#13 and Weekend in Frankfurt

So I am a little behind on my postings, but I am going to attempt to catch everyone up to speed in 2 blogs!

It has been a very busy three weeks full of many ups and downs and a variety of emotions.........

We had our 13^th game of the season against Sinsheim at home. We played them in November and beat them 3-0 quit handily in Sinsheim. We started the match off really strong. Sinsheim wasn’t quite ready for the ass whooping we were going to lay on them in game 1. We came out all guns blazing, serving hard and blocking a lot of balls. We finished the first game in less than 20 minutes with the final score being 25-11.

The second game was a different story. We had a little breakdown on passing and were struggling to get the ball to the setter to get any attacks off. The game just kind of finished and we hadn’t really even realized that we’d lost. The final score was 20-25 and I was surprised that it was even that close for us because of how poorly we played. We knew that we had to play better for the next two games because there was no way we were going to go to five!

In the third and fourth games we still struggled a bit to find our passing form but we were still able to pull off the victories in both sets with the final scores being 25-15 and 25-12 in our favour. The fans and our managers were very happy after the match as we were now 13-0 and 2 games away from clinching the league!! It was also my home debut at right side and my third match playing that position. The transition has been very smooth and I am starting to feel more comfortable each match on the opposite of the court! Hopefully we could clinch the league in the next two games so we could have the rest of the Monday’s off for the rest of the season!

The next weekend we had no match so I decided to head up to Langen again to visit the basketball boys. I arrived on the Friday night quit late so it was straight to bed for me as I had a busy day of sightseeing in Frankfurt before Basti was going to pick me up in the afternoon.

I started the day off at 9:30 am with a 2 km walk to the train station in Langen, something I didn’t mind one bit as it was so sunny! I couldn’t have picked a better day to see the city. After a short train ride and some major guessing on where to get off I had arrived in the city centre. The first place I went was the main tower which gave me a 360 degree view of the city! It was so beautiful to see so far into the horizon and also exactly where I was going to go on my walking tour! This tower wasn’t the tallest in the city but it was over 225m high!

After the tower I went on a 17 site walking tour! The main sites of the trip were many of the places I went walking on during the Christmas market before I came home in December. I saw the main catholic church with the tower being 95m in height, walked across the Iron bridge to Sachsenhausen (south Frankfurt), walked around the Römerberg and saw all the buildings and houses that had been restored since WW II, went to a few churches one of which was the home of the German National Assembly and viewed the house of the famous German poet Goethe! After a leisurely lunch at a cafe that was in the old train station it was time to head back to Langen.

The Munster, and the main square

The Frankfurt Hauptbahnof from the sky

The east of Frankfurt

Basti picked me up and we went headed back to his place for a pre-game meal and then it was time to head off to their game. Langen was down by 3 points with less than 10 seconds left when one of the Langen players was fouled shooting a 3 with no time left on the clock. He hit all 3 foul shots to force the game to overtime. Unfortunately they lost by 2 points missing the last shot with a chance to win the game.

The next day we went for a leisurely stroll around Darmstadt, a town about 15 km south of Langen. We hit some of the major sights the unique circular Roman Catholic Church, the building where the chemical element Darmstadtium (atomic number 110) was found, some beautiful parks, the Hochzeitsturm called the Marriage tower or the Five-Finger-Tower in English and the most famous sit in Darmstadt the Luisenplatz which is th main square in the city. It is named for Holy Roman Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian. Then we had some coffee and cake (Kaffee und Kuchen) before we headed back to Langen.

The Wedding tower

The Luisenplatz

The next day it was time to head back to Villingen. It was a very busy weekend of sightseeing, thankfully I had a camera since my mom mailed me hers after I broke mine the last time I went to Langen. I was kind of back to Villingen because the upcoming weekend was Fastnacht or more commonly known as Karneval!!

Super Bowl 43

So the main reason we drove to Langen last weekend was to watch the Super Bowl and hang out with some of the guys from TV Langen basketball team whom we had met in November. It was a spur of the moment trip as we decided on the Thursday night that we were going to head up there after our game in Umkirch. Luckily we were able to get the car from the club after our game so we loaded it up with ridiculously amounts of clothing and bedding and headed up on the 2.5 hour drive.

