Christmas in Barcelona!

So... we made it to Barcelona after a few barriers! 1) Rui was able to get Dan's passport from the post office after it had already closed the night before we left for Barcelona... wow. 2) The night before we left I was 99% positive we were in a tornado in Vila do Conde... turns out we made the news as well for the 120 km/hr winds, approximately 75 miles/hr... we survived and our flight took off to Barcelona! Yay!

Barcelona was awesome! I felt a little bit like I was in America (I got Starbucks! People spoke English! There were stores similar to home!), which was refreshing, on top of amazing architecture and sight seeing. We were super tourists for the 3 days we were there, seeing all the major sights. Gaudi, the Spanish architect, was pretty intense/amazing. We saw a few of his works: La Perdrera, Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, and another crazy building which I do not know the name. We went to a few hole in the wall pubs/bars that were recommended to us from friends who had lived in Barcelona, touched the Mediterranean Sea, and ate the local food and drank Sangria. We even made it to the Barcelona cathedral for Christmas mass! To finish our stay, we went to the Montjuic Park where there was a ridiculous fountain show and Grand Palace. The sights were seriously all breathtaking and our pictures don't even serve them justice. The weather was beautiful on Christmas day... sunny, 55 degrees and mostly rainy on the other days. We hope you enjoy the slideshow of pictures.

It was fun to have the webcam on with our families during their present opening on Christmas morning... kind of like we were there...

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Love,

Alli & Dan

Cards Galore

Boas Festas!

So we had two more matches this weekend before our nice holiday break where we get a few weeks off. Well not really much time off, just no games. The games were pretty intense and I really wish I understood Portuguese because there was a lot going on and I had no clue!

In our first match vs. Castelo de Maia in the battle for 4th place, we came out strong and took game 1. Game 2 saw us carry that momentum with a big lead of 8-2 at the first break. However, at that point the other team started going crazy at the refs. There was a noise that went off during our serve so they thought they were supposed to stop playing but we didn't so we won the point. They proceeded to get a yellow card (which equals a point for us) and then a couple plays later they got upset again and their libero got a red card (which means he has to sit out the rest of that game, not the match). So having a good lead and the other team without a libero, you would think we should close out the game. But no, they manage to pull back into it and steal the game 30-28. Very frustrating. Next game, our team starts yelling at the refs about something (no clue what was going on during all of this) and our OH gets a yellow card and then our coach got a red card and had to sit behind the bench the rest of the game. Then right before the other team was going to serve, our coach pushes the shopping cart filled with water bottles, balls, warmup jackets, onto the floor!! It was ridiculous. Anyway, we lost that game and the next to lose in 4. A tough one but hopefully we can get matched up with them in the playoffs and get revenge!

Sunday saw a weaker opponent, but more cards! We came out playing well and took game 1 very easily. Then in game 2, our serve wasn't as tough and the game was much closer. The other team got to 24 and their opposite kept talking junk through the net so OH that got the yellow the day before got in the net and started yelling back. BAM, yellow card, point for the other team, game over. It actually was a double yellow for the opposite on the other team but it didn't matter. Then at the start of the next game, another yellow was issued to the other team, for no apparent reason to me. Anyway, we played much better and won in 4 to put us at 10-6 for the year, in 5th place. Also, for the weekend that made 6 yellow cards, 2 red cards, and 1 shopping cart pushed onto the court. I felt like I was watching Kevin O'Dell play in high school!

So after the game Sunday, Alli and I went to dinner with some teammates and friends and then played some poker after. Dinner and drinks were free cause my teammate is sponsored by the restaurant so we were quite excited! The food was delicious, especially the filet mignon wrapped in bacon with cheese. UGH it's to die for! Alli didn't play poker with us although she made oatmeal cookies while we played so that was fun for all of us. She however was the party pooper, passing out early at 2:30am while the rest of us were up to 5am. I don't know how they keep the hours they do but somehow they do. Must be all the cafe's they drink...

Also, there is a local cafe that Alli and I always go to. The couple that works there, Andrea and Ericha, are very friendly and always happy to see us when we come into have our daily coffee and play cards (Gin). They brought their 3 year old son in the other day, Matteos, who is a very cute kid with dimples. Anyway, he was a little shy at first, but like most like kids, started making faces and playing with me across the room. He was very funny and kept doing dance moves and falling on the ground laughing. He also put his shoes on the wrong feet so we got a kick out of that too. Lucky enough, he let me get a picture with him too!

Alli and I are planning on going to Barcelona on Thursday for a few days over Christmas! Tickets are booked... just have to get my passport from the Portuguese post office tomorrow (long story... dealing with my work visa and having the passport sent from Portugal to America to Portugal to America and now hopefully back to Portugal..) so we can leave Portugal.

That's it for now. Christmas is almost here so we hope everyone has a great holiday!! We miss you all and hope Santa brings you something nice this year!

D & A

Futbol!

Quick update on my viewing of Dan's volleyball team playing soccer... INTENSE. I was under the assumption that a day off of playing volleyball would be a fun, easy going break for the team with a little cross training. However, Dan wasn't kidding when he told me that they are pretty serious about futbol. First off, Dan took off his jacket to display his FC Porto jersey and the guys started going crazy- literally. Some where cheering, "F***ing Dan! F***ing Dan!" About half the team was caressing the jersey to see if it was authentic and after it passed the test, they were so stoked to see Dan wearing it and even more impressed when he told them he bargained for it at the local Friday market.

The game started and I couldn't take my eyes away. The rules are as follows: play with a volleyball, goalie cannot use his hands, goals can only be scored off of a header, no out of bounds, no fouls, and no shin guards. There were a few obstacles near the edge of the court: portable basketball hoops, partitions, tables, and chairs. Bodies were flying, bodies were flying into each other, bodies were crashing into obstacles, and many bad Portuguese words were being communicated. There were a few times where I was positive an ankle was broken or an ACL torn, but nope! False alarm. When the first goal was scored (on Dan) I started to laugh really hard and the head coach (also playing on Dan's team) was extremely pissed and I am pretty sure he was even more angry at me for laughing as he continued to say, "Fodus" (spell check), the equivalent of the F word. All in all it was extremely entertaining and Dan really only had one lousy play and the rest of the time he did pretty well with blocking the shots (take into account his size compared to the goal size). The final score was 4-5... close game! If Portugal had University sports like we do in America, I am pretty sure half of Dan's team would be playing soccer.

Wins and more...

Ola!

So I just wanted to give a quick update on our matches from this past week and then Alli will take it away with some thoughts and updates on the more interesting aspects of our time here.

