiches. What are you going to do?

We had breakfast the next morning as we rounded Aland, then did a little exploring about the ship and before we knew it we were back in Stockholm. We had to make it back in time for practice. Yay!

The Due Date - Stockholm

Well, it was December 3rd, Melinda's due-date, and everyone was very excited to hear if I was an new uncle! Unfortunately, I had to leave my computer and any news of my first niece/nephew behind because I was off on an adventure! Maddis and Joran (sp? "your-on") were taking Dave and me to do some sightseeing in Stockholm then on a one night cruise to Aland, an island between Sweden and Finland.

We'll begin with our visit to Stockhom. It was a cold, wet, rainy day that would have been perfect spent curled up by a fire with a good book or snuggled in bed with a movie. Instead, we braved the elements withouth umbrellas so get a real glimpse of Stockholm. It is the capital and largest city in Sweden, built on islands with a lot of history.

The buildings were old, but beaultiful. Our plan was to walk through the old part of Stockholm first, through the castle and other governmental buildings. We didn't get far before I was struck by the most peculiar sight ever. It being December third, and the thought that Melinda could be bringing new life into the world as I walked the cobbled streets, what would I spot graffitied on the side of a power box? None other than the little guy himself:

It was the most incredible and timely sight of my life. I stopped to take a picture, I just HAD to, and the rest of the gang kept walking. When I ran to catch up I had to explain the story. Dave thought it was interesting, but something was lost in translation for Maddis and Joran. They smiled and nodded. I thought, "I hope Caper is born today so one day I can tell him the story of how I was in Stockholm and saw him plastered on the side of building as a sign of his arrival."

We continued on to the old sights, and I'll share a few of those the pictures here. First, the old castle where apparently royalty still live. The guards outside don't quite have the same discipline as those at Buckingham, but they're loaded and fixed with bayonettes. I didn't want to get too close.

This is the parliament building. It sits right along the edge of the water with a spectacular view of a few other islands. We didn't quite get there in time to go in, but we were able to walk around and under the arches you see in the center of the picture. It is just beautiful architecture and the rain gave it all a sense of majesty.

We walked through Old Stockholm and around to some of the more modern parts. We ventured into a fish market where I'd swear they were pulling these things right out of the water and placing them in the ice for sale. The meat smelled like it had been cut from the cow, deer, or pig just 10 minutes prior. It's incredible how lean all the meat is. I don't know what they're doing to raise the animals, but the meat is always so tender, and pre-cooked doesn't appear to have any fat on it. Yummy.

I'll drop a few more random pics of Stockholm just so you have an idea of what I saw. There were statues everywhere, a few different sort of farmer's markets, an outdoor skating rink, everything beginning to get decorated for Christmas.

Because it was such a cold and wet day we decided to stop into Stockholm's oldest coffee shop to warm up a bit. Yes it's the oldest, established in something like 1783, and so naturally it's also the most expensive, about 6 bucks for your standard cup of jo.

Here are Maddis, Dave, and Joran in the shop, decorated to celebrate the past Kings and Queens of Sweden. I felt slightly out of place dripping wet in my HUGE Adidas Jacket, but there were lots of out tourists as well.

As I've mentioned before, I haven't seen much wildlife since I've been in Sweden. I've spotted the occasional deer or "dun" as they jokingly call them, but not nearly as many as you'd think given the environment. It wasn't until the streets of Stockholm on our way to the ship to embark on our cruise that I spotted what I've been waiting to see since the moment I arrived! Holy Bullwinkle!

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Not really feeling the creative buzz this morning so this update may be lacking charisma. Frankly, it's going to be about as dull as Sunday's game against Lugi. It was tough starting the engine Sunday afternoon for an unnatural 3:00 start time. I had lifted heavy Friday and my legs were a bit tight. There was a Christmas parade in town so we had a very small crowd of about 50, so finding an emotional lift was difficult as well. To top it off with a rotten cherry, we were playing a Lugi, a team we should always beat, but on any given day...