After a very fun Saturday night we were ready to go on Sunday for the big game. Everyone woke up around 2pm and started drinking again. Keep in mind that the game didn’t start in Germany until midnight.....it was going to be a long day!! I decided instead of drinking to go for a running tour of Langen. It is a fairly small town of around 30 000 so what are the chances that I wouldn’t be able to figure out where I was going. While unfortunately they were pretty high!! I was able to successfully navigate over half of the town but when I got to the Banhof I got very lost. Luckily I kept running and came across a street that was actually one we were supposed to drive down the previous day but because we had gotten lost we took a different way into the city. I was very grateful to find this street as I was about 30 minutes into my run and was unsure of how much longer I was going to be able to run for and it was starting to rain heavily. So after 40 minutes I found my way back to the guy’s house on dieburger strasse! I was a happy girl to get back inside!!

It was then time to prepare the food for the game!! We provided a vegetable platter which I did all the chopping and assembly for and I helped prepare the devilled eggs Jeremy was making. But by far the best part of the food was the amazing chili that Jeremy made! He had to do some major improvisations in his recipe because of different food products that were available here in Germany and the size of his pot was rather small so it was hilarious to watch him stuff all the ingredients into the pot and praying each time that it wouldn’t overflow all over the stove!

Look for the pot on the right it was the perfect combination of spice, vegetables and pork fat!

Eventually the guests for the party began to trickle in and we started the night off with a few games of beer pong and flip cup. Again we dominated in flip cup beating the boys every time we played. Not bad for 4 girls!

Getting the beer's ready for flip cup

Michele and Brynn getting their game faces on for beer pong

Beer pong however was another story....we did end up getting a few victories but it took us a lot longer than was necessary but nevertheless we still won the majority of the games! As for the Super Bowl itself most people didn’t make it until 4am when the game finished. For the few who did it was a treat to watch as the last 5 minutes or so were the best 5 minutes of the game!

My favourite part of the entire weekend was the ride home. Michele had been doing most of the driving but was getting tired and needed a break so she enlisted my help with the driving duties. As I have written previously I just learned to drive manual about 3 months ago and have only practiced twice since the New Year. So this was going to be an adventure, especially since we were on the auto bahn and there is no speed limit! I managed to start and get going without stalling but we missed our exit and had to take a detour to get back on the right track. We seem to be pretty good at not making our exits but it always works out for the best. Once we were back on the auto bahn it was smooth sailing into Villingen! I was so excited that we made it home safe and sound while driving at a leisurely 160km/h. Maybe I’ll get to drive a bit more on our next trip!

Victory 12 in Umkirch

On Saturday night we drove through the black forest to play against a team who we beat 3-1 last time we played them, Umkirch. Probably the best part of the night was the drive to get to the game. Although Umkirch is only 80 or so kilometers from Villingen we had to drive through the heart of the Black Forest on smaller highways to get there. I was amazed at how much snow there was compared to where we are and compared to when we got to Umkirch. Throughout the mountains there was beautiful little town all having a gasthaus (local hotel), restaurant, tiny church and local store. There were so adorable and I can’t believe how many tiny towns there was on our drive. There was also many stops for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, something I would love to do while I am here!

Once we finally arrived in Umkirch it was time to prepare for the game. We arrived 2 hours early like normal and had some time to socialize with the girls whom we hadn’t seen in practice this week because of injuries, sickness or school. Now onto the match which would be another victory for our team in 3 sets. This time we didn’t allow them to get back into the game in the 3^rd set like we did in our first meeting.

Game one took us a little time to get comfortable. We struggled a bit in passing but we were still able to get side out conversions quite easily from our outside attackers. We eventually closed out the first game with a couple small serving runs winning the set 25-22.

The second game was a whole different story as we dominated this set from start to finish. We had an early serving run from one of our middle blockers Lisa. This gave us a comfortable lead that we just coasted on for the rest of our game. In this game our middle attack was very good as our two outside hitters weren’t able to convert on as many attacks easily like game 1. The final point ended on a setter dump by our 16 year old back up setter Ramona with the score being 25-13 in our favour.