We had two matches this weekend against teams that are both below us in the rankings, so it was essential to come out with W's to maintain our spot in the standings. Our team came out playing very tough in both matches and pulled out 3-0 victories in both games! We seem to be improving as we go which is a good sign if we can continue the upward trend. We have a big match this weekend against Castelo do Maia with the winner of the game getting sole possession of 4th place. It's at home so we'll likely have a raucous crowd of 80 people cheering us on! My knee has began to act up this week so hopefully with a nice diet of ice and ibuprofen I will be good to go by gametime.

Boa tarde (good afternoon) everyone! Nothing too new and exciting has happened the past couple of weeks... I had the flu right after my mom left (she had it right before she left), but am feeling much better now. Luckily Dan did not get it. We couldn't call it "the flu",even after I was better, to anyone here because they seriously FREAK OUT like it is the Black Plague.

Fun fact: last Tuesday was a holiday here... a holiday for the Immaculate Conception. Unfortunately, I do not think it would be "legal" or "politically correct" to have a holiday for the Immaculate Conception in America. To top it off, the name "conception" (of course translated into Portuguese) is a common third name for people here... because people have about 4 names apparently. Lia's third name is "conception", and now I spot it on the back of many jersey's of opposing teams at Dan's games. Also, in the gym where Dan plays, there is a huge sign that says "Feliz Natal" (Merry Christmas) and a very large Nativity scene. It's awesome!

Another observation I have made since the first couple of days I have been here is the outrageous amount of people with foot deformities, limping when walking, uneven legs, and just general leg or foot problems. I told my mom about this when she got here and she was amazed as we spotted more people each day. To top it off, a family friend just got back from Spain with her husband that is a doctor. They were talking to my mom about their trip and said, "Gosh, it was amazing to see the number of people with foot and leg problems... all using a cane to limp/walk around and looking like they are in so much pain." My mom described our same observations! Our friend's husband explained to my mom that most of the problems looked as if they could be fixed by a hip, knee, or foot surgery. However, due to the fact that Europe has socialized/universal health care, this is considered a "specialty area" and is therefore not covered. To have the surgery, the person would have to pay out of pocket and is therefore just not affordable. On this same page, the lady who owns the cafe we visit everyday just had her tooth pulled. Instead of having insurance to cover for most of the payment for a root canal to save the tooth, the universal health care covered the tooth to be pulled out since it was a molar and the other teeth are enough to chew food. And lastly, a teammate of mine has had a bad knee for almost three years. Physical therapy is covered under the health care, but being that it is not getting any better, she requested an MRI. The doctor told her that she just needs to continue to rest and ice and did not agree to the MRI. She really wants/needs the MRI, so after she tries to find an insurance company she can afford, she will hopefully be covered in part to get an MRI in the next few months. This whole universal health care proposal in America could be pretty scary....

After a whole week of clear blue skies and 40 degree days, the rain and wind are back! The good news is that our building is still standing... although I had my doubts in the middle of the night. Dan and I ventured on over to the Moroccan cafe the other night... mostly because I really just wanted to laugh at him sitting on the tiny pillows! Dan enjoyed the ambiance and the Sangria, but after about 45 minutes, the uncomfortableness (is that a word?) started to set in.

I enjoyed visiting a beautiful town called Espinho with Lia on Sunday before Dan's game. We walked along the boardwalk and window shopped (shops are closed on Sundays), I bought some red colored popcorn (very festive), and clapped for Santa and the Christmas carolers strolling along. Santa just walked on over to me, reached his hand into my popcorn, got a couple good mouthfuls of red popcorn, and then continued on his stroll.

Tonight Dan's team is playing soccer for practice and then having a team Christmas dinner. Being that Dan is the worst soccer player on his team, he is consistently chosen last and put in the goal. But to pump up his team, Dan bought an FC Porto (Porto soccer team here) Jersey and is going to bust it out tonight for the big soccer game. I will be there and will be happy to post about it on the blog in the next couple of days....

Halfway Home...

Hello fellow readers!

So it has been a couple of weeks. We have officially finished the 1st half of the regular season. We are tied for 4th in the league right now which is pretty exciting since the team was tied for last a year ago. We closed out the first half with a 3-1 win against Academic Espinho to put us at 7-4. The following weekend (this past weekend) was a big match on the road vs. the team currently sitting tied for 1st, Vitoria. They are led by former BYU standout Carlos Moreno so it's always fun to play against people I played against while at Penn State. Anyway, the match was probably the best we played all year, and unfortunately we lost in 5. It was very frustrating since we were up 2-1 in games, and then after a slow start in game 4, our coach pulled out all the starters when we were down 9-6!!! Yes, it was a 3 point game and he gave up so we could "rest" for game 5. Quite a bizarre move I thought since we still had a chance in that game. Plus I don't think any of us were tired so we didn't exactly need rest. If anything it made us cold to start game 5. Oh well, I think the positive to come from the match is that in games 2 & 3 which we won, we played at a very high level and if we can learn to play like that consistently, we could certainly make a run in the playoffs.

So other than volleyball, it was very nice having a visitor here. We had a lot of fun having Maureen here and I know she certainly enjoyed her stay here. Her and Alli got in a lot of sightseeing of both Porto and Lisbon and got to experience a lot of what Portugal has to offer. We will hopefully post a slideshow soon for everyone to see some fun pictures we have taken while here.

We hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving back home and is enjoying the hectic Christmas shopping. It's no different here! Alli and I went to see the new Twilight movie (New Moon) at the mall on Sunday and it was packed! It's lovely here this time of year because everywhere you look, there are Christmas lights and nativity scenes. Outside our apartment, there are lights up and down every street and speakers every block or so that is playing Christmas music so as Alli likes to say, it feels like you are in a Winter Wonderland while walking down the street!

Two more matches this weekend so hopefully we can come out with two more victories! Hope everyone is doing well!

D & A

A nice taste of home....

Hey everyone! It's Alli. My mom has arrived! She has been here for 5 days and how nice it is to have a taste of home! I mean obviously it is so great to see my mom, but I mean a literal taste too. Not only did she bring jars of peanut butter, but half her suitcase was stuffed with the essentials: ranch dressing packets, taco seasoning, tortillas, gum, deodorant, granola bars, trail mix, and the best part... a leopard printed Snuggie for me!! Now she realizes what a great gift this is since our apartment is as cold as I told her it was... we are working on getting a heater :)

Portuguese is a very hard language... maybe harder after some serious jet lag. Dan and I have been trying to teach my mom the basics here, but she continues to say, "hello! how are you? gracias. peso." The best part of the language barrier/confusion/frustration/attempts happened on Saturday late at night. Dan, my mom, and I were coming back to our apartment after a few drinks and I was talking to Dan about 20 stairs up to the 65 and my mom reminded me to be quiet because my voice was echoing and not to wake the neighbors. By the time we got to stair number 65, my mom's adrenaline was flowing, and she slammed our door so hard on accident that I am pretty sure everyone in our building woke up. To make it all better and to apologize, my mom continues to open the door and yells, "mosquito". After ten solid minutes of laughing/crying, we cleared it up with my mom that "desculpe" (desh-coolp) is sorry, not mosquito. It was really funny... maybe you had to be here. Good times.

