Well I can't believe it's been as long as it has since I last wrote; I can't believe as much has happened in the past few weeks too! We've had LOTS going on including my Swedish Christmas experience, a visit from a special someone, New Years, some sight-seeing in Stockholm, the Grand Prix and my anxious wait until my week-long vacation home.
First off, no one does Christmas like Sweden: the 24th is spent much like an American Christmas, around the table with family, food and presents - real Christmas cheer. But the 25th is an all-out PAR-TAY!!!! After a brief meal with Dave at Maddis' we came back to the hotel to quickly dawn our finest and head over to Roban's (our libero) place for a little early-evening gathering of teammates and local Swedish girls (I say girls because few of them are over 20). Not long afterward everyone aged 18 to 25 (with some exceptions of course) that live in Vingaker pile into cabs and cars and drive into Katrineholm, the next city to the west. Here, everyone from these two towns gathers in one massive night club for a giant party. There were something like 1300 people crowded into this place which felt more like mardi-gras than Christmas. We were out late, dancing the night away. It was a blast.
Santa Clause was a little late this year for me. Alex showed up with bags big enough to fill Santa's sleigh just one day later, the 26th. My buddies Bullin and Vildan made the 2 and a half hour journey to Arlanda, Stockholm to pick up the tuckered traveler. But, Little Miss Clause came bearing gifts for more than just me and ushered in a renewed sense of holiday cheer. My family and friends sent me some really GREAT toys and treats - a few I haven't been able to put down or stop eating!
We spent our first couple of days relaxing, including visiting a nice spa club in orebro with the team. While Alex was a bit ill-prepared for the trip, I enjoyed the massage chairs, the sauna, and the hot tub to their full extent.
New Years was right around the corner and after a few practices to keep our volleyball wits and a trip to the liquor store we were ready to ring in the New Year. We HAD planned on going out to the local ski resort to stay in a cabin and do some sledding, but with the absence of snow, we found it a little more difficult than we would have liked. Instead, we headed over to Tobey's parent's house here in Vingaker for a night of games and FIREWORKS!!! We had dinner (prepared by the family Basic - my "family" here), then had a few drinks, a few laughs, a few games and songs, then the BIG BANG! New Years here is done right! The snow had begun to fall that day so there was a soft blanket of about 4 inches everywhere! Just before midnight everyone in town was outside lighting off fireworks. The sky was lit with the whole spectrum of colors. Tobey was our fire chief, regulating the fireworks as they exploded off his front lawn. Up they went one after the other, bursting above our heads all around. It was truly stellar! We started our countdown with bottles of champagne at the ready and at "one," off went the finale firework display - fired from a giant firework launcher, double the size of a coffee can. We sang songs, smoked cigars, and poured one out for the homies. It was spectacular. We wrapped up the night back at the hotel around the pool table some time near 5am. We slept most of New Year's Day.
On the 2nd day of the New Year Alex and I jumped on a train into Stockholm. We left Vingaker about 4pm, not knowing exactly where we going, how we would get there, or where we would end up - real American tourists - but we were excited and armed with cameras!! We arrived in Stockho
lm about and hour and a half later and ventured through the city. We found our hotel room and then spent about 2 hours trying to find a place to eat. It hadn't stopped snowing since New Year's Eve so the city was caked in white - a frozen palace. Stockholm is perhaps one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen - of those which my humble eyes have laid upon. I thoroughly enjoy its scenery, however, over the likes of Venice and Rome, and dare I say Los Angeles? We spent a wonderful evening together walking the narrow corridors, trying to ice skate, throwing snowballs, and planning our next day.
We enjoyed an incredible breakfast that morning in the hotel before hit
ting the streets. It had dumped even more snow that night while we slept and the gusty winds made it absolutely FREEZING outside. We braved the cold and stepped out onto a ferry that took from one island to another. I can't say their names, let alone spell them, so I won't bother.
Here are the two of us on the boat all bundled up! We decided we had to take it all in, so we actually sat outside on the boat's deck. We took lots of pictures and video to capture the moment. BRR!!
Our first stop was the Aquarium. Why? I don't know! We were typical tourists, I told you! Naturally, the aquarium was not as fantastic as some we see in the states, but they did have a very cool, life-like rainforest that you could walk through. The bridge lead directly over a pool of piranhas. Don't get too close!
After the aq
uarium I'm proud to say we made our way over the Vasa Museum. The Vasa is an old Swedish ship that sunk on its maiden voyage out of Stockholm harbor. It was raised from the bottom of the ocean after 333 years and was almost perfectly preserved! The ship now stands in its own museum and is reconstructed with nearly 96% of its original pieces. The picture is a little fuzzy. I was in charge of taking the video. Alex has TONS of pictures on her fancy-shmancy camera! The ship is truly remarkable, and we spent well over an hour walking the 6 different floors of the museum dedicated solely to the ship.