The third game I finally got involved in the action offensively getting a few more opportunities to put the ball away. In the first 2 games I was mostly digging balls, blocking and serving well. It was also nice to get a chance to contribute offensively. We won the third game easily 25-17 to secure our 12^th victory of the season in just over an hour!

The four of us were very happy that the match ended so promptly as we were headed to Sebastian’s birthday near Frankfurt, but more importantly Super Bowl Weekend!! I have never seen 4 girls get ready so fast in my entire life. I’m talking shower, hair and makeup all in just over an hour. It was a good thing we were so prompt because we had a 2.5 hour drive to Langen before we could go out.

We arrived in Langen around 12:30 am about 15 minutes after I thought we would get there because of a little detour. What I’m trying to say is I got us lost by missing the exit but luckily I had been there a few times before and knew that there wasn’t just one way to get into the city! One we arrived at the guy’s basketball house we changed to head to the club in Darmstadt, a city about 15 kilometers away. Next time we take a cab I will remember to get the exact address of where we are going.

Michele and I in the cab

All we knew is that the party was at the Nacht Cafe, a place our cabby thought he knew......while he didn’t and we ended up taking a driving tour of Darmstadt costing us and extra 15 euro until he finally found the place and asked 5 or so random people on the side of the road if they knew where it was too!

Once we finally made it there Happy Birthday’s were exchanged with Sebastian on his 24^th birthday and we hit the dance floor like we normally do!!

Sebastian, Brandon and Kai

Janna, Brynn and Brandon dancing up a storm!

By far my favourite part of the night was when I first broke my camera and then lost it at the end of the night when I was getting everyone’s coats. All in all not one of my favourite nights so I was hoping the Super Bowl party would be better the next day!!

Changes have been happening.....but the winning continues!!

So, I have been back now for two weeks and few things are different. The one thing that has stayed the same is that we are still winning, 2-0 since the Christmas break and we won a tournament in Heidelberg the day I returned to Germany! It has been a crazy two weeks especially since we now have another player on our team. The Friday before our first game of the second half of the year we were introduced to our newest player Brynn from Southern California. We didn’t really need another player because we weren’t losing any games but we when one of our starting players decided that she couldn’t handle Volleyball, school, her boyfriend and family commitments the team brought Brynn in. It was sad to lose her but Brynn so far has been a great addition to our little family we have here on Färberstraße! The other change that has been made is that I am now sharing my room with Brynn so our large apartment for 2 originally has now become a smaller more crowded apartment for 4! But it’s our cozy home!

So onto volleyball......we had our first game on the 17th against Lauchringen who was currently last in our league not having won any games this season. We didn’t play our cleanest match of volleyball but we were able to pull out the victory in 3 sets and under one hour, two of our team goals. The final scores were 25-11, 25-19, 25-15.

Playing a little defense.

This victory put us at 10-0 and having even more of a stranglehold on first place in our league. There really isn’t much else to tell about this game as it was really scrappy volleyball and I was even able to get a break and not play most of the 3rd set to get other girls playing time.

My last game at Left side....

Another change is that I have moved to the right side of the court leaving Brynn and Michele playing on the left side of the court. It was a little interesting in practice last week as I haven’t played much right side since beginning of 4th year of university. It takes a while to get used to hitting the ball across your body and more responsibility blocking. Hopefully the transition will continue to be as smooth as it was for our first game against Konstanz.

On Sunday we had the privilege of getting up at 8am to leave for our game near the Swiss border in the beautiful town of Konstanz. In our last game against them we really struggled to play consistent throughout the whole match. We had many moments of when we were very good but it was the moments where we weren’t so good that lead to trouble and the match being finished in 5 when we easily could have finished it in 3!

We arrived nice and early for our game.....which was okay because it was a beautiful day! The sun was shining and it was a good 8 or so degrees warmer than our little town of Villingen. You could tell from warm up that it was going to be a good game from us. The mood was light and almost a little jocular; everyone was loose and ready to go, no nerves for our first game with our new player!

We started our match off with a bang, 2 big kills (one from me) and some strong service allowed us to jump out to an early lead big which we never release. We were digging balls, chasing some down and strong service allowed us to win the first set 25-17.