I had my elementary school fans in the front row of the crowd cheering me on, and a couple oohs and aahs on my first 3 kills which came from the right side. I played opposite this match in place of Tarik, so that we could get another passer on the court in my usual position. The game felt easy and natural to me until I went back for my first serve and caught my toss with my fingertips, fluffing the ball into the bottom of the net. From then on it was an interesting ride. I managed to dig more balls this match than any other thus far (2 I think, yippee!) but the rest of my game struggled. We lost the first set 22-25, mainly because we couldn't serve a ball in the court and they were RIPPING jump serves at us.

We gathered ourselves and played tremendous defense in the second set, though I continued to struggle. Tarik was subbed in for me to hit in the backrow because I had hit 2 or 3 "D" sets just long. It was good to get me out of there, but Tarik struggled just as much as I did. He missed into the net with no block up! A rough day for the right-sides. In any case, this was about when Erik came alive and started to thunder some balls hitting, and CLAMP their hitters time and time again. We took set 2 by a score of 25-22.

Set three we were back on track and jumped out to a huge lead behind stellar blocking. We maintained about a 1o point lead the entire set, even gave a up a couple in the end, and still won 25-12. It was a joke. We knew where every set was going and blocked or dug every ball. It was great to see some results after all the defensive work we put in at practice that week.

The fourth set I was subbed out again as I continued to suck it up, but like I said, Tarik wasn't of much use either. The distribution of sets was great and the other guys really plugged along to carry us to victory. Erik went on a rampage finishing 7 blocks, 7 kills, and an ace. He lead the team, but Linus and Vedad (our two outsides) contributed nicely with 13 and 11 points, respectively. I finished the game with a kill off the block which gave me a total of just 9 points (every time I was subbed I would go back in by the end of the game).

In the end Tarik and I joked about how poorly we had played, but even amidst all the subbing and bench time, I managed to have a good time. I was all smiles and jokes on the bench and so long as we're winning that will be okay. If I can get by saving myself every few matches and sharing sets with the other guys I'll be a happy camper. They all think I WANT to be set so much!

We travel on Saturday down to Orkelljunga where Brian Beckwith plays. It's about a 6 or 7 hour drive I think, so that'll be REALLY fun. Will be good to talk with Brian a bit - we've exchanged a couple of emails since the Swedish Cup.

If we can continue to win we'll be in a good spot to make the Grand Prix, the tournament after New Years. I think if we win 2 of our next 3 we're in, unless something crazy happens in the other matches. If we win all 3 we're in for sure. Cross your fingers or "hold your thumb" as they say in Canada - if we make it I get a bonus!

That's the latest on the volleyball front! Stay tuned!

The Fever is Spreading!

No, unfortunately I'm not talking about the Ron Paul Revolution, but the one for other guy with two first names. The other "Paul" is becoming a local celebrity and it's realy quite entertaining. In this morning's paper there was a simple, but eliquently written artice. The headline: VVK to play Lugi at home this Sunday; the article in whole: "Who needs John and Ringo when we've got Paul George." ~ Insert your favorite Beatles song here ~ "I get BY WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS."

I thought the article was pretty funny and I know Alex's family will greatly appreciate it. Tarik asked me if I've heard any Beatles jokes about my name... I said "are you F*CKING serious??" Somehow though, the jokes have only managed to find their way into my life the last few years. Had I been teased about my odd name and its relationship to the band while growing up, I don't know, maybe I'd have had better musical taste! I had enough Paula Abdul and Alanis Morisette as a young boy; where was the CULTURE?? Where were the classics? My poor ears.

In any case, it seems MAYBE SOMEONE in this town might like me. Tarik, however, never ceases to remind me, after having lost the last two matches, that "everyone hates us" and "you see how no one wants to talk to us?" "Um, Tarik, NO ONE TALKS TO ME ANYWAY!" He makes me laugh - EXTREMELY overdramatic, but so are most Swedes. They firmly believe that if they exert themselves when they're feeling the slightest bit sick they may develop something fatal. Watch out for that cough! And by all means don't practice if you have a headache! Sheesh.