My mom is amazed with our fishing village. The women in our village are what we like to call Fishmonger Wives. They dress in all black, are all very overweight, it seems very difficult for them to smile back at you, and often times carry fish on their heads. My mom and I were walking into my favorite bakery the other day and a Fishmonger Wife was leaving... she proceeded to ramble on to us in Portuguese. After what we thought was politely telling her we do not understand, she hit my mom on the leg with her bag of bread about three times, continued to talk in Portuguese, and then left. Yup, we are still confused about what happened, but got a good laugh.

On Thursday we had a great day touring the city of Porto with Rui and Lia. We had a great lunch of sardines, duordo (some sort of fish), potatoes, meat (for Dan) and then walked all around. It was a "quick" tour of a couple hours.. just enough to let us feel our way around and want to go back for days at a time! It is a beautiful city with more history than I could imagine! We will be heading back to shop, wine taste, maybe take a boat ride, and stay in a hotel.

Friday market in Vila da Conde! My mom got to experience the crazy Friday market with everything imaginable. We just bought some scarfs and Portuguese pot holders, we tried to stay away from the skinned rabbit, salted/dried codfish, and ducklings. Then we went to Dan's game. My mom enjoyed it because after our 1.5 mile walk, a cold beer for one euro was delicious. Unfortunately, Dan's team lost to the team that is tied for number 1 in the league :( Anways, Dan played well and my mom had fun whistling since that is normal at games.

We had a relaxing weekend. Sometimes a Catholic mass can be difficult to follow/pay attention the whole time. I know a lot of you agree. Well, input Portuguese plus sitting under Jesus nailed to the cross with blood and guts showing... it was a little bit distracting/confusing/scary?
My mom enjoyed the mall. It almost felt like home... except when we bought whole shrimp, heads included, for dinner. That is the major difference. Oh and that Mc Donalds has beer.

Today we walked up to Povoa de Varzim and did some shopping, staring, tourist photo taking, sunset watching, etc. Another great day! It was raining all morning and then cleared up for us to go explore! We even took the bus home... after mile 5 of the day,we were desperate for a ride home and figured it out. Now we are making dinner for Dan... he is so spoiled having two Dillon women live in his apartment! haha. We are having so much fun but the time is going by too fast! Too much to do and too little time :) We hope everyone is doing well and has a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Ciao,
A & D (&M)

More Food...

Bom Dia! Alli here...Just want to share a few fun tidbits that we have experienced over the past couple of weeks. Almost everyday Dan and I go to the same cafe across the street. We really like the husband and wife that own it and the cafe looks at the water. Andrea, the lady who owns it, has about the same set of English skills as I do Portuguese. Therefore, our conversations involve smiling, ordering cafes, laughing at each other and ourselves trying to communicate, (I say: Ola! How are you?Andrea: My name is Andrea.) and a lot of hand gestures. Sidenote: only American music is played here on the radios, at the games, etc. So, needless to say, it is a little ironic when Andrea is sitting with her laptop out, blasting Beyonce songs, and singing every single word in English.. or something that sounds close to English.

Yesterday I traveled with Dan's team to Caldas, (call-dish) at 9:00 AM for a 5:00 PM match (Dan's team won easily in three games!). It was a lot of traveling, but some ridiculously funny situations. The bus made pitstops along the 2 1/2 hour journey for smoking, cafe and bathroom breaks. When we arrived, we went to a very cute restaurant. I had the privilege, if you would like to call it, to sit with the team president, his wife, the father of one of the coaches, and the bus driver. One person at my table was able to speak broken English... just enough to where I was pretty sure he did not know what he was saying. For example, he kept telling me about the Caldas' city emblem... "dolls with breests and boy dolls with pissa's (portuguese word for male part)" and he just kept laughing because I just kept saying, "excuse me? I don't understand" I ended up asking one of Dan's teammates what this man was talking about and he said it was true... they sell many things with private parts on them (ie: coffee mugs, dolls... you know, the usual..)

Lunch was delicious.. I had some vegetable soup, bread, two whole little tiny fishes, vegetables, and red wine. It took me about 5 minutes to perform the autopsy on one fish... take off the skin, bones, etc. It was fine with me but apparently the man next to me was not okay with it. He asked if he could prepare it for me. I tried to tell him "no thank you, I would like to learn" but he told me "no patience" and continued to take my knife and fork from me and told me to watch as he literally cut up my fish for me. Perfect timing for Dan to look over from his team's table and ask what was going on?! After this feast, I was pretty full. Then the president gestured for me to try some sort of codfish casserole; after politely declining and saying I was full, he literally rolled his eyes and did some angry hand gesture, and I was pretty sure he was angry with me. One person was able to tell me that he did not think I ate enough. So after I tried the codfish, it was time for dessert. I was able to get away with just ordering fruit. The same debacle continued at dinner.. same restaurant after the game. This time they ordered me duck and rice, wine, bread, cheese, and fruit. Again, I could barely breathe. But no, I did not want to offend the president so I tried some of his wife's dish (some extreme garlic soaked meat) and ordered real dessert and tried more cheese and marmalade. Don't get me wrong, the food was all very delicious and then I just slept most of the way home on the bus.

It is a definite challenge for me to ever carry on a conversation about politics. Now, try to put yourself at my table with my four lunch and dinner partners, one person speaking broken English as translator, and discuss views on Obama so much, George Bush, etc. Then they wanted to know how many people talk about European politics in America... and what leaders we talk about... I just laughed and tapped Dan on the shoulder to come rescue me. Finally, they couldn't resist the temptation to talk about fat Americans and fast food (they weren't too slim themselves). And lastly, one man told me if I keep eating like this I will be fat in a few months, yet they force food down my throat.... so much confusion.

We continue to hang out with Rui and Lia as much as possible. After a game a couple weeks ago, they wanted to know if we wanted to go to lunch. I told them they must have meant dinner since it was 7:00 PM. Dan and I agreed as we were both very hungry. We ended up at some pastry shop/cafe. I was so confused as they ordered sweet pastries and coffee. I asked why they weren't ordering dinner? The said it is lunch time. Dinner is not until 9:00 or 10:00 PM so this is time for lunch. Finally, it was clear that the order of meals in Portugal are: breakfast, lunch, lunch, dinner. Oh the things we learn....