The second set was a different story....we didn’t attack nearly as well and missed 4 consecutive services in a row during the crucial middle part of the set. We did have another lead early but with our mental errors in the middle we squandered that early lead and needed some big blocks towards the end of set, a couple which came from the middle blocker and I!! With the score being tied at 24’s Konstanz took a ball that was served out and went down 25-24, and gave us the chance to win the set. On a strong service, which was surprising because of our great service during the set we took the last point and a second set victory 26-24.

The third set was much like the first. We passed well and were able to run a faster offence leading to many one on one blocks and one and half blocks. We should have been getting kills left right and center but this time Konstanz was making it a little more difficult on us by digging many of our hard driven balls. But we were still able to prevail on many of the rallies because of our good free ball plays, also known as “danke” balls here! We were able to close out the third set with the final score being 25-17 again. Another victory which now puts us at 11-0 on the season and 2 games up on Sinsheim and 3 games up on Mannheim because they lost last weekend in 5 to Weisloch. Hopefully the victories keep on coming!

Last Home Game before the Holidays

So sorry for the late late posting but I decided to take a break from blogging and figured I'd get it done when I got back to Germany on the 10th. It is now the 21st and yes I have been back in Villingen since the 13th so I figured it was about time to talk about our last home game before Christmas.....

On Saturday December 20th we had our last game before the break. We were 8-0 so far this season and were playing Mannheim who was 7-1 and right on our tails in the standings. This was a “make or break” game for our season. A win would put us comfortably in first place and a loss would put us a little bit on our heels going into the second half of the season. It was going to be an epic battle.......

Our games normally start at 7pm but by quarter past 6 there was well over 1000 people already in the gym with another 400 expected to show up. For the first time this season we had our own drummers! There were 6 of them sitting in the 3^rd row in the center of the bleachers pounding away on their steel drums from 6:30 until the game finished around 9:30. Thank god I took an Advil before the game because I don’t think I would have made it through the whole game without a pounding headache.

The fans that were there at 6:15

Just before the match started they opened the third side of the bleachers revealing a couple hundred more fans who weren't able to find seats in the main bleachers. It was amazing how many people were there! They estimated that there was around 1400 people at our game, definitely the most that I have ever played in front of!

Honestly I don't really need to talk about the first 3 games as they were pretty crappy and we found ourselves down 2-1 going into the fourth game. We lost the first game with 3 consecutive errors on match point to lose our first, first set of the year. We were able to recover in the second game but the volleyball was still filled with lots of errors by both teams.

The third game we lost, marking the first time our team had been on the brink of elimination this season. We needed to recover for the fourth game and for the first time this season I wasn't sure that we were going to win the game. I was actually nervous going into the 4th game. The scores in the first 3 games were 23-25, 25-22, and 24-26.

The 4th game was one of the longest games that I have ever played in. The final score being 35-33 in our favour! Again though I thought we weren't going to win as we made numerous hitting errors and were down early and often. We were finally able to string some points together! Once the score hit 26-26 we kept taking the lead with the serve but weren't able to close out the match. We continued to trade side outs until finally we got the victory! Everyone was in a frenzy and so pumped up for the final game!

We started the 5th game on fire with yours truly serving 5 points in a row to go into the side switch up 8-3. We continued our good play to go up 13-8 only to let them back into the game when they tied it up at 14. Finally after the biggest side out of the game and serving for the match our setter and Jana came up with a huge block on their outside hitter to finish the game and intact our perfect 9-0 record before the holiday's!

Victory number 9!!!

After a small celebration at Saki bar it was time to head home to good old Williams Lake. But first I had to take the train to Frankfurt where I went to the Christmas market with my friend Sebastian and toured his hometown of Langen.

The beautiful Christmas tree in Frankfurt. Too bad I didn't get any more photos because my camera died.

The next day it was time to depart home to Williams Lake. After a four hour delay out of Frankfurt, a missed connection and some luck to get on the last flight of the night to Vancouver from Calgary I arrived in Vancouver without my luggage. Rozey picked me up at the airport at 2am and returned me there at 6am that same morning so that I could fly up to Williams Lake. After 48 or so hours of exhausting travel I finally made it home to see my family for Christmas minus my luggage that showed up on the 28th! All in all I was very happy to be home!