I had one other experience today I thought I would share. All the Swedes were "busy" so I was stuck going alone to the two local elemetary schools to pass out tickets to Sunday's match. I was proud of the way I walked right in, spoke my English and was able to make out what they said in response. I went to about ten different classrooms, said hello to everyone (most of whom I have actually met before) and passed out out the tickets. It's incredible the way these kids respond when I walk into their classroom. Except for the well-behaved classes, who you can tell have more disciplined teachers, all the kids jump up and run toward me "Hej Pool Yourge." They get so excited to receive these little slips of paper copied and pasted in Word a dozen times. They don't even have to BRING the ticket with them when they come to the match (all kids get in free) but the idea of a free ticket in their hands is golden!

One particular class, about 5th grade, of which I've had the GREAT pleasure of coaching on a couple of occasions has a young girl who came running up to me. She told me that she came to our last match and saw me play. "You make all the goals!" she said with a big smile. Her friend quickly tried to correct he "points," but to no avail; it did not matter. She was impressed!

So yes, I'm having too much fun! And hopefully I'll have some good news to report after our match on Sunday. Go VVK!

Thanksgiving Dinner

That's RIGHT! Complete with turkey, stuffing, mashed 'taters, string beans, corn, and sauce - no not gravy, SAUCE! Maddis had Dave and I over last night, Sunday, for our very own Thanksgiving dinner. It was delicious. Maddis is an interesting cook and woman all together, but very, very kind. She loves to make the foreign guys feel right at home.

She lives here in an overly classic Swedish country house. It seriously looks just like a big red barn, but is so cozy you'd swear you were walking into some fairytale, Hansel and Gretel maybe? She and her commonlaw who's name I still cannot pronounce have a beautiful yard - large front lawn with real grass and a stellar garden where they grow their own....um....flowers and herbs? It's always so cold and dark that I haven't gotten a good look at everything yet, but it's so open and green when it's not covered in snow that it HAS to be nice. She apparently has a moose for a friend who occasionally pops by to say hello. I've yet to personally confirm that there are ANY moose in Sweden.

The inside is wonderful. It's always so perfectly warm and smells of her meatballs and potatoes. The lights are soft and candles are lit in the corners. I hate cats, but they leave me alone and I pet them only when I need a break from the broken conversation. Every time we eat there the four of us sit around their small table. We are guests of honor and always eat to our hearts content. The best part of our stay is after dinner when we retire to the livingroom around the fire and the hockey or football game. Within 20 minutes both Dave and I are snoozing away on the couch. It's seriously a bit surreal how comfortable it is. Just thought you'd like to know that I'm in good hands.

Social Life

After our loss 3-2 on Thanksgiving Thursday to Satter, a team we should have beaten easily, a weekend to nurse our wounds and take our minds off of volleyball was in order. What you are about to witness is the "LA nightlife of the Vingaker youth." We started at Tarik's buddy's place for a game of poker. I had no inclincation to let these guys take my money so I sat out and "prepared" for the evening. Our second stop took us the local party where all of Tarik's friends were anxiously awaiting our arrival. These are the people who I haven't gotten to know at all, but are always happy to see and talk to "the American." Your typical house party:

These are a couple of the friends I've made here in sweden. The guy with the year-round tan is Sammy - a guy you do NOT want to cross and I'm happy to have on my side. Everyone knows Sammy in this little town and the next three as well. We've all met Tarik. Next to him is a guy I see every time we go out. I think his name is Matte. He's a bit of a party animal, but a really nice guy, always looking out for me, ready for conversation. The guy in the white with the striped scarf that looks a bit like an elf is Jonas. He plays on our division 1 team and has a real whip of an arm-swing. Why he's out the night before his match, I don't know. I'm only his coach. The next guy over is Mulke (pronounced like "puke" with an "M"). He grew up in Vingaker, but now is the setter for Satter, yes, the team we lost to the night before. I was a bit unsettled about how I felt about him until later this night when we had a chance to talk. Apparently he has trouble keeping a job, but he's a pretty nice guy. The guy sitting next to him is Thomas. Thomas is perhaps my favorite of all the "party guys" as I've dubbed them. He's always out, always having a good time, ALWAYS with a drunk look on his face, even when sober. He taught me my first Swedish sentence saying "it's the only thing you'll ever need to say." I'm not sure of the grammar or spelling but it sounds like this "Han er burg," meaning "he is gay." A real weapon with the ladies. ;) Then there's me, and well, when in Rome... They have all kinds of strange drinks here including this minty shot. The alcohol is not always as strong, but has some vile flavors.