We spent the remainder of the day walking around the city, hoping to do a little shopping, but time flew and we had to be back to Vingaker because I had practice that night! Can I tell you how tired we were?? Moving on!!!
THE GRAND PRIX WAS NOT SO GRAND!!!
After struggling desperately to make the tournament Vingaker Volleyball Klub STRUGGLED to say the least. The Grand Prix is a big deal here in Sweden - bigger than winning the actual championship. The winning club receives a ton of money, a birth in some international cup, and some serious bragging rights. Our first match was against SUPER-powerhouse Falkenberg and no joke, they smashed us. It didn't help that the 3 days prior to the tournament Tobey, one of our middle blockers, came down with the stomach flu. None of us really expected him to play. If any one of our starters is out we have a serious problem retaining the same level of play. Tobey managed to get out there and do a decent job, but not 3 plays into the game, Erik, our other middle, came down funny and twisted his knee - out. Still out. WHO KNOWS how long it will be??? The docs don't appear to be REAL adept to dealing with these sorts of things. Anyway, we tried our darndest, I got a lot of sets and lead the team with 11 points. I don't want to know how the other guys on the team did. It's not worth going into detail. They wiped the floor with us, beating us in 3, 25-18, 25-17, 25-20. Regardless, I managed to have some fun. The crowd wasn't as big as I thought it would be, but it was entertaining to say the least. I did what I could to help out the team and in the end could only chuckle.
Perhaps the most miserable part of the weekend was not losing, but having to wake up to play the next morning. The bronze medal match was at 9:30am on Sunday!!! Why so early??? Again, WHO KNOWS?? There were matches all day for the different divisions, but the last was played at 4:00. Why not push it all back? WHO KNOWS?? Anyway, we out on the floor by 8 getting ready to play Sollentuna. Sollentuna is an ugly team with some not so friendly guys. We've beaten them twice already this year, once in the regular season (in 5) and again in the Swedish Cup (in 3). In the regular season we were one of their two losses. With Erik out, and the match not really meaning much (in Dave and my eyes), we started a different line-up, letting Vedad get some reps in place of Linus, and Thomas in at opposite for Tarik. Dave, Tobey and I were the only regular starters. Hampus filled in at the other middle spot - ouch.
Again, THE GRAND PRIX WAS NOT SO GRAND!!! These guys smacked us around like a twirling tetherball. Our passers couldn't pass. Our hitters couldn't hit. The scores were a LITTLE better than the day before: 25-22, 25-23, 27-25. Fortunately I showed up to save us from total embarrassment, again leading the team, this time with a respectable 18 points in the 3 game loss. I got just about every-other set, but as you see it wasn't enough. I switched to opposite in game 3 which seemed to help, but we all the saying "too little too late."
In the end, Hylte upset Falkenberg in a 5 game thriller. I actually received a few good words on the volleyball website here http://www.volleyboll.se/. I finished 3rd in total points for the weekend behind a first place tie - not too shabby. Apparently I turned the head of the Falkenberg coach, or so someone told me. Big whoop, right? The biggest bummer is we play Sollentuna in our first match back to start the second half of the regular season. Did I mention that's tomorrow? Oh! YEAH! Tomorrow at 7pm in the Vidakerhallen!! VVK vs. SOLLENTUNA.
It should be interesting. After the Grand Prix Roban got sick with the stomach flu, then Dave has been sick the last 3 days with a 102 degree temperature. RAD!! So we're going to run an interest line-up tomorrow and see how it pans out. Luckily (don't worry mom), I've been taking care of myself, drinking lots of water and LOTS of milk, trying to get down some veggies, and staying up on my airborne. The LAST thing I need right now is to get sick!! I mean HELLO!!!! I'm coming home in 5 days!!!
I'm anxiously awaiting the moment I get to sink my teeth into that sloppy Double-Double Animal Style with 2 milks, then the Taco Bell Burrito, followed by the Del Taco Spicy-Jack Quesedilla. Maybe I'll have time to slither some SUSHI down my throat, binge on a Baja Burrito, and maybe have a little.....LOS TOROS!?!?!?!!?? Can't forget Carl's Jr. and the SHACK! Subway still eatin' fresh? MMMMMMMMMMM I can't wait! Oh, and yeah, I'm sure the wedding will be a blast!
Well, Alex made it home safely, arriving there last night around 11 (8am this morning my time). Like I said, we had a busy couple weeks while she was here and I think she even had a good time. It will be nice to get settled down here again, maybe clean my room? Anyway, I'll have lots of pictures to share when I get home if you're interested! Sorry I couldn't share more here, but Alex has most of them. See you all soon!