This picture is of Dan and I in front of a "castle/fort" that was built for defense of incoming ships during the war days. It is in Povoa de Varzim, the city about 2 miles north of us. On many corners, people are cooking with coal this Portuguese fruit called "castanha" that is only available this time of year. You must remove the hard outside shell (looks like a large walnut) and the inside part is edible with a texture similar to potato but a lot more sweet. Dan is holding the newspaper funnel (difficult to see in the picture) they serve them in on a street in Povoa de Varzim. Oh and one last thought... personal space does not exist here. Not only is a woman greeted by a woman or man with a kiss to each cheek, with even strangers, but people talk very close to you. Sidewalks are very narrow and two people will be talking in the middle of the sidewalk and make no acknowledgement of you needing to get around them (I have learned to just walk in the street past people), and when I go for a jog, bikers will ride past me coming within 2 inches. It's amazing.. so close to being plowed, but it hasn't happened!

On TV!

Hey Everyone,

Just wanted to let everyone know that my match tomorrow is going to be on TV here, which means you should be able to find it online. The game is at 11:15am though so 6:15am ET and 3:15am PT. I believe if you go to www.justin.tv you may be able to find it if you search voleibol or Vilacondense or Benfica. I know this is early but not sure how many televised matches we have. Also, Benfica is #1 in the league so it will be a tough one.

Dan

Thriller Domination

Boa Tarde!

Time for another little update of this past week. Not too much has happened but certainly some stories to share.

Alli and I went out for some drinks anddinner on Monday since we were both off and thought it'd be fun to hop around to different places. We started at this fancy cafe/bar/dance club? on the ocean. It was very small and basically a big room right on the beach that looked like any other cafe except there was a huge DJ table in the corner. Needless to say there was no music or dancing going on when we were there. Alli tried to take me to the Moroccan restaurant after that but it was closed and didn't open until 9 so we just went to my favorite pizzeria where I get the pizza topped with ham, salami, bacon, and egg. We got our picture taken as we were walking along the boardwalk as well.

One thing I forgot to mention in the last blog was something really amazing that I got to do in my trip to Madeira. So my teammate Rui is a flight attendant for TAP Air, the Portuguese Airlines. When we got onto our flight heading out to Madeira, he asked me if I wanted to sit in the cockpit during the takeoff. OF COURSE I WOULD!! So Kleber, our Brazilian middle, and myself got to sit during takeoff. It was a great experience. There was buttons and switches everywhere and I also was amazed by how much the planes fly themselves. The pilots obviously know everything that is going on but they basically just monitor the situation the whole time while the planes do the work.

My team had one match this weekend against Esmoriz whose starting outside hitter was none other than Michael Jackson circa 1980's! He was black with a jheri curl and looked just like MJ in his Thriller days. We started off poorly in game one as our passers were fighting the sun out of their eyes which was coming through the windows. We lost game one but when we switched sides, our game immediately picked up. Took the next 3 games with them never scoring more than 19 on us. After the win, Hugo came up to me and said that since I didn't have anymore hair (I buzzed it off this week) that he would just slap me in the back of the neck. After a few solid hits, I started hitting him back then had him in a minor headlock while we cheered.

Yesterday marked the big professional debut of Alli!! Her team played a team from Madeira that looked much more impressive in warmups. However, Alli's team came out showing some actual hustle and effort which many of those same girls never do in practice. They managed to pull out a win in 3 games! Alli didn't get in but I think her coach isn't the most intelligent around. For example, the other team was coming back in game 2 after one OH shanked several passes in a row. So he made a substitution (the only one of the match) taking out his front row middle for another middle. I was baffled in the stands. Oh well, a win is a win and Alli is now undefeated!

Not sure if we have mentioned it yet but the people are crazy drivers here. It's amazing the amount of car accidents that result too. When we drove to and from Alli's game yesterday, we came across 6 accidents! It was crazy. People try to drive fast and brake fast here, yet clearly they don't seem to be getting the message that that doesn't work. Even today when we were walking home from weights, a guy on the motorcycle tried to turn right into a traffic circle and fell off his bike. Luckily he wasn't hurt bad, but still crazy. The weather has been lousy lately so the roads are slick but nobody seems to adjust their driving style because of it. Oh well, hopefully nobody gets seriously hurt that we know!

We hope everybody is well back home! Maureen (Alli's Mom) is coming to visit us next week so we are very excited to have her come stay with us and get to experience some of this unique and interesting European culture! Also, Stevie has a big volleyball match tomorrow so good luck to him and hope he does well!

Love,

A & D

Two week update!

Bom Dia!!

Sorry it's been two weeks. My team was off last week so I didn't think there would be too much to write about but actually a lot has happened in the two weeks. I'm going to leadoff with some volley updates and stories on my crazy head coach and then Alli, who is a much better writer than myself, will talk about her exciting news and the interesting things that we've done recently.

So volleyball items. We were off the weekend of Oct 24th, which meant the practices the week leading up to our off week involved lots of soccer. I guess this is common since everybody here plays but being a volleyball and basketball player, let's just say I'm not too good at soccer. It is fun though to change up the pace every now and then and I keep trying to tell Hugo (my coach) that we should play some basketball instead one time. I doubt I'll get my wish.

Now we had two matches this weekend in the Madeira islands which are absolutely gorgeous. Maybe the prettiest place I've ever been to. I didn't have the camera though so sorry I couldn't capture any pics. Anyway the matches were very important for us since the teams were close to our level and if we din't play well we would certainly lose. Plus they were road games making them tougher. All this meant that Hugo would be ultra intense all week since he is part crazy, part just wanting to win so bad that he can't control himself. Also, his English is only so-so. During the week of practice, if I started playing bad or he thought I was being lazy, he would consistently ask me if I was on "Holiday." He would say this over and over since he only has a few sayings he repeats. This seemed to culminate one day in practice when one of my hitters hit a few balls out and Hugo got mad at me for not cussing out my hitter for messing up (not really my style of course). So he stops practices and says to me, "Dan, you're mister nice guy. Eat chicken, drink beers, get sun, everything cool, everything cool. No Dan!" Everybody on our team was laughing and I was doing my best not to laugh. So since then he still repeats that now when I don't get mad at my teammates..... eat chicken, drink beers ...