We went out later that night to Katrineholm, the next town probably double or triple the size of Vingaker. Everyone 18-22 within a 20 mile radius comes to Katrineholm to go out on Friday nights. Naturally, I make friends quickly.

The place is called "Starlight" - your typical wannabe LA Club complete with dance floor, disco ball, and flashing lights. The dance floor is always packed, but everyone seems to have a blast, turning and dancing with everyone. Erick and Linus seem to be having a good time here.

While I was ordering a round at the bar the bartender leans over to me and says "Hey, your picture is on our website." I was a bit confused, wondering how this girl could know who I am, much less recognize me - I had just shaved my head, and the last time I was there I had a beard. Regardless she gave me a card and told me to check it out. Sure enough, there I was!

I mean, we look GOOD!

I had to be up early the next morning to coach the Division 1 team in Stockholm. Not a fun day stuffed in the back of a van with 9 other guys.

Saturday night, however, we had to gear up to do it all over again. I headed into Orebro with Bullin and Vedad. Bullin is our utility man on the Elite team, generally used as a back-up libero. He also plays outside hitter on the Division 1 team. His English isn't as good as I think it is - I find him just nodding along a lot of the time. Vedad is the other Bosnian on our team. I took his spot when I came and I know he wasn't too thrilled to have me on the team. This weekend was great though, giving us some time to hang out and get to know each other.

We all met up at Dave's apartment before we headed down to the bar that the other Jonas (our "coach") was working at. He had put us on the guest list and we got to by-pass the line and walk right in. It's all in who you know.

The place is for 25+ but luckily for us the Orebro women's team game to join us. Toby (our middle blocker) has a commonlaw on their team and Dave is sort of dating one of them as well. There was about 5 or 6 girls that came to provide a little interference from the cougars pinching our tushies and buying us drinks. That's Bullin top and bottom left. He's a machine on the dance floor, but can't seem to get out of the "friend zone" with the ladies. Vildan is in both top and bottom right. He's Tarik's brother with too much pent-up anger. He's with Malin in the top picture, a hitter for the women's team and Vedad in the bottom. Yes, it's snowing again and according to Dave "it's already snowed more this month than it did all last year." I love it.

We were out late and finished off our night at the local Max Burger for some tasty treats. I can see why Dave moved to Orebro: definitely an older, more mature crowd and you don't run into EVERYONE you know EVERY night.

The Home Opener

The gym goes pitch-black, the team is huddled up in a storage room, Vildan Basic comes over the microphone, his voice booming with anxiety to call each player to floor in front of 500 screaming VVK fans, pounding on the walls, the seats, the drums they've brought with them. The spotlight beams across the gym and pics up each player as they come bursting through a black, fake velvet curtain, arms waiving to the crowd. "AND NOW THE STARTING LINE-UP FOR YOUR CHICAGO BULLS!" No joke! And I'm #23 out of North Carolina, called last, with greatest anticipation from the crowd. "Please welcome in his first home match here in Vingaker, all the way from California in the USandA, wearing number 14, PAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUULLLL GEEEEEEEOOOOOORRGGGGGEEE!!!!

I just sort of made up that last part about what Vildan actually said as he introduced me. All I know is that it was really long, and in Swedish. The whole introduction thing was obviously a little outrageous - killing the lights and spotlighting each of us as we enter the floor - but it was really quite a lot of fun.

The opponent was Hylte, a regular in the finals of our league, the Elite Series. They sport 2 or 3 Swedish National Team members and an attitude that goes right along with it. There is ill-blood between Vingaker and Hylte, and with our newly-heightened position in the rankings, things were escalated.

