Monday, October 7, 2013

It's official, I am the worst blogger ever.

Hey...you are the worst blogger ever.....lots of time and no blogs.

That is the exact message that my wonderful mother sent me last night. She’s right though. My ambitious plan of writing a paragraph each day fell by the wayside two days after I wrote my last blog. Two weeks later I find myself in quite a pickle-forced to remember everything that’s happened with no notes to help me. I’ll start with volleyball since that’s the easiest thing to remember.

We’ve played two matches since I last blogged. The first match was at home and was against a team that is ranked near the bottom of our division. We won in 3, fairly easily. Playing matches against teams like that is frustrating. You know that you’re going to win the match; it’s just a matter of whether you play at a high level and are happy about the win. I hit okay during the match…nothing spectacular, but significantly better than the first two weekends. 

Right before practice the following Wednesday I was rubbing my eye and my contact fell out. Since my coach didn’t want me to miss practice time going home to get another one, he asked me to just play with one in and see how it went. It actually ended up being kind of okay…I was really dizzy by the end of practice from my eyes trying to focus, but there were only a few times where it really affected a play. (My prescription is -2.5 for those of you who know what that means). I now have an extra pair packed!

Yesterday we had an away game that required an 8am departure. We drove for 5 hours, stopping once to stretch and walk around, and once for lunch. At about 1:45 we pulled up at the gym, giving us about half an hour before we needed to begin warming up. This team was better than the last team we played, but we still beat them in 3, which was awesome since we still had a 5-hour drive home. I finally had a good hitting match! My passing wasn’t all that great, but we have a stud libero who can pretty much pick up the slack so it wasn’t a big deal. We stopped by the beach for a few minutes before hitting the road and ended up getting back to Melun about 11pm. I passed the time practicing French with one of my teammates, Laura. I would repeat after an audio book and then she would correct my accent. I still have a really hard time pronouncing the letter ‘R’. eeerrhhhhhhhh. That’s what it sounds like. Eeeerrhhhhhh. Just practicing some more.

And now the random shenanigans section…

-Last week I went looking for the American Library in Paris. I thought it would be easy to find, as libraries in the US are usually big, stand-alone buildings, which are clearly marked. After about an hour of walking in circles I had developed blisters on my heels so I gave up and went home. (Mom- before you start, I was wearing sensible shoes…). I went back the next day using a map and spent the afternoon reading. 

-I met up with Swags for lunch twice. The first time we went to sushi in downtown Paris with her friend who was in town visiting. The sushi was ok…not the best I’ve ever had. We got gelato after though, and they made it in to the shape of a flower!
We met in Melun for the second lunch and her husband joined us. The restaurant they chose is called The Creperie…so you can probably guess what we ate! I had an Andoiulle sausage and Swiss cheese crepe for lunch, and for dessert I had a crepe that was basically a banana split.

-My knee has been slowly feeling better and I was able to play completely without pain for the first time on Sunday! Usually it will tighten up after I finish and cool down, but this time it didn’t at all! Woo hoo!

-I may be back in the US for a couple of weeks while I get my visa. I have to go in person to the French consulate in Los Angeles to get it. We’re trying to work out dates where I won’t have to miss more than one match. Right now I’m scheduled to go back October 16th, but I’ll know by the end of this week whether or not I’m using that flight.

-I had a few rough practices coaching my little 12-year-old team. Our practice time got moved up so we were the first team in the gym, but I didn’t know how to turn on the lights. We practiced in the dark for 45 minutes until someone else showed up. I still only have 3 girls on the team, so it’s difficult to think of drills that I can use. On a happy note, there is another coach helping me now! He’s the boyfriend of my teammate and speaks English! He plays volleyball too, so he is able to coach technique and knows what he’s talking about!

-Last week was fashion week in Paris!! When I was walking around the city it was easy to spot models. They are tall and ridiculously skinny…seriously my ankle is bigger than their arms are. Now I know what you’re thinking, Kelly...‘But Amy, you have huge ankles…”. Well that’s true…I guess a better comparison is that my arms are the same size as their legs. True story.

Swags and I spent an afternoon trying to get in to two fashion shows. If designers have empty seats they’ll let people without invitations in so that their show doesn’t look empty. We got a super cool bag for free just for waiting in line at the first show! After an hour of standing we ended up getting turned away from both L so close…we did get to see some ridiculous outfits though. To my untrained eye it looked like they woke up, reached blindly in to their closet to choose an item, then accessorized with everything that an average person would say doesn’t match.  Snake print skirt paired with a fuzzy vest? Check. Head-to-toe bedazzled outfit? Check. 

While I’m on the topic of fashion, here’s a list of trends/things that are super popular in Paris:
·      Man bags- also known as a “Murse” (man purse).
·      High heeled shoes that look like sneakers
·      Wearing athletic clothes in an ironic way. i.e. a Nike shirt with a skirt and heels
·      Capris on men- also known as “Cabros”- RJ and Kev you guys would totally fit in here…just pick up a man bag and you’re good to go.
-Crossfit is going well. I still miss everyone at Omnia, but I love my new gym. One of the guys at the gym can do back flips, so my goal is to learn how to do one before I leave!


-I can now say the months in French and have added the words 'nap' and 'ugly' to my vocabulary.

-Here is a link to my team's schedule and results:
http://www.ffvbbeach.org/ffvbapp/resu/seniors/2013-2014/index_3ff.htm

Sorry for the uneventful and random blog...I promise I'll try harder this week. I'll also add pictures that I've taken, but have been too lazy to upload to my computer.