First off, no one does Christmas like Sweden: the 24th is spent much like an American Christmas, around the table with family, food and presents - real Christmas cheer. But the 25th is an all-out PAR-TAY!!!! After a brief meal with Dave at Maddis' we came back to the hotel to quickly dawn our finest and head over to Roban's (our libero) place for a little early-evening gathering of teammates and local Swedish girls (I say girls because few of them are over 20). Not long afterward everyone aged 18 to 25 (with some exceptions of course) that live in Vingaker pile into cabs and cars and drive into Katrineholm, the next city to the west. Here, everyone from these two towns gathers in one massive night club for a giant party. There were something like 1300 people crowded into this place which felt more like mardi-gras than Christmas. We were out late, dancing the night away. It was a blast.
Santa Clause was a little late this year for me. Alex showed up with bags big enough to fill Santa's sleigh just one day later, the 26th. My buddies Bullin and Vildan made the 2 and a half hour journey to Arlanda, Stockholm to pick up the tuckered traveler. But, Little Miss Clause came bearing gifts for more than just me and ushered in a renewed sense of holiday cheer. My family and friends sent me some really GREAT toys and treats - a few I haven't been able to put down or stop eating!
We spent our first couple of days relaxing, including visiting a nice spa club in orebro with the team. While Alex was a bit ill-prepared for the trip, I enjoyed the massage chairs, the sauna, and the hot tub to their full extent.
New Years was right around the corner and after a few practices to keep our volleyball wits and a trip to the liquor store we were ready to ring in the New Year. We HAD planned on going out to the local ski resort to stay in a cabin and do some sledding, but with the absence of snow, we found it a little more difficult than we would have liked. Instead, we headed over to Tobey's parent's house here in Vingaker for a night of games and FIREWORKS!!! We had dinner (prepared by the family Basic - my "family" here), then had a few drinks, a few laughs, a few games and songs, then the BIG BANG! New Years here is done right! The snow had begun to fall that day so there was a soft blanket of about 4 inches everywhere! Just before midnight everyone in town was outside lighting off fireworks. The sky was lit with the whole spectrum of colors. Tobey was our fire chief, regulating the fireworks as they exploded off his front lawn. Up they went one after the other, bursting above our heads all around. It was truly stellar! We started our countdown with bottles of champagne at the ready and at "one," off went the finale firework display - fired from a giant firework launcher, double the size of a coffee can. We sang songs, smoked cigars, and poured one out for the homies. It was spectacular. We wrapped up the night back at the hotel around the pool table some time near 5am. We slept most of New Year's Day.
On the 2nd day of the New Year Alex and I jumped on a train into Stockholm. We left Vingaker about 4pm, not knowing exactly where we going, how we would get there, or where we would end up - real American tourists - but we were excited and armed with cameras!! We arrived in Stockho
lm about and hour and a half later and ventured through the city. We found our hotel room and then spent about 2 hours trying to find a place to eat. It hadn't stopped snowing since New Year's Eve so the city was caked in white - a frozen palace. Stockholm is perhaps one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen - of those which my humble eyes have laid upon. I thoroughly enjoy its scenery, however, over the likes of Venice and Rome, and dare I say Los Angeles? We spent a wonderful evening together walking the narrow corridors, trying to ice skate, throwing snowballs, and planning our next day.We enjoyed an incredible breakfast that morning in the hotel before hit
ting the streets. It had dumped even more snow that night while we slept and the gusty winds made it absolutely FREEZING outside. We braved the cold and stepped out onto a ferry that took from one island to another. I can't say their names, let alone spell them, so I won't bother.Here are the two of us on the boat all bundled up! We decided we had to take it all in, so we actually sat outside on the boat's deck. We took lots of pictures and video to capture the moment. BRR!!
Our first stop was the Aquarium. Why? I don't know! We were typical tourists, I told you! Naturally, the aquarium was not as fantastic as some we see in the states, but they did have a very cool, life-like rainforest that you could walk through. The bridge lead directly over a pool of piranhas. Don't get too close!
After the aq
uarium I'm proud to say we made our way over the Vasa Museum. The Vasa is an old Swedish ship that sunk on its maiden voyage out of Stockholm harbor. It was raised from the bottom of the ocean after 333 years and was almost perfectly preserved! The ship now stands in its own museum and is reconstructed with nearly 96% of its original pieces. The picture is a little fuzzy. I was in charge of taking the video. Alex has TONS of pictures on her fancy-shmancy camera! The ship is truly remarkable, and we spent well over an hour walking the 6 different floors of the museum dedicated solely to the ship.We spent the remainder of the day walking around the city, hoping to do a little shopping, but time flew and we had to be back to Vingaker because I had practice that night! Can I tell you how tired we were?? Moving on!!!
THE GRAND PRIX WAS NOT SO GRAND!!!