The first set was exciting. There was a LOT of energy in the gym, Swedes coming out of the woodwork to support their local Volleyboll Klub. There was also an inordinate amount of nervous energy amongst the team. All the Swedish guys hold these Hylte guys so high that they overlooked the fact that we are indeed a competitive team ourselves and managed to trail the first set only by 2 the entire time. Me? Yes, I was a bit nervous, wanting to perform well for the Vingaker crowd, but worse was the stomach ache I had going into the match. No, not from the nerves, but a combination of dehydration, poor diet, and lack of sleep. Regardless, my first touch in the game was a HUGE THUNDERCLAMP (block) on the leagues number one hitter Urban Anderssson (does it get more Swedish than that?). The crowd went nuts and I was fired up. Still, our team maintained a scared, doubtful mentality that caused us to lose the first game 25-20.

Set #2 was quite the opposite from set 1. I finally got into a rhythm and started putting some balls away. They had a huge block, most of the guys my size or taller. Our middles were pretty ineffective, but Taric stepped up nicely and played the best I've seen from him thus far. We had a great game-plan on this team, and once we started following it, we ROCKED! We ripped off some great serves and dug a few balls, playing smart, disciplined volleyball. Hylte is the type of team to implode, pointing fingers and getting angry. We used this to our advantage and stole set 2 25-21.

Set #3 was more of the same. We kept a level head and thundered balls off their huge block. I continued to get better as the match went on, first hitting a ball cross-court almost inside the 3 meter line, which made everyone on our side of the net stop and give me a sort of bewildered look coupled with "fifan" (FEE-fahn). No one knows the direct translation, but most of the guys think it means "oh sh!t" or "holy f*ck." Apparently I hit it pretty hard. I don't really remember because I then went back to the service line and RIPPED a jump serve that skipped off their passer's arms into the wall before I had barely landed. I had never served a ball so hard. It was nice to hear the crowd was on my side - "PPPAAAAUUUULLL GEOOOOOORGE" (pronounced "YOURge"). We won 25-18.

We jumped out a big lead in Set 4. Our other outside hitter Linus Froberg chiseled 4 aces, at least 2 consecutively, and then 2 more to start the game. I think we were up 6-1 or so and maintained a good lead til about 16 when they tied it up........and it all went to hell. I mentioned these guys carried an "attitude" with them - UNDERSTATEMENT! We're talking some of the biggest @$$holes in all of Sweden. One guy in particular just loved to yap away across the net. Our game plan had been to stay away, let our playing do the talking. Unfortunately, we're a young team, inexperienced and immature, so this jerk eventually got the best of one guy, then 2 more. The badgering back and forth was repeatedly interrupted by the referee calling the captains to his stand - somehow always managing to place blame on the Vingaker players.

From there on out it was a BATTLE. I got 90 percent of the balls and buried each of them as we fought our way up to 25-25. We switched advantages at least 4 times. We had match point I think six times total. I had one ball set low on the outside - I got stuffed....BIG TIME....right in the face. It was awesome. HAHAHA. I thought I had lost my contact, but learned the lesson long ago - "don't rub it, don't let them know they've hurt you." I laughed it off because really, it was a HUGE block. Regardless, I put the very next set to the floor. I was having a blast as the crowd rose to its feet, then sat, then rose again each time we had match point. Volleyball hadn't been that fun in who knows how long.

We should have won in the fourth - we COULD have won in the fourth - obviously by now you know, we lost in the fourth, 34-32. Actually, the referee blew the game for us. They had a HUGE net coming down from a block in the middle. It would have given us another match point. I about lost it, Dave threw a sh!t-fit, and the crowd went NUTS! It was the worse no-call at such a pivotal point ever! The ref later stated "it was away from the play and of no consequence to the game." Please.