Now for the matches! At the start of the first match vs. Maritimo, I counted 14 people in the stands. Regardless, we came out strong and jumped to a big lead. Up 24-19, we managed to let up 6 straight points and the other team took a 25-24 lead. Frustrating yes, but we managed to turn it around and still win the game. Won the next game, lost the next two, going to game 5. Game 5 was a sideout battle the whole time with us holding on to a 1 point lead the whole time. Fianlly up 15-14, we forced them into a bad pass situation and their big opposite hit the ball out. Victory! After the match, we were celebrating in a huddle and Hugo came to me and grabbed my hair and was just yanking on it painfully until he stopped and gave me a hug. I don't think he realizes how much pain he can inflict.

The next match was against Machico who had already beaten Maritimo so it should be a tougher match. Plus they actually had fans who were loud and screaming at us often. Game 1 was similar to the previous night. Up 8-1 at first TO break, up 16-5 at the next and then up 24-17. Again, we don't like having game point and they came back and tied it at 24!! Then we sided out and managed to win the set 29-27. Game's two and three we played much better and rolled to a 3 game victory. At the end of the 3rd set, Hugo yelled at me for smiling. The score was 24-12, one point away from the win and myself and the libero were joking with each other. Hugo kept saying, "What are you smiling for? Only smile after the game." Little does he know that him saying things like that makes me want to laugh more. Anyway, we won and after the match we were celebrating and he grabbed my hair harder and longer this time. I had tears in my eyes. I'm buzzing my head today. Also, all that said with Hugo, I actually really like him and think he is a very good coach. He is quite demanding but he does so because he is very competitive and wants to win. Our team is now 4-2 and in 4th place in league. Not bad considering we have already matched last seasons win total!

Hey everyone! It's Alli. So, Dan and I finally made our way into Porto during his weekend off. Wow, it is a beautiful city with so much history, near the ocean, and it also has a river running through it. We took an exit off the metro and had no idea what to do or where to go... so we just started walking, staring, stopping on corners to stare some more, take some pictures, you know.. just being tourists. We ventured into a Spanish restaurant to hopefully get a taste of some food similar to Mexican. Ha! We ordered a tortilla and it was this huge thing that looked like a chicken pot pie.. filled with tasteless egg and potato. The Sangria made up for the "fake" tortilla. Then we stumbled across city hall.... it is in the center of Porto and is an amazing building. We literally could not get the whole building in the picture (that's me in the picture!).

Then we kept wondering around and came across a cool looking building that groups of people were taking pictures outside of. So we decided that we should take our picture too! Then we found out, as we walked into the "building" that it was actually the Cathedral of Porto built in 1110. We walked in and it was literally breathtaking. The pictures do not do it justice. Not only was it huge, but the detail was amazing: balconies, everything embellished with gold, old pews, a smaller altar on one side, religious statues everywhere... beautiful. So our first trip into Porto was a success. Next time we will go with someone who knows where they are going and get a better sense of our way around :)

We went to a family party at Rui and Lia's house. So much food... oh my gosh. Everything was made from scratch... they love all kinds of meat and bread and shrimp and chocolate and tea and salmon and more bread and meat. Not so much the vegetables. It was a nice time to meet 30 family members and humbling to just smile at the little kids when they come up to talk to you and you have no idea what they are saying....

It was a pretty mellow party with everyone just sitting around and watching the Portuguese version of American Idol, eating, eating more, and more sitting. Everyone, as usual, was really nice!

So the exciting news is that I am now a Portuguese volleyball player for Ala Gondomar! Senor Nelson, the owner of the team I think, was able to pull some strings with the Portuguese volleyball federation, etc to cut the fees for me to be able to be cleared to play while I am here. Dan and I met Senor Nelson for lunch two times this week. It was fabulous.. super nice restaurants with the real Portuguese feel. One restaurant overlooked the river and considering there were tanks of fish, lobster, and codfish (the most popular fish here), I knew it was pretty fresh. So, I had codfish for the first time! It was delicious. Dan had meat... he was nervous to have codfish. However, Dan did say yes to a cafe after lunch since he is so Portuguese now... being against any type of coffee at home and now loving it here. I was trying so hard not to laugh as Dan mimicked Senor Nelson with stirring the sugar for about a minute straight and sipping it down in three quick sips without setting the cafe down. Lunch was tiring both days with trying to communicate with Senor Nelson... even though it was difficult at times to communicate, he is such a generous, nice guy. He took us to have a tour of the Portuguese volleyball federation building, drove us through Porto and around the river, and then to two doctor appointments to get me cleared to play. The first was with the best doctor in Portugal, the doctor for the Porto futbol team. I got an ECG done on my heart which is mandatory for all upper level athletes here... I was literally nervous considering a) the nurse didn't speak English and b) she started putting suction things all around my heart and metal clamps on my wrists and ankles and I had no idea what was going on because I have never had that test done before. So the doctor saw something a little funny in the report, but said not to worry, I would just need to get an ultra sound to rule it out. I told him maybe it was because I was a little nervous in there... Senor Nelson said maybe it was because I am in love! I think the doctor was just being extra cautious because this past week a 23 year old American guy playing for a Portuguese basketball team had a heart attack in the locker room at half time of his game and died. So, after some stress, my ultra sound came back fine.. paperwork went through, I got my uniforms, I got a beautiful gold heart charm to wear as a necklace (the emblem from the city my team is from) and will hopefully have the license finished to play this coming weekend. The only downside is the team practices 45 minutes away and from 9-11 PM. My position on the team is unclear being that I warm up as a setter, I play middle and left back defense, and also rotate to the front to play outside hitter. I am back to my glory days of the big 13 year old outside hitter....

On Friday I went to sushi with my friends!! (Lia and Elsa - also my teammates) The sushi is not as good as at home, but is still nice to eat familiar food. Then, being that it was 11:30 at night and they had to travel to one of the islands for a game the next day, I thought they were driving me home. But no, we pulled up to some Moroccan restaurant to have some tea. This restaurant was so cool! The decor and ambiance was amazing... maybe it was the belly dancer that performed about every 20 minutes, the restaurant only lit by candle light, the satin pillows you sit on, or the cute little silver tea pots they brought our tea in. It was a fun night!

PS: Happy Birthday to Andrea O'Dell, who is carrying our soon to be niece or nephew!!

Ola!

A & D are back for another edition of The Adventures of Portugal!! So this is Dan and I'll get the volley news out of the way and then pass the microphone over to Alli.