After struggling desperately to make the tournament Vingaker Volleyball Klub STRUGGLED to say the least. The Grand Prix is a big deal here in Sweden - bigger than winning the actual championship. The winning club receives a ton of money, a birth in some international cup, and some serious bragging rights. Our first match was against SUPER-powerhouse Falkenberg and no joke, they smashed us. It didn't help that the 3 days prior to the tournament Tobey, one of our middle blockers, came down with the stomach flu. None of us really expected him to play. If any one of our starters is out we have a serious problem retaining the same level of play. Tobey managed to get out there and do a decent job, but not 3 plays into the game, Erik, our other middle, came down funny and twisted his knee - out. Still out. WHO KNOWS how long it will be??? The docs don't appear to be REAL adept to dealing with these sorts of things. Anyway, we tried our darndest, I got a lot of sets and lead the team with 11 points. I don't want to know how the other guys on the team did. It's not worth going into detail. They wiped the floor with us, beating us in 3, 25-18, 25-17, 25-20. Regardless, I managed to have some fun. The crowd wasn't as big as I thought it would be, but it was entertaining to say the least. I did what I could to help out the team and in the end could only chuckle.
Perhaps the most miserable part of the weekend was not losing, but having to wake up to play the next morning. The bronze medal match was at 9:30am on Sunday!!! Why so early??? Again, WHO KNOWS?? There were matches all day for the different divisions, but the last was played at 4:00. Why not push it all back? WHO KNOWS?? Anyway, we out on the floor by 8 getting ready to play Sollentuna. Sollentuna is an ugly team with some not so friendly guys. We've beaten them twice already this year, once in the regular season (in 5) and again in the Swedish Cup (in 3). In the regular season we were one of their two losses. With Erik out, and the match not really meaning much (in Dave and my eyes), we started a different line-up, letting Vedad get some reps in place of Linus, and Thomas in at opposite for Tarik. Dave, Tobey and I were the only regular starters. Hampus filled in at the other middle spot - ouch.
Again, THE GRAND PRIX WAS NOT SO GRAND!!! These guys smacked us around like a twirling tetherball. Our passers couldn't pass. Our hitters couldn't hit. The scores were a LITTLE better than the day before: 25-22, 25-23, 27-25. Fortunately I showed up to save us from total embarrassment, again leading the team, this time with a respectable 18 points in the 3 game loss. I got just about every-other set, but as you see it wasn't enough. I switched to opposite in game 3 which seemed to help, but we all the saying "too little too late."
In the end, Hylte upset Falkenberg in a 5 game thriller. I actually received a few good words on the volleyball website here http://www.volleyboll.se/. I finished 3rd in total points for the weekend behind a first place tie - not too shabby. Apparently I turned the head of the Falkenberg coach, or so someone told me. Big whoop, right? The biggest bummer is we play Sollentuna in our first match back to start the second half of the regular season. Did I mention that's tomorrow? Oh! YEAH! Tomorrow at 7pm in the Vidakerhallen!! VVK vs. SOLLENTUNA.
It should be interesting. After the Grand Prix Roban got sick with the stomach flu, then Dave has been sick the last 3 days with a 102 degree temperature. RAD!! So we're going to run an interest line-up tomorrow and see how it pans out. Luckily (don't worry mom), I've been taking care of myself, drinking lots of water and LOTS of milk, trying to get down some veggies, and staying up on my airborne. The LAST thing I need right now is to get sick!! I mean HELLO!!!! I'm coming home in 5 days!!!
I'm anxiously awaiting the moment I get to sink my teeth into that sloppy Double-Double Animal Style with 2 milks, then the Taco Bell Burrito, followed by the Del Taco Spicy-Jack Quesedilla. Maybe I'll have time to slither some SUSHI down my throat, binge on a Baja Burrito, and maybe have a little.....LOS TOROS!?!?!?!!?? Can't forget Carl's Jr. and the SHACK! Subway still eatin' fresh? MMMMMMMMMMM I can't wait! Oh, and yeah, I'm sure the wedding will be a blast!
Well, Alex made it home safely, arriving there last night around 11 (8am this morning my time). Like I said, we had a busy couple weeks while she was here and I think she even had a good time. It will be nice to get settled down here again, maybe clean my room? Anyway, I'll have lots of pictures to share when I get home if you're interested! Sorry I couldn't share more here, but Alex has most of them. See you all soon!
3 comments:
Sounds like the 2 of you had fun. Too bad your team isn't a little deeper though. Seeya soon
Umm, YES I want to see more pictures when you come! I can't believe you and the wedding are almost here. Time is flying. Kacie should be hitting the peak of her fussiness (happens between 6 and 8 weeks) just in time. Excellent. :)
I will definitely bring both of my cameras to orange county and los toros on monday! Everyone will be able to see our pictures if they would like! can't wait to see all of you!
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