It's okay though, right? Game 5, no problem, right? WRONG! They jumped out to a 5-1 lead that just about stupefied our team. I got just about every ball with two guys camping out on me the whole time. My shoulder is now resenting each swing I took earlier tonight. I was bringing some serious heat. We switched sides at 8, but Hylte took a slight advantage when we received not one, but two yellow cards arguing yet another horrific no-call. Hylte had the refs in their pocket and their was nothing we could do. We were trailing 10-5 all of a sudden and you've never seen such confusion, frustration, and defeat in the eyes of a team. No matter how many more balls I was able to put away, no matter what I said, there was no coming back, and we lost the final set 15-9. It was a sad day for all Vingaker.

After the match I received a nice ovation when given the award for MVP for the match. I got a nice backpack with some goodies inside as a gift from one of our sponsors. However, you wouldn't believe the overall depression in the crowd after the match. I looked into the stands and found heads resting heavy on hands resting heavy on knees. All the little kids that Dave and I have been coaching in the local elementary schools were so sad. Winning is everything here in Sweden. I tried to spin it so the guys would see it's early in the season and it's better to lose now. We actually played poorly and almost beat a top-2 team, but that wasn't good enough. Sad. Sad. Sad.

Regardless, I was actually able to take a moment during the match and say "wow, I'm having a lot of fun." It's more fun to win than to lose, but tonight was everything I came to Sweden for. I received a lot of congratulations from the guys on the bench and the guys on our lower, Division 1 team. "You're the man, George." "Not good enough," I'd respond. But amidst everything else, I'm had a blast tonight and I hope I can continue to play at a decent level to keep up the fun.

You can check out the league website over here for all the latest news if you wish. Obviously it's all in Swedish, but you'll figure it out. If you go to www.volleyboll.se you can search around. Sometimes there are headlines with "Vingaker" in the title, but what will probably interest you most is if you click "Elitserien Herr" in the right-hand column. That will take you to the Elite Series page which lists all the latest results of all the matches. We're currently in 5th, but all the teams are just starting to get moving. It says Hylte is in 5th too, but they're far better than at least 3 of the teams currently above. You can click on any of the matches to get a report about the game. If you click on Vingaker - Hylte from tonight you'll see my name and that I had 26 points on one ace, 3 blocks, and 22 kills.

There is also some video online, which I'll have to find for you, but I'm not sure where it is now. You can translate webpages or text at http://www.translation-guide.com/free_online_translators.php?from=Swedish&to=English I've been using it pretty regularly, but it doesn't always work.

Okay, sorry so long, and sorry no pictures. I took my video camera to the gym tonight but didn't get any footage. Next time!

Introducing Tarik Basic

Tarik is my new Bosnian brother whose parents own the hotel I'm living in. He lives in the room next door, his parents at the end of the hall, his brother, when not in Orebro at the University has the room directly across the hall from him. Dave stays in that room when he's here as well. Tarik is 21, looks like Mr. Bean, and LOVES women. He's constantly "lonely" and "is all out of love, so lost without you." He has a WONDERFUL singing voice (HA) and a fantastic way of emphasizing every word he says, "GEORGIE......WAKE....UP....it's SNOWING!!" although he speaks perfect English.



Here he is with his brother Vildan, 23, who is a character all his own. How the two of them are brothers no one really knows. Tarik weighs maybe 125 pounds, his brother 240. They're both a bit crazy, but Vildan can practice a brilliant maturity while Tarik is constantly wired, but rarely sad. They chose not to smile for the picture because they are tough bosnian soldiers. Riiight.


This is a more appropriate picture of Tarik. He's attempting to do what we call "jowling" where you take a picture while shaking your face loosely. He's not very good - his result looks almost better than his regular face, to which he'd reply "Paul,..I....HATE....you." A great guy, what can I say.

Swedish Cup Champs!

Ladies and Gentlemen may I present for the first time ever to the Vingaker Volleyboll Klub a first place trophy as champions of the Swedish Cup! As Matte, a hotel worker in the kitchen aged 19 and recently engaged put it, "you've played, what? 4 or 5 matches and have already won Vingaker its first ever trophy? Things are looking good." Here is a picture of our team, minus Dave and I. We took a more recent shot, but they haven't posted online yet. The team looks small because all the tall guys are kneeling, but I'm still the 3rd tallest. The important players in the cast of "My Life in Sweden" are #6 Tarik, #1 Tobey, and #10 Erik. I'll post the names of all the guys by number at the bottom.