So we had two matches this weekend. The first was against Castelo Do Maia who is the same team thats Meers played for when he was in Portugal. They are considered one of the top teams and the game was away so we knew it'd be a good one. Anyway, the match started off very lousy as we were not clicking as a team and Castelo came out very hot. They took the first game pretty easily. Luckily, we rebounded nicely in game 2 and pulled out a win. Game 3 was the turning point. It was back and forth the entire time and there were some huge rallies. We were neck and neck at 22-22, and then lost 3 straight points to lose the game. We weren't able to maintain our level in game 4 and lost the match 3-1. Sunday brought new hope as we played the worst team in the league and our first true home game (our other home game was in a different gym due to the acrobat gymnastics). We came out smoking and took game 1, 25-11. I think I failed to mention that our backup setter injured himself 2 weeks ago so our assistant coach has been backing me up since. He's about 35, balding, with a nice big gut. Anyway, when we were up big that first game, my coach pulled me out and put him in to set. The crowd went crazy when he went in! I'm hoping it's cause he was going in and not cause I was coming out! Anyway, it was fun to be a part of. We took the next two games and won fairly easily 3-0.

Hey, it's Alli! Just wanted to add a couple of things that Dan forgot to mention about the volleyball part. First of all, and most importantly, Dan is getting his ankle and knee taped for preventative reasons. The best (or worst) part about this is he had to shave his legs! haha. He definitely does not look Portuguese now with his white legs exposed with the short volleyball shorts. Secondly, he is playing pretty well! I may be just a little biased, but he is really starting to play well with his teammates and you can tell that they trust him and are happy he is on the team. Hugo's wife told me that Hugo likes to give Dan a hard time because Dan is so tall! Dan is more often than not, one of the tallest in a match. This picture is at a Brazilian restaurant with Hugo to Dan's right along four other teammates.

We went to a Brazilian restaurant in Porto to celebrate Rui's 34th Birthday. Almost the entire team was there, plus all three coaches, and most girlfriends and wives. It was all you could eat and drink... 8PM-1:15AM for a birthday dinner on a Monday night! There was live music and it was really fun! The favorite Portuguese and Brazilian drink is called a "kipanena" (I definitely butchered the spelling, but that is how it is pronounced) with some kind of vodka (you can choose black or regular vodka), lime, and tons of sugar. Needless to say, it was delicious. They also had red and white sangria which was better than any sangria I have tried (well better than the cheap boxed sangria that Annie and I would buy in college). However, the guys told me that they recommend the boxed sangria here and they fill your cup all the way to the brim just like Annie likes! Annie, another reason why you need to come visit! Okay the food was amazing. Rice, beans, meats, scallops, fish, skewers of shrimp, peppers, onions, potatoes, salad, and lots of other things that we have no clue what it was. The coaches were having a great time drinking with the players... oh how things are different here than at home! Some of Dan's teammates who said they don't speak English well were chatting with us like crazy! I told them that their English is better when they drink and they agreed because they aren't conscious about their accent! haha. Overall it was a really fun night and everyone was asking all about America and how they want to come visit. I actually think that a few of them might!

Since I have a little bit of time on my hands, I am becoming very knowledgeable about Portugal's history and learning about different landmarks, etc. So, running through all of Vila do Conde are these arches.... there were 999 to be exact. These arches served as an aqueduct back in the day (see how educated I am) to bring water from the lower grounds to the higher grounds. How it worked is beyond my wisdom because I would think that the law of gravity would make it difficult to move water to a higher ground (Dan and his teammates agree and don't know how it would have worked either).. Anyways, the arches are huge and beautiful with most still standing and remnants of others. This picture is taken right outside of the gym where Dan's team plays. I am also learning how to perfect my Portuguese accent. For example, Dan and I went to a bakery for breakfast. We got the order of things wrong as apparently you are supposed to order your coffee and then tell them what bread you would like to have with it. However, we just walked right up, pointed to the bread we wanted and then went to get coffee. I decided that we needed to eat the bread on a plate like everyone else, not just out of the bag. So I got out my dictionary and asked for what I thought was "two plates please". So the lady brought us over two sweet rolls. I am still learning...

Also with the time on my hands, I am becoming a chef. Dan and I eat wheat pasta, pre-made meatballs, and a vegetable for dinner twice a week. ha! I will become more Portuguese once someone shows me how to cook one of the dried, salted codfish that line about 6 shelves in the grocery store. We do enjoy our dinners that overlook the water and sunsets! We are also learning how to use the timer on my camera so that we can have pictures together, not just the awkward solo ones by a cool landmark. So here is a picture of us having dinner with the sun setting in the background (although it didn't turn out well in the picture). Oh ya, I am also playing volleyball with a women's team (the team Lia is on and a couple other girlfriends of Dan's teammates) about 45 minutes away. They don't have much money so I don't think they can afford the USA volleyball transfer fee to have me play with them, but they are looking into it. Either way, it is fun to practice with them a couple times a week! We hope everyone is doing well at home! Happy Birthday to my mom on Thursday, October 22 and Happy Birthday to Dale (Dale O'Dell, not Dale Dillon) on Friday, October 23. Oh and Dan wants to make sure that I say Happy 1/2 Birthday to him tomorrow. Love and miss you all!

Love,

A & D

The Fun Stories!

Ola everyone, it's Alli! I will be the one writing about the fun events/crazy Portuguese things. Sorry for those who have read a couple of my emails for parts may be redundant!

The apartment is really cute and nice overall! There are just some weird things about it... there is a twin bed behind a door that has a room the size of a walk in closet that barely fits the bed. The shower window opens up into one of the bedrooms instead of outside. The water heater is literally in a kitchen cabinet and when you turn on the water you hear a clicking sound and when you look, flames actually turn on. For some reason, the cupboard door doesn't even get hot even though it looks like the place should burn down...which would be bad considering we are on the 5th floor, 65 stairs up, no fire escape that we are aware of, and no elevator. The apartment is big with two bedrooms, large living room, and the best view! The sunsets are unbelievable every night. I know how to get back to the apartment from all directions of Vila do Conde which is amazing considering a) my sense of direction and b) there being no street signs. Okay, so I may take the round about way every now and then, but it is healthy for me to be walking!

It is so weird to have to time doing laundry with the weather! There was a pretty intense rain/thunder/lightning/wind storm for 3 days in a row. I thought it was crazy and that the building was going to fall over in the wind and Dan thought it was a “pretty good” storm considering where he comes from. So when it is a sunny day everyone has laundry hanging out to dry (dryers are rare and those who have them only use them during very rainy weather)! During the storm, and during random nights, the electricity likes to go out for about 30 seconds… just enough to make our doorbell ring, make me freak out that someone is outside (not outside our door but down 65 stairs and outside the building trying to have us buzz them in), but then realize that it just does that every time the electricity goes out. Also, many locals have told me that this is a very safe city/country and that currently many Brazilians are moving here to live a better quality of life away from gangs and violence… so not to worry. It makes me feel better but I still like to freak out every now and then.