This is the site of this past weekend's Swedish Cup, a sort of early season tournament which means absolutely nothing, except for a shiny silver trophy and bragging rights. This is a pretty good example of the gyms we play in, but some are a bit nicer. This looks about like our home gym in Vingaker. We have our first home match on Sunday, which I'll be sure to update on.

We won our semi-final match against Team Valla in 4. A great win for our young program which is flakey at best, sometimes good, sometimes terrible. It's nice to see that we can beat a good team. We played pretty well as a team, although I got a lot of sets and hit for a good percentage. Finished the night with 22 points on 18 kills, a few aces and a block. Again, as Matte put it, "people were wondering where we got the money to host a professional, but they're all convinced it was a good investment." Well shit, it's a marathon, not a sprint! The town is ALL about winning though. They maintain a pretty firm "Win now or don't win at all: attitude. Let's hope the body holds up, huh?

Here is our libero posing triumphantly with the trophy we won after CRUSHING the team from Solentuna 3-0, the same team that we beat in 5 the last time we played them. They had their "professional" from Brazil this time around and we still managed to hand it to them. The sets were well distributed. I finished with 13 points on 10 kills and 3 blocks, one point behind Erik, our smaller middle, who went on a blocking and serving rampage amidst his splendid night of hitting.

Here is Linus (pronounced LEE-nuss) happily stretching after the match. He's a great guy, shy, who apparently gets PISSED if he's not playing well, though I've never really noticed. He speaks great English and likes me, but doesn't want to talk much. On the other hand is Erik, who can't get enough of me or himself. "Oops, Paul, I dropped my medal, let me pick it up while you take my picture." He's fantastic. Probably my favorite of all the guys here. Those are his parents in the background, visiting from up north for his birthday. We played a sing-a-long game 2 nights prior. Great people. Erik is coming to work beach camp so he "can show off his beaUtiful legs to all of Los Angeles." My opinion of Vingaker, the Swedish Cup, the guys and everything over here in Sweden? Two thumbs up!

#4 Anders, #6 Tarik, #3 Boulin, L Roban, #13 Linus, #12 Vedad, #7 Jonas, #5 Thomas, #11 Oscar, #9 Hampus, #1 Tobey, #10 Erik. These are their nicknames or how they are pronounced in Swedish. Don't quote me on it.

Georgie Wake Up! It's SNOWING!

Tarik came bursting into my room Wednesday morning yelling is his fantasticly comical Bosnian accent, "Georgie Wake Up! It's SNOWING!" Most of these guys assumed I'd never seen live snowfall before. I had to explain I'm not your totally typical Los Angelino. It was a pretty light dusting but it is noticeably colder. Here's a pic from that morning and I'll try to get a video or two working as well. Brrrr!

My "Job"

The worst part perhaps of my contract is that I have to volunteer coach at schools within 2 hours of here every other week or so, about 10 hours a week. It may not seem like a big deal, but 4 hours in the gym with little monsters then practice of your own adds up to a lot of volleyball, and a lot of standing. Luckily, Dave has gone with me to all of our little coaching gigs thus far and pretty much run them, but this last experience was completely chaotic. We were in a gym that was way too small with kids who were oversized both physically and in ego.

They were middle-school kids, naturally more interested in futbol and handball then volleyball. This school was apparently the mecca in team handball and they harldy new what volleyball was. They don't have a pro team in their city, Eskistuna which is much larger than Vingaker. In any case, here are two of the asses.

It's incredible: the lack of discipline these kids have. They are all kids that are placed into classes depending on their choice of "specialty." They all go from class to class together, but have already, in essence, chosen their major. Our first group was a music class. You can imagine, perfect angels. The futbol and handplayers were all under-talented kids dreaming of making it to the show one day. Good luck guys. I had tried to include a video clip, but for whatever reason, it would load and then not play. Maybe next time.