The first day I was here, I went with Dan to the gymnasio (1.25 mile walk) where he went to lift weights and where they normally play. It is a pretty big, nice arena. They were playing somewhere else for a few weeks because of the European gymnastic/acrobatic competition! Oh my god the coolest thing ever! I watched for an hour! I saw the polish, belorussia, and great britain teams practice. It was insane!! These kids were so tiny. The girls probably weighed 60-80 pounds and couldn't be older than 12, so strong and just doing the most flexible, strong, insane things like a handstand on a girls head with one arm. The guys were short and stalky and flung the girls all over the place and did these crazy lifts. Dan thought I was gonna get kicked out for sitting in the stands, but since they thought I was Nastia (haha just kidding), no one came to talk to me and just let me watch! Dan and I also went back a few days later to watch the finals.

It is extremely humbling not being able to communicate with people. I feel like an idiot. It is not the same as spanish at all! I told one of Dan's teammates "gracias" when he picked me up from the airport and he started laughing and said it is "abrigado/a". I am gonna keep reading my portuguese books to try and learn some of the basics so I don't just have to smile and say "abrigado" over and over. Also, a trip to the grocery store takes about 2 hours with the walk there and using my dictionary to translate the simplest items... yup I am just standing there in the aisle trying to figure out which crackers are wheat crackers or if they even have oatmeal. I bought what I thought was oatmeal and later found out from Lia, the wife of Rui (one of Dan's teammates) that it is baby food! Awesome! However, Dan and I did discover black vodka at the store... it is blueberry vodka but has less alcohol content of regular vodka. It was tasty and fun to celebrate his first Portuguese victory with!

We walk everywhere. I mean we are talking anywhere from 3-6 miles a day. So I have been trying to find a pair of size 49 or 50 shoes for Dan to walk in. I have struck out at 3 different places with responses such as, “what size? You crazy! That is not possible! Haha no way! Oh My God! Are you sure?” Apparently there are outlets somewhere around here that has his size….Anyways, it is great exercise and fun to have the time to walk and explore! We go to a café everyday for internet, wine, or a café. It is really fun because cafes are everywhere! There is a bakery down the street from us that we ventured to… this could be trouble. It smells unbelievable and they make a million kinds of bread all day long. I tried the popular dessert, of course, called “Bolos Berlin” or something like that. It was delicious… bread with sugar and filled with custard. Wow. Sounds gross, but it is fabulous. Actually, there are "pasteleria's" everywhere and the smell lures me in! I have to have strong will power to just say no! I also explore during Dan’s practices and have seen such beautiful parts of the city, churches, and fun little restaurants and cafes. I love the salmon toast they make! We will hopefully venture to church soon, especially since a church shaped like a boat is just down the street!

For the first week and a half I was here, about 10 times each day, preferable during siesta time and actually a time when Dan does nap, these cars like to drive by with a megaphone/megaspeaker.. I have no idea. But it would blast some random talking or music and was so weird. Or the best was when a caravan of about 30 cars would drive by with flags out their window, honking and yelling something. Dan and I thought it was for a futbol game since the fans are CRAZY. So I eventually asked a nice waiter who spoke English what it was… if it was for a futbol game… he got a good laugh out of me. So it is for the election that took place on Sunday. The chaos has finally finished!

EVERYONE is so nice and helpful here. It is amazing. It does not compare to any place in America. Literally, if you ask someone something and they don’t speak English, they will walk into the nearest store and get someone who does. They will write stuff out for you with the best directions possible, give you names of places to eat, shop, exits to get off on the metro, and in my case their “911” number which is “112”. We are starting to recognize people in our little city… and they are starting to say hello to us in the morning too! Except for Dan’s landlord who told one of his teammates, in Portuguese, “That guy has a Portuguese girlfriend?” His teammate tried to tell her that I am not Portuguese and she just kept saying that yes, I was Portuguese! Ha! Got her fooled with saying ola! And a te amana!

As Dan talked about, his team seems to be getting better! He is getting more comfortable attempting to lead a team of 10/12 non-english speaking players. A few other guys know enough English to have a little conversation, but when they start yelling stuff out on the court, Dan has no idea what is going on! Dan’s coach is about 5’6” and craazzyyy. Apparently he is telling players he will punch them in the face, shoot them in the head, and every other word he says is “fodus” which is the F word. If he isn’t saying he will kill you, then he is patting you on the back and clapping because he is happy with what you just did. Yes, he got yellow carded at their game and yes I thought one of Dan’s teammates was going to punch the down ref. haha. Dan’s coach, his name is Hugo, has the cutest 3 year old son named Afonso who wears a little team jersey and runs around wild and was even sitting in the ball cart at one of the practices. The line that Hugo likes to say to Dan when he is mad is, “Dan, you have eggs between your legs? Eggs between your legs?!?!” Supposedly it translates better in Portuguese… meaning are you a girl? Then the next play he will run around with his hands above his head and clapping because Dan did something good. Hilarious little man! After Dan’s team won, he said the team was celebrating like they won the super bowl: kisses on the cheek, Hugo ran and jumped into the arms of a player, and to top it off, Hugo ran up to Dan, smiled and slapped him across the face, followed with a hug. Hahaha.

When people ask why I am here and I explain that Dan is playing volleyball for Vilacondense a few people have responded and said “oh yes, the American!” There was a little article on Dan in the local paper last week with his picture in it and something saying how the team has an American that is 201 cm tall and a blurb about his bio!

I went to the Friday “market” in the center of the city. What a site! A huge area just covered in tents with fresh fruits and veggies, shoes, purses, socks, live chickens and hens for sale (with ladies dressed in all black, swatting at the chickens whenever they tried to fly out of the box, even though their wings are clipped), clothes, ladies embroidering and making lace table cloths, kitchen ware, fresh fish and meat, pastries and fresh bread…. And tons of people! It was fun chaos! I was too overwhelmed to buy anything… just got a few of the tiny little wine glasses to drink Port wine with for 0.75 Euro. What a deal! The market is right next to a huge, beautiful church where Lia and Rui got married.

The church is very, very old, built sometime in the 1400s and is right next to the club headquarters for Dan's team.

I spent an entire Saturday with Lia when Dan was out of town. It was great! She speaks English! She called to see if I wanted to have lunch. Well, it turned out I was gone from 10 AM- 1 AM. We went to a fish market (literally octopus and all kinds of fish just lying there on ice... I made Lia stand by it so I could take her picture) where she bought some fish and made me a fabulous lunch… fish baked in tons of salt. I mean the fish cooked with the head, skin, and tail on it… I got to see her house, her dog, go to her volleyball game (she plays for a team about 40 minutes away) and then went to her sisters house for dinner! It was quite the Portuguese experience! We laugh because Lia bought a Portuguese/English dictionary as well so that when we are trying to explain something to each other and can't find the word we just say "stop!" and look it up. For example, Lia told me we were going to eat "puppy" for dinner at her sisters. You should have seen my face! She realized it was the wrong word, and with the help of the dictionary realized that she meant "hot dog". Lost in translation.... She is honestly one of the nicest people I have met and her family is the same way. Her sister speaks pretty good English and Lia’s 11 year old nephew is going to the English academy so he practiced a little with me. They invited us over for Christmas. All they wanted was for me to keep eating… haha… and dessert and coffee and tea and more dessert.

Overall Portugal is beautiful and everything is so historic! I am going through my Portugal book and finding places we need to visit and also getting recommendations from the locals… the list is coming along, especially with Lia having her own list of places Rui and she wants to take us! Dan has a weekend off this month of games so I am sure we will take advantage and go explore the country (if he doesn't have practice)!

On about 3 different corners near our apt are ladies holding buckets of fish on their head and barrels of fish on the ground around them, selling them to crowds of people! It's nuts.. I wish I knew how to be-head a fish, skin it, and make something delicious out of it. Oh and crossing the street, you think the cars will hit you, but they don’t. They love to drive super fast and brake hard. They also drive past you when you are 6 inches away from the car.

We are having a great time now that we feel settled and laugh at minimum two things a day that just amaze us! We are VERY spoiled in America. When people think we are from England, then find out we are from America, and where from, etc.. they say, “wow. It is like another world!” and one guy asked Dan why he is so white if he is from California. Haha. We think the guy had been drinking… while working… at his café, which is normal at any time of the day here.

Welcome!!

Hey Everyone!

So Alli and I were thinking that it would easier to simply create a blog instead of filling up everybody's email accounts. This way we will be able to make updates more frequently and you all can check as often as you like.

First off, I'd like to thank all of those who offered to send us some peanut butter. However, after visiting multiple grocery stores, we were able to find a half size jar of Jiffy for about 5 dollars. Not the best bargain but we will survive if ever the craving gets too big.

My team had its first match a week and half ago against the 2nd place squad from a year ago. Needless to say our team still has a lot of new players and is trying to find our rhythm. It was a pretty frustrating match as we lost in 3 games and didn't really do anything well (pass, set, attack, block, serve, etc.). A little funny story though which may or may not have contributed to my play not being too great. The night before our game (which started at 4pm on Saturday Oct. 3rd), we got out of practice at 10pm. Alli had been telling me how we should go to the movies sometime and of course I agreed. Well one of my teammates, Rui, was going to drive us home and asked if we wanted to go to the movies. Alli and I both responded of course, thinking that later that weekend we would go to the movies with Rui and his wife, Lia. Well one thing we have discovered is the Portuguese culture typically stays up a little later. So Rui decided to take us that night to see the movie. We drive 40 minutes to pick up Lia and then another 20 to get to the mall where the movie was playing. We grab a quick bite (Burger King!) and head to see Inglorious Bastards showing at 12:35am. Rui explains how all the movies are in English with Portuguese subtitles so we'll be fine. The movie starts a little late and then when it begins, we discover that over half the movie is in French and German, all with Portuguese subtitles!!! So we watch a 2 and half hour movie which we don't even understand what's going on through most of it!! Alli was going in and out of sleep while I was desperately trying to figure out what they were saying (didn't go so well). We all laugh about it when we left the theater and thought it was a great way to start our Portuguese movie going experience. Got home at 4am ready for my first ever game in foreign lands.

Anyway, enough about the first game. It wasn't pretty and I wasn't too happy about so I had to put it out of my mind. Practices began to get a little better the next week as my connections with a few of the hitters started to get better. We were traveling to the Azores islands for our next match against a team with a few Portuguese National Team players and was expected to be a top 5 team in the league. Luckily for me, I was able to go to bed a little earlier the night before .... 2am. Texas Hold'em Poker has just arrived to Portugal and everybody wants to play so thats why the late bed time.

So the team we're playing, Bastardo, had beaten us in preseason 3-0 so we knew we were going to be underdogs like we would be a lot this year. We started off the match very strong though and managed to squeak out game 1, 25-23. Game 2 found us with all the momentum and them struggling and we smoked them 25-13. The next game they regrouped and the game was back and forth the entire time with them winning a very long rally near the end of the set and taking the game 25-23. We came out sluggish in game 4 and Bastardo took it to us the whole game and took us down 25-15. Going to game 5. To set this up a little more, our team, which finished tied for last place last season, went 0-9 in game 5's. But not this year!!!! We played well every rally of the game and never let up and took the game 15-10 for our first win of the year!

Now for the interesting part. Portuguese people can be crazy at times, but I think it is just the culture. As soon as we won the last point, everyone on our team charged the floor. My head coach, Hugo, ran and jumped into the arms of one of our hitters with his arms straight up in the air and legs out. I wish I had a picture. Everyone else was jumping on each other and going nuts like we just won the super bowl. It was bonkers! During the celebration, I got randomly kissed by two teammates. Then Hugo came up to me with a big smile, slapped me HARD across the face, and gave me a hug. I didn't know what to make of this as I was kinda PO'ed cause it hurt, but I thought about how much Alli would enjoy the story so I was over it. Needless to say, I wonder if my team will get used to winning or if every win will be a crazy celebration. I hope for the latter.

So we're now 1-1 and have 2 matches this weekend. Should be a good weekend for volleyball and hopefully our team can continue to improve as we grow more used to each other. Or at least as they grow used to a setter who speaks english!

Another frequent question I got in response were for websites to follow the team. Here is the main site for our league:

http://www.fpvoleibol.pt/index_2009.htm

-If you scroll down on the left you'll see a section labelled Campeonato Nacional which contains information our league. If you click Todas as Divisoes, and then Masculino - Div. A1, our schedule will come up. We are the team labelled GCV. If you want to see results, click Resultados Online. Those get updated pretty quickly but not sure how long they stay up as our first week result has been taken down already.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40812357@N02/sets/72157622433820145/

-I found this yesterday. It is some photos of our last match vs. Bastardo. My team is in the black jerseys and I am #6.

There are Cafe's everywhere. Coffee is very popular here but not Starbucks type coffee. It comes in a little cup and saucer about the size of a shot glass. I have actually started to drink "cafes" (Portuguese for Coffee), while Alli gets them "com mayo leite" (with lots of milk). We enjoy the one across the street that is oceanfront.

OK That's it for now!! I'm sure Alli has plenty to add. She has been keeping a journal of our time here and has a lot of good stories to tell. We'll do our best to update this site on a regular basis with pictures as well. Hope everyone enjoys it!!